Next, thirty medical experts renowned throughout Dragon Country stepped forward to speak up and vouch for the new product!
They all staked their personal reputations on guaranteeing the product!
If any problems arose, people could hold them accountable!
"Pfft!"
At this, Chen Guiyuan felt like he was about to vomit blood.
It was over!
This time, it was completely over!
The Jiangcheng pharmaceutical industry was about to undergo a massive revolution, and the impact would hit him the hardest. He would likely be crushed to death by Shang Hongwei!
He was in big trouble...
Next, Shang Hongwei also displayed various approval procedures, certificates of conformity, and other documents.
He even brought out all the results and data from the clinical trials.
He even invited Third Master and others who had undergone clinical trials to speak from their own personal experiences.
Seeing that the Black Ginseng Jade Bone Ointment had such miraculous effects, everyone was going crazy.
Many bigwigs in their circle knew that Third Master had severed his finger recently, but who would have thought it would heal in just a few days.
Miraculous!
Simply miraculous!
"I announce that every guest present today will be gifted a box!"
As soon as these words were spoken, the entire venue erupted in cheers.
Chen Guiyuan's heart felt as though it were dying.
Everyone else was beaming with joy upon receiving the Black Ginseng Jade Bone Ointment, but he alone could not manage a smile.
"Secondly, sales will officially begin at three o'clock this afternoon! Because the medicinal herbs are extremely precious, the first batch consists of only one hundred thousand boxes! The pricing is also a bit on the expensive side!"
However, the distributors and major pharmacies did not care about any of that.
No matter how many boxes there were, they wanted them all.
After the press conference ended, Shang Hongwei walked up to Chen Guiyuan holding a box of the ointment.
"Chairman Chen, this was prepared specially for you! How is it? Is this surprise thrilling enough?"
Shang Hongwei sneered.
His son, Shang Jingtian, standing behind him, sneered, "Uncle Chen, you've sat on the throne of the Medicine King long enough. It's about time someone else took a turn!"
"Hahaha..."
The father and son of the Shang family burst into laughter.
Chen Guiyuan clenched his fists so tightly that the veins bulged on the back of his hands, and his entire body trembled.
"Chairman Chen, we won't see you out!"
"Oh right, Uncle Chen, please say hello to your Xiaoran for me, and tell her I miss her!"
A triumphant look crossed the faces of the Shang father and son.
Soon, the news of the Shang family's new product launch spread across Jiangcheng and several surrounding cities.
Even pharmaceutical giants in the major cities of Dragon Country turned their attention to it!
At three o'clock in the afternoon, the Black Ginseng Jade Bone Ointment officially went on sale.
One hundred thousand boxes of ointment were snapped up in just over a dozen seconds!
Pre-order figures were even more exaggerated, reaching over one million boxes within a few minutes.
What was more, the orders continued to surge without a pause.
Some major distributors and large pharmacies wanted hundreds of thousands of boxes in a single order.
Not only that, but distributors who usually paid only upon delivery were now scrambling to hand over their deposits.
Some even wired the entire payment upfront.
Just take your time producing the ointment; they had already gotten the money where it needed to be.
This was a situation that had never happened before!
From this wave alone, the Shang family made an absolute fortune.
Furthermore, the stock price of the Shang Group skyrocketed, dealing a massive blow to other pharmaceutical enterprises.
Chen's Pharmaceuticals took the brunt of the impact and suffered the worst, with seven or eight hundred million evaporating from its market value in just a few short hours.
Yet everyone knew this was merely the beginning.
The Medicine King of Jiangcheng was about to change hands.
Chen Guiyuan felt like a walking corpse.
He had just gathered all the senior executives of Chen's Pharmaceuticals to discuss countermeasures.
Yet they could come up with no solutions at all!
Facing such an ancient medicinal formula, they were utterly powerless to fight back!
Moreover, Shang Hongwei had clearly planned this for some time and made thorough preparations, leaving Chen's Pharmaceuticals not a single glimmer of an opportunity.
Chen Guiyuan had no idea how he even managed to get home.
His mind was entirely blank, and his consciousness felt blurred.
