Chapter 392 - Call Them

Standing in front of the ship, Zhao Hai gazed at the distant Rising Water City. The size of the city wasn’t as large as Sky Water City, but the traffic of ships present were quite the same.

Zhao Hai smiled faintly as he turned his head, “Looking at the size of Rising Water City, it seems like it is worse than Sky Water City. But it looks like it is just as bustling here. It’ll be a good idea to have a shop at this place. Right, is there a Shelley Hotel here? Perhaps we can work together with them.”

Laura smiled, “It has, how could there be no Shelley Hotel in a city such as this? We should find them and get into contact, I believe that they would be happy. Brother Hai, how about we reduce the supply of fire fish and milk wine that we are giving to Brother Smith, to give the Calci Family a warning.”

Zhao Hai shook his head and said, “Consider that finished, I will still take into account Brother Smith’s face on this matter. But if the Calci Family continues to push me, then I will end my cooperation with them. Let’s see what they’re going to do about that.”

Laura nodded and said, “Very well, let’s give Brother Smith some face and have him speak to the family in our behalf. Let’s see Calci Family’s response, if they still go too far, hmph, then don’t blame me.”

Zhao Hai looked at Laura’s appearance and showed a faint smile and said, “This is the Laura that I know, looking like a very capable woman. Haha. Good, if they still dare try to deal with us, then we won’t be polite anymore.”

While they were talking, the ship slowly approached Rising Water City. The harbor of the city was much worse than Sky Water City. The dock looked very messy, ships could hardly find any place to dock in.

Zhao Hai knew that this should be the public pier. There was no need to pay in order to dock here, thus the numerous ships. But this was also the smallest and most chaotic ship terminal in the city.

There were other docks nearby. They were quite large, and they had good security as well. There were even porters present, but one needs to pay money in order to dock on those places.

This was Rosen Empire’s method, they would lower taxes on some areas to attract people. Upon arriving, one would get exempted from tax, but there were even more places to spend some money. In the end, if you calculate all of your expenses, they would come out to be even greater than what would be if you just paid your tax.

Zhao Hai looked at the public harbor and knew that there was no way that they could find their place there. So he had Jinan maneuver the ship towards those paid docks.

Paid docks were certainly a lot better, the water were very spacious, the pier was also very clean. There were even specialized people tasked in maintaining public security. All matters on these docks appeared to be in pristine order.

When Zhao Hai saw these docks, he couldn’t help but smile bitterly. He thought about those big companies back on Earth. The companies would willingly slash their product’s prices to the point of suffering losses just to make profits on the extra services. He didn’t expect that someone on the Ark Continent would actually think of the same method.

Zhao Hai’s group stopped on a place in the dock. They paid the supervisor for the fee and then got on the carriage to head towards the city.

Upon entering Rising Water City, Zhao Hai and the others couldn’t help but stare. They couldn’t say that the streets of the city were greater than those of Sky Water City, on the contrary, they were quite awful. However, the shops on both sides of the street were very numerous, they had the same liveliness as Sky Water City.

This was a port city, so businesses should be doing very well, Zhao Hai was already used to this fact. He looked at the shops on both sides of the street and turned his head to Shun, “Shun, go to those shops and see if there are any products worth noting, also, take note of the prices of the goods here. Shue, let’s go to the hotel and take a rest.”

The two complied, Shue ushered the carriage to head towards the direction of the Shelley Hotel while Shun went out to get some information. Back at the pier, Zhao Hai had already asked for the directions of the hotel, so they didn’t need to worry about getting lost.

Zhao Hai and the others quickly arrived at the Shelley Hotel. Although Rising Water City’s storefronts didn’t look very nice, the Shelley Hotel in this city was not the same. The outside of the hotel was extremely clean along with its front facade. There were also people dedicated to maintaining public security outside, fully exhibiting the quality of the hotel.

Just as Zhao Hai’s bull-pulled carriage stopped in front of the hotel, a person wearing silk clothes immediately went out to greet them. The man looked over 50 years old with a long and skinny body. With his face full of smiles, one would be able to feel a very kind atmosphere around him.

