Three more days passed, and Luo Jialin kept hitting wall after wall. Just when he was beginning to suspect his own sales skills were at fault, he ran into Mu Side at a private hospital.
Mu Side was there with his assistant, clearly negotiating a sales contract for the new drug.
Since these were the first shipments—and with both research teams launching competing drugs—many hospitals were still waiting on results before committing. To be safe, both Luo Jialin and Mu Side personally led their own negotiations.
Once Shen City hospitals began seeing positive outcomes, word would spread to other provinces, and the later markets would open up on their own—no more door-to-door pitching needed.
"Mu Side!" Luo Jialin lunged forward and grabbed Mu Side's lapel. "Was it you? Did you pull some underhanded stunt so that none of these hospitals even want to see me?"
Mu Side ripped his hand free and gave him a firm shove. "If they won't see you, that's your problem. What does it have to do with me?"
He sneered. "Don't go snarling at everyone like a madman. It only makes you look incompetent."
With that, he turned and walked off.
Luo Jialin chased after him. "Wait—stop! You're telling me you played no tricks? That this is fair competition?"
"Get help if you've got issues." Mu Side tilted his head. "Business is like life: whether it's tactics or competition, it all comes down to ability. If you don't understand that, go ask your dad."
Luo Jialin fumed as Mu Side straightened his collar and climbed into his car.
He'd never felt so humiliated. At school no one dared challenge him—and once he inherited the family business, his surname alone made everyone defer to him. He was used to giving orders and having them followed without question. For years, people had praised "President Luo's authority."
But in recent days—door after door slamming in his face, no sales progress—his pride and confidence had been ground down bit by bit. He was exhausted and at wit's end.
That's why, upon seeing Mu Side, he'd lost all composure. A cold glint flashed in Luo Jialin's eyes as he clenched his fist.
Turning to his assistant, he snarled, "Find out how Mu Side convinced those hospitals to sign with him. I refuse to believe he beat me purely on Professor He Xin's reputation!"
After all, both drugs shared essentially the same formula—there was no reason for hospitals to trust anyone else more than He Xin.
The next afternoon, Mu Side was poring over a medical text in the loft with Shu Lanzhou when his assistant called.
"Mm-hmm. Got it. No need to follow up." He hung up and turned back to Shu Lanzhou. "Shu Shu, you really are prophetic—Luo Jialin did go back to consult Han Weicheng."
Shu Lanzhou nestled closer in his arms. "Not me being prophetic—it's because this pit you dug is so well-placed. No matter how clever Luo Jialin is, he still had to fall in."
"All we need now is to wait and see what trick Han Weicheng tries next."
Mu Side pinched her earlobe, then glanced down at the medical book in her hands. "But one thing puzzles me: if their drug's components match ours—minus that one herb—then it should still heal patients without incident. Why can't Han Weicheng get his hands on any clinical data?"
"It's a matter of dosage." Shu Lanzhou flipped a page. "Every ingredient's precise amount in our formula came from iterative animal studies and—and multiple rounds of clinical trials. That process requires countless test subjects and plenty of time—two things Han Weicheng's team simply doesn't have."
"If you actually give this drug to people, substandard efficacy might be the least of your worries. Run into a patient with a special constitution—a child or elderly, for example—and things could go horribly wrong."
"From what I know of Han Weicheng, he wouldn't risk that. Replicating our product is the safest route—but only if Luo Jialin can secure enough orders to justify the effort."
So far, though, Mu Side's pharmaceutical company had already signed contracts with the major hospitals in Shen City—beating Luo Jialin to the punch.
Denied those orders, Luo Jialin would inevitably circle back to Han Weicheng for answers.
And that, in turn, would force Han Weicheng into making a move of his own.
Mu Side nodded appreciatively. "Exactly. Whether he ultimately chooses to copy us or not, Luo Corporation has already lost the market initiative."
"In the short term, their investors see no return."
A 'short term' in this industry was at least a year or two. Neither Luo Corporation nor the National Hospital executives were known for their patience. Han Weicheng's grand research was likely to fizzle out for lack of progress.
His hopes of a comeback through this project were virtually nil. Neither He Xin nor Shu Lanzhou would ever give him another chance.
Mu Side bent down and kissed Shu Lanzhou. "My aunt told me you want to use this opportunity to expand the acupuncture department at the National Hospital. Have you considered the pushback from Xiang Hua and the others?"
"It'd be strange if there wasn't pushback!" Shu Lanzhou tipped her head up. "I still need to discuss it further with Director Long. If he's not on board—or if his support isn't strong enough—there's no way we can push this through."
"Speaking of Director Long," Mu Side said thoughtfully, "how's Miss Long doing with your uncle?"
He shook his head. "Still the same. I don't think there's any hope—at least not yet."
She turned and grabbed his collar, narrowing her eyes. "It's been years. Surely you've uncovered my uncle's secret by now? Or did you find out and not tell me?"
Mu Side lowered his head, covering her eyes with his hand. "I did find out, but it's complicated. My uncle told me not to say."
"Is it something health-related?" She let go of his collar and melted back into his arms. "If it's about his health, I wish you'd tell me in secret."
"These past two years I've read a lot of medical texts and studied many rare conditions. I just lack patients. As long as it's not terminal, I could give my uncle's condition a shot."
Mu Side sighed softly. "Better leave this one to me. I'll find a way."
What illness was so shameful that his own uncle insisted on secrecy? And why was Mu Side unable to discuss it? Shu Lanzhou couldn't quite figure it out.
Furious upon learning that Mu Side had clinched the hospital contracts, Luo Jialin stormed over to Han Weicheng's office.
"You said the clinical case files were top secret—absolutely not to be shared. Even if I wanted to promote this new drug, you insisted I couldn't show any clinical data to potential clients."
He threw a stack of documents onto Han's desk. "So what's this, then? Why are these 'top secret' files in He Xin's hands?"
"Do you realize it's these files that allowed Mu Side to lock down nearly every hospital in Shen City? We can't even get a single order!"
Han Weicheng picked up the papers. "Impossible—absolutely impossible! If they'd publicized our manufacturing process, that would mean—"
He stopped himself after scanning the pages. These documents detailed the development timeline and genuine patient recoveries—not the recipe itself.
They were, in fact, more thorough than anything his team had ever released.
The moment he read them, Han Weicheng knew he was beaten. But he refused to accept defeat.
His fingers clenched the papers so tightly they creased. His mind raced for a remedy.
"Well?" Luo Jialin snorted. "Going to say something, or are you speechless?"