Chapter 450 — Self-Recommendation
The Blossom Guardian · Page 1 of 2
"Good, that's good!" Fatty Lai had been afraid that the herbs he'd bought might all be fakes—as long as some were genuine, that was enough. "Then, Divine Doctor Lin, just pick out the good ones and use them!"
"Will do. Grandpa Guan, do you have a decoction stove here?" Wei Zhao asked.
"I do. I'll have Auntie Liu bring it over," Guan Xuewen said. As a master of traditional Chinese medicine, he naturally had no shortage of decoction equipment at home.
"Then... should I step out for a bit?" Fatty Lai was a sensible man. Worried that Wei Zhao might have taboos about being watched while preparing medicine, he thought he'd spare himself the annoyance and withdraw for a while.
"No need. Sit right there—I happen to have a few questions about the company's opening that I'd like to ask you!" Wei Zhao waved a hand, motioning for Fatty Lai to sit down.
"Ask me?" Fatty Lai was flattered beyond measure. He rubbed his plump little hands and said, "I wouldn't call it being asked—I can only offer a few suggestions! Rest assured, I'll tell you everything I know and leave nothing out! Divine Doctor Lin is doing me an honor by letting me speak!"
Auntie Liu soon brought over the decoction equipment. Wei Zhao deftly selected some fresh herbs and tossed them into the pot. What looked like a casual grab was in fact measured with perfect accuracy.
Fatty Lai marveled inwardly, though he didn't think much of it. Wei Zhao's medical skill was far beyond such trivial flourishes—compared with his other abilities, this was nothing at all.
Even Guan Xuewen was somewhat astonished at how swiftly Wei Zhao's hands moved. It seemed Wei Zhao hadn't even looked, yet he had already finished selecting the herbs.
"Fatty Lai, my pharmaceutical company has two drugs ready to launch at the outset. One is a powerful painkiller with no side effects, and the other is a wound medicine. How do you think we should promote them once they hit the market?" Wei Zhao asked.
"Divine Doctor Lin, this wound medicine—is it a finished medicine with effects similar to Divine Doctor Kang's Golden Wound Medicine?" Once the conversation turned to business, Fatty Lai put on a shrewd look, and the image of the earlier bawling crybaby and spineless wimp was nowhere to be seen.
"More or less. I've never seen what Golden Wound Medicine looks like, but my wound medicine also promotes rapid healing of injuries and leaves no scars!" Wei Zhao nodded.
"Then it should be about the same!" Fatty Lai pondered for a moment, then said, "My suggestion is to launch the wound medicine first and use it to build up our reputation!"
"Oh? How so?" Wei Zhao looked at Fatty Lai. Both he and Guan Xuewen had thought to release the two drugs together; they hadn't expected Fatty Lai to want to release them in batches.
"Heh heh, we release only one drug, with effects similar to the most miraculous product on the market—Divine Doctor Kang's Golden Wound Medicine. That way, everyone will start comparing us with them!" Fatty Lai said. "At first they'll have some doubts about our product, but once they find its effects are just like Divine Doctor Kang's, they'll gradually start leaning toward us!"
"Of course, that requires two conditions. One, our price must be lower than theirs. Two, our supply must be ample—because from what I know, several of the ingredients in Divine Doctor Kang's Golden Wound Medicine are in very low supply, and they give priority to certain special institutions and the military, so the quantity sold to the civilian market isn't large! So if their product can't be bought, consumers will choose ours!"
"Naturally, if our product's effects are clearly superior to theirs, we won't need to sell at a lower price. Or, if we can't increase our production capacity either, then no matter what, the market will remain in a state of shortage, and whether we compete with them for market share becomes meaningless."
Fatty Lai finished it all in one breath, then wiped the sweat from his forehead.