32. Human Joys and Sorrows Are Not Shared
After this series of operations, Yuanlin Residence had almost instantly become the peak of traffic in the entire capital.
Although the prices on the first day were not too outrageous, and those very rare pills were even sold at 100% of the market price, Miss Gong had truly experienced what it was like to count money until her hands cramped.
—Of course, besides various factors, there was also the professional fake smile that Yan Chuyue had urgently trained her in.
“Hello, heroic warrior, dashing young master, distinguished sirs, beautiful young lady, heroic sister’s stunning beauty, blah blah blah—”
This speech, which was basically just praising people to the heavens, combined with her pitiful and beautiful appearance, would make anyone lose their minds if she just put on a wronged expression.
Ha.
This was really… if she had known that tricking them into buying things only required a few simple words and a little bit of her looks…
Why would she have gone to so much trouble? What a waste!
“Hello, welcome back next time, miss. Will you be much more beautiful than now when I see you next time?”
A “miss” who was probably in her forties or fifties, while touching her face, excitedly walked out of the room with a pill bottle.
However, just as she was leaving, she happened to almost bump into a young master.
This young master didn’t seem to mind. After hearing the “miss” apologize a few times, he waved his fan.
But when Miss Gong saw the visitor, she really broke out in a cold sweat for that woman just now.
Fortunately, this guy’s temper seemed to be quite good. Otherwise, that woman would probably be in big trouble.
Just because the person she saw was the current emperor, Murong Jing.
Of course, Miss Gong was no ordinary person. Seeing this emperor in this place, the emperor himself certainly wouldn’t want others to call him by his title.
Therefore, Gong Yiling blinked and immediately said, “This young master is so handsome. I wonder if you’re here to see my young lady, or to buy pills?”
Murong Jing opened his fan and fanned it twice, feeling a bit surprised by this girl.
He had thought this girl was just an ordinary medicine boy, but now it seemed she was extraordinarily intelligent.
“I came here too late. I’m afraid the pills I wanted have already been taken by someone else. I wonder if I have the chance to see Miss Yan?”
“Since you’re here, you naturally have to be given this chance.”
Gong Yiling nodded very shrewdly. After handing over the front desk matters to a disciple who was helping, she went into the back hall to inform Yan Chuyue of this matter.
“The emperor is here?”
After Yan Chuyue finished seeing this patient, she lowered her voice and asked in Gong Yiling’s ear, “And he’s looking for me directly?”
“How does the palace’s treasury compare to our stock here?” Gong Yiling shrugged. “And it’s predictable that he would come looking for you.”
“Since he wants to win me over, it’s normal for him to visit today.” Yan Chuyue glanced around at the others waiting here and, after confirming that there were no seriously ill patients, said to Gong Yiling,
“Have him wait for me in the back room. I’ll be there shortly.”
“Mmm.”
The following process was very natural.
Gong Yiling told Murong Jing what Yan Chuyue had said. After that, she was originally going to take back the front desk position, but she happened to see Chen Wanchun near the door.
Alright, all the important figures had almost discussed it, and they had all come in a group.
Seeing this, Miss Gong went straight to the door and dropped a sentence—”Let’s talk on the side”—and then led Chen Wanchun to the alley beside the shop.
“Elder Chen, since you’re here today, it means our agreement has been reached, right?”
However, Chen Wanchun, who was walking behind her, did not speak for a long time. It was not until she turned around that she saw his complicated expression.
Thinking of the idle talk of those people just now, Gong Yiling naturally guessed his hesitation.
“It doesn’t matter. My young lady treats you all as one family, and you as the spokesperson, so it’s convenient. I hope that after talking with you, there will be no other disputes.”
“If the major pharmaceutical companies in this city have different opinions, then my young lady will only cooperate with those who have the same opinion. The life and death of the others have nothing to do with us.”
This sentence hit Chen Wanchun’s heart.
The reason for his silence was exactly as Gong Yiling had said.
Yesterday, when he conveyed this girl’s words to those people, almost everyone’s reaction was…
What a pipe dream!
Her three conditions were equivalent to them giving up everything they had worked for in the capital for so many years, and even burying their chance to compete with the Youcang Court.
What was the difference between this and starting from scratch? And they would even be completely controlled by others for half a year.
Now that His Majesty the Emperor’s war was about to start, for them to be in such a constrained situation was absolutely unacceptable.
Of course, Chen Wanchun was no fool. He had the highest prestige in the chamber of commerce alliance. He would agree to this condition because it was the only way.
Half of these people quickly reacted. The other party had not completely blocked their path. When the war was about to start, that girl’s supply would definitely not be enough. This condition actually had room for maneuver.
Therefore, the entire alliance immediately fell apart, splitting into a faction that accepted the conditions and a faction that did not.
The faction that did not accept the conditions also reacted very quickly.
They quickly canceled all promotional activities, temporarily closed some non-major area shops, and sold the extra part of their herbs to the original herb merchants at a third of the price.
And several families took out their remaining funds to use together, and also borrowed a large sum of money from acquaintances for turnover. Besides their reputation being severely damaged, they had basically escaped the crisis in just one day.
However, these words were said very lightly. The price they paid was real.
They had lost almost all their external sales channels, and each pharmaceutical company was left with only about 20 shops. They had lost almost all their individual customers and could only rely on large orders from noble families to make a living. These problems would become a huge mountain that would crush them in the future.
And all of this was almost within Miss Gong’s expectations.
To be precise, this was Little Auntie’s suggestion.
The number of pharmaceutical companies in this capital was too exaggerated. It was almost impossible to integrate them in a short period of time.
The simplest way was to create a pretext for them to split up. Those who did not follow the mainstream would naturally disappear in the flow of time.
This trick was now beginning to show its effect.
