All Three Families Fell Apart

Wei Kang smiled faintly and quickly replied.

"Looks like you're very well informed, but I've already finished negotiating with Shiseido."

"President Wei, that's only natural. There are no secrets between competitors."

"Then why are you asking me? You should know exactly what terms they offered."

"President Wei, please don't misunderstand. I don't mean anything else by it. I can tell you clearly that Oulaiya has already given up on cooperating."

"Oh?" Wei Kang hadn't expected Sheng Changya to say it so directly. He asked, "Then what exactly do you mean by asking me this?"

Sheng Changya slowly typed out a line: "I have insider information about Shiseido. Would President Wei be interested?"

This did pique Wei Kang's interest. If Oulaiya had no intention of competing, then Sheng Changya sending him insider information at this moment was certainly worth pondering.

"Very interested. Please, go on."

"Let's discuss it over the phone."

"Alright."

Once the call connected, Sheng Changya took a deep breath and rattled off everything she had learned in one go.

"In short, I know some senior people at Shiseido, and that's the insider information I received. Although I don't know whether you've reached an agreement with them, I truly like the effects of this Whitening Drug. I don't want it to be buried and disappear from the market. That's why I sincerely wanted to give you a warning, President Wei."

Wei Kang's first reaction was disbelief. He instinctively questioned her, "Do you have any evidence for what you're saying?"

"You're making baseless suspicions about Shiseido, saying that they only want to deceive me into trusting them so they can obtain this prescription. That their true intention is to crush a competitor, and they have no plans whatsoever to launch a product afterward."

"Without evidence, it'll be hard for me to believe something like that."

Sheng Changya fell silent for a moment before saying, "President Wei, I don't have any concrete evidence. I only know that Shiseido has acquired quite a few small companies over the years, along with some new skincare technologies. But their product lines have never seen any major upgrades, nor have they launched any new brands. Those companies and technologies simply vanished without a trace."

After hesitating for a while, she added, "It's like Little Nurse back then. After it was acquired by Oulaiya, it too disappeared from the market. That incident caused many people to resist foreign brands acquiring domestic ones. Although the company's upper management strongly denied it, internally, it was considered an accepted fact."

"President Wei, you know that many times, when there's no direct evidence, you can only infer the facts from the outcome."

"The fact is that before acquiring Little Nurse, Garnier had only just entered the domestic market, and its sales were indeed quite poor. But after acquiring Little Nurse, Garnier's sales soared, and in a very short time, it devoured all of Little Nurse's market share."

Wei Kang felt a chill run down his spine. The treachery of the business world was far beyond his imagination. It was hard to believe that behind Koizumi Taijiro's thoroughly prepared proposal lurked such malicious intent.

He still wanted to struggle a little. "Then when I sign a contract with Shiseido, I can require them to include a clause stating that they must develop the product and launch it as soon as possible. If they fail to comply later, I'll have the right to immediately void the contract."

Sheng Changya calmly countered, "Even so, that would already be half a year later. They could completely drag you into a prolonged lawsuit afterward. Commercial litigation is extremely time-consuming and lengthy. Do you have the time and energy to deal with that, President Wei?"

"Besides, even if you ultimately win and get the prescription back, Shiseido will already have learned the relevant information. They could easily launch an imitation product to seize the market first."

"In short, if they win, the prescription is ruined. If they lose, they'll still steal your product."

"In business, nothing is impossible."

Wei Kang fell silent. Deep down, he felt that Sheng Changya was right, but he was unwilling to simply believe her completely. He still wanted to verify it somehow.

Seeing that he remained silent for so long, Sheng Changya understood his concerns. "President Wei, if you still have doubts, you can make some new demands to test them. I'm only passing along some information. The final decision is still yours to make. That's all, then. I won't disturb you any longer. Goodbye!"

After the call ended, Wei Kang sat in his chair, looking at the two proposals before him.

His expression gradually darkened, and a sense of irritation welled up in his chest.

Had he really been played by those Japanese?

He had to get confirmation from this Koizumi.

After hesitating again and again, he dialed Koizumi Taijiro's number.

The other end was somewhat noisy, as though Koizumi was in a restaurant.

Koizumi kept apologizing in a low voice. "Mr. Wei, I'm terribly sorry. I'm having dinner with colleagues right now. I'll step outside to take your call immediately."

Very soon, the background grew quiet.

Koizumi asked with a smile, "Mr. Wei, I'm very glad to receive your call. What can I do for you?"

Wei Kang steadied his emotions and asked in a low voice, "I compared your proposal with Procter & Gamble's. Yours seems more in line with my expectations, but I want to add a clause."

Koizumi was overjoyed. Even through the phone, Wei Kang could hear the excitement in his voice. "Yes, Mr. Wei, please go ahead. We will certainly do it."

Wei Kang said word by word, "I want to add a clause: Shiseido must use the Whitening Drug prescription to develop a new product line and launch it domestically within six months. If you fail to do so, this contract will be immediately voided. If you can add this condition, I can choose your proposal."

