Ridiculous.
What needed to be done was already done, and the waters had been stirred even murkier. If she stayed any longer in Shanghai, Su Ning could predict with even a strand of hair what would happen next.
At most, the person behind the scenes would reveal themselves.
Persuasion, threats, coercion, bribery—every trick in the book would be deployed.
All for a slice of the pie.
Su Ning sighed with melancholy.
It was too hard. Life was just too hard for her. She turned to look at Assistant Lin, who was carrying a huge stack of documents and walking with perfect ease even on an airplane, and said:
"Lin Sen, what do you think the reputation of penicillin is going to look like from here on out?"
Within three seconds.
"Half praise, half condemnation." He paused, then added, "Provided we don't intervene."
Exactly. The fact that penicillin had a real mortality rate had knocked it off its "pedestal," leaving countless people bitterly disappointed. But there was a saying: when all hope is lost, you might as well try anything. Penicillin was capable of treating what were, in this era, terminal diseases.
Think about it.
You had a ninety-nine percent chance of meeting the King of Hell. Use penicillin, and it dropped to less than ten percent!
What a breakthrough.
It was still essentially a miracle drug, wasn't it? But—
There was always a "but." Generally speaking, after the initial disappointment, the public would naturally come to that realization on their own. But what if someone deliberately steered public opinion?
At the end of the day, penicillin hadn't yet been mass-produced.
Among the few "samples" available, the death of Young Master Qian stood out like a sore thumb. If someone with ulterior motives publicized his death and exaggerated it...
The result went without saying.
So, the person behind this was quite clever. They targeted the weakest spot. With her already notorious reputation, even if she tried to defend herself, no one would believe her.
Either she obediently went looking for "help" from others.
Or she let penicillin be questioned and watch her profits shrink dramatically.
Su Ning chuckled softly and said to Lin Sen:
"No need to sugarcoat it. Even if we did intervene, it wouldn't do any good. There are too many people with designs on penicillin—domestic and foreign forces alike are probably mixed up in this. There's a saying: outnumbered, you can't win. We can't fight them, so there's no point wasting money and energy."
Money wasn't everything.
At least, not in this era.
A flash of ferocity passed through Lin Sen's brows, and he murmured, "This subordinate is incompetent."
"Alright, alright. If you were incompetent, half the world would drown themselves in the river out of shame."
Su Ning waved a hand dismissively and said casually:
"Let them have their moment of triumph. I'm not in a hurry anyway."
To Lin Sen, those words sounded like his mistress would rather suffer losses than bow her head to the person behind the scenes. His heart sank even further, filled with frustration at his own inability to turn the situation around.
Miss Su was very, very rich.
So rich that perhaps even she herself didn't know exactly how much she had... Every so often, another priceless enterprise would surface for him to manage.
But that was no excuse.
Not an excuse for his incompetence.
"Ping. Detected host is wealthy but uncharitable. First-tier plot character..."
What?
Su Ning blinked in confusion. Could it be that Lin Sen was upset because she wasn't giving him more work? Since when did such model workers exist in this world, ones who made their bosses so happy!
The person who knew you best was yourself.
It seemed Assistant Lin still had more to give.
Well then, no need to worry about overworking him to death.
Delighted, she waved her hand: "You've worked hard this period. What's your current salary again? Whatever—double it. Keep up the good work!"
Lin Sen was taken aback.
He lowered his head to give thanks, but didn't look particularly happy. In fact, another wave of reward notifications burst forth from the system, even bigger than the last.
Watching coldly from the sidelines, the system couldn't help saying:
"Host, aren't you the least bit curious why Lin Sen triggered a reward?"
"Why should I be curious?"
Su Ning yawned. "With your wildly unpredictable reward standards, maybe Lin Sen was too busy to eat breakfast and has a stomachache now, or maybe he actually has flight sickness and feels like throwing up. Do I have to dig into the root cause of every little thing?"
