Chapter 748 Jewelry Stock Purchase
“You’re becoming more and more of a smooth talker ever since you married me, I reckon.” As Elise was teasing Alexander, he immediately took advantage of the situation to wrap his arms around her waist and pulled her in closer. “Obviously, that’s because of you. The more time I spend with you, the better I become.”
Hearing that, she pushed him away to create some distance as her face blushed instantly. “Gosh, the door’s still open!” Just as she finished speaking, her phone rang; it was a call from Tom. She answered the call and asked, “Something wrong with the company?”
“You’re too good at guessing.” Elise could hear Tom’s voice that was filled with anxiety through the phone. “Boss, you gotta help us solve the issue this time!”
“As I said before, you are in charge of the company. There’s no need for you to ask for my opinion on the nitty-gritty. What is it this time?” Elise walked to the bed and sat on the edge.
“It’s not quite the same this time around. If you don’t solve it personally, I guarantee we will have to shut our business down!” Tom sounded all worked up. “Saunders Jewelry has been acting like a maniac in the past two weeks. Not only have they been doing marketing incessantly, they have also been selling authentic jewelry at a price lower than half of the market price. It is as if they don’t care about the cost! The customers are no longer visiting our store.”
Elise got curious upon listening to Tom’s rant. “David’s dead, so who’s in charge of the Saunders Corporation now? I mean, what he or she is doing is the epitome of ”, isn’t it?”
“I heard it’s his daughter. Oh gosh, she’s even crazier than her dad!” Tom couldn’t help but complain.
“Celina? Hm… I see. Well, I’ll come in tomorrow and decide what to do next.” Elise gave a few other instructions before terminating the call, subsequently falling into a trance while holding her phone.
Seeing her acting that way after the call, Alexander sat beside her and asked, “Is Celina causing trouble again?” His arms went around and rested on her shoulders naturally. She nodded helplessly. “I’m baffled. What is she trying to achieve?”
“There’s no one left in the Saunders Family except for her. I reckon she doesn’t have any reason to continue staying alive if she isn’t making a scene out of everything.” As she was leaning on his chest, she heard him continue saying empathically, “Your previous actions were justified. They were just putting all the blame on you because they couldn’t bring themselves to admit that they were wrong.”
Despite hearing that, Elise remained silent and merely let out a tired sigh. Does the world have to work this way?
Elise arrived at Alexis’ main store the next day, only to find out that all her employees were either dozing off or playing with their mobile phones; they all had too much time to spare. What Tom told her over the phone—about how all her flagship jewelry was no longer in demand—was true. She could attest to that just by walking around the counters.
“Miss Sinclair, you should have called me when you arrived!” When Tom saw her in the store, he came running over frantically. “Look around. I wasn’t bluffing when I said we are in serious trouble. Saunders Jewelry is fighting a prolonged war with us, and they’re more than ready to bring our business to the knees.”
Even though Tom was all worked up, Elise still did not give a response. Instead, she randomly picked a bloodstone jade and observed it attentively. It was only after a while that she casually asked, “I hope you didn’t sell our jewelry at a lower price just to attract customers?”
“Absolutely not!” Tom’s reply showed his unquestionable attitude. “You told us before that we should never sell our jewelry cheap as this will violate professional etiquette and affect the entire market. I remember you said very clearly that what we sell is the brand, not the products.”
Satisfied with his answer, Elise nodded and put the jade down. “Good. This issue will not be too much of a concern, then. The business was quite busy before, so now is a good opportunity for the employees to have a good rest. We’ll continue paying their salaries, nonetheless. Let’s see who wins the war in the end.”
“Wait.” As she was speaking, she had a sudden inspiration that altered her order just now. “Let the employees take paid leaves starting tomorrow, and we’ll close all our branches for reorganization.”
“What?” Tom sounded a bit reluctant. “Boss, we aren’t going bankrupt, are we?”
“Why would you think that?” Elise turned around and leaned on the counter, which enabled her to look at the entire store at one glance. “This loss is nothing to me, but we can’t let such a good opportunity slip through our fingers.”
“Good opportunity? What?” Tom got confused upon hearing that but as he carefully and slowly processed her words, he suddenly understood what she meant, and couldn’t help but nod in agreement. “You’re right. Saunders’ jewelry is definitely cheap!”
“What are you waiting for, then? This is a golden chance to purchase additional jewelry for Alexis at a cheap price. Seize it!” Elise had a shrewd look on her face, which somehow made Tom even more puzzled. We haven’t even been able to sell our jewelry and yet, you want us to purchase from the Saunders? I hope you aren’t out of your mind… yet?
All Alexis branches located in Athesea were closed for business the next day, which not only attained a lot of media coverage but at the same time fueled consumers’ concerns and uncertainties. The latter all flocked to Saunders Jewelry and crowded that place to purchase jewelry.
Glancing at the crowd downstairs, Celina felt triumph. “See that? All the customers are here. I believe that soon, Elise’s jewelry store will have to declare bankruptcy, and I will be taking over her other businesses one by one!”
Instead of agreeing with her, Matthew let out a deep sigh and squinted his eyes to scan the crowd. “This is going way too smooth. Something doesn’t feel right.”
“You seem keen on dampening my enthusiasm.” Celina rolled her eyes when she received such an unexpected reply. “This is our hard-won victory and we should be proud. Instead, you chose to say such things to spoil the fun.”
“Okay, whatever. You’re the daughter of the Saunders Family, and I’m just a nobody. You win, all right?” Matthew could not be bothered arguing with her. As he turned his gaze to the crowd again, he suddenly saw a familiar figure.
Somewhere in the crowd, a male customer patted another man’s shoulder. “Mr. Shaw, I didn’t expect to see you here!”
“Shh!” Tom hurriedly made a shushing gesture and scanned around nervously for fear of being discovered. “Keep your voice down, will you?!”
“You are the boss of a jewelry store, yet you come to your competitor’s store to purchase jewelry? It’s quite hilarious! I heard Alexis didn’t open today. Are you planning on shutting the business down already?” the man teased.
“Hey, mind your mouth. We’re just reorganizing and redecorating the place. Since I have some spare time today, I thought I would come here for the craze and stock up a little!” Tom grinned mischievously.
“Stock up? Oh man, you’re such a genius! No one would have thought to go to someone else’s store to buy jewelry for his own company!” The man was clearly amused.
“This is what they call being flexible.” Tom was not annoyed at the man’s teasing at all. “Only idiots don’t take advantage of such low prices!”
“Yeah, that’s what I thought too! Buy more jewelry when the price is low, and sell it at a higher price later. I’ve got to say though, your Alexis jewelry is so much better in terms of the design and more suitable as a gift!”
“Don’t worry, we will reopen soon. You won’t have to wait for too long!” Tom couldn’t hide his excitement; it was easier spending money as a customer than worrying about business as a boss.
“Sir, are you paying via online banking or by card?” The lady at the counter finally found a chance to interject Tom and the man’s conversation.
“Card, please.” As Tom was replying, he reached for his wallet, took out the credit card, and was just about to hand it over to the lady when a hand snatched the card away from his side abruptly. Following the hand, he turned and looked up; standing there staring at him aggressively was none other than Celina.
“Hi there, Miss Celina. I’m surprised to see you here!” Tom stood up with a smile.
“Who let you in?!” Celina yelled, completely disregarding her dignity. “F*ck off!”
