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Chapter 114 Price Increase, Price Increase, Price Increase

The skinny monkey imagined it all and told the story with great joy: "Haha, according to the driver, after the quarrel between Prince Duan and Princess Duan, of course he would not stay at Princess Duan's place, so he went to look for his concubines and wives. Unexpectedly, the concubines and wives were unwilling to receive Prince Duan and made all kinds of excuses to shirk their responsibilities."

"Why is this?" Zhou Chang didn't understand.

Isn’t this an ancient society where men are superior to women?

Those things like competing for favor in the harem should also exist, right?

The thin monkey didn't keep it a secret: "Your Highness may not have thought that they all wanted to buy things from our Four Flavors Medicine Store. Prince Duan and Princess Duan had a quarrel and said that they were not allowed to buy things from our medicine store in the future. Wouldn't that cut off the path of his concubines? Moreover, how much money is paid every month and how many items are distributed, and the affairs of the inner house are all decided by Princess Duan. They don't have the money to offend Princess Duan for such a small matter."

"Oh," Zhou Chang nodded, "The county magistrate is better off taking charge now."

No matter how expensive the things in Siwei Pharmacy are, a woman of the status of Princess Duan would not care. She can spend them however she wants. Why should Prince Duan come and interfere?

"Let's go too." Zhou Chang glanced at the sky and climbed into the carriage. Only then did he realize that the two men had been standing in front of the palace gate and talking for a long time, while the carriages of the ministers nearby had already left.

"Hold on tight, Your Majesty." As soon as the skinny monkey finished speaking, the carriage started moving.

The two of them returned to the palace.

As soon as Zhou Chang entered the palace, Uncle Qiu came up to report: "Your Majesty, you are back. Shopkeeper Pu is here and is waiting to see you."

"Manager Park?" Zhou Chang was surprised. How come there were people from Korea here?

Uncle Qiu held the wine jug in one hand and the cane in the other. He thought for a moment and said, "If it's not Pu, then it's...? I didn't hear it clearly just now."

"Shopkeeper Fu?" Zhou Chang guessed. When it came to the pharmacy, he only knew Shopkeeper Fu.

"Yes, yes, it should be Fu." Uncle Qiu nodded repeatedly

"Uncle Qiu, you should drink less in the future." Zhou Chang glanced at the wine jug in Uncle Qiu's hand.

Uncle Qiu just grinned and refused: "This is all I have to look forward to. Now that the prince is back, if you don't have any instructions, I will go get some wine."

"Get some wine? Uncle Qiu, you have difficulty walking, so let Shouhou or Gao Yuan, or anyone else in the mansion, go get some wine." Zhou Chang felt that Uncle Qiu was the oldest among the three people who came out of the palace, so he should pay more attention to him.

Uncle Qiu pretended to be angry: "If you let him get some wine, not even half of it will be left."

"Uncle Qiu, you are getting old and confused. I didn't steal your wine." Skinny Monkey would always try a bite of anything he touched.

Zhou Chang went to the study room later. As soon as he sat down, Zhong Yu came over with Fu Ming to ask for a meeting.

"Manager Fu, you've come at the right time. We have to increase the price of our medicine, and it has to be a big increase." As soon as he saw Fu Ming, Zhou Chang thought of the most important thing.

The two were startled, but still greeted each other first.

"No need to be polite, please take a seat." Zhou Chang was very anxious, and before the two of them sat down, he said to Fu Ming again, "Manager Fu, the price of the Jade Muscle Cream will increase. It will cost three hundred taels of silver per bottle."

Fu Ming asked Zhong Yurang to sit on the good chair, and then he sat on the lame chair himself and said, "Your Majesty, the jade muscle cream only sold for ten taels of silver per bottle before. If the price increases too much all of a sudden, I'm afraid..."

"The price must be raised. It will be the only one in the country in the future. Why not raise the price? The price of this Jade Muscle Cream must be raised first." Zhou Chang couldn't wait.

"National exclusive?" Fu Ming clapped his hands, his eyes shining, "Your Majesty, I really admire you."

"So the high price is the characteristic of our Four Flavors Pharmacy. We only do business with rich people." Zhou Chang was also proud of this matter, but he caught a glimpse of Zhong Yu's frowning face from the corner of his eye. "Of course, as for the poor people, we have never made money from them. We only give and never take."

