Demon Lord and His Unknown Child With the Empress

Chapter 69
I Have a Plan!

A few days later, in Nanli City

Snowflakes fell, dancing in the air.

After a brief pause, the sky once again began to shower the city with goose feather-like snow.

Within Nanli City, peace and tranquility prevailed, and the streets were even more bustling and lively than usual.

This was because, in a short while, it would be the annual festival of “Auspicious Snow Heralds a Bountiful Year, Welcoming the New Spring.”

Households throughout the streets were busy preparing for the New Year, and windows on the surrounding buildings were adorned with festive paper cuttings.

Bright red lanterns hung high, decorating every street and alley.

Stalls and shops selling New Year goods could be seen everywhere.

Even cultivators who had lived in Nanli City for a long time couldn’t help but be infected by the festive atmosphere of the mortal world.

The entire city was filled with a joyous and celebratory ambiance.

However, amidst this festive cheer, only the Jiang family’s residence remained gloomy and oppressive.

A few days ago, the Qi family suddenly started purchasing various spirit herbs and medicinal ingredients in large quantities within the city, and at exorbitant prices.

Among the acquired spirit herbs and medicinal ingredients were many that were essentially worthless and had no practical use.

Many cultivators and medicine merchants sold almost all of their stock to the Qi family at high prices.

Jiang Zhen’s sharp business sense detected something unusual about the Qi family’s massive acquisition of spirit herbs and medicinal ingredients.

He gathered many pill-refining cultivators overnight to study the herbs the Qi family had purchased, but they couldn’t figure out what new pill the Qi family was trying to develop.

It was no wonder the Jiang family couldn’t figure it out.

The Immortal Refining Pill formula Ning Yechen had given to the Qi family was developed by himself; it simply didn’t exist in any records.

And Qi Rongchang of the Qi family was also very shrewd.

He knew the Jiang family would definitely notice something, so he deliberately mixed in many spirit herbs and medicinal ingredients that weren’t part of the formula during the large-scale acquisition.

Even if the Jiang family spent their entire lives researching, they wouldn’t be able to figure it out.

At this moment, inside the Jiang family’s residence, Jiang Zhen sat in the main hall, his brows furrowed, his hand on his forehead, his face etched with exhaustion.

With the Treasure Merchant Alliance as a witness, he simply couldn’t refuse to hand over the jurisdiction of the various streets in Nanli City to the Qi family.

Once the Qi family gained control of the streets, they immediately began to suppress his Jiang family’s business relentlessly!

Many of his subordinate businesses had already switched sides and joined the Qi family!

In order to cope with the Qi family’s suppression, he had been overwhelmed and exhausted in recent days.

Apart from a few managers and his younger brother, Jiang Ming, the rest of his family members were completely useless!

Especially his son, Jiang Li, who had always been known for his frivolous and indulgent lifestyle and had absolutely no talent for business!

Now that his lower body was crippled, all he did was hide at home, throwing tantrums and smashing things, showing no ambition whatsoever!

If it weren’t for the fact that Jiang Li was his only son, he would have wanted to kick him out of the Jiang family!

The mysterious person who had attacked Jiang Li and killed Jiang Gan was still nowhere to be found…

The Jiang family had no idea when they had offended such a person, nor whether this person would strike again…

After Chen Rou’s death, Jiang Zhen and the rest of the Jiang family had been living in constant fear.

They were afraid that they might be the next Jiang Li or Jiang Gan…

This mental torment had left everyone in the Jiang family physically and mentally exhausted.

One problem hadn’t been resolved, and now another one was piled on top. Jiang Zhen felt nothing but annoyance and a headache.

“Big Brother.”

Just then, Jiang Ming entered the main hall and greeted Jiang Zhen.

During this time, he had been in charge of recruiting alchemists within the Jiang family to research the Qi family’s Meridian Healing Elixir and the spirit herbs they had acquired.

At the same time, he had also been responsible for investigating the murderer of his son, Jiang Gan.

