Homo Sapiens

February 28, 2020.

Luzon was still locked in a struggle with ABCD.

Meanwhile, things in Hongsawaddy were calm and uneventful.

This was mainly due to the implementation of a closed-door policy, which made Hongsawaddy more insular and allowed Ma Chi, Yang Mengjiao, and others to accelerate the internal consolidation of their subsidiary companies.

The Jin from Qingye Bank remained very stable. At least for the short term, the internal economy was not expected to face any major problems.

At that moment, at the Yangon branch of Qingye Medical Company.

Samsung Company from South Korea and Xiaolin Pharmaceutical from East Japan paid a joint visit. Through their branch managers in Yangon, they proposed a partnership with Qingye Medical.

Park Haotze glanced at Xiaolin Yafu, who was standing nearby, clearly surprised by the speed of the East Japanese company’s reaction.

Across from them, Tian Hemeng watched the two men with a placid expression.

Seeing this, Park Haotze didn’t put on airs just because he was from the Samsung Group. He quickly got to the point, asking, ”Ms. Tian, our company is very interested in the new products your company has launched. We were wondering what a potential partnership might look like?”

Xiaolin Yafu immediately followed up, ”Our company is extremely interested in your rapid test kits. If Ms. Tian is willing to cooperate, we are prepared to offer 10 million US Dollars to purchase the patent for this technology.”

”I understand the purpose of your visit. However, selling the technology is not within my authority. If you wish to purchase the test kits, we can certainly discuss that.” Tian Hemeng politely declined their offer to buy the technology.

Xiaolin Yafu did not seem overly disappointed by this, merely showing a look of regret.

However, Park Haotze of the Samsung Group was not ready to give up. He threw out a very tempting offer:

”Ms. Tian, as far as I know, your company’s test kits do not have certification from North America or the European Union. If you are willing to partner with Samsung, we can help get this technology certified, which would allow your company to export the test kits to other countries.”

Tian Hemeng smiled. ”Is that so? I had no idea exporting was so troublesome. In that case, it seems our partnership is off the table.”

What? Park Haotze felt as if he was mishearing things.

Xiaolin Yafu, on the other hand, could see Qingye Medical’s unshakeable confidence.

Based on the test kits Xiaolin Pharmaceutical had managed to acquire from Hongsawaddy and Siam, they discovered that Qingye Medical’s rapid test kits were technologically very advanced. Not only were they incredibly fast, but their accuracy was also remarkably high.

More importantly, these kits could detect mutations in various virus strains. This was because the rapid test kits screened for over a dozen target genes. If a target failed to register, it proved that the virus in the patient’s system had mutated.

With Xiaolin Pharmaceutical’s current technology, it was practically impossible to create a comparable rapid test kit in a short amount of time.

This kind of R&D was measured in years. Even if they went all out, it would take at least half a year to develop a barely usable rapid antigen test kit.

Even major pharmaceutical giants like Pfizer couldn’t accomplish it much faster.

It was a matter of technical verification and research talent on one hand, and a certain amount of luck on the other.

If they could be replicated quickly, Xiaolin Pharmaceutical, Samsung, and even Pfizer and Johnson & Johnson—who had also started paying attention to Qingye Medical—would have already copied them. After all, Qingye Medical hadn’t registered detailed international patents, only some vague ones for antigen proteins and molecular formulas.

These big corporations were very insidious when it came to playing the patent game. Even if you took them to court, they could just drag out the proceedings indefinitely.

Therefore, the patents Qingye Group registered didn’t cover the technical principles, but rather some processed data.

Xiaolin Yafu asked directly, ”Ms. Tian, what is the price for the rapid test kits?”

”One box contains 10 kits. The price is 50 Jin.”

”Nani?!” Xiaolin Yafu blurted out in his native tongue. Then, uncertain, he asked again, ”50 Myanmar Kyat?”

”Mr. Xiaolin, you have quite a sense of humor. Are you not aware of the currency currently used in Hongsawaddy?” Tian Hemeng replied with a gentle smile.

Park Haotze, who had just recovered his composure, also heard the price and clearly found it unacceptable. ”Ms. Tian, if I recall correctly, your company’s retail price is 30 Jin per box, isn’t it?”

”Can domestic prices and export prices be the same?” Tian Hemeng retorted.

’Heh, but this price is outrageous. 50 Jin is equivalent to 0.1 grams of Gold,’ Park Haotze grumbled inwardly. Outwardly, however, he asked with a smile that didn’t reach his eyes:

”Our company needs at least a million boxes. We hope you can offer us a more reasonable price.”

”This is the price. If you purchase ten million boxes, perhaps I can consider giving you a ten percent discount.”

Hearing this, Park Haotze and Xiaolin Yafu nearly choked and coughed up blood. Ten million boxes? Their home countries’ populations were only so large. Ten million boxes meant one hundred million test kits—enough for every single person to be tested once.

But no matter how they pleaded or pressured her, Tian Hemeng was completely unyielding, sticking firmly to the price of 50 Jin.

Left with no other choice, Park Haotze and Xiaolin Yafu could only report back to their respective head offices for instructions.

「The next day, negotiations continued.」

Regarding the price, Xiaolin Pharmaceutical and Samsung Company had apparently given up haggling. After all, considering the technology involved, and the fact that a 50 Jin box contained 10 kits, the average cost was only 5 Jin per kit.

In any case, the cost would ultimately be passed on to the consumer. When it came time to sell them domestically, they could just raise the retail price.

Thus, the two of them even selectively forgot that Qingye Medical lacked the relevant medical certifications.

After all, there’s no shame in making money.

However, just as they had settled on the purchase quantity, another problem arose.

”Can’t your company accept US Dollars? Or Euros would be fine too!” Park Haotze asked, a headache coming on.

Xiaolin Yafu also looked helpless. Qingye Medical was demanding payment in Jin, but the problem was, where were they supposed to find tens of millions of Jin on such short notice?

Tian Hemeng shook her head. ”This is a matter of principle. Of course, a compromise isn’t entirely out of the question. If you are willing to pay directly with Gold, that is also acceptable.”

Xiaolin Yafu and Park Haotze almost slammed the table and shot to their feet.

Paying for goods directly with Gold? Forget whether the two of them would agree; the companies behind them would never approve it.

Even for Samsung, a semiconductor giant with considerable internal reserves of industrial Gold, this was unacceptable. Using Gold to purchase disposable test kits was the act of a complete sucker.

The two sides were at a stalemate once again.

They could have grudgingly accepted a currency swap.

But using Gold to directly purchase test kits was fundamentally out of the question.

Just as Samsung and Xiaolin Pharmaceutical reached an impasse, Zhengda Company from Siam and the Homo Sapiens Company from Luzon also appeared in Yangon.

Clearly, these other factions were no fools. Many companies had already set their sights on Qingye Group’s rapid test kits.

Even Huaguo’s BGI Genomics had quietly sent over a business negotiation team.

But these groups were quickly put in their place. The price of 50 Jin per box, coupled with the demand for payment in either Jin or Gold, was truly making things difficult for them.

Huaguo was the only one with Jin reserves, having stockpiled 4.7 billion Jin through various companies. However, they still found the price of 50 Jin per box hard to accept.

At this point, all the parties began to use every trick in the book, pulling whatever strings they could in hopes of convincing Qingye Group to lower the price or accept US Dollars, Euros, or even Huaguo Yuan.

Unfortunately for them, they didn’t know that in the current Hongsawaddy, there was no one who could influence the Qingye Group.