I Have Medicine

Chapter 562 - (Public and Private Treasury) The Value Not to Be Underestimated

Gongyi Tianheng accompanied Gu Zuo to the Divine Wind Trading Company.

Since discovering that Shen Yuanbai might be plotting against the Blood Transformation Palace Master, despite the low likelihood of Shen Yuanbai’s success, Gu Zuo had developed some fondness for him due to his courage. Not to mention, at least his judgment was good! Furthermore, Shen Yuanbai didn’t seem to be acting blindly; it was clear he was working methodically. The Blood Transformation Palace Master had no significant other, and if things were to succeed, they would eventually become one family. It was only reasonable to interact and observe the person’s character over time.

Thus, Gu Zuo had already decided to engage in transactions with the Divine Wind Trading Company from now on.

Upon entering the trading company, the manager of the main hall greeted them.

It turned out that after their last departure, Shen Yuanbai had instructed the staff to provide them with the best service when they came back. So, everyone in this branch recognized them, and the most senior manager immediately took the initiative to welcome them as soon as they arrived.

Gu Zuo secretly nodded.

Shen Yuanbai values them, which shows his good judgment. Not bad.

The manager was very attentive, with a smile on his face: “May I ask what the two honored guests require? The General Manager has instructed that we must do everything we can to meet your needs.”

Gu Zuo replied, “I need some medicinal herbs. Can you prepare them for me?”

The manager spoke confidently, “Our Divine Wind Trading Company has been operating for decades, and due to some fortunate encounters, we possess a vast medicinal herb mountain. Unless it’s a very rare herb that can only grow in specific environments, most of the herbs we can obtain. Even for rare herbs, we have news on many of them. Just tell us what you need.”

Gu Zuo raised an eyebrow.

It seemed Shen Yuanbai’s financial resources were quite impressive.

Thinking back to the generous gifts he had sent to the Blood Transformation Palace Master last time, it was undoubtedly a significant expenditure. Even the Palace Master was surprised and had specially given him a Blood Transformation Token, allowing him three sessions of guidance.

Now that he thought about it, he wondered if this was a coincidence, or if Shen Yuanbai had already figured out the Palace Master’s personality and intentionally did so?

Shaking his head, Gu Zuo put aside these speculations and said, “In that case, I’ll give you a list.”

The manager quickly responded, “Please, honored guests, take a seat in the VIP room. We’ll prepare the pen and paper right away.”

Gongyi Tianheng also said at this moment, “Call a few people to come and record.”

The manager promptly agreed.

The two of them followed the manager to the VIP room.

As soon as they sat down, the manager served them tea. A little while later, several young women entered, each holding a paper and brush, waiting for instructions.

The manager said, “Please speak, and they will carefully write everything down.”

Gu Zuo nodded, “You can start writing. Afterward, I’ll check it over.”

In the past, he often had to write the lists himself, but now he was truly enjoying the VIP service.

Thinking this, he couldn’t help but glance at his big brother, remembering that it was his big brother who had made the request.

Gongyi Tianheng smiled at Gu Zuo: “Once Ah Zuo is done with the list, I also have some resources to list out.”

Gu Zuo returned the smile with a broad grin.

The manager’s smile deepened upon hearing this.

Although he would provide the best service even if the two only spent one or two silver, it seemed like a big business deal now, so naturally, the service would be even better.

Gu Zuo then began listing the ingredients, “Po Yuan Grass, Huo Snake Oil, Bei Bean Root, Jin Yi Shuang… 100 jin of each.” After a pause, he added, “Qixing Bamboo, Duan Xin Rock, Ziguang Marrow, Bai Crane Heart… 30 jin of each.” He continued, “De Dragon Blood, Wu Xuan Jade, Wuwei Sand… 1000 jin of each…”

His words came quickly, and before long, he had listed at least several hundred kinds of medicinal herbs, while the young women frantically scribbled away, the tips of their brushes almost creating a blur of motion.

Gu Zuo’s speech never slowed down. After finishing the list of ordinary herbs, he began to recite spiritual herbs. When it came to spiritual herbs, he didn’t use “jin” anymore, but rather how many plants or taels, etc.

It took about a quarter of an hour before he finally stopped.

The young women had nearly finished their writing by this point. They let out a slight breath of relief, handing over the lists they had written.

Gu Zuo took them and quickly began to review them.

These young women were clearly trained specialists in this area. Of course, their writing speed couldn’t match his speaking speed, and the trading company wouldn’t let the honored guests wait for them to write slowly. So even though their speed had been honed to perfection, they were still divided into batches. The first person wrote the herbs for the first, fourth, seventh… the second person wrote the second, fifth, eighth… The third person wrote the third, sixth, ninth… and so on.

In the end, Gu Zuo received four lists, which, when combined, made up the entire list of medicinal herbs he had requested.

After reviewing them once, Gu Zuo extended his hand: “The brush.”

The manager quickly presented him with a fine brush.

Gu Zuo dipped it in ink and swiftly went over the four lists, making corrections to about seven or eight herbs that had been written incorrectly by the young women, as they hadn’t heard of them before. Once he was satisfied, he handed the list back—such mistakes were inevitable, but only seven or eight mistakes showed the skill of these young women.

When the young women saw that each of them had only made about two mistakes on average, they all breathed a sigh of relief. For people like them, if the number of mistakes exceeded a certain limit, they would be punished. Even if the number of mistakes was low, if the guest complained, they would still face punishment. Now that the guest was in a good mood, and their errors were all within three mistakes, there was no problem, and they wouldn’t lose their job. After all, this job was an extremely important source of income for them.

When the manager took the list and saw that it was densely written with over a thousand kinds of herbs, including more than three hundred precious spiritual herbs—mostly low-level ones, but still with dozens of high-level ones—it became clear that it would be extremely difficult for this branch to gather all of them.

