Chapter 495: Chapter 384: Remuneration
Reward!
Upon hearing this word, Abbas instinctively bristled. He handed the Fire Eye Giant Diamond off to a nearby steward who immediately left to place it in a very secure location.
"What kind of reward do you want?" Abbas asked threateningly.
In reality, Abbas had already promised to compensate heavily for the diamond. But now he seemed hesitant to honor the agreement.
But Long Yi wasn’t bothered, chuckling lightly.
"Dear Mr. Abbas, in truth, you don’t need to pay a cent for this Fire Eye Giant Diamond," he said.
"Oh?"
Upon hearing Abbas would not need to part with his money, his smile grew warmer. Somehow he adored those who neither sought nor craved money!
"Actually, Mr. Abbas, have a look at my face. Could you discern something?" asked Long Yi.
"Face?"
It was only then that Abbas truly looked at Long Yi. Initially, Long Yi, the tall man, strained his eyes to meet Abbas’. Besides, he rarely ever gave people his full attention. He didn’t care what Long Yi looked like. But upon close inspection, he was struck by the uncanny resemblance Long Yi bore to the Black family!
"Do you have royal bloodline?" Abbas asked.
"Your observation has always been precise, sir. I am a foreigner, my name’s Luo Yi. As for my surname, let’s not concern ourselves with that," replied Long Yi, lowering his head.
The royal family, although enormous, do not regard each of its members as true royalty. Illegitimate children, for instance, would usually be paid hush money and sent to live peacefully somewhere in the periphery, never to return. Unfortunate as it is, it’s not something unheard-of.
"Well, well, well... Turns out you’re one of us after all!" Abbas thought for a second, his mind racing.
"Indeed. In fact, my wife and I have lived for many years on the border of the White Dragon Empire and the Green Dragon Empire, eking out our modest existence. One day, we stumbled upon a dying fool attempting to flee the border with a horde of jewelry. Unfortunately for him, he got swept away by the tail of Long Yi’s gigantic dragon and landed right in front of us. Terrified as we were, we were equally relieved when he took the man and left the jewelry bag be. Oblivious to him, we opened the bag and...
"And there in the bag lay my precious Fire Eye Giant Diamond!" Abbas chuckled, his eyes gleaming with greed.
"Exactly, so we decided to return home immediately. Thanks to your name, we could bring your precious diamond to you safely," Long Yi said, fighting the urge to gag as he laid it on thick.
"Ha! Excellent! Absolutely excellent!" Abbas laughed uproariously, then his smile suddenly vanished, "Now spit it out, what do you want?"
Darn it, so capricious.
Long Yi scratched his head, then replied in a flattering tone, "To be honest, we’ve been on the road for quite a while. After so many years in this forsaken borderland, we wish for nothing more than to acquire a spot for us within the Imperial City. Eh... How about it...?
Abbas couldn’t help but laugh uproariously.
Nice! He liked those with ambition, but more importantly, those who didn’t ask for money!
"Bah ha ha! No problem at all! You’ve done me such a big favor, now it’s my turn to return the favor. I just had a shopkeeper brutally executed for overstepping his bounds yesterday. I bequeath his shop to you. My steward shall draw up the deed, you can go right now and take over!"
Of course, Long Yi showered him with gratitude. Yet just before leaving, he approached Abbas once more.
"Um....Mr. Abbas, please do me a favor and keep our stories to yourself. We are foreigners, and we just came back from the White Dragon Empire. If word gets out..."
"Ha ha, don’t worry, is there anyone in this Imperial City who I, Abbas, cannot handle?"
When Long Yi left Abbas’s mansion, he had a handful of documents in hand. Deeds for land, houses, and special business rights in the Black Dragon Empire, everything he needed to live a good life here, at least for a little while - as long as nobody checked his status.
"He really is cunning, nearly didn’t fool him!" Long Yi heaved a sigh of relief as he left the gate.
"People can’t survive in this place for nearly a hundred years by being foolish. It’s only possible for a cunning person." Ai Lin added.
"Yeah, luckily our bet paid off." Long Yi laughed.
Deceiving a cunning old fox wasn’t easy, especially with an unreliable story. But, Long Yi had Little Zi.
