Chapter 1045 - 1010: Aftermath and Resolution

With Secretary Wang Jianming speaking up, naturally no one dared slack off. Once the disciplinary inspection formally stepped in, a lot of issues surrounding Hou Guoyi immediately floated to the surface; not only did he have problems with his lifestyle, he also had a lot of unexplained income.

Before the investigation team even finished, Hou Guoyi was already officially placed under double designation for investigation, and Dongzhou TV Station reshuffled its leadership, with Deputy Director Ma Donghan temporarily acting in charge.

The News Center publicly apologized to Mulan Group, reflecting on the lack of rigor and professionalism in their previous work, and announced the decision to dismiss the reporter responsible for that news piece, Wang Lichuan, from public office.

To show their sincerity, they released the apology statement across major media outlets in Pinghai; this was a first in the history of Dongzhou TV Station.

The substandard medicinal materials incident could be considered temporarily wrapped up. Pinghai Provincial Pharmaceutical Supervision Bureau did not issue a public apology, but they privately expressed regret to Nanwan Pharmaceutical Supervision Bureau and also made a special apology to Mulan Group.

Although Dongzhou Pharmaceutical Supervision Bureau had only assisted throughout, they were dragged into the storm as well. After Chang Laishun had a talk with Xu Chunliang, the bureau put forward a remedial measure: all the units and individuals investigated this time were, from now on, forbidden to purchase through middlemen and must buy directly from Mulan Group.

Dongzhou Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine was also hit hard in this storm: the vice dean in charge of pharmaceuticals, the head of procurement, the head pharmacist, and the person responsible for drug purchasing were all invited by the discipline inspection authorities for a "tea talk."

What happened at Dongzhou Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine made the medical system in Dongzhou, and even the whole of Pinghai, jittery. For a while, the health system across Pinghai launched internal inspections of their TCM procurement channels. In just three days, orders from the Pinghai medical system to Mulan Group actually doubled compared to before, and were still climbing.

After Dongzhou TV Station issued its public apology, online opinion began to turn around. Major influencers came out to endorse Mulan Group, and the topic of protecting national traditional medicine enterprises quickly shot up the trending lists.

At this point, the National Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine issued a document titled "Protecting National Pharmaceutical Enterprises Must Start from Grassroots Anti-Corruption." This document essentially defined the nature of the Dongzhou incident: national pharmaceutical enterprises were harmed because of corruption in your grassroots units. The document caused a shock throughout the country’s medical system.

An internal self-inspection and self-reflection campaign targeting TCM procurement channels began to spread all over the country.

Even Xiahou Mulan herself hadn’t expected that this mess would turn into a good thing. Because they were wronged at the start of this affair, it ended up forging their "golden signboard." After this storm, Mulan Group vaulted into becoming a nationally prioritized and supported TCM enterprise with a golden brand.

However, as the investigation went deeper, Xiahou Mulan quickly realized the matter was not that simple. The boss of Changsheng, Zong Honggen, had already fled after the incident; this man turned out to be from the Sect of Fatigue. According to internal investigations within the sect, he had once cooperated with Wu Yuanyi. In other words, this might not have been just a simple case of adulteration for profit, but a deliberate operation targeting Mulan Group.

Xiahou Mulan issued an "Apricot Grove Order" internally, tracking down the whereabouts of Zong Honggen and Wu Yuanyi. This kind of scum had to be rooted out as soon as possible, or they would stir up trouble again in the future.

Wu Yuanyi had already been expelled from the Sect of Fatigue, but that did not mean his influence within the sect had completely vanished. After so many years in the sect, he wielded substantial clout.

Right now, the Sect of Fatigue was like a pile of loose sand inside: many people were doing their own thing, and they did not acknowledge this young acting Sect Leader Xiahou Mulan at all.

Monday morning, Xu Chunliang came to work; just as he parked his car, someone got out from the car next to him and shouted loudly, "Xu Chunliang!"

Xu Chunliang turned around and saw that it was actually Wang Lichuan. The guy’s hair was messy, his face haggard, eyes bloodshot, and he reeked of a hangover. He no longer had the high-spirited look he had when Xu Chunliang saw him a couple of days ago. In just a few days, Wang Lichuan’s situation had turned upside down: his father-in-law was under double designation, and he himself had been fired from public office.

Wang Lichuan remembered clearly how Xu Chunliang had threatened him at the TV station, saying he’d make it impossible for him to gain a foothold in the news industry. Now the bastard had actually done it—he had no job at all. Any news organization that knew his history would definitely never hire him.

Seeing the guy’s state, Xu Chunliang already knew life wasn’t treating him well. He smiled and said, "So it’s you. What are you doing at the hospital? Seeing a doctor?"

Wang Lichuan roared, "You ruined me, you ruined me!"

Xu Chunliang said, "You really are sick." He shut the car door and walked off.

The hand Wang Lichuan had kept behind his back came into view. He was holding a stick, and he rushed up, swinging it at Xu Chunliang.

Xu Chunliang didn’t even turn his head. He looked up at the surveillance camera right above the parking lot. This dumbass really knew how to pick a spot to make his move.

The stick in Wang Lichuan’s hand was about to smash into the back of Xu Chunliang’s head when Xu Chunliang suddenly lashed out with a back kick, hitting Wang Lichuan square in the lower abdomen. Wang Lichuan was sent flying backward, landing on the ground like a big toad; the stick flew out of his hand, and he crashed down so hard he was totally rattled.

Enduring the pain, Wang Lichuan clambered up from the ground, picked up the stick again, and kept charging at Xu Chunliang.

It was work hours, and quite a few employees of the Infectious Disease Hospital were arriving one after another. They saw this thrilling scene in the parking lot and all stopped to watch.

Mainly because one of the people involved was Xu Chunliang—he was their Infectious Disease Hospital’s newly risen, comet-like star.

There was no way Wang Lichuan could get close to Xu Chunliang’s body, let alone hurt him. Xu Chunliang slapped him hard across the face, sending Wang Lichuan staggering sideways. His head slammed into his own car with a dull thud.

Unhurriedly, Xu Chunliang said, "Sober up a bit."

Wang Lichuan still wanted to charge at Xu Chunliang. Just then, the hospital security, having heard the commotion, rushed over and pinned Wang Lichuan down. One of them said to Xu Chunliang, "Director Xu, we’ll call the police right away."

Xu Chunliang shook his head. "Forget it, let him go." There was no need to haggle with a loser.

On his way back to the office, Xu Chunliang ran into Vice Dean Pan Junfeng. Pan Junfeng had also seen what just happened. He smiled at him. "Who was that guy?"

Xu Chunliang said, "Director Hou from Dongzhou TV Station’s son-in-law. He thinks his father-in-law getting put under shuanggui has something to do with me."

Pan Junfeng froze for a moment. He had heard the recent news about Mulan Group, but he hadn’t expected what came after, let alone linking that follow-up to Xu Chunliang. Now that he thought about it, Director Hou was most likely brought down because he offended Xu Chunliang. This kid’s clout was simply too big.

Pan Junfeng asked, "Is the matter settled?"

Xu Chunliang smiled. "How it should be handled is a question for the discipline inspection people. Even if I wanted to meddle, I don’t have that authority."

Pan Junfeng was about to leave, then suddenly remembered something. "Oh right, Chunliang, Kangjian Group’s President Zhai contacted Dean Yan, said he wants to invest in our hospital."

Xu Chunliang said, "When I was in Nanjiang he came to me specially and said he had that intention, but I didn’t take a stance. After I came back I reported it to you all, didn’t I?"

Pan Junfeng said, "I don’t know the specifics either. Anyway, he’s coming over this morning to have a face-to-face talk with Dean Yan. You should join as well."

Xu Chunliang shook his head. "I’m not going. This Zhai Pingqing is just a businessman. He has no sense of mission at all. I’m not interested in money from people like that."

Pan Junfeng said, "Whether he has a sense of mission or not isn’t important. As long as we have it, that’s enough. As long as his money is clean, we can’t just shut the door on him right away."

Xu Chunliang just smiled without saying anything.

Seeing Xu Chunliang’s expression, Pan Junfeng dropped the subject. Although Xu Chunliang had said they didn’t need to worry about investment, the hospital leadership had all been on edge recently. Equatorial Capital had abruptly terminated its investment plan—like a duck already in the pot suddenly flying away. It wasn’t a small sum, a full three billion.

This investment, which should have been theirs, was instead redirected to Changxing Hospital, proving that Equatorial Capital was more optimistic about Changxing’s prospects.

After Xu Chunliang returned from Nanjiang, he hadn’t brought in any new investors. What if no new money came in, or the amount wasn’t enough? Now Kangjian Group had come to them on its own initiative, directly proposing a three?billion investment to jointly build a new hospital. They couldn’t afford to miss such a good opportunity.

The two of them arrived together at the entrance of the administrative office building. Yan Huaiyi called Xu Chunliang again, telling him not to schedule anything else that morning and to join in receiving the delegation from Kangjian Group.

Yan Huaiyi and Pan Junfeng were thinking along the same lines. Three billion—Kangjian was willing to put in three billion. At least someone was finally stepping in to fill the hole left by Equatorial Capital. They couldn’t just refuse outright.

The reason Xu Chunliang wasn’t interested in Zhai Pingqing’s investment was that Zhai had always had close ties with Equatorial Capital, and he was also one of the four great elders of the Tired Sect. What was his real purpose in wanting to invest in Changxing?

Xu Chunliang could understand how the hospital leaders felt. After a moment’s thought, he still decided to take part in this meeting.

Back in his own office, the first thing Xu Chunliang did was call Xiahou Mulan, telling her that Zhai Pingqing wanted to invest in the Infectious Disease Hospital. The last couple of days he’d been busy dealing with Mulan Group’s crisis and had neglected this matter.

Xiahou Mulan said, "He wants to invest three billion?"

Xu Chunliang said, "How much do you know about this Zhai Pingqing?"

Xiahou Mulan said, "He’s very capable. Otherwise he wouldn’t have built Kangjian Group into what it is today. Three billion really isn’t much to him."

Xu Chunliang said, "What I don’t get is why he wants to invest in our hospital, especially when he definitely knows you’re interested in investing too."

Xiahou Mulan said, "Maybe he just wants to invest and make money, nothing more."

Xu Chunliang said, "You don’t find it strange that not long after he proposed investing, Mulan Group got into trouble? Could he have seen all this coming?"

Xiahou Mulan said, "He and Wu Yuanyi are not on the same side, and in the past he’s always taken good care of our group’s business. In theory, he wouldn’t undermine my interests."

"Times change, Mulan. You’re the Sect Leader Dai now. ’The tree that stands out in the forest is sure to be battered by the wind.’ Could it be he has designs on that position too?"

Xiahou Mulan thought for a moment and said, "He’s worth tens of billions. Why would he bother with that trouble?"