Koizumi froze instantly. He had no idea why Wei Kang would make such a demand. Thoroughly confused, he asked, "Mr. Wei, didn't we discuss everything perfectly this afternoon? Why do you suddenly want to add a clause like this? This clause seems somewhat unreasonable. We can't launch a new product that quickly."

Wei Kang cut him off. "This afternoon, you said your project team was already in place and could begin developing the new product as soon as the contract was signed. You also said the marketing plan was ready. How could you possibly fail to do it within half a year? From the preparations you've made, I'd say even launching it domestically within three months wouldn't be a problem."

Koizumi was immediately rendered speechless. Unable to find a reason to refute him, he stammered for a long time before saying, "Mr. Wei, how about this? I can't make the decision on this condition for now. I need to report it to headquarters first, then get back to you. How does that sound?"

"Heh heh, no need." Wei Kang sneered. "I can see your true colors now. You never planned to cooperate with me sincerely. Every condition you put forward was merely a deceptive tactic. Although I'm not in the fast-moving consumer goods industry, I have insider information too. There's no need to use Shiseido's usual tactic of acquiring companies to eliminate competitors on me."

"Huh? Where did you hear that? This is slander from our competitors. It absolutely isn't true." Cold sweat covered Koizumi's forehead as he hurriedly tried to explain.

But Wei Kang did not listen any further and hung up directly.

Koizumi frantically called back. This contract was of tremendous importance; he absolutely could not let it fall apart in his hands.

"Beep, beep, beep..."

Listening to the busy tone from the phone, he knew that there was an eighty percent chance Wei Kang had already blocked him.

Koizumi's face turned livid. He slammed a fist heavily into the wall. "Damn it! Who stabbed me in the back? This is infuriating!"

"Damn it, Wei. Since you don't know what's good for you, don't blame me for teaching you a lesson."

Koizumi's forehead veins bulged, his expression twisted as he dialed a number.

"Mr. Denek? Here's the situation: our cooperation with Three Purities has fallen through. As far as I know, Oulaiya has given up as well. Now this whitening drug is already yours for the taking. Congratulations."

Wei Kang sat in his chair, his chest heaving as rage simmered within him.

Those damned little Japanese. They smiled politely on the surface and made all sorts of grand promises, yet they harbored such vile intentions behind the scenes.

He had nearly fallen for it. If he had truly believed them and partnered with Shiseido, the financial losses would have been the least of his worries. The formula for this drug would probably have been snatched away by them.

The entire affair disgusted him as though he had swallowed a fly.

He would blacklist that company completely from now on.

No—he would blacklist every company from Sakura Country from now on.

After a while, he finally reined in his emotions and regained his composure.

That meant there was no longer any choice of partner. He could only cooperate with the Procter & Gamble Company from Eagle Country.

He picked up Procter & Gamble's proposal and studied it carefully before making up his mind once more.

He found the contact information for Denek, Procter & Gamble's vice president, and called him.

A burst of hearty laughter came through the phone.

"Dear Mr. Wei, I've been waiting for your call."

A trace of doubt flashed through Wei Kang's mind, but he did not dwell on it.

After considering his words, he said, "I compared the proposals provided by each company and ultimately felt that yours was more suitable, so I've decided to cooperate with the Procter & Gamble Company. I hope we'll work together happily in the future."

Denek chuckled. "That's wonderful. I'm also very much looking forward to a pleasant partnership with Mr. Wei."

"However," he said mildly, "Mr. Wei, our terms may need to change."

Wei Kang froze. "The terms need to change?"

A foreboding feeling rose in his heart.

Denek smiled smugly. "Mr. Wei, here's the thing. From a business standpoint, the terms we offer must always stay in line with the market. Previously, three companies were competing for your whitening drug formula, so naturally we offered the best terms."

"But now," Denek said unhurriedly, "I heard that the other two have already withdrawn from the competition. I'm afraid you have no other choice. So, our terms must be lowered accordingly. That's perfectly reasonable, isn't it?"

Wei Kang nearly choked on the breath lodged in his chest. He almost cursed outright. "This is extortion, do you understand?"

Denek gave a light heh heh. "Mr. Wei, you're mistaken there. We are simply following the market. The proposal from this afternoon was merely the first round of bidding. You could raise your offer afterward, and naturally we can lower ours. It's entirely reasonable business conduct. Please don't overinterpret it."

"Business is business. Since we have become the only buyer, the cooperation proposal naturally has to be revised. When can we meet Mr. Wei again to discuss it?"

Wei Kang clenched his fists, his nails digging deeply into his flesh without him noticing. He merely said coldly, "Let's hear your new offer."

Denek was silent for five seconds before quickly saying, "Eighty million, a one-time buyout. This is our final offer. That price is not low, you should know that—"

The response was a sharp smack.