Chapter 890 - Who Allowed You To Say No?
Chapter 890: Who Allowed You To Say No?
Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
In merely one night, all the bandits around Yun An City were destroyed. The village folks had no idea what had happened, but they heard from the slaves from aristocratic families that the Azure Dragon Village had taken control of each and every mountain in the region.
Even fewer people were aware that the leader of Wu Wei Army, Ye Xiaoming, was somehow panic-stricken after the fall of the dozen of mountain villages.
It was suspected that Ye Xiaoming had probably had a fight with the new leader of Azure Dragon Village and failed!
This was pretty scary. How could Ye Xiaoming, a Rank Two, have possibly lost? How strong was the Azure Dragon?
However, Ye Xiaoming had remained tight-lipped since his return. He turned down whoever was interested in the gossip, be it the slave owners or the aristocrats. It was later revealed that Ye Xiaoming once sent his men outside the walls and it was believed that he had tried to reach out for help. Nonetheless, none of those who had sneaked out of town managed to return in one piece.
All of a sudden, “Azure Dragon Village” became a taboo among the aristocrats. No one was willing to take risks nor make rash action. Now, the wisest move was to stay put.
At this moment, any movement from the Wu Wei Army or Azure Dragon Village would deal a severe impact on Yun An City.
Meanwhile, folks at Azure Dragon Village were kept busy as well. Under Li Heitan’s lead, their carriages had made multiple trips to Yun An City with countless boxes of soap bars…
In fact, many shop owners were scared that they would be exhorted again. Soon, however, they heard the rumor that Azure Dragon Village had welcomed in a new leader.
Traditionally, people had to surrender protection fees to the new leader and whoever refused to do so would be slaughtered in a show of the leader’s absolute power.
Moreover, the true abilities of Azure Dragon Village nowadays were a mystery to the outside people. No one knew what they would do to the rest.
Afterwards, they were gradually convinced that the new Azure Dragon Village was truly a bunch of businessmen…
Li Heitan led his men and carried the soap into the town. Then, he started promoting his products to the shop owners, “Our soap is a value buy. My boss said that it’s a daily necessity and that you will never regret buying it.”
Lu Shu was very confident in selling his items because all human beings had the desire for a convenient and cozy life. He was certain that he would be able to secure his customers once they tried his soap.
This was in line with the need of the contemporary times. Hence, Lu Shu knew that he would reap rich profits in the near future.
Over time, the soap caught the interest of the upper-class people, who wanted to figure out what the hell Azure Dragon Village was up to. They were wary that it might have been a trap.
Soon, they realized that… it really was a useful product!
However, the Azure Dragon soap bars were priced beyond the financial reach of most commoners. In seven days, soap had become a fashion among the aristocrats and slave owners as they discovered its special cleansing effects.
Gone were the days when people had to wash their hair by rubbing leaves on their scalps. Now, Yun An City had officially entered the Age of Soap.
Moreover, the selling of the products had been further facilitated in the form of protection fee collection by Azure Dragon Village…
The aristocrats were rather amazed as well. In the past, they had seen similar incidents where bandits coerced them for money by forcefully selling items. But what they sold were useless things like stones and branches.
Hence, it was their first time to deal with serious, entrepreneurial bandits…
In the blink of an eye, half a month had passed. Now that people had gotten accustomed to the days infiltrated by Azure Dragon soaps, they had also come to realize that Azure Dragon Village was so kind that they would not force the commoners into buying from them.
All of a sudden, the town folks had developed a good disposition towards the Azure Dragon Village and some of them even believed that they were a good-natured gang. Then, they were told that the slogan on their flag had changed to “Escape Poverty and Make a Fortune” from their original “Right wrongs in accordance with Heaven’s decree”…
During that period of time, people who went out of the city would be blocked by Azure Dragon Village people on their way home. When they told their friends about their experience, the listeners would ask with deep concern, “Did the Azure Dragon people hurt you?”
In the past, many of them had experienced being threatened by bandits in the wild and some of them had even lost their loved ones during the conflict.
However, the speaker replied in a light tone, “They didn’t rob me. Surprisingly, they gave me a paper-wrapped soap bar and asked me to bring it to my family. But the condition was that I have to tell my relatives that the soap was made in Azure Dragon Village…”
All of the listeners drew a startled breath. That did not sound like a bandits’ doing at all!
In fact, people of Azure Dragon Village had the best idea of just how profitable their new business was. The revenue they had earned over the past two weeks was equivalent to the annual total amount in the past. This was because last time they had to split their earnings with over ten other clans, but now all of the others had been wiped out by them. Besides the 10% that had to be surrendered to Ye Xiaoming, the leader of Wu Wei Army, the rest was all theirs.
Nonetheless, Lu Shu was still not satisfied with their sales record. In addition to Li Heitan’s team, who had to deliver the goods to the city, Lu Shu had assigned everybody else to be soap manufacturers.
To his ambition, Yun An City was too small.
Unlike the metropolises on Earth, the population in Yun An City was probably less than a hundred thousand. Certainly, though, it was already impressive that they had so many people considering how they had been tortured by the Wu Wei Army for years.
However, out of the tens of thousands of people, not many could actually afford their soap. Lu Shu did not want to rob the folks either because he understood their plight.
As a result, he cast his gaze on the outside market.
Would he become a millionaire when everybody in the entire Luniverse started using his soap? It would take the people there a few years to even figure out the mechanism behind soap making, since science practically did not exist in this age!
Under Lu Shu’s leadership, Azure Dragon Village had stopped their malicious deeds in the past. They could not be too nice, though, because that would attract bullies in this chaotic world.
Lu Shu realized that he had been too rigid at the start. He once considered slowly assimilating himself into the Luniverse, but then he learned that he would be accepted with a little aggressiveness… There was hardly any peace in this world and people were not as paranoid as he imagined.
A new month had come. Li Heitan led his men to Lin Pawn Shop to collect protection fees. When he arrived, the shop owner welcomed them with a huge smile on his face. “Welcome, gentlemen. Recently I’ve been hearing stories about the good things Azure Dragon Village has done. You are not like bandits at all.”
Li Heitan glanced at him in impatience. “Save the bullshit. I brought some new soap. Now pay me the money.”
Stumped, Lin Gui squeezed out a smile. “Well, we have not sold out the box you gave me last time. So we are not buying this time.”
Li Heitan glimpsed at him and suddenly drew out his broadsword. “Not buying? Who allowed you to say no?”
Lin Gui was speechless.
“From Lin Gui’s distress, +666!”