Thus, the issue of the personal relationship between Vice Mayor Duan Qing and Min Hong appeared in the case files on the desks of high-ranking officials. Upon further investigation, the name of Duan Hanyuan, a former high-ranking official, was quite prominent.
Comrade Duan Hanyuan, possessing extremely high political awareness and competence, clearly also supported Minhong Pharmaceutical and should obviously be aware of certain truths. After the investigation commissioner spoke with this elderly comrade, the commissioner, tormented by the evasive tactics, wrote in his report: "Comrade Duan Hanyuan obviously knew some unknown aspects of Minhong Pharmaceutical and therefore passed on some judgments to his son, Duan Qing... In conclusion, we judge that the real reason attracting so many influential international financial magnates and other important figures to Chengdu lies with Minhong Pharmaceutical; the angel came from Minhong..."
The higher-ups arranged for Duan Qing to negotiate through relevant channels. The relevant organizations bypassed the municipal party secretary and mayor and directly conveyed the work to Duan Qing, which made Duan Hanyuan applaud. His son, who still seemed somewhat immature in officialdom, had finally attracted the attention of the higher-ups.
Duan Qing had known the truth for a long time, but he still conveyed the instructions from above in an official manner, requesting to meet with Lin Yao. So Lin Hongmei immediately notified her son, Lin Yao.
Lin Yao was confused upon hearing this information, wondering if he was only now being exposed.
Lin Yao was having a headache about how to respond to Duan Qing's request. He wasn't really willing to become a royal physician. These kinds of unfortunate people, portrayed as obsequious and servile in movies and TV shows, often beheaded for their medical skills or other reasons, and medical workers who trembled with fear even when walking or talking in front of their superiors, didn't interest Lin Yao at all; in fact, he felt somewhat repulsed by them.
Now that it's the new China, the imperial physicians shouldn't be treated like this, but Lin Yao just doesn't feel comfortable.
In the past, Lin Yao would have been overjoyed by this identity and honor. As a doctor, serving the national leaders was the highest value and status, and a recognition of one's abilities. Back then, Lin Yao's only ideal was to become a doctor, and he would naturally yearn for the highest honor for a doctor, even though he never even fantasized about becoming a royal physician.
But after acquiring Xiaocao, Lin Yao's ambitions grew. Becoming a doctor was no longer his only goal and ideal; he wanted more and more transcendent things.
Before Lin Yao was even done with his annoyances, a second troublesome guy appeared.
Yue Bufan has come to Minhong again.
Lin Yao was both curious and wary of this young man, for whom even the security team led by Lie Yong could not find complete information.
Aside from knowing that Yue Bufan is 25 years old, his ID card is registered at a police station in a certain district of Beijing, and he owns an inconspicuous property as the basis for his ID card registration, the only other information he had was about Rongzhi Company, which he had heard about from General Xia Luobing. This company, which deals in military trade, also had very little information available.
So Lin Yao decided to go back to the pharmaceutical factory to see this person again and see what he was up to.
Even with an enemy, it's dangerous not to know their intentions. This was Lin Yao's excuse, even though he inwardly resented this man who seemed outstanding in every way; this resentment relied on a vague intuition.
*****
"Lin Yao, we meet again." Yue Bufan's performance was as excellent as ever. From his manners and expressions to even the tone and gestures of his voice, everything was flawless. "Now that we're meeting in private, how should I address you? I remember you promised to call me 'brother' last time. Haha."
Yue Bufan's performance once again confirmed Lin Yao's previous assessment of crosstalk and sketch comedy actors: the same words spoken by different people can produce very different effects, even drastically different results.
Such shameless attempts to establish a relationship, coming from Yue Bufan's mouth, somehow didn't feel abrupt or forced, let alone give the impression of being taken advantage of.
From a human instinct perspective, Lin Yao did not reject this statement or way of speaking, and he was also open to deepening his relationship with Yue Bufan. Of course, it would be great if they could reach the point of being like brothers.
However, Lin Yao remained vigilant, carefully detecting the very faint sense of alertness and hostility within himself. This greatly diminished his reaction to such attempts to win him over and become familiar with him. As a result, Lin Yao remained clear-headed and did not act or think according to his instincts.
After a slight pause, Lin Yao looked into Yue Bufan's eyes with a smile, "I remember what happened last time, but I didn't agree to call you brother."
"President Yue looks very young. People would believe he's younger than me. It's really hard to address him as 'brother' or 'younger brother'." Lin Yao started to dodge the question. "By the way, President Yue, I remember saying last time that overly personal terms of address shouldn't be used when discussing serious matters."
“Isn’t this a very private occasion?” Yue Bufan immediately replied. “If you don’t want to call me brother, just say so. I, Yue Bufan, am not worthy of your name.”
The tone of the following sentence was clearly different, but it wasn't the angry attitude common in the streets. It just gave people the feeling that you would definitely regret it if you gave up, as if you were facing royalty.
