Chapter 102: The Fatty from the Grass Family

The Count and Lady Mary had already left Coral Island for Blue Dragon Island.

Lady Penelope sent her blessings but did not come to Tulip Castle herself.

Without the constraints of the lord and the old lady, the atmosphere at the Tulip Castle luncheon was quite lively, especially among the young nobles who were busy socializing and building relationships, thoroughly enjoying themselves.

Liszt could not avoid participating in it either.

Many nobles knew that the Count did not pay much attention to this third son with rather mediocre talent. However, no matter what, Liszt’s lineage was undeniably noble—his paternal lineage was from an Earl, and his maternal lineage was from a Marquis, both within three generations, making them direct blood relatives.

"Liszt, I haven’t seen you in a long time. Now that the road to Thorns Ridge has been opened, why don’t you visit my Brick Town?"

"Brooke, I will find the time to visit Brick Town. It only takes two hours from Flower Town to Brick Town. And you can also come to Flower Town as a guest; I’ll treat you to the finest seafood."

"I will definitely go. I like seafood, especially oysters."

"Of course, everyone likes oysters."

"Haha."

After the sumptuous main course of the luncheon came the dessert.

Liszt saw ice cream. Compared to the four flavors of ice cream that the town could make, Tulip Castle’s ice cream had a full eight flavors.

Ice cream had not yet spread.

So this time, the dessert surprised many nobles. However, few people inquired about the ice cream recipe. Ice was simply not something that petty nobles could afford. Only the two Viscount’s sons asked Liszt to buy the recipe. Their two families could afford ice.

Liszt was not being polite.

To the son of the Broken Stone City Viscount, Brandon Broken Stone, he gave the trading price: "Three hundred catties of iron ore, and the recipe is yours." This price was twice as expensive as what he gave his sister Lvera. Outsiders should not expect his discounted price.

Brandon gritted his teeth: "Deal!"

Then Liszt gave the price to Aubrey Hops, the son of the Beer Island Viscount: "One hundred and fifty barrels of hopped beer."

The heir of the wealthy Hops family did not hesitate at all: "No problem. When I return, I’ll have the fleet bring fifty more barrels of beer. Have your merchant caravan wait in Coral City for the transaction."

"Quick and efficient."

Liszt was delighted. A flashy recipe successfully exchanged for quite a bit of stuff.

But the next moment, he almost changed his expression.

Because Aubrey suddenly said, "By the way, Liszt, I plan to fish for seafood on the beaches around Beer Island and sell it externally. What do you think?"

He still wore a smile on his face.

In his heart, he wanted nothing more than to kill Aubrey. Liszt just asked indifferently, "Seafood? Why is the Hops family interested in seafood now? The hops have already brought enough wealth to the Hops family, haven’t they?"

"No one minds earning less gold coins, do they?" Aubrey was very fat, with a bulging belly like a woman nine months pregnant. One could tell at a glance that he had eaten well since childhood. "Seafood is good stuff, especially oysters, which are infinitely delightful. The seafood business in Flower Town makes me envious."

Currently, only Flower Town on Coral Island was fishing for large amounts of seafood and selling it externally.

The profits were huge, bringing in nearly one gold coin per day. Just a few days ago, Liszt made a big purchase of three carriages, adding to the previous six, for a total of nine carriages, constantly selling seafood.

Now it was divided into three merchant caravans. Old Grandet personally led one between Coral City and Tulip Castle; Harpagon led one toward Birch City; Sherlock led one toward Spear City. With the current sales trend, there would be no problem making two or three gold coins a day in the future.

He was preparing to unify the Coral Island seafood market. He didn’t expect a sudden rival to appear halfway through.

Aubrey actually wanted to get involved in the seafood business.

If it was a common Baron-like petty noble who wanted to get involved in the seafood business, Liszt wouldn’t mind complaining to the Count to let the other party understand that the most noble bloodline on Coral Island was not to be trifled with. But the Hops family was different. The Beer Island Viscount was one of the Count’s earliest followers, having worked hard and made great contributions. It was difficult to suppress him with power.

If he was the Count’s heir, the Hops family would definitely not dare to reach out recklessly. The key was that he was only the Baron of Flower Town.

He narrowed his eyes slightly.

Liszt instantly thought of several ways to respond, but on the surface, he remained calm: "Is that so? It seems that the seafood market on Coral Island will be much livelier in the future."

Aubrey laughed: "Liszt, sorry to misunderstand you. I don’t intend to sell seafood on Coral Island. This is your business. For our friendship, I don’t want to ruin it."

This made Liszt a little confused.

They had no friendship. Aubrey was probably twenty-seven or twenty-eight years old and was Levis’ friend. Unexpectedly, Aubrey did not intend to get involved in the seafood market on Coral Island.

"Not selling seafood on Coral Island, then, what do you mean?"

"Our family has a few good channels to sell to the outer islands. You were the first to discover the seafood market, so Coral Island naturally belongs to you. I don’t want to engage in malicious competition with a friend." Aubrey spoke in a very sincere tone. If Liszt hadn’t had some experience, he might have been moved to tears.

No wonder the Hops family could monopolize the hops business. Knowing when to advance and retreat, it was difficult not to succeed.

He picked up his wine glass and raised it in a toast: "For our friendship, cheers."

"Certainly, for friendship, cheers."

…

The seafood business was a false alarm.

But Liszt would not feel that the seafood market was stable from now on. Today, Aubrey’s friendly gesture made him understand—the sight of wealth moved the hearts of men.

At first, seafood was just a novelty, and the nobles tasted it for freshness.

Now, the profits of the seafood business had probably been investigated by the nobles. At least one gold coin a day, and possibly even more in the future. Think about it, one gold coin a day, that was over three hundred gold coins a year. If one earned three a day, wouldn’t that be over a thousand gold coins a year?

What was the difference from robbing money!

It was almost equal to half a year’s tax revenue for a small city.

If the lesser nobles still cared about Liszt's lineage and dared not be too presumptuous, his sister Lvera had likely already begun calculating how to snatch away this business—Liszt knew his sister well; she was no kind-hearted soul when it came to looking after her brother. Taking away Liszt's toys was one of her favorite pastimes in her childhood.

Moreover, perhaps even Lytton and Lady Mary were eyeing the situation with covetous intent from behind the scenes.

Fishing for seafood presented no challenge at all.

"No, I can't be careless!" As the luncheon drew to a close, Liszt continued to ponder. "Perhaps, I should bring Levis into the fold as a partner."

Levis, Lvera, Lytton, and Lady Mary were no saints.

But regardless, Levis was the heir to the earldom, destined to become Liszt's lord. By enlisting Levis, this business would be secure.

"I'll offer Levis a share in the venture, cooperating with him personally rather than with Tulip Castle. He'd likely be agreeable to it. The current Tulip Castle must allocate half of its resources to Lytton, Levis must be quite anxious about that. A business opportunity that excludes Lytton, he wouldn't pass up."