119 – Real Test

“We have submitted the paperwork for clinical trials for Huifu-01 and Huifu-02,” Fatty Fang said sitting inside the factory’s meeting room. 

Despite calling himself Head of Security, Fatty Fang's official title was Executive Manager. He dealt with more paperwork than Ju De. Initially, it was difficult, but Fatty Fang had a straightforward personality and once a task was assigned, he was able to focus and complete it.

“And we still have funding to last 24 months,” Ju De chimed in. He dealt mainly with finances and hiring workers.

Li Yun had expected to spend a lot of money, but the 15 million yuan investment he had gathered from everyone was only enough for a short while. He alone was enough to cover the research and development cost, but there was still production, labor, and maintenance.

With production underway, there were several hurdles they had to overcome. Clinical trials could take two months, and publicity to make the public aware of their existence. A great product couldn’t sell if people didn’t know of its existence. 

Celebrity endorsements or online publicity were often used by pharmaceutical companies. Pills were not easy to promote. Li Yun planned on using Huifu-01 and Huifu-02 for promotion within the medical field, but word of mouth was very limited and slow.

"Bufu said he'll start working next week on the app," said Ju De. "He's not allowed to use the structure of Bababa, but he has built something similar, and he just needs to develop it."

Li Yun nodded. Once the app is completed, they should be able to sell the produce. The problem was the weather. They were in a sub-tropical climate, so they had less than two months left to grow anything outside of the greenhouse.

After settling the documents, Li Yun walked around the greenhouse. As usual, he greeted all the workers.

"Yo! Dr. Li!" The workers all greeted Li Yun as they saw him.

Many of the people he had hired were from the surrounding rural areas. They were finding it difficult to compete with big agricultural businesses and unable to sustain their crop during bad weather. Without much experience, many resorted to working in factories.

Since opening the company, the main motto was to provide workers with higher pay, but with high expectations. Many retired farmers immediately signed up with the appealing salary. Ju De was in charge of hiring, and he was usually able to weed out anyone unsuitable for the job.

"What do you think the company is using to make all these plants grow so quickly?" the workers often chatted amongst themselves, and the plant growth was often the point of discussion.

The workers shrugged. Almost everyone in the greenhouse had been there since the beginning, immediately after the renovation was completed. They were the ones who filled the planters with dirt, planted the seeds or cuttings, watered the plants, and occasionally fed the organic fertilizer.

"It's the organic fertilizer!" they theorized.

There were different fertilizers for each area of the greenhouse.

Li Yun passed by them as they were discussing it, and he wondered if it was due to the precise specification he had researched, or if it was a special buff from the Shennong’s title. The real test would be the next two months when the workers start farming outside. Whether his buff could kick in would be a real test of his title's ability.

After checking the greenhouse, Li Yun walked to his laboratory. Other than himself, no one else had card access into the laboratory.

Sitting in front of a large workbench, he began his research to create a new compound, codenamed Yunli-01. Creating Huifu-01 and -02 was mainly to assist with the research on Yunli-01, which will be the real money-maker for the company. 

The compound would have a wider usage and safe enough for over-the-counter sales. There will still be people who will react negatively, but they were so small that Li Yun expected less than ten during clinical trials.

After the meeting, Li Yun and Ju De drove to an outdoor restaurant indicated on their groupchat message, with Fatty deciding to head home to his wife. The detective club had solved another case, so Bu Tao had promised to treat them all out to dinner. Saturday was Rouxi and Wu Ling’s chibo, so they had decided to set a party for Friday.

“When you guys told me about this detective club, I thought it was a joke, but you gals really are efficient!” Bu Tao praised as he passed to all the girls their red envelopes.

Next mission: Exorcise 100 spirits. 94/100.

Li Yun was also impressed. He didn’t think the detective club would be so efficient in solving cold cases, but in the span of six months since the detective club had started, he had almost accomplished the mission.

