Chapter 28: On the Verge of Scaling Life’s Summit

Wu Qingsong settled into a routine of wandering near the port area at various times, sometimes in the morning, sometimes in the afternoon, and occasionally just as dawn broke.

However, the red flowers that were supposed to signal news from Ram’s Herb Shop never appeared outside the storefront.

‘What’s happening? Has the message not reached them? Or is Nina tied up with something else?’ he wondered.

For the first time, Wu Qingsong felt the disadvantage of living in a world without newspapers, where all news had to travel by word of mouth. In his previous life, any updates about local resistance movements would have quickly surfaced online or in papers. Even a cursory mention would have been enough to clue him in on significant developments.

This realization led him to consider the prospect of starting a newspaper in the near future.

One morning, Harold approached him with a grave look. “Someone is looking into your background,” he said. “An old friend tipped me off that inquiries are being made about your past activities.”

“Who is it?” Wu Qingsong tensed up immediately. Even if one disregarded his previous escapades in Rem City, he was implicated in four deaths in Umber.

“It’s likely not anyone from official channels,” Harold assured him. “If the authorities had suspicions about you, their first move would be to detain you for questioning, not conduct a covert investigation. It might be someone from a merchant guild. You mentioned you were seeking reliable buyers. Could it be someone from there?”

‘Could it be someone from Ram’s network?’

A wave of irritation swept over Wu Qingsong. But on reflection, he understood that if they hadn’t scrutinized his background and merely acted on his word to contact Nina, the resistance movement would have likely crumbled a long time ago.

He waited a few more days with growing impatience. After Harold’s warning, he also started to sense that he was being discreetly followed, likely, observing his every interaction.

The feeling was deeply unsettling, as though his entire private life had been exposed to someone else’s scrutiny.

Just as he was about to reach the limits of his patience and confront the raccoonwoman about the matter, he was taken aback to see a pot of vibrant red flowers displayed at the entrance of the herb shop.

He hesitated briefly, then pushed open the door and walked in.

“You’ve arrived?” Ram maintained her usual unhurried demeanor, but Wu Qingsong felt as if her facial expression contained a mocking undertone.

“So, what’s the outcome?” he asked directly.

“Just a moment,” Ram responded, then closed the shop door behind him.

“When am I going to meet Nina?” Feeling frazzled by days of being tailed, Wu Qingsong questioned her outright.

Ram’s eyebrows raised slightly, followed by a subtle chuckle. “You seem displeased?”

“If you were the one being shadowed day and night, I doubt you’d find it amusing,” he retorted.

“Apologies,” Ram said, her tone lacking any real sincerity. “Nearly a month has passed from the time Nina handed you that wooden token until you sought me out. You might have been trustworthy back then, but a month is enough time for many things, even a person, to change. I can’t just blindly trust you.”

“So you’ve known about me from the start?” 

“I don’t know everything, but I know enough,” Ram answered. “Please, follow me to the back.”

Once more, they were back in the same lounge they had visited previously. Wu Qingsong watched Ram’s every move, each one irritating him more than the last. Yet she met his scrutiny with unruffled poise, even taking a moment to subtly adjust her dress to enhance her appearance.

“So, can you trust me now?” Wu Qingsong asked, cutting straight to the point. “When will I meet Nina?”

“I have the authority to decide on many matters,” Ram replied, entirely unfazed.

“Well, you might trust me, but I can’t say the same for you,” Wu Qingsong countered.

At this, Ram let out a laugh that Wu Qingsong found charming despite himself, imbued as it was with an indescribable allure.

“In that case, let’s start with tea,” she suggested, her hand covering a smile. She lightly tapped a bell on the table, and moments later, a familiar voice accompanied a tea tray into the room.

“Uncle Bernar?” Wu Qingsong exclaimed in surprise.

Indeed, it was Bernar, the elderly badgerman who had participated in the Rem City operation. While awaiting news from Nina and Liuli, he and Wu Qingsong had jointly attended to wounded soldiers in a log cabin near Karagados. Although Bernar was reserved and seldom engaged in conversation, he was among the few beastmen Wu Qingsong felt he could genuinely trust in this world.

“Her Highness was unable to make it to Umber, so she sent me in her stead,” Bernar said as he methodically arranged the tea, hot water, and refreshments on the table. “Miss Ram is one of our own, you can trust her.”

The atmosphere grew palpably awkward for Wu Qingsong. Fortunately, Ram refrained from breaking into laughter. Instead, she focused her attention on arranging the tea set and soon poured cups for both Bernar and Wu Qingsong.

“Please, indulge in my handiwork.”

Wu Qingsong didn’t have a taste for beverages overly laden with flavorings. However, such intricate blends were exactly what elves prized, making them a popular choice among the high society. As a result, even beastfolk of modest means from the middle and lower echelons tried to mimic this tea-brewing style. The innkeeper had fancied herself a connoisseur of this art, but in all honesty, Ram’s tea outclassed hers in both aroma and appearance by leaps and bounds.

As she prepared the tea, Ram casually explained its various nuances, defusing the awkward tension that had filled the room earlier.

“So, Wu, what urgent matter brings you here to see Nina?” she asked, lazily holding her own cup and locking eyes with him. Her gaze had a unique, disarming potency, and Wu Qingsong soon found himself struggling to maintain his composure.

Fortunately, he had been carrying a small soap sample with him these past few days and quickly took it out. “Would this be of interest to you?”

“Soap?” Ram’s face registered visible disappointment.

She rose and walked over to another section of the shop, quickly returning with an assortment of seven or eight bars of soap, each uniquely colored and exuding a delightful scent.

Without uttering a word, the stark comparison instantly rendered Wu Qingsong’s soap as nothing more than street-side waste.

“So, what’s the wholesale cost of one of these soap bars?” Wu Qingsong asked, his voice brimming with confidence.

“It varies. Depending on the type of fragrances and medicinal ingredients added, it could range from one to thirty renals,” Ram replied. Her demeanor subtly shifted as if she had picked up on some nuance in Wu Qingsong’s attitude.

“My soap costs just five copper coins to produce,” Wu Qingsong declared proudly. “This is only the first batch of samples, so there’s room for quality improvement. I can also add various scents and medicinal properties if you like, and it would still be far more cost-effective than what you have. In fact, I’m more interested in pushing this additive-free, unscented soap. It’s highly effective at cleaning and is priced modestly. It’s ideal for dominating the middle and low-end markets.”

He continued, “How many bars of your premium soap do you manage to sell in a month? Twenty? Thirty?” 

Wu Qingsong now looked Ram squarely in the eyes, his confidence resurging. “Even with high pricing, what’s the real profit margin? A few hundred renals? The soap I’ve developed will only cost twenty copper coins each. It’s affordable enough to become a staple for every beastfolk. Just in the city of Umber alone, we could easily move ten thousand bars a month. What if we extend its use to leatherwork? What if we expand to other cities? Selling a hundred thousand bars monthly would hardly be a stretch. The key point is, this offers a unique business opportunity. Even if we make a mere five-copper profit per bar, the monthly profit could still reach five thousand renals.”