Pharmaceutical Negotiator - Chapter 6

Zhang Sitan has been in Qingdao for over a month. The temperature is gradually rising, and the daytime hours have become longer.

The faint scent of magnolia drifts in the air. Thumb sized insects are starting to appear in the green grass. The sunlight is becoming slightly harsh, and staying outdoors for too long can make one’s scalp tingle.

Magnolia blooms in February and March, and its fruit ripens in July and August. Zhang Sitan’s business trip to Qingdao happens to fall right between the magnolia’s flowering and fruiting seasons. She can neither see the graceful and pure beauty of the floral fairy nor its bright red, trailing fruits.

However, Zhang Sitan doesn’t have time to feel regret. She is being pushed forward by all sorts of trivial and complicated matters and pressure from all sides. Any time to stop and enjoy the beauty of nature seems like a luxury.

The clinical expert, whose trip was delayed by observing surgery, has now arrived at the pharmaceutical factory. This expert is named Su Wei, in her thirties, and she brought along her young apprentice, Zhou Yangyue. The two quickly formed a team to assess Taiyong Group’s pharmaceutical products. The workload is quite daunting.

German Aier Company is a listed enterprise with a diverse range of businesses, and pharmaceuticals are only one of them. The subject of the current negotiation disodium water is just a small part of their product line.

Qi Shenli’s Taiyong Group, on the other hand, focuses on pharmaceuticals. Although it is a private, unlisted company, in the current environment where the government actively advocates for drug safety, Taiyong is constantly innovating and keeping pace with the times.

Thus, the outcome seems clear: one side is throwing a weak, soft punch, while the other is using all its might. Yet the battle has dragged on for over a month. The reason is simple Taiyong Group’s capital liquidity is weak. In short, Taiyong cannot afford to pay the required funds all at once.

In fact, an enterprise the size of Taiyong could easily borrow from a bank to maintain active capital flow. However, a review of the industrial structure reveals that Taiyong not only has capital gaps but must also maintain its current capital status; otherwise, if one link of the capital chain breaks, the entire structure will collapse like a set of dominoes.

Zhang Sitan has always felt that the significant shortage of Atenolol would be a flashpoint. With Taiyong Group unable to plug its loopholes and the whereabouts of its funds unclear, negotiations can only be postponed repeatedly.

After her morning run, Zhang Sitan walks back to her residence along a small path. She has moved out of the hotel and is now staying in a single person apartment provided by Taiyong Group.

She lives on the ninth floor. There are few people in the morning. She presses the elevator button, and the doors slowly open within a few seconds. The elevator stops on the ninth floor.

This building consists of small apartments, two per floor, one bedroom and two living rooms. The clinical expert, Su Wei, lives across the hall, which makes discussing proposals very convenient just knock on the door.

Stepping out of the elevator, Zhang Sitan hears a sound of pushing and shoving and sees Su Wei’s apprentice, Zhou Yangyue, emerging from Su Wei’s apartment. The door behind her is slammed shut with a “clank”.

Zhou Yangyue, hearing the mechanical sound of the “elevator ascending,” is visibly startled, as if waking up from something. She looks up and meets Zhang Sitan’s gaze. She forces a smile, wanting to say hello, but seems to feel embarrassed by her current state, so she quickly lowers her head and takes the direct elevator down.

Zhang Sitan assumes the student must have been scolded by the teacher and doesn’t think much of it. She uses her fingerprint to unlock her door and enters her apartment.

Inside, a small figure wearing a tea-green floral dress approaches with a bouquet of flowers.

It’s white magnolia.

A small bunch of flowers is wrapped in tissue paper and light-colored ribbon. The slender stems and the large white flowers, spread open like swallowtail butterflies, are pure and elegant. The morning light is not yet dazzling, and the sky is slightly overcast. Combined with the white magnolias, it gives one the illusion of being in February.

Magnolias bloom in February, and the beautiful woman arrives in August.

Zhang Sitan hears Qi An’s voice in her ear. Without asking where the magnolias came from in June, she reaches out, takes the bouquet, thanks Qi An, and looks for a vase to arrange them.

Because Qi An, as her assistant, needs to hand over tasks frequently, Zhang Sitan simply gave her the door code, saving the effort of opening the door repeatedly.

