Waiting
The rest was a question of time because, if Albert acquired enough money and the price dropped, it would be pointless even if Melissa successfully came back with money. Time was of the essence as I knew that the longer it dragged on, the greater the risk. If I stopped for a day or two in the middle of the process, something was awfully likely to go wrong. Consequently, Melissa didn’t have much time to waste at the imperial capital. According to our plan, Melissa should already be on her way back. Otherwise, Albert was going to begin acquiring sufficient shares.
Albert’s business only continued to perform better and better as we initially predicted. His first day deploying the strategy was essentially a promotion. Lots of people were wary when we first launched the campaign for they feared it was some sort of new scam where we might’ve scammed buyers with fake porcelains. Hence, rational shoppers only observed from the sidelines. When the goods brought back from the first day were confirmed to be authentic porcelain with a three month warranty, the wary shoppers came to ship. By the third day, there was no longer any suspicion; everybody came to fight for a product even if they didn’t need it as they could flip it for a profit.
When I saw the empty chests that originally stored porcelain and straw, I was jealous if I was to be honest. Albert didn’t appear to have any special talent as a businessman. If being wary was a business skill, then Albert would be a qualified businessman. However, wariness is only a favourable trait, not an ability. In fact, it wouldn’t even be considered good for the business world. With that said, Albert seriously had the luck of the devil. Thanks to his immense luck, the official supplier gave him the monopoly on it as a retailer. What could I say except that luck was a part of skill?
Albert’s mountain of money gradually grew, which was what I was happy to see. From the perspective of many, it was money. From my perspective, it was debt for it was an overdraft of money he’d have in the future; he was going to need to repay it. It wasn’t time for him to sit on his laurels. If I saw that much money, I wouldn’t be relaxed. To the contrary, I’d be panicking. The more he made now, the more he would have to repay. If it was a small sum, then it would be controllable. An extreme excess, however, would mean bankruptcy if he failed. Clearly, Albert didn’t realise that. Or rather, I had illustrated a pie that was big enough for him to be fully convinced.
An astute businessman would usually notice the source of the problem. I kept on painting the image of the consequences and stuck it to his head to remind him. Unfortunately, he was all smiles and didn’t look concerned. I speculated it was because he didn’t think that would be his ending. After all, nobody in the South could challenge him at this point.
Albert’s new funds broke the deadlock in the South. Obviously, there was no rule stating that the method’s feasibility was exclusive to Albert. He merely happened to be the only one with the head start. Winning with the method required being ahead. Ordinary folks only had so much money. If they gave their money to one business, how would they have spare money for other things? Additionally, the other stuff was pointless. I mean, they were a weapons business. What would an ordinary citizen buy a stack of swords for once the prices dropped? And would anyone in the firearms business dare to drop their prices on their own accord? What would people think you had in mind? What would you be trying to achieve by secretly selling weapons, revolting? That was why only Albert could use the tactic.
If others tried to imitate the model Albert used, they wouldn’t be able to get enough shares. Therefore, Albert was already miles ahead of his competition. As a matter of fact, you could say that there was no way anyone could catch up to him, so all he had to do was wait to get the rights to the shipyard. Having said all that, other businessmen wouldn’t comprehend what Albert’s aim was despite seeing his activities.
Albert was after those interested in buying porcelain’s “cash”. As for what he would do with the cash, who knows? Some might’ve even thought that he planned to purchase shares with the money. That was why the price of the shares wouldn’t depreciate. Instead, they’d deliberately raise it. As such, Albert’s next job was to bring the price down. As for how he did it, that was entirely his business.
“Lord Lin! We have succeeded! See?! Look at how much money we have!” Ross excitedly scrutinised the chests filled to the brim with money in front of him.
The random collection of coin variations had been exchanged and neatly arranged. They could only do business with other businesses once they had their chests of money neatly arranged, after all. Were you expecting others to sit there counting the money or something? Money chests were kept orderly, with each chest totalling one thousand gold coins as a standard. Visually speaking, Albert had already made eight thousand gold coins, and all it took was half of his warehouse.
Albert could handle emptying half of his warehouse. I, nevertheless, had mixed emotions. Ross was my pupil, so I was confident that he could go on to excel as a businessman. He didn’t have the senses of one, sadly. He didn’t sense the underlying risk. He wouldn’t make it out there if he failed to notice it. He would be highly susceptible to scams. If Ross’ wife was pregnant and he was Albert, then Ross wouldn’t have noticed the underlying scheme. How would he protect his family, then? Maybe Ross wasn’t suited to being a businessman.
I still couldn’t tell Ross what the underlying scheme was. After all, he’d undoubtedly help his sister. I rubbed his small head and sighed before leaving.
Zoning out, Ross locked his brows together. He might’ve thought I was angry when I wasn’t actually angry. I was aware that not everyone had a knack for it. Alas, I felt morose, lonely, when I noticed that Ross might not be able to follow in my footsteps.
“Is this how fatherhood feels? Am I and Ross akin to father and son, though?” I pondered.
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