When Zhao Hai disembarked from the carriage, the man went to Zhao Hai and greeted him, “This one is Ronaldo, the manager of Rising Water City’s Shelley Hotel. This one welcomes Mister Zhao Hai.“

Zhao Hai stared at Ronaldo and said, “You know me?”

Ronaldo smiled faintly and said, “I do. There is no Shelley Hotel Manager in the continent that doesn’t recognize Mister Zhao Hai. Mister, please come in, you’re always a distinguished guest in our hotels.”

Zhao Hai laughed and said, “I won’t be polite then.” Seeing the two talking and walking towards the hotel, the guests became quite alarmed. One should know that the hotel was not only for the rich, it was also quite expensive. Adding on to the fact that the Shelley Hotel had recently ousted Grand Duke Lionheart’s business, the managers of their hotels had became quite the personalities. They wouldn’t generally greet any ordinary person.

When the people saw that Ronaldo was extremely courteous towards Zhao Hai, they felt confused. This was because they didn’t know if Zhao Hai actually had any status.

During that time, when a noble looking person just went out of the hotel, he actually heard the exchange of dialog between Ronaldo and Zhao Hai. Upon hearing their words, the person’s eyes lit up, he immediately went toward his own carriage and rushed towards the direction of the City Lord’s Mansion.

…

After Zhao Hai entered the hotel’s reception hall, some people immediately went and served them some tea. Ronaldo and Zhao Hai drank a mouthful as the former said, “When I heard that mister came, I initially wanted to come greet mister at the pier. But I didn’t think that mister would actually arrive at the hotel too quickly, this is quite embarrassing.”

Zhao hai smiled and said, “Manager Ronaldo is too polite. I’m not an influential person, coming to greet me personally is too much. I wouldn’t dare, I wouldn’t dare…”

Ronaldo smiled and said, “Mister is also too polite, mister offered quite a huge helping hand to the Shelley Family. It should be appropriate for me to personally greet mister. Anyway, why did mister come to Rising Water City? Is there anything we could help you with?”

Zhao Hai gave a smiled and replied, “There is actually a reason why I came. I want to set up a shop inside Rising Water City. The bigger the shop, the better. I hope the manager could help me with this.”

Ronaldo returned the smile and nodded, “Mister is too polite, this matter is no big deal. I’ll personally have someone inquire around. What price would be alright for mister?”

Zhao Hai replied, “The price isn’t an issue. I just want a shop right now and open as soon as possible. It’ll handle both wholesale and retail goods. Therefore, the shop’s location should be good, it also needed to be able to store goods. Transportation should also be convenient.”

Ronaldo nodded and said, “Very well, these things are quite easy to do, mister can be relieved. I’ll certainly go and find the best location as soon as possible. Right, if mister plans to set up shop here, you still have some formalities to do. I don’t know if mister is already prepared for this? If mister isn’t, the hotel could lend you a hand.”

Zhao Hai laughed and said, “Thank you, Manager Ronaldo. To be honest, I really don’t understand about any of the matters inside Rising Water City. I’ll really have to rely on the manager here. How about this, I’ll give an additional 5,000 fire fishes to the Shelley Family each month. What does Manager think about this?”

Ronaldo stared, he was pleasantly surprised as he said, “Mister is too generous. Even if mister didn’t reward the hotel, we would still help you with this matter. Also, mister, these fire fire fishes wouldn’t be taken away from the Calci Family’s share right? Won’t mister feel awkward?”

Zhao Hai smiled faintly and said, “Not awkward. I reckon you have already heard about the Calci Family. Now I’m just waiting for the family’s next move, if they become too overbearing, then I can only find other people to cooperate with.”

Ronaldo’s eyes lit up brightly, just like what Zhao Hai said, he already knew about the matter between Zhao Hai and the Calci Family. Because of this, he acted very enthusiastic towards Zhao Hai. Since if the Calci Family manages to make the wrong move, there would be some excess of fire fishes on Zhao Hai’s hands. If the Shelley Family could get their hands on these fishes, the family could surely make a ton of money.

The Shelley Family didn’t fear the Calci Family. Although the Calci Family aws fierce, it was impossible for them to fully uproot the Shelley Family. After all, outside of Rosen Empire, the Shelley Family had more influence than the Calci family.

