C38

Li Zheng looked at Zhou Sitian with amusement, “Sis, before you hear my answer, you really won’t consider taking off your makeup first?”

Zhou Sitian touched her face and gave Li Zheng a suspicious glance, but still got up and went to the bathroom.

“Ahhhh!” A woman’s scream of 90 decibels could be heard from the bathroom.

Li Zheng rubbed his ears and shook his head helplessly.

By the time Zhou Sitian came out after removing her makeup, it was already twenty minutes later, and she looked at her brother angrily.

“Why didn’t you say so earlier! I’ve just been …… ” During the banquet farewell, Zhou Sitian stood in front of Half Mountain One for a long time, remembering those people’s secretly measuring eyes and desire to stop expression, Zhou Sitian’s face was full of despair.

“Don’t worry, those people won’t recognize that it’s you.” Li Zheng coughed and consoled seriously.

Zhou Sitian ……

Zhou Sitian poured a glass of water for Li Zheng, and the two siblings sat on the edge of the sofa by the window.

“Some things can only be explained by IQ.” Li Zheng pointed to his own head, “Mom left a lot of useful books, and she wanted to see what kind of world she wanted to live in, then she fell in love with biopharmaceuticals. For some people, all you have to do is open a small crack for them, and they can push open the door to a new world.”

“That’s the difference in IQ.” Li Zheng’s 180 IQ was here, what could they doubt? There was no shortage of geniuses in this world because Watt improved the steam engine from a pot of boiling water, why couldn’t he, Li Zheng, enter the world of biopharmaceuticals with two books.

As for whether there were any books about biopharmaceuticals in Mother Li’s collection, Li Zheng thought about it, there really were, there were two French novels, the protagonist was a pharmacist, and there was quite a bit of knowledge about biopharmaceuticals in them.

“How could you read those books ……?” Zhou Sitian was dumb, her English grades were already among the best in school, but she just couldn’t read the thick English book next to Zhao Qihua’s pillow.

“You just haven’t tried to read it. A lot of people haven’t read it yet, and they flinch when they see the dense English letters. It’s actually still just a sentence made up of those words.”

“But your English grade …… is obviously not even passable.”

Li Zheng ……

Thinking about the red 57 points on that midterm exam paper, it was d*mn hard to explain.

Zhou Sitian, for some reason, did not pursue the question, she seemed to have thought of something, the look was inexplicable. Yes, she thought of something from the past, actually, her brother’s grades weren’t that bad to begin with, he had won many firsts as a child. The people in the town all said that their brother and sister were worthy of climbing out of the belly of a woman who had stayed abroad, and their brains just looked different from others.

Zhao Qiuhua was angry when she heard such words and slammed the door of her room. At that time, she wondered if her mother didn’t want them to do well on the exam.

It was from that time onwards that Li Zheng’s grades got worse and worse, and soon they all fell into the bottom group. Perhaps …… Zhou Sitian took a complicated look at Li Zheng, or perhaps, her younger brother, like herself, thought that Zhao Qihua didn’t like them to do well in the exams, but she was just thinking about it, while Li Zheng was putting it into practice.

Thinking of this possibility, Zhou Sitian’s heart shrank.

 

“Little Zheng ……”

Li Zheng was startled, what exactly had this cheap sister of his been brainstorming again.

Zhou Sitian remembered the Zhao Qihua she saw at the banquet, she bit her lower lip and spoke tentatively, “Little Zheng, if you see your mother again, will you forgive her?”

Li Zheng looked at Zhou Sitian strangely and replied, “No.” Because he …… wasn’t qualified. The child who was qualified to give forgiveness had already disappeared in the late autumn of the day she left.

Zhou Sitian couldn’t tell what was going on in his heart, she nodded her head vigorously. Xiao Zheng, don’t worry, since that’s the case, I will never let that woman have the opportunity to disturb your life!

There were sounds of talking from outside the house, and Liu Zhidong and Zhang Bingkun returned.

As soon as Liu Zhidong entered the house, he looked around and found that there were only Zhou Sitian and Li Zheng in the house, his face could not help but reveal a disappointed look, “Mr. Shao didn’t come up?”

Zhou Sitian rolled her eyes, “Why did Uncle Shao come up here? Of course, he went back to his own home.”

