Chapter 1819: No Need
Smugly, Frieda instructed her assistant to contact Roxanne's research institute and its affiliated companies to settle their outstanding payments. "I'm going to give her a headache and make her yield!" she declared.
Soon, her assistant returned, a smile playing on her lips. "We've received the payment, Ms. Queen." She eagerly awaited praise or a bonus.
Frieda's expression, however, darkened considerably. "They did? Tens of millions? All of it?"
The assistant, bewildered by her employer's displeasure, nodded. "Yes, all of it."
Confusion clouded Frieda's face. She had expected Roxanne to refuse payment, given the significant increase in material costs. No company, she reasoned, would ignore such a substantial price difference.
Panicked, she dismissed her assistant and immediately called Shawn. After explaining the situation, she asked, "Lucian and Roxanne aren't planning anything, are they?"
Shawn paused. He hadn't anticipated this outcome. Typically, companies resisted sudden price increases and renegotiated contracts. He wondered what was happening. Nevertheless, he reassured her, "No need to panic. You've received the money, and these companies are now firmly in your grasp. There's nothing to fear."
"Okay. I'll meet you at the mansion tonight," Frieda replied, her voice tinged with longing.
"Okay." After ending the call, Shawn continued to ponder his adversaries' motives. Suddenly, understanding dawned. Deflated, he muttered, "It seems I've lost this round."
That afternoon, Jonathan executed Roxanne and Lucian's plan: a price war. In response to Frieda's exorbitant price hikes, they offered even higher prices to all suppliers.
The Queen family's former suppliers, delighted by this development, abandoned their dubious intentions and began supplying a massive quantity of medicinal herbs. Frieda's attempts to secure their loyalty were instantly undone.
That evening, ten of the fourteen medicinal herb companies previously controlled by the Damaris family approached Jonathan. By dinnertime, three more followed suit. He readily signed contracts with all fourteen, agreeing to adjust prices quarterly based on market fluctuations, acknowledging that prices would likely rise again next quarter. The bosses, seeing Jonathan's proposed prices, signed without hesitation.
After dinner with his family, Jonathan called Lucian to report. "All fourteen companies are under contract. We'll lose two to three hundred million this quarter, but production will expand next quarter, bringing prices down. The herb farmers won't lose much either. It's my fault for letting this happen; the Queen family will absorb the losses."
Lucian smiled. Roxanne, listening on speakerphone, responded, "The Queen family doesn't need to cover the losses. I can license a patent from my research institute to pharmaceutical companies in Epea for approximately a billion. I can allocate two hundred million from those earnings to cover this."