"Don't be too busy to reply right away." Lockhart interrupted them, "This time the Ministry of Magic is going to use the "officially designated only partner" system on some consumables for the tournament, that is, only those who participate in the construction of the tournament Only sponsors and companies in China, we allow it to sell items to contestants and foreign tourists, and enjoy preferential treatment in advertising. "

Although the Ministry of Magic is still at a loss as to how to organize such events, since Lockhart has already joined the job, his plan is the Ministry of Magic's plan. If anyone dares to question, let him go to Barty Crouch Bar.

"Official... partners?" The two asked hesitantly, "Can you specify products?

■

"Of course." Lockhart expressed his confidence. "Even the right to report the game is in our hands. No matter which media wants to take a picture, it must take a picture of the sponsor's logo together. And before the game, the commentary Members will also read out sponsors’ names and ad lines—think about it, this is a live broadcast to the world.

Although this "world" may only have 300,000 to 500,000 people, Lockhart added in his mind.

It can be seen that both Deves and Bans are moved.

"Let's think about it, shall we?" they asked. "We're all in our teens, and it's too much to learn Muggle stuff all over again..."

"Of course, but I hope to get an answer within a week, after all, the schedule is tight."

Lockhart did not immediately force the other party to make a decision, he believed that the other party would weigh it clearly.

If they didn't, Lockhart would have to go to the Wizeac brothers, who were far more receptive to Muggle things than the inhabitants of Hogsmeade.

But Lockhart can't do it right away, because he wants to prevent the Weizeac brothers from monopolizing, even if they have a good relationship with him, and the magic equipment and equipment of the Triwizard Tournament must not only find one sponsor. .

-Once the Weizeac brothers think that they can only find them, then even if they don't speak up and try their best to lower the price this time, they will inevitably be at a disadvantage in other future negotiations, which is not a good thing.

The key to power is balance, Lockhart said.

Building an elevated aqueduct is just the beginning, and Lockhart wants to use this way to tell the residents of Hogsmeade that he is going to make a major makeover to the village of Hogsmeade, and those who want to make money and want to try something new. The people who have something come quickly.

Only by letting a group of people taste the sweetness first can Lockhart persuade the British wizarding community to reform, and let wizards get on the last train before the arrival of the Muggle Internet era.

Otherwise, when chiral microstructure materials, aerospace technology, biological cell technology, and invincible big data analysis all come into the world, wizards can really only shrink in the corners of the Muggle world.

Chapter 167 Occasionally have to be the bad guy

Back at the Screaming Shack, Lockhart glanced at the house, but couldn't find the shadow of Ren Yu.

Just when he felt a little strange, there was a sound from behind the house, as if something was fluttering in the water.

When he went to look at it, he found that there was indeed something fluttering in the water - Sirius Blake was splashing the water, and kept hiding from a metal ring on Dobby's hand.

"What are you doing?" Lockhart couldn't help asking.

Dobby quickly apologized after seeing Lockhart: "I'm sorry, master! Dobby was afraid it would bite, so he wanted to put a collar on it and put a rope on it by the way..."

Lockhart almost laughed like crazy: "It seems that you are feeding too little wine, not enough.

Dobby's question mark: "But when you threw it into the barrel just now, it was clearly motionless, and Dobby thought it would be good."

Sirius o Black had a black line on his head—of course he wouldn't refuse to take a bath, but putting a collar on him was beyond his tolerance, so of course he would refuse.

But then again, Dobby almost got it right now.

At that time, Blake had just eaten a leftover meal mixed with haggis, mashed potatoes and butter, and had two sips of beer. Dobby put it in the hot tub for a bath again, making him too comfortable and losing his vigilance.

With cooked food, a hot bath, and the service of house elves, Blake felt as if he had returned to his school days, and he was still the carefree young master who made trouble all day with his friends and acted recklessly.

However, when the cold metal ring was around his neck, he felt something was wrong and began to struggle.

