It was supposed to be a profitable business, but the first-generation Melody was now completely done for and the money he paid for tens of millions of products was forfeit.
This was all because of Jasper’s Mellow.
The worst part of it all was that Mellow was sold mainly through independent sales with merchants as a secondary supplier. This resulted in the embarrassing situation of Marlon wanting to be one of Mellow’s merchants yet could never be distributed a portion.
Marlon felt his anger rise and all his inhibitions replaced by courage at the sight of Jasper.
“Jasper!”
Marlon shouted.
Jasper looked at Marlon and frowned slightly. “Hi? Do I know you?”
Marlon scoffed. “How could small nobodies like us ever catch the eye of Mr. Laine and his large company?”
Seeing that Marlon was not here for pleasant conversations, Jasper replied calmly, “I’m busy, I don’t have time to waste on pointless conversations with you here.”
Jasper then tugged on Wendy’s hand and led her to the side.
However, they had their paths blocked by two snickering men. “Why are you in such a rush to leave? Mr. Bailey’s not done talking yet, won’t you stay and listen?”
Marlon walked over to Jasper and spoke enviously, “Your business has been doing great lately, Mr. Laine. I can’t help but envy you. You’re earning a lot, aren’t you?”
“Not that it concerns you,” Jasper spoke calmly.
Marlon barked back wretchedly. “How does that not concern me? The public wouldn’t be as uninterested in the first-generation Melody if you hadn’t stepped in and foiled our plans! I invested more than ten million and it’s all gone now!”
It was then that Jasper understood. This man was one of the merchants who had suffered grave losses for betting on Melody MP3 players.
If the man was speaking the truth, a loss of more than ten million meant that he was quite a large merchant.
“There are prices to pay regardless of what business decision you make. It’s not my fault you made the wrong choice, nor did I force you to sign a contract with Melody,” Jasper replied.
Marlon sneered and said, “Don’t act so proud, Mr. Laine. How about I say it like this? I’m from Mustiece Province and I have quite a few contacts over there. If you want to do business in Mustiece Province in the future, I suggest you give me a compensation fee of at least ten million to cover my losses from my investment.
“Or else, I’ll make sure that there won’t be a single Schuler Supermarket in Mustiece Province. I heard that you do real estate as well, right, Mr. Laine? I wonder if you’d ever want to take real estate projects in Mustiece Province?”
Standing beside Jasper, Wendy’s small face paled in face of such blatant threat.
She was just about to scold the man when Jasper smiled and replied first.
“Could I ask for your name?”
Marlon thought that he had managed to threaten Jasper. Smiling proudly, he replied, “The name’s Marlon Bailey.”
“Well then, Mr. Bailey, which properties do you own in Mustiece Province?” Jasper asked again.
The lackey beside Marlon replied immediately in a haughty manner, “The biggest department store in Mustiece Province, Prosper Shopping Center, belongs to Mr. Bailey! We have six branch outlets in Mustiece Province and each of them is a few stories tall!”
“Quite the business indeed.” Jasper nodded.
People in Mustiece Province were fierce and there were all sorts of unspoken rules as well as underground forces there. The fact that Marlon could build up his business to such a scale was a testament to his strength.
“So you’re well aware. Southeast Province may be your territory, but you’ll have to listen to me if you want to do business in Mustiece Province in the future, understand?” Marlon spoke arrogantly.
As far as Marlon was concerned, Jasper was no more than a money cow ready to be milked right now.
He had not expected Jasper to be so cowardly. Marlon believed that with more threats in the future, he might even get his loss back and be distributed his share of the domestically trending Mellow MP3 players!