Seeing Jiang Ming enter, Jiang Zhen’s face showed a glimmer of hope, and he quickly asked, “You’re here, how did it go?”

“Were you able to decipher the Qi family’s pill formula?”

Jiang Ming slowly shook his head and said with regret, “No…”

“The spirit herbs and medicinal ingredients the Qi family acquired are numerous and too strange.”

“I’ve already had over a dozen alchemists research them together, but we still can’t figure out the pill formula the Qi family possesses…”

Hearing this, Jiang Zhen leaned back in his chair in disappointment, reaching out to rub his temples.

“If there are no results, then why did you come to me?”

“The Qi family sent someone again…”

“They said they want to buy the spirit herbs and medicinal ingredients in our Jiang family’s possession at ten times the market price.”

Jiang Ming stepped forward and took out the list of medicinal ingredients provided by the Qi family from his pocket, handing it to Jiang Zhen.

Jiang Zhen didn’t even glance at it. He snatched the list, tore it into shreds, and roared in anger, “Tell the Qi family to get lost!”

“Or else I’ll chop off his head and send it back to them!”

“Even if the herbs rot in our warehouse, the Jiang family will never sell them to the Qi family!”

Jiang Ming stood to the side, pondered for a moment, then stepped forward to advise.

“Big Brother, why don’t we raise the price a bit more and sell those herbs to the Qi family?”

“You want me to sell those herbs to the Qi family?”

Jiang Zhen glared at Jiang Ming and questioned him sharply.

Jiang Ming nodded and said with a serious expression, “Big Brother, you know that we’re already in debt…”

The Jiang family’s main business relied on selling the Fire Lotus Elixir at high prices.

Now that the Qi family’s Contests of Commerce controlled the lifeline of Nanli City’s businesses, the Jiang family could no longer suppress the prices of the Fire Lotus Elixir’s ingredients as they had done before.

The cost of refining the Fire Lotus Elixir had increased significantly, while their sales channels had decreased.

A while ago, they had also ordered a large quantity of Fire Lotus Elixir ingredients from various places, using a credit system to repay a portion of the debt each month.

Furthermore, they had to pay a hefty sum of spirit stones to the Sacred Lotus Sect every month.

The Jiang family might seem wealthy, but their cash flow was enormous, and the funds they actually had on hand were limited.

Due to the Qi family’s suppression, next month’s funds wouldn’t be enough to repay their previous debts…

If businesses couldn’t pay their debts on time, their reputation would be affected.

Once their reputation is affected, it will be difficult to collaborate with other businesses in the future!

Jiang Zhen understood this, which made his headache even worse.

He had initially thought that the Jiang family would surely win the Contests of Commerce competition, so he had increased their orders for Fire Lotus Elixir ingredients, even resorting to credit purchases.

As long as they won the competition and the Jiang family controlled all the businesses and shops in Nanli City, the funding gap could be quickly filled.

However, he never expected to lose…

This was what led to the Jiang family’s current predicament.

“Sigh, tell me your plan.”

“Since you’re suggesting I sell those herbs, you must have a plan, right?”

Jiang Zhen sighed and looked at Jiang Ming, asking.

This younger brother of his was still quite astute.

The Jiang family had reached its current state thanks to the efforts of the two brothers.

It was just a pity that their sons were both so useless…

Jiang Ming smiled faintly and shared his thoughts, “Big Brother, I have a plan!”

“The herbs the Qi family is acquiring are most likely for refining that Meridian Healing Elixir.”

“The Meridian Healing Elixir isn’t a body tempering liquid, so it basically won’t affect our Jiang family’s business.”

“We can take this opportunity to raise the prices and sell the herbs to the Qi family, then ramp up the production of Fire Lotus Elixir!”

“When the time comes, selling this batch of Fire Lotus Elixir at a high price will be enough to fill the funding gap for our Jiang family!”

“Then, Nanli City will still belong to our Jiang family!”