"Trust those you employ, and employ those you trust."
"I only need to be sure that Lin Sen can never, ever turn against me."
Hearing this, the system's spirits lifted:
"And how can you be sure of that?"
"Because everyone knows that I discovered him and promoted him with my own hands. The power, status, and money he has now all come from me. And he's a smart man. Even if he betrayed me and succeeded, no one would trust him afterward—instead, they'd fear him. His ending would be nowhere near good."
After Su Ning finished speaking, the system made no response, and she couldn't be bothered to think further.
Sleepiness kept rising.
She yawned again and closed her eyes. Spring drowsiness, autumn fatigue, summer naps—though summer was the season when people got sleepiest. September was also approaching.
War was coming. People would die. Many people.
What need was there to prove penicillin's worth any further... Practice would be the best proof. Her only worry was that she still hadn't gotten her hands on the penicillin preparation technology—that would be the real problem.
And the oil fields. News from the northeast should be coming soon.
There was already more than enough on her plate.
She had no time to dwell on unimportant matters.
That was Su Ning's last thought before she sank into dreams.
....
She fell asleep.
Naturally, she didn't notice Lin Sen, having snapped back to reality, carrying that mountain of documents needing reports and signatures, trudging heavily back to his seat.
Nor did she notice the reward notifications going off several more times in succession.
Though those ones weren't from Lin Sen anymore.
The system grumbled inwardly but deftly lowered the volume to avoid making too much noise.
It glanced casually at the screen.
Among a few minor third-tier plot characters, the name Zhao Chang stood out conspicuously, with a hefty amount of rewards attached. After calculating, the system figured he'd been just about squeezed dry.
Truly deserving of his role as the bearer of justice!
Shanghai.
"Why do you look so lost?" A coworker clapped Zhao Chang on the shoulder, then, thinking of something, tried to console him: "You should take it easy. No one expected the penicillin affair to end up like this, but it's not like anyone blames you, a reporter who just covered the story. You didn't lose anything. Honestly, Miss Su leaving Shanghai is a good thing for you. With a personality like hers, who knows when she might drag you down with her."
He assumed Zhao Chang was feeling dejected about losing the chance—he had been the one selected to interview Su Ning.
He could have made a name for himself.
But who could have guessed?
So many things had happened since. Penicillin had fallen from grace, Su Ning had fled Shanghai, and her reputation on the streets was now worse than ever.
Forget about benefits—he should count himself lucky not to be caught in the crossfire.
Zhao Chang smiled but said nothing.
Back home, he ran into Tailor Li's family, beaming with joy and loaded down with shopping bags. Seeing him, Tailor Li explained apologetically:
"We just bought the house back, and the family got excited, so we went out to buy a few things. The day after tomorrow, we're throwing a banquet for all the neighbors. No gifts needed—just come and eat. You should definitely come too!"
It had been a while since they'd gotten the thousand yuan.
Why redeem the house only now?
Why hold the banquet only now?
Because the Qian family had fallen. The last and biggest worry was gone.
No longer did they have to fear the money being taken back by force, with a false charge to boot.
Zhao Chang naturally agreed, and then heard Tailor Li lower his voice and ask:
"I heard that Miss Su has left Shanghai? The rumors flying around are ugly—no telling which shameless liar started them. Penicillin killing people? Miss Su explained it clearly long ago. As for the Qian family, they got what they deserved—why did everyone else survive and only their son die? If you ask me, heaven couldn't stand the wicked things he'd done and used Miss Su's hand to take him out."
That's what they mean by—the villain gets his due from an even bigger villain!
Tailor Li's face was full of satisfaction.
"Come to think of it, our family owes Miss Su a great deal. We should have thanked her in person, but people like us don't get such rare chances—we'd never in a lifetime get to meet a great figure like Miss Su. All we can do is pray to heaven to watch over her."
Yes.
Zhao Chang thought, they would never meet again.