His plan was to find a chance to sneak into Hogwarts while Lockhart and Dobby were out and "watching the house", but he didn't expect this house elf to actually plan to put a collar on himself.

Damn, how dare this house-elf make up his mind! Blake thought angrily.

Fortunately, Lockhart came back in time to rescue him.

Newel was in a hurry, Dobby, the dingo wasn't so quick to obey. "Lockhart said to Dobby, "and if you do this, it will be very hostile to you in the future..."

Sirius Black immediately bared his teeth when he heard the words, and roared at Dobby, as if to confirm Lockhart's statement.

Lockhart suddenly became playful. He wondered if Blake would endure the humiliation and put the pile of **** in front of him if he said that "wild dogs have a habit of eating shit" and threw a **** in front of him eat.

But after thinking about it, he still tried his best to hold back this tempting idea. Although he said that teasing people is fun, it is not very good to be seen by others.

What he was sure of was that Black would definitely do something small while he wasn't there, so he might as well add some fun to his boring political career this year.

Putting a collar on Sirius was a thing of the past, and the residents of Hogsmeade were accustomed to the fact that Lockhart had a watchdog in his office, even if the dog was a bit of a nuisance. Lucky black.

Anyway, Sirius has always behaved very well in front of outsiders, and basically doesn't yell at people, so everyone is too lazy to care.

After taking time to meet Rosmerta for two nights, the two partners, Deves and Bans, finally made up their minds. They came to Lockhart's office and expressed their willingness to

Intended to undertake the work of renovating the water piping system in Hogsmeade

As a specific worker, Bans said he had something to say:

"I looked at the Muggle's manual and it wasn't as difficult as I thought, we just had to connect the pipes and bury them with a tunneling spell... The water tower could be placed on the edge of the lake, and then the wind turbine would be used to pump the water. Bring it up. The Muggles recommended us a rotary turbine fan, but that was too expensive and we couldn't figure it out, so we're going with an old-fashioned fan with canvas wings."

"Then, can you understand the principle of this old-fashioned fan?" Lockhart suddenly interjected.

Mr. Bans seemed to be stopped by the question, and after a while, he hesitated to answer him.

"When, of course, the wind blew on the sloping airfoil and produced that .oo talc..."

"Torque." Mr. DeVes hurried to cover for him.

"Yeah, torque, then pull the piston with the belt to **** the water up." Bans hurriedly said the rest of what he knew.

Lockhart suspected that Mr. Bans would kill himself right away if he asked him to work out the fan's lever arm, speed, and water-lifting efficiency.

I don't know why Hogwarts never taught mathematics, not even arithmetic, but directly took an unknown number account - and this course only requires simple addition, subtraction, multiplication and division.

Yes, the practical part of the magic class requires precise movements and full of emotions, which is like a Muggle dance class, and reciting magic spells requires clear articulation and full emotions, which is nothing like a foreign language poetry recitation class. different.

After careful calculation, what Hogwarts gave to the students was proper education in style and art, but no science education at all. No wonder Hermione once said when reasoning about Snape's potion, "Wizards are not good at logic. thinking”, liberal arts students and art students really

It is a kind of person who is insulated from science.

Of course, this may also be because the prophet Master Rowling is not good at mathematics.

Lockhart couldn't help but deserted—could it be that the wizarding world was lagging because of a lack of scientific thinking? In that case, do you want to make up for this lesson for the wizarding world in the future?

Although because of a certain work, many people like to use "science side" and "magic side" to declare that science and magic are incompatible, but in fact, the essence of "science" is a research method that negates the negation and can be falsified. , rather than specific "technology" as long as magic can be perceived, it can be studied using scientific methods.

Mr. DeVes' cough brought Lockhart's consciousness back to reality, and he remembered that there were two other guests waiting for him to reply.

"No problem... As I said, no matter what your cost on this project is, I will give you 200 Galleons, and the extra is your profit." Loja promised promise.

The two of them immediately showed joy on their faces.

