243 – Marked

“Hunlun, you’ve been at Shennong for over six months, why haven’t you been able to find the exact manufacturing method?” Hunlun’s supervisor Mr. Man was scolding Hunlun during their weekly phone conference. “Not only that, you’re the laboratory assistant for Dr. Li, but the data from you doesn’t even compare with the registration office.”

“Mr. Man, I’m doing my best, but you have seen reports from other spies, Dr. Li trusts no one but himself with all the important data,” replied Hunlun. After Hunlun successfully infiltrated Shennong, Berne pharmaceutical and other big companies had continued sending new people in to spy. They were hired by Ju De, but mainly tasked with menial tasks in the factory and had very little access to information that Hunlun could easily attain. However, most of the information Hunlun gathered and turned over to Berne were intentionally leaked by Li Yun.

As for whether Berne had realized that, Hunlun was not sure, but as time passed, his supervisor was getting suspicious. It was only a matter of time before Berne realized they were duped, and fired Hunlun. 

Luckily for Hunlun, the contract he had signed to Berne was vague. It was simply an independent contract to provide information for a specific period of time rather than an employment contract. There was no written document about what sort of information Hunlun needed to provide. The reason was to protect Berne against potential lawsuits relating to corporate espionage, but it also allowed Hunlun to work for Shennong freely after they terminated his contract.

“Mr. Man, I just heard news about Shennong’s trouble with the clinical trials,” Hunlun said carefully.

“We already know,” Mr. Man replied. “What is Shennong’s plan? Are they going to follow up with a lawsuit?”

Hunlun worried that was Berne’s plan all along, to tie up the clinical trials with a court order to suspend the clinical trial during the lawsuit. With the right judge, it was possible for the trials to stall even if the plaintiff was Shennong. Chenchen Hospital could also counter sue for frivolous reasons. Whether they were in the wrong or not, it would make them appear as an innocent party if they counter with a lawsuit of their own.

“Shennong is going after both the hospital for breaking the confidentiality agreement and breach of contract,” Hunlun replied.

“Hm… All right, keep me informed if they plan to do anything else,” said Mr. Man.

After hanging up the phone, Hunlun reported to Li Yun as he was driving Li Yun back to the clinic.

“Do you think they have you marked as a liability?” asked Li Yun.

“Yes, Mr. Man isn’t normally as tight-lipped on the phone,” said Hunlun. “For the past couple of conversations, it appears that someone else has been listening in. I’m probably on speakerphone.”

Li Yun thought it was a possibility. If he had people like Ju De who could analyze people, it was possible for a corporation like Berne to acquire consultants who regularly dealt with spies and corporate espionage.

“They will be dissecting what you say to determine whether the information is useful or not,” said Li Yun.

“Boss, are you really preparing for the lawsuit?” asked Hunlun.

“The CEO is handling it,” said Li Yun. 

“You have to be careful then, Berne is known to have close ties with the KLD Law Firm.”

Li Yun nodded warily. He wasn’t too concerned about losing the lawsuit as the protocol for the clinical trial and consent forms were clear. He was concerned about losing time and investors. After Shennong disclosed the lawsuits to all their investors, a few had requested to pull out. Whether Shennong wins or loses, the enemy had already achieved their goal.

“The law firm isn’t going to be KLD,” Li Yun could sense that Berne wasn’t going to attack directly. They didn’t need to win, Chenchen was likely to hire someone else. “Enough about work, how is your family?”

“Good… But…” Hunlun had been considering relocating his family out of Magic City and someplace closer to Yide to avoid the fallout with Berne. They couldn’t openly sue him as their agreement had been informal, but they could still make his life difficult.  “Boss, is the company really building an apartment complex for employees?” 

“Yeah, a friend of mine is designing it,” said Li Yun.

The concept of creating a working and living environment for employees had slowly been fading away. The new trend was working in a shared working environment with other companies. People wanted a clear separation of work and private life since most people didn’t enjoy their work. They wanted to completely separate their personal life from their work life.

However, at Shennong, most employees found it enjoyable to be at work. The atmosphere was like a small working communal community. Most preferred to stay and eat dinner with their family and sometimes they would even book the cafeteria for late night parties. The only problem was the distance away from the nearest lodging.

The employees were all surprised when the company suddenly announced a plan to create an employee’s union. Employees were encouraged to give comments and propose policy changes. If enough people voted on the policy change, the upper management must review the request and implement it. 

The first proposal that met the requirement was an employee residential apartment. As Ju De and the other directors reviewed the proposal, they weren’t against the idea. They also thought it would be nice to have a place to crash other than the sofa bed in their office. 

“Is it the best time to build with everything that is going on?” Asked Hunlun.

“We can’t stop moving forward because of a road bump,” Li Yun had been concerned about being sued, but now that it had happened, it wasn’t too bad. The lawyer fee to He & Shang was painful, but he hoped to recoup the money back after bringing down Governor Ning. “Anyway, the apartment isn’t going to be completed for months, how about moving your family into downtown Yide?” 

Although his building was mostly occupied, he had some tenants who were moving out after their lease expired.

Once Li Yun returned back to the clinic, he received a call from Wing Bo. Within a week, he had uncovered that Dr. Xuan’s son had recently cleared up a large gambling debt. 

“Did you gather the info from a loan shark?” Li Yun asked.

“Yeah, do you want us to send someone to negotiate with them?” Wing Bo asked.

“If you can gather it peacefully…” In other words, Li Yun wanted to see if Wing Bo could take over the underground region around Chenchen. “How about Dr. Ming?”

“He’s on suspension for taking envelopes from patients.”

“You’re serious? How much did they accuse him of?”

“5000 yuan based on an account from one patient,” said Wing Bo. “However, they accused him of taking 50k over the past 10 years.”

Most doctors took envelopes from patients, so it wasn’t unusual. It was against hospital policy, but rarely ever enforced.  Chenchen Hospital had purposely used that to keep him quiet and damage his reputation.

“How about the patients?” Li Yun asked.

“Several of the patients have been approached by people who suggested that they sue Shennong," Wing Bo replied. "The other patients are still considering the option.”

Li Yun had expected it. It was only a matter of time before the other patients joined in on the lawsuit. “I’ll have our lawyer contact the patients and their lawyers directly.”

“You are looking to negotiate with the patients?”

“It depends. If Chenchen switched out their medicine, then they are also victims. Although not directly, we are the ones that had placed them in that situation.”

“Mr. Li, now is not a good time to be soft-hearted. The patients will not care who has caused them harm, they only care about receiving their compensation.”

“Hm…” Li Yun thought if he was in the patients’ position, he would do the same. "What information do you have on Mr. Bai?"