Physician's Odyssey

Chapter 827 - Breaking the Medicine Ban

Translator: Thyaeria

The factory of the Three Flavour Medicine was 95% complete, but they still did not manage to resolve their source due to the ban that was enforced to them by the Medicine Deity Corporation. Hence, those merchants who had some strength had chosen to avoid the Three Flavour Medicine.

Putting it in a nutshell, the Three Flavour Medicine was shunned off by everyone.

China has the highest production of herbs, and the merchants in the country both compete and cooperate together, such as unifying their prices. It was similar to real estate, where the developers would generally unify their prices as well.

However, Su Tao still made a trip personally to He City. The second pharmacy branch of the Three Flavour Hall was located in He City, and Chu Huilin was currently responsible for that branch. Through a period of accumulation, Chu Huilin had already built up his loyal customer base.

As the autumn wind rustled and breezed through the tree outside, the branch of Medicine Deity Corporation’s pharmacy nearby only sold herbs without any consultation services. But due to the good reputation that the Three Flavour Hall had, there was a drastic difference between the two.

As Su Tao stood outside and observed briefly, he followed Chu Huilin into the shop. After Chu Huilin brewed tea, he spoke out, “I have already arranged a meeting with Jia Xing for you. He and I have a pretty good relationship, and he’s a solid merchant in He City. So I believe that he will give me some face.”

“You’ll talk to him later and see how it goes.” Su Tao nodded his head.

Chu Huilin was briefly stunned before he nodded his head. He knew that Su Tao had his own decision.

Chu Huilin had a pretty good relationship with Jia Xing, mainly because he had prescribed medicine for Jia Xing’s wife once. And not long after Jia Xing’s wife took the medicine, she became pregnant. Jia Xing was in his fifties this year, while his wife was in her forties. Now that the country was opening up the second child policy, Jia Xing was naturally grateful to Chu Huilin that he could have a child at his age.

Furthermore, it was risky for Jia Xing’s wife to bear children at her age, so Jia Xing viewed Chu Huilin with great importance, hoping that Chu Huilin could keep his wife and child healthy.

Jia Xing naturally knew about the Three Flavour Hall’s current situation, at how the merchants all cut their supplies to the Three Flavour Hall. However, he found himself an excuse that he had an on-going contact with the Three Flavour Hall to continue supplying them. However, if Jia Xing were to go against the ban and supply the Three Flavour Medicine, he would definitely be suppressed by his peers.

When Chu Huilin received Jia Xing’s call, Su Tao headed to another room and only left a small seep open to eavesdrop on their conversation.

Jia Xing was a robust middle-aged man with short hair. From his appearance, he seemed energetic, and he actually seemed younger than his actual age.

“Physician Chu, here’s some gifts from me. Please accept them or my wife won’t let me off.” Jia Xing casually brought a few bags with him as he placed them on the ground. They were all precious herbs. As a herbs merchant, Jia Xing had his own source, so he did not need to spend much money to obtain them. But if they were all placed on the market, they would definitely be at least ¥30,000-40,000.

Jia Xing had his own intentions as he tried to give red packets to Chu Huilin, but they were all rejected. Hence, he came up with the idea of giving herbs. Whether Chu Huilin was using them personally or giving them to the Three Flavour Hall, it was a good choice.

Sweeping a glance at it, Chu Huilin saw deer antler, ginseng, and caterpillar fungus as he shook his head with a bitter smile, “You have to take these back with you. They’re too valuable, and I can’t accept them.”

Jia Xing had no idea that there was someone else around as Su Tao was observing them. Chu Huilin didn’t dare to accept them normally, not to mention that his boss was around watching.

“Physician Chu, please accept them or you’re looking down on me.” Jia Xing made a grim expression as he pretended to be angry.

“I wouldn’t dare!” In the end, Chu Huilin could only resort to lying, “There are many cameras in the room, and my boss can see whatever I do. If I accept your gifts, then I’ll be fired tomorrow.”

“What? Your boss is so ruthless?” Jia Xing was instantly dumbfounded before he gave an embarrassed smile, “I came with goodwill, but I never expected that it would put you in such a difficult position. I’ll take them back then.”

As Su Tao was hiding, he smiled because he could see how awkward Chu Huilin was.

Gifts by patients were normal in this industry, and the Three Flavour Hall had their own rules and regulations for that. The physicians weren’t allowed to accept any gifts or they would be fired if they were found.

The physicians in the Three Flavour Hall took a high wage. In total, Chu Huilin’s wage along with his bonus would be roughly about ¥500,000 a year, not to mention that he was also a small shareholder of the Three Flavour Hall. Hence, he wasn’t stupid enough to get himself into trouble for such a small benefit.

Seeing that Jia Xing had finally agreed to take back his gifts, Chu Huilin breathed out in relief as he spoke, “Mr. Jia, I actually called you here to discuss providing a source to the Three Flavour Medicine. We have already communicated in the past, and I’m wondering about your consideration.”

“Physician Chu, you’re putting me in a difficult position here!” Jia Xing smiled bitterly.