The entire Chen family had also learned of the matter and rushed over one after another.
Although the Chen family was a prominent clan now, Chen Guiyuan was their cash cow.
If he fell, they would all be finished as well.
"How on earth did Shang Hongwei manage to get his hands on an ancient formula like that?"
The members of the Chen family were consumed by frustration.
"Guiyuan, is there truly no other way?"
Chen Guofeng asked.
Chen Guiyuan shook his head. "None! The true power of the Shang Group's ancient formula is only just beginning to show! We have no way to retaliate!"
"This..."
The members of the Chen family were running around in a frantic panic.
After getting off work, Chen Xiaoran also hurried back. "Dad, stay calm for a moment. I'll think of something too!"
However, she had just joined the Black Gold Consortium and hadn't even managed to recognize all her superiors and leaders.
How could she possibly help?
Hearing the noisy commotion outside, Ye Lingtian walked out of his room.
The already furious and depressed members of the Chen family immediately vented all their anger onto Ye Lingtian.
"You bring nothing but bad luck! Ever since you arrived, the Chen family hasn't had a single moment of peace!"
"You offend this person and that person, and all you bring are negative things!"
"I think you are a curse upon the Chen family! Look at us now! The Chen family is facing its greatest crisis! The position of Medicine King is gone, and whether the Chen family can even maintain a foothold in Jiangcheng is now a question!"
...
He Wenqian quickly stepped forward to defend Ye Lingtian.
"What does this have to do with Tian'er? That is completely baseless!"
Chen Xiaoran also glared furiously at Ye Lingtian. "Ever since you came to our house, everything has changed! It's all your fault!"
Even Chen Guiyuan slowly raised his head, casting a resentful glare at Ye Lingtian. "You really are my jinx! First you humiliated me at the grand ceremony, then you targeted the bandit leader, and now even the position of Medicine King is gone!"
Ye Lingtian looked at him and said coldly, "Dad! Actually, this crisis facing the Chen family was caused by you!"
Before he spoke, his words startled everyone.
As soon as Ye Lingtian said this, the expressions on everyone's faces changed drastically.
How could this possibly be blamed on Chen Guiyuan?
This was clearly a case of Shang Hongwei acquiring an ancient medicinal formula, something completely beyond anyone's control.
It certainly couldn't be blamed on Chen Guiyuan.
In fact, there was no way to drag Chen Guiyuan into this at all.
"Me?"
Chen Guiyuan was stunned at first, then flew into a rage. "Blame me? Fine! Tell me how this is my fault?"
Everyone else was equally curious as to why.
Ye Lingtian asked, "Dad, do you know how Shang Hongwei got his hands on that ancient medicinal formula?"
"He stumbled upon it by accident! How else could he have gotten it?"
Chen Guiyuan retorted crossly.
"Wrong! He picked up that ancient formula!"
"What? Picked it up? Picked it up from where?"
All eyes turned to him with intense curiosity.
Ye Lingtian looked at Chen Guiyuan and smiled. "Dad, that ancient formula is actually the very piece of paper I gave you! After you threw it away, Shang Hongwei picked it up!"
"What?"
As soon as these words were spoken, Chen Guofeng and the others looked at Chen Guiyuan in disbelief, seemingly asking whether such a thing had really happened.
"Impossible! Absolute bullshit!"
Chen Guiyuan immediately denied it.
"It's true I threw away that scrap of paper you gave me, but that was the exclusive ancient formula of the Longevity Divine Doctor? Impossible!"
Chen Xiaoran also immediately sneered. "Ye Lingtian, I've realized you really know how to make up stories! If you had an ancient formula like that, would you still be living in my house and acting so subservient? Would you just hand it over to my dad? Impossible!"
"Why don't you take a look in the mirror? A bumpkin possessing an ancient formula worth one hundred billion?"
"Even bragging has its limits! Did you just say that because you saw Guiyuan throw away the scrap of paper you gave him? Since there's no way to verify it, you can just make up whatever you want!"
...
Chen Guofeng and the others also rebuked Ye Lingtian angrily.
He Wenqian also felt it was far too absurd.
