Chapter 422 - 264: The East Wind Has Come
Chapter 422: Chapter 264: The East Wind Has Come
Zhang Dabao didn’t keep Chen Yi waiting for long.
About an hour later, Wang Ji and Liu Lang arrived one after the other.
Three other young men, dressed in fitted blue attire with blades and swords at their waists, followed them.
Liu Lang caught sight of Chen Yi and greeted him with a grin. "Greetings, Boss. It’s been a while since you’ve shown your face."
Wang Ji and the others, however, were not as casual. They bowed in unison and said, "Boss."
Chen Yi regarded them with a calm expression and said faintly, "Sit and talk."
Liu Lang was the first to sit down beside him. Looking at the expression on his face, he chuckled inwardly.
’When I first met Boss Chen,’ he thought, ’he’d always put on a stern face unless we were meeting in private.’
’But after getting to know him, I realized—Boss Chen has a thousand faces.’
’Besides using the identity of Liu Wu when he’s out and about, he’s also impersonated Black Tooth.’
’Not only are his demeanor and tone of voice perfect imitations, but even his aura changes to match. Few people can ever discern his true identity.’
Liu Lang couldn’t help but feel a little smug. ’I’m the only... no, one of only two people who knows Boss Chen’s true identity.’
He had, after all, remembered Wang Ji.
Too bad Wang Ji didn’t know what he was thinking, or he would have surely looked at him with pity.
But Wang Ji clearly had no time for Liu Lang at the moment. After taking his seat, he turned to Chen Yi and began his report.
"Sir, as you instructed, after consulting with Senior Disciple-Sister Xie Tingyun of the Celestial Sect, I have made arrangements for her junior disciples."
With that, he gestured to the three young men sitting at the far end. "Why don’t you introduce yourselves."
The eldest of the group nodded and clasped his fist. "I am Xue Duanyun of the Celestial Sect."
The other two young men followed suit. "Celestial Sect, Zhang Sanhu."
"Celestial Sect, Zhang Sihu. A pleasure to meet you, Boss."
Chen Yi sized them up, a faint glint in his eyes.
The auras of the three Celestial Sect disciples then appeared before him.
Their auras, a faint white, were not particularly strong. They were all Fifth Grade Realm Swordsmen, just one minor realm weaker than Shen Huatang.
However, the aura of Xue Duanyun, the first to speak, was faintly connected to the Heaven and Earth’s Spiritual Mechanism.
Clearly, his Sword Dao had already reached Minor Success, allowing him to empower his Swordsmanship with a wisp of Sword Intent.
After observing each of them, Chen Yi nodded, his expression unchanged. "Welcome."
Xue Duanyun and the other two were slightly taken aback. They glanced at each other, a strange feeling in their hearts.
Before coming, they hadn’t thought much of it when they learned they were going to meet the boss of Hundred Herbs Hall. Now, it seemed they had been too optimistic.
This Boss Chen’s stern and unsmiling demeanor made them uneasy.
Chen Yi, of course, didn’t dwell on their thoughts. After signaling for Zhang Dabao to guard the door, he got straight to the point.
"Word from Guangyuan County has come back. The situation is better than I expected."
"Later, Wang Ji, send a message to Yan Sea. Tell him to begin preparations for opening a Hundred Herbs Hall branch on-site. You will also send people with the necessary silver coins and medicinal herbs."
A look of joy spread across Wang Ji’s face. He immediately stood and agreed.
His hard work for the past two months hadn’t been in vain. Hundred Herbs Hall finally had a chance to grow.
Chen Yi reminded him in a level tone, "Don’t get careless."
"This is the first step in Hundred Herbs Hall’s expansion. I will not tolerate any mistakes."
The joy on Wang Ji’s face faded slightly, replaced by a serious expression. "Rest assured, Sir. I will arrange everything properly."
Chen Yi nodded slightly. "How are the medicinal herb preparations coming along with Boss Jia Yuzhi?"
Wang Ji, who was about to sit back down, froze. He hesitated. "To be honest, Sir, he’s run into some trouble."
Before Chen Yi could ask, he continued, speaking a little faster, "It’s not that Boss Jia is intentionally dragging his feet. Xinglin Hall is interfering."
"Ever since I... and Mr. Qingzhou confronted Boss Jia, he has been trying to procure the medicinal herbs."
"But for three straight days, he hasn’t been able to acquire a single stalk, let alone the thousand jin we need."
Wang Ji glanced at Chen Yi and saw that his expression was still impassive. He gritted his teeth and continued.
"After investigating, we discovered that Xinglin Hall had already signed contracts with all the major medicinal herb merchants."
"They... they bought up all the medicinal herbs."
For the first time, a slight change flickered in Chen Yi’s eyes. He asked with a hint of surprise, "Except for Boss Jia?"
Wang Ji nodded. "Jia Yuzhi and three other herb merchants have always worked with our Hundred Herbs Hall, so of course they wouldn’t sign a contract with Xinglin Hall."
Chen Yi frowned to himself.
’Xinglin Hall’s move to cut off our supply at the source really did catch me off guard.’
’At the same time, what I previously thought was just an accident at Lin’s Grain Store—the burning of the medicinal herbs—now seems to have a whiff of conspiracy.’
’Could it be that Liu Hong’s target wasn’t just the grain store’s warehouse, but also Hundred Herbs Hall’s batch of medicinal herbs?’
Chen Yi pondered for a moment, still unable to determine if it was a coincidence or if Liu Hong had done it intentionally.
So he asked thoughtfully, "How much silver and how many tea drinks do we have on hand?"
Wang Ji hurriedly replied, "After paying out the shares to our partners and the taxes to the Government Office, we have one hundred fifty-four thousand taels of silver remaining."
"As for the five types of tea drinks, we only have three warehouses’ worth left. I estimate it’ll last ten days at most."
Chen Yi grunted in acknowledgment and began calculating silently.
Last month, because of the Yunqing Building’s grand opening, other restaurants in Shu State had rushed to purchase the tea drinks, allowing Hundred Herbs Hall to make a huge profit.
But with the planned supply of medicinal herbs cut off, the workshop had nearly ground to a halt. Now, for every jar of tea drink Hundred Herbs Hall sold, they had one less in stock.
"In that case, we’ll limit sales."
Wang Ji asked hesitantly, "Sir, what... what kind of limit did you have in mind?"
"We need to make our supply last until September 20th at the latest. Until then, sell an equal, limited amount of tea drinks each day."
"But... but if we do that, won’t we be unable to supply the restaurants and the Qin Building?"