Chapter 845 — Hiring a Spokesperson

"He's probably lost a fortune lately. He came off badly in the shantytown demolition and can't expect to make much there, so it's understandable he'd start looking for other ways to turn a profit." Wei Zhao seemed to have guessed Zhao Qibing's purpose. "That so-called Medicine King does have some real skill in healing. But that sort of thing takes two to tango — it's no concern of ours."

"Right, so let's just leave him be. For now, it has nothing to do with us anyway!" Lai the Fatso nodded as well.

However Zhao Qibing might jump about, so long as he did not provoke Wei Zhao, it did not matter. Wei Zhao merely laughed it off, because more important matters were waiting for him — the first batch of products from Miracle Doctor Guan Medicine was about to hit the market.

"Never mind him. Didn't you come to me to talk about the product launch?" Wei Zhao had been quite idle these past few days. The business with Tang Yun's family was settled, and as for Zhong Yongliang and An Jianwen, who knew whether those two had even been discharged from the hospital yet. Zhao Qibing had quieted down considerably too, and Zou Ruoming, whenever he ran into Wei Zhao at school, was more fawning than he would be with his own father. So Wei Zhao had enjoyed a few relaxed days.

Every day it was nothing more than accompanying the young miss and Little Shu to and from school, and meeting Tang Yun between classes. The days passed plain and unhurried.

This was the life Wei Zhao yearned for — no quarrels day after day, the chance to stand guard over the people he cared for, quietly savoring the little moments of life.

Wei Zhao did not know how long such days could last. If it were possible, he hoped they would go on forever.

Yet though life rippled not at all and left him feeling very much at ease, deep in his heart Wei Zhao remained constantly on guard. Yu Kun had gone back home, and no matter how one looked at it, letting the tiger return to the mountain always left Wei Zhao with a sense of trouble yet to come — it was only that the Yu family had made no move for the time being.

As for Zhao Qibing, Wei Zhao did not believe he would simply let it go either. Who knew whether he might not dream up some bizarre new trick to use against him?

"Yes, the first batch of our wound medicine is fully prepared and ready to go on the market at any time," said Lai the Fatso. "But when our company opened, we never held any ceremony. Miracle Doctor Guan Medicine may enjoy considerable fame now, but for a new product launch, we really ought to hold a press conference!"

"A press conference? That much trouble?" Wei Zhao had not imagined that putting a product on the market required such a complicated process.

"That's right. Really it's just a way of showing off the company's strength — like the completion ceremony Zhao Qibing's real estate company held for its tower." Lai the Fatso was an expert in business, so he spoke of such things fluently. "Except that his completion ceremony happened to get wrecked by us."

"I see. Then you decide." Wei Zhao felt that as an absentee boss he was hardly doing his duty, knowing nothing at all about business. Without Lai the Fatso, this little brother he had met by chance along the way, it would have been hard for him and Guan Xuemin to hold the company up on their own.

"Good, then it's decided." Lai the Fatso nodded. "Since we've already built up plenty of momentum, now is the perfect opportunity to launch. Once our product reaches the market, plenty of media outlets will give us free publicity... Though, judging by what most companies do, at a new product launch we'd generally invite a celebrity to drum up excitement..."

"A celebrity? You know any?" Wei Zhao was not much interested in celebrities and rarely watched television. To him, those stars were not half as adorable as the girls at home.

"I don't..." Lai the Fatso smiled bitterly. "But money makes the devil turn the millstone — so long as we're willing to pay, hiring a spokesperson is easy enough."

"Oh, then do as you see fit." Wei Zhao shrugged indifferently.

"Do you have anyone in mind, boss?" Lai the Fatso knew that many manufacturers hired celebrity endorsers not only to bring popularity to their products, but also because the company owners were often fans of those celebrities themselves. So he wanted to ask Wei Zhao which star he liked.

"Someone in mind?" Wei Zhao was taken aback. He did not know any celebrities — how could he name one? But then a name suddenly came to him. "Isn't there a celebrity called Xu Shilan?"

Wei Zhao remembered buying Xu Shilan's albums for the young miss and Little Shu, and he had seen the two of them watching her concert at the villa. A rather pleasing young girl, bouncing about the stage — though he wondered whether she would still look good with her makeup off.

"Ah — yes, there is!" Lai the Fatso was startled at the name, then nodded. "Boss, Xu Shilan is a top-tier pop idol..."

Lai the Fatso was calculating how much it would cost to bring in Xu Shilan as spokesperson. She was wildly popular at the moment, with countless middle schoolers among her fans, so her price and terms would surely be high. But since it was Wei Zhao who had suggested her, Lai the Fatso said nothing more — he would simply do his best.

"Oh, then let's hire her." Wei Zhao did not think Xu Shilan was anything special and did not take it seriously at all. He had only heard that the young miss, Little Shu, and Tang Yun were all her fans, and he simply wanted to bring her in to make the three of them happy. As for Wei Zhao himself, he had never even looked closely at the great star, so he was hardly her fan.

"All right, I'll do my best!" Lai the Fatso nodded and noted it down, then said, "By the way, boss, will you attend the product launch that day?"

"Me? I'll pass." Wei Zhao shook his head. This pharmaceutical company had been set up as something of a lark; Wei Zhao had meant to earn a bit of pocket money from it. But as his "friendship" with the young miss and Little Shu deepened, he no longer felt like a guest living under another's roof — though he was not sure whether it counted as friendship. In any case, the young miss no longer looked down on him, and she was someone with only a faint notion of money anyway.

So what the pharmaceutical company has produced amounts to nothing less than a public welfare undertaking. Turning a profit in the short term is probably out of the question, and the drug prices have been set rather low, purely to compete with Divine Physician Kang's wound medicine.

Fatty Lai knew that Wei Zhao had always kept a low profile, and his earlier question had been no more than a casual probe. Since Wei Zhao was not interested, he did not press him, and instead went on: "Boss, regarding the matter of Kang Xiaobo and Xiaofen, this is how I have arranged things. What do you think?"

"Go on." Another reason Wei Zhao had opened this pharmaceutical company was for the sake of Kang Xiaobo and Xiaofen. Wei Zhao did not have many friends, and Kang Xiaobo counted as one, so Wei Zhao was willing to help him with everything he had.

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