Chapter 56 90/10 Split? You dare touch what's mine!
The smoke of war in the southwest was eventually blown away by the winds of the capital.
Lu Zhanting is back.
He was covered in wounds, but he was whole; the sharpness in his eyes had not been diminished in the slightest.
Returning with him was his "Sharp Sword" squad, which was almost entirely wounded but had no casualties.
Su Wanqing used the Thirteen Ghost Needles technique in conjunction with spatial spiritual power to sever the connection between the Heart-Eating Vine's mother body and the earth's veins at the most critical moment, breaking its "life gate".
Lu Zhanting then used his last high-explosive incendiary bomb to completely burn the demonic vine that had been entrenched for a hundred years to ashes.
This victory was incredibly hard-fought.
This also transformed Su Wanqing's name from "a family member with superb medical skills" into a truly revered symbol in the highest ranks of the military.
The celebration banquet was held, and the commendation meeting was also held.
Su Wanqing declined all social engagements and locked herself in a secret room in the east wing of the Lu family's house.
She needs to review everything.
We need to think more about the future.
This trip to Southwest China made her realize that simple medical skills and personal martial arts are still fragile in the face of powerful forces and intricate conspiracies.
If it weren't for the unwavering support of the Lu, Yan, and Chen families, and if it weren't for the official status of the General Hospital as a safeguard, she would never have been able to lead her team safely out of that jungle.
Human favors will eventually run out.
She needs to build a power that truly belongs to her and cannot be easily shaken by anyone.
And the foundation of power is money.
With money, she could acquire rare and precious materials that could evolve the space from the ghost market or even more secretive channels.
With money, she could build her own intelligence network and no longer rely on Yan Shaocheng for everything.
With money, she could truly weave a protective net for herself and Lu Zhanting, strong enough to withstand any storm.
"Have you thought it through?"
Lu Zhanting's voice rang out from the doorway.
His injuries had not yet healed, and he was unable to rejoin the team, making him the most "idle" person in the Lu family compound.
The man's tall frame leaned against the door frame, his gaze fixed on the slender figure fiddling with a pile of bottles and jars in the secret room. Deep in his eyes was a gentleness that even he himself was unaware of.
"I've thought it through."
Su Wanqing did not turn around.
She was intently dripping a drop of milky-white spiritual water from the spatial lake into a porcelain bottle filled with dark green ointment.
The ointment instantly became warm and translucent, and a delicate fragrance filled the air.
"The Song family won't let this matter in the Southwest go unresolved," Su Wanqing said softly. "They've only lost an arm; their foundation remains intact. If we push them into a corner, they'll only become more frantic."
"I don't want a next time where I gamble everyone's lives on luck."
Lu Zhanting remained silent.
He knew she was right.
“What do you need me to do?” he asked.
Su Wanqing finally turned around and smiled at him: "Take good care of your injuries."
"Then, be my strongest support."
Her smile lit up the entire secret room.
Three days later, a brand called "Huichuntang" quietly appeared in the most elite circles of Beijing.
There was no shop, and no advertising.
It only has two products.
It was a dark green ointment called "Qingxin Gao" (Clear Heart Ointment). It was said that applying it to the temples could clear the mind and improve eyesight, and it had a remarkable effect on those who worked at desks for long periods of time under high mental stress.
Another item is a snow-white cream called "Jade Complexion Cream." The cream is translucent and has a delicate floral fragrance. It is said to restore a woman's skin to a youthful radiance and smoothness in the shortest amount of time.
The first batch of products was delivered by Lu Yao and Yan Shaocheng as "gifts" to the matriarchs and young ladies of the major families in the capital.
At first, nobody paid any attention.
What good things haven't these powerful ladies seen? They're already tired of the palace's secret recipes and imported goods from overseas.
It wasn't until General Chen's wife appeared at a high-level family tea party that things changed.
Some people were surprised to find that her complexion, which had been somewhat sallow due to years of hard work, had become rosy and radiant, and even the fine lines at the corners of her eyes had faded considerably.
