Chapter 124 Work Arrangements
After making up his mind to curry favor with the Vice Minister of Health, Factory Director Yiming began to try every means to get close to him. Knowing that the Vice Minister liked gold, he specially arranged to obtain two gold ingots.
He secretly gave the gold ingot to the vice minister's wife, which earned him a chance to meet the vice minister.
To make a good impression on the deputy minister, he specially wore his best clothes and brought some pastries, fruits, and malted milk powder when he came to see the deputy minister.
When the vice minister's wife saw what Factory Director Yiming was carrying, her face lit up with a bright smile. She took the things from him without any hesitation, stepped aside to let him pass, and pointed to the door of the room, saying, "My husband is reading in the study. I've already told him about your matter. You can just go in and see him."
Factory Director Yiming's expression was very complicated. Although he had come today to give a gift, the deputy minister's wife was really not polite at all, and didn't say a single polite word.
"Okay, thank you for your help."
The vice minister's wife waved her hand dismissively and said with a smile, "No trouble at all, it's just a matter of a word."
Factory Director Yiming shook off the jumbled thoughts in his mind, took a deep breath, straightened his chest, and pushed open the door to his study.
Hearing the door open, the deputy minister looked up and saw Factory Director Yiming walk in.
Since his wife had told him about Director Yiming, he wasn't surprised. He pointed to the chair in front of his desk and said softly, "Sit down. I've wanted to see you for a long time, but I've been busy with work and haven't been able to get away. I'm sorry to have kept you waiting."
He still remembered Director Yiming. After all, Director Yiming had been criticized by the minister recently because of Lin Yuanshu's matter. The minister said that he was not using his mind on the right path and was always thinking about taking shortcuts. Now it seems that he really was not using his mind on the right path, otherwise he would not have given him gifts.
Factory Director Yiming was surprised by the amiable manner of the Vice Minister of Health. He immediately felt less nervous and plopped down in his chair, smiling as he said, "Anyway, I don't have anything important to do, and you haven't kept me waiting long. It would be my honor if you would like to see me."
The deputy minister picked up his teacup, took a sip to moisten his throat, and then got down to business. "I've seen the things you gave me before, and I like them very much. What do you need? I'll help you as much as I can."
If we were to ask him to make things difficult for Lin Yuanshu, that would be troublesome. It's not worth getting him involved for such a small amount of money. Lin Yuanshu is someone protected by the minister, and he's not so easy to deal with.
Factory Director Yiming pursed his lips and tentatively said, "I heard that Comrade Lin Yuanshu is in charge of improving penicillin, so I was thinking that after Comrade Lin Yuanshu completes his task, Yiming Pharmaceutical Factory can become a pilot unit for improving the penicillin production process."
Upon hearing this, the vice minister wore an incredulous expression. He was utterly speechless and said, "How can you be so sure that she can complete this task? Team Leader Lü of the First Research Institute has extensive experience. He has been researching for several years and has yet to produce any results. You're telling me about something that might happen several years from now? I really can't guarantee anything about something that's just a pipe dream."
This is simply a fantasy, a pipe dream.
Factory Director Yiming was taken aback. He hadn't expected the deputy minister to be so pessimistic about Lin Yuanshu. Still unwilling to give up, he said, "If Comrade Lin Yuanshu completes this task, I hope you can help me. If she doesn't, then pretend we've never met. Are you willing to take a gamble with me?"
Although he disliked Lin Yuanshu, it did not affect his belief in Lin Yuanshu's work ability.
The vice minister was not moved by Director Yiming's words, but said with difficulty, "You should understand the importance of penicillin to the country. If Comrade Lin Yuanshu really completes this task, I'm afraid I can't help you much. At most, I can say a few good words for your pharmaceutical factory. The decision on the number of pilot units is still in the minister's hands."
Two gold ingots and you think you can get a spot in a penicillin pilot unit? What a joke! He's not stupid.
A hint of disappointment flashed in Director Yiming's eyes. Although he knew that the deputy minister was unlikely to agree to his request, he still couldn't help but feel upset by the deputy minister's blunt rejection.
Seeing that Factory Director Yiming remained silent, the deputy minister took out a wooden box from his desk drawer. Inside the box were the gold ingots that Factory Director Yiming had given him earlier. He pushed the box in front of Factory Director Yiming, using a feigned retreat as a pretext, and said, "I'm sorry, your demands are too high. I can't meet them."
