Twenty-fifth act: Robbery or charity?

  "Dear Luo, you've finally come back! Where have you been all this time? I had people search the entire Qiong Yao and couldn't find you. There was no news of you from Guangzhou either! How did you manage to get here?! I had people guarding the dock, but they didn't report anything to me!"

  As soon as she saw Roger, Tanni immediately went up to him and started chattering away, her expression extremely similar to that of a young bride who had just been reunited with her husband after a long separation.

  Roger's mouth twitched awkwardly, he was back from the time-space cave, and it would be a miracle if Tan Ni could catch up with him: "This is a long story, I'll tell you later when I have the chance, now hurry up and tell me, how are those agents doing?"

  "Agents? You mean those guys who are afraid of losing money? " Tan Ni's mouth slightly curled up, coldly saying, "Dear Luo, don't say that, many of them aren't even qualified, we don't need so many agents."

  "Alright, what about those deputy agents? Have they been arranged to gain some experience?"

  "Gain insight?" Tan Ni thought for a moment and understood what Roger meant, so he said, "Well, as soon as they arrived, I arranged for them to go to the hospital. There, I found a case for them to demonstrate, and the effect was very good. However, they still didn't quite believe it, possibly suspecting that we had done something beforehand. So, they personally selected several patients, all of whom were expected to live no more than three days. The result came out yesterday, and the effect was equally impressive - the patients can already get out of bed! Now they all believe our medicine is truly divine."

  Roger nodded in satisfaction and burst out laughing: "Since you've already believed in the effect of penicillin, I suppose you're also prepared to take the consequences! Tan Ni, tell them our conditions."

  Tan Ni furrowed her brow worriedly: "This condition... isn't it too harsh? If they agree, then they must first buy penicillin from us at $10 per bottle and transport it back themselves to package and sell. It can be said that all the costs are theirs."

  Although they can set their own prices in their agent areas, and may be able to sell at a very high price for a short time, but in the long run, a price of $10 per bottle will not leave them with too much profit margin. Moreover, you also need to strictly divide sales areas and cannot sell across regions. Once smuggling occurs, there will be fines or even contract termination.

  Under these conditions, even if the medicine is a panacea, they really can't make much money. You have to understand that they are all businessmen and businessmen care about profits! 10 dollars can buy half an ounce of gold, but your bottle of penicillin isn't even a quarter of an ounce!

  "Moreover, before all this begins, they must also bid and pay a large sum of money to obtain the agency rights. Heaven knows how long it will take for them to earn back that money."

  Is it really expensive to be worth more than twice the price of gold? Roger doesn't think so. You know, now is the Republic era, penicillin is used to treat fatal diseases, not just headaches and fever in later generations. Those drugs that treat heart disease and cancer are worth several times or even dozens of times the value of gold. Even Viagra is over 300 yuan per gram, while gold is also around 300 yuan per gram.

  You're selling penicillin, a life-saving medicine, at the price of its weight in gold. Is that called profiteering? No, that's called charity! Obviously, Roger is no philanthropist, and even if he were, he wouldn't be doing charity for foreigners.

  Roger smiled and nodded: "That's right, in that case they won't make much money, but have you thought about it, by acting as an agent for this medicine that can almost cure all terminal illnesses, how much prestige will they gain!?"

  Why did I only give them bottled drugs but not the packaging box? That was to let them pack it themselves! They can print their own company name on it, just write 'XX Company's sole agent in Eastern America' or something like that! And then? Then they will make a big splash! Is there any better advertisement than this?

  What will people think? They'll think: a company that can be an agent for such a divine medicine that can almost cure any terminal illness must be a first-rate company! This is the greatest benefit that agents can get! As long as they are agents for this drug, they become irreplaceable industry leaders in the eyes of local people!

  Furthermore, tell them that once the factory is on track, I have another drug with similar effects to penicillin that I want to sell through them. Moreover, I will transfer the production technology of this drug 5 years later, and all penicillin agents will have priority!

  "This... you have another divine medicine?!"

  "Of course, but this medicine has some special properties, and I don't plan to bring it out for the time being." Roger shrugged his shoulders. The medicine he used to tempt the agents was sulfonamide, an anti-inflammatory drug that had been industrialized earlier than penicillin in history, and its production cost was extremely low.

  Roger is about to hand over the production process of sulfonamide, which can be produced in a chemical plant now, and the process is almost completely open! What's more, the patent for this thing has long expired, and anyone can make it without any infringement! That so-called transfer five years later is simply a trap, even if he doesn't transfer it, the value of sulfonamide will be discovered by people in less than two years, and it's better to use it for now.

  "In that case, it's a worthwhile deal for them, but are you sure we have to give away half of our gold mine to others in 5 years?! Can't we think of another way to keep both divine medicines in our hands?" Tan Ni looked reluctant, although the penicillin hadn't brought any benefits yet, and he didn't even know what the other divine medicine was. But upon hearing this news, it seemed as if someone had suddenly snatched away half of his family's assets.

  Roger patted Tanny on the shoulder with a smile and said, "Don't worry, the medicine I'm talking about is very special. It's a patented dye that has expired, but people just haven't discovered its medicinal value yet! When I sell it, I'll add all sorts of complex Chinese herbal ingredients to it so that others can't find out what the real active ingredient is. Then, when those agents get the manufacturing process I promised them, they'll be amazed to discover that this medicine is actually something that's been patented for a long time and anyone can produce it - there are no technical barriers at all!"

  Tan Ni stared at Roger with a dumbfounded expression, and after a long while, she sighed: "You're really rotten to the core! I thought of it when they would want to kill you!"

  Roger shrugged: "I'm confident that by then we'll have become an unstoppable behemoth, and if they want to hate us, let them. We haven't breached any contracts, have we? And besides, penicillin will make them a pretty penny."

  Looking at Danny, Roger seemed to still have some worries, so he smiled and said: "Alright, alright, let's not think about these things for now. Let's hurry up and negotiate with those agents instead. I think they should be eager to stuff green paper into our pockets already. Ah yes, this medicine is the new type of drug I was just talking about. You take it, if they don't believe you, then let them try it out."