Chapter 166
Su Tao's mind was still lingering with Jiang Qinghan's last move, even after leaving the Yan Family's residence.
There's a sword form, called the Heart's Sword that can penetrate the heart of others from a distance. Jiang Qinghan's graceful footwork and lovely appearance were deeply imprinted into his mind along with her sword moves. But he soon sighed after thinking about their relationship. He had become the disciple of Jiang Qinghan, and even if they're in modern society, it's disgraceful for him to have other thoughts on his master through morals.
He recalled the scene of his ceremony. He felt complicated and regretful in his heart. Does that mean that he has gone under her skirt?
His phone rang when he reached the Three Flavour Hall, and it was from Tang Nanzheng. Su Tao was a little surprised that Tang Nanzheng was calling him, but when he picked up the phone, he could hear Tang Nanzheng's anxiously resounding voice, "There's a problem, Su Tao!"
Su Tao was briefly stunned before he replied, "Calm down and tell me what happened."
With a sigh, Tang Nanzheng answered, "Lou Zi'an's company has published an official announcement on their site, saying that the Medicine Deity Corporation is a cosmetics company that the TCM Association is grooming. Furthermore, they've also mentioned that there are many products out in the market that hold the signboard of TCM to deceive the consumers. They even mentioned the names of some companies, and your Three Flavour Cosmetics International is one of them!"
Su Tao had roughly figured what was going on from Tang Nanzheng's explanation. Since the latter had connections in the TCM industry, he naturally got his information fast and immediately informed Su Tao about it. After a brief pondering, Su Tao felt touched by the latter's actions and sighed, "Old Tang, thanks for informing me about this. I will look into this matter and come up with a countermeasure. Oh right, do you have more information about the Medicine Deity Corporation?"
Su Tao knew that unless Lou Zi'an was bored, the latter wouldn't come after his privately-run company. So there's only one explanation for this. The Medicine Deity Corporation was the one behind it, making use of Lou Zi'an's connections to establish authority in the industry and hit on their competitors. With a bitter smile, Tang Nanzheng replied, "The Medicine Deity Corporation is under Wang Guofeng's name, but ran by the Medicine King Valley!"
A flash of sharpness flickered in Su Tao's eyes, since he had figured it out now. Wang Guofeng and Bai Fan must have allied to target him. Although he's confident in the Three Flavour Cosmetics International, even the best product would be afraid of others defaming it, and the two of them were genuinely vicious to hit him through Lou Zi'an's hands.
But analysing it more in-depth, using such a vile method to beat down on opponents wasn't a wise move since it would result in a severe distrust from the consumers to have products associated with TCM herbs. Putting it in simple words, this was a vile action to disrupt the industry's development.
"I'll need Old Tang, you, to help me with something!" Su Tao said after a brief pondering.
Tang Nanzheng naturally wouldn't refuse, and after listening to Su Tao's words, he replied, "Rest assured. You just need me to throw my face aside and help you deal with some matters!"
After he hung up the phone with Tang Nanzheng, Su Tao couldn't help sighing out and called Yan Jing. He had told the latter precisely what he heard from Tang Nanzheng, so Yan Jing immediately decided to hold a management meeting. Flagging a cab, Su Tao immediately headed for the Three Flavour Cosmetics International.
Although he wasn't a frequent guest to the Three Flavour Cosmetics International, he left a deep impression in the female employees here. Thus, he was swiftly led to the meeting room. There were ten-odd people seated in the meeting room, and all of them were medium- to high-ranked executives. He was sitting at the center of the table's right-wing. After a brief moment, Yan Jing and Vera had rushed over as well. Both of their expressions were exceptionally grave, since they both knew that this was a crisis for the company.
Making use of Su Tao's fame as the Physician King, the Three Flavour Cosmetics International had obtained success in their first batch of products, attracting the attention of many investors in the process. They had already walked through most of the process, and they're already at the contract signing phase. So if they couldn't handle this crisis well, then it might affect the investments coming in.
A graceful and well-rounded woman in a white suit stood by the projector. She's the Branding Director of the company, Gong Zishan. Her job was mainly to develop and preserve the brand's name and reputation. Pointing at the PowerPoint slides, she helplessly said, "These are all the negative news that we've gathered from Baidu, Google, and other search engines. The other party's intention is to slander our products. If we've guessed it correctly, it should be the recently formed Medicine Deity Corporation. We've also studied their products, and there's a major copyright infringement here. In terms of efficiency, their products are also far inferior to our own."
Hearing her words, Su Tao had realised that even before Tang Nanzheng informed him about this matter, the management of the Three Flavour Cosmetics International had already noticed the other party.
After a brief silence, Vera said, "I have already informed the Legal Department to contact the Medicine Deity Corporation and the Trolls Workshop that incited the public opinion. The other party's attitude is extremely unyielding, and demanded us to go through the proper channels."
