Translate by [Hua]rricane
After Christmas, it’s New Year’s Day. The afterglow of Christmas has not yet faded, and the anticipation and joy of New Year’s Eve have once again swept the entire land of China.
However, just one day before the Chinese New Year, the last day of December, a big piece of news suddenly dropped on the Internet out of nowhere.
#Gu’s new drug was rejected in the first trial#
#Gu’s new drug is suspected of having substandard ingredients#
Like a stone thrown into the water, it stirred up a thousand waves. Even at the end of the year, when the public focuses on reality and draws back from the internet, it instantly ignites the conversation.
Generally speaking, if there are problems with a patent application, they will occur in the later review stage or even in the clinical trial stage after the patent is obtained. The initial review is also called a formal review or format review. Unless there are major errors, it’s impossible to be rejected at this initial stage.
There was an uproar on the Internet again, and even the general public was talking about it. The public opinion that Gu had spent a lot of money to create in the past few days suddenly reversed, the momentum plummeted, and the company’s stock price fluctuated visibly.
Gu Jiakang was fuming in his office when the above hot search appeared on all the major forums.
“How come no one discovered the problem? So many of you deal with drugs every day; how come you didn’t even see such an obvious mistake!”
A man in his fifties below said tremblingly, “President Gu, you submitted the application before we had time to analyze the ingredients…”
It only took one day from getting the technical information to submitting the application. How could they read through so many pages of materials?
“Then why did the audit department finish reading so quickly!”
“President Gu, we…”
With a roar, Gu Jiakang’s assistant hurried into the office: “It’s not good, President Gu. The incident where we were found to have issues during the preliminary review has been leaked online.”
Gu Jiakang isn’t an old man who doesn’t have access to the internet. He instantly knew something was wrong. His face turned pale, and he said, “Who? Who did it? I just got the news here. How could someone post it online so quickly!”
“It’s Shen Boyan.” His face was ashen, and he gritted his teeth. “He set me up. He knew that there was something wrong with the ingredients of this medicine, so he deliberately let me get the prescription and deliberately made an anxious gesture to force me to hand in the information before I could verify it. He also knew there was a problem, so he had been waiting for me for a long time!”
No wonder this matter could go so smoothly. I If it weren’t for Shen Boyan and Sheng Songbai constantly urging him, he wouldn’t have reported the application without confirming it due to a momentary hot-headedness.
“They teamed up to plot against me.”
Gu Jiakang dismissed other people, took out his mobile phone, and dialed a number: “Sheng Songbai!”
He yelled, “Are you and Shen Boyan plotting against me? If something happens to the Gu family, I’ll drag you down with me!”
A self-deprecating laugh came from the microphone. Sheng Songbai leaned back on his seat as if he were boneless. He threw his phone on the table and turned on speaker mode: “Am I plotting against you?”
“Gu Jiakang, who do you think you are? Do I need to risk breaking the law to plot against you? I’m the one who is really being plotted against.”
Gu Jiakang gritted his teeth: “I don’t care who is plotting against whom; you have to come up with a solution for me. The people at the Patent Office said that as long as the replacement information can be produced within three days, the application does not need to be rejected. At that time, we can explain that the information is incomplete.”
“Do you think Shen Boyan will still give you this chance? Director Gu, I advise you that if you have time, you’d better sort out how many things your Gu family has hidden and ask your publicity department to wait in front of the computer.”
After saying that, he hung up the phone without waiting for Gu Jiakang’s reaction.
Sheng Songbai’s face was as white as snow, but there was no hatred or anger on his face, only dejected self-mockery, as if he were a joke.
Isn’t it a joke?
After an unknown amount of time, the assistant opened the door and said softly, “President Sheng, President Shen asked you to come over.”
Sheng Songbai stood up lazily, no longer maintaining his previous sense of grace. He ignored everyone’s gaze along the way and pushed open the door of the CEO’s office. There were several senior executives in the room having a meeting. When they saw it was him, their expressions became strange.
Shen Boyan waved his hand. “Okay, that’s it for today. Let’s go back to work first.”
Everyone stood up one after another, and the last one closed the office door when leaving.
Shen Boyan looked up at Sheng Songbai and said, “Sit down.”
Sheng Songbai didn’t refuse either, sitting directly on the chair in front of the table, staring at the man behind it: “You already knew.”
“You colluded with Gu Jiakang and prepared to sell the company’s secrets. You don’t think I should know?” Shen Boyan’s tone was indifferent.
Sheng Songbai originally had a look of self-exile on his face, but when he heard Shen Boyan’s somewhat mocking words, his expression suddenly regained a little vitality. Defiance and disdain burst out from his pupils as he stared at Shen Boyan. “You really are setting me up. All your anxious and trusting gestures are just to paralyze me?”
“Or else?” Sheng Songbai’s attitude had no effect on him. Shen Boyan looked directly into his eyes and asked, “Should I show suspicion and startle the snakes instead?”
“Sheng Songbai, you are no longer a business novice. Can’t you see this clearly?”
