Changing the Plan

He switched to WeChat and checked his balance. He had 26,000 yuan left.

That wasn't nearly enough to settle the factory issue. He still had to make another trip to Loguetown, but not now. Rushing to do business would only make people think he was desperate.

As usual, he checked up on superpowers. Those ridiculous group chat friends got information quickly; many things that never made the news would spread through the group first. But whether he could find a superpowered person, Zhou Qi had no confidence at all.

Better than nothing.

He went back to Tongfu Hall and bought five boxes of Amoxicillin.

That was also one reason Zhou Qi wanted to produce it himself. Amoxicillin was a prescription drug, and major pharmacies simply did not sell it. If he did not make it himself, he could never get that much medicine.

However, as a nationwide chain pharmacy, Tongfu Hall could easily skim off a little anti-inflammatory drug. Too much, though, would not work.

He threw away the original bottles and replaced them with glass jars left over from canned food he had eaten. He had also ground off the advertising labels on the lids with Space Threads, ensuring that no information could be seen.

Money was no longer the problem. Zhou Qi began worrying about qualifications again.

After all, a pharmaceutical factory was different from an ordinary factory. People could die from taking its products, so naturally, the required procedures and qualifications were far more numerous.

According to the Drug Administration law, establishing a pharmaceutical factory required:

1. Pharmaceutical technicians, engineering technicians, and corresponding skilled workers who had been legally certified;

2. Factory buildings, facilities, and sanitary conditions suited to pharmaceutical production;

3. An organization, personnel, and necessary instruments and equipment capable of conducting quality management and testing for the drugs produced;

4. Rules and regulations ensuring drug quality;

5. Required documents including a pharmaceutical production license, business license, organization code, national tax registration, local tax registration, and a GMP certificate for the refining process.

This was completely different from his idea of setting up two production lines and getting started in a small workshop...

What should he do?

After thinking it over, Zhou Qi decided to ask the all-powerful group chat friends.

He entered a QQ group called Nanhai Gundam Model Group and asked directly, "I want to open a pharmaceutical factory, but I don't have the qualifications. What should I do?"

Anyone living in Nanhai who could afford to play with Gundam models would not come from an ordinary family. Naturally, they had broad knowledge and could offer him advice.

"Easy. Just buy an existing one!"

"You could also find an agency that handles qualifications. It doesn't matter if you don't have them; as long as you pay, they can sort it all out for you. I happen to work in this field. Brother, want to chat privately?"

"Uh, sorry, but the factory I want to open won't be in Nanhai..."

"As long as it's in Dongguang Province, there's no problem!"

"Nahne Province, is that okay?"

"...Farewell!"

"Is opening a pharmaceutical factory in Nanhe Province reliable?" someone asked.

"I think it's pretty reliable. Nanhe has so many people, so the market potential is huge. Bro, what are you producing? Sildenafil? Count me in? I have some spare cash..."

"Spare cash?"

"Not much, just thirty to fifty million or so..."

"Uh..." Zhou Qi watched helplessly as the entire conversation veered toward health supplements within a dozen seconds. He could only leave the group chat in resignation.

Still, the group chat friends had truly given him a solution. They had even opened up a new path to making money for him!

That was right. Sildenafil was a good product too!

Whatever else could be said about the One Piece World, it definitely had enough nobles. They did no productive work and could only indulge themselves night after night. But they did not like exercising either. Could their bodies handle that over time?

And unlike anti-inflammatory drugs, anti-inflammatory drugs made money from navy soldiers and army soldiers. In the end, that money still came from the World Government.

If he sold them too expensively, he would have to worry that the World Government would reverse-engineer his drugs and kick him out of the market.

But Sildenafil made money from nobles.

Since the World Government would not need to pay for it, they would not care.

Oh, what if other countries imitated it?

Come on. There was only one Vegapunk in this world. Without Vegapunk, what gave them the right to reverse-engineer Sildenafil?

First, he needed to see if anyone was selling a factory...

Only when the matter was right in front of him did Zhou Qi realize the importance of connections.

He often saw people online talking about how important connections were, but he had never felt much about it.

After all, I'm just a worker. Even if I know some boss or department head, what use is that? Can they raise my salary?

But now, he understood.

Even if his hometown were upgraded to county status, it would still only be a small county town. The factories there did not even have official websites, so there was no way to know who wanted to sell a factory.

Without someone in that industry, the result was that even with the phone right at hand, he would not know whom to call...

Ding-dong...

His phone suddenly lit up.

Yan Yun Chong Chong: Brother, are you there?

"Uh, I'm here!" Zhou Qi remembered that this was the person from earlier who had said anything within Dongguang Province could be handled.

"Brother, can I ask why you insist on opening a factory in Nanhe Province?" Yan Yun Chong Chong asked.

"There's nothing I can't say!" Zhou Qi thought for a moment, then said, "The people in my hometown are poor. I figured that if I opened a factory, I could help them become prosperous together..."

"I see!" The young woman sitting before her computer clenched her fist. There was hope!

She had thought he had connections in Nanhe.

"Brother, if that's what you're thinking, then I don't think you should open the factory in Nanhe. You should open it in Dongguang..." Yan Yun Chong Chong said.

"Oh? Why?" Zhou Qi asked. He truly did not understand. Before obtaining his golden finger, he had been at the very bottom of society.

Actually, he still was.

"First, your original intention of helping your fellow villagers become prosperous is good. But if you can't even guarantee your own profits, where will you get the money to share with them? Nanhe Province is located in the Central Plains, with convenient transportation and a large population, that's true. But it lacks a supporting industrial chain. The cost of transporting raw materials will inevitably be higher than at other factories, which means your production costs will be higher. Your factory price will naturally be higher too. How will you compete with other factories?"

