"Exactly, return the goods! Or increase the price! You choose!" He Tian chimed in.
Because of Yu He's words, in just two days, the two of them lost more than half of their clients.
Not only that, but the Anonymous Divine Doctor was offering six times the price to procure herbs, while they had only offered Qiao Qiao three times the price. And last night, Qiao Qiao had even paid twelve times the price to acquire the southern market!
They had truly lost the bigger prize chasing the smaller one, suffering a huge loss!
The more they thought about it, the angrier they became. Thus, they colluded with suppliers who also knew they had taken a massive hit and came to confront Qiao Qiao.
Upon hearing this, Qiao Qiao's face turned ashen. How did they know she had paid twelve times the price for Mo Chao's goods?
It must have been that big mouth Mo Chao blabbering everywhere!
It was impossible for her to raise the price; she simply didn't have that much money.
Qiao Qiao stated sternly, "We already signed a contract back then, with the prices and quantities of medicinal herbs clearly written. There is no reason to increase the price!"
"If you won't return the goods, then give us twelve times the price!"
"If not twelve times, you must at least give us the same price as the Anonymous Divine Doctor."
"Exactly! The prices have been driven up so high now that those who collect raw materials have also raised their prices. You can no longer obtain goods at the price you quoted earlier."
"If you don't raise the price, then I won't transport the goods to you. I'll sell them to the Anonymous Divine Doctor first, and then supply you again after the cost price of the herbs drops."
The suppliers bombarded Qiao Qiao with their demands, leaving her speechless.
This commotion scared away quite a few customers, leaving Madam Qi and her elderly friends to watch from the side.
Madam Qi's expression was grim. She said sternly, "What do you take our Qi family's cooperation for? To change it just like that!"
"Then your offered price is too unfair! Are you trying to bully us?!" someone retorted.
Madam Qi was taken aback. This was indeed Qiao Qiao's fault for being so wrong!
"The Anonymous Divine Doctor has posted again! Offering twenty times the market price for haishama, blowfish liver, cuttlebone, and white snail shells, ready stock! Twenty times!" someone in the crowd suddenly shouted.
Upon hearing this, the suppliers fumbled for their phones. Five minutes ago, the Anonymous Divine Doctor had posted a new procurement notice on the Tianyi Net forum.
Twenty times!!
The suppliers' eyes turned red, and they immediately started causing trouble again:
"I'm not buying the herbs from you anymore, return them! I want to give them to the Anonymous Divine Doctor!"
"Exactly, you haven't paid in full anyway. I'm taking the herbs to the Anonymous Divine Doctor!"
"Return the goods, return the goods!"
Seeing this, Qiao Qiao's heart pounded with fear and yet she was ecstatic. If Yu He couldn't obtain herbs even at six times the price, she would be even more anxious!
At twenty times the price, she could finally offload the herbs she had on hand!
She could even make a profit!
"Alright, at twelve times the price, I will raise the price for all of you to twelve times. No further increases!" Qiao Qiao announced loudly.
Wu Sheng and He Tian exchanged glances, then discussed with the other suppliers.
Their purpose in coming was to raise the price, not to return the goods. They had already offended the Anonymous Divine Doctor, who would not accept their goods. Therefore, seeing that the price had been raised, they decided to accept the deal. They produced the contract for price increase they had prepared and asked Qiao Qiao to sign it.
To prevent them from causing further disturbances and damaging the reputation of the Medicinal Cuisine Hall, Qiao Qiao gave it a brief glance and signed it.
After the suppliers left with their contracts, a smug look on their faces, Madam Qi's expression finally improved. Qiao Qiao asked her and her friends to stay and watch Yu He come to beg for medicine.
However, the entire morning passed, and Yu He did not appear. Even Madam Yu had left at some point.
"When will this good show start?" someone asked impatiently.
Madam Qi's expression grew increasingly displeased, and she also became impatient. Fearing that she would storm off, Qiao Qiao proactively called Yu He.
"Hello, the number you have dialed is switched off. Please try again later..."
Switched off!
Qiao Qiao, unwilling to give up, dialed again, but it was still switched off.
She switched to another number and called Qiao Wei, hoping he could help her transfer the phone to Yu He.
The result was the same – switched off!
She called Xiao Qing and Xiao Ya, and all their phones were switched off!
Even Madam Yu's phone was switched off!
What was going on?
Why were everyone's phones switched off?!
Since calls were not going through, Qiao Qiao resorted to sending text messages. However, after sending them, there was no response for a long time.
It wasn't strange for others not to respond, but it was very strange that even Qiao Wei did not respond.
Qiao Wei shouldn't ignore her!
Qiao Qiao suddenly had a bad premonition. Had they all blocked her?!
"Madam Qi, my spa appointment is soon, so I'll be leaving first~"
At this point, some people, having lost patience, asked to leave.
Once someone spoke up, others also started making excuses and left.
"What about the good show you promised?! Was it just us sitting here waiting for nothing?!" Madam Qi questioned Qiao Qiao with a dark expression.
She had brought her friends over, expecting a good show. Instead, not only had they failed to humiliate Madam Yu, but the suppliers had also raised their prices, and they had been waiting around for most of the day!
Qiao Qiao explained, "I don't know what Yu He is doing either..."
"If you can't get rid of the herbs you've bought, you'll bear the losses yourself!" Madam Qi declared, then stormed off.
Qiao Qiao's face paled slightly, but she comforted herself, telling herself to remain calm. Yu He was the one who should be anxious.
Just wait a little longer; Yu He would surely come begging for medicine.
However, Yu He did not show up even by nightfall. She did not come the next day, nor the day after.
Finally, Qiao Qiao couldn't wait any longer and personally went to Yu Xianyi Clinic to find Yu He.
"Yu He! Didn't you want to collect haishama, blowfish liver, cuttlebone, and white snail shells at twenty times the market price? I have all these ready stock on hand in the domestic market right now."
Yu He was reading a medical book on the sofa, and without even looking up, she replied indifferently, "Oh, and then?"
Seeing this, Qiao Qiao was filled with anger. She was always like this, acting indifferent to everything, as if it didn't matter, even though there were no more herbs for her to prepare for patients!
"You can only buy these four medicinal ingredients from me now," she said.
"I don't need them anymore," Yu He said lightly.
"What?!" Qiao Qiao was shocked, thinking she had misheard.
Yu He put down her book and looked at her, patiently repeating, "I said, I, don't, need, them, anymore!"
Don't need them anymore?!
"Boom—" Outside, lightning flashed and thunder rumbled, followed by a downpour.
Qiao Qiao froze, her face deathly pale, "How... how could you not need them!"
If she didn't need those herbs, what about her?
Those hundreds of millions of goods, she had no use for them!
Were they all going to be stuck with her?
Yu He sneered, "I've already replaced those four medicinal ingredients with other herbs, so naturally, I don't need them."
Qiao Qiao: !!!
She had already replaced the four medicinal ingredients, yet she had posted notices to procure them!
Qiao Qiao realized, trembling and pointing at her, "You, you did it on purpose! You deliberately drove up the price to trick me into buying those herbs at a high cost!"
"Trick? Didn't you deliberately buy at a high price yourself?" Yu He sneered.
Qiao Qiao was choked, trembling with rage, unable to speak.
"As I said, what I can give you, I can also take back! You made your own choice; who can you blame?" Yu He said coldly. After speaking, she picked up her book again and issued an eviction notice, "Get lost, don't disturb my reading."