Chapter 4119 — Demanding an Outrageous Price
The Blossom Guardian · Page 1 of 2
It had never once occurred to him that after he made his name known, the other man would still dare to be so lukewarm. He had already made it plain he was offering a chance to cooperate—and instead of weeping with gratitude, the fellow was reluctant and grudging. This was simply beyond bearing!
"Hmph. So by that reckoning, Manager, you mean to give the Famous Medicine Sect no face at all?" Diao Huanshan snorted, his shame turned to fury.
Wei Zhao laughed inwardly at the sound of it. The man had not even bothered with the carrot before going straight to the stick—so much for this so-called cooperation with the Famous Medicine Sect. The fox's tail was already showing, and quickly at that.
"Manager Diao, since we are both merchants with our doors open for business, then naturally business comes first. Whether one is given face or not is hardly a matter for men of business to fret over, wouldn't you say?" Wei Zhao smiled, unperturbed. But seeing the other man's face turn the color of iron, he had no wish to push him into a corner, and so said at once, "Very well, Manager Diao. If you have a proposal, by all means speak it plainly."
Diao Huanshan glanced at Wei Zhao in some surprise. The young man looked green, yet when it came to talking he was watertight—with a single sentence he had seized the initiative in the conversation. Seasoned, one might even say.
But before absolute power, no matter how skilled a negotiator you are, it all comes to nothing. You can only follow my lead obediently—there is no escaping this old man's palm!
"Manager, since you have opened a pill shop here, you ought to know this is the territory of the Middle Island Market, yes?" Diao Huanshan asked, eyes narrowed to slits.
"Of course. But what of it?" Wei Zhao looked at him and countered. The dozen or so streets around them, including the stretches held by the Five Elements Merchant Guild, all fell within the Middle Island Market—several times larger than the North Island.
"Since you know this is the Middle Island Market, then has the Manager never heard of the Pill Alliance? Every merchant who sells pills in the Middle Island Market must submit unconditionally to the management of the Pill Alliance. That is the rule, and no one may break it," Diao Huanshan said with a cold smile.
"The Pill Alliance?" Wei Zhao was slightly taken aback. This was something he truly had not heard of, nor had it ever come up during these days at Cai Zhongxuan's side.
Today was the new shop's opening, and Di Xingdao, Hou Guanqi, Cai Zhongxuan and the rest would naturally be coming to show their support—but at this moment they had yet to arrive. For the time being Wei Zhao had no way to verify whether the man's words were true or false.
"What? From that look of yours, you seem not to believe me?" Diao Huanshan curled his lip in mockery, then turned toward the crowd. "Surely there must be sensible folk among you—none so ill-informed as never to have heard of the Pill Alliance, I should hope?"
"That, this old man can vouch for. The Middle Island Market does indeed have a dedicated Pill Alliance, whose purpose is to supervise the quality of the pills sold by the various merchants, lest counterfeit pills be sold to the harm of customers and the ruin of our Middle Island Market's reputation. I am myself a pill appraiser of the Pill Alliance," an old man in the crowd answered.
The rest of those present nodded along as well. Even if they were not merchants, this was common knowledge—anyone who had spent some time in the Middle Island Market would know it as a matter of course.
"Now you should have no more doubts, I take it? To dare open a pill shop here without even knowing of the Pill Alliance—Manager, you are truly fearless in your ignorance," Diao Huanshan said with a mocking sneer.