Chapter 1300

“I got it. I’ll verify it as soon as possible!”

Jiang Mengjie promptly answered.

On the mountain…

Fang Qiu turned to look at He Xue and said, “You must follow up with the local police closely. Once they detain the suspected criminal, they can find out the truth. Then, you must reveal the facts to the public, whatever happens. Remember: don’t hold anything back.”

“In addition, stop using traditional Chinese medicine in all the clinics and seal all the medicine up. Send some people to check our traditional Chinese medicine thoroughly. Once any fake or inferior product appears, confine the doctor in the clinic and report the situation at once!”

He Xