Pharmaceutical Negotiator - Chapter 32

In the end, Zhang Sitan still bought the lipstick back, even though the colour was very light and the scent, after smelling it for a while, was a bit cloying.

After returning home from the coffee shop, the sky was gradually darkening. After spending a whole afternoon in the shop, the rain showed no sign of letting up.

A sliver of gold appeared on the western horizon, peeking out from behind the dark clouds. The golden light gradually dimmed, and a small patch of cloud behind the dark ones turned orange-red.

Opening the front door with her fingerprint, Zhang Sitan first went to the bedroom to take off the long pants whose cuffs had been splashed wet, and changed into a pair of pajama bottoms before coming out.

Qi An consciously climbed onto the sofa, picked up the remote control and flipped through several channels but found nothing she liked, so she turned off the TV and took out the Semborg Pharmaceutical documents to read again.

“Do you want to have noodle soup?” Zhang Sitan put her hands behind her back, tying a bow in the strings of her apron.

Qi An nodded. She couldn’t think of anything else to eat. She had eaten a stomach full of foam and cream at the coffee shop in the afternoon and wasn’t particularly hungry.

Receiving a reply, Zhang Sitan turned and went back into the kitchen.

The first few pages of the documents in her hand were already wrinkled, with blue pen circles and markings that looked a little messy at first glance.

The target for the betainjection was not the aristocratic class, and there was already an intention to lower the price. Taiyong Group had also negotiated for Disodium Water, which would greatly reduce the raw material cost of the betainjection. Therefore, this negotiation was a win-win, and the negotiation process would be much simpler.

The sound of water bubbling came from the kitchen, and a gentle curtain of rain slanted against the window outside. At this hour, the aunties who did square dancing hadn’t yet gathered downstairs. But since it was raining today, they probably wouldn’t gather anyway.

The absence of the “yi yi ya ya” loud music notes added a sense of gentleness to the approaching night.

Zhang Sitan sprinkled a small handful of shredded bamboo shoots and mushroom slices into the soup, stirring the ladle around a few times. The bamboo shoots and mushrooms alternately sank and floated. There was some white foam in the soup, which Zhang Sitan carefully skimmed out.

Half-cooked instant noodles were poured in, filling the small hole in the centre of the electric pot that kept bubbling.

Putting the lid on the pot, Zhang Sitan opened another steamer and tore open a bag of egg yolk shaomai (steamed dumplings) to place inside.

Hot steam rose in the small kitchen, bringing a bit of warmth into the room.

Finally, the noodles were ready. Zhang Sitan scooped two small bowls, and called for Qi An to come and take them out.

In the living room, the darkening night made the indoor light seem brighter.

Zhang Sitan and Qi An sat side by side on the carpet, with the noodle soup and shaomai on the coffee table in front of them.

Steam rose from the noodle soup. Zhang Sitan asked Qi An how her reading of the documents was going. Qi An pointed to a circled section to show her, and Zhang Sitan patiently explained it to her.

A week after the promotional video was released, Luo Murong sent a message, asking to take Qi An out to dinner.

Being invited out to dinner for no apparent reason, and given that their relationship wasn’t very close, Qi An didn’t really want to go. She asked Zhang Sitan for her opinion, and Zhang Sitan also said not to waste time on such ineffective socialising.

She replied to Luo Murong with a WeChat message saying she was busy, and didn’t pay him any more attention.

The next day, however, Luo Murong’s car was parked in front of the office building.

The flashy deep red colour and the Flying Lady mascot emblem highlighted the extravagance of this classic car. The person inside still had the look of an old butler, but was unexpectedly dressed very formally. A camel coloured DK uniform suit, a black badge on the chest, a striped tie, and his face still powdered; he looked like a very refined, chubby little butler.

He lowered the passenger-side window and peered out with a slightly hunched back. When he finally saw Qi An emerge from the building, he honked the horn three times, and the car lights flashed.

Apart from a few passersby who glanced at his car, most people were hurrying along, including Qi An.

She didn’t pay any attention to what car was parked on the roadside or what sound it made. Her attention was entirely focused on the mobile phone in her hand.

She had basically reviewed the Semborg Pharmaceutical documents and still needed to make a refined PPT presentation. She would be the main presenter at the next meeting.

This was different from the “easy” university classes where she could just throw together a PPT and read from it. Now, she had to be responsible and explain the content clearly to her colleagues.

Moreover, Sister Sitan would also be listening, and Qi An wanted to get her affirmation.

So, she was fully absorbed in her phone, walking in the direction of the snack street.

Recently, Zhang Sitan had been liaising with international doctors. Her spoken English was not fluent, making the communication a bit difficult, and she was still working overtime in the office.

Qi An had come out to find something to eat, and also to bring something back for Zhang Sitan.

The red car on the side of the road was well maintained. Although the sky was still very overcast, the car body still had a certain sheen. The owner in the car, seeing that he was being ignored, shoved open the car door, without even taking out the car key, and ran towards the open space in front of the building.

“Qi An!” A running chubby man shouted into the air.

After shouting twice, Qi An, who was almost at the crossroads, finally turned her head.

“Little CEO Luo,” Qi An stopped, looking at the person running towards her, who was still slightly out of breath.

“You… you didn’t see me!” Luo Murong was already sweating a little after running those few steps.

He straightened his back, using his hand to fan his chest, trying to catch his breath. He must have shaved that morning; the stubble on his chin was neatly trimmed.

“No, I didn’t see you,” Qi An answered truthfully.

After a day of work, she felt dull and her face showed no expression. To Luo Murong, this seemed like she was picking a fight.

“Such a big person, and you didn’t see me!”

“Didn’t see you,” Qi An replied again. She was already tired from work, the weather was also muggy, with the rain about to fall but not quite, and she didn’t want to get into a hassle with him.

“Alright, shall we go?” Luo Murong saw that Qi An really didn’t want to talk much, so he cut to the chase.

“Go where?”

“The Royal Emperor Grand Hotel, didn’t I tell you before?”

“Oh, didn’t I tell you I wasn’t going?” Qi An retorted.

“Hey~” Luo Murong frowned, “Are you really not going?”

“Could I pretend not to go?” Qi An was genuinely a bit tired, and her speaking pace was slow.

“Boring. Just come, we can’t start the banquet without you.” Luo Murong bent down a little, and only then did Qi An notice the sunglasses clipped to his clothes, which he must have worn while driving.

“Start the banquet however you normally would, I really don’t have time.” Qi An looked at him, feeling baffled.

Luo Murong, who was usually satisfied in most things big or small, roared, insistently demanding that Qi An go.

Qi An looked at him, wanting to tell him to mind his manners in public, but swallowed the words, thinking it wouldn’t be useful to instruct him.

“Give me a clear answer, are you coming or not?” Luo Murong said again.

With the repeated invitation, and the fact that he had specially come over, Qi An did feel a little soft-hearted and embarrassed to refuse again.

She thought for a moment and decided to let Sister Sitan make the choice.

“I’m still working overtime. I’ll ask Captain Zhang if she’ll give me time off.”

“Okay, message her now.”

Qi An wanted to go upstairs and ask Zhang Sitan face-to-face, and she hadn’t bought Zhang Sitan dinner yet.

“I’m going to the snack street first to buy something and take it upstairs. You wait for me here for a bit.”

Qi An ran towards the snack street, quickly bought a boxed meal nearby, and hurried back into the building.

After work hours, people had sparsely left the office, leaving only Zhang Sitan at her desk facing the computer, wearing a headset, which was probably playing the recording of today’s meeting.

Every time she had a meeting with the doctors, Zhang Sitan got a headache; there was so much material to organise. This time it was an entirely English meeting, requiring even more attention to detail and repeated review.

“Sister Sitan.” Qi An walked over and patted Zhang Sitan, knowing she couldn’t hear, and motioned for her to take off the headphones.

“What’s wrong?” Zhang Sitan took off the headphones, a few strands of hair were pulled up and then smoothed down by Zhang Sitan’s fingertips.

“Luo Murong is downstairs, asking if I want to go out to eat,” Qi An said sheepishly.

She didn’t know the reason for her shyness, she just felt awkward, perhaps because Luo Murong had once pretended to be her boyfriend.

Only the lamp at Zhang Sitan’s desk was on in the office. The sky outside was dark, and the whole environment felt dull and dim.

Zhang Sitan paused the playback; the spot where the mouse was clicked turned into a triangle.

“Did he come specially, or was he passing by?” Zhang Sitan frowned slightly, her eyes a little sore from staring at the screen for too long.

“He didn’t say, but it probably wasn’t just passing by,” Qi An thought about Luo Murong’s expression and movements just now; he probably came specifically to call her.

Since he came specially, it would indeed be impolite to refuse again. Zhang Sitan looked at the letters written in her notebook beside her, strings of them forming long words, like a horizontal row of black sesame seeds scattered across the page.

“Do you want to go?”

“I don’t know. I told him to wait for me downstairs.”

“Okay, I understand. Can you turn off your computer.”

“Oh, so I can go?” Hearing her ask to turn off the computer, Qi An understood Zhang Sitan’s meaning.

The half-finished PPT she had been working on was already saved and placed on the desktop. Only the screensaver was lit on the computer monitor. Qi An walked over and pressed the shutdown button.

“Since Little CEO Luo personally came to invite you, we should give him face,” Zhang Sitan marked the stopping point of the recording and looked at Qi An.

Qi An was wearing a plain short-sleeved T-shirt, her hair was down, now reaching her shoulders, and her face was simple, without any makeup.

Zhang Sitan pulled out the makeup bag from her drawer, pulled Li Hua’s office chair over for Qi An to sit on, and asked Qi An, “Did he say who else would be at the dinner?”

“No,” Qi An sat obediently, knowing Zhang Sitan wanted to put makeup on her.

“Then what car did he drive? His ‘Cherokee’?”

“No, he drove a Rolls-Royce Phantom.”

“Hmm,” Zhang Sitan nodded, a bit surprised.

“Next time you get an invitation to dinner, you need to find out who will be attending beforehand. Don’t go to dinner without knowing the details.”

“Okay,” Qi An nodded.

Zhang Sitan quickly applied foundation to Qi An. The fine, even powder was not artificially white, making the person look flawless like porcelain, with a built-in soft focus filter. Zhang Sitan was most skilled at drawing eyeliner, lightly outlining the eye contour. Applying a coat of mascara, her big eyes instantly became bright and lively, slightly covering up the exhaustion from work.

“Message me if anything happens,” after finishing, Zhang Sitan surveyed the overall effect and put away the tools on the table.

Qi An agreed, grabbed her bag, and went to the elevator lobby.

As soon as she left, Zhang Sitan started pondering Luo Murong. He was playful, but didn’t mess up important things. A bit of a show-off, but not a bad person.

He had just gotten a new “Cherokee” (fully paid for, thanks to Qi An pretending to be his girlfriend), and it was the time when he would be driving it around to show off.

Yet he drove a Phantom.

The Phantom, known as the world’s most luxurious car, was several levels above the Cherokee. Such a display was probably not just for showing off, especially since his Cherokee was already quite eye catching.

Perhaps, there was a higher-level person at this dinner that was worth him driving the Phantom for.

As for why he insisted on inviting Qi An, even coming in person, Zhang Sitan wasn’t sure.

After a long day of work, she truly felt powerless to engage in psychological battles with a wealthy young man. But because it involved Qi An, she couldn’t help but worry. Looking at the boxed meal Qi An had just brought back on her desk, she sighed softly.