Mr. Zhao—Zhao Shanlin had successfully cultivated it, and he should soon get the land he asked Li Ji for. In addition, he knew where Fairy Desert Cistanche grew. Hence, there was absolutely no problem with the mass production of Desert Cistanche.

“Exclusive?” Yang Ningyuan asked again.

Fang Qiu nodded and said, “Yes. I’ll provide you with an exclusive prescription and Desert Cistanche, but I don’t offer the cultivation technique!”

When Li Qihua, who was sitting beside them, heard that, he suddenly opened his mouth and asked, “Do you have any other prescriptions?”

Fang Qiu said with a laugh, “Of course. I won’t use the prescription I offer. I’ll use Desert Cistanche on my other prescriptions.”

“Three prescriptions.”

Yang Ningyuan came straight to the point and said directly, “Give me three exclusive prescriptions, and I’ll take over the two companies.”

“Two.”

Fang Qiu raised his eyebrows and said, “Two companies, two exclusive prescriptions. That will be fair.”

Hearing his words, Yang Ningyuan thought for a moment, then nodded and said, “Okay.”

In fact, prescriptions meant nothing to Fang Qiu. Anyway, he had a lot of prescriptions, and they were all in his mind. No one else could have them.

Yang Ningyuan opened his mouth and said, “That’s settled then. I’ll check it out with you after I take over the two companies.”

Fang Qiu nodded with satisfaction and said, “All right. I’m leaving then.”

After that, he nodded at Li Qihua, turned around, and left.

After Fang Qiu left, Yang Ningyuan and Li Qihua looked at each other. As they smiled, they both saw the surprise in each other’s eyes.

“Desert Cistanche…”

Li Qihua took the Desert Cistanche Water in front of him and drank it up in one gulp. Then he smacked his lips, recollecting the pleasant flavor of it for a while, and said with a sigh, “What a generous gift it is! If it’s really that good, you’ll own two companies this time.

“The pie has been drawn, and it’s quite big.

“The two prescriptions are worth at least 10 billion in the market.”

After that, Li Qihua paused, refilled his cup with boiled water, and then said, “However, I’m very curious about how he’s going to bankrupt the two companies!”

Yang Ningyuan nodded in agreement and said, “Yes, me too.

“In this case, I can only wait and see. He came to me to confirm my intentions. Now he’s confirmed my intentions, but there’s nothing I have to do. If the two companies don’t collapse, then it’s all for nothing.

“Even if the two companies do collapse, it’s still in vain if his prescriptions don’t work well.”

Speaking of that, Yang Ningyuan suddenly smiled, turned to look at Li Qihua, and said, “Nonetheless, I think there’s a good chance. Would you like to join me?”

“I’d like to.” Li Qihua immediately nodded and asked after thinking for a while, “But what good can it do Fang Qiu?”

“I’m also curious about that.”

Yang Ningyuan nodded in agreement.

While they were talking, both of them began to think about it.

…

Over there, after leaving Yang Ningyuan’s villa, Fang Qiu didn’t ask him to send someone to see him off. Instead, he left on his own.

After walking for dozens of meters, he looked back at the gate of Yang Ningyuan’s villa with a faint smile on his face.

How could he do anything that would not benefit him?

This matter would do him a great deal of good.

First, he had Yang Ningyuan as the guide; second, he had made Yang Ningyuan his business partner; third, he could use the other party to build a reputation for Desert Cistanche and let everyone know its benefits.

In fact, to put it simply, Fang Qiu regarded Yang Ningyuan as a giant, while he himself was the one standing on the shoulders of the giant. Once Yang Ningyuan took over the two companies—Siqi and Taikang, in order to make profits, he had to produce medicine. If the medicine was effective enough, it would surely cost him a fortune on advertising.

Once the advertising was a success, everyone would recognize the efficacy of Desert Cistanche. By then, there would be no need for Fang Qiu to make an advertisement himself. As long as he guaranteed the production rate, he would be able to quickly promote the related products of Desert Cistanche and achieve the goal of making money fast.

In this world, one must sacrifice something before gaining anything.

By then, would Fang Qiu’s relative products of Desert Cistanche affect the interests of Yang Ningyuan’s two prescriptions?

Yes.

Of course, they would!

They might even squeeze Yang Ningyuan’s two prescriptions out of the market altogether.

Under these circumstances, would the two turn against each other?

No.

Of course not!

Because by that time, Yang Ningyuan must have made enough money. As for the two companies he took over, he could simply transfer them out. His main business, after all, was not about pharmaceuticals.

Of course, at that time, it was very likely that the person who took over the two companies would be Fang Qiu.

If everything went according to his plan, he would make money for Yang Ningyuan, while the latter would help him do a series of work such as marketing, drug promotion, and so on, and advertise Desert Cistanche to prevent him from taking a wrong path in the future.

In this way, it could be said that the two of them were mutually beneficial!

As for why didn’t Fang Qiu take over them directly now?

First of all, it was because he didn’t have money.

How many people were supported by the two pharmaceutical companies?

Although Fang Qiu still had plenty of money, it was not enough to pay them, let alone to maintain the day-to-day operations and expenses of the two companies.