Liu Zhidong was stunned, only then did he notice Zhou Sitian’s address to Shao Qihua, “Uncle Shao?”

Li Zheng’s eyes narrowed, this sister’s so-called agent didn’t seem to be that decent.

“Little Zheng!” When Zhang Bingkun saw Li Zheng, a slight flush appeared on his pitch-black face, and he stepped forward to pat Li Zheng’s shoulder vigorously, “It’s good that it’s okay, it’s good that it’s okay!”

The guilt and burden on Zhang Bingkun’s heart for many days finally disappeared, “Seeing that you’re fine, I finally have the face to see Brother Qiang.”

Li Zheng bowed his head slightly to Zhang Bingkun, “Uncle Zhang, it’s been troublesome for you to take care of my sister.”

Zhang Bingkun waved his hand, “I take care of her? She took care of me is more or less the truth, Sitian is a promising one, you see this apartment is her share of it, and she let me stay.”

Li Zheng suddenly recalled Cheng Xianfeng’s words that someone had erased the traces of Zhou Sitian and Zhang Bingkun’s life in Hong Kong, and couldn’t help but cast an inquiring gaze at Liu Zhidong.

Li Zheng extended his hand to Liu Zhidong, “Hello, Brother Liu? Let’s get formally acquainted, I’m Zhou Sitian’s brother Li Zheng, currently a student at Hong Kong University, thank you for taking care of my sister.”

Heung Kong University? Liu Zhidong was taken aback. This was the highest school in Hong Kong.

He had heard from Zhou Sitian that she had been in Hong Kong for less than a month.

Just one month, he entered Hong Kong University? It  like in later life, you come from Vietnam or Burma, not even a month in China, and suddenly you entered Tsinghua University and Peking University, and said there was no story in it, could anyone believe it?

Liu Zhidong’s gaze towards Li Zheng instantly became different.

Li Zheng continued, “I will give you the expenses that Uncle Zhang and my sister have spent during this period of time. As for entering the entertainment industry or whatever, let’s just leave it at that.”

Liu Zhidong turned pale, he didn’t expect Li Zheng to come up with such words, how could this be! The potential he had such a hard time finding!

Before he could speak, Zhou Sitian, who was on the side, stood up.

“Brother Liu, let me speak to Little Zheng.” Zhou Sitian’s expression was somewhat serious.

Li Zheng was stunned and looked over with a confused look.

“Little Zheng, you said that everyone is an independent individual, right?”

Li Zheng nodded stunned, this was what he had told her when she felt inferior to her origins, everyone was an individual, she was her, Zhou Deqing was Zhou Deqing.

“Then I have the right to decide what I should and shouldn’t do. I’ve often wondered over the past few days if those people would hear me if I could appear on TV like those big stars in Hong Kong. I want more people to hear my voice, not like the time when I could only hide in the house and cry alone. Little Zheng, you’re good, you’re so good now that you make me a little ashamed, I’m the sister, I should be the one to take care of you, I want to try to keep up with you.”

“……” Li Zheng knew that Zhou Sitian was referring to the incident of Zhou Deqing, which made Zhou Sitian know for the first time the meaning of “a person’s words are too small”. In the 1980s, there were many scandals in Hong Kong’s entertainment industry, and all those magnificent women were open to those big shots. The power of money and power was exerted to the extreme in this era.

With Zhou Sitian’s personality, could she really make it in this complicated entertainment industry?

He did have hundreds of billions worth of original drugs in his mind, but he was an academic after all, he could get patent money, but he didn’t know how to run a business, and Li Zheng wasn’t sure he could keep Zhou Sitian in this complicated industry.

Just like that Shao Qihua, he knew what that old man was up to at first glance, and he didn’t even look at his own age, he could be their father.

If Shao Qihua really did make a move on Zhou Sitian, would he be able to keep this cheap sister? When Li Zheng thought of this possibility, he couldn’t …… he couldn’t.

“No! Absolutely not!” Li Zheng firmly objected.

Zhou Sitian pursed her lips and did not speak.

Li Zheng held his forehead, he knew too well the personality of his sister, she looked talkative, but her personality was actually stubborn, otherwise, she wouldn’t have made herself so unlikeable because of the gossip of the bystanders.