With their help, they were able to narrow down a lot of suspects. Once Bu Tao arrested them, Li Yun was able to crack them into confessing.

“Ahem!” Ju De was offended he didn’t get a red envelope. 

“You’re not even in the club anymore!” Bu Tao sneered. Not to mention, he didn’t even need the money. “And what the heck! We didn’t get any red envelopes when you set up the company!”

Everyone laughed.

Outside of Fatty, Ju De, Rouxi, and Bufu, no one knew that Li Yun had created a parent company. Although he liked to joke about how chatty they were, they were actually good with keeping secrets. It wasn't a secret that couldn't be leaked, but it was too much to explain, and Li Yun didn’t feel like explaining.

Bu Tao left early as per usual to tuck in his daughter, and Ju De left with Zhu Ah Nin, so it was only Li Yun with the four other girls. At around that time, a group of rowdy men entered the restaurant. They were already drunk, so a lot of the customers naturally avoided them.

They took over the table near the middle, and started to order more food, and of course, more beer. They were beginning to make a lot of noises. Some of the guys were eying the girls, which was making them uncomfortable.

“Should we leave?” asked An Zhang Mi.

“Why?” asked Wu Ling. 

“Why does Mr. Bu have to leave so soon?” Li Ching asked. “He could arrest these guys for public disturbance.”

“Just ignore them,” said Wu Ling.

The girls could ignore them, but Li Yun wasn’t liking the way one of the guys was looking at Rouxi. The guy was pretty big and his arms were tattooed with a dragon wrapping around his left bicep.

Shortly after, they paid for their meal and decided to leave. Li Yun and Wu Ling were on alert when they realized that they were being followed. They unlocked their phones and prepared to dial the police if anything happened.

“Hey, you babes wanna head to a party?” the tattoo guy asked, but even before anyone answered, Li Yun and Wu Ling stood in position to protect them.

“Xiao Ling, be careful, look after them,” Li Yun told her.

Wu Ling nodded. She had never seen Li Yun fight before, but there must be a reason why some people feared him in high school.

“Oh ho! What’s this?” Asked the guy. “No need to be so cautious, we should just want to make friends.”

Despite his words, his other four friends were already surrounding them.

“Hey! We already called the police, you have 5 minutes before they come here!” Zhang Mi called out to them. “This is your last warning.”

They laughed. “What a cute girl!”

As they laughed, Rouxi took out her phone and asked Li Ching to record.

“Why?” asked Li Ching.

“Proof of self-defense,” said Rouxi.

The drunken guys became irritated after seeing the phone. They didn’t like to be recorded.

“Get that b**** phone!” The tattooed boss commanded.

The four underlings charged forward.

Li Yun knee kicked the one in front charging toward Li Ching, slamming the side of his stomach, and low kicked the other two. The last remaining drunk got past Li Yun, but was kicked in the groin by Wu Ling.

They were drunk already, so it wasn’t difficult to dismantle them. One of them got up, ready to charge at Li Yun again.

Li Yun watched as the guy jabbed with his right hand. The hand moved slowly toward him like watching a video at 50% speed. He wondered if his vision had improved or whether the guy was really slow. Either way, Li Yun easily grabbed the drunk’s wrist, pulled him down, and knee the guy in the jaw, completely knocking him unconscious.

“You s******! Can’t even knock down a punk!” The boss cried. Instead of charging in, he took out a switchblade. “I want to see you try this.”

Suddenly, the boss fell to his knees, shaking uncontrollably with a mini arrow sticking out of him. Li Yun traced the projection back to Rouxi.

“Just a tranquilizer,” Rouxi said.

Li Yun wasn’t even sure how she had managed to sneak in an illegal weapon, but it may be hidden in her purse. He turned back to the assailant, knocked the knife away, and pinned the boss to the ground. He pulled out the tranquilizer and kept it in his pocket. He was sure Rouxi could get out of trouble with her connection, but it would be troublesome to deal with the police.

The next moment, they all appeared at the police station.