172: Each with their own ulterior motives

"Boss, it’s absolutely correct, it's exactly 17,000 catties."

The worker looked carefully at the calculator and said.

"How much money is that?"

"Two million, six hundred and fifty-two thousand yuan."

Hiss!

Previously, he had always held his head high with arrogance.

Zhang Guangsheng hadn't cared at all about how much it would cost to acquire the cockroaches.

After all, according to the market rate, even if the other party had 100,000 catties of cockroaches, it wouldn't cost much.

Who would have known that once switched to fresh goods and with the price added on, the figure would shoot up directly.

Of course, if this was all that was needed, it wouldn't be much of a problem.

The most critical point was that this was just one day's expenditure.

The contract stipulated that as long as the other party had stock, he had to buy it. It also had to be over 20,000 catties every day. When the hell would this end?

Zhang Guangsheng couldn't help but suck in a breath of cold air.

The assistant on the side also swallowed hard.

"Boss, are we really going to follow the contract?"

Zhang Guangsheng took a deep breath, looked at the truckload of goods, and gritted his teeth hard.

"Over ten million has already been spent. What else can we do but buy? Give them another ten million for nothing? And then let them send the goods over to Golden Throat? Do I look like such a big sucker to you?"

"But, if we buy, the future expenses will be immeasurable. Also, the price we're giving is so high. If this kid gets a taste of the sweetness and goes to other places to buy at a low price to sell to us, it really will be a bottomless pit."

"Heh, even if he wants to buy, he has to be able to find them. Do you really think our Company is just a joke? I don't believe that a tiny, unknown breeder can actually fight me. Just you watch, it won't be long before they lift a stone only to drop it on their own feet. When that time comes, they'll have to spit back everything they took from me."

The assistant blinked his eyes: "Boss, are you talking about the quantity in the contract?"

Zhang Guangsheng narrowed his eyes: "What else? I bickered with that idiot for so long just to make them think they have me pinned, so they get carried away with themselves."

"Haha, the Boss really has thought of everything. The contract contents were all proposed by them, but they definitely wouldn't expect that the contract can constrain them just as much as it constrains us. Twenty thousand catties a day—just how big of a breeding base would be needed to provide that amount? Once they can't meet it, that's when we take the initiative. It's just a pity we have to bleed a little in the early stages."

"Bleed? How much can we bleed? We're in this business ourselves; taking the stuff back is still money. Calculating by the ratio of three catties fresh to one catty dried, the actual loss isn't that much. If we use some methods later, we might even manage not to lose anything."

"I see, Boss is awesome!"

The assistant's expression relaxed, and he quickly began to flatter him.

After the two finished their planning, they didn't delay any longer. Amidst Zhang Liang's impatient urging, they transferred the money.

Then they drove away.

However, as they were leaving, Zhang Liang pulled them back to disgust them one more time.

"There's another three thousand catties tonight, remember to come and pick it up. Also, those boxes you use to pack the cockroaches—you'd better send a truckload over later. I won't be responsible for helping you move the cockroaches next time."

Waving and giving instructions, Zhang Liang was in high spirits.

Zhang Guangsheng and the other man snorted coldly and drove off.

A moment later, after confirming that the other party's people had all left, the three of them got into the large truck to meet up with Ye Tian.

"Brother Tian, this is great! I've never made such easy money in my life."

Climbing into Ye Tian's van parked by the roadside, the faces of Liang Zi and the other two were full of excitement.

After all, for a senior who hadn't even graduated yet, the idea of making over ten million just by talking was completely unimaginable before this.

Ye Tian was also full of smiles.

Even though he had masterminded everything, the amount currently in hand was much more than expected.

"It's all thanks to you three, Liang Zi, for adapting so well on the fly."

"Haha, Brother Tian, this business is practically pure profit; it's faster than robbing a bank. I feel like we could probably achieve financial freedom just from this one deal."

Jiang Shuai also said excitedly.

Ye Tian, however, shook his head with a smile.

"It's not that simple. The other party isn't a fool. After a few more times, they'll definitely realize something is wrong. So what we need to do next is try to stretch this out as long as possible."

"Stretch it out? With the contract there, would they dare not to accept it?"

"Hehe, a true businessman knows when to cut their losses. A Pharmaceutical Factory is only worth less than a hundred million. Do you think they would pay an even higher price just to strike at the Pharmaceutical Factory?"

"Uh, that's indeed not very likely."

"Exactly, so whether we can earn more will depend on your acting skills."

"How should we act?"

"Regarding selling the cockroaches, push and pull, show weakness. Also, Jiang Shuai and Sun Lei, pay attention. If I'm not mistaken, the other party will probably try to contact you secretly. Don't be in a hurry to respond; wait until the right time before giving a reaction."

"Brother Tian, are you talking about the Cockroach bait? You're planning to sell it?"

"Sell it, of course we'll sell it. Why would we leave money on the table?"

"But, isn't that bait the secret weapon of the Housekeeping Company and the Breeding Farm?"

"Some things are only secret weapons if you know how to produce them yourself. Otherwise, they're just toys."

Ye Tian laughed.

Zhang Liang's eyes lit up: "Haha, why didn't I think of that? But, Brother Tian, aren't you afraid that after you sell it to them, they'll manage to reverse-engineer it? Our loss would be huge then."

"Reverse-engineer? Even with the Old Man's strength, he can't mass-produce it right now, and the cost is terrifyingly high. Do you think with their capabilities, they can develop anything? Besides, we're practically supplying this method for free now. Even if they have the luck to develop it, what would they use to compete with us for business?"

Ye Tian said disdainfully.

"Makes sense, then I'm relieved. So we'll just stay on guard over here?"

"Yeah, haven't you already contacted the material suppliers for the Pharmaceutical Factory? Just direct them online. Once this matter is over, you can go back to the Pharmaceutical Factory to work."

"Alright, then I'll go to the bank tomorrow to transfer the money to you. My mobile banking doesn't have that much authorization."

"Okay, it just so happens that expenses have been a bit high lately. Just transfer 13 million; you guys can take the rest and go wild."

Ye Tian nodded with a smile.

"Go wild? Brother Tian, the remainder is over 650,000. How are we supposed to spend that?"

"I don't care how you spend it. Nouveau riche should have the awareness of being nouveau riche. Whether it's shopping or feasting, you have to give others a point of entry, right? Otherwise, how are we going to make the money that follows?"

The eyes of the three of them shone brightly.

They all swallowed their saliva.

"Then Brother Tian, does this count as being ordered to be extravagant?"

"Pretty much. Just don't send videos to provoke me; after all, it's not convenient for me to appear with you guys."

"Foster Father, please accept my bow!"

The three of them beamed with joy and all shouted 'Foster Father'.

Ye Tian laughed and didn't dare to stay gathered with the three of them for too long.

After chatting for a few more minutes, he drove away.

However, although he left, three Gold-rank Gu Insects had unknowingly remained by Zhang Liang and the others' side.

Back at the Pharmaceutical Factory.

Factory Director Wu was still waiting for news from Ye Tian.

As soon as he saw him arrive, he quickly came out to meet him.

"President Ye, how is the situation?"

"Everything is going smoothly. The bait has been taken. I believe it won't be long before they can't sit still. These few days, Factory Director Wu and the people from the technical department can get the samples out as quickly as possible."

"No problem, the formula is already ready and has been given to the Old Man. With the Old Man's skill, he can probably get it done anytime."

"That's good then. Just proceed according to the plan. This wave can be considered as putting some pressure on them. For the amount planned before, we can appropriately open our mouths a bit wider. After all, they've already invested so much capital; it'll be hard for them to back out now even if they wanted to."

Factory Director Wu was slightly stunned: "It looks like President Ye made a lot this time."

"Not that much, just over ten million."

Ye Tian gave a mischievous smile.

"Awesome. No wonder the old saying goes that a man cannot get rich without a windfall. Thinking back to my large Pharmaceutical Factory, trying to get ten million was harder than climbing to heaven. But with President Ye, it's done in minutes."

"Haha, Factory Director Wu, don't be so bitter. In this world, if you want to make big money, you still have to follow the righteous path. Once our factory's products are launched, a mere ten million won't even be worth looking at."

"That's for sure. With President Ye leading us, I have that confidence."

Factory Director Wu flattered him.

Ye Tian smiled. Seeing that it was almost past dinner time, he went to the cafeteria with Factory Director Wu.

He didn't expect that quite a few people were still eating.

After all, with housekeeping work, there were no fixed working hours.

He happened to see Wang Jia and the others there, so Ye Tian got his food and came to their table.

"Boss, you haven't eaten yet either?"

As soon as several of The Girls saw Ye Tian, their eyes lit up. They spoke out happily.

"Since you guys haven't eaten, would I dare to eat?"

Ye Tian said with a chuckle.

"The Boss still knows how to care for people. However, this is already our second meal of the evening. We missed a lot of time during classes in the day, so we thought about making up for the work we didn't do after class."

"Not bad, not bad. With employees like you, I deserve to make money."

Ye Tian's smile became even more brilliant.

"Tch, and here we were thinking the Boss would give us a few compliments, but this is all we get?"

"Is just a compliment enough? I thought a bonus was required. Speak up, how do you want me to praise you?"

"Boss, how can you be like this! You're a bad person!"

"Alright, alright, stop it. You're giving me goosebumps. Let's talk business. Looking at you guys, you're probably going out for another mission in a bit, right?"

"Yeah. Not just us; many employees of the Pharmaceutical Factory, after learning that there's money to be made from missions, have expressed that they want to work overtime tonight."

"That's good. Catch another round of cockroaches tonight. Then for the time following, focus mainly on catching cockroaches, with housekeeping as a secondary task."

"No problem. Since we changed the referral rules as you said, Boss, our app registration volume saw another surge today. The number of registered users increased by fifty thousand this afternoon alone. If we don't step up the catching, we won't be able to finish all the work."

"That's for the best. In the future, all the cockroaches caught should be centralized immediately, just like today. Then contact Zhang Liang to send a truck to pick them up. But one thing to note: publicly claim the cockroaches are being taken for extermination. Don't mention they have other uses."

"We know, Boss. This is our Company's core secret. We wouldn't dare let too many people know."

"Then it's settled!"

Chatting as they went, he finished dinner with The Girls.

Ye Tian picked up the Old Man and went back to the Breeding Farm to rest.

Fortunately, with people coming and going at the Breeding Farm now, it was a grand sight.

Even if Ye Tian wasn't there, no outsiders dared to wander inside casually.

After confirming everything was fine at the Breeding Farm, Ye Tian sensed his own blood qi.

He had eaten quite simply today, so his blood qi was far from being as abundant as yesterday.

But after tasting the sweetness of the Blade monitoring, Ye Tian was now unwilling to waste the daily synthesis quota.

He directly brought out the wine jar.

A small glass of wine went down.

His blood qi immediately began to surge.

Ye Tian tentatively drank another small glass. After confirming that the second glass's boosting effect wasn't as strong, he didn't drink any more.

Taking advantage of the alcohol's effect, he began synthesizing.

Half an hour later.

Ten Gold-rank Gu Insects were produced. They were swept up by Blade.

Holding the increasingly golden molted shells in his hand, Ye Tian didn't throw them directly into the wine jar this time.

Instead, he made a phone call to the hospital.

After learning that Yang Xiaoya's dedicated Super Essence Liquid was running low, he ground the shells into powder and made another bottle of Super Essence Liquid.

In the time that followed, Ye Tian patrolled the landfill once.

He fed all the Gold-rank Gu Insects at home.

When it was nearly 11 o'clock, Zhang Liang called, saying that the cockroaches Wang Jia and the others caught tonight had already been centralized.

There were just over 3,000 catties, and a call had already been made to Zhang Guangsheng's assistant to come and pick them up.

Ye Tian could imagine that the other party was probably starting to curse like a sailor again at this time.

Smiling to himself, Ye Tian let Zhang Liang handle it as he saw fit.

He himself waited for the workers to leave before releasing the Cockroach and Termites army.

The night passed in the blink of an eye.

After getting up the next morning, making breakfast, and sending the Old Man to the Pharmaceutical Factory, Ye Tian arrived at the hospital.

The injured Girls and the girl responsible for looking after them were having breakfast.

As soon as he entered the ward.

The Girls all greeted Ye Tian.

Ye Tian took a look at each of the three injured Girls.

A bright light flashed in his eyes.

"Su Su, Lizhen, has your skin completely peeled off?"

"Yes, yes, Boss. It had almost all fallen off yesterday. If it weren't for the doctor being too surprised and insisting we stay for further observation, we would have wanted to be discharged last night."

As they spoke, the two Girls stood up in front of Ye Tian and slowly turned around twice, showing Ye Tian all the places where they had been injured.

Last time he came, the skin on their minor injuries had already fallen off, but the slightly more serious parts were still in a scabbed state.

But at this moment, truly not a single trace of injury could be seen.

If one had to say there was anything, it was just a slight difference between the skin areas; an ordinary person wouldn't be able to tell without looking closely.

Moreover, with the application over a large area of skin during this period.

The overall skin of the two Girls seemed to have turned a misfortune into a blessing, showing significant improvement; it looked tender and fair. They were even more beautiful than before.

Combined with the heartfelt joy after surviving a disaster, it added a few more points of charm.

"Not bad, not bad. Not only did you not become ugly, you've become even prettier."

Ye Tian praised with satisfaction.

"It's all thanks to the Boss. If you hadn't gotten us such miraculous medicine, who knows how long it would have taken for us to recover."