Knitting his brows, Chu Huilin asked, “How am I making it difficult on you? I believe in your person, and I even promoted you to my boss. I have already introduced you to the Three Flavour Medicine’s situation, and it has received an investment of about ¥4,500,000,000. In the foreseeable future, it will become the largest chinese medicine factory in the world.”

As awkwardness flashed within Jia Xing’s eyes, he replied, “Everyone knows about the Three Flavour Medicine’s scale, but the problem isn’t about profits. But those old fogeys in the Herbs Association had given the order that no one is to provide any source to you guys, and it was because of your boss.”

A smile rose on Chu Huilin’s round face as he replied as per what Su Tao had told him, “Mr. Jia, you’re someone with a vision. How effective do you think that the ban will be? Even if you’re not willing to take the order, there will naturally be someone else willing. According to the current plan, we have a budget of over ¥1,000,000,000 on raw materials annually.”

“If I cooperate with the Three Flavour Medicine, my peers will take me as a traitor, and I will be suppressed.” Jia Xing had a flash of hesitation across his eyes.

Waving his hand, Chu Huilin replied patiently, “You’re actually worried that you might be banned by the Medicine Deity Corporation from selling your herbs?”

“That’s right. Although the Medicine Deity Corporation’s pharmacy chain has had some issues in the recent years and their profits were terrible, it’s still a big piece of cake for merchants like us. I have goods worth nearly a hundred million which require their channel to sell every year. Furthermore, I still have tens of millions of funds held up by them, so I will definitely suffer a loss if I cooperate with the Three Flavour Medicine.” Jia Xing sighed after a brief stun.

Su Tao could tell that Jia Xing was speaking the truth as he knitted his brows. Now, he could finally understand why those merchants would target the Three Flavour Medicine.

It was mainly because they couldn’t afford to offend the Medicine Deity Corporation. Jia Xing wasn’t the largest herbs merchant out there, and the largest one would have large payment for goods with the Medicine Deity Corporation. If the Medicine Deity Corporation fell out with them, the Medicine Deity Corporation only had to delay their payment to create trouble for them.

Putting it in a nutshell, the herbs merchant would place their goods with the Medicine Deity Corporation for sale, and once those goods are sold, they will be paid to merchants after deducting their profits. And if those goods couldn’t be sold, then they would be returned to those merchants. So aside from capital and operational funds, the Medicine Deity Corporation did not have to take any risk.

There was some difference compared to other industries. Take the automotive company, 4S, for example. All the cars displayed in the store came from the boss’ pocket. So they would generally push for the sales of vehicles that they had stock in their garage. If you placed an order on a vehicle without any stocks, the price would be slightly higher, and you might have to pay in advance. Because if the vehicle that the store purchased wasn’t sold, the boss would suffer a loss.

However, the Medicine Deity Corporation came out strong as they made use of their pharmacy chains. Although the merchants all knew that there was an issue in this model, they still went along with it willingly.

Hence, it was understandable why Jia Xing did not want to work with the Three Flavour Medicine. Firstly, he was afraid that he might be suppressed by his peers. Although the source of his raw materials were stable, who knows if someone might cause trouble for him and ruin his source. Secondly, he was worried that the Medicine Deity Corporation would punish him and delay his payments. If that was the case, then he would have an issue with his funds.

As Chu Huilin knitted his brows lightly, it was just as Su Tao had analyzed as he replied, “If you’re willing to cooperate with the Three Flavour Medicine, we’re willing to compensate all the funds you have with the Medicine Deity Corporation. Furthermore, we’re also willing to pay you ¥200,000,000 in advance for you to acquire raw materials.”

When Jia Xing heard that, he had shock in his eyes. He knew that the Three Flavour Medicine was rich, but he never expected that they were so rich.

When Chu Huilin saw that Jia Xing began to hesitate, he immediately knew that he was successful as the middleman. However, he still couldn’t understand Su Tao’s thoughts. After all, giving Jia Xing so many benefits would mean that the Three Flavour Medicine would suffer a loss.

“Give me some time to consider!” Jia Xing seemed to have wavered as he knew that the Three Flavour Medicine had orders from the military, and the first batch of materials would be around ¥200,000,000. In this transaction alone, he could easily earn ¥50,000,000-60,000,000. As for the payment from the Medicine Deity Corporation, it was only ¥20,000,000. So even if the Three Flavour Hall didn’t compensate for his loss, he still profited either way.

“Because there’s a high request for the first batch of materials, they have to be prepared in a month. So I will need a reply from you tomorrow.” Chu Huilin appeared to be helpless as he continued, “After all, I need time to find other suppliers as well.”

Jia Xing nodded his head as he pondered about going back to discuss with his staff from the purchasing department. After a brief sit, he then took his leave. In the process, Chu Huilin reminded Jia Xing to bring his gifts along.

After Jia Xing left, Su Tao came out from the room and teased, “Old Chu, I never expect that you’re so honest nowadays!”

“Well, there’s nothing I can do about it. It’s mainly because I don’t lack money nowadays, and this little money had no attraction to me. Old Jia might seem courteous on the surface, but he’s actually a cunning fox, so I can afford to let him grab hold of my tail. But from his reaction earlier, I can tell that he was tempted by our offer.” Chu Huilin laughed