Free Web NovelChapter 15: Chapter 9: Selling Medicine
At the entrance to the Black Market, the same burly, bearded man stood guard. "One large coin to enter!"
Fang Rui had frequented the Black Market quite a bit lately and had overheard that this man’s name was Yuan Da, nicknamed the ’Fast Swordman’.
"Lord Yuan,"
Fang Rui subtly glanced at the Horizontal Saber beside the man and said with a placating smile, "I’d like to rent a spot to do some business today. I hope you can help me with the arrangements."
"A shop or a stall?" Yuan Da asked, his eyelids drooping.
"Just a stall will be fine."
"The stall fee is two large coins for the night."
Fang Rui paid the entrance fee and stall fee, a total of three large coins. He received a palm-sized square token inscribed with ’Geng-Xin 29’ and was then sent on his way inside.
Fang Baicao had given him some pointers, and adding that to his own observations over the past few days, Fang Rui knew the procedure. He entered the Black Market, found the spot corresponding to his token, and placed it in a conspicuous place for the market patrols to inspect.
Beside the spot stood a larger wooden sign, on which he could write the names of the goods he was selling.
Illiterate vendors often had to ask for help with this, forcing them to put on a fawning smile and offer a little something in return.
Fang Rui came from a family of doctors and was naturally literate, so he had no such need.
He wrote on the wooden sign: "Hemostatic Powder—Stops Bleeding; Nourishing Medicine—Cools the Body." Then, he took out the packets of medicinal powder and arranged them in front of him.
Pre-packaged medicine was still quite a novelty, and it soon attracted a few literate passersby who stopped to take a look.
Seeing he had potential customers, Fang Rui began his sales pitch. "I have two types of pre-packaged medicine. One is ’Hemostatic Powder.’ When you’re injured, just sprinkle the powder on the wound to stop the bleeding. The other is ’Nourishing Medicine.’ Dissolve it in hot water and drink it to cool your system and strengthen your body."
"With these packets, you don’t need to go to an apothecary when the need arises; you can treat yourself. It’s quick and convenient... and only two large coins per dose."
The onlookers weren’t fools and quickly understood the convenience of pre-packaged medicine. But it was a new product, so they just looked at one another, each waiting for someone else to be the first to try it.
Just then, a Gebu Masked man with triangular eyes spoke up. "Too expensive! The ingredients for these packets probably cost you less than one large coin, don’t they? How about one large coin each? I’ll buy a bunch."
"You must be joking, sir."
Fang Rui shook his head. "The cost of ingredients is one thing, but a jumble of raw herbs is useless to you, isn’t it? The real value is in the secret formula."
"Besides, don’t you have to pay a consultation fee at an apothecary? All in all, that’s more expensive than my pre-packaged medicine."
"Not to mention the convenience of having it ready to use at a moment’s notice."
He hadn’t set the price lightly; it was carefully calculated to ensure he made a profit while still offering customers a good deal—a win-win.
Hearing Fang Rui’s explanation, the onlookers nodded to themselves. It made sense, and many were tempted, but still, no one rushed to buy.
After all, the man with the triangular eyes was still there. What if he managed to haggle the price down?
The man with the triangular eyes was prideful, and with so many people watching, he was beginning to lose face. "Come on, young sir, sell it for cheaper. Look at everyone waiting. The Black Market has its rules, but things aren’t so peaceful on the outside."
The words carried a veiled threat.
Fang Rui shot the man a look but didn’t say a word.
’What a weakling. If he dares to try anything, I’ll just see him off.’
This dismissive refusal to even argue was a greater insult to the man with the triangular eyes. The mocking, teasing, and gawking looks from the crowd made his face burn with humiliation, and he seethed with anger.
But this was the Black Market. How could he dare to start a fight?
The man with the triangular eyes wasn’t a fool. He took a deep breath to calm himself. Then, with a sly glint in his eyes, he suddenly said, "You can talk up these packets all you want, but since no one has tried them, who knows if they actually work?"
"What if you’re just trying to trick us with some worthless junk? It’d be one thing if it’s simply useless, but what if using it causes some other problem? Who are we supposed to complain to then?"
He had a point!
His words were a wake-up call to the others, and they fell into hesitation.
The Black Market only provided a venue for trade; it didn’t guarantee the authenticity or quality of the goods. Everything depended on the buyer’s own judgment—profit and loss were their own responsibility.