Perhaps Little Zi would be exposed if she used her psychic magic in the streets of the Imperial City, but not in here, because this was where Abbas reigned. Despite his cunning nature, Abbas was just like all the nobles, incredibly arrogant. He wouldn’t allow himself to be boxed in with fear. This was why even though the room was filled with heavily guarded warriors, it was empty inside.
And just like that, things became easier.
Long Yi continuously sent Abbas psychic suggestions that were precisely limited in range. These suggestions, layered within Long Yi’s gaze, allowed Abbas to unconsciously conjure reasonable explanations for any questionable things Long Yi said, which he then firmly believed with unwavering conviction. The fact that these explanations were conceived by Abbas himself, rather than being introduced through magic, meant that there were no detectable traces of psychic influence, even under post-event scrutiny.
This was why Long Yi asked Abbas to look closely at his face - not to confirm his appearance, but to stare into his eyes!
Then, all of this led to their current situation.
"What a large store," Long Yi exclaimed.
The store in front of them was not small, roughly the size of a basketball court. It was quite a testament to Abbas’s robustness to own such a large store in the Imperial City, where land prices were notoriously high.
"But it’s just a grocery store," said Little Zi.
"Grocers can be targeted too. This meatball is truly a maniac," Ai Lin said.
"Much more of a maniac than you think," the invisible Suolin whispered.
"Are you kidding?" Long Yi glanced at the air next to him.
"Abbas’ desire for money far exceeds your imagination. In his eyes, all the money here belongs to him. If anyone doesn’t work with devotion, it is taken as an attack on his wealth, and he will cut them down. In fact, he has killed owners, staff, and even laborers who were temporarily carrying goods for him," Suolin said.
Before coming to the Black Dragon Empire, Long Yi had heard some stories about Abbas from Suolin, but this part had never been covered.
"Well, we are just unfortunate and honest people. At least the great Master Abbas might spare us for a few more days since we are new here!" Long Yi said, laughing.
In essence, this grocery store stemmed from Abbas’s insatiable greed because there was another very successful grocery store nearby. Abbas thought all the money in the world was his, and anyone making money was essentially robbing him. He, therefore, opened another grocery store here. It was bigger, stocked more goods, and offered even cheaper prices. But it just didn’t sell as well.
Abbas blamed it on the bakery owner, according to him, this was the result of not putting the heart into it.
Then, it was Long Yi’s turn to step in.
The appearance of a new owner, Long Yi, did not bring any joy to the staff here. In fact, the atmosphere here was completely dead.
"A grocery store is a place to sell miscellaneous goods. Most people who deal with it are ordinary folk. With such an environment, I wouldn’t even want to buy anything here," Long Yi said, looking around.
"So, what do we do? It would be great if Wesley were here," Ai Lin said, feeling that her intelligence wasn’t being put to good use.
"Well, since we plan to play long-term, the first thing is to make money!"
Long Yi laughed.
He had, after all, experienced numerous modern business practices. Even if he never tried them personally, he could still mimic them.
"Throw away all the expired food in the store, and give all the soon-to-expire, but still edible, goods to the poor in the city. Drag these dirty, black shelves out and paint them with gold. This room is too dim, make sure a long-lasting light is installed every two meters! Arrange the shelves in the middle, with a payment area at the front. Right, fire all these salespeople and replace them with young and beautiful girls. They should have sweet smiles. I will train them personally!"
Flyers were distributed throughout the Black Dragon Empire.
A week later, the remodeled super grocery store reopened, with Abbas himself cutting the ribbon.
The bright and open space, unique self-selection shopping method, young and attractive female guides in short skirts justified the slightly higher prices.
On the first day of opening, customers rushed in and swiftly emptied the shelves.
The income of just one day exceeded half of the total earnings of the original grocery store since its opening!
Abbas stared, wide-eyed, as money kept piling up in the cash box, the tinkling sound making him feel engulfed in happiness!
I’ve struck gold! These seven words occupied Abbas’s mind. This outsider named Luo Yi actually has such amazing business talent!
The buying frenzy continued for three days non-stop! Each day, Long Yi would hand over the net profit, deducted from the cost of goods, to Abbas!
After three days of this, Abbas was so moved that he was on the verge of tears! Oh heavens, why didn’t I meet this child sooner! What a considerate good child! (To be continued. If you like this work, please vote for it on qidian.com, or subscribe on m.qidian.com for mobile users. Your support is my greatest motivation.)