Although Lockhart knew the cost of buying the raw materials, he didn't know that Dewes and Bans had decided to imitate the fans in the hands of Muggles, and they could make many parts of this water diversion project.

Except for the "polyethylene pipe" of unknown material and the thing called "ball bearing" that they don't know what to do, they can do everything themselves, which allows them to reduce the cost to less than 50 Galleons.

"Then what about the 'designated partner'?" DeViss pressed.

Lockhart made a very generous appearance: "Of course! As long as you can make a high-quality tap water system, then of course you are a qualified "supplier" for the competition, and then you only need to bid with Wezeek. can be upgraded to"

Sponsor'…”

"Wait a minute," Mr. DeVes opened his mouth wide. "Didn't you say, there is a designated one and only partner'?" "

Lockhart pretended to be surprised: "Is there? Oh, yes, I said, the Ministry of Magic is indeed planning to implement a "unique designated partner system", but that requires sponsorship! And a little sponsorship can only make You become a 'sponsor', and you can only get an exclusive contract after you get a lot of sponsorship fees—for example, a lot more than the price of the Wieserek brothers."

"Then what are we?" Bans couldn't help it.

Eight qualified suppliers' ah! Lockhart shrugged. "You can show the world the quality of your products, and tourists who have used the water system will advertise your reliability—and we'll allow you to put your logo on it, and Publicity under the name of "Ministry of Magic Certified Qualified Supplier"

The two store advocates were speechless: "Is that so? We thought we only needed to participate in the construction project..."

"You made money on this construction project, didn't you?" Lockhart looked at them with a strange look instead, "Don't tell me, you took over this project for free, or you bought raw materials and labor. The fee is already over 200 Galleons."

"Not at all, but..."

Mr. Bans had to be more honest. He opened his mouth to express his thoughts, but was forced back by Devez with his eyes.

DeViss took a deep breath: "Okay, Mr. Lockhart, may I ask how much sponsorship we have to pay to get the title of 'Sponsor'? "What about the only designated partner'? And what's the benefit after we get those names?"

Lockhart smiled secretly in his heart.

All he used with them was a basic technique called "gambler's psychology", and without making any promises, he tricked them into believing they could get a great deal Put your chips down.

But once they put in the chips, the desire for "profit" and the unwillingness to "lose" will make them sink deeper and deeper, to the point where they can't be recovered if they want to quit.

Now that Dewes and Bans have learned a Muggle technique, they have spent a lot of time and effort, and they have also reached a highly lucrative engineering contract with Lockhart, which has undoubtedly added a lot of time to them. cost.

Lockhart promises they won't stop now, because it'll just make them look like big fools.

"In addition to having all the powers of a 'Qualified Supplier', sponsors will also have the resources to take up the publicity channels of the tournament - such as placing billboards around the tournament venue, and having the commentator mention your store's advertisements in their speeches, For this you have to pay an initial fee of at least 300 Galleons.

As for the "sole designated partner", it is even more powerful... The Minister of Magic will introduce and sell your products to the VIPs who come to watch the game when receiving foreign guests, and will display your products in the "Commodity Fair" in the middle of the game. On display at position C.

As an important point, any other trademarks and advertisements of similar products will be refused to appear during the competition - if some advertisements are accidentally photographed by reporters, we will also order them to replace the photos. How is it, interesting enough? "

"It's really interesting... It's just that we don't know yet, what's the name of your **** game? Also, how many tourists and media coverage will it attract?" Devez asked this question through gritted teeth.

"Sorry, keep it a secret for now, according to Ministry of Magic rules, DeViss, unless you're willing to sign a nondisclosure agreement first," Lockhart told him.

"Merlin's beard!" Devez couldn't help laughing. "Even this has to be kept a secret? You guys are going to hold an unprecedented competition, but you don't even do publicity before the competition?"

"Thank you Paracelsus! I thought so too. You said what I wanted to say, but unfortunately I didn't dare to complain publicly." Lockhart said with a smile.

"Listen, if someone dared to talk to me like that, I'd be gone! If it wasn't for the club you started last year..."

