Chapter 963: Chapter 961: Friends
Half an hour later, in an extremely luxurious restaurant in Saint Louis City, Annie Pampou appeared in a room on the second floor.
In front of her was a table of expensive and sumptuous dishes, but she hardly touched them. Instead, she was very interested in a plate of pale yellow gingerbread, picking up piece after piece with her hand and biting into it, making a crisp sound.
It was gingerbread, made with butter, sugar, ginger powder, cinnamon powder, clove powder, honey, eggs, and fine flour. The essential ingredient, ginger powder, is not produced locally in Saint Louis City and has to be transported from afar at an exorbitant price, making it unaffordable for ordinary people or small nobles.
Annie kept eating the gingerbread, her face expressionless. Not far from her stood Richard, silently. On the other side stood Brando, his head bowed, a dejected expression on his face, frowning, racking his brains on how to redeem himself in Miss Annie’s eyes.
Suddenly, without warning, the door to the room was pushed open, and a figure walked in, shouting, “Annie!”
“Who!” Brando jumped up with a start, quickly blocking the way, eager for a chance to prove himself, and seized the opportunity with full posture.
Seeing a young man dressed in a lavish purple outfit walk in, Brando cast a wary glance, interrogating him like a criminal, “Who are you? What do you want with Miss Annie?”
“Me?” The young man in purple smiled, curling the corners of his mouth, “I’m a friend of Annie’s. As for you, you’re her new guard, right…”
After sizing up Brando, a glint of green flashed in the young man’s eyes, “Hmm, a Third-level Wizard Apprentice, decent strength, but still a bit lacking to stop me. At least wait until you become a First-level Wizard.”
Brando’s expression froze momentarily. He sensed the mana wave the young man in purple intentionally exposed and his eyes narrowed.
At this point, the young man in purple smiled, very gentlemanly looking at Brando and asking, “So now, can you let me through?”
“I…” Brando turned his head towards Annie.
Annie made a waving gesture.
Brando understood, looked back at the young man in purple, and the next moment, shouted with full momentum, “If you want me to move, I’ll move!”
With that, he spun around sharply, walking with an arrogant stride to stand beside Annie.
This left the young man in purple momentarily stunned, but only for a moment. He quickly reacted, disregarding Brando, and greeted Annie, “Annie, I was just passing by here and saw your family’s carriage parked outside. I figured you were here, so I came in specially to meet you.” ʀᴇᴀᴅ ʟᴀᴛᴇsᴛ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀs ᴀᴛ 𝓷𝓸𝓿𝓮𝓵※𝓯𝓲𝓻𝓮※𝓷𝓮𝓽
“Is that so.” Annie listened, her face showing little warmth, no friendliness expected of friends, her voice with little fluctuation, “Now that you’ve seen me, you can leave and go about your business.”
“Oh, come on.” The young man in purple smiled, “There’s another matter I’d like to discuss with you.”
“Is that the real reason you came to see me?” Annie lifted her eyelids.
Embarrassed after being exposed, the young man in purple laughed awkwardly, “Alright, I knew I couldn’t fool you, your intelligence is well-known…”
“What’s the matter exactly?” Annie interrupted, unwilling to waste words.
“Here’s the thing.” The young man in purple sat down, rubbing his hands, “You might know, the taxes are due soon, and my family agreed on a thirty percent tax split with your family last year. But our family’s earnings haven’t been good this year, and several unfortunate incidents happened, almost burning down our entire family depot, which you might have heard of. So, I was wondering if we could lower this tax, how about twenty percent?”
“You shouldn’t be discussing this with me, I don’t manage family affairs.” Annie glanced at the young man in purple.
“Yes, yes, I know you don’t manage them, but I also know you have the capability to. So, can you help me?” The young man in purple beamed with a smile.
“Even if I could help, I wouldn’t help you.” Annie said, “A thirty percent agreement is already low enough, twenty percent is absolutely impossible, we can’t break the bottom line of the Pompo Family.”
“Heh, from what I know, that’s not really the bottom line, right, Annie?” The young man in purple winked at Annie, “I’ve heard your agreement with the Dumen family is a twenty percent tax.”
Annie’s eyebrows rose as she looked at the young man in purple, “Your information is quite accurate, Claire! Our agreement with the Dumen family, however, is strictly confidential, I’m curious about where you heard it from.”
“Ha, I have my own sources, just tell me if it’s true or not?” said the young man in purple.
Annie’s expression turned serious as she looked directly at the young man in purple, “Indeed, my family and the Dumen family agreed on a twenty percent tax, but it’s conditional. The first condition is it’s only for three years. The second is that the Dumen family transfers all their iron mines to us. Claire, can your Snow Family do that?”
“Well… if we can really get to a twenty percent tax, we can indeed manage it. As for iron mines, just those along the Green Grass River, we can hand them over to you like the Dumen family,” said the young man in purple.
Annie chuckled coldly, “Heh, then I must say, your family is generous! The Dumen family transferred twelve iron mines to us, while your Snow family, along the Green Grass River, only has two iron mines, and one of those is almost depleted.
If your family really wants to lower the tax to twenty percent, fine, give us your family’s seven copper mines and one silver mine. Not just twenty percent, even ten percent will work!”
“This—” The young man in purple named Claire’s face stiffened slightly, and he looked toward Annie with a slightly displeased expression, “Annie, isn’t that a bit much? Our family relies on these mines to survive, how can we hand them all to your family.”
“There are plenty of things to rely on. As far as I know, your family has purchased no less than twenty-seven large and small estates in recent years, eight villages, and bought dozens of shops in Saint Louis City, monopolizing more than half of the spice business.” Annie said in a deep voice.
Saying this, she picked up a piece of gingerbread from the plate, “Take this gingerbread, for instance. The ginger powder has to pass through your family’s hands to reach Saint Louis City, and the price is exorbitant. Just with this, your family should withstand this, right?
Claire, don’t pretend to be poor with me, your family’s development has been excellent in recent years, surpassing our Pompo Family in several areas. Therefore, the thirty percent tax cannot be reduced further; next year, it will have to increase to forty percent.”
Claire’s face changed, his gaze darkened, “Annie, I thought we were friends. You’re making me quite upset by doing this.”