"Uh..." He had been about to say he was selling to Africa, but Yan Yun Chong Chong really did make sense. He might as well keep listening.

"Second, have you considered future expansion? Nanhe Province is a major agricultural province. Getting land approved is ten or even a hundred times more difficult than in other provinces. If you want to stay as you are, then any pharmaceutical factory will do. But if you want to grow bigger and stronger, and create new glories..."

She did not actually think Zhou Qi could grow bigger and stronger, but entrepreneurs—who among them thought they were incapable? Nine out of ten wanted to become the second Jack Ma or Pony Ma!

"That really is a problem." Zhou Qi nodded again. How could a pharmaceutical factory supplying an entire world possibly be small?

If he could grow bigger and stronger, the province probably would not begrudge him that little bit of land, just like Foxconn back then. But he could not compare with Foxconn!

Foxconn had clear channels from production to transportation to sales. But once his medicine reached Africa, it vanished without a trace.

If he were in Dongguang, there were too many major enterprises around. Even if he grew into a Fortune 500 company, he would not amount to even a fraction of Huawei, and no one would care where his medicine went. But if he were in Nanhe, he might become Nanhe's largest pharmaceutical company after only a little development. Wouldn't that put him under the spotlight for people to investigate?

"And third!" Yan Yun Chong Chong continued. "Have you considered what will happen if you put your relatives and fellow villagers into the pharmaceutical factory?"

"What will happen?" Zhou Qi asked.

"Jealousy!" Yan Yun Chong Chong said. "You want to help them become prosperous together, so you'll probably offer high wages, right? When the people from all the nearby villages see that, won't they all beg to work at your factory? Everyone is related somehow or another. How will you refuse?"

"But if you open the factory in Dongguang, it'll be different. Bring your fellow villagers over too. What they do here and how much they earn, the people back home won't know. They'll probably think those people are suffering here! Even if your fellow villagers tell the truth, they won't believe it..."

"What you said makes so much sense..." Zhou Qi clicked his tongue.

"Right? This is called getting rich quietly!" Yan Yun Chong Chong said. "So, how about considering Dongguang?"

Zhou Qi fell silent for a moment, then asked, "How should I address you?"

"Uh, my surname is Yan, and my given name is Yun. Here's my business card..." Yan Yun Chong Chong sent over an image.

"Linlang (China) Information Consulting Co., Ltd., Client Manager."

"You're a woman?" Zhou Qi asked.

"Yes..."

"Then why did you call me brother?"

"All men are brothers within the four seas!" Actually, it was because this was a QQ group chat environment, and that form of address was more fitting.

On Bilibili, it would be uploader or Bilibili friend. On Zuiyou, it would be Zuiyou friend. On Taobao, it would be dear.

For someone in sales, this was basic practice.

"Fine..." Zhou Qi nodded. As he searched for information about the company online, he asked, "What exactly can you do?"

"Company registration, qualification processing, talent recruitment, market planning, consumer research, company planning, and all kinds of matters needed to establish a company..."

Zhou Qi had already found it. Linlang International, established in 1967, headquartered in Singapore, founder Li Shanghe. There was even a photo of a bald old man beside it. There was nothing more specific.

He did not know whether it was real or not. After all, setting up an offshore company was not difficult these days.

"What about buying a pharmaceutical factory? Can you help with that?" Zhou Qi asked.

"No problem!" Yan Yun was ecstatic inside. Fortunately, she had not made any typos.

"What requirements do you have for this pharmaceutical factory?"

"Everything else is negotiable, but the land area must be large. It must also have the equipment and qualifications to produce Amoxicillin and Sildenafil, the kind where I can begin production immediately after taking it over!" Zhou Qi said. "Also, it needs foreign trade qualifications."

"No problem. They're both common drugs, and both patents have expired..." Yan Yun replied. "I'll investigate it for you. It's just the matter of fees..."

"What about them?"

"As for the information consultation fee, I'll waive it as a gesture of friendship. As for the agency fee for purchasing the factory, I'll apply to my supervisor and see if I can waive that too..."

"Then wouldn't you be working for me for free?" Zhou Qi asked in surprise.

Yan Yun smiled. "How could that be? When your pharmaceutical company hires workers or needs publicity in the future, we'll still have opportunities to work together!"

Besides, just because I won't charge you doesn't mean I won't charge the other side! If I don't take money openly, I can take it secretly!

If your factory sells for two hundred million, taking ten million isn't excessive, right?

If your factory sells for two hundred million and I negotiate with the buyer until it becomes three hundred million, wouldn't that extra hundred million be ours?

"By the way, how much would I need to spend to acquire a pharmaceutical company like that?" Zhou Qi asked.

"A medium-sized pharmaceutical company usually costs around thirty to eighty million. But you specifically emphasized that the area has to be large, and pharmaceutical companies with large land areas generally won't be too small in scale. It's estimated to start at over two hundred million..."

"..."

"If the pharmaceutical company is involved with products related to the past two years, then even one billion or eight hundred million might not be enough..."

"..."

"Of course, such a major transaction would not require you to pay the full amount at once. As for the exact amount needed, I'll need to investigate first before sending it to you..."

"OK, OK, I understand. Then go investigate. I'll wait for your good news!"

"Okay. Oh, let's add each other as friends, so I can notify you promptly when there are results!"

"I added you. This A Linlang Consulting Yan Yun is you, right?"

"Yes, yes!"