"Young...Young Prime Minister?"
Zhao Cheng quickly took the handkerchief Qiu Shu handed him and wiped his mouth.
"That's right! The eldest son of the Right Chancellor of the Eastern Capital!"
Lu Bin said smugly, "I know Yanchuan City very well. It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say I have friends everywhere. Do you know Mr. Wu from Yanchuan?"
"Boss Wu...?" Zhao Cheng was stunned by what Lü Bin said.
Cai Yilu, on the other hand, was drinking his wine with great pleasure. Ever since Lü Bin mentioned the young prime minister, his mood had completely changed, and he was now watching the show with amusement.
Lü Bin said, "Boss Wu, Wu Sisi, what a beautiful woman! The soap you use! And the floral water that's only recently become popular in Changsui! It's all thanks to this Boss Wu's business!"
"I know about soap and toilet water..." Zhao Cheng asked, "Are you friends with this Mr. Wu?"
“Old friend…” Lü Bin seemed to enjoy Zhao Cheng’s surprised expression and said casually, “I also have some friends in the Six Ministries of the Eastern Capital. These are friendships that have been built up over the years. I also met the young Marquis of Yanchuan not long ago, but we are not that close yet. You know the young Marquis, right? His father, the Marquis of Qingdong, is the Vice Minister of the Ministry of Revenue in the Western Capital. I heard that he will soon be promoted to Minister.”
Zhao Cheng's mouth practically formed an "o" from listening.
Mr. Lü, you certainly didn't disappoint me!
I would believe you if you said you were friends with the emperor!
Keep blowing!
Cai Yilu seemed to be struggling to suppress his laughter and couldn't help but ask, "Boss Lü, are you and the young prime minister also good friends?"
Lü Bin smiled, then sighed and waved his hand.
"I don't have that kind of luck. To be honest, I've never even seen the young prime minister's face."
Zhao Cheng thought to himself, "You scared me! I thought the picture album was exposed!"
Cai Yilu glanced at Zhao Cheng furtively, then asked, "Then why did you say we could contact him about the catalog?"
"I may not know the young prime minister, but I know the people around him!"
Lü Bin smiled and said mysteriously, "Do you know who the young prime minister trusts most?"
"His bodyguard, Zhao Wu!"
"Zhao Wu and I are best buddies! Every time I go to Yanchuan, I make sure to get him completely drunk! He's great in every way, except his alcohol tolerance is terrible!"
Zhao Wu, who had been standing behind Zhao Cheng, raised an eyebrow, feeling offended.
Zhao Wu unconsciously placed his hand on the hilt of the knife, thinking to himself, "I don't drink!"
"Oh...I see..." Zhao Cheng leaned back meaningfully, and Cai Yilu silently glanced at Zhao Wu.
Xia Qi interjected, "His name is Zhao Wu? That's a really strange name!"
Qiu Shu said, "It's not strange, it's just awful."
Zhao Wu thought to himself, "That's enough!"
My name was given to me by the Right Chancellor, and it has a meaning, but you don't understand it at all!
Zhao Cheng composed himself and said, "Mr. Lü is truly incredibly resourceful. It is my great honor to have the opportunity to meet you today!"
"Not at all!" Lü Bin raised his wine glass and clinked it with Zhao Cheng's, saying, "Let's get together often in the future, and we can also cooperate on good business opportunities."
Lü Bin turned his head to look at Cai Yilu and asked, "Right? Boss Cai!"
“Of course!” Cai Yilu said generously, “You can contact them directly if you have business opportunities; you don’t need to go through me every time!”
Zhao Cheng said, "Since Boss Lü has such strong connections, let's try to lower the price of the catalog even further!"
Lu Bin pointed at Zhao Cheng and laughed, "I can see that Mr. Zhao said all this just to help Mr. Cai negotiate the price."
"When you're in business, who doesn't want to make more money!"
"The price is really high. I have connections, but I still need to smooth things over. After dealing with everyone from top to bottom, inside and out, I don't have much left. But like this..."
After a pause, Lü Bin continued, "I can deliver a few more. There are always defective or substandard printed materials. I'll try to deliver a hundred or two! Boss Cai, that's all I can do, is that alright?"
Cai Yilu regained his serious expression and asked, "Are you sure you can get me the first batch of goods?"
"Don't worry about that. After the album is released, everyone else will just be watching you reap the rewards while they get nothing!"
"Then how do we make the deal?"
"Ten thousand copies, totaling one million eight hundred thousand taels. You can pay an advance deposit of eight hundred thousand taels, and the remaining balance can be paid when the goods arrive, how about that?"
Cai Yilu's expression darkened, and he said, "I haven't even seen a single booklet yet, and you want me to pay an 800,000 yuan deposit?"
Lü Bin explained, "Right now, we can only sell in pre-orders. If I want to give you 10,000 copies at once, I have to pay a deposit to someone else first, and I also have to spend money to grease palms."
"Is this much money necessary?"
"I don't like what Boss Cai said!"
Lu Bin frowned and said in a deep voice, "To tell you the truth, your 800,000 is not enough at all! I'm only willing to pay for it out of my own pocket because of our friendship!"
Seeing Cai hesitate all the way, Lü Bin suddenly stood up and said, "Forget it, I said from the beginning that we should find another business to cooperate on. Just pretend I wasn't here today, it won't affect our friendship!"
"Mr. Lü, please wait!"
Zhao Cheng quickly stood up to act as a peacemaker, helping Lü Bin back to his chair and saying with a smile, "We'll be working together for the long term, there's no need to leave over a disagreement!"
"I'm not angry, Boss Zhao, I'm just wronged!" Lü Bin covered his face and said, "I offered my heart to the bright moon, but alas... sigh! I'm not going to say anything more!!"
"I understand! I understand!" Zhao Cheng patted Lü Bin on the back and said, "Cai Yilu, you too, when it comes to business, just do it properly, how can you doubt Boss Lü?!"
Cai rolled his eyes, thinking to himself, "What's the point of talking about this?"
This person is clearly a fraud!
Young Prime Minister, is there any need for us to continue playing along with him?
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