To Live Again, For the First Time!

Chapter 108 - Hoes Before Bros Pt III: (Reputation)

5 minutes ago:

Emilin activated the voice modulator previously installed on her phone with the click of a button. Well, a click and a press and a turn and a push. A this and a that and what else, who knows? ^?^

It was a complicated process and it was made like that so that people wouldn't be able to simply activate it by accident. 

One not to be disclosed, even to the dear readers. <3

There were no unlucky people, just unprepared ones.

Still, Emilin did it with much fluency.

Emilin dialed the right number after finding it in her contacts under the name of [Sell Cream Here~]

"Eh who is this calling at the middle of the damned night. It's not even daybre--. Oh, it's Master Lin, I apologize for my rude tone."

Abel on the other side was facepalming himself with his fist so hard his if forehead was about to start bruising. The way his face dropped at the moment he took the time to take a glance at the caller ID, his face was truly as pale as a ghost's

But Able didn't idle on his failure, he didn't have the time for that.

Abel couldn't waste this big buddha's time.

"Is there something that I can help you with Master Lin?" Abel asked in a polite, yet alert tone.

Then, he secretly facepalmed himself again, 'of course there's something I can help him with, or he wouldn't be calling me.'

"Yes, there is someone who has asked a favor of me and so I would hope you could help them out," Emilin said on the other side of the phone.

She wasn't nearly as nervous, nor as shy as she had been with Margo and the others, speaking with an even tone.

Not that it mattered much, even if her voice had been uneven or even agitated, the person on the other side, in this case, Abel, wouldn't be able to tell with the various functions of the voice modulator.

"Please do tell, if it's anything I can help you with, I'll do it to the best of my capabilities," Abel voiced energetically, completely unlike someone who had just woken up.

He was always eager to help these big bosses, after all, that's how he made a living. And Abel was especially sincere with those who earned him big bucks.

Even if he wasn't true to the customers, he had to be true to his suppliers, after all, his suppliers were people from whom he would earn money, while his customers were the people he would earn money from.

Delaying and strategizing to raise prices with these people was the norm, however, the suppliers who helped the Diamond Palace make their name weren't people he could even try to bargain with.

There was much more to gain with if they were to have good cooperation, so much more than simple money. Even if money was good, power was better.

A monopoly. 

That was what was at stake here.

Especially so with Emilin.

Though in most other places, customers were always first, that wasn't necessarily the case here. Though great importance was put on the customers, just like anywhere else, the truth of the matter was that the Diamond Palace auction house could survive even without making any transactions, while their products were things that everyone would be vying for.

They didn't need to make customers, people would come swarming.

And yet another difference between an auction house, the Diamond Palace auction house, in this case, was that they didn't really produce products themselves.

Well, they did, but only on a small scale, incomparable to the amount of things they procured. 

Their suppliers, which, if you think about it, are also their customers, whom they help sell things, were the people who provided the products to sell.

And now here Abel had, one of their big 'customers' (suppliers), who they simply couldn't get under a contract no matter what, was asking for help.

Of course, Abel had to do his best, after all, in truth, Emilin could leave and go sell her things anywhere else at the drop of a hat.

(And if you think these people from Diamond Palace are dumb and could have just forced her into a contract considering they were the middlemen, the big business etc, and that they could have just rejected doing business with Emilin without a long term contract, you should drop that thought.)

Emilin had long made it clear that she could sell her products through other channels, only going through the trouble of auctioning them at the Diamond Palace to extend an olive branch to make an acquaintance. 

Or so she told them.

Well, it didn't really matter since they believed it. They had to believe it after seeing her products.

In reality, this was really just one more case in which Emilin simply didn't want to deal with one of her projects anymore after starting.

It was a perplexing situation, she had started this project when she was much younger thinking it would be fun, and it was for a while, but then she had gotten tired of it, yet she couldn't simply drop everything and leave just like that, after all, she had made agreements with other people during the time the projects were ongoing.

And just like that, she would have to add another thing she would have to do for prolonged periods of time, even when she was tired of it.

And so she just pushed it off, instead making her creams a premium product and having the Diamond Palace deal with everything else.

Thankfully, since she hadn't signed any contracts or made any promises, she could come and go as she liked.

That was why she could go for months, even years without contacting the auction house and they still wouldn't be able to do anything about it.

"I will later pass your contacts to someone else, they will soon send you a message. Respond to it when she does," Emilin thought up a plan.

"That will be my little disciple's acquaintance. She will be the one to elaborate on what kind of help they need, but the general idea is that they have something they would like to auction off at your auction house and I believe that it will be a long-term partnership," Emilin gave a brief explanation.

Emilin spoke truly like a big boss, her voice, heard from the other side sounded stable, reliable, with a tinge of being domineering.

"Master Lin, I would be glad to help, but I can't let anything simply pass through without thorough inspections as you may know, or it may affect the Diamond Palaces reputation..."

Abel simply went through normal procedures, plus, this was something that Emilin already knew anyways since she had to go through it too.

Still Abel had to say it.

Their company motto was that reputation was all, money was nothing in front of their reputation.

In fact, someone who embezzled from the company may have a better end than someone who brought a subpar item into the auction.

The reputation stain from embezzling could be solved and the blame put on something unrelated to their business and trade, however, a bad or faulty product could not be excused.

There was nothing Abel could do about this point.

"I won't let you take a loss," Emilin interrupted, but not in a rushed way.

She had waited for Abel to let her talk, and now that she started again, Abel didn't interrupt until Emilin was finished.

"You can still check the products according to normal procedures, but remember to lend your helping hand whenever possible, as for the auction date. Whenever they are ready, set the time for a big auction, and I mean a big auction," Emilin spoke as if she owned the Diamond Palace auction house, which was not the case.

Well, Abel didn't take offense to that tone, so it didn't really matter.

"If there aren't enough products to auction off by that time, then I'll make up for whatever is missing."

Abel's eyes shone at that, anticipation filling his pupils like never before. 

If it was as Emilin had said, Abel would almost prefer if no one put anything up for auction so that they could extort more products from Emilin.

Just thinking of having more of Master Lin's cream go up for auction, Abel could only imagine piles of gold.

It had been at least 10 months since the last one was auctioned off, and that was only 5 palm-sized bottles, all of which had been sold at sky-high prices.

That wasn't nearly enough to even dribble on the market's demand.

There wasn't a lacking in people who would come swear at their auction house for being black-hearted, only selling so many when there were so many people demanding it, willing to pay for them with prices in the millions for just a slab of that damn thing, yet they still weren't willing to sell it, they said.

That was the only time Abel was happy to be sworn at.

Just as Abel was about to open his mouth to do a little negotiation, Emilin did so first.

"I'll also mail you a box of my creams so auction it off then too."

That was what he was waiting for.

Abel's eyes widened a little nonetheless.

A whole box!

"You're too kind, Master Lin, I'll make sure to take good care of your disciple's acquaintance," Abel had the brightest smile at that moment, even if others couldn't see it.

His polite tone couldn't even hide that much from Emilin who was listening from across the phone.

Emilin also smiled at that moment. 

'Ah, yet another sly little fox,' she thought.

Emilin's thoughts lingered a little on Abel's wording. He was polite, but he didn't say any bs like, 'you didn't have to', or 'how could I accept this, etc, etc', limiting himself to, 'you're too kind.'

It was clear that he both knew how to draw the line as well as how to skip on the bs while flattering another.

How great.