Chapter 175: 172. The Final Step

"Brother Zhang, you've arrived." Meng He said with a smile after seeing Zhang Ran.

Zhang Ran nodded, then greeted Professor Zheng and the others, and began listening to their explanations.

Zhang Ran didn't understand any of this theoretical knowledge, but he could pretend to look like he understood.

People like Professor Zheng, having been university professors, all had an urge to be teachers, so they spoke on and on.

Once they had finished speaking, Zhang Ran asked, "Brother Zheng, does this mean large-scale cultivation is possible now? What is the approximate growth cycle?"

"If all growth conditions are brought to the most optimal level, then it only takes one month," Professor Zheng gave his answer.

Zhang Ran nodded, "What about the efficacy? How much worse is it compared to the original?"

"Sigh, it's much worse. This cannot be calculated precisely with specific values yet; it requires a large amount of comparison," Professor Zheng said.

After chatting for a few more sentences, Professor Zheng and the others continued their work. Although the task Zhang Ran had assigned them was already completed, they were now addicted to the plants Zhang Ran provided and couldn't extricate themselves.

Moreover, with Zhang Ran's financial support, they could research whatever they wanted to research to their heart's content.

Their biggest goal now was to be able to perfectly replicate this plant.

"How is the Drug Administration review going?" Zhang Ran and the others arrived at the office.

Meng He said, "It's still under review. We have already prepared the laboratory research data, quality standards, pharmacological and toxicological data, non-clinical research data, and clinical trial information. There shouldn't be any major problems."

In fact, as early as the second time Zhang Ran met with Meng He, Zhang Ran had already begun to carry all of this out in secret.

Tian Yaohui would never have imagined that even without the matter involving Zhang Siyan and Tian Ya, Zhang Ran would still have chosen to make him the first target.

Although Zhang Ran didn't know at the time if large-scale cultivation was possible, there was one thing Zhang Ran could confirm: as long as there was a new drug that could replace Dragon Tiger Ointment and had better efficacy, Yaotian Pharmaceutical's stock price would plummet. This was Zhang Ran's opportunity.

Furthermore, Zhang Ran hadn't engaged in any fraud; the medicine was absolutely real, and it had all the paperwork, it was just a bit expensive.

Also, in the initial stage, Zhang Ran didn't plan to make this price information public; he only needed to achieve the effect he wanted.

It was just unexpected that Professor Zheng brought him a surprise ahead of schedule, turning what he had originally intended to be a bluff into reality.

Although the efficacy was a bit worse, it was still much stronger than Dragon Tiger Ointment, or rather, better than the efficacy of anything currently on the market.

As for the research data and clinical trials that Meng He mentioned, those were all done. Although it had only been about half a year, with the finished product already in hand, it was completely sufficient.

The plants Zhang Ran provided earlier only needed a tiny bit added to them for the efficacy to be very good, so the extract from one plant was enough to make tens of thousands of small pills, which was completely sufficient to handle these requirements.

"Brother Zhang, the country no longer allows public promotion of these types of products. We can't run large-scale advertisements, which will cause the timeline to drag on, and I'm afraid some accidents might happen by then," Meng He voiced his concerns.

For things similar to Dragon Tiger Ointment, Huaxia does not allow television commercials, so promotion became a problem.

Dragon Tiger Ointment also accumulated its reputation over such a long time to reach its current status.

Moreover, when a new product hits the market, everyone has a sense of vigilance toward such products, especially since this is considered a medicine.

"Also, Tian Yaohui should already know about this matter by now. After all, with the scale of Yaotian Pharmaceutical, they definitely have connections at the Drug Administration."

"For something like this, Tian Yaohui wouldn't even need to ask personally; someone would likely tell him the news," Meng He said.

This is a very normal thing. After all, Dragon Tiger Ointment is Yaotian Pharmaceutical's flagship product. Once a product that can compete with it appears on the market, the blow to Yaotian Pharmaceutical will be huge, and someone will definitely curry favor with Tian Yaohui.

Zhang Ran answered the questions Meng He raised one by one, which could be considered giving Meng He some confidence.

Meng Mingxuan just stood to the side listening quietly. He felt a headache just listening to the problems his father raised; it seemed like every single one was disadvantageous to them, and there were no good solutions.

"First is the issue of promotion. Who told you I planned to promote it domestically?" Zhang Ran said with a smile.

"Uh... are you talking about Prince Haiman? I don't think he would take on a job like this, right?" A black line appeared on Meng He's forehead; he hadn't expected Zhang Ran to have his sights set on Prince Haiman.

One could imagine that if Prince Haiman were truly tricked by Zhang Ran, Prince Haiman's image might collapse immediately.

Zhang Ran looked at Meng He with annoyance and said, "What are you imagining? Am I the kind of person who would scam a friend? It's someone else, and he is the best candidate."

Zhang Ran didn't say exactly who it was in the end, and Meng He didn't ask further, though he became increasingly curious in his heart.

According to what Zhang Ran said, this person must be very famous, otherwise it wouldn't have the desired effect. But who with fame would help promote this? Isn't that just asking for trouble for oneself?

"As for the Drug Administration, you can rest assured. I can guarantee that Tian Yaohui doesn't know the situation yet. Only after the Drug Administration has truly finished the review will he possibly find out," Zhang Ran said calmly.

Zhang Ran naturally knew that if Tian Yaohui found out in advance, it would certainly cause many unnecessary ripples, so he spent the price of several priceless antiques to get some people to step in.

In fact, Zhang Ran didn't need to spend the cost; he had his own connections, but Zhang Ran didn't want to get such matters mixed up in politics, so he would rather pay a high price to do things this way than let himself get dragged into trouble.

Next, Zhang Ran began to discuss some matters with Meng He and Meng Mingxuan; cultivation, sales, and so on all required them to make decisions.

This matter was of great importance and there were many things that needed to be done, so Zhang Ran estimated he wouldn't be able to go back for the next few days; he would have to finish handling things here first.

However, there was only one final step left before Zhang Ran launched his counterattack against Tian Yaohui. As long as this step was taken, success or failure would soon be revealed, and it would also influence the decisions of quite a few people.

Meng He knew the significance of this matter even more, so he put aside his company's affairs for these few days to focus on completing this task.