Fu Ming's face was full of joy, and he just nodded: "That's right, how could I forget, the prince said that expensiveness is the biggest advantage of our Four Flavors Pharmacy. Everyone knows that the things in the Four Flavors Pharmacy are added with precious medicinal materials, and they are all for the nobles to eat, so they must be expensive."

This was the result of Zhou Chang's "brainwashing" of Fu Ming a month ago, and it was very effective.

Zhou Chang was relieved, and told him about the job that the Imperial Study had just received. Finally, he returned to the matter of the frostbite cream: "Manager Fu, how is the purchase of medicinal materials going? You must hurry up and buy all the goods on the market first. I'm afraid we are still short of a large number of live snakes to extract enough snake oil."

Fu Ming was excited at first, but suddenly frowned: "The price of typhoid medicine has risen too fast recently, so I only stocked up a few. As for snake oil ointment, I was originally trying to buy it, but it seems that we are too late, and it is no longer available in Jindu."

"Do you know who it is?" Zhou Chang wanted to ask when he was in the imperial study just now.

Fu Ming shook his head, but immediately added: "But I just received a batch of snake oil ointment, which was sent by the young master of the Yuan family. There are as many as 3,000 bottles. So I came to ask the prince and Mr. Zhong."

"You accepted it?" Zhou Chang felt that he shouldn't accept Yuan Qi's things.

Fu Ming was still on his own question: "That person claimed to be from the Long Yuyuan family, and said that he was ordered by the young master to send this batch of snake oil cream to you, Your Majesty. However, I have never heard of Your Majesty or Mr. Zhong mention it before. Without confirmation, I naturally dare not accept it."

"You went back?" Zhou Chang suddenly felt regretful.

Fu Ming still shook his head: "The person who came insisted on not taking it back, so it is now temporarily stored in the backyard of the medicine shop."

Zhou Chang was almost certain that it was Yuan Qi who bought it: "Manager Fu, how much silver do you think it would cost to buy these 3,000 bottles of snake oil?"

Fu Ming did a simple mental calculation and said, "The minimum price should be around three to five hundred taels."

"So cheap?" Zhou Chang was a little surprised. After all, he had no idea about the market conditions.

Fu Ming also made a judgment based on his experience: "If it is the Long Yuyuan family, then they have many medical clinics under their name, such as their Four Seasons Hall, Yuchun Hall, Yuxia Hall, Yuqiu Hall, and Yudong Hall. The price they get for the snake oil ointment may be very low. And snake oil ointment is not a precious medicinal material. These three thousand bottles are worth three to five hundred taels."

So that's how it was. Zhou Chang didn't hesitate much: "Tomorrow you take 500 taels of silver from the medicine shop and send it back to the Yuan family. It will be considered as us buying this batch of snake oil ointment."

"Yes." Fu Ming agreed.

"That's not right, Your Majesty," Zhong Yu said gloomily as usual, "How can we handle such a big thing?"

Fu Ming has already started to think: "There are only two most difficult things to deal with in this matter, one is people, and the other is snakes. As for the human issue, I sent Chen Yuan to the north yesterday."

"Chen Yuan?" Zhong Yu interrupted. "As far as I know, Chen Yuan has been traveling more to the south. Since he has experience in the south, why did he go to the north?"

"He has the most experience, so he went to the north this time. The situation in the north is more complicated due to the war." Fu Ming had his considerations, but he also had to admit, "It is true that there is a shortage of manpower in the south."

The city of Jindu is actually located in the center of Linguo. The south and the north are relative, because they are divided by the Pei River. The north of the Pei River is considered the north, and Jindu is also within the north.

"What about the snake?" Zhou Chang was the most troubled. It was already late autumn and the weather suddenly turned cold. It was too late to catch it.

Fu Ming said: "If we supply the imperial court with 10,000 bottles of frostbite cream, plus the share of the four medicine shops, it would be best if we could have 10,000 bottles."

Ten thousand?

The air in the study fell into silence.

Zhou Chang gritted his teeth. He didn't want to trouble Yuan Qi, but now he had to rely on the Yuan family: "Mr. Zhong, you should go to the master's mansion in person tomorrow. I guess the Yuan family will still need help with this matter." "If life betrays me, I hope to sell it by the pound"