Chapter 109: Bunny Hair Arrows
Translator: Cynthia Editor: Pranav
It must be a large sum of money; otherwise, Mingxiu wouldn’t have bothered to talk about it. Ai Hui was now as poor as a church mouse. He didn’t even remember how much money he owed, and even worse, daily consumables such as Twilight Cocoons, herbs, materials, and manpower were driving up his costs every day.
He strongly felt that training was akin to burning money.
Why didn’t he feel so before? Well…that was probably because his previous so-called training was far from the standard.
If so, then life was hard for elementalists, too. Hmmm… maybe not. Not everyone was as poor as him.
If one had too many debts, then they would no longer worry about it. Ai Hui didn’t bother to think about his debts further—rather, he didn’t dare think about it.
The reason why he had just refused Mingxiu’s proposal was that he wanted to study his hand palaces further. Ai Hui was still excited about the fact that both his hand palaces were activated at the same time, and he didn’t want to waste time extracting more Twilight Silk. Money? No one cared about money!
Except himself!
Ai Hui’s eyes were wide; they were twinkling like stars in the sky.
Mingxiu tittered. Ai Hui’s facial expression was pretty much the same as that of a money-grubber. Mingxiu didn’t know that Ai Hui was so greedy for money—she only realized it now. Who did he learn it from?
It was a pity that he was Uncle’s disciple—Uncle really was poor, but he always held himself aloof. He could accept Master’s help with tiny issues, but he would become unhappy if she wanted to spend more money for him.
For so many years, Master had always wanted to financially sponsor Uncle’s research, but Uncle never agreed. He would rather do it himself without extra help in his small courtyard filled with waste products.
Uncle was always stubborn, and Master couldn’t do anything but give up.
This was his only shortcoming— he would never give in to money, which was respectable but exasperating.
In this aspect, Ai Hui was entirely different. He was always keen for money, and his eyes would light up every time he heard the word “money.” Master had complained several times about this to Mingxiu, saying that Ai Hui was wasting his talent and that he was vulgar without any proper plans for his future. And next, she would complain about Uncle, saying he was terrible at teaching his own disciple.
But Mingxiu thought it was all right. Uncle was unyielding like a steel plate; however, a steel plate could be broken. On the other hand, Ai Hui was persistent yet resilient, just like the Twilight Silk he extracted. Every time Mingxiu saw his hard work and thought about his experience, she would sincerely feel admiration. At the same time, though, she couldn’t help but feel protective towards him. She herself had nothing to worry about since she was young—she had never experienced or even imagined that kind of life.
“Each arrow is made of ten pieces of Twilight Silk and is sold for thirty thousand yuan. You will provide Twilight Silk to Manager Li, and in return, you get thirty percent of the profit. Manager Li will provide the Twilight Cocoons and herbs.” Mingxiu explained everything clearly and concisely.
Thirty thousand yuan for each arrow!
This was daylight robbery!
Ai Hui almost blurted out loud, but the next second, he realized that part of the money would belong to him!
This was daylight robbery! But why not?
He bit his tongue and proceeded to ask the key question. “How many arrows can you sell in one month?”
Manager Li thought for a while before saying, “The ten arrows I made last time have already been sold out. I’m not exactly sure how many arrows I can sell in one month, but since it’s a consumable, I believe we can sell quite a lot although it’s not cheap. If we look at the sales records of similar goods, after the market opens up, I think we can sell three to five hundred arrows every month.”
Ai Hui’s eyes widened with a glittering light. “Five hundred! That is fifteen million yuan, and thirty percent is four million five hundred thousand?”
Manager Li began to sweat. “Not that much. First, we have to consider the cost, including the cost of cocoons, manpower, materials, and the rent for the shop. At least twenty percent of the price goes there. I think Mingxiu can figure this out too.” He turned to Mingxiu. “You know I’m not lying.”
Mingxiu nodded as she knew that Manager Li was speaking the truth.
“Next, in the beginning, we can hardly sell five hundred arrows. Before the power of the arrow is proved, no one will buy it on a large scale. I’ll reach out to my regular customers first, and I estimate that dozens of arrows can be sold out. Once it’s accepted by most people, the sales will increase. Earlier on, I think at most we can sell thirty to fifty arrows within a month.”
Manager Li was conservative, which was something he had to be. If he exaggerated the possible income but failed to reach the target, then he would get himself into trouble, because the boy in front of him would definitely not let him off easily.
From three or five hundred to thirty or fifty…the gap was big, and the money he could earn was far less than he had imagined.
Ai Hui stared at him with dissatisfaction, but he still told himself, “Anyway, it’s better than nothing.”
“Fifty arrows with a profit of twenty-four thousand for each. Thirty percent is three hundred and sixty thousand yuan.”
Mingxiu told Ai Hui gently, “Don’t worry. There may not be much profit in the beginning, but it’s a long-term business. Besides, it doesn’t require much silk, so it won’t influence your training. I think you can do it.”
“Three hundred and sixty thousand yuan is already a lot of money to me,” Ai Hui said happily.
Yet Manager Li didn’t take him seriously. As the disciple of a master, three hundred and sixty thousand could barely be enough for his pocket money. He quickly replied, “As soon as we open up the market, the sales will increase. By the way, we need to give the material a new name so that no one will know it is actually Twilight Silk.”
“That’s right.” Mingxiu nodded. “You can give it a name, Ai Hui. It deserves a new name. If I hadn’t seen it for myself, I could never have related it to Twilight Silk.”
“Yes, yes. I’ve been making weapons for so many years, but I’ve also never seen Twilight Silk like this,” Manager Li said.
Ai Hui didn’t refuse them. He thought for a while and said, “Let’s call the silk ‘Snow Silver Bunny Hair’ and the arrow ‘Bunny Hair,’ shall we?”
Manager Li was a bit confused at first, but then after a minute, he realized Ai Hui’s intention. He couldn’t help give him a thumbs-up. “That’s smart.”
The name itself wasn’t that smart, but in this way, the customers would think that it was made from the hair of some kind of rabbit. As a result, no one would know that the snow-white, silvery thread was actually Twilight Silk. When he thought of those imitators who would start chasing all kinds of rabbits to find the material, Manager Li couldn’t help but let out a laugh.
This boy was really cunning!
Manager Li made a mental note to be careful and not irritate this fellow. Although Ai Hui didn’t look the part, he was actually very shrewd.
Even Mingxiu couldn’t help but say, “This name is cruel to rabbits.”
Ai Hui chuckled. Neither of them had understood his real intention. The word “bunny” sounded similar to “money.” Once the arrows were sold and profits were earned, he would be a man with money!
“But can bunny hair be this long?” Mingxiu asked curiously.
“You don’t know?” Ai Hui was surprised. “I’ve seen rabbits with hair much longer than this in the Wilderness. They are very fierce, and they can bite off a chunk from a tree trunk that’s as thick as a bowl. They like to eat shrubs, leaves, and meat, and their hair is also pretty much the same as Twilight Silk—it’s snow-white with a silvery sheen, but it’s much thicker, though.”
Looking at Ai Hui’s extremely low base level, Manager Li was astonished when he heard that Ai Hui had been in the Wilderness before. None of the disciples of the master seemed to be normal...
The Wilderness…
Mingxiu remembered the various amazing details and weird species of the Wilderness that Li Wei had told her about, and she couldn’t help but be enchanted with this mysterious place.