《Physician’s Odyssey》Chapter 860 - Formal Visit to the Wang Family
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Chinese medicine was only a small reason why Tosca Pharmaceutical Conglomerate invested in the Three Flavour Medicine. Most importantly, they wanted to use the Three Flavour Medicine to open up the domestic market, especially after Rangure’s death.
Cambell Pharmaceutical Company took a heavy blow, and there was an empty slow in China’s medical industry right now. Many foreign medical enterprises were trying to use this opportunity to get a share of the pie.
But Tosca Pharmaceutical Conglomerate’s strategic intention was ahead of all its competitors.
After Su Tao made an international call to Joanna and explained his intentions, Joanna knitted her brows and pondered briefly, “You want us to enter China’s market through a joint venture?”
Su Tao could tell the unhappiness from Joanna’s tone. The Tosca Pharmaceutical Conglomerate wasn’t short of money, and they could establish a foreign medical trading company in China. But if it was a joint venture, it meant that they would share the pie with others.
“You should have some understanding of China. The Tosca Pharmaceutical Conglomerate might be influential in the internal world, and you guys weren’t any weaker than the Neuer Pharmaceutical Conglomerate. But if you guys want to enter China’s market without someone familiar, you guys won’t be able to get used to it. There are so many multinational companies, and this is also the reason why they don’t last.” Su Tao explained patiently.
Joanna fell into a brief silence before she replied, “A joint venture isn’t impossible, but we want at least 70% of the profits.”
Her request was reasonable. The products were all provided by the Tosca Pharmaceutical Conglomerate, and not much operation cost was needed after the company was established. It belongs to the asset-light strategy. Nodding his head, Su Tao replied, “I will discuss with them and inform you if there are any results.”
“Then, I’ll await your good news.” Joanna nodded.
Now that they were almost done with their official business, there was a need to maintain their relationship a little. Su Tao smiled, “How are things going for you? Did Tony cause any trouble for you?”
“Don’t mention it!” Joanna smiled bitterly. “After he came back, he called the board of directors for my impeach, trying to get me off the board.”
“So, what’s the result?” Su Tao knew that Joanna was smarter than her brother.
“The board naturally ignored his request.” Joanna shrugged. “So my mother is now unhappy with me. Because she feels that I’m the one that caused her son’s setback.”
“I didn’t expect that men and women didn’t share equal status in Italy. Patriarchy seems to be a serious problem there as well.” Su Tao smiled.
“I won’t deny that.” Joanna smiled.
The United Nations had conducted a survey of men and women’s income. The income of women in Italy was much lower compared to men. Women received an annual income of about 10,247 EUROS, while male migrants’ annual income was 14,100 EUROS. Not to mention that there was gender inequality in employment.
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Men and women were different from birth. So how could everyone be balanced?
Then again, the difference in income was just the secondary. Most importantly, men and women have to be treated equally in terms of their value.
After going into details with Joanna on the joint venture, Su Tao sat on the couch and fell into deep thoughts. He had to think of a solution to deal with Sun Changle and Shao Wentao’s conspiracy.
His first step was to expose their conspiracy with his interest unharmed. Most importantly, he had to make use of this revelation to benefit him as much as possible.
Although Sun Changle and Shao Wentao did not meet out in the open, the calls between them never stopped. It was just like what Xia Yu had investigated. Sun Changle and Shao Wentao shared the same interest.
Shao Wentao sat on the couch and received the plate of fruits. There were all kinds of sliced fruits on the plates, including apples, cantaloupe, and oranges. As he ate a slice of apple, the sweet juice flowed down his throat, and smiled, “Old Sun, what did Fei Mingyang say?”
Fei Mingyang might be conservative, but his future development is limited if he relies on real estate. The medical industry is a treasure. When I revealed it to him a little, he immediately became fidgety. Furthermore, he has a favorable opinion about Su Tao. After all, it was Su Tao who treated his kidney stones the other time.”
Nodding his head, Shao Wentao sneered, “Many people’s interests were involved when the Cambell Pharmaceutical Company closed down. Everyone knows that it was Su Tao who pushed for the investigation for Wang Guofeng’s death, which dragged Rangure out in the open.”
Feeling a little heartache, Sun Changle replied, “I’m losing hundreds of millions of dividends every year. You’re not doing any better than me, right?”
“The Cambell Pharmaceutical Company knows the ways of the world, and they will give dividends to some medical specialists annually.” Shao Wentao sneered.
“We can only rebuild a channel now. As long as we clinch the representative rights for Tosca Pharmaceutical Conglomerate, we can repeat Cambell Pharmaceutical Company’s operation. This time, we will be the distributors for profits, so how much we earn is totally up to us.” Sun Changle smiled.
“Old Sun, you should know that I don’t lack money. My eyes are more on the leader position.” Shao Wentao spoke, pretending to be serious.