"Wow, Sister Zhang, what magic potion did you use? You look at least five years younger!" A familiar lady exclaimed in amazement.
Madam Chen smiled demurely and took out a delicate white jade bottle from her handbag.
"It's nothing, just a little something that Wanqing, the granddaughter-in-law of the Lu family, mixed herself."
"It's called... Jade Complexion Cream."
"Jade Complexion Cream?"
"Rejuvenation Hall?"
These two names spread like wildfire at the tea party.
Everyone remembered the legendary woman who saved Old Master Yan with a single needle at the Yan family's birthday banquet and made extraordinary contributions during the Southwest Operation.
Su Wanqing!
Could the items she sells be ordinary?
That afternoon, the phone in the east wing of the Lu family's house was ringing off the hook.
"Yaoyao, it's me, your Aunt Sun! Do you still have that Jade Complexion Cream? Save me ten bottles!"
"Sister Yao Yao, it's your sister-in-law Wang! My skin has been so dry lately, I need that Jade Complexion Cream..."
Lu Yao held the phone, her hands flustered, but her face beamed with excitement.
"Sister-in-law! Sister-in-law! We did it!"
She rushed into the secret room, waving a thick stack of orders in her hand, "All the samples we sent out have received more than ten times the number of replies! The Jade Complexion Cream is selling like hotcakes!"
Su Wanqing was writing and drawing on a piece of paper when she heard this, and just smiled faintly.
Everything was as expected.
What she wrote was the next step for Huichuntang.
Relying solely on word-of-mouth marketing within top-tier circles can spread quickly, but its reach is narrow and it easily attracts unwanted attention.
What she wanted was to make her business public and build a true commercial empire.
“Yaoyao, in the name of the Lu family, take over a shop in Dongsi Archway, the most prosperous area in the capital.”
Su Wanqing handed her a drawing.
"Decorate according to this style, and name it 'Huichuntang'."
"Open...open a shop?" Lu Yao was stunned. "Sister-in-law, aren't we being too conspicuous? Besides, we don't have much stuff..."
That's the crux of the problem.
Whether it's the Qingxin Ointment or the Yurong Ointment, the core ingredients are inseparable from the spiritual spring water and herbs of the space, and the production volume is limited, making large-scale production impossible.
"Who said we were going to sell Jade Complexion Cream?" Su Wanqing smiled mysteriously.
She handed another product list to Lu Yao.
More than a dozen brand-new products are listed above.
"Ginseng Nourishing Pills", "Tiger Bone Wine for Walking", "Mind-Calming and Heart-Nourishing Pills"...
These are all ordinary prescriptions that she modified based on the ancient medical texts in her spatial dimension. The medicinal materials used are also common herbs that can be purchased on the market.
The only difference is that these medicinal herbs have all been soaked in a diluted solution of the spiritual spring water in the space.
While its effects are not as immediate as those of the Jade Complexion Cream, its efficacy is three to five times stronger than any similar product on the market.
"Jade Complexion Cream and Heart-Clearing Cream are our entry-level products, top-tier luxury items, and are always available in limited quantities only to our most core clients."
Su Wanqing explained.
"And these are the things we really use to make money and to capture the market."
"Use the highest-end products to build reputation and establish brand image. Then use mid-range products that are far more effective than those of competitors to reach a wider audience and achieve profitability."
"A mix of high and low, and a combination of real and virtual elements."
"This is called...brand strategy."
Su Wanqing effortlessly incorporated business concepts from later generations.
Lu Yao listened, completely stunned.
She didn't quite understand what "brand strategy" meant, but she understood what Su Wanqing meant.
Use the best products to whet everyone's appetite, then use slightly inferior but still very good products to make money off everyone.
high!
That's brilliant!
The operation was launched swiftly.
With the Lu family's intervention, a prime shop on Dongsi Pailou Street, where land is incredibly valuable, was transferred to Huichuntang's name.
Uncle He led a construction team composed of veterans, working day and night. In just half a month, a two-story building with an antique charm and grandeur rose from the ground.