Liu Zhidong laughed dryly twice and spoke, “Li Zheng ah, I know what you are worried about, you can rest assured that I, Liu Zhidong, promise that as long as I am alive for one day, I will never let those dirty and stinky ones touch Sitian.” Of course if Sitian was willing, then he couldn’t do anything about it. Liu Zhidong secretly thought in his heart.

Li Zheng sneered, “Where did you get the strength to say that.”

Liu Zhidong smiled foolishly, “My brother is considered number one in the Green Dragon Gang. I’m completely able to stop the forces of the mob!” But if Mr. Shao was …… Liu Zhidong threw his head back, it should be unlikely.

“And ah, I’ve created a fake identity for Sitian, a returning high school student with parents in the US, they’ll have some concerns.”

Returning Hong Kong student? Indeed, in Hong Kong in the eighties, a foreign background was still a very favorable talisman.

“Right oh, Mr Liu got me a degree from as a Columbia graduate!” Zhou Sitian offered a treasured diploma from a Columbia University out of the cabinet and handed it to Li Zheng.

Li Zheng took a look at it, and it was a decent creation. In the eighties and nineties, when there was no internet and it was difficult to convey information, the phenomenon of creating fake diplomas was common. In the news of the twenty-first century, many other senior officials who had been civil servants for twenty or thirty years were exposed by the fake diplomas offered at the time of their entry.

There were many who were exposed and even more who were not. This showed the proliferation of fake diplomas at that time.

A public figure getting a fake diploma? Was his head full of straw? If this matter were to be exposed twenty or thirty years later, even if Zhou Sitian had reached a high level by then, this would be an indelible stain.

Li Zheng narrowed his eyes, “When you mention it in the future, don’t say Columbia University, say a Columbian university.”

Zhou Sitian blinked, “Does it make a difference?”

Li Zheng casually placed the fake diploma on the table, “Of course there’s a difference, Columbia is a city in the U.S., there are many universities in the city, you add the word ‘the’ and you have leeway later. A lot of community colleges there have diplomas that can be bought with money.”

He sighed, “Of course, it’s best if you can turn a fake one into a real one.” Li Zheng still asked, “Sister, don’t you want to continue your studies? Columbia, I can send you there. You’ll have another year of high school there, and then you can go to college, the real Columbia!”

A struggle flashed in Zhou Sitian’s eyes, then she said firmly, “No!”

Li Zheng helplessly looked at Zhou Sitian, he knew that once Zhou Sitian made her decision, ten oxen couldn’t pull her back.

He probably had to think about how to get in touch with those giants in Hong Kong, Liang Zhe’s straight face came to his mind, he rubbed his temples, forget it, let’s change someone else, Mr. Liang was too difficult to deal with.

Li Zheng was staying that night in Zhou Sitian’s apartment. Zhang Bingkun took the initiative to sleep on the couch, but was stopped by Zhou Sitian, her reasoning was, “Uncle Zhang, the couch is too short, you can’t sleep on it at all, Little Zheng he’s just right for it.”

Li Zheng ……

The next day, Li Zheng went to school on time. Yesterday, he had wanted to ask Zhou Sitian to stay at his place, but when the words came out, he realized he didn’t even have a house.

That was right, he had been staying in a hotel since he arrived in Hong Kong. The hotel provided breakfast and someone would clean up the room, so he thought that when the lab was finished, he would just live inside the lab, so he didn’t have the slightest idea of buying a house.

When he mentioned buying a house to Zhou Sitian, she flatly rejected him. Zhou Sitian said that she needed her freedom and didn’t want to live with Li Zheng! In fact, Zhou Sitian didn’t want Li Zheng to waste his money, but after these few days, she knew how expensive the property prices were in Hong Kong, even though 1982 was the year when the property market collapsed, the prices were still astronomical.

In her concept, Li Zheng’s money should be kept for the future to buy a house and get married.

“Li Zheng.”

“Li Zheng.”

“Li Zheng.”

Li Zheng’s eyes flashed with a hint of confusion, what was going on today? From the time he entered the classroom door until now, many people had already greeted him warmly.

Casually finding a seat, a white-faced boy wearing glasses sat down next to him.

