Chapter 821 - Medicine Ban
In the capital of herbs, the He City.
w.a.n.g Guofeng sat in a round desk with the vice-president of Huaibai Province’s Herbal a.s.sociation, Xiao Deyi, sitting beside him. The rest of the people here were also those with a reputation in the He City. They were all with a.s.sets over ¥100,000,000.
All of them were in the herbal business, and their business was widely spread. They even have businesses in the real estate and hotel industry, but they still mainly focus on herbs. After all, with the constant news from the government that they were giving support to developing TCM, they naturally caught the scent of a business opportunity. In just a few more years, the TCM herbal market will expand, and they will be able to earn more money.
After all of them drank some alcohol, all of their faces were red as they seemed intoxicated.
“We have to thank Mr. w.a.n.g today. If it wasn’t for him, we wouldn’t have an opportunity to come together.” Xiao Deyi said in a gibberish way due to the alcohol.
“It’s all thanks to Mr. Xiao instead that we could all come together. Otherwise, how could I invite so many important people here?” w.a.n.g Guofeng replied with a humble smile.
“Mr. w.a.n.g, you’re too polite. You wield most of our lifeline now. You own the biggest pharmacy chain in the country, and you even acquired a medicine factory. We have to rely on you in the future.” A merchant smiled.
Standing up from his seat, w.a.n.g Guofeng toasted, “I’m a newcomer here, and I have to thank all of you for showing up. In our industry, we have to stand united for us to improve. Rather than competing among each other, wouldn’t it be better for us to make money together?”
“Mr. w.a.n.g is wise!” A merchant laughed as he continued, “We will all win when we come together, and lose when we split up. We might all seem to be compet.i.tors to the outside world, but we’re all actually splitting up the cake and benefitting.”
All of a sudden, w.a.n.g Guofeng knitted his brows, “I wonder if everyone has paid any attention to Hanzhou City? I went to understand it and I’m filled with concern about it. As everyone knows, the He City is known to be the capital of herbs, and now, a third-rated city like Hanzhou City is actually being known as the TCM capital.”
“That’s merely a joke. They’re just doing it on the appearance.” Xiao Deyi sneered.
However, w.a.n.g Guofeng waved his hand and smiled bitterly, “I believe that everyone knows that since last year, many physicians have left the TCM a.s.sociation. Hanzhou City has the newly formed TCM Alliance backing them up. Have you guys ever thought that the herbal market might be affected if physicians were powerful enough?”
“Don’t those physicians look down on us? They’re just simply feeling jealous that we’re making more money than them.” A merchant immediately started mocking.
The conflicts between physicians and merchants went as far as ancient times, but they have both existed all along because their interests were tied together.
“Although it’s impossible for Hanzhou City to become a genuine medicine capital within a short period, we should still be alert and make our preparations.” w.a.n.g Guofeng said as he looked at everyone. After seeing that everyone had the same feelings, he kept his silence. He knew that after his reminder, the merchants would know how to deal with the Three Flavour International with their intelligence.
Even when late autumn came, the women on the streets still seemed to be unwilling to accept this fate. All of them wore little clothes as they s.h.i.+vered from the cold wind. In order to display their beauty, these women had really given their all for it.
At the railway station’s exit, a gorgeous figure walked out from the crowd as Su Tao promptly pressed on the horn. Pressing down on her baseball cap, Gu Rushan quickened her step and ran over to the car.
Gu Rushan gave Su Tao a call last night and told her that she was coming to Hanzhou City for a follow-up visit, which was why Su Tao came to pick her up.
Gu Rushan could now be considered a second-rate celebrity, so she had to disguise herself with her clothing.
When she sat on the front pa.s.senger seat, Su Tao smiled bitterly as he shook his head.
“Is there anything wrong with my clothing?” Gu Rushan asked curiously.
“Wouldn’t you expose yourself even more with those clothing? After all, who in the right mind would wear like you?” Su Tao smiled.
“Then why is it that no found discovered me?” Gu Rushan snorted in disdain.
Pointing in a direction with a bitter smile, Su Tao replied, “Look at that person over there!”
When Gu Rushan looked in the direction that Su Tao pointed at, she saw a wretched-looking plump man with a camera in this direction.
“See, didn’t someone found you? He had already found you a long time ago.” Su Tao shrugged with a bitter smile.
“Then what should I do now?” Gu Rushan started sweating from her nose as her career was now rising steadily, and any rumors would be a fatal blow to her career.
“It’s not a.s.s complicated as you think.” Su Tao smiled before he gave Xia Yu a call.
Xia Yu naturally knew what Su Tao meant as he replied, “Don’t worry about it, I’ll handle this matter well.”
Xia Yu was a private investigator in the past, and his job scope was practically the same as a paparazzi. So it wasn’t a problem for him to handle this matter.
After Su Tao sorted out this matter, he started the car and headed for the Three Flavour Hall with Gu Rushan. Judging from her complexion, Gu Rusahn seemed to have recovered well from her illness, and she had also started to use the Beast Enriching Ointment. As for the effects, there was no way he could see with so many clothes covering her.