The plaque was personally inscribed by Old Master Yan – the three large characters “Huichuntang” are written with vigorous strokes and extraordinary momentum.
Yan Shaocheng then used his underground network to continuously procure the highest quality medicinal herbs from all over the country.
In the secret workshop that Su Wanqing set up in the backyard of the Lu family, she personally supervised and guided the production of the first batch of finished medicines.
Everyone was like a wound-up gear, operating precisely and efficiently.
A month later, Huichuntang officially opened for business.
There was no ribbon-cutting or firecrackers on the opening day.
However, Dongsi Pailou Street was completely blocked.
Those who came upon hearing the news included family members of cadres arriving in luxury cars, military officers in their uniforms, and, more often, ordinary citizens who had suffered from various ailments for years and had heard of the miraculous reputation of Huichuntang.
The shop only had two highly respected retired traditional Chinese medicine doctors who had retired from the General Hospital to provide consultations.
They don't prescribe medicine lightly; they only recommend Huichuntang's prepared medicines based on the customer's condition.
An elderly professor with gray hair and chronic insomnia fell asleep peacefully in a chair in a noisy shop within ten minutes of trying a "calming and heart-nourishing pill".
An elderly man with mobility issues, who was using a cane, drank a small cup of "Tiger Bone Wine for Walking" with the help of a waiter. He immediately threw away his cane and walked with a brisk and energetic gait.
A series of vivid examples are more persuasive than any advertisement.
The crowd erupted in cheers!
The medicines at Huichuntang were almost sold out within the first hour of opening.
People who couldn't buy it were unwilling to leave and lined up to reserve it. The queue stretched from Dongsi Archway all the way to the street corner several hundred meters away.
The police officers responsible for maintaining order were sweating profusely. In their many years of service, they had never seen such a sensational scene at the opening of a pharmacy.
In a private room on the second floor of the shop, Su Wanqing quietly watched the frenzied crowd below through the window.
"We succeeded." Lu Yao's voice trembled slightly with excitement.
She held a ledger in her hand, and the numbers recorded on it were beyond her imagination.
The sales revenue in just one morning was enough to equal the monthly profit of a medium-sized state-owned factory.
This is no longer about making money.
This is printing money!
“This is just the beginning.” Su Wanqing’s gaze was unusually calm.
A tree that stands out in the forest will surely be felled by the wind.
The more dazzling Huichuntang appears, the more greedy and malicious they become when they look into it.
"Uncle He, security must not be relaxed at all. The production of all core prescriptions must be completed under my personal supervision," she instructed.
"Have Yan Shaocheng keep an eye out for any rare poisonous herbs and minerals that are being bought at high prices recently."
This was to guard against enemies like the Song family who might secretly poison them.
The brutality of commercial warfare is no less than that of a real battlefield.
Sure enough, trouble soon came knocking.
On the third day after the opening, a well-dressed middle-aged man walked into Huichuntang, surrounded by a group of people.
Without even glancing at the over-the-counter medicines that were touted as miracle cures, he directly told the shop assistant, "I'm looking for your boss, Miss Su Wanqing. Tell her that my old friend Zhou Mingxuan has come to visit."
Zhou Mingxuan.
That Western medical genius who returned from overseas and challenged Su Wanqing at the General Hospital, but whose challenge was ultimately abandoned due to a mission in the Southwest.
He finally came.
Su Wanqing met him in a private room on the second floor.
Zhou Mingxuan still maintained his elite demeanor, with gold-rimmed glasses, a meticulously styled haircut, and a scrutinizing gaze filled with a deep-seated arrogance.
"Miss Su, that's quite a generous gesture." He glanced around at the expensive mahogany furniture in the private room, his tone neither sarcastic nor polite. "To turn traditional Chinese medicine into a business, and to do it so successfully, I admire you."
"Dr. Zhou, you flatter me." Su Wanqing personally poured him a cup of tea. "I wonder what brings you here today? What can I do for you?"
"I dare not presume to offer guidance."