Sun Changle naturally knew Shao Wentao well. This person might place great importance on authority, but who wouldn’t want more money? He smiled casually, “Don’t worry about it. The leader position will definitely be yours. I’ve been following Yue Zun around to understand his network, and most of those around him weren’t clean themselves. You just have to threaten them and they will give up supporting Yue Zun. As for Yue Zun, I’m currently carrying out the plan, and when the time is right, it will catch him by surprise. Not to mention the leader position, who knows if he might even be removed from the National Healer Team!”
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Sun Changle smiled eerily when he finished speaking. The plan to frame Yue Zun was something that Shao Wentao and Sun Changle came up with to ensure Shao Wentao obtained the leader position.
Shao Wentao sighed inwardly. It was fortunate that Sun Changle wasn’t interested in the leader position. Sun Changle only requested to give him some secret channels to accumulate wealth after he took office. Otherwise, Shao Wentao knew that he wouldn’t be Sun Changle’s match when it came to schemes.
As the selection became closer, Shao Wentao began to feel fidgety. He couldn’t wait to see how Yue Zun was ruined. Among all the current candidates, Yue Zun was still his biggest opponent even after suffering some impact from the allowance plan.
Shao Wentao had even started to dream of sitting in Yu Youqing’s seat. In his opinion, that was the limit he could reach as a doctor.
Based on what was previously agreed, Su Tao and Ling Yu headed for General Lane to visit the Wang Family. This time, the housekeeper received Su Tao with a completely different attitude; he had a bright smile on his face.
“Master is currently treating a patient. So please let me lead you guys to the living room.” The housekeeper took care of Su Tao and Ling Yu.
“It’s fine; the patient is more important!” Su Tao smiled casually.
When they entered the guest room, Su Tao saw a beast-engraved incense burner. It was burning with sandalwood, which had a calming effect. He noticed that the Wang Family was more particular compared to his previous visit.
By burning incense when receiving guests makes one feel soothed.
The housekeeper served the two of them with tea. As Su Tao and Ling Yu chatted while they drank tea, Wang Rui walked hurriedly about ten minutes later with a smile on his face. He spoke out, “I’m sorry for keeping you guys waiting. I wasn’t planning on receiving patients in the morning, but there’s a serious case that took a while.”
“Senior Wang, you’re too courteous. You’re a physician, and you’re just doing your duty.” Su Tao smiled.
Shaking his head, Wang Rui smiled bitterly, “It’s mainly because there’s not enough manpower. I have to treat many patients myself personally.”
Su Tao knew that this was the marketing technique of the Wang Family’s Pharmacy. The rarer it was, the greater its value. When everyone knew that Wang Rui, a National Healer, would treat them personally, they would naturally come rushing over. If he allowed his disciples to treat the patients, this marketing method would lose its charm.
That was the difference between the Three Flavour Hall and the Wang Family’s Pharmacy. The former was like a fast-food restaurant chain, while the latter was like a five-starred restaurant. If you want to dine in a five-starred restaurant, you need both a fat wallet and social status.
“You’re the master in TCM, so juniors like us should learn from you.” Su Tao smiled.
“I have actually thought of opening branches for the Wang Family’s Pharmacy, but I can’t find any talent. On this matter, I think that Three Flavour Hall has been doing a good job, walking a new path that I’ve once considered, but did not have the courage.” Wang Rui sighed.
Wang Rui was speaking from the bottom of his heart. Although he had conflicts with Su Tao in the past, he still admired how Su Tao managed his pharmacies.
Wang Rui was only trying to influence others by himself, while Su Tao allowed more physicians to do it, bringing a greater value than him.
After half a year of observation, Wang Rui knew that the Three Flavour Hall’s development wouldn’t affect the Wang Family’s Pharmacy’s reputation. Still, it would ultimately bring TCM into the general public.
It was something that Wang Rui felt both gratified and salty about.
He was gratified that there was a successor for TCM, and he was salty that the future of the Wang Family’s Pharmacy might be affected by the changes brought to TCM. So knows if it might even be lost in history.
“Talents in TCM are divided into grades. Those without sufficient experience could take care of simple illnesses, but for complicated ones, it’s best to leave them to the masters. It’s the truth that there are different grades for physicians, and the Three Flavour Hall is preparing to develop in this direction.” Su Tao explained with a smile.
Nodding his head, Wang Rui smiled, “I’m getting old, and I can no longer keep up to the rhythm of youngsters like you. But I know that the Three Flavour Hall will change the general public’s mindset about TCM in the future. So if there’s any way I can help, just let me know.” Wang Rui nodded with a smile.
Receiving Wang Rui’s promise, Su Tao was happy. At the very least, this trip wasn’t in vain.