As expected, this was indeed a major transaction. With so many items combined, payment would have to be made in mystical crystals. Even then, the total amount would be quite significant.

Of course, he remembered that this was to be priced at 80%, which was much cheaper. Even so, the profit margin remained quite substantial.

Gu Zuo asked, “Well? Can you gather everything?”

The manager replied frankly, “Everything can be gathered. However, our local storage is insufficient. We can assemble all the ordinary medicinal herbs right away, but as for the spiritual herbs, we can only provide thirty percent of them immediately. The remaining seventy percent will have to be sourced from other locations, which will take about three to five days.”

Gu Zuo was quite satisfied upon hearing this. “Divine Wind Trading Company truly lives up to its reputation.”

To be honest, he was rather surprised that Divine Wind Trading Company had such capabilities. After all, Shen Yuanbai was merely a martial artist at the Celestial Realm. Even with the backing of a gold-ranked force, being able to handle such a large-scale order was no small feat. It was clear that Shen Yuanbai was quite capable—it was no easy task to achieve this level of efficiency.

It seemed that he was indeed a viable long-term business partner.

Hearing Gu Zuo’s praise, the manager felt quite pleased. He then turned to Gongyi Tianheng and asked, “May I know what kind of resources this honored guest requires?”

Gongyi Tianheng nodded slightly. “Take note.”

The manager signaled to the young women, and they immediately prepared themselves.

Gongyi Tianheng then began listing his needs. “Two hundred spiritual swords with twenty percent spirituality, four hundred sets of light armor, heavy armor…”

His request differed from Gu Zuo’s. Most of what he needed were finished products, primarily consumables. Spiritual weapons and armor, in particular, were frequently damaged in battle, and once they reached a point where repairs were no longer feasible, they had to be replaced. Additionally, he had to supply provisions for his two thousand subordinates. While the City Lord’s Mansion could provide food, as an All-star Prodigy of the Ten Ultimates Sect, how could he rely on handouts? Furthermore, even if the City Lord’s Mansion was willing to host them, he wouldn’t have the shamelessness to demand food at his own standards. If he didn’t set specific requirements, his subordinates wouldn’t be eating well enough to continue evolving and growing stronger, which would completely defeat the purpose of bringing them here.

Thus, he had to take care of his own subordinates himself.

From the moment he decided to come to Eight Desolations City, Gongyi Tianheng had already planned to establish a business partnership with a trading company. Now that he had encountered Shen Yuanbai, he naturally agreed to cooperate without hesitation.

The quantity of resources he listed was substantial, totaling over a hundred types. The overall cost was comparable to Gu Zuo’s order, but because he ordered in bulk, the unit prices of his items were far lower than the medicinal herbs.

This time, the young women had a much easier time recording the items, and before long, they had noted everything down.

After reviewing the list, the manager said, “All of these resources can be provided by our branch. However, due to the sheer volume, it will take until tomorrow to finalize the calculations.” He then hesitated slightly before continuing, “However, regarding payment—some of the resources and medicinal herbs can be paid for with spirit crystals, while others must be paid with mystical crystals. May I ask how the two of you would like to proceed? Would you prefer separate payments, or should everything be settled with mystical crystals?”

Gongyi Tianheng replied, “Pay entirely in mystical crystals, but the two lists must remain separate.”

The manager understood and began calculating the total value of the requested items.

While he was doing so, Gongyi Tianheng turned to Gu Zuo and said, “Ah Zuo, I have already instructed my battle slaves to compile a list of prices for pills of various grades and qualities. From now on, the mystical crystals used to purchase medicinal ingredients will come from our personal treasury, but if the refined pills are to be used for my subordinates, then the necessary mystical crystals should be drawn from the public treasury to exchange for them.”

Gu Zuo was momentarily puzzled upon hearing this.

Gongyi Tianheng, however, simply smiled at him. “Maintaining a clear distinction between public and private matters is the proper way. Ah Zuo, though you and I are inseparable, and refining pills is easy for you, that doesn’t mean you should keep giving endlessly without receiving anything in return. If you do, others may begin to take your value for granted.”

Gu Zuo immediately understood, and a warm feeling rose in his heart.

He recalled the early days of his partnership with his big brother. Back then, to repay the kindness of being taken under his big brother’s protection, he never once considered the value of the pills he provided. However, his big brother had always been fair. Since Gu Zuo’s pharmacy skills far surpassed others, Tianheng not only supplied him with medicinal ingredients but also ensured he received a twenty percent share of the profits. As their bond deepened and they ventured to the Central Continent to establish their own power, their relationship grew even closer… At that time, he had wholeheartedly supported his big brother, and Tianheng had stopped keeping track of such matters between them.

But things were different now. In the early days of building their influence, both he and Tianheng had been entirely focused on development. Now that their faction had grown to a certain scale, their personal treasuries remained shared, but the public treasury should no longer be treated the same way.

This was simply a fact.

Although both the public and personal treasuries ultimately belonged to them, if Gongyi Tianheng wished, he could freely draw resources from the public treasury for his own cultivation. However, since they had committed to growing their faction, the number of subordinates they needed to support would only increase. Over time, the resources within the public treasury would gradually become the fruits of their subordinates’ labor and efforts, rather than being purely supplemented by Gongyi Tianheng and Gu Zuo.

At this point, neither of them needed to contribute all of their earnings to the personal treasury anymore. If the medicinal ingredients they purchased with their own money were then refined into pills and given away for free, it would be extremely detrimental to Gu Zuo’s reputation as a pharmacist.

Since Gongyi Tianheng valued Gu Zuo, how could he ever allow such a thing to happen?