"Don't worry, the scale of the competition to be held next year is definitely more than ten times that.

"But you won't..."

"Non-disclosure agreement..."

- The **** dog lying on the ground listened to the fierce arguments of these people, and wagged his tail boredly.

It turns out that his name is Lockhart... This kid is quite bad!

Chapter 168 Hogsmeade Comprehensive Upgrade Plan

In the end, DeVes and Mr. Bans walked away in anger, leaving Lockhart alone, still smiling.

Although the two walked away in anger, they finally agreed to participate in the bidding meeting, and said that "the 200 Galleons are counted as advance payment for sponsors."

In other words, Lockhart earned a water line for Hogsmeade without spending a penny.

Although they knew that it was impossible for the two of them to spend 200 Galleons to build such a pipeline, it did not prevent Lockhart from taking this number as his "achievement" and writing it in the fundraising log of the Triwizard Tournament.

"Devis-Bance Magic Supply Store, donate...a water line worth 200 Galleons...a designated partner to bid for home equipment and magic equipment...for the first battle, this result is not bad, isn't it, Dobby ?"

"Yes, wise master."

Without a second thought, Dobby followed up with a flattery, something he had been practicing at the Malfoys for a long time.

The big dog lying on the ground rolled his eyes humanely after hearing this.

Lockhart's actions, including manipulating people's hearts, reminded Sirius of his parents, the proper behavior pattern of members of the Snake faction.

Lockhart, of course, took note of the fact that DeViss had stopped calling him "Gilderow" and instead called him by his last name, "Lockhart," which implied a kind of psychological alienation.

But so what? Are those who want to work still afraid of offending others? Only crappy politicians try to please everyone.

Lockhart can be tolerant and easy-going in some ways, but that doesn't mean he plays

Even turning his work style into an "easy-going", like when he faced his students at Hogwarts.

As the so-called easy-going people are not respected, because they seem to be tolerant, but in fact they have no principles and positions, so others usually do not consider their feelings when thinking about problems, because "anyway, he can do anything"

Such people are often ambiguous about their reasonable needs and reality; or because of some moral constraint, feel ashamed of their true views and feel indebted to others; or simply because they are timid and want to avoid conflict with others .

But in fact, the more a person wants to avoid conflict, the greater the price to pay in the end. Only by expressing yourself bravely on the basis of respecting the facts, without fear of negotiation and conflict, and telling others why you deserve to be respected, can this person truly grow.

Lockhart could observe that when he went to the three brooms again, the people around him no longer looked at him as a rare beast as they did in the past, but brought a trace of curiosity. It was accompanied by a murmur whenever he passed a few tables.

The village of Hogsmeade is not very big, even if it is "the only village in the UK where pure wizards live", its permanent population will not exceed 300, and there are not as many students as Hogwarts.

There are usually no so-called secrets in such small villages. Even a pig in a certain household can spread to all households within half a day, let alone a project.

So even though Dewes and Bans both signed non-disclosure agreements, everyone found out about it through various means—that is, they got a contract from the Ministry of Magic for Hogsmeade remodeled.

"What do you think?" Rosmerta asked Lockhart curiously. "It's not far from the lake to fetch water. I make so much wine every day, but I only need two water.

Ten barrels. "

"But once it's the holidays, the little wizards will buy your wine." Lockhart said, stroking her hair. "Besides, I bet you two hundred more people in this village will overwhelm it. , then no one can help you fetch water.

"There can't be that many people." Rosmerta seemed a little disapproving, "There are less than 400 teachers and students at Hogwarts, the first and second year students are not eligible to come, the seniors are busy with their studies, and the vast majority of They're all tired of it."

"But if a thousand people pour in, you won't even have a place to live here." Lockhart stared out the window, "You better expand your house, Rosemer Tower, build a... er... how about the fifth floor? ?"

Although it is said that the wizarding world can build houses without vision to some extent, such as Diagon Alley, Gringotts, and the Burrow, it does not mean that all wizards are qualified to do so.