Chapter 18: Outrageous Four Rules
When Xia Qin saw that Tian Lang was squinting his eyes while approaching, she laughed “Wasn’t he selling fruits? Let’s go buy some, shall we?” At first, Tian Lang thought she had some kind of plan. After hearing what she said, he gave an exasperated sigh and said “If we’re just going to buy their products, then it totally bypa.s.ses the point of trying to harm their business! What you said is basically giving money to the Bai Family!
Xia Qin saw that Tian Lang couldn’t comprehend what she just said, and groaned in frustration. “Look, you haven’t understood the intention behind buying the fruits yet.” she explained. “What do you mean?” Tian Lang asked. Xia Qin knew that Tian Lang could never understand anything by himself, so she could only explain carefully. “If we buy the fruits from them, we can then poison the fruits, and sell them back to the public. When the customers get poisoned, we will just accuse the Bai Family for selling us the poisoned fruits, and we will have nothing to do with it.”
Tian Lang was buzzing with excitement when he heard this, “Right, right. So we can do it like this, I’ll arrange for someone to go and see what this brat is selling next. Then we can go and frame him.”
“En, then you should go now..”
Tian Lang happily left whereas Xia Qin did not stop plotting, she too sent some trusted people to purchase the fruits. While at this moment, Lu Feng was at the Bai family’s study with the head and the shopkeepers. “Where’s Elder Su?”
One of the shopkeepers reluctantly said, “Elder Su might have thought he wasn’t qualified because no one listened to him. That could be why he isn’t here.” When the Bai Family Head heard this, he had an anxious expression. He knew this was not going to turn out well, without Elder Su, the shopkeepers might not be willing to listen to Lu Feng’s words. Even if Lu Feng were to command them, they would not put in all their efforts.
Lu Feng was not an idiot, he had experienced this numerous times in his career. Thus, he just calmly laughed, “Head, just explain to them. Don’t worry too much about it.” The Bai Family Head was hesitating, “This…”
Lu Feng continued, “Trust me, I’ll definitely do my best to turn the Heaven and Earth upside down1 for the Bai Family.” The shopkeepers had a sneer on their faces, in fact there were people who were ridiculing him, “Arrogant brat.”
The Bai Family Head was afraid Lu Feng would not be able to control these shopkeepers, whereas Bai Yao was already convinced of Lu Feng’s ability. He smiled, “Father, just let him manage it. Anyhow, the Xia and Tian family are trying to attack us and are crippling our income. Let’s hear Lu Feng’s idea about selling Spirit Plants and Fruits.”
Hearing this, the Bai Family Head made up his mind and made en sound in agreement, “Then from today onwards, Lu Feng will take over managing the stores, and all of you will need to listen to him.” When the shopkeepers heard this, they pretended to comply, but they were all secretly reluctant. Lu Feng then turned towards the Bai Family Head as he asked, “Head, can I request something?”(If you are not reading this on fakeftranslations.com then it was most likely stolen!)
The Bai Family Head curiously looked at Lu Feng, “Oh? What would you like?” Lu Feng gave a light laugh, “In order for me to better manage the stores, and compete against the Tian and Xia family; please give me absolute management rights.”
The Bai Family Head did not understand what “absolute management rights” meant. He suspiciously looked at Lu Feng and asked, “What’s called ‘absolute management rights’?” Lu Feng awkwardly laughed, “It’s letting me manage everything by myself and you don’t have to interfere.”
Upon hearing this, the shopkeepers were in an uproar, one of them even shouted out, “Head, please don’t give him this power! Just in case he is determined to screw us over, then what can we do.” Another shopkeeper also followed up, “That’s right, Head, you must not do this.”
The other store managers agreed as well. This put the Head in a dilemma, as he had to choose between opposing the two other families with Lu Feng, or to side with the store managers and listen to them. Lu Feng knew that if he couldn’t get everyone to agree with him, he wouldn’t be able to lead the storefront. He needed to reorganise the shop, in order to gain respect in the Bai Family.
However, the shopkeepers were threatening to leave the Bai family if the Head gave Lu Feng full authority. With all these factors, the Bai Family Head felt he was in quite a tight spot. Lu Feng, however, was calm, “Head, you can see for yourself how they are threatening me. Since they are like this, what am I to do? Sooner or later, everyone in the Bai Family will not be able to sleep properly2.”
The Bai Family Head was no fool, the most dangerous thing within a family is infighting. Particularly, ones that did not want to recognise the superiors were the most dangerous. Therefore, he made up his mind, “Fine, from today onwards all of you must listen to what Lu Feng says. Whatever he orders you to do is not up to me.”