Factory Director Yiming looked at the wooden box in front of him, took a deep breath, and ruthlessly pushed the box in front of the vice minister. With a heavy heart, he lowered his demands and said, "Vice Minister, how can I take back what I gave you? I understand your difficulties. Actually, the thing is, I had some unpleasantness with Comrade Lin Yuanshu. If you are willing to protect me and prevent Comrade Lin Yuanshu from tripping me up in the selection of penicillin pilot units, and also put in a good word for me with the Minister of Health, I will be extremely grateful."
Upon hearing this, the vice minister revealed a triumphant smile and readily agreed, "Don't worry, I can handle this small matter. I will absolutely not allow Comrade Lin Yuanshu to be in charge of guiding the penicillin pilot units."
Hearing this, Factory Director Yiming felt a little better; at least his gold ingots weren't given away for nothing.
He did want to get the gold ingot back, but that would mean offending the vice minister. He couldn't afford to offend Lin Yuanshu and then the vice minister, unless he wanted to die.
Although he was not entirely satisfied with the result, he had no choice but to accept it for now. At least he had improved his relationship with the vice minister and no longer had to worry about Lin Yuanshu interfering with the development of Yiming Pharmaceutical Factory. The vice minister would not stand idly by and watch such a thing happen.
The two chatted for a while longer before Factory Director Yiming reluctantly left the deputy minister's house. He was mainly reluctant to part with his gold ingot; if he had known things would turn out this way, he should have only given one gold ingot.
No sooner had Director Yiming left than the Vice Minister's wife walked into the study. The soundproofing in the house was poor, and she heard the entire conversation between Director Yiming and the Vice Minister from the living room.
She frowned and asked, "You just agreed to Director Yiming like that? Can you really guarantee that Comrade Lin Yuanshu won't be in charge of guiding the penicillin pilot unit? If you can't, it will be troublesome if Director Yiming makes a fuss. You should be more ambiguous in your words."
The vice minister smiled confidently and said, "If Comrade Lin Yuanshu really had the ability to improve the penicillin production process, why would the minister have put her in charge of guiding the pilot units like this? He would have assigned her new project tasks long ago. Putting her in charge of other tasks is a waste of her talents. Besides, it will be several years before Comrade Lin Yuanshu completes the project tasks. By then, even if Director Yiming makes a fuss, it will be useless. He will not be able to find any evidence."
He's not stupid; he knows what money he can take and what money he can't. Factory Director Yiming is a smart man; he doesn't have the guts to cause trouble because if he does, he'll be the one who gets hurt, and he won't gain anything.
"Now that you say that, I feel much more at ease. You're so clever; you managed to fool Director Yiming so easily." The vice minister's wife looked at her husband with admiration.
The vice minister revealed a smug smile.
A few days later, Lin Yuanshu and his team completed their on-site investigation at Jishi Pharmaceutical Factory and began to formulate specific experimental plans.
The goals of this improved penicillin program are twofold: to increase fermentation potency and to simplify the purification process.
She already has a general idea about simplifying the purification process. Currently, most purification processes use butyl acetate extraction, which can be changed to ethanol. Ethanol is easier to obtain than butyl acetate, and it also reduces the cost of penicillin production and is safer to operate.
The challenge lies in improving the strain, but no matter how difficult it is, we have to bite the bullet and move forward.
Finally, Lin Yuanshu, Tang Dasi, Wang Jun, and the others finalized an experimental plan. For now, they will conduct a small-scale test according to this plan, making adjustments as they go.
During the group meeting, Lin Yuanshu distributed the prepared experimental plan to each group member.
After everyone had read the experimental plan, Lin Yuanshu calmly began to assign tasks.
Wang Jun and his team were mainly responsible for strain screening, while Tang Dasi was mainly responsible for adjusting the culture medium formula. When they weren't busy, Tang Dasi assisted Wang Jun and his team. Finished product testing was handled by Zhang Xin, and Hong Shuang'er was in charge of logistics.
She was mainly responsible for overall coordination, and had to participate in every aspect, just like a brick, moving wherever needed.
Although Hong Shuang'er was somewhat disappointed that she hadn't been assigned to the experimental post, she was happy to be in charge of logistics. If she were to actually take over those experiments, she might not be able to do them well, since her understanding of penicillin was not as deep as others'.
Zhang Xin was very excited, as he could finally stop washing glassware. There were two interns in the project team, and they were in charge of washing the glassware. He might not be able to guarantee that he would do a good job on other tasks, but he was sure he would be fine with the finished product inspection.
No one raised any objections to the work arrangements, and the matter was decided amicably.
After the group meeting ended, Lin Yuanshu called Wang Gang and others to go to the materials management department to collect basic supplies. Fortunately, she had written an application in advance, otherwise they might not have been able to collect the supplies after they had finalized the experimental plan.