If it was just as the man with the triangular eyes said—useless would be one thing, but if it caused a problem that cost them their lives, that would be a catastrophic loss!
"What do you propose?" Fang Rui asked, his voice calm and unruffled.
"Simple!"
A vicious glint flashed in the triangular-eyed man’s eyes as he said aggressively, "We can forget about that so-called ’Nourishing Medicine’ for cooling the body, but the ’Hemostatic Powder’ is something we can test right now."
"Cut yourself, then use your own ’Hemostatic Powder’ so we can all see how well it works. Otherwise, how can we trust it?"
His true intentions were finally revealed. This was a clear provocation!
"Everyone, tell me, doesn’t that make sense?" the man with the triangular eyes incited the crowd.
The crowd, never one to shy away from a good spectacle, began to join in the jeering.
"Yeah!"
"Do it!"
"I’ll buy it if you test it!"
...
Fang Rui said nothing, just stared coldly at Three Eyes. He held the man’s gaze until he began to grow uneasy, then finally said, "Fine."
With that, he pulled a pair of scissors from his robes.
—Mrs. Xue of the Fang Family had made him bring them for self-defense. In truth, ordinary scissors were useless to an Entry Grade Martial Artist, but that didn’t stop him from accepting her kind gesture.
"Watch closely."
Fang Rui pulled the scissors apart and slashed forcefully at the back of his hand with one of the blades.
’Of course, he wasn’t stupid enough to actually stab himself. All he needed to do was prove the Hemostatic Powder worked.’
’A small cut would be more than enough.’
But then, an awkward scene unfolded.
SCREEE!
Amid a sound that set everyone’s teeth on edge, the scissor blade merely left a white scratch on the back of Fang Rui’s hand. It hadn’t broken the skin at all.
"An Entry Grade Martial Artist?!" someone exclaimed in shock.
At this sight, the jeering mob fell silent. The entire area quieted down, and their expressions were clearly filled with fear.
In this world, strength was reason and fists were justice. An Entry Grade Martial Artist might be nothing in the eyes of Officials and wealthy clans, but they were more than enough to intimidate common folk.
Three Eyes’s pupils shrank. He backed away, hands outstretched, and took advantage of the crowd’s shock to slip away unnoticed. He scurried to the back of the throng and then fled in disgrace.
He was faster than a rabbit, as if something was chasing him.
Clearly, he was terrified that Fang Rui would hold a grudge and ambush him outside the Black Market!
How ironic. The same threat Three Eyes had used against Fang Rui was now turned back on him.
He finally understood why Fang Rui had been so dismissive of his threats.
It was all a matter of strength.
’Sure enough, it’s human nature to fear the strong and bully the weak!’
Fang Rui watched the crowd’s reaction. His face remained impassive, but his mind was turning.
He had deliberately revealed the strength of an Entry Grade Martial Artist for this exact purpose: intimidation!
It went back to the old saying: the scope of your ambition is limited by your power. An ordinary person carrying even a few dozen large coins might be targeted, whereas an Entry Grade Martial Artist could protect a business that earned three to five silver a month.
—No one would make a move for that amount, because the risk wasn’t worth the reward.
Of course, if the profits were higher—say, a business earning ten or twenty taels a month—then even an Entry Grade Martial Artist would likely attract someone desperate enough to take the risk.
After subtracting the cost of ingredients, the entrance fee, and the stall fee, Fang Rui’s pre-packaged medicine business netted a profit of about seven or eight large coins a day. This amounted to nearly two taels of silver a month, an amount he could still protect. (The exchange rate between silver and large coins isn’t fixed; it depends on factors like the purity of the silver and market conditions, but it’s roughly 1 to 100-plus.)
This level of income was not even close to the limit of what his revealed Ninth Grade strength could protect.
Besides, Fang Rui was still holding back. His true combat prowess was that of an Eighth Grade Martial Artist, yet he had only revealed the strength of a Ninth Grade, leaving himself a safety margin.
This was a trick he’d learned from a character in a novel from his past life—a ’Cautious Old Devil’ type. The principle was: possess ten parts of strength, reveal seven, and only take on tasks that require three.
By acting this way, he was far less likely to be coveted by others. And even if the unexpected happened, he would still have a trump card left to play to turn the situation around. ƒreeωebnovel.ƈom
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