Zhou Mingxuan pushed up his glasses, leaned forward slightly, and lowered his voice.
"I'm here to discuss a collaboration with Miss Su."
"oh?"
“I’ve examined Huichuntang’s medicine.” A calculating glint flashed behind Zhou Mingxuan’s glasses. “The effects are indeed astonishing. But its essence is still traditional Chinese medicine pills and powders. They work quickly, but they cannot be quantified, nor can they pass the standards of modern medicine.”
"Such products cannot go abroad, nor can they be presented on a truly high-end platform."
He paused for a moment, then threw out his chips.
“My mentor overseas is a Nobel Prize in Medicine nominee, and behind him is the world’s largest pharmaceutical group. If you are willing to provide the core formula, we can collaborate and use the most advanced extraction technology to turn your prescription into standardized injections or tablets.”
"At that time, your Huichuntang will not only be Huichuntang in the capital, but Huichuntang in the world."
His words were incredibly tempting.
Standardizing traditional Chinese medicine and promoting it to the world is the lifelong dream of countless masters of traditional Chinese medicine.
Su Wanqing listened quietly, a faint smile playing on her lips.
She picked up her teacup, gently blew on the floating tea leaves, and asked, "So, what are the conditions for cooperation?"
"I provide the formula, you provide the technology. How will the profits be split?"
Greed finally surfaced in Zhou Mingxuan's eyes.
“Miss Su is a smart woman. Once the formula is made public, it will no longer be a secret. But the technology and distribution channels will always be in our hands.”
He held up one finger.
"We account for 90%."
"You account for 10%."
He looked at Su Wanqing and added a sentence, his tone as if it were a favor.
"Moreover, this 10% is not for you, but for the Lu family behind you. Consider it a small token of our respect for the military."
In his view, Su Wanqing was nothing more than a country girl with a bit of cleverness who had gotten to where she was today by relying on a few ancestral folk remedies and the power of men.
She knew absolutely nothing about the real core technologies and the business world.
The 90/10 split was already a favor to her, given the Lu family's influence.
Su Wanqing smiled.
She put down her teacup and looked at Zhou Mingxuan with the same look she gave him, as if he were a self-righteous fool.
"Dr. Zhou, do you mean that my tree is laden with peaches, and you not only want to pick the peaches, but you also want to uproot my peach tree and then throw me a peach pit so I can be grateful?"
Zhou Mingxuan's face instantly turned extremely ugly.
He never expected that Su Wanqing would use such a crude yet sharp metaphor to humiliate him.
"Miss Su, are you insulting me?" His voice turned cold.
"No, I'm just helping you face reality."
Su Wanqing stood up, and an invisible sense of oppression enveloped Zhou Mingxuan.
“Huichuntang is mine. How many peaches it produces, how to sell them, and to whom to sell them are all up to me.”
"As for those who want to steal the tree..."
Her voice suddenly turned cold.
"Then you should first consider whether your teeth are strong enough."
"you!"
Zhou Mingxuan's face flushed with anger, and he stood up abruptly. "Su Wanqing, don't be so ungrateful! Do you really think you can do whatever you want just because you have the Lu family? This world is much bigger than you imagine!"
"Take care, and don't bother seeing me off."
Su Wanqing didn't even bother to give him a second glance.
Zhou Mingxuan stormed out, slamming the door behind him.
Watching his disappearing figure, Su Wanqing's eyes gradually turned cold.
Zhou Mingxuan is nothing to fear.
He was just a pawn pushed to the forefront.
The real threat comes from the force behind him.
And this force is already impatiently trying to seize her "peach tree".
The trade routes in the capital have already been laid out.
But this road, stained with gold, will also be stained with blood.
Just then, the door to the private room was knocked on again.
It was Uncle He; he walked in with a solemn expression.
"Miss, someone from the palace has arrived."
"The palace?" Su Wanqing was taken aback.
"She is a secretary working for the leader."
Uncle He's voice was kept very low.
"They say there is an elderly man of extremely high status who is critically ill. Western medicine is helpless and specifically requests your presence in the palace."
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