Chapter 417: Speculation

“It’s because we think that This Place No. 1 is a product developed in a joint venture with a foreign company. The materials should be examined and approved by the department in charge of imports, which is the Import Bureau. If you want the preventive medicine to pass the review, you have to go through them.”

Import Bureau?

Lu Ming rubbed his temples. Why didn’t he know that working with Pfizer required such a complicated process? He had asked his friends in advance to send the information to the National Drug Administration Review Center. Now he was asked to hand it over to the Import Bureau. Just thinking about such a thick pile of paperwork made him dizzy.

However, in order not to waste the efforts of his subordinates, he had no choice but to do as he was told.

“Are you sure that’s all I have to do? Do I need to do anything else? I want to get through the review in one go. After all, this epidemic came suddenly. If the drug can be approved sooner rather than later, it can reduce a lot of unnecessary loss of lives. I’m sure you, as someone from an official agency, can understand how I feel?”

When the person on the other end of the line heard this, his expression turned ugly. He had a look of helplessness. He also wanted to approve the drug as soon as possible, but the higher-ups had said that he could not let Lu Ming Corporation’s medicine pass the review no matter what. If he really had such great authority, he would have given the green light immediately when he saw this Place No. 1!

He shook his head. What a pity for such a good boss. He had heard that Lu Ming had given a lot of incentives in order to make this preventive drug. He sighed and said, “You should go to the Import Bureau to take a look.”

With that, he hung up.

Lu Ming noticed the abnormality on the other end of the phone, but he did not take it to heart. He merely thought that something bad had happened because he did link that to himself. Hence, he immediately sent someone to send the information to the Import Bureau and found an excuse to go to the Tang family’s old residence. When Tang Er saw him, he greeted him warmly, “Young Master Lu, you’re here!”

“It has been a long time, Ah Er!”

“Young Master Lu, are you here to look for Old Master this time? He’s drinking tea in the backyard now! You came at the right time. The last guest just left.”

The two of them took a few turns and arrived at the backyard. The first thing they saw was the big red maple tree. The old man in the traditional Chinese suit sitting on the sandalwood recliner beside the tree was leisurely drinking expensive tea. A maple leaf had landed on his shoulder.

The teacup on the opposite seat was still steaming. Just as Tang Er had said, it seemed that the guest had not been gone for long.

“Godfather.”

When Tang Mingkun heard this familiar voice, he suddenly turned his head as if he was surprised that his godson would appear here. Then he smiled kindly and said with concern, “Come and sit down! Ah Er, go and get Little Ming a cup of new tea!”

“Yes!”

Tang Er nimbly removed the teacup left behind by the previous guest. Not long after, he walked over with a new cup. Then he picked up the teapot and filled the cup. After a series of smooth movements, he handed it to Lu Ming.

The latter carefully took a sip and subconsciously sighed. “It smells so good!”

He felt a sweet aftertaste. It was comparable to what he had drunk at the old leader’s house. However, in terms of personal taste, he was still more inclined to his adoptive father’s. Thinking of this, he seemed to have thought of something and asked tentatively, “Did you weed this out of the old leader’s place?”

Tang Mingkun smiled like an old fox and said, “How can this be called weeding? Clearly that guy was willing to give it to me! Well, it was his fault for showing off to me that he obtained these new tea leaves. Wasn’t it coincidental? I just finished my tea leaves not long ago and was thinking of getting someone to buy new ones. I don’t have to buy new ones now.”

And he got such good tea leaves for free. Just thinking about it was great.

When Lu Ming saw this, he thought to himself, If Godfather is in a good mood, the old leader will probably be sad for a while. He couldn’t help wondering why they were acting like children at their age. It seemed that he had to prepare a generous gift when he went to the old leader’s house next time.

“Godfather, we’ve produced the preventive medicine for the epidemic.”

Tang Mingkun’s expression froze at first, and he immediately said in shock, “Are you serious?! So fast! I remember it wasn’t too long ago when your recruitment advertisements were posted. Are you sure the drug is ready? Are there any side effects? Is everyone eligible for it? Have you taken it for assessment now?”

The questions came one after another like a series of cannons. Lu Ming replied patiently, “They really put in extra effort. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have been able to produce the finished product so quickly. We first experimented on white mice and then looked for volunteers. In the end, the results were quite impressive. There were no side effects, and there were no age restrictions.”

He paused for a moment and continued, “As for the review yesterday, I originally wanted to give you a surprise. However, the review center called today and made me a little puzzled, so I came to ask you. The other party said that if it’s a drug that is developed with a foreign company, it has to be submitted to the Import Bureau for review. Is this true?”

Tang Mingkun looked relieved. His godson was really amazing. He had made a really useful preventive medicine in such a short time. After this, he could brag to his good friends again! Instantly, his mood improved a little. He said, “I’m not very sure about his process.”

“I know someone who works in this area, but he told me that as long as I get a permit, business license, and various certificates, I can pass if the medicine is okay. I’ve never heard of having to go through the Import Bureau.”

Lu Ming told him everything he knew. He really could not understand. Could it be that the review center had changed the rules? On the way here, he searched for relevant news on the Internet, but they were all vague answers. No one could tell.

Tang Mingkun stroked his beard and said, “Now that you mention it, I almost forgot. I remember that it has been like this since the past, right? I didn’t hear anyone mention that the process had changed. Are you sure it was a call from the review center? Did you hear wrongly?”

“I got someone to check. It was a phone call from the officials. It was impossible to have heard wrongly. Although I drank a little, I wasn’t drunk enough to hallucinate.”

Lu Ming remembered clearly what happened not long ago. Even the details there…

His pupils constricted. “Do you think it’s possible that the other party is deliberately stalling us?”