“Li Zheng, I heard from Zheng Lingling that you also went to the banquet at Half Mountain One yesterday, didn’t you? Why didn’t you say so, just standing on stage for over an hour like that!”

Li Zheng was mute, “It’s a group event, we must cooperate if we can.” This was what he really meant, he didn’t at all think that the Hong Kong Governor’s Palace banquet was more important than the school Christmas Eve. One was simply to satisfy curiosity, and the other was an opportunity to integrate into the class, and if he really had to compare, it might be the latter that held more weight in his heart.

The white-faced boy was stunned. Patterns! That’ was the pattern! He understood why his dad said he was small!

Next to him, a short, chubby man had been listening to the conversation between the two, and when he heard this, he also stood up, scratching his head apologetically, and spoke, “Li Zheng, I’m sorry. So that big tree should have been me, I …… If you have anything important to do in the future, hurry up and do it, this kind of work of standing for an hour is not suitable for you!”

Li Zheng lost his smile, he really didn’t think it was a big deal to stand for over an hour, he didn’t have to scramble to get his lab built anyway.

“Thank you.” He could only say that.

He Zhongming’s gaze towards Li Zheng was very complicated, people were such animals, if you were within his sight, he would try to catch up. But if you were already somewhere out of his reach, his ambition, his competitiveness, envy, and jealousy would also fade.

People would race against people, but they won’t chase cars or planes, no less.

“Li Zheng, Professor Xu asked you to go to his office.” Zheng Lingling trotted into the classroom.

Li Zheng probably knew that Xu Mingsheng should be looking for him about the “Asian Biopharmaceutical Conference” in a few days. He stood up and nodded to Zheng Lingling with a smile.

“Thank you.”

Zheng Lingling smiled happily, “By the way, Li Zheng, what about the part-time job you mentioned last time? Do you think that part-time job is really that good for me?”

“Suitable.” Li Zheng waved his hand and walked out of the classroom, heading towards Xu Mingsheng’s office.

In Xu Mingsheng’s office, Professor Zhao and Professor Wang were already there, and they were each followed by a slightly older student, probably two graduate students. A man and a woman, both with typical academic looks.

“Li Zheng is here, everyone’s here. Let’s get started.” When Xu Mingsheng saw Li Zheng, he stood up and said.

“I’ve called everyone here today to hold this small meeting. It’s mainly for the ‘Asian Biopharmaceutical Conference’ that will be held in Tokyo in two days, as you know ah, Asia, when it comes to biopharmaceuticals, it’s us and the University of Tokyo. This time the conference is hosted by the University of Tokyo, and also invited the world’s most famous biology bull, we, at Hong Kong University, can’t drop the chain ah.”

The crowd echoed.

Xu Mingsheng distributed several piles of paper to everyone present, “At the conference, we’re going to make a report on behalf of Hong Kong University, Professor Wang and Zhao and I have censored it and chosen this proposition, you can see.”

When Li Zheng took the paper and turned the first page, he was startled.

Frozen blood disease!

Frozen blood was a condition endemic to the tropics near the equator and occurred most often in infants and young children. Affected infants and young children showed signs of limb atrophy, muscle twitching, blueness, and blood clotting. India, Kiribati, Ecuador, Congo, and other economically backward countries were the countries with the highest incidence of frostbite.

The pharmaceutical industry in these countries was underdeveloped and the people were poor and couldn’t afford the drugs. The world’s leading pharmaceutical companies were not going to develop a drug for this particular disease. Research and development of a drug investment was huge, and the proportion of people suffering from this disease was too low, and infant drugs were already much more difficult to develop than adult drugs, the proportion of drugs were very delicate, a bad outcome was to spend a lot of effort but also be blamed for the outcome.

The most important thing was that in these economically backward countries, there was no awareness of buying medicine. When they gave birth to a sick baby or toddler, their first reaction was to abandon it, not to try to treat it, and an African family would often have more than one child, and one or two less sick ones would not be a problem for them at all. Hence the extremely poor market expectations for Frozen Blood Disease.

The drug was not difficult to develop, it was just that no pharmaceutical company was willing to put in the effort to develop it, and poverty was the original sin for these sick children.

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2 Replies to “C38”

  1. Zhou Sitian is so obstinate!!! Good good good.

    Thanks for the chapter!

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