Since there’s no vase at home, Zhang Sitan places the flower stems into a plastic bottle. The bottleneck is narrow, and only a few stems fit. Zhang Sitan has to get scissors and cut the bottle open.

Qi An stands by, watching Zhang Sitan hold the scissors, flatten the bottle, and cut away the edges little by little. Zhang Sitan’s fingers are long, fair, and clean, reflecting the light as she holds the scissors and the plastic bottle.

Zhang Sitan’s WeChat profile picture is a magnolia flower, blooming alone, which makes her seem somewhat similar to the flower.

Qi An managed to buy these few magnolia branches by asking a friend. Off-season flowers are always several times more expensive, but a thousand pieces of gold cannot buy a beauty’s smile. Due to the slow progress, Zhang Sitan has been under a lot of pressure lately. Qi An hopes seeing the magnolia flower can help her change her mood.

“Please hand me the tape.” The voice is still gentle and soft. Qi An takes out the wide tape from the drawer. The bottle is finished, and Zhang Sitan wraps a circle of tape around the edge to prevent it from scratching her hand.

Finally, all the flowers are inserted into the bottle. The transparent bottle body and the irregular opening make it look quite unique.

Zhang Sitan leans down to examine the flowers carefully, then looks up and smiles faintly: “Thank you, Qi An.”

“Hehe.” Qi An’s face is slightly flushed, and her large eyes blink rapidly. “Sister Sitan, don’t always be so tense. The loophole can always be plugged.”

The day is getting brighter. Zhang Sitan nods slightly, her eyes showing some fatigue. Last night, Director Zhang called her and ordered her to enter the negotiation phase as soon as possible.

Usually, Director Zhang communicates with her via WeChat. The direct voice call suggests that the war has indeed dragged on for too long.

Seeing that Zhang Sitan is still somewhat unenthusiastic, Qi An picks up a basket of steamed buns from the dining table, lifts the lid, and happily presents it to Zhang Sitan: “Ta-da! Sister Sitan, look what I bought!”

Zhang Sitan helps her put the lid on the table and sees a basket of golden-yellow sticky bean buns (niandoubao). The corners of her mouth can’t help but curl up “Sticky bean buns (niandoubao).”

Qi An nods up and down, her movements exaggerated, like a puppy wagging its tail frantically for praise.

“Why the sudden purchase of this?” Zhang Sitan asks, then immediately remembers the first time Qi An brought her breakfast, she asked for niandoubao. Qi An asked if niandoubao was red bean paste bun (doushabao). Perhaps due to regional differences, Zhang Sitan didn’t want to nitpick and tacitly agreed it was doushabao.

Now, suddenly seeing the familiar niandoubao, made with fermented chestnut flour, the whole bun is bright yellow. Just looking at the plump shape, one can imagine that the red bean filling inside must be very fine and smooth.

“I just found out on Xiaohongshu a few days ago that niandoubao is not doushabao. I thought you liked doushabao, and I bought it for you for several days in a row.” Qi An says sheepishly, recalling that Zhang Sitan had eaten doushabao for several days straight before finally asking for a change of variety.

Zhang Sitan can’t help but laugh. After a month of getting along, she and Qi An have become much more familiar. Although this young woman is very student-like, she is also smart, well-informed, and well-educated. Zhang Sitan has already come to approve of this assistant in her heart.

“It’s fine, I’m not picky about food,” Zhang Sitan kindly explains, feeling a stone lifted from her heart, her tone noticeably lighter.

Since she just finished her run, Zhang Sitan first goes to take a shower, leaving Qi An in the study to continue working.

Finally, when Zhang Sitan is tidied up, the two begin working together on the asset allocation of Taiyong Group’s industrial structure.

Zhang Sitan’s long hair is still wet, twisted into a clump and hanging at the back of her head. With the principle of speeding up and cherishing time, Zhang Sitan has no intention of blow-drying her hair and lets it air-dry.

Qi An’s task is lighter, and she had already completed some while Zhang Sitan was showering. Now, seeing Zhang Sitan’s wet hair, she volunteers to help her dry it.

“Sister Sitan, I’m almost done here. Let me blow-dry your hair for you.”

“No need.” Zhang Sitan is already deeply focused on her work. She doesn’t even look up and answers concisely.

Qi An tilts her head, wondering if “No need” means “No need” or “Yes, please.” Before she can ponder for a few seconds, she heads to the bathroom to get the hairdryer.

There is a power strip on the desk. Just as Qi An plugs in the hairdryer, Zhang Sitan realizes her intention and instinctively tries to avoid it: “Really, no need.”

Qi An has little social experience and can’t tell if it’s polite refusal or genuine resistance. She takes Zhang Sitan’s hair, turns the airflow to maximum, and begins blowing.

The hair ends scatter and fly up. Zhang Sitan frowns. The buzzing sound of the high power hairdryer drowns out her voice. She simply doesn’t say anything more and lets Qi An have her way.

Zhang Sitan feels her hair being thinned and separated into several strands by a small hand. The hairdryer moves back and forth over her head. The hair that has been blown becomes lighter, hanging behind her ears.

Finally done, Qi An feels proud of having helped her beautiful boss. She happily puts away the hairdryer and sits back down across from Zhang Sitan.

Two computers are on the table, one facing Qi An, the other facing Zhang Sitan. The screen facing Zhang Sitan is lit, displaying data organized into a pie chart, finely divided into categories.

Zhang Sitan’s hand is on the mouse, but the cursor hasn’t moved since Qi An offered to blow-dry her hair.

Now that the hair is finally dry, Zhang Sitan forces a smile: “Thank you for the trouble.”

“Haha, no problem, no problem.” Qi An is happy with herself and doesn’t notice Zhang Sitan’s forced smile. She continues with her own work.

The bouquet of magnolia on the table is half-budding. The flower base at the bottom is somewhat firm and green, like little cat ears, making the pure white petals seem quite delicate and lively.

Zhang Sitan silently picks up her phone, lights up the screen, and then flips it face down on the table again.

The mouse in her hand moves slightly. The chart on the computer screen seems to have come back to life, with new data being entered.

There is still half a month until the team is scheduled to withdraw. From now until the end of June, no matter how much progress is made, Zhang Sitan will have to return to Beijing.

She muses that in the time she has spent with Qi An, the latter has been pure, sincere, and guileless. She is also less reserved with Zhang Sitan than when they first met. But…

Zhang Sitan purses her lips slightly. But a child who has grown up in a honey pot would not understand the thoughts of someone like her, who appears bold and capable but is actually afraid to step out of her comfort zone.

Qi An sending her white magnolias and blowing her hair crosses the line of a normal assistant-boss relationship. This transgression makes Zhang Sitan uncomfortable and makes her feel insecure.

She remains silent, the frown that appeared when Qi An was blowing her hair has now smoothed out. Many times, she instinctively wants to flee when Qi Shenli insisted she stay for dinner, and when Qi An’s hand brushed against the ends of her hair.

Yet, she always manages to make others believe she is friendly and not displeased. She is too good at pretending pretending to be warm, pretending to be considerate. She is not a white magnolia. She has always been the base of the flower, underneath the arrogant, cicada wing like petals. A small, indifferent piece, not yearning, not wanting to establish any connection with anyone.

Zhang Sitan suppresses the turmoil in her heart and focuses all her attention on the data analysis.

Qi An sniffs, suddenly remembering something. She looks at Zhang Sitan across from her: “Sister Sitan, my dad said he wants to invite you and Professor Su over for a casual dinner tonight.”

The light outside the window grows steadily brighter. The lingering sweet, glutinous scent of chestnut flour from the sticky bean bun is still on her tongue.

Zhang Sitan looks up and nods gently. Despite Qi An’s thoughtless actions that made her feel offended moments ago, she manages to put on a show of a smile, her voice gentle:

“President Qi mentioned it to me before. It’s a good thing we can finalize and print this form today to bring along.”

The two refocus their attention on their screens and busy themselves with work.

During this time, Zhang Sitan sends a message to Su Wei but receives no reply.

Lunch is takeout again.

Qi An sets two takeout boxes on the dining table. Seeing Zhang Sitan still searching through a pile of documents, she doesn’t interrupt her and sits down at the dining chair to quietly play on her phone.

Zhang Sitan originally wanted to stay in the study for a bit longer, but it’s lunchtime, and she knows Qi An is definitely waiting for her to eat together. So, she puts down the documents, walks over to Qi An, and pulls out the dining chair opposite her to sit down.

“Qi An, you’ve worked hard these past few days. After these documents are sorted out, there won’t be anything urgent. You should take a good rest tomorrow and don’t need to come to my place.”