Secondly, he didn’t have time.

If he took over these two companies, he would unquestionably have to manage them. Now he had to study medicine while constantly working hard to improve his strength. Moreover, he had to go to the hospital one day a month to see patients.

Coupled with other things, how could he have time to stay in the office?

The third and most crucial point was that he wasn’t capable of managing a listed company yet. He didn’t know how a company worked. Even if he took them over, he wouldn’t know how he was supposed to run a business.

The fourth point was that if he destroyed these two companies and then bought them by himself, many people would label him as vindictive. That way, he would get a bad reputation.

As a result, he had no choice but to have Yang Ningyuan take the blame.

Of course, it was not so much as dirt but as a treasure bowl.

First of all, Yang Ningyuan’s purchase of the two companies that had framed his benefactor would surely win him the approval of a vast number of netizens who would consider him kindhearted and righteous. This way, his reputation would be bound to rise again. Furthermore, he would make a fortune later. In any case, it was not dirt but a treasure bowl!

“Whew…”

Thinking of this, Fang Qiu let out a long breath, feeling the oncoming breeze and enjoying the light coming down from the sky. He seemed to have noticed something, so he couldn’t help rubbing his forehead and murmuring, “Alas, when did I become so scheming?

“I’m a sunny young man.

“But the society has forced me to do it.”

Fang Qiu was undoubtedly brazen-faced.

He shook his head and strode away.

…

It didn’t take long for Yang Ningyuan and Li Qihua to wait.

Early the next morning, the official Weibo account of the Capital Public Security Bureau—Peaceful Capital, released the news. “According to the report from some citizen in the capital, our bureau has officially started to arrest the Internet rumor-monger, Mr. Yang, and has launched a formal investigation into his spreading rumors on the Internet!”

The rumors seemed to be aimed at some international and national hot issues and even diplomatic matters, yet this Mr. Yang was so bold that he spread such rumors.

In the eyes of netizens, he was digging his own grave.

Nevertheless, the news received little attention and few comments in the beginning.

After all, this was an age when government news was followed by far fewer people than entertainment news.

Nonetheless, it wasn’t long before several media outlets, which got leads, published articles in succession.

“According to the news, this “Mr. Yang” confessed to having paid some Internet trolls to slander Fang Qiu twice. The first time was when Fang Qiu was attracting investment to make a CG animation video by selling spots for advertisements. The second time was when a patient’s family came to Fang Qiu’s door and knelt to beg him for treatment. This “Mr. Yang” was the former employee of Siqi Pharmaceutical Company. He was fired because Fang Qiu once revealed that there was something wrong with the company. Hence, it’s very likely that he held a grudge against Fang Qiu, so he took revenge on him on the Internet!

“In addition, reliable sources say “Mr. Yang” received two remittances, which were used to slander Fang Qiu, on both occasions when he smeared Fang Qiu. According to the information we’ve collected from relevant personnel, these two remittances are very likely to have come from Siqi Pharmaceutical Company and Taikang Pharmaceutical Company, both of which have had drug problems exposed by Fang Qiu!”

As soon as the news spread, the whole Internet was in an uproar.

“What the f*ck. No wonder there were so many paid Internet trolls who smeared Fang Qiu no matter what he did back then. It turned out that someone paid Internet trolls to slander Fang Qiu.”

“There’s no need to think about it. The masterminds must be those two famous pharmaceutical companies. Otherwise, who else would have so much money to defame Fang Qiu?”

“I wondered why so many people kept saying bad things about Fang Qiu online. It turned out that somebody had been playing tricks behind the scenes!”

“These two companies are too disgusting. How could they take revenge on Fang Qiu after he exposed their drug problems? They’re so hateful.”

The netizens all flared up in no time.

In particular, Fang Qiu’s fans all went to the Weibo account named “Peaceful Capital” to leave messages.

“Dear police, those who spread rumors and harmed others must be thoroughly investigated.”

“Yes, we can’t let such people off the hook. They’re too hateful.”

…

The senior leaders of Siqi Pharmaceutical Company and Taikang Pharmaceutical Company, who had received the news, were in a panic.

When the debate on the Internet was getting hotter and hotter, the two companies hurried to clear up the rumors on Weibo as soon as possible and issue lawyer’s letters, asking all media outlets to withdraw the relevant articles.

It seemed that the two companies were rather angry about this, and they would sue the media any time soon.

To everyone’s surprise, these media outlets didn’t show any fear at all. On the contrary, they kept exposing news one after another and even revealed the transfer records.

Although the transfers were not done directly in the name of the two companies, given the transfer records released by these media outlets, one could figure out that the two companies were the wire-pullers after checking those bank accounts by inference.

That was irrefutable proof!

The appearance of the transfer records outraged the netizens.

“Damn it, it turned out that you harbored evil intentions when you thanked Fang Qiu for his guidance and wanted to invite him to take up some post. Fortunately, he didn’t go. Otherwise, no one knew what you would do to him!”

“You’re so shameless that you even spoke evil of Fang Qiu!”

“Boycott, strong boycott!”