The store managers were all stunned by what he said. Now that Lu Feng had the support of the Bai Family Head, he turned towards the the store managers and laughed “You guys can either choose to follow me, or leave the Bai Family.”
When everyone heard this sentence, they were startled, an angry shopkeeper even shouted out, “Head, just see what is happening! He wants to chase us away!” The Bai Family Head stood there awkwardly while Lu Feng laughed, “I’ve already said it, those who want to follow me shall be welcome. Once you are under me, you must do things according to my orders. If you want to go against me then I won’t be polite, when the time comes I’ll return your care to you twice fold.”
After saying that, Lu Feng looked back at Bai Yao and said “Young Master Bai, would you be so kind to prepare some writing material for me?” Bai Yao didn’t understand what Lu Feng was trying to do, and the Head and store managers were also curious.
Bai Yao placed the pen and paper at the top of the table, which Lu Feng then picked up and wrote. Fortunately, this world’s pen was made out of burning charcoal. After Lu Feng wrote a few lines on it, he held the paper up and smiled, “Everyone, please, take a good look.”
Everyone crowded around to look, and at that moment, several store managers decided to quit on the spot, and some huffed angrily “Making us do this and that, I quit.” Many people left, one by one. Bai Yao looked at the contents of the paper as he frowned, “Isn’t this a bit too much?”
Lu Feng smiled, “Is it really too much? I’ve only stated a few conditions.” The Bai Family Head did not say anything, even though these conditions were very important, due to him giving Lu Feng full authority. For example, the first condition was to completely submit to the Bai Family, if they were found to be defiant then they will be kicked out of the Bai Family. The second condition,is that they are not to collude with outsiders, if they were exposed then they will be kicked out of the Bai Family and also be investigated. The third condition, they are not allowed to secretly posses any of the Bai Family’s items, if caught they would have to pay back double its value. The fourth condition, was what the shopkeepers were furious over. It was due to the fourth condition stating that they would be barred from visiting any places related to the Tian and Xia family.
However in Qinglong town, there were quite a number of restaurants, teahouses, gambling dens, and brothels owned by the Tian and Xia family. So Lu Feng wrote this condition as he was afraid the shopkeepers would be kidnapped by the Xia and Tian family and interrogated.
However, the shopkeepers used most of of the money earned on luxuries. Once they couldn’t spend their money on those things, it caused them to lose interest and quit without a second thought.
As one of the shopkeepers left, he scoffed “You think we’re that loyal to the Bai Family? Well lemme tell you something, the Tian and Xia Family are willing to pay us twice what you’re paying us. If not for the fact that we still valued our relationship with the Bai Family, we would have left long ago. We’re not staying for you to abuse us. Hmph, go screw yourself.”
When Lu Feng heard him say this, he was even more convinced that these were the Tian and Xia families’ people. While some of the shopkeepers snickered, “If you guys don’t clean up these vermin, they will continue to do harm.”
But on the surface Lu Feng was smiling, “I won’t see you off.” Soon, dozens of people left, and only five people remained. The Bai Family Head’s expression was dark, Bai Yao also did not expect so many to leave. Lu Feng was unaffected as he smiled and asked, “So, why did the five of you remain?”
One of them cupped his hands together in respect as he replied, “I admire Young Master’s ability, coupled with the fact that generations of my family have served the Bai Family. That is why I didn’t leave.” After hearing this, Lu Feng happily smiled. “What’s your name?” The middle-aged man replied, “You can call me Fang Long.”
Lu Feng slightly smiled, “Fang Long, then how do you feel about the four conditions?” Fang Long did not hesitate as he replied, “Since I’m a shopkeeper, I know what it feels like to have people not to obey. That’s why I support the first three clauses, as for the fourth, I’m not sure why Young Master would put it in. But it doesn’t matter much to me since I don’t indulge in them.”
Lu Feng immediately said a single word, “Good.”
Lu Feng then asked the others, the other four all worship Lu Feng. In their eyes, Lu Feng was not an ordinary man. Lu Feng wanted these five people so he smiled, “From today onwards, Fang Long, you are in charge of these four. As for the other four of you, whatever I tell Fang Long you would convey to you.”
“As you wish.” the four replied in unison.
The Bai Family Head and Bai Yao were both shocked, they had never seen shopkeepers who were so obedient. Especially last time, the shopkeepers would quarrel over small things. But now, they are actually quiet and obedient, the only regret was that out of the tens of people there were now only five people left. The Bai Family head could not help but ask, “Is it possible for five people to manage so many shops?”