Chapter 368: Chapter 368: Buying Land Again
"Mu Ziquan, what are you saying? Do you think this is the army? This is a hospital! You want to fire us? On what grounds?"
Fu Mingyue’s attitude was also unyielding. She was a daughter of the Fu family, married to Old Three of the Xia family, a prominent clan in the Imperial City.
With the Xiao Family—her fourth sister-in-law’s maternal family—backing her, she really didn’t think much of the Mu Family.
And now this grandson of the Mu Family actually wanted to fire her over some country bumpkin.
If word of this got out, it would be extremely damaging to her reputation.
"On what grounds? Third Aunt, you have the nerve to ask that? I saw with my own eyes that you weren’t at your posts, arguing in the hallway during work hours. Isn’t that reason enough?"
Fu Mingyue was so taken aback by his shouting that she froze, unable to process what was happening.
Xia Qiuming then turned and shouted at Second Aunt Jiang, "And you! You’re the head nurse, yet you’re slacking off on the job. You’re going to have to give me an explanation today."
Second Aunt Jiang was speechless.
What was there to explain? In the past, she had always relied on her husband’s eldest brother’s influence to bully others.
But two months ago, her husband’s eldest brother’s family had cut ties with their branch of the family, and her husband was gradually being ostracized at work.
He would come home in a terrible mood. As for her, a lowly head nurse, no one had dared to make a move against her. But now, she was about to be fired too!
These days, many state-owned factories were being taken over by private contractors, and the number of laid-off employees was staggering. It was said that the ones being let go were always those who liked to slack off and take advantage of the system.
The Vice-President’s words were like needles stabbing her in the chest, the pain so sharp she could hardly breathe.
When Fu Mingyue came to her senses, she looked at Xia Qiuming and saw a coldness in his eyes she had never seen before.
It was filled with loathing for her. The look sent a chill down her spine, and she didn’t even dare to meet his eyes.
"Xiao Ming, what is this attitude? I’m your elder, after all! How can you speak to me like that?"
"This is working hours. I am the Vice-President, your superior. Doctor Fu, do you realize who you’re speaking to?"
When Fu Mingyue heard this, she wanted to jump up and start screaming at him, but she knew it was working hours.
She didn’t dare say another word and could only retreat to her ultrasound room with her tail between her legs. A long line of people was waiting there for their scans.
On any other day, she might have snapped at the patients, but today she didn’t dare to act out and quietly got back to work.
"I’m so sorry. You shouldn’t have had to put up with that." Once everyone was gone, Mu Ziquan sincerely apologized to Gu Jiaojiao.
"Hah! We just ran into a mad dog, is all. It’s not your fault, so don’t worry about it. Besides, it’s not like we lost that fight."
Gu Jiaojiao actually found herself comforting Mu Ziquan in return. Calming a patient’s emotions was one of a doctor’s most fundamental skills.
Her instinctive kindness brought a visibly touched smile to Mu Ziquan’s face.
He was already quite handsome, and his smile could make the flowers in the garden below seem dull in comparison.
But Xia Qiuming had no time to appreciate the sight. He asked urgently, "Jiaojiao, how did you find the time to come over today?"
"I came today mainly to personally run some tests on Mu Ziquan’s blood. I want to see if there are any other toxins in his system. Take him to get a blood sample drawn."
Gu Jiaojiao was planning to use the equipment from her ’space’ to do the analysis, which was why she’d come to the hospital’s lab.
Xia Qiuming, however, had no idea Gu Jiaojiao wouldn’t be using the lab’s equipment. He was still marveling at the accuracy of her previous test results.
He had always assumed it was an issue of skill and had even berated the lab technicians a few times for their supposed lack of focus.
The lab technician, furious but not daring to speak up, had desperately wanted to say, ’The results all come from the instruments’ analysis! How could there be any difference?!’
While Gu Jiaojiao was busy at the hospital, Su Shuochi wasn’t idle either. He had taken Geng Haoyi and Fu Junyuan to the suburbs to look at a plot of land they were interested in.
"Su, if we buy such a large plot of land, can we really make our investment back?" Fu Junyuan asked tentatively.
"You dare question Su? Have you forgotten who we’re talking about?" Geng Haoyi aimed a light kick at him to shut him up.
For once, Su Shuochi patiently decided to give his two right-hand men a detailed analysis of the current business landscape in the Imperial City.
"My medical equipment factory in Qing City, a state-owned enterprise, has already started turning a profit. It recently took on orders from major hospitals in Qing City and from Ren Fangyu in Yun City.
Those orders alone are enough to keep us in production until the end of the year, so I want to build another factory in the suburbs of the Imperial City.
Here in the Imperial City, there are already privately-contracted pharmaceutical factories, textile mills, cloth factories...
Real estate is already dominated by the various prominent families. There’s no way for us to squeeze in, and I have no interest in fighting for a piece of that pie.
The medical equipment industry, however, is an untapped market. None of the prominent families have the R&D personnel for it, so no one has entered this field yet.
We’ll be the first movers. Besides, medical equipment—especially high-end instruments—is something every major hospital needs."
Su Shuochi shrewdly held one thing back. His wife’s ’space’ contained thousands of designs he could replicate.
All of which could be passed off as the results of his "research."
Jiaojiao had said that even though it was cheating, it truly benefited the country and its people, so it was good for everyone.
He would draw up the blueprints for the most advanced instruments and hand them over to the state’s researchers, while he and his men would produce several mid-range models.
The pharmaceutical business was the Xiao Family’s domain, a family-run factory, so he had no intention of meddling in it.
"Su, we’re sure to make a fortune following you. It’s not like we’re short on cash, either—we still haven’t divided up the profits from the transport business."
Fu Junyuan, quick on the uptake, immediately voiced his support. He had been thinking about buying a few large trucks before this.
Now, he’d changed his mind. "Let’s just hire more drivers and run the trucks in day and night shifts!" he suggested.
Though Geng Haoyi didn’t have Fu Junyuan’s sharp business mind, he understood immediately. "Alright, I’ll leave the management to you. You can train a few subordinates."
"Better yet, go to the universities and find some graduating seniors. Contact them ahead of time so they can start working for us right after graduation."
Su Shuochi ordered Geng Haoyi and Fu Junyuan to send people to make contact.
"Su, university graduates get guaranteed jobs for life right after they graduate. Will they really come to a private company like ours?" Geng Haoyi asked uncertainly.
"How will you know if you don’t try? Targeting the children of prominent families might be more reliable."
"Right, Su’s right. Students from poor families who worked their way into university probably won’t come, but it’s a different story for the heirs of prominent families. Su, leave this to me."
While the three of them discussed their plans, they also moved quickly to purchase the plot of land, with Geng Haoyi using his grandfather’s connections.
Mr. Geng was deeply grateful to Gu Jiaojiao for saving his son’s life, and now Su Shuochi was helping his only grandson build a career.
He was more than willing to grease the wheels for them, especially since their plans were well within the bounds of government policy.
Although he had yet to meet Gu Jiaojiao and her husband since their arrival in the Imperial City, he had already received her health pills on multiple occasions.
’So what was the harm in quietly helping her husband out a little?’
However, there was one recent matter Mr. Geng wanted to discuss with Gu Jiaojiao in person: her older brother, Gu Jinghua.
Gu Jinghua felt that in a major city like the Imperial City, which was teeming with talented people, he was stuck in an awkward position—unable to aim high but unwilling to stoop low. He wanted to return to Qing City and take a job in a government administrative unit there.
In an equivalent department in the Imperial City, Gu Jinghua would only ever be a minor clerk, but things would be different back in Qing City. There, he could be the second-in-command.
