Chapter 121 - Cooperation (Part 3)

-This chapter was sponsored by Robert (US) and Anonymous. Thanks!!!

Zhao nodded. "Mister Kun, do you know how much oil I could get per day from an animal oil press?"

"Generally, this machine would produce about one jin of oil per day, but of course, you could only reach that yield if it works around the clock."

"This amount of oil is not low. Do you know the price of this kind of oil press?"

Right away, Kun said, "The price is not expensive. Only one hundred gold coins. Its main function is to press nut oil or fruit oil, so it's very cheap. If it was too expensive, no one would buy it."

Zhao understood, then he turned to Laura and asked, "Miss Laura, when you pick up the magic radishes, please bring me five animal oil presses. Is this convenient?"

Laura nodded. "Yes, it won't be any trouble. Please rest assured, Mister Zhao. I will have five of these machines ready for you."

"Miss Laura is too kind. Just deduct the money from the magic radishes to buy the five oil presses," Zhao said. "Now that we are allies cooperating with each other, if I really have what it takes to help Miss Laura, then I will do it."

"Thank you, Mister Zhao. Please rest assured that after three days, I will ensure that there will be an on-time delivery."

Zhao smiled, then he turned to Green. "I suppose I should give Miss Laura a small gift. Go get some fire fish ready for her for when she leaves." Then he faced Laura again. "I see that you like fire fish. I don't have a lot, but I will give you several of them, Miss Laura. I hope you will take it."

Laura didn't want to put him off, even though a few fire fish was worth a lot of money. If she was too polite, then she would appear hypocritical. "Thank you, Mister Zhao. To be honest, I really do like eating fire fish. They are very delicious."

"You're welcome, Miss Laura." Zhao smiled, then he said, "Before you go, I do want to ask one more thing. Are you in the market for blue-eyed rabbits?"

Although Laura was surprised, she immediately remembered that some time ago, Zhao had bought three hundred blue-eyed rabbits. She couldn't help but frown. "I really have not done any business with blue-eyed rabbits, but I do have some contacts with several meat processing plants. I can ask for you, Mister Zhao."

Zhao nodded. "Sorry to trouble you, Miss Laura. I'm trying out a breeding program that would help me raise enough animals so that even ordinary people would be able to afford meat, such as blue-eyed rabbits, long-haired pigs, scaleless fish and the like. But for now, I only have blue-eyed rabbits, so that's what I want Miss Laura to focus on."

"That's not a problem. I'll immediately tell my contacts about it. It seems that Mister Zhao's operation contains a variety of things. The Markey Company will now have to increase their number of projects."

In the Ark Continent, there were a lot of meat processing plants. They would make things like cooked meats or canned foods. If it was some kind of special cooked meat, then only the nobles would be able to afford it. As for the canned goods, they were usually eaten by commoners, and a large amount of it was supplied to the army.

Laura had done some business with these meat processing plants. Her stores would sell canned foods and cooked meats, so naturally she would know some people from these plants.

"That would be best," Zhao said. "After you're able to sell a number of my goods, I'm sure there will be more and more opportunities for us to cooperate."

Laura smiled. "That is certain, Mister Zhao. But I still have a question I want to ask you. Today, you invited us to eat, but can you tell me what were the ingredients in those dishes, because I have never seen them before."

Zhao knew why Laura asked that question. "Those are just some new varieties of magic vegetables. They are unique, and can only be found in other parts of the Continent. To be honest, in addition to being a mage, I also have a strong interest in studying various plants. Those vegetables were combined with some plants that could be found in the wild, and from my research I was able to create new varieties. However, their yields are too low, so there is no way for me to cooperate with Miss Laura in selling them."

Zhao was now misappropriating those vegetables from Earth. They had never been seen in the Continent before, so if he were to suddenly sell a large amount of them, it would be very difficult. Only after he established a stable income would Zhao slowly introduce these vegetables to everyone.

Laura nodded, but then she said, "Can you at least give me a small amount of those vegetables, Mister Zhao? I would like to taste them."

"That is no problem. Three days later, when you send someone here to pick up the magic radishes, I will have some of those vegetables ready for you."

Just then, Green came in from outside and bowed to Zhao. "Mister Zhao, the fire fish are ready. There's twenty of them."

Zhao just gently nodded his head, then he turned to Laura. "It's getting late. I will not hold you any longer, Miss Laura. Just remember what you promised in three days."

Laura and her group stood up. "Yes, it's a deal. Please rest assured, Mister Zhao."

Having finished their meeting, they walked outside. Zhao escorted Laura and the rest of her people as far as the manor's door, then Green, while riding Alien, led them down the mountain. Once Laura was gone, they returned to the living room.

Zhao soon removed his black mage outfit, and once Green came back, he also took off his helmet and threw it to the side. "Master, this time we were only able to sell a small amount of radishes to Laura. This will leave a great gap in our funding."

"Yes, I know, but now we can't rush. Once people know about the quality of our radishes, there will soon be more orders. There's no need to be anxious. For now, we still have over one thousand gold coins. Grandpa Green, take a trip to Casa city. First, I want you to buy some books about animals and plants on the Continent, second, buy some plants that might be useful, and third, pay attention to the slave trade. In the future, if we want to develop our clan, we're going to need a large number of slaves."

Green nodded, then he said, "Master, what about the mines in the Iron Mountain? Don't you think it's time we should raise some blue-eyed rabbits there?"

"You can, but I want to wait until after we get the oil press. Once we extract the fruit oil, we'll be able to give the blue-eyed rabbits something else to eat. Plus, I want Meirin to search the underground lake to check if there are any spirit beasts. If there are no spirit beasts, we can buy some scaleless fish to raise."

"Then, after the oil press is installed, I will go to Casa city," Green said.

Zhao nodded. "Okay. Today has been very productive. As long as we cooperate with Laura, we'll have a steady stream of income. Currently, our income might not be high, but it's enough for us to use. We don't need to be too assertive yet."

Green's eyes were shining as he nodded as well. "With the production of fruit oil and the meat from the spatial ranch, we will be able to increase our revenues. Then we can buy some more slaves for our clan and slowly develop."

"Ah, yes, but we can't be anxious about it. If we move too fast, there will just be flaws, which will just bring more trouble. In fact, our biggest problem isn't how fast the clan develops, it's the carrion swamp. That matter has not yet been resolved. I will have to check on Drunk's progress soon."

Green didn't speak because he knew that Zhao was right. If the problem with the carrion swamp had not yet been resolved, then an outbreak of spirit beasts would ruin everything.

Although Zhao had the space, there was a limit. Right now the ranch could only raise a maximum of one thousand animals and the farm only had a little over ten acres of land. This wasn't a problem for growing enough radishes and oil fruits, but it would make it more troublesome to grow other crops.

In the future, they would have to focus on developing outside the space. But with the threat from the carrion swamp, that would be difficult.

Translator Notes: This chapter is to make up for the one I missed on Saturday, 5/28

Translator Notes #2: I'm guessing the canned foods is something like spam.

Translator Notes #3: Did you notice that Zhao didn't gush about the fact that Laura looks like Taylor Swift in this second meeting? I wished he did. It would have made it funnier to imagine selling radishes to Taylor Swift.