Liao Quansheng felt like Du Heng was leading him into a trap, and though his mind wavered for a moment, he couldn’t help but chuckle.

"What are you laughing at?" Du Heng asked with a smile. "Just say, are you in or out?"

"Alright, you call the shots," Liao Quansheng agreed, nodding with a smile. It was just a bit of banter; taking it too seriously would make him seem pretentious.

Accepting the tea from his sister, Liao Yuzhu, Liao Quansheng shifted forward slightly on his seat and placed the teacup in front of Du Heng. "Have some tea."

Their relationship was already strong, and with Liao Yuzhu as a connecting link, it had grown even closer. Liao Quansheng made no elaborate show of hosting a guest, and Du Heng wasn’t offended by Liao Quansheng’s casual demeanor.

"Du, I acquired a pharmaceutical factory just before the New Year. Interested in investing?" Liao Quansheng leaned back, asking leisurely.

Du Heng set down his teacup and replied in an equally unhurried tone, "You really overestimate me. Do you think I’m the kind of person with money to pour into a pharmaceutical factory? You truly think too highly of me."

Du Heng assumed Liao Quansheng was joking, but unexpectedly, Liao Quansheng turned serious. "Du, I’m being serious."

"I don’t have the money; I really can’t afford to get involved in a business like a pharmaceutical factory. Your investments are in the range of millions or tens of millions of yuan. My meager savings wouldn’t even make a ripple in your pond," Du Heng said, laughing as he declined.

His current savings of six or seven hundred thousand yuan would be considered substantial among doctors his age, or back in the remote hills of Central Lake. But to get involved in a business like a pharmaceutical factory, he’d best not even think about it. If he invested all his money, it wouldn’t be enough for even a minor venture.

Just after refusing, he asked curiously, "But I am quite curious, why did you decide to acquire a pharmaceutical factory? For Chinese herbal medicine or Western medicine?"

"Red Jujube Road XX Pharmaceuticals. You know of it, right?"

"Yes, the factory that makes Six-Ingredient Rehmannia Pills and isatis root. With their corner-cutting and shoddy practices, haven’t they gone bankrupt yet?"

"Well, they just did," Liao Quansheng chuckled. "Their asking price wasn’t high. My brother-in-law, his elder brother, and I pooled our resources to get it. How about it? It’s all among close acquaintances. Want to join?"

Du Heng firmly refused, "I really can’t. I don’t have the money and wouldn’t dare get involved in something this big with you guys."

But Liao Quansheng was apparently not deterred by Du Heng’s words. Instead, he stood up and moved closer to Du Heng. "Du, I meant you could invest with your technical expertise."

Du Heng looked at Liao Quansheng with some surprise. For Liao Quansheng to say this, it seemed he had genuinely considered the matter. "Invest with technical expertise? Which expertise would I contribute? With a prescription, or by providing technical guidance?"

"A prescription." As soon as Du Heng finished speaking, Liao Quansheng immediately stated his objective.

Du Heng’s mind raced. A prescription? Which prescription did Liao Quansheng have his eye on? He currently had three prescriptions in hand. The first was a prescription for treating tumors. However, this prescription required numerous adjustments for each treatment, making it unsuitable for sale as a Chinese patent medicine. So, that one was out. The second was for skin diseases. Similar to the tumor prescription, it had a basic prescription but still needed individual adjustments, so that wasn’t it either. The third was for bone injuries, particularly the external application. This one wasn’t person-specific; anyone with a broken or cracked bone could use it. Could Liao Quansheng have his eye on this prescription? But he had only used this prescription twice: once on Zhu Heizi at the Health Clinic, and the other on Li Qin’s arm in the Capital. How did Liao Quansheng know about it?

Thinking of this, Du Heng sighed softly. Truthfully, if mass production were possible, Du Heng most hoped to create a medicine for stroke treatment. But strokes had many causes; basically, nine out of ten patients had different underlying issues. Even if two were similar, the prescription would still need modification due to the patient’s constitution. If one were to design a universal prescription for, say, the after-effects of a cerebral hemorrhage, Chinese patent medicines wouldn’t really have an advantage. A large dose might be intolerable for some, while a light dose would be a joke. Prescriptions for activating blood and resolving stasis achieved the best results when tailored to the individual. Du Heng felt a slight sense of regret, but that was the reality of the situation. Otherwise, someone would have accomplished this long ago.

While Du Heng’s thoughts were still wandering, Liao Quansheng, beside him, gave an answer that took him completely by surprise: "The Scar Removal Ointment."

"What?"

"The Scar Removal Ointment. The one you used for your girlf... for Wang Shuqiu." Liao Quansheng caught himself mid-sentence and quickly corrected his wording.

However, after two months, Du Heng had more or less come to terms with things and figured them out. So, Liao Quansheng saying it didn’t particularly faze him.

But this Scar Removal Ointment, to be honest, he had, in fact, only used it that one time for Wang Shuqiu and had since forgotten about its existence. Now that it was mentioned, however, he also felt that this prescription had the greatest market potential.