Leaving aside whether Ye Lingtian actually possessed such an ancient formula, even if his own father had it, he wouldn't just hand it out to people casually.
He wouldn't even have enough time to use it himself.
"There is a way to verify it! Who says there's no way to verify it!"
Chen Guiyuan suddenly cried out in alarm.
Everyone turned to look at him.
"Wenqian, where is the ointment he gave you? Go get it!"
He Wenqian quickly brought the ointment over.
Holding the medicine box, Chen Guiyuan asked, "This is the Black Ginseng Jade Bone Ointment you mentioned, right?"
Ye Lingtian nodded. "Yes."
Chen Guiyuan pulled out another medicine box and said, "This is the Black Ginseng Jade Bone Ointment from Shang's Pharmaceuticals! Won't we know the truth as soon as we compare them?"
"Right!"
Chen Xiaoran nodded in agreement.
Placing the two medicine boxes side by side, they opened both of them.
"Whoa!"
Someone immediately gasped in astonishment.
They were completely different!
The ointment Ye Lingtian had given He Wenqian was a pitch-black clump, whereas the one from Shang's Pharmaceuticals was crystal clear and transparent.
Furthermore, the ointment from Shang's Pharmaceuticals emitted waves of pleasant medicinal fragrance, while Ye Lingtian's ointment stank to high heaven and was utterly repulsive.
Even someone who knew nothing about medicine could tell at a glance that these two ointments were entirely different things.
Moreover, Shang's Pharmaceuticals' ointment looked and smelled like actual medicine!
Ye Lingtian's ointment looked like something picked out of a dumpster.
Chen Guiyuan sneered, "Do I still need to spell it out? The result is obvious!"
Chen Xiaoran crossed her arms. "I'd like to see how you're going to talk your way out of this!"
He Wenqian's expression also turned unsightly.
Ye Lingtian had been exposed on the spot once again!
"What kind of trash is this? Don't try to compare it to Shang's Pharmaceuticals' Black Ginseng Jade Bone Ointment!"
"Isn't your whole purpose to make Guiyuan regret his actions? To make him think it was all his fault? What good does doing this do for you?"
...
Chen Guofeng questioned him repeatedly.
"Both of these are Black Ginseng Jade Bone Ointment! It's just that the medicinal ingredients are different! The box I gave Mom used the absolute highest-grade ingredients, which are the original medicinal herbs from the ancient formula. Shang's Pharmaceuticals replaced them with low-cost ingredients! The difference in effectiveness is like heaven and earth!"
Ye Lingtian explained.
"Hahaha..."
Not a single person present believed this explanation!
Including He Wenqian.
Mainly because Shang's Pharmaceuticals' Black Ginseng Jade Bone Ointment had been authoritatively appraised and repeatedly clinically tested by various experts and divine doctors.
Yet Ye Lingtian relied entirely on nothing but his own mouth!
Who would believe that!
"Mom, just throw his trash away!"
Chen Xiaoran picked it up, ready to toss it into the trash can.
Fearing that it would hurt Ye Lingtian's self-esteem, He Wenqian quickly snatched it back.
"It's fine, Tian'er. Mom believes you, and Mom applies it every day!"
Anyway, after applying it for so many days, it hadn't done her body any harm.
Consider it a way to keep Tian'er happy.
As long as his adoptive mother continued to apply it, Ye Lingtian didn't care about anything else.
Let them be; it had nothing to do with him anyway.
Chen Guiyuan glared fiercely at Ye Lingtian a few times. "I shouldn't have thrown that piece of paper away back then! I should have opened it to see what was written inside, and slapped it right across your face! That way you wouldn't be lying now and blaming me!"
Chen Guiyuan was already in a foul mood, and being provoked by Ye Lingtian like this only made him angrier.
"Oh my, is Uncle Chen this angry?"
At that moment, a sarcastic voice drifted over.
They saw Shang Jingtian walking in with a few people in tow.
In merely half a day, he had put Chen's Pharmaceuticals through the wringer.
Shang Jingtian had come to flaunt his power.
For the longest time, they had been firmly suppressed by Chen Guiyuan, unable to hold their heads up high wherever they went.
