Chapter 57: Competition (2/2)

The man even looked like a hard mountain rock. He stood there like a protrusion, gazing directly at Su Chen.

He said timidly with some fear, “Sorry…… I do not have money……”

“If you don’t have money, why eat?”

He weakly replied, “I was hungry.”

Su Chen sized up the big man in front of him.

His appearance was very similar to that of humans. However, his forehead was particularly wide, and he did not have any eyebrows or facial hair, and his skin was a greyish-white. He was very representative of what a Mountain Race individual looked like, and that was what distinguished them from mankind.

“Since that’s the case, why didn’t you find a place to work?”

The Mountain man’s face revealed a trace of sorrow and anger. “They…… don’t let me work.”

“Don’t let you work?” Su Chen was quite surprised.

The Mountain Race were particular good at enduring hardships, and their strength was also great. They made extremely good slaves. Although they were slightly stupid, as long as one was patient they could still be taught. They ate more than most people, but that wasn’t a problem. No matter how much they ate, it was better than three Origin Qi Scholars who ate similar amounts, wasn’t it?

Because of this, the Mountain Race was still admired for their ability to do physical labor. Occasionally, one wouldn’t be able to find one even if one wanted to.

Off to the side, Li Shu told him, “His name is Iron Cliff. Earlier, he was Black Hand’s slave. Three days ago, he lost a shipment of goods, which infuriated Black Hand. Black Hand chased him away and even said that no one was allowed to use him for work, and that he was not allowed to leave the Halcyon Gorge.”

Su Chen was surprised. “So he basically said that he wanted to starve Iron Cliff to death?”

“Pretty much.”

“What did he lose that made this guy so angry?”

A strange expression appeared on Li Shu’s face. “A few foodstuffs, wine, and vegetables.”

“Foodstuffs, wine, and vegetables?” Su Chen squinted his eyes.

Li Shu nodded his head. “That’s right. They should be planning on opening another wine shop.”

So, in the end, they still came.

Su Chen was not surprised

If business was good, there would definitely be those who tried to copy it.

There was no rule that only Demon Face could set up a store here. Others can do it too.

But this way, business would be difficult to do in the future.

Even though more people had arrived in the past month, there was still no more than six or seven hundred people. Of these people, a third either didn’t have money or were unwilling to spend it, and a fourth of them were not dependent on Su Chen’s shop as they had brought adequate supplies. Only a little less than half spent money here. And of these people who spent money, the majority of them were frugal with their spending – not everyone was like Wolf Blade, who ate and drank like a glutton..

Such a low number of people meant that there was already not much business. The only thing keeping Su Chen afloat was his monopoly and sudden profits.

However, having been open for close to a month, Su Chen’s business was already beginning to decline. Many of the items he sold only needed to be bought once. Because he was lacking new customers, his decline in business was something that was inevitable. Now that he had a new competitor, he could no longer take advantage of his monopoly, and his profits would once again take a hit.

One could imagine that the following days would not be as good as they used to be.

“Boss.” Li Shu saw that Su Chen was anxious through his fidgeting.

In reality, Su Chen was not too worried about this. He was not someone who pursued riches in the first place. His main reason for opening a store and doing business here was because this was one way to avoid interfering with his cultivation too much. Sending shipments every day was a good opportunity for his cultivation.

If the opportunity to nmake more money disappeared, then so be it.

In any case, windfalls were not things that lasted for a long time anyways.

However, when he looked at Li Shu’s expectant expression, Su Chen hesitated for a moment.

No matter what, he still had to spend another month in the Scarlet Mountain Range. Wasn’t it too early just to give up like that? Su Chen thought.

He thought for a moment, then said, “I need to go discuss something with Black Hand.”

In the end, business was always done through conversation. As someone who was from a clan that did lots of business, Su Chen was very familiar with these things.

“What will you discuss?” Li Shu asked. “Black Hand is not someone who is easy to deal with. If you go there, perhaps they will think that we are there to plead with him, and they will definitely become greedy to the point of daylight robbery.”

“Then let them come to us.” Su Chen glanced at Iron Cliff, who was still standing there mutely. “Doesn’t this Iron Cliff lack the money to pay me back? Then let him work here to pay back his debt.”

“Yes,” Li Shu respectfully replied.