26. The Tables Turn
“What’s going on!?”
This sudden trade crisis was completely unexpected.
They had previously monopolized several times the total monthly consumption of herbs, mainly because they were confident they could sell them off in a short time.
How? Through foreign sales, of course. As long as the Youcang Court was involved, they weren’t afraid of not finding buyers.
Moreover, they had their own private sales channels, which could discreetly move their herbs to other pharmacies and businesses, bypassing the Youcang Court.
But now, all their channels were cut off.
Yes.
All of them.
Even the pills from their private channels were exposed, a complete wipeout.
On the day the ban was announced, the heads of the pharmaceutical companies gathered. Before the situation was clear, they suspected each other, thinking one of them had orchestrated this.
But when they realized the attack was targeted at all of them, the situation had already spiraled out of control.
“Are those people from the Heartflame Empire crazy?”
“They sent back so many pills! That’s the total amount for several months! What pills will they use now?”
“Someone must be behind this! Otherwise, how could this happen!?”
“Damn it! If I find out who’s responsible, I’ll tear them to pieces!”
Hearing their arguments, one of the older men finally spoke up. “Instead of arguing, we should be thinking about what to do next.”
“What can we do?” another said. “We can’t even handle the shipment from the Heartflame Empire. And this happened right when we increased our production. We’re helpless.”
“How about we consider the Baiyao Dynasty?” a middle-aged man suggested. “They’ve been at war for years, and the demonic beast tide is probably coming soon. They can definitely take these pills.”
“We just have to lower the price a bit. It’s not a big deal.”
After they spoke, the old man said grimly, “I’ve already contacted them. Their reply is that they’ll buy, but at a price thirty to forty percent lower than usual. They’ll only accept if we agree.”
“Thirty to forty percent?”
This made everyone’s faces darken.
Although the pill business was profitable, the Youcang Court still took a large commission, and the price reduction was on the sales price.
Although auctions weren’t affected by this, they only accounted for a small portion of their sales, not enough to solve the problem.
But—”We have no other choice.”
After some discussion, they agreed.
However, the old man was clearly thinking about more than just this.
“I have a feeling… this isn’t that simple.”
“First, the Heartflame Empire’s sudden move, then the Baiyao Dynasty’s opportunism. Could it be… that someone is deliberately setting this up?”
His words were met with skepticism.
Although they also suspected a conspiracy, and that the culprit was likely the soon-to-be-opened pharmacy of that Miss Yan…
But was the Heartflame Empire that close to her master? And the Baiyao Dynasty had no connection to them. Why would these two kingdoms join forces against them?
Now, with only two days left before the pharmacy’s opening, they had deployed all their resources to monitor the girl’s every move.
Although they had suffered a major blow, their blockade of the girl was unaffected.
And on the night before the opening, something even more important happened.
A pharmacy inexplicably started selling herbs, and that Miss Yan’s little medicine boy happened to be there.
“Hello, I’d like a thousand servings of the herbs for these pills.”
The people following her were shocked.
This was no small amount. It was impossible to use up so many herbs in a short time.
So this girl had already found a supplier. That’s why they weren’t in a hurry.
“A thousand servings?”
The shopkeeper was surprised. “I’ll need some time to prepare. Why don’t you come back later?”
“Mmm…” Miss Gong, aware of her followers, feigned hesitation.
After a while, she tilted her head and said, “Alright then!”
Of course, the moment she left, her followers immediately approached the shopkeeper.
“We’re from the pharmaceutical company. We’d like to buy some raw herbs.”
“More herbs?” The shopkeeper was stunned. “Uh… you can buy, but how much do you want?”
Strange. The old master had just told him yesterday that besides selling pills, he could also sell herbs.
And he had only learned yesterday that there were so many herbs in this pharmacy. The old master probably couldn’t use them all and wanted to sell some off.
However, the tone of these two was much more demanding than he had expected.
“We’ll buy whatever you have, including what that little girl just ordered. I’ll pay double the price.”
“Huh?” The shopkeeper was stunned. “But isn’t that against the rules…”
“What rules? She didn’t even pay. What kind of rule is that?” The man said calmly. “And she’s just a little girl. She was probably just playing with you. How could a little girl want a thousand servings of herbs, and for so many different pills?”
Hearing this, and considering the two’s intimidating presence, the shopkeeper, after a moment of thought, decisively agreed.
“Then you’ll have to wait a while. The stock is quite large, and I don’t know how many Universe Bags you’ve brought. Less than seven or eight probably won’t be enough.”
His words stunned the two.
“…How… how much is there?”
“About…” The shopkeeper thought for a moment, then gave a ridiculous number.
“Ten to twenty thousand servings of each.”
“What!?”
