"Among the one hundred and eight marquises of the Eastern Kingdom, no one has ever been able to take what I, Long Juxue, desire."
"There won't be any exceptions," Long Juxue said coldly. "At least, I've never encountered one."
"Very well..." Jiang Chen smiled faintly. "Then let me congratulate you — today, you've encountered one."
He had to admit, this woman's sense of superiority was off the charts. Even when she was the one asking for a favor, she put on that lofty, condescending air. As though speaking to him, Jiang Chen, was an act of charity — a white swan graciously deigning to notice a toad.
But in Jiang Chen's eyes, such an attitude was as laughable as it could possibly be.
The daughter of the Eastern Kingdom's premier marquis? So what? Even the premier marquis himself, in Jiang Chen's previous life, wouldn't have been worthy of carrying his shoes.
Watching Jiang Chen's retreating figure as he departed decisively with the Apothecary Hall's Third Hall Master, Long Juxue lost face before a man for the first time in her life.
"Jiang Chen, I'll remember you. At the year-end Qianlong Examination's final assessment, if I, Long Juxue, let you pass smoothly, I'll take your surname — Jiang."
"I, Bai Zhanyun, will remember you too. You've got guts today. At the Qianlong Examination, I'll make you understand that the price of offending me, Bai Zhanyun, is not something your paltry Jianghan Territory can afford."
"And don't forget the Vermilion Bird Marquis's manor, and the Yanmen Marquis's manor!"
These fellows had tried to ingratiate themselves but failed, and resentment was festering inside them. Now that they'd caught Jiang Chen — an easy target — were they going to hold back?
Naturally, Jiang Chen didn't take such threats too seriously. What amused him inwardly was how each of them had eagerly announced their names and titles.
"All of you are in such a hurry to declare who you are. Good — saves me the trouble of matching faces to names later. White
Under normal circumstances, the Third Hall Master would never have involved himself in the feuds between marquises.
But this time, he had no choice. He had to back Jiang Chen.
When
Otherwise, offending Jiang Chen would mean losing the Divine Show Creation Pill, and losing a business deal of staggering proportions.
This kind of opportunity was not something the heirs of a few marquises could compare to.
Besides, those marquis heirs had no reason to direct their fury at the Apothecary Hall. They would simply choose the seemingly weaker Jiang Chen as their outlet.
As for how Jiang Chen would handle it, that was not the Third Hall Master's concern. What concerned him was making the most of the situation at hand.
The negotiations went smoothly. The contract had been drafted the previous day. After Jiang Chen reviewed it, he offered a few suggestions on minor details, then sent Jiang Zheng to sign.
Such trifling matters were beneath a young marquis of his stature — he naturally wouldn't handle them personally.
Of course, Jiang Chen couldn't place complete trust in the Apothecary Hall either. The two most critical steps he still kept under his own control.
He would never hand over all his secret formulas and alchemical insights in one go.
If the Apothecary Hall obtained every secret recipe and refinement technique and harbored ill intentions, that was a risk he couldn't afford to ignore.
The contract was thus finalized amicably. Since Jiang Chen still controlled the key stages, the stipulation was simple: he would visit the Apothecary Hall once during odd-numbered months and twice during even-numbered months.
In the world of martial artists, pills were extraordinarily precious. A single ordinary healing pill could sell for one or two thousand silver taels; a slightly higher-grade one would go for three to five thousand.
The Divine Show Creation Pill, with its wondrous transformative properties, was priced between eight thousand and ten thousand taels. Targeting the premium market, it was absolutely certain to find eager buyers.
Even producing just a hundred pills per month would amount to millions in revenue. An annual total would represent a market worth tens of millions.
And that was an absolutely conservative estimate.
Once the markets of the Sixteen Surrounding Kingdoms opened up and production expanded to a thousand — or even ten thousand pills per month? Given the purchasing capacity of the Sixteen Surrounding Kingdoms, even monthly output of ten thousand pills would fall far short of demand.
Calculating it this way, one could well imagine the sheer size of this market.
And it was easy to understand why the Third Hall Master was so eager.
After signing the contract, the Third Hall Master proposed a dinner at the Pine and Crane Tower, but Jiang Chen politely declined. The key to their partnership was discretion — he had no intention of making a spectacle of it across the entire city.
Moreover, his relationship with the Apothecary Hall was strictly professional. They weren't close enough to warrant clinking glasses over a feast.
The Third Hall Master courteously saw Jiang Chen out the door, accompanied by two other elders, including Elder Lan.
Elder Lan still harbored some prejudice against Jiang Chen, and her expression was rather stiff.
Jiang Chen was well aware of this. He thought to himself that this narrow-minded woman had better not cause problems for him down the line — a word of caution might be in order.
After a moment's thought, Jiang Chen suddenly smiled. "Third Hall Master, if we didn't have this partnership today, I imagine you wouldn't have sold me that Dragon Bone Supreme Yang Herb, would you?"