"No, that's not it." Lin Yao immediately adjusted his attitude and said sincerely, "I'm just not used to bringing my personal feelings and emotions into my work. If President Yue promises not to talk to me about business, and we don't talk about interests or anything like that, I'll really like being called 'brother' or 'buddy'. I've made a lot of friends when I go to play football, and that feeling is very pleasant."
Lin Yao fabricated a football-playing habit to emphasize his attitude of separating public and private matters.
In this context, what I meant by saying this to Yue Bufan was that if he promised to only treat me like a good friend he'd played soccer with, calling him "brother" was fine. But beyond that, he shouldn't have any ulterior motives. If there were any vested interests involved, then the "brother" or "sister" relationship should be avoided forever.
Yue Bufan felt a chill run down his spine, and his gaze instantly sharpened. This sharpness lasted for a very short time before dissipating, and he returned to his calm and approachable demeanor.
This Lin Yao is amazing! Yue Bufan's opinion of Lin Yao improved significantly, and he became even more attentive to his own attitude and methods.
Yue Bufan underestimated Lin Yao because of his youthful arrogance, confrontational nature, and inability to hide his emotions. All of this showed that Lin Yao was merely a skilled drug researcher with the naiveté and sharpness of many professionals.
It was only because Lin Yao was the young master of Minhong Pharmaceutical Factory, and judging from the situation, he had a lot of power in Minhong, that Yue Bufan chose to give up the cooperation with Minhong.
Although Min Hong was the best partner, her reputation could be used to break down all trade barriers in the military regions. If handled well, it could even make Rongzhi Company the sole, or monopolistic, pharmaceutical supplier for the seven military regions. This was exactly what Yue Bufan was plotting.
The key here is to take advantage of Minhong's new drug research and development capabilities. Yue Bufan doesn't believe that the leaders of those military regions are not tempted by a company that can develop drought-resistant beverages. You should know that the extended development of drought-resistant beverages has already brought great benefits to the Shenyang Military Region and the Beijing Military Region, and all other military regions are also very envious.
The last time Yue Bufan brought General Xia Luobing, the political commissar of the Chengdu Military Region, to Minhong was to facilitate this matter. However, after seeing Lin Yao's attitude, Yue Bufan abandoned the plan to cooperate with Minhong, because a hot-headed young man was not a good partner. He would cause big trouble under inappropriate circumstances, and such a person was not easy to control.
In particular, Lin Yao also had the identity of the sole drug researcher and the young master of the entire sole proprietorship company, so Yue Bufan directly gave up on Minhong. All he wanted was an obedient pharmaceutical factory, a puppet pharmaceutical factory that could act according to his every wish.
When the latest news came from the capital, Yue Bufan realized that he had underestimated Lin Yao.
This person, who was even younger than himself, was not only a highly talented drug developer, but also a doctor with exceptional medical skills!
This information shocked Yue Bufan so much that even with his composure, it took him a long time to recover.
Yue Bufan was well aware of the difference between researchers and practitioners, but Lin Yao, who was only twenty-two years old, had achieved extraordinary success in two fields, achievements that his peers could not match. This could no longer be described as genius; one could only say that Lin Yao was a prodigy, a prodigy in the field of medicine.
Even Yue Bufan, who had always been very confident, felt a pang of jealousy upon seeing Lin Yao, even though he wasn't someone who worked in this field at all.
Having come to know Lin Yao anew, Yue Bufan settled down and decided to stop treating Lin Yao the way he would treat ordinary people. He would no longer use the old tricks of being brothers; after all, they were both proud people, and there was no point in talking about such things.
"Lin Yao, let's call each other by our names from now on. You can call me Yue Bufan, and I'll call you Lin Yao." Yue Bufan, who made the decision quickly, broke the silence first.
"Okay, Yue Bufan." Lin Yao nodded in agreement, his smile unchanged, though he felt a slight sense of victory.
“I came here today because I heard about you. Now that everyone knows about your identity as an angel, I imagine it won’t be long before someone comes knocking on your door.” Yue Bufan put away his smile, his expression unusually serious. “As you know, having extraordinary medical skills is not only an asset but also a burden. You need a background that matches it to live a carefree life.”
“So,” Yue Bufan stared directly into Lin Yao’s eyes, “let’s cooperate.”
Lin Yao was taken aback, not expecting Yue Bufan to have such a straightforward side, and immediately analyzed the gains and losses in his mind.
He was unwilling to cooperate with Yue Bufan because Lin Yao could often sense the deep-seated vigilance and aversion in him. Although Yue Bufan was outstanding, he trusted his intuition.
As a martial artist, one must never take one's intuition lightly. This is a principle that Elder Yi Potian has always taught him. He said that cultivators are inherently going against the will of Heaven, striving to surpass their natural state and demanding higher abilities from Heaven. Therefore, they occasionally have an instinctive intuition about the Way of Heaven, and this intuition often foreshadows some things that will happen later.
Whether this statement is reasonable or scientifically sound, Lin Yao did not investigate, but he agreed with this attitude.