When Gu Rushan saw Su Tao’s gaze over, she panicked a little before she finally couldn’t hold it back and roared, “I’ll dig your eyes out if you’re still looking!”
“How ferocious. But I couldn’t see anything, so I’ll get Xiao Jingjing to look at you on my behalf later!” Su Tao laughed as he shrugged.
“Shameless!” Gu Rushan snapped as her face turned blus.h.i.+ng and pale.
When they arrived at the Three Flavour Hall, Su Tao brought Gu Rushan in through the rear door. The relations.h.i.+p between Xiao Jingjing and Gu Rushan had improved as the two of them chatted while they headed to the dormitory behind.
Gu Rushan removed her clothes before Xiao Jingjing as the latter gave a little squeeze and smiled, “You’ve completely recovered.”
Giving Xiao Jingjing a thumbs up, Gu Rushan replied, “You really have great medical skills. I see that you have already outdone your master. I believe that it wouldn’t be much better if your master was the one treating me.”
“I still have more to learn.” Xiao Jingjing smiled as she shook her head.
However, Gu Rushan wasn’t in a rush to wear her clothes as she made a spun, “Do you realize something different about me?”
Gu Rushan had a wonderful figure. Her skin was smooth and due to the fact she was a dancer in the past, she had no excessive fats on her body. Looking at Gu Rushan’s perfect figure, Xiao Jingjing felt somewhat jealous. Looking at Gu Rushan seriously, Xiao Jingjing praised, “It’s pretty effective.”
“It grew by a size!” Gu Rushan smiled as she started wearing her clothes.
“So effective?” Xiao Jingjing was shocked.
“So you should also give it a try!” Gu Rushan sighed as she added, “If this product goes public, it will definitely attract many people’s attention.”
All women hoped to possess a perfect figure, and many people even went as far as plastic surgery. But if the Beast Enriching Ointment goes public, it will definitely be popular since no surgery was required.
Under Gu Rushan’s recommendation, Xiao Jingjing no longer hesitated as she made up her mind to give it a try tonight.
As a physician, she was well aware of the ingredients used in the ointment. They were a mixture of herbs that wouldn’t cause any side effects on the body.
While Su Tao had no idea what Xiao Jingjing and Gu Rushan were talking about, Xia Yu came in a hurry to look for Su Tao. He had just come back from giving a warning to the paparazzi who was after Gu Rushan, he was here for something more important.
“The Medicine Deity Corporation made a move.” Xia Yu spoke in a worried tone as he added, “They cooperated with ten-odd herbal merchants to ban us.”
When Su Tao heard those words, he knitted his brows as what he was worried about the most had finally taken place.
Since Su Tao’s pharmacies mainly provided healthcare services, they didn’t have much requirement for herbs. If the patients weren’t willing to buy herbs from them, they could also buy the herbs from other pharmacies.
That also meant that herbs were only a secondary service. It wasn’t the core of their compet.i.tion.
However, once the Three Flavour Medicine was founded, they would need a high amount of herbs, and they would have to deal with merchants by then.
When it comes to connecting with those merchants, the Three Flavour Hall was inferior compared to the Medicine King Valley.
The main service of the Medicine King Valley’s pharmacies mainly focus on selling herbs, and it was the main sales channel for those merchants. In addition to the fact that the Medicine Deity Corporation had acquired the largest Chinese medicine factory in the country, the Medicine Deity Corporation had a higher value compared to the Three Flavour Hall.
The Three Flavour Medicine’s development was swift, and they had already researched ten-odd compet.i.tive medicines. Furthermore, they did not have a lack of orders from those hospitals with military backgrounds. But now that those medicine merchants had conducted a ban on them, it would limit the Three Flavour Medicine’s development, and it would put them in an embarra.s.sing situation.
But there was nothing they could do about it!
It was a conflict between the TCM a.s.sociation and TCM Alliance.
Since last year, many physicians left the TCM a.s.sociation, and most of their members now were made up of medicine merchants.
Some of those medicine merchants wanted to join the TCM Alliance, but they were rejected. Hence, they could only stand on the completely opposite side.
Su Tao had to admit that w.a.n.g Guofeng had improved. He now knows how to make use of those conflicts to create trouble.
“What’s your suggestion?” Su Tao sighed.
“Those merchants were mainly concerned about their profits. As long as we give them enough interest, I’m certain that some of them will definitely switch sides.” Xia Yu replied as he suggested, “I intend to investigate them before finding an opportunity to go more in-depth.”
Acknowledging Xia Yu’s suggestion, Su Tao warned, “The supply might be important, but the quality is more important. The reason why many Chinese medicines couldn’t make it out of the country was that there was an issue with the quality. Most of the medicines were grown with fertilizers, so we need quality a.s.surance if we’re going to look for a merchant.”
“I know what to do!” Xia Yu nodded his head.
After Xia yu left, Su Tao sighed inwardly as he never imagined that he would have an issue with the supply.
Then again, it was part of life. Life was filled with difficulties, and most importantly, he had to handle this matter well.