Chapter 151: Suicide Price Cuts

Jiang Zhaoming raged, "The scent of the soap is clearly wonderful and not cloying at all. Are there something wrong with these people's noses?"

When the Pearl-brand soap was first developed, Jiang Zhaoming had used it himself and was extremely satisfied with its fragrance.

However, Jiang Zhaoming did not realize that his personal preference for scents differed from that of the general public.

Jiang Zhaoming personally preferred heavier scents, and coupled with his arrogant personality, he assumed that whatever he liked, everyone else would naturally love as well.

Manager Li hurriedly picked up the account book and hastily tried to mend the situation, "Master, please calm down! Those are just the words of some merchants. Among all of us here at the Pearl Workshop, not a single person has ever felt the soap was too cloying."

Jiang Zhaoming certainly knew that Manager Li was deliberately buttering him up, but he simply loved hearing such words.

After a moment to catch his breath, Jiang Zhaoming suppressed his anger and said, "Manager Li, starting from now, all our Pearl-brand laundry soap and scented soap will have their prices slashed! I refuse to believe we cannot outsell that Peony brand!"

Manager Li asked hastily, "Master, by how much should we drop the price?"

Jiang Zhaoming thought for a moment and said, "Drop the laundry soap to one guan per bar, and the scented soap to... drop it to three guan per bar!"

"Ah?" Manager Li was startled, "Master, this... this might not be wise, right?"

Currently, the market price for a bar of Pearl-brand laundry soap was five guan. Dropping it to one guan per bar was equivalent to an eighty percent discount.

Jiang Zhaoming shouted loudly, "What is unwise about it? You know as well as I do how low the production cost is. Even if we sell it at one guan a bar, we will still make a profit!"

Manager Li said anxiously, "Master, making a profit is true, but... but that is not how business is conducted. Even if we want to lower the price, we must do it gradually, reducing it bit by bit..."

Manager Li was a legitimate businessman with over a decade of experience, and deep down, he believed that such a drastic price cut would ruin the rules of the industry.

"Reduce it bit by bit?" Jiang Zhaoming looked at Manager Li in confusion.

Manager Li nodded and said, "Yes, Master. For now, we could try dropping it by a hundred wen first. If the Peony brand follows suit and lowers their price, then we can drop it by another hundred wen..."

Jiang Zhaoming shook his head vigorously, "No, no, dropping it by a hundred wen at a time is far too slow. I have no patience to drag this out with them for so long. I want to decide the winner with them right now!"

"But Master..."

Manager Li wanted to continue persuading him, but Jiang Zhaoming cut him off, "Enough, enough, say no more. Just do as I say. Announce to everyone immediately that starting today, Pearl-brand laundry soap is one guan a bar, and scented soap is three... no, two guan a bar!"

Upon hearing this, Manager Li nearly passed out on the spot. The scented soap, which originally sold for over a dozen guan, was now being slashed to a mere two guan—was this man's brain kicked by a donkey?

Naturally, Manager Li could not fathom what was going on in Jiang Zhaoming's mind.

Because from the very inception of the Pearl Workshop, Jiang Zhaoming had never intended to make a profit from running a soap workshop.

Initially, Jiang Zhaoming's idea was to defeat Xu Mo and become the new leader of the soap industry.

Yet now, Jiang Zhaoming realized that path was unfeasible, so he decided to pull the firewood from under the cauldron and directly squeeze out the lucrative profit margins of soap.

To put it bluntly, Jiang Zhaoming simply could not bear to see the Peony brand achieve such explosive popularity, nor did he want Xu Mo to rake in money daily and grow increasingly powerful!

As long as he could disrupt Xu Mo, making him unhappy and thwarting his plans, Jiang Zhaoming would be immensely pleased.

Within a single day, the news of the massive price slash on Pearl-brand soap reached Xinzhou City.

The entire business circle was instantly sent into an uproar.

Naturally, Ning Yahin was also utterly shocked and could no longer remain seated.

Ning Yahin's first thought was that this matter must be reported to Xu Mo immediately to hear how he would decide to handle it.

In Ning Yahin's view, this kind of suicidal price reduction no longer fell under the category of a price war.

"Ling'er, prepare the carriage immediately. We are going to Gushan Village," Ning Yahin instructed.

"Understood, Eldest Miss." Hearing this, Ling'er hurried away.

Scarcely had Ling'er left when Xie Yuqing arrived, looking distressed as she said, "Eldest Miss, a large crowd of customers has arrived downstairs, all demanding refunds. It is completely chaotic. What should we do?"

Ning Yahin immediately knitted her brows, then stepped out of her room and headed downstairs.

By this time, the shop's ground floor was already packed with people, blocking the walkways entirely.

Looking out, many individuals were holding their promotional gift packages and shouting for refunds.

Suddenly, someone spotted Ning Yahin on the stairs and immediately pointed at her, yelling, "Look, Miss Ning is here! Let's go talk to her!"

The next moment, the crowd surged toward Ning Yahin, instantly blocking the staircase completely.

"Everyone, please calm down! Please calm down!"

Xie Yuqing rushed down to maintain order, shielding Ning Yahin behind her to protect her from the surging crowd.

Standing on the stairs, Ning Yahin raised her voice and said, "Everyone, please quiet down for a moment. You can speak to me properly about whatever issues you have!"

Ning Yahin's words still carried weight; the scene instantly quieted down significantly, with only a few people continuing to murmur in low voices.

At that moment, a man in the crowd angrily shouted, "Miss Ning, you people are being thoroughly dishonest! It's the exact same stuff—the Peony brand sells it for so cheap, yet you charge such an exorbitant price. Do you take us all for fools?"

The man's words immediately struck a chord with the crowd, who began to accuse Ning Yahin of lacking integrity, wave after wave of protests rising higher and higher.

It took Ning Yahin a great deal of effort to quiet the crowd once more before she said, "You are welcome to voice your demands, there is no need to be so worked up!"

The man from earlier immediately shouted, "Our demand is the same—we want refunds! Am I right, everyone?"

"Right! Refunds! We want refunds!"

"That's right, exactly right! You must give us refunds!"

The surrounding people chimed in enthusiastically.

Ning Yahin pressed her hands downward in a calming gesture, and once the crowd had quieted down somewhat, she said loudly, "Rest assured, everyone, we agree to issue refunds. We will not break our promise!"

As soon as these words were spoken, the crowd looked somewhat surprised, but their expressions and moods softened considerably, as if they had not expected Ning Yahin to be so reasonable.

Ning Yahin added loudly, "Please go and form an orderly queue by the counter. Do not push; we will process refunds for everyone in turn!"

No sooner had she finished speaking than the people scrambled eagerly to line up by the counter, as though failing to hurry would mean missing out on their money.

Ning Yahin looked at Xie Yuqing and said solemnly, "Manager Xie, I have a very important matter to attend to outside. I am leaving the shop in your hands!"

Xie Yuqing nodded, "Eldest Miss, please rest assured."

Ning Yahin continued, "Also, do not sell any more merchandise until I return. Focus entirely on handling the refunds first."

"Understood, Eldest Miss," Xie Yuqing replied.

With a trusting nod, Ning Yahin carved a path through the crowd and stepped out of the shop...