He had even pursued Chen Xiaoran, only to be ruthlessly rejected.
Now that the Chen family was in decline, he had finally risen to power.
"Shang Jingtian, what are you doing here?"
Chen Xiaoran asked coldly.
Ye Lingtian was the man she hated the most right now, and Shang Jingtian was the man she had hated the most before.
He was a notorious playboy who had done all kinds of evil, ruining countless young maidens.
"Naturally, I'm here to check on Uncle Chen, and by the way, to check on you and bring up the matter of our marriage!"
Shang Jingtian's eyes roamed up and down over Chen Xiaoran's body.
Chen Xiaoran grew furious. "Our marriage? In your dreams! I, Chen Xiaoran, would rather marry a dog than marry you!"
As she spoke, she cast a sidelong glance at Ye Lingtian.
And she wouldn't marry him either!
Shang Jingtian sneered, "It might have been impossible in the past, but what about now? The Chen family is on the verge of collapse. If my Shang family doesn't pull back, the Chen family won't have a single place to survive in Jiangcheng!"
A trace of ruthlessness flashed across Shang Jingtian's face.
"What do you think, Uncle Chen? Actually, I don't think we have to become mortal enemies! We can completely cooperate instead! As long as you marry Xiaoran to me, the Chen and Shang families will become one family. Why distinguish between yours and mine? Whoever plays the role of Medicine King is the same anyway!"
Chen Xiaoran was on the verge of exploding with rage. "Shameless!"
The rest of the Chen family was equally filled with indignation.
A member of the younger generation dared to speak such words inside the Chen residence?
Would he ever have dared in the past?
Yet right now, they had no other choice.
Everyone had no choice but to swallow their anger!
Chen Guiyuan looked at him and asked, "I actually have a question I'd like to ask you."
"Uncle Chen, ask away!"
"How did your family's ancient formula come about? I heard someone say you picked it up?"
Chen Guiyuan asked.
"What?"
Hearing this question, Shang Jingtian's expression changed instantly.
He didn't even dare to look at Chen Guiyuan.
How did he know the ancient medicinal formula was picked up?
Could it have something to do with him?
He even started to tremble slightly.
Every eye in the room turned toward Shang Jingtian.
Shang Jingtian had seen plenty of major storms alongside his father, and he quickly regained his composure.
He absolutely could not admit to this matter under any circumstances.
"Uncle Chen, you can't joke like that, can you? Please, would an ancient formula of this caliber be picked up off the street? Do you even believe that yourself?"
Shang Jingtian sneered.
Of course he didn't believe it!
No one present believed it.
Yet Chen Guiyuan only wanted to expose Ye Lingtian's lie and leave him with no place to hide his shame.
"To tell you the truth! This was bought by my father for a sky-high price from a big shot in Zhongzhou, the provincial capital!"
Shang Jingtian immediately fabricated a story.
The provincial capital of Zhongzhou possessed numerous medical and martial arts family clans.
The appearance of such a medicinal formula was hardly surprising!
Chen Guiyuan immediately looked at Ye Lingtian. "Did you hear that? That's how their Black Ginseng Jade Bone Ointment came to be!"
"Ye Lingtian, you really are utterly shameless!"
Chen Xiaoran said angrily.
Shang Jingtian had no interest in meddling in the Chen family's internal strife. He looked at Chen Guiyuan and said, "Uncle Chen, you understand the Chen family's situation better than anyone, and you know the future landscape even better! You know my father; he will definitely push you to your deathbed!"
Chen Guiyuan and Shang Hongwei were irreconcilable mortal enemies.
Given such an opportunity, Shang Hongwei would undoubtedly destroy him completely.
"However, I can offer the Chen family a way out!"
"Oh?"
All the members of the Chen family looked over.
"First: The Chen family submits to my Shang family from now on and hands over the Scar Removal Ointment ancient formula; Second: Marry Xiaoran to me! That way, we will truly become one family, and the Chen family's crisis will naturally be resolved!"
As soon as Shang Jingtian said these words, dead silence fell over the Chen family.
