Chapter 4119 — Demanding an Outrageous Price

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.

"And what of it? The pills of my Heaven Pill Pavilion are absolutely genuine and reliable. There will be no counterfeit pills whatsoever, and we may submit to inspection by the Pill Alliance at any time. But what does any of this have to do with the cooperation Manager Diao speaks of?" Wei Zhao countered, betraying nothing.

"Submit to the Pill Alliance's inspection at any time? Do you believe that yourself?" Diao Huanshan burst out laughing, then leaned in close to Wei Zhao and lowered his voice. "Manager, you had best not speak too boldly. We are all men of business here—who among us does not know the tricks of the trade? As long as one truly exerts oneself to investigate, there is simply no pill shop without problems. Oh, and by the way, a word in your ear—our Famous Medicine Sect happens to be this year's managing guild of the Pill Alliance."

"What is that supposed to mean?" Wei Zhao frowned slightly.

"The meaning is simple. This year, every inspection is decided by our Famous Medicine Sect. If we say you are fine, then even if you are not, you are. But if we say you are not, heh—then even if you are, you are not. Now do you understand my meaning?" Diao Huanshan threatened, his face full of smug satisfaction.

"Is Manager Diao's meaning, then, that I am to pay your Famous Medicine Sect protection money?" Wei Zhao's expression darkened.

His own pills were absolutely without problems, but if the other party truly meant to invoke the Pill Alliance's name and insist there were problems, then even if his innocence could be proven afterward, his reputation would at least be ruined. This was the classic case of being good for nothing but more than capable of ruining everything—and he truly could not afford to ignore it!

"Protection money? No, no, no. We are the illustrious Famous Medicine Sect—how could we stoop to so low and shameless a practice as collecting protection money!" Diao Huanshan shook his head repeatedly, then arched a brow. "Did I not tell you from the start? I came to find you today to discuss cooperation."

"And how would this cooperation work?" Wei Zhao said, giving nothing away.

"Very simple. Our Famous Medicine Sect can provide you with certain pills and let you handle their distribution. This is a pie dropped straight from heaven—what say you, Manager? Of course, so long as you choose to cooperate with us, there will naturally be no need to worry about inspections from the Pill Alliance," Diao Huanshan said temptingly.

Using the Pill Alliance as a cudgel to force me to distribute pills for his Famous Medicine Sect—so this was the scheme he had been nursing all along!

"Then, Manager Diao, for the pills we distribute on your behalf, how much below your normal selling price will our purchase price be?" Wei Zhao asked with great solemnity.

"At the normal selling price, of course!" Diao Huanshan laughed at once. Seeing Wei Zhao's expression turn somewhat displeased, he laid out the stakes. "Think it over, Manager. A small pill shop like yours can only drink the northwest wind when business is poor, but should business turn good, it is all too easy to run out of stock—and that is a thing that badly damages one's reputation. So long as you choose to cooperate with our Famous Medicine Sect, you need not worry about such risks, and you can settle the Pill Alliance's inspections as well. This is a blessing from the heavens—can you still not see it?"

"Heh. If we truly did as Manager Diao suggests, would not my Heaven Pill Pavilion become a free distribution tool for your Famous Medicine Sect, earning not a shred of profit from first to last? Do you think that can be called cooperation?" Wei Zhao arched a brow and shot back. (To be continued…) R752