Chapter 528: Gu Shuo Is Truly Audacious
"You... heard that?"
Dean Chen was taken aback. ’How loud must the Emperor have been for a little girl like her to hear him?’
"Mhm, I have very sensitive ears." Ye Qianning tugged on her little ear.
Dean Chen couldn’t help but take another look at her. Every time he chatted with his little apprentice, he discovered some new, amazing talent of hers. She was a constant source of surprise.
"The business in Nanyuan is something Boss Gu and I are planning. We’ll monopolize Nanyuan’s seafood and promote agriculture there." Ye Qianning explained her plan for the Nanyuan collaboration to Dean Chen.
Dean Chen listened, captivated. The collaboration would be nothing but beneficial for Nanyuan. He was sure that if the little girl said certain crops were suitable for Nanyuan’s soil, there would definitely be a harvest. As for the seafood, a price of twenty copper coins was already high.
The Nanyuan emperor still wanted to raise the price, but if it fell back to eight copper coins, he would have only himself to blame.
Although the Nanyuan emperor wouldn’t agree to a price of eight copper coins right away, Dean Chen figured that within half a year, the emperor would come begging to cooperate.
If the people of Nanyuan didn’t make money over the summer, the winter would be very difficult to get through.
"The annual amount of seafood from Nanyuan is astonishing. If you monopolize it, where will you sell it all?"
"Master, what did you think of all the different seafood dishes you had the day before yesterday?" Ye Qianning asked.
Dean Chen savored the memory and nodded. "It was the best seafood I have ever eaten."
"What you ate, Master, was just the tip of the iceberg. If we use seafood from Nanyuan as the ingredients, the flavor will be even better. When the time comes, we’ll open a chain of restaurants across the four nations, and on top of that, we’ll open up sales channels for the seafood. We won’t have to worry about making money."
"I have been to Nanyuan before. Their seafood is indeed better than Beili’s, but the journey is just too long. No one would travel that far just to buy seafood. If there are no problems with transportation, I think this business is feasible." Dean Chen was still savoring the memory of those flavors.
Even people who didn’t normally like seafood wouldn’t be able to resist such novel preparations and flavors.
"Transportation is still in the planning stages. At this point, even if this business deal succeeds, it will be a year or two from now. We’re not in a hurry; it still requires detailed planning." With the Beili Emperor’s interference, the Nanyuan collaboration would take at least two years at the earliest.
Dean Chen nodded slightly, then suddenly remembered something. "The Emperor knows about the Nanyuan business too? Did you two reveal it? Or did you make an agreement with him?"
"It’s all Gu Shuo’s doing."
"What do you mean? The Emperor asked me some questions about Nanyuan today. He’s also preparing to send people to Nanyuan to investigate the situation. It seems he’s also planning to cooperate with them."
"The Emperor is a very suspicious man. When Gu Shuo resigned as an Imperial Merchant and suddenly got involved in other businesses, it made him suspicious. Gu Shuo cryptically revealed the matter of cooperating with Nanyuan, which is why the Emperor is sending people to investigate. He must think there’s some huge profit to be made; otherwise, who would just throw money away like that?" Ye Qianning had anticipated the Emperor would make a move.
If she wasn’t mistaken, the Beili Emperor would investigate and then try to snatch the business deal right out from under Gu Shuo.
"Then what about your collaboration with Nanyuan?" Dean Chen didn’t quite understand business.
"Let him snatch it. We’ll see how long he can keep up a business that just burns through money. Once he falls flat on his face, he won’t be so quick to suspect others. He can only blame his own stupidity and incompetence."
’What a fox Gu Shuo is,’ Ye Qianning marveled. ’He even dares to plot against the Emperor.’
If the Beili Emperor were to partner with Nanyuan, he would surely build a proper road for transport. By the time they took over, it would save them a great deal of trouble.
Having someone else test the waters and build the road first would save them money and effort. They couldn’t be happier to see the Emperor wade into these muddy waters.
Dean Chen gradually began to understand the scheme, clicking his tongue. "Gu Shuo really is audacious."