Economic disputes and lawsuits were incredibly complicated in China, and they could also drag for a long time. So by the time the Three Flavour Cosmetics International goes through the proper channel to deal with this issue, their reputation would have already been ruined by the time the sentence was out.
Yan Jing deeply sighed and said, "If the proper channels don't work, then we can only resort to unusual means."
Su Tao knew what she meant, the unusual means simply meant through brute force like the underground society. Although this was a shortcut, it would also be a threat to the company in its long-term development.
Taking a deep look at Yan Jing, Su Tao kept his silence. After all, it wouldn't look good for him to question Yan Jing's decision in the executive meetings.
The meeting continued. The management of the company was carefully selected, all of the members possessed ample experience. Two hours later, they have determined a strategy to deal with this that mainly consisted of holding a press conference to deal with the TCM Association's announcement.
After the meeting, Su Tao, Vera, and Yan Jing came over to Su Tao's office. Even though Su Tao practically didn't come here at all, the Chairman's office was still well-maintained.
Yan Jing could tell that Su Tao had something to say, so she asked, "You feel that resorting to the underground society's method to deal with this issue isn't right?"
Su Tao nodded his head as he sighed, "The other party used a despicable method, and it'll only put us on the same level as them if we can't deal with it properly!"
Yan Jing sighed before she helplessly replied, "I know what you're worried about. You hope that the Three Flavour Cosmetics International could be free from all dirty means, but that's too idealistic. Under China's current economic background, it's hard for us to deal with this issue if we don't resort to any unusual means."
Vera stood to the side and shrugged. Although, most of the time, her opinion was different from Yan Jing's, it was surprising that she was in agreement with the latter on this matter. "If we walk through the judicial procedures, there's only a 50% chance of success, according to the Legal Department's estimation, since our opponent isn't a pure-profit company. Even if we can succeed, it will take a long time, at least a year."
Taking a deep breath, Su Tao responded, "Leave this matter to me."
Yan Jing and Vera exchanged a glance and they could see the helplessness in each other's eyes.
The fragrance of barbeque emanated from the garden. Although Wang Guofeng seldom touched greasy food, he had no idea what Bai Fan added to the food, since the fragrance made him drool. Bai Fan held onto a metal plate and placed the skewers of barbecued meat on the table while smiling. "Brother Guofeng, come and give a try of my skill!"
Shaking his head, Wang Guofeng gave a complicated smile. "I don't dare to eat!" Although Bai Fan was known as the Medicine King, he was also an expert in using poison. So who would dare to eat something cooked by him?
Bai Fan laughed before he looked Ole Seventh, who was taking over the barbeque. Ole Seventh blew a whistle and two ferocious hounds charged over. Bai Fan sliced the meat on the skewer and the meat fell on the floor, then the hounds started to clean it up.
Wang Guofeng knew that Bai Fan was doing this to prove that the food he cooked wasn't poisonous. With a smile, he put a piece of meat into his mouth and felt the fragrance spreading out in his mouth. It made him feel energised, so he exclaimed out in shock, "What meat is this? Why is it so fragrant?"
Bai Fan chuckled, "What would you think if I tell you that it's human meat?"
Wang Guofeng knew that Bai Fan was joking, so he faintly replied, "Then I have to thank you for that. I've never tasted human meat in my life!"
Bai Fan also started to eat before he raised his cup. "Let us cheer to celebrate the victory of the Medicine Deity Corporation!"
Bumping cups with Bai Fan, Wang Guofeng reminded, "It's not a victory yet, we only swept the Three Flavour Cosmetics International into a storm of crisis."
Shaking his finger, Bai Fan replied, "Rumors can kill! I have also planted my spies in the Three Flavour Cosmetics International, and according to them, the two main products of the Three Flavour Cosmetics International's sales have been fluctuating. It's something that has never occurred in the past, and the Medicine Deity Corporation will replace them sooner or later!"
Wang Guofeng sighed, "You must have spent a lot of money to plant spies in the Three Flavour Cosmetics International."
A flash of coldness flickered across Bai Fan's eyes as he replied, "In this age, people are all greedy. As long as you offer the right price, what can't be accomplished?"
Wang Guofeng bitterly smiled. "I'm fortunate that I'm not your enemy. It's truly terrible to be your enemy." Bai Fan had inherited the cunning and viciousness of his master, Xu Tiande, and even exceeded the latter!
Waving his finger, Bai Fan spoke again, "We've already allied. Be it in the present or future; we will be eating meat and drinking wine together."
Wang Guofeng faintly smiled as he gulped down the wine in his cup. He realised that Bai Fan had already bewitched him in becoming a chess piece and tool. He wasn't like that in the past, but that was how easy it was to fall. It was akin to drug addiction, and once you've gotten yourself involved in it, not only will it be tough for you to get out, you will fall deeper into it!