"Alright, no problem. But mass-producing the Ointment... the procedures for that aren’t simple."

Liao Quansheng patted his chest and declared confidently, "You can rest assured on that front. As long as you can refine the prescription for me and guarantee its efficacy, I’ll handle everything else."

Du Heng felt somewhat tempted. "I can guarantee there’s no issue with the prescription. I can contact Old Jin, the Municipal First Hospital, and the Provincial First Hospital right now to start gathering data for you. However, even between brothers, accounts should be clear. How much are you planning to give me?"

Liao Quansheng looked at Du Heng with disdain. "Money? Is this something that can be measured in money? If I just gave you money, I, as your brother, would be acting without conscience. Shares. It has to be shares for something like this."

"Shares are even better. How much will you give me?"

"Twenty percent of the profits."

Du Heng was smiling, but inwardly he was utterly bewildered. Despite all his questions, he had no concept of what twenty percent entailed. If it were a direct sum, say five million or ten million yuan, he would undoubtedly be astonished, thrilled, perhaps even a little flustered. But twenty percent of shares? He felt nothing. Mainly because he didn’t understand. Since he didn’t understand, it was best to find someone who did to negotiate. Although this might seem a bit calculating, for the sake of their future brotherly relationship, it was better to be the ’villain’ first and the gentleman later.

Having made up his mind, Du Heng spoke directly to avoid any misunderstanding from Liao Quansheng. "When you talk about shares and all that, I don’t really have a grasp of it. But I think this collaboration is feasible. How about this: I’ll find someone knowledgeable in this area to negotiate with you. What do you think?"

Liao Quansheng slapped his thigh. "That’s exactly what I mean! Brotherly feelings are one thing, but business is business. This absolutely requires professionals to negotiate. Even if you hadn’t said it, I was going to remind you to find a professional. Because the ones negotiating the details on my end will certainly be professionals as well. Between us brothers, we will only discuss the direction of the cooperation, not the money. The final outcome will depend solely on the professional teams’ negotiations. How does that sound?"

Liao Quansheng didn’t beat around the bush, laying his cards on the table, which instantly dispelled Du Heng’s lingering concerns.

"Alright, it’s settled then. I’ll let you know once I’ve found someone."

"Okay, I’ll be waiting for your good news."

Liao Quansheng became visibly invigorated. He picked up his teacup from the table and clinked it against Du Heng’s, then immediately gave Du Heng a disdainful look.

That look thoroughly annoyed Du Heng. What was the meaning of that look after they had just settled things?

"Liao, we’ve made everything clear. What’s with that look?"

"What’s with it? For such a celebratory matter, not being able to open champagne or toast with wine—don’t you find that a great pity?"

Damn it! He’s looking down on me because I can’t drink.

Du Heng rolled his eyes in response. "I don’t think it’s a pity at all. I find drinking tea quite good."

"Tsk, no fun at all. Being with someone like you is the most boring thing," Liao Quansheng said, taking a sip of his tea, his disdainful gaze still on Du Heng.

Du Heng just smiled, unconcerned; he couldn’t blame others for his inability to drink. "By the way, since we’re collaborating, I have another prescription. Perhaps we could collaborate on that too?"

Liao Quansheng’s interest wasn’t as high this time. He lazily asked, "A prescription for what?"

The Scar Removal Ointment—Liao Quansheng had paid close attention to Wang Shuqiu’s situation back then because of Liao Yuzhu. After learning about Wang Shuqiu’s injuries, he had then worried about Du Heng. This was what led him to witness Du Heng treating Wang Shuqiu’s knife wound and see the effects of the Scar Removal Ointment, which was why he proposed this collaboration. He hadn’t seriously looked into Du Heng’s other skills.

This time, it was Du Heng who became serious. "I have a prescription that can rapidly heal bones. One is an oral prescription, and the other is for external application. However, the oral prescription requires slight adjustments each time, but the one for external application doesn’t have this concern. How about we also collaborate on this external application prescription?"

"Have you used it? What are the results like?"

"I’ve used it twice, and the effects were excellent both times. I used it once at the Health Clinic on a patient named Zhu Heizi, who had a tibial comminuted fracture. It’s been three months now, and he can already bear weight and work. The other was used for a treatment in the Capital, for Li Qin, who had a radial fracture. I haven’t spoken with her in the last two or three days, but she was discharged a week ago to go home for convalescence. I heard her check-up results at that time were very good."

Liao Quansheng suddenly sat bolt upright, his eyes wide as he stared at Du Heng. "Du, the Li Qin you just mentioned—is that the Li Qin, the actress?"

"She has been in TV shows, but I don’t know which specific show you’re referring to."

Liao Quansheng became quite agitated, even starting to gesticulate. "You know, the skinny one with big eyes and a rather flat chest?"

Du Heng thought for a moment. What Liao Quansheng described seemed to match Li Qin perfectly. "That should be her."

Receiving such a vague affirmation, Liao Quansheng slapped his forehead, so excited he momentarily forgot himself. How could he forget about search engines?