The Nine Godheads Chapter 54

Chapter 54: Monopoly Rules!

“Oh, you’re certain that you can maintain the supply?” Upon hearing what Hong Xiaobao had said, Chen Qihe was momentarily stunned. She then smiled and said, “Alright, if you can a.s.sure that the supply can meet the demand, then leave the rest to me. You can be a.s.sured that your newspaper will get the exposure it needs. As for the commission…”

As long as the supply was sufficient, creating a distribution network was more than easy. What’s left was the splitting of the profits.

“Sister Chen, what kind of percentage would you consider to be reasonable?” asked Hong Xiaobao. To him, as long as the commission they asked for was not over the top, he would not mind agreeing to it as he could easily come up with other ways to make money. Smart people have to be bold!

“Hmm, your ideas have always been profitable for us, so we naturally wouldn’t dare to ask for too much. How about fifty fifty?” Chen Qihe understood that this was a large business and any percentage of the profit would still be an immense amount of money.

“Haha, this distribution really is a bit high though,” said Hong Xiaobao as he sipped a little bit of his tea. He said slowly, “Sister Chen, I won’t talk in circles. I actually need quite an amount of money right now so fifty fifty is no go.”

On the negotiation table, relations and facades were secondary and the sole priority is to try to gain the best possible deal.

With both their intentions laid bare, the atmosphere in the room felt a little tensed. Chen Qihe let out a cold laugh before saying, “Your majesty, you should know that the Lotus Sect owns entertainment establishments all over the land. If you intend to sell your product fast, there’s no other party that can be as effective as us, no?”

“That might not be the case,” said Hong Xiaobao as he laughed. “No matter how much stronger your Lotus Sect is, you don’t own all of the entertainment establishments, do you? There are so many of them all over the place. As long as the initial publication of my newspaper gets popular, I’m sure that there’ll be a long queue of people who will want to order it from me! Seventy thirty, that’s all I can offer.”

“Only 30% for us?!” exclaimed Chen Qihe, angered. “Your majesty, don’t you think that your offer is a little too much? I admit that your ideas are indeed quite ingenious, but to ask so much of us only to offer us 30%… It really is quite over the top!”

“It sounds fair to me though,” said Hong Xiaobao calmly. “Sister Chen, you’re a reasonable person. Think about it, no matter how well you distribute the newspapers, I’m the one who has to come out with the supply. And surely you know that the amount needed would be astronomical and that I’m the only one who can manage to keep up with that kind of demand. You only have to be the middle man and sell it for me. This is akin to having silver taels drop from the sky. With 30% of the profit share, how much do you think you’ll be able to earn?”

The meaning in his words were clear. With the supply being monopolized by him, there was almost no room for negotiation.

“This…” Chen Qihe understood that Hong Xiaobao’s argument was flawless. While she had never heard about something called a newspaper, she understood that it was something that would definitely sell in huge amounts. And with the huge demand, there would be a need for a humungous supply. The amount required for the newspaper to satisfy the demand across the nations could definitely not be produced by normal people by common means. With Hong Xiaobao monopolizing the technique required to produce the newspaper in large numbers, there really wasn’t anything they could do about it.

“No, at least 40%!” said Chen Qihe as she bit her lip, compromising slightly with the lesser amount of share.

“That’s still rather high in my book. I’ll settle with 65% for me and 35% for you, how’s that sound?” said Hong Xiaobao, not wavering at all.

Chen Qihe gave it a little more thought before finally yielding. “Fine, 35% it is!” She had no choice at all because Hong Xiaobao monopolized the means of production for himself.

“Deal.” Hong Xiaobao was rather satisfied with Chen Qihe’s response. It was already pretty good for him to have gotten away with 65% of the shares.

“Nice doing business with you.” After the negotiations, Chen Qihe’s expression instantly reverted to the pleasant and friendly one from before. She got up and smiled, “Madam Lan, let’s throw a banquet to commemorate the beginning of this wonderful relations.h.i.+p. Your majesty, after you.”

“Wow, there’s even a banquet too? Much obliged,” said Hong Xiaobao modestly. Just as he was about to join in the festivities, all of a sudden, a loud yell could be heard from outside the room. “Stinking wench, why have you come over to a place like this? Sheesh, can you afford to ruin my mood?!”

Huh? Someone’s causing trouble? I wonder who dares to make such a scene at the establishment of the Lotus Sect?

Hong Xiaobao looked around and quickly headed towards the main hall. Upon entering, he saw a 40 plus year old man who sported a long beard scolding a young girl dressed in a red dress. “Where’s the manager? Call that person to come apologize to me! Gah, your grandmother… You even managed to ruin my s.h.i.+rt! It cost 50 silver taels to buy you know!”

The young girl in red looked to be only 11 to 12 years old. She was totally terrified and unconsciously backed off from that middle-aged man. That little girl was Qingqing whom Hong Xiaobao had met once before!

“What’s wrong?” Hong Xiaobao went forward as he couldn’t bear to see a full grown adult bully a young girl like her, who was fortunate enough to have encountered him once before. “Mister, why are you so angry?”

Fang Xinghan and Chen Qihe followed suit with Hong Xiaobao’s action. When Fang Xinghan saw that girl, he was a little surprised while there wasn’t much of a reaction from Chen Qihe. Fang Xinghan merely squinted his eyes and closed them without making a sound and pretended he didn’t see that scene.

“Brother prince~ I’m scared…” said Qingqing as she rushed over and hid behind Hong Xiaobao’s body and grasped on his sleeves with her two small, fair-skinned hands. Peeking at the man from behind Hong Xiaobao, she said, “I accidentally dirtied that man’s s.h.i.+rt and he asked me to pay him back…”

The girl’s voice sounded soft and slightly cold. While it sounded rather nice, something about it still felt a little off.

“That’s right, ninth prince. I apologize, I didn’t know that she was your acquaintance,” said the middle-aged man as he saw Hong Xiaobao come forward. With a low voice and a lowered head, he said, “If I had known that she was someone you knew, I wouldn’t have dared to cause any trouble no matter how dirty my s.h.i.+rt ended up, right?”

“Hmm, I see,” said Hong Xiaobao with a smile. Since Qingqing was currently beside him, he wouldn’t use his authority to take care of that man by force. He told his guards this, “Give him 20 silver taels. It should be enough for him to buy a new one.”

“Your subordinate complies!” One of the guards went forward and tossed a pouch of silver taels into that man’s hands while saying, “Count your blessings for having encountered the benevolent ninth prince. If it were anybody else, they would’ve caught you and broken both your legs. Keep the money and go, this is the ninth prince territory so don’t go around like that and causing trouble, you hear?”

“I understand, this one understands… Keke, thanks, your majesty. This one will go enjoy some wine and performances and promises that this one wouldn’t cause any trouble!” said the middle-aged man as he swiftly sat in a corner without stirring up any more fuss.

The surrounding observers praised Hong Xiaobao for not flaunting his exalted status as the ninth prince. After that, they all returned to their seats respectively and continued merrymaking once more.

“Qingqing,” said Hong Xiaobao as he turned around. He said in a gentle tone, “Why are you here? Where is the auntie that was with you the other time?”