Chapter 1864 — How to Respond

But Guandafu Pharmaceuticals was different. Without money, no number of prescriptions was worth a thing, and his elder brother had long since drawn a line between them, while Fat Lai was hardly in a position to lend him money.

"Uncle Chu, these things were yours to begin with, and they're of no use to me. Besides, there's no need for us to draw such clear lines between ourselves, is there?" Wei Zhao said with a smile. "While I was suffering from cultivation deviation, I owe it to Yaoyao's care—she brewed and dosed my medicine every day. Without her, I couldn't have woken up so quickly."

"That's true enough. Then I'll hold on to these shares and holdings for now—though sooner or later they'll belong to you and Yaoyao anyway," Gu Pengzhan said.

Wei Zhao pretended not to catch the implication, but the young miss flushed crimson. She stole a glance at Wei Zhao, and only when she saw that he seemed to have noticed nothing did she let out a breath of relief.

"Uncle Chu, let's go back. The villa and all the rest—they're back in our hands now," Wei Zhao said. "I'm a bit tired too, I need to go home and rest a while..."

In truth, Wei Zhao was anxious to continue training the second level of the Xuanyu Dragon-Taming Art. The enemy was far too powerful, and he had no new trump card with which to face even stronger foes—which was why he could not wait to resume his training.

"That works too. I'll check out of the hospital right now," Gu Pengzhan said with a nod.

"Wu Chengtian, you come with me. The rest of you go home and rest," Wei Zhao said to Chen Yutian, Qiu Lingshan, and Sun Jingyan. "Fat Lai, you stay with me a while, fill me in on the pharmaceutical company, and let's see how we're going to beat Kang the Divine Physician."

"Got it!" Wu Chengtian and Fat Lai said in unison.

Although Guan Xiaoxiang's interference meant the medical fees could not be waived, in all other respects Guan Xuemin's prestige still carried considerable weight. Gu Pengzhan's discharge met with no objections or obstacles whatsoever, and the paperwork was done in no time.

The group went downstairs, and only then did Wei Zhao realize there was no car. He smacked his forehead. "That bastard An Jianwen—I forgot to ask him for the car!"

At the time, Wei Zhao had been focused on leaving the villa as quickly as possible, so as not to let the man in black sense anything amiss, and had overlooked driving the car back.

"Haha, never mind, it's just a car!" Gu Pengzhan didn't mind at all. The outcome before them was already the best possible—the holdings and the shares were all in hand, and everything else was secondary.

Qiu Lingshan and Chen Yutian both had cars, though they were only their assigned work vehicles. Otherwise, they would likely have sold even those to support Gu Pengzhan.

As for the company cars assigned to Kang and Fat Lai, the bank had long since towed them away to settle debts.

"Let's each take everyone home separately," Chen Yutian said to Wei Zhao, gesturing at Qiu Lingshan's car and his own.

"Sounds good!" Wei Zhao nodded and got into the car with the others.

On the way, Fat Lai recounted to Wei Zhao how the pharmaceutical company had gone bankrupt, and at the end he offered Wei Zhao a most sincere apology. In truth, this wasn't Kang the Divine Physician's company's fault—commercial competition was the most natural thing in the world. Guandafu Pharmaceuticals' bankruptcy had also had much to do with its own overly rapid factory expansion; once the capital chain snapped, disaster struck beyond all expectation.

"Kang the Divine Physician's pharmaceutical company rolled out that many products all at once?" Wei Zhao was somewhat surprised. He hadn't expected that in the time he'd gone back to Xixing Mountain Village and been lost to cultivation deviation for half a month—a month or so in all—Kang the Divine Physician's company could have produced so many and such miraculous products. It left Wei Zhao quite astonished.

Still, he wasn't especially surprised. From the very appearance of a man like You Shisan, it was clear the Kang family must have other forces behind them, so their rapid rise was hardly strange.

"Indeed, I was surprised too," Fat Lai said with a nod. "And the key problem is, the prices are frighteningly cheap. We have so few products, there's no way we can match their all-out promotional blitz..."

"Get me one of each of their products. I'll take them back and study them," Wei Zhao said after a moment's thought.

"Officer Song, would you mind pulling over at any pharmacy? I'll run in and buy a few products!" With that, Fat Lai added to Wei Zhao, "Practically every pharmacy carries their products."

"All right. But since we're all Wei Zhao's friends, just call me Lingshan—calling me that makes us sound like strangers," Qiu Lingshan said.

"Haha, fair enough!" Fat Lai didn't protest. Since everyone here was close to Wei Zhao, getting better acquainted could only be a good thing.

Qiu Lingshan found a pharmacy and parked the car. Fat Lai got out to do his shopping and returned before long carrying a bag. He climbed back in and handed the bag to Wei Zhao.

Wei Zhao flipped through it casually and noticed many identical items, which puzzled him. "Why buy so many?"

"Some were buy-one-get-one, some buy-two-get-one, and there were free samples too—can't say no to free, so I brought them all back," Fat Lai said with a helpless shrug. "Their promotional tactics are formidable."

"Fine. I'll study them when I get back," Wei Zhao said with a nod.

Returning once more to the villa they had been away from so long, Gu Mengyao and Shen Yushu both felt as though they had crossed into another world.

When they had led Wei Zhao, General Weiwu, and Tianlei Zhu out of this villa that day, they had thought they would never come back—that this place would become someone else's domain. Yet before long, here they were again.

"Why is it such a mess?" The moment Wei Zhao stepped inside, he saw all sorts of boxes piled up in the living room.

"These are the things from Xiaoshu's villa. The deed to her villa is also in my father's name..." Gu Mengyao then recounted how An Jianwen had left the villa to her.

"So that's how it is. Well, since they've been moved here, find a place and put them away one by one—don't send them back," Wei Zhao said with a nod. "We'll be heading to Donghai City for school soon anyway, so a few more things here won't hurt. Wu Chengtian, help Yaoyao and Xiaoshu sort through the belongings. I'm going to study the products Fat Lai bought... Oh, right—General Weiwu and Tianlei Zhu are still at Granny Sun's place."

"Mm... oh, right, the car's still under the overpass. Shall I go with you to get it back?" Gu Mengyao said.

"Have Wu Chengtian go with you. I wouldn't feel at ease otherwise," Wei Zhao said.

"Understood, boss!" Wu Chengtian went off with Gu Mengyao and Shen Yushu to retrieve the car and bring General Weiwu and Tianlei Zhu home.

Wei Zhao, meanwhile, went into his room, poured all of Kang the Divine Physician's products Fat Lai had bought onto the table, and began studying them one by one.

The first thing Wei Zhao opened was Kang the Divine Physician's wound medicine. This wound medicine felt noticeably different from the old one—indeed, its formula was entirely unlike the previous Kang the Divine Physician's wound medicine. It was more like a cut-rate version of Wei Zhao's own trauma medicine!

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