“You are too impatient.” Shen Boyan shook his head. “You could have taken your time to figure it out. As long as you don’t leak such big flaws, with your position in the company, I may not be able to do anything to you right away.”
“Why do you want to do this so slowly?” Sheng Songbai let out a bitter smile and said, “I’m leaving soon.”
Shen Boyan was silent for a moment and didn’t mention anything else. He just said, “You can go and treat it as if you resigned. For old time’s sake, I won’t report to the higher-ups that it was you who stole the company’s secrets, but if Gu Jiakang wants to drag you down, it’s none of my business.”
This was the best result. Sheng Songbai stood up slowly. When he walked to the door, he suddenly stopped: “You don’t even ask me why I do this?”
Shen Boyan’s face was expressionless: “You’re an adult; don’t use reasons as an excuse to shirk your responsibility for doing something wrong.”
“Of course I will take responsibility. I just want to ask you, don’t you care at all about our relationship after so many years?!”
Sheng Songbai turned his head sharply. The dissatisfaction and resentment that had been accumulated in his heart and finally refused to be buried were vented out along with his angry roar: “I like you; can’t you see it at all?”
“I can’t see it; why should I see it?”
As a victim being questioned by the perpetrator, Shen Boyan also lost his cool: “You have been working conscientiously for me and the company all these years. I thought we had tacit cooperation as a boss and a subordinate, but we also never pry into each other’s respective private lives. Who the hell would know that you like me?”
“If you like me, why don’t you give me a little hint? Even if you don’t fucking confess to me, you can also prohibit me from dating other people. Or when I’m looking for someone, you can prohibit us from contacting each other, imprison me, or whatever. But why don’t you fucking say anything?”
Shen Boyan is also very annoyed. Because of his personal affair, he lost one of his capable subordinates and had to take down several important positions in the company. If he had known in advance that Sheng Songbai had such intentions, he would have moved him to another company long ago. Why wait until he was stimulated like a mad dog, biting people, before he had to find a way to get rid of him?
Damn it, he still has to find someone to go to South Africa to work, and he also has to find someone to fill the vacancy in the R&D department!
What bullsh*t liking is this? If you like someone, you should be like him. When the person you like is in trouble, lock them by your side, and then you can start pampering them as much as you want later. If you don’t help, don’t send flowers, and don’t show intentions; who knows if you’re courting or liking them!
“Get out of here; I have treated you with all my kindness and righteousness. If you keep pestering me, you will spend the rest of your life in prison!”
The document was thrown heavily to the ground. Sheng Songbai’s face was bloodless. He wriggled his lips a few times, but finally couldn’t make a sound. He lowered his head and sluggishly walked out of the office, step by step.
Shen Boyan still felt irritable after Sheng Songbai left. He could feel a boiling and violent emotion building up in his chest. In the past, whenever he was upset at work, he would use cigarettes to calm his mood. But at this moment, he didn’t even know where his cigarette pack was, and he didn’t even bring a lighter with him. He rubbed his fingers unconsciously, but nothing could comfort him.
“Assistant Lin—” He couldn’t help shouting, “Buy me a pack—”
Buzz—
The mobile phone on the table vibrated, and when he saw the name on the caller ID clearly, his mood strangely calmed down.
He took a breath, exhaled it slowly, and pressed the answer button.
The next second, a warm and gentle young voice came out from the microphone that was switched to loudspeaker mode: “Uh, Shen Boyan, is it convenient for you to answer the phone now?”
“It’s fine.” He forced down the emotions churning in him so that his voice didn’t sound unusual: “What’s wrong?”
They usually send messages to each other during work hours and rarely call.
“I saw the hot search.”
The young man hesitated for a moment before saying, “Will it relieve your pressure?”
The opponent’s loss is his own gain. This was the thought that flashed through Xia Shu’an’s mind the moment he saw the hot search.
“It’s much better.”
The man walked out of the table and bent down to pick up the documents on the ground: “There might be some unfavorable news about Gu posted on the internet later, and there will also be voices that are unfavorable to Wenhui; don’t be anxious, just watch.”
Does that mean you are going to take action?
Xia Shu’an seemed to understand: “I know, well, then I’ll hang up.”
“Don’t hang up,” Shen Boyan said quickly. He glanced at the time display in the lower right corner of the computer, took a breath, and said in his usual soft voice, “Have you eaten?”
“I just ate.”
“What did you eat?”
“Fish and Shredded Pork with Rice…”
“Is it delicious?”
“It’s okay, just so-so. It’s not as delicious as what aunties make at home.”
“…Then have you eaten?”
“Yes.”
Asking him what he ate for lunch and what he said to his friends was Shen Boyan’s style when they first moved in together, but now it’s almost impossible to use it. Xia Shu’an didn’t understand what was wrong with him, but he is a well-behaved “canary” who would never disobey his “master’s” orders unless he had enough.
“…..”
The two of them talked for a while, and Shen Boyan could feel the buzzing nerves in his brain gradually calming down. The violent cloud in his chest was soothed by a soft palm, which slowly turned into a warm white color, revealing a bit of blue inside.
