Chapter Ninety-Two: The Master Conspirator!

“Sir, how may I help you?” Seeing two strikingly handsome men approach, the front-desk attendant at Yanyuan Hotel greeted them warmly.

Guan Xu put on his most charming smile and looked at the receptionist with tender eyes. Smiling, he said, “May I ask which floor the experts attending the Huaxia Traditional Medicine Symposium are staying on? My father is ill, and I’d like to find a famous physician to take a look at him.”

Already half-dazed by Guan Xu’s smile, the receptionist was even more moved when she heard he had come to seek a doctor for his father. In a low voice, she said, “Most of them are on the sixth floor. A few are on the seventh.”

“Then please trouble you to get us a room on the sixth floor,” Guan Xu said with a smile.

“I’m sorry, sir. The entire sixth floor is fully booked.”

“Then the seventh floor will do.”

“Very well. Please wait a moment. I’ll need your ID card for registration.”

Guan Xu smiled and took out his card. The receptionist glanced at the photo, then quietly memorized the name on it: Single Line Book.

“Mr. Single, your room has been arranged. Here are your key cards.”

“Thank you. I hope we’ll have a chance to drink tea together sometime.” Guan Xu smiled at her, then led Li Lingxi toward the elevators.

“Young Master Guan, why did you use a fake ID?” Li Lingxi asked in confusion.

“For certain unimportant matters, I prefer not to use my real name,” Guan Xu explained without changing expression.

“Ha-ha. Young Master Guan really is a cautious man,” Li Lingxi praised.

When they opened the door and entered the room they had just booked, Li Lingxi glanced around and sniffed the air before saying, “These accommodations are really pretty shabby. The state has so much money; they ought to put people up in five-star hotels.”

“You’re too demanding. You’re used to living in presidential suites at five-star hotels. How could you stand a place like this? It’s at best three-star. Sit wherever you like and bear with it for a while. Once the conference is over, we’ll go visit them one by one.”

“Visit them one by one? We’re not talking about hundreds of people, are we?” Li Lingxi asked in surprise.

“No. Visiting a few of the more famous ones will be enough. We don’t need that many.” Guan Xu shook his head with a smile.

“Young Master Guan, I still don’t quite understand. Why did you suddenly decide to go into traditional Chinese medicine? What profit is there to be made in that field?”

Guan Xu looked at Li Lingxi, his childhood sworn brother. Several years had passed since they last met, and Li Lingxi had become much more mature. He also now knew how to voice his doubts and opinions.

In the past, he had obeyed Guan Xu without question.

If even he was like this, how could anyone else possibly trust him completely? If he failed to win their trust, then this trip to the capital would become far more unpredictable.

He only hoped he could complete the mission the laboratory had assigned him.

Guan Xu took a metal cigarette case from his pocket, tossed one cigarette to Li Lingxi, then placed another between his lips. After lighting it and taking a drag, he smiled and asked, “You really think so little of traditional Chinese medicine?”

“It’s not that I think little of it. It’s just that there aren’t any real success stories. How many people have actually made money from traditional Chinese medicine?”

“I know that right now the hottest things are real estate and high technology. If you get into either of those industries, you may not become fabulously rich, but you certainly won’t starve. But how many people are scrambling for those markets? And how much could possibly fall into our hands?”

“Does Young Master Guan already have a mature plan?” Li Lingxi nodded in agreement. They were not among the very top princelings, so they had no way to secure the best land.

What’s more, after deducting the cost of the land and all the various expenses, the money they actually made was nowhere near as terrifying as the rumors suggested.

Of course, to ordinary people, it was still an astonishing sum. But were they ordinary people?

“That’s why I brought you here to visit the famous doctors. I plan to tie up the most renowned Chinese physicians in the country and then establish a Hall of Renowned Chinese Physicians,” Guan Xu said with a smile.

“A Hall of Renowned Chinese Physicians?” Li Lingxi was baffled. “And then?”

“First we need to heat up a concept: the idea that traditional Chinese medicine is harmless. We must keep telling the public, without interruption, that Chinese medicine poses no danger whatsoever.”

“If the first step succeeds, then we can decide how to make money. We can have famous doctors hold clinics, celebrities give lectures, master teachers give instruction, develop patented Chinese medicines and health products, create cosmetic products based on Chinese medicine, and even develop everyday household goods. We can integrate traditional Chinese medicine completely, systematize it, and build the most complete supply chain. By then, money will naturally flow in endlessly.”

Li Lingxi’s eyes lit up. “Exactly. The Chinese medicinal health product market and the beauty market are both emerging industries, and their annual market share keeps multiplying. If we can do well in those two areas and become leaders in both fields, it’ll be hard not to make money. Just look at products like Yunnan Baiyao and Wanglaoji drinks—they, too, have played up the traditional medicine concept, and their yearly profits are huge. Then there are all those other products, from turtle essence to countless health supplements; the market is worth no less than fifty billion a year. As that market keeps growing, so do our opportunities to make money.”

Hearing Li Lingxi reason it out on his behalf, Guan Xu only listened with a smile.