Especially Chen Xiaoran, whose face turned as pale as paper.
"Don't even dream of making me marry you!"
"There's no need to accept or reject so early. This is only the beginning! In a few days, you'll find out just how difficult your situation really is! By then, you'll be the ones contacting me!"
Shang Jingtian left amidst hearty laughter.
Chen Guiyuan slumped his head, completely crestfallen.
Where was even a shred of the demeanor belonging to the Medicine King?
Chen Guofeng inquired, "Guiyuan, can the situation really be that terrible? I feel like at worst, the position of Medicine King changes hands, but it shouldn't come to a dead end, right?"
"You don't understand Shang Hongwei. He has been fighting with me for twenty or thirty years! We know each other far too well. Given an opportunity like this, he will plunge me into irrecoverable damnation! It's going to be much harder than we imagine!"
"Then is there truly no other way?"
Chen Guiyuan shook his head. "Not for now!"
This time, the Chen family truly understood how perilous the situation had become.
"Mom, just say the word, and I'll clear up the Chen family's predicament!"
Suddenly, Ye Lingtian's voice rang out.
Everyone's gaze turned toward him.
He Wenqian hurriedly said, "Lingtian, Mom knows you mean well, but you don't need to get involved in this!"
"Ye Lingtian, I'm begging you, please don't add to the chaos right now, okay?"
"Do you still think our Chen family isn't chaotic enough? You'll clear it up? What are you going to use to clear it up?"
Chen Xiaoran was trembling with anger.
Ye Lingtian swept his gaze across them. "Actually, whatever happens to your Chen family has nothing to do with me! I only care about Mom. It's solely for Mom's sake that I'm stepping in."
Both Chen Xiaoran and Chen Guiyuan were infuriated.
Seeing that Ye Lingtian was about to be driven out once again, He Wenqian hurriedly pulled him back into the bedroom.
That night was long and agonizing.
Chen Guiyuan didn't close his eyes for even a second.
In the dead of night, bad news came one after another.
"Chairman Chen, it's a disaster! Six of our top eight distributors have already severed their cooperation with us!"
"Chairman Chen! Seventeen of our medicinal herb suppliers have cancelled their contracts!"
"Chairman Chen! Over five hundred pharmacies in Jiangcheng have successively pulled our products from their shelves!"
"Chairman Chen! The massive volume of products piled up in our warehouses can no longer be shipped out!"
"Chairman Chen! A total of 1.8 billion in orders have been returned to us!"
...
Yet everyone knew that this was still nothing.
The crueler part was yet to come.
Sure enough, the next day, the moment Chen Guiyuan stepped foot into the company, news came that the stock price had plummeted once again.
Another billion and change evaporated.
This was a devastating blow to the vitality of Chen's Pharmaceuticals!
And this had happened in merely half a day and a single night!
The losses generated were astronomical!
By contrast, in just a single day, the net profit of Shang's Pharmaceuticals exceeded five billion.
The Black Ginseng Jade Bone Ointment had thoroughly made a name for itself across Dragon Country!
Pharmaceutical giants from all over the country flocked to seek cooperation with Shang's Pharmaceuticals!
Such was the value of a single ancient formula!
Shang Hongwei, the new Medicine King of Jiangcheng, had burst onto the scene.
Chen Guiyuan lay slumped in his chair, looking utterly lifeless.
He seemed to have aged decades in a single instant!
Bad news followed one after another in an endless stream.
He had already become numb to it all!
"Chairman Chen! Our capital chain has run into a problem! There's a gap of six hundred million!"
Assistant Wang Pengfei rushed in once again.
He had lost count of how many times he had rushed in like this.
"Activate our backup funds in the Jiangcheng Bank! Fill the gap first!"
Chen Guiyuan ordered.
"Chairman Chen! It's a call from the president of the Jiangcheng Bank's main branch!"
Outside, the secretary immediately patched through a phone call.
"Old Chen, I'm sorry! My bank has reassessed your Chen's Pharmaceuticals, and the operational risks are simply too high. Therefore, the backup funds held with our bank have been temporarily frozen! You'd better think of something else! Beep beep beep..."