However, merchant clans always wanted to hold onto wealth. So if they could prevent falling out with the Calci Family, they would. After all, compared to the entire business of the Shelley Family, the fire fishes were still a small business.

But Ronaldo also understood what Zhao Hai was implying. It was just like what Marriott reported, this Zhao Hai wasn’t a simple person.

At the thought of this, Ronaldo stood up and bowed to Zhao Hai, “Well then, this one will have to busy himself, mister. Your rooms have already been prepared as well as your meals. Mister can rest first while I handle the matters that you requested.”

Zhao Hai smiled and said, “I thank the manager for his troubles.” Then he walked with Ronaldo outside as the latter arranged someone to lead Zhao Hai’s group to their accommodations.

Ronaldo had arranged for Zhao Hai’s group to have the best rooms of the hotel. He also instructed the attendants to give Zhao Hai the highest level of hospitality. If somebody dared to cause problems, Ronaldo wouldn’t express mercy.

Just after Zhao Hai and the others were settled inside their room, a knock was suddenly heard on the door. Shue immediately went to the door and opened it, revealing the meal that Ronaldo had prepared for them. The dishes looked very delicious and appetizing, it clearly showed how well regarded they were by the hotel.

Zhao Hai and the others didn’t become polite, they immediately went and enjoyed the dishes that the hotel prepared for them. At this time, another knock was heard, when Shue went and opened it to take a look, what he saw was Shun.

After passing through the door, Shun gave Zhao Hai a bow and said, “Young Master, I have asked around, there are quite a lot of goods here. But compared to Sky Water City, there are more low-quality good present. Because of this, the goods sold in this city are much cheaper than those at Sky Water City.”

Zhao Hai nodded and said, “Good, let’s eat first. After the meal, we’ll go around and scout for good shop locations as well as products that the Merpeople wanted. Then we’ll go back out at sea as soon as possible to trade with them.”

Shun gave a nod, then joined the others in the table to eat a meal. Laura who was sitting gave a frown and asked, “Brother Hai, did you think about the people that we’ll have to hand the shop’s management to? The slaves back at Iron Mountain Fort wouldn’t do, we can manage them back at the fort but not here. I think we need to recruit a few trustworthy people.”

Hearing what Laura just said. Zhao Hai couldn’t help but smiled and say, “What? Didn’t you have some good people we can make us of? This is also good since we don’t need to worry about their loyalty. Those people you have back at the Purcell Duchy aren’t doing anything anyway, we should call them over.”

Laura‘s face lit up, “Right, if we don’t get in contact with them for quite some time, they would certainly feel strange. Since we cannot return to Purcell Duchy and happen to open a shop, we should bring them over here.”

Zhao Hai smiled faintly and said, “After our meal, you should write a letter for them and have it sent via blood hawks from Stony Mountain. Go make them head outside Casa City to gather and I’ll go and meet them.”

Laura nodded and said, “Brother Hai, I think you should also send a letter to Uncle Evan and tell him about this matter and have him prepare.”

Zhao Hai smiled, “Be relieved, I’ll go arrange it. I think Uncle Evan couldn’t wait to get rid of your people. This way, Magic Lily Store would be completely under his control.”

Hearing this, Laura sighed. Magic Lily Store was something she established. It was just a pity that she had to hand it over to someone else.

Looking at her appearance, Zhao Hai gave a smile, “Don’t be sad, the Magic Lily stores that you built aren’t your largest assets anyway, it was those people who were nurtured under your influence. Those people are good resources, we must provide them with a stage to exhibit their talents to the limit. By the way, don’t forget to tell them to bring their entire families.”

Laura gave a smile and replied, “Don’t worry, I’ll tell them. I shall also inform them that this wouldn’t be the only store that we’ll open. If the matter back at Sky Water City gets resolved, we would need people to manage our shop there as well. Right, Brother Hai, don’t you think that Iron Mountain Fort needs a bit more managing staff? How about we send some of my people over there as well?”

Zhao Hai nodded, but at this time, another knock was heard on the door.