Chapter 30

The capital city of Wuyang in the Great Xia Kingdom has been bustling with activity recently; to be precise, it has been lively ever since Li Xian left. When Li Xian departed, the Brilliant Stars Trading Company was already at its peak, supported by the Li family and employing countless new business strategies, making it hard not to thrive. Not to mention, Li Xian's killing of Wang Ming caused a significant stir among the people, mainly positive support.

Just as Xu Ren had predicted, through this one action, Li Xian quickly transformed from a bully into a hero—Wang Ming was far more arrogant than Li Xian. It could be said that this act of establishing authority not only completed its purpose but also announced Li Xian's arrival, washing away his past tarnished reputation. It was a move that achieved multiple goals at once.

Because of this, Li Xian was able to leave the capital easily and develop by the seaside. However, after Li Xian left, Wuyang City became even more vibrant. Less than a month later, the Wang family retaliated; they cracked the secret of the grounding wire and created colored lights.

Then, the Wang family launched an attack on the colored light market; without glass, they used colored glass. While colored glass was good, it was slightly inferior to pure glass. But no problem, they would lower the price! Using this price advantage, the Wang family's neon light trading company quickly gained popularity—though only in the mid-to-low-end market. But mid-to-low-end was fine; the Wang family still operated with great flair, striving to create exquisite artistic lamps. In this way, they firmly established themselves in the mid-range market and prepared to challenge the high-end market.

In the face of the Wang family's provocation, the Brilliant Stars Trading Company remained as calm as a mountain, making no response. Business seemed unchanged, and they continued to sell out every day.

However, a few days ago, the Brilliant Stars Trading Company suddenly reacted—completely abandoning the low-end market and most of the mid-range market, focusing all efforts on the high-end market, and launching the slogan "Strive for the top market."

It seemed like a concession to the Wang family. For a moment, everyone was buzzing with speculation. Had the Brilliant Stars Trading Company backed down? Although the Brilliant Stars Trading Company was backed by the Li family, everyone knew that the Grand Marshal, the Grand General, and the Minister of Revenue were also allies. It seemed unreasonable to retreat so easily.

Soon, everyone realized what was happening—counterattack time!

On that day, opposite every Wang family fabric shop in the capital and its surroundings, a new fabric shop appeared simultaneously—belonging to the Brilliant Stars Trading Company, the Colorful Garment Fabric Shop. All fabrics were sold at 90% of the market price.

This was a straightforward, overt counterattack, and they also engaged in a price war.

"So cheap! A full 10% off! Hurry and grab it!" countless people exclaimed.

"Wow, the quality of the fabrics is all top-notch!" even more people shouted.

This situation was immediately reported to Wang Chuan, the head of the Wang family—his opponent had launched a counterattack, and it was exceptionally sharp!

Wang Chuan, frowning, asked the person beside him, "Wang Yuan, what do you think?"

Wang Yuan, naturally, was a member of the Wang family, responsible for the business side.

Wang Yuan reviewed all the information several times. "We have 16 fabric shops, and opposite each one, a Colorful Garment Fabric Shop has opened. They must have been planning this for a long time. To open a fabric shop, at least 200 bolts of fabric are needed on the first day. For 16 shops, that's over 3,000 bolts of fabric. Fabric is not gold; it is woven stitch by stitch, with very thin profit margins. I believe they must have acquired it from elsewhere, and it was likely through forceful means."

"I think so too," Wang Chuan mused for a moment, then suddenly ordered, "Wang Yuan, buy up all their fabric, as much as possible. I want to see how much fabric they have."

"Yes, sir." Wang Yuan left.

Wang Chuan continued to look at the information in his hand, muttering to himself, "90% of the market price, almost at cost. If you add in transportation costs, they will lose a lot. This doesn't make sense!"

Wang Chuan thought for a long time but couldn't figure it out. In the end, he sighed, "Well, let's buy it. Even if we resell it, we can still make a profit."

When Wang Yuan returned to the fabric shop, he was stunned. He saw that there were already 500 to 600 people queuing in front of the opposite fabric shop, the queue extending to the entrance of his own shop, but no one was looking at the Wang family's shop.

The shop assistants at the Colorful Garment Fabric Shop were busy, constantly bringing out bolts of silk and fabric, unfolding them, measuring them, and inspecting them publicly before making a sale. People kept shouting, "Good fabric, good fabric."

At the same time, a shop assistant at the entrance kept shouting, "Queue up, queue up, one bolt per person."

Wang Yuan knew that even if he tried to buy now, it would be too late. The people were so determined that anyone who tried to cut in line would be beaten up, and occasionally a spell would fly. The people of this immortal realm were not to be trifled with!

However, Wang Yuan did not leave. He just watched—let's see how much fabric you have!

Sure enough, by noon, the manager of the Colorful Garment Fabric Shop came out to apologize, "Fellow villagers, I'm sorry, we have sold out today. All 400 bolts of fabric are gone."

"Ah..." The remaining people were infinitely disappointed and a bit angry, and chaos inevitably broke out.

Wang Yuan watched with a cold smile, "Heh, let's see what you do now!"

What to do? There was a way! The manager shouted, "Fellow villagers, please calm down, please listen to me. We really have run out for today. You can see behind me, there is not a single piece of fabric left. But don't worry, we will have more tomorrow and the day after. Please queue up, and we will prepare number cards for you. Please collect your number cards and queue up according to the numbers tomorrow. I promise the price will remain the same, not a single copper coin more!"

The manager shouted several times, and the chaotic crowd finally calmed down, starting to collect the number cards. The number cards were simple, just thick cardboard, but they were randomly torn in half, with one half kept by the shop and the other by the customer, to be matched the next day.

Wang Yuan stood there, dazed, watching the orderly queue of people collecting number cards, as if he had been hit on the head and was dizzy. The promise of the Colorful Garment Fabric Shop was equivalent to saying—don't buy from other fabric shops, just wait for us.

At sunset, several carriages slowly entered the city. These were carriages from Anyang, carrying over a thousand bolts of fabric, enough to supply the 16 fabric shops for the next day.

Yuan Zhao, seeing only a thousand bolts, immediately became worried, "Brothers, you still have the nerve to laugh. With our inventory, we only have 2,000 bolts for tomorrow, which is not enough at all."

Zhang Quan chuckled, "Didn't you understand Li Xian's meaning? Hunger marketing, creating scarcity, and fishing for customers. Don't satisfy the customers all at once; feed them bit by bit. Sell 1,000 bolts tomorrow, and the same the next day. After five days, we will have another surge."

"By the way, what about your looms? Why aren't you using them?"

"Demolished, don't tell me you didn't demolish yours!" Yuan Zhao looked at Zhang Quan with disdain, as if he were looking at a ball.

Zhang Quan was furious, "A loom worth 10,000 taels of gold, and you just demolished it?!"

"Of course, if you're going to demolish it, you should demolish the best one. What can you learn from demolishing a broken one?!"

"You..."

"Oh, oh, brothers, don't be so stiff." Shangguan Yong intervened to smooth things over, "Let's follow Xian's plan for now. As long as we keep the customers interested and stop them from buying from other fabric shops, that's enough."

Yuan Zhao stuck out his tongue sheepishly, "Brother Zhang, don't be angry, I apologize."

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