This is where the advantage of the pharmaceutical research institute comes into play. Although the raw materials are hard to come by, they can still manage to gather them. If it were a pharmaceutical factory's laboratory, it would take them a lot of time just to get the raw materials, not to mention the equipment.
She felt that the difficulty in conducting experiments in this era lay in the lack of special materials, outdated equipment, and poor experimental conditions.
She hadn't had such a profound understanding before. After all, there was Deputy Director Mao at Hongguang Pharmaceutical Factory and Team Leader Zhuang at the Research Institute. It wasn't until she became the project leader that she realized how difficult it was to apply for experimental materials.
For example, her application for a culture medium solidifying agent has not yet been approved.
On the other side, Fang Ren took advantage of Lin Yuanshu and the others leaving the laboratory and also made an excuse to slip out. He went to report the recent work situation to Deputy Director Liu. As soon as he entered the door, he saw Ma Si standing in front of Deputy Director Liu.
The two men met eyes, simultaneously let out a cold laugh, and turned their heads away, unwilling to look at each other.
Deputy Director Liu did not notice anything unusual about the two. He waved to Mas, signaling him to go out first.
Although Mas acted arrogantly in front of the interns, he didn't dare to misbehave in front of Deputy Director Liu and could only leave Deputy Director Liu's office reluctantly.
After the unimportant people left, Fang Rencai told Deputy Director Liu about what he had been doing in Lin Yuanshu's project team during this period.
Deputy Director Liu wasn't very interested in what Fang Ren was saying. He just wanted to know if there had been any disputes within Lin Yuanshu's project team, or if any team members had stood up to refute Lin Yuanshu's words. He didn't want to hear Fang Ren talk about how harmonious their team members were or how fair Lin Yuanshu was. He didn't want to hear any praise for Lin Yuanshu.
"Alright, I know everything. Just do your job well. Unless it's something really important, you don't need to come and report to me anymore," Deputy Director Liu interrupted impatiently.
Fang Ren was stunned for a moment, feeling a little sad. He had originally hoped to take this opportunity to become Deputy Director Liu's confidant, but now it seemed that he had been thinking too much.
If someone like Mas can become Deputy Director Liu's confidant, why can't I? It must be because Deputy Director Liu has poor judgment.
I only like sycophants, not people like him who get things done.
Although Fang Ren was very sad, he still left Deputy Director Liu's office with a smile on his face.
As soon as he stepped out of the office, he saw Mas standing at the end of the corridor.
When Mas saw Fang Ren, he raised an eyebrow and said sarcastically, "I didn't expect you to come out so quickly. I suppose you didn't get much of a good job in Lin Yuanshu's project team. Judging from your appearance, you're only suited for jobs like cleaning glassware."
Fang Ren took a deep breath, suppressing his anger, and walked towards Mas, explaining, "You think Comrade Lin Yuanshu is as narrow-minded as you, fussing over trivial matters? I've never seen anyone more petty than you. And you're wrong. I'm currently in the project team responsible for adjusting the culture medium formula, completely different from you. I'm not some dispensable team member..."
Upon hearing this, Mas laughed in anger. He said with a disdainful look, "We'll see. Time will prove that my choice was right."
Fang Ren didn't take Mas's words to heart. He felt that Mas was just being stubborn and refusing to admit that his choice was wrong.
Although both of them wished the other would disappear immediately, they still retained a shred of rationality and did not cause a scene in front of Deputy Director Liu's office, but chose to stop short of a confrontation.
A month has passed in the blink of an eye, and the penicillin improvement project led by Lin Yuanshu has gotten on track. However, they have not yet screened out a "high-yield strain" from the colonies. She has no other good way to deal with this and can only patiently screen them slowly.
After meeting the demand in Beijing, the acetaminophen tablets produced by Hongguang Pharmaceutical Factory began to be shipped to various parts of the country.
In city hospitals, acetaminophen tablets are more popular because they have fewer side effects than aminopyrine, but in rural clinics, aminopyrine is more popular because it is cheaper than acetaminophen tablets.
However, for children and the elderly, it's actually a good thing that doctors in the city can prescribe acetaminophen tablets. The side effects of aminopyrine are too severe, and their bodies are too weak to withstand them. Acetaminophen tablets are more suitable.
Although Hongguang Pharmaceutical Factory produces a considerable amount of acetaminophen tablets, it is far from enough to distribute nationwide.
Officials from the Ministry of Health are working hard to promote the improved acetaminophen production process, but due to the limitations of resource allocation, the pace is slow. However, overall progress is relatively smooth, and most of the pharmaceutical factories that produce acetaminophen tablets are willing to adjust their production processes rather than stick to the old ways.
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