If it were truly that easy, he would not have been thinking of taking shortcuts.

Besides, if he really went ahead and did that, the laboratory would surely see to it that he died without a burial place.

They would never want to see Chinese medicine rise. The monopoly of Western medicine over the world was where their profits lay.

“So before anyone else realizes how insanely profitable this market is, we need to seize the upstream resources first?”

“Yes. If we can secure a few renowned doctors with considerable social influence today, then in the future they’ll be hens that lay golden eggs.”

“Ha-ha, Young Master Guan, that’s a vivid metaphor. When are we going to talk to them?”

Guan Xu lifted his wrist and checked the time. “In another half hour. They should still be at the celebration banquet. I’ve spent many years in America, but some habits are hard to change, no matter whether a conference succeeds or fails. For instance, holding a celebration banquet afterward.”

“True. That habit probably can’t be changed. If it succeeds, there has to be a celebration; and if it fails, wouldn’t there be even more reason to celebrate, just to cover up the defeat?”

Wang Xiushen was in excellent spirits today. His disciple had made a stunning debut before the nation’s leading physicians and earned the praise and recognition of every doctor present. Even Cai Gongmin, the Vice Minister of Health, ended the conference by saying, “I am very glad that this meeting was not a complete waste of time, because we have produced an unexpected dark horse like Qin Luo.”

Because of his disciple’s outstanding performance, Wang Xiushen, as the teacher, also basked in reflected glory. He had been toasted by countless people, and even Cai Gongmin had specially come over to drink a glass with him. Since he usually did not drink much, he let himself go completely today and drank until he was nearly out of his mind. Had people not stopped him, he truly might have drunk himself into unconsciousness.

“Qin Luo, you have never disappointed me. No matter when it is, I have always had confidence in you. In the past, I had some doubts about whether you could shoulder such a heavy burden. Now I’m not worried at all. If even you can’t do it well, who else could?” Wang Xiushen slurred.

“Master, you’re drunk. You should go back to your room and rest,” Qin Luo said with a smile as he supported him.

“I may be drunk, but my heart isn’t. I know exactly what’s going on,” Wang Xiushen waved him off.

“Old Wang is happy, and we’re happy for him too,” said Old Zhuo, patting Qin Luo on the shoulder. “Qin Luo, in our line of work, it isn’t easy to find a disciple with real potential. And it’s even harder to teach one up properly.”

“Yes. The moment you finished speaking earlier, Minister Cai was the first to stand up and applaud, and then everyone in the room rose at once. Ha-ha, I was thinking at the time: if this disciple were mine, how wonderful that would be. Too bad my little skills with cupping and moxibustion are not worthy of your notice.”

Gu Baixian patted Qin Luo on the shoulder as well, his face flushed with drink, and said expressionlessly, “Work hard.”

He was a famous cold-faced magistrate; for him to take the initiative to pat someone on the shoulder was already a rare courtesy.

“I will,” Qin Luo said seriously.

Just as Qin Luo was supporting Wang Xiushen and about to enter the room, he unexpectedly ran into someone familiar in the corridor.

It was none other than Guan Xu, whom he had met only once before. The other man beside him was also someone Qin Luo recognized—the fellow who had dined with Guan Xu at Triumph Western Restaurant.

This was a grand gathering of the traditional medicine world. What were the two of them doing here?

Could it be a coincidence that they were staying at Yanyuan Hotel?

While Guan Xu was exchanging pleasantries with others, he seemed to sense something and noticed a gaze resting on his face.

Following that instinct, he looked over and met Qin Luo’s eyes.

Though Guan Xu still wore his mild, refined smile, a trace of suspicion stirred in his heart.

Why was Qin Luo here?

It seemed the decision not to have Li Lingxi investigate this man had been a mistake. He had better not let things go awry at the last moment.

Guan Xu nodded at Qin Luo, then turned away to attend to his own business.

Qin Luo, though somewhat suspicious, did not dwell on it. He helped Wang Xiushen into the room.

Their second confrontation passed silently, as if they had merely brushed past each other in the corridor.

Because Wang Xiushen had drunk too much, Qin Luo, as his disciple, could hardly abandon his master and go back to sleep. So he also stayed the night at Yanyuan Hotel.

Afraid that Lin Qingyuan might worry, he specially called home to explain the situation.

Lin Qingyuan assumed Qin Luo was not returning because he had quarreled with Lin Wanxi, and he earnestly tried to persuade him for quite some time. Qin Luo had to explain repeatedly before he finally eased his doubts.

The next morning, just after Qin Luo got up, the hotel room’s internal phone rang.

“Hello, may I ask if this is Mr. Qin Luo?” a man’s polite voice asked over the phone.

“Yes, it is,” Qin Luo replied.

“I am Secretary Ming Hao of Minister Cai’s office. Minister Cai would like to invite you to breakfast. I wonder if you would have time?”

“Of course. I’ll come at once,” Qin Luo said.

An invitation to breakfast from a cabinet minister was not an honor just anyone could receive.