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Sword System Academia
2/17 NOTICE: I'm putting this on hiatus, possibly permanently. I didn't want to spam with an "update chapter", so hopefully here and in the story blurb will get enough eyeballs. There are a couple reasons for ending SSA for now. 1) I wrote the next chapter but wasn't happy with it. I've been less and less satisfied with SSA's quality the more I thought about it. Part of the reason is... 2) I am seriously thinking about trying to publish some novels to help pay the bills, since I don't have my other source of income anymore. I have never asked for anything from SSA readers, no money, not even a review or rating. SSA is written for fun to amuse myself, primarily, and I would kind of feel bad actually charging someone money for something as unserious as that. I don't think it is good enough to ask anything in return. To use an analogy from music, SSA is more like a jam session with a bunch of friends. You're just chiling and having fun playing some music. I mean, if you are Mozart or even Eminem, your jam session is good enough to sell, but for an amateur beginner like myself, haha, no. If I want to publish something, I feel like I need to go the proper route of practice and rehearsals, which might be more similar to a classical concert performance. With SSA, I work from worldbuilding notes and a loose outline, but what you are essentially getting is the first draft with lots of so-called pantsing. Pushing out a web novel like this also means it is very difficult to go back and improve things without breaking everything else downstream. I wanted to try this "jamming" approach, as it was a good way to teach me about another aspect of writing, but to move forward, I think I need to hone my "classical" techniques, which emphasize rewriting, or at least, revising outlines. 3) While I intend to try to make $$$, my actual current goal is to "get gud". I've spent a lot of time recently trying to understand the self-publishing industry, and I'm pretty sure I can make some money by using short-term strategies with my current amateur skill level. But I've seen too many authors come and go/burnout, and really, the only way that I think I can enjoy writing and still make money on a long-term basis is to become a better writer. And the next step for me, which I haven't done much before, is to spend more time on rewriting and outlines. That is pretty much antithetical to the way SSA is developing. I've always been kind of 20/80 plotting/pantsing, but I want to spend a lot more time outlining before I even start writing. SSA jam sessions don't really fit my goal anymore. If you're curious about what's next, read on... Among other regrets, I regret not finishing SSA. It's the first story I've dropped, but then again, it's the first web novel I've attempted, so I suppose that's not a surprise. I don't think traditional web novel formats suit me that well. The whole SSA story I had loosely planned (beyond a first book or major arc) is way too large as well. Big story = good for neverending webnovel with Patreons, bad for penniless and fickle writer like me. I am currently outlining a complete trilogy to another story in great detail. I want the story to end concisely, and I also want the chance to really spend a lot of time on the full outline to spot pacing problems, character issues, lost themes, and so on. I'll still share this story on RR. What I intend to do is finish book 1, flash-publish the whole thing here for a few weeks, then publish on the big Zon. Repeat for books 2 and 3. The upcoming story will be about crafting heroes. The backdrop is an isekai-like setting, where elves will summon humans to their world as heroes, but the whole hero crafting business is still in its infancy. The elven mage researchers are figuring out how to imbue heroes with power, while the heroes are trying to figure out how to use the powers that they gain. Humans are the best hero templates because they are blank and have no intrinsic magic. Or at least that what the elves thought. The human MC has his own secrets... There will be some similarities with litrpgs, but I would call it more a progression fantasy or gamelit story. For example, the stats are very low, at least initially. Say we have a stat called Str. Going from Str = 1 to Str = 2 is a huge deal. Also, going from Dex = 0 to Dex = 1 is an even bigger deal. I guess you could call it a "low-stat litrpg", haha. Also, the heroes won't be gaining stats simply by killing things or leveling up. You can't increase stats arbitrarily, either. There will be rules to how stats can increase, and how they work with each other. The elven mages will be figuring out these rules in order to craft stronger and stronger heroes. Some inspiration will be from cultivation magic systems, but there won't be overt cultivation, at least for now. A theme I really want to explore is the idea of interactions. That includes things like hero crafter vs hero, tactics vs strategy, skill synergies, racial interactions (dwarves, elves, etc), and son. Yeah, so hero crafting. I'm super excited about this project and venturing into publishing. If you want to check out the upcoming story, you can follow my RR author profile to see when it drops here. Finally... THANK YOU TO EVERYONE! I'm very sorry that SSA is stopping, but I hope at least some of you will find the next story at least as enjoyable, if not more. Thanks to all the readers who gave SSA a shot. Big hug or solid fistbump to all of you, whichever you prefer! I hope this message is not a downer but an upper, because I am psyched!! -purlcray -------------- BLURB: Talen, youngest Master of the Koroi, makes his way to the Empire's capital to salvage his clan's fate. But the bustling city has few opportunities for the traditionalist. For the old sword clans are fading. With the rise of alchemy, gold can purchase strength that ordinarily took years of training to cultivate. Sword artists, once rare and accomplished, are quickly growing in number, especially among the wealthy noble class. Even with such alchemy, though, no one has advanced to the rank of Grandmaster in countless years. Talen's true dream is to walk the path of a sword artist to the very end while fulfilling his clan duties. And then the Swordgeists return, fabled founders of all sword arts, gods who had touched the world long ago and vanished. These myths turned into reality warn of a coming threat. Alongside this warning, they issue an invitation to the Sword System Academy, a path to power beyond the mortal realm. But first, they will hold an entrance exam... Story notes:Sword System Academia blends elements of western and asian fantasy such as xianxia and litrpg. I took parts from different genres I enjoyed and twisted them into my own creation. There will be an explicit system, both of the litrpg kind and the hard(ish) magic kind, but it is embedded within an academic structure that will develop over the course of the story. This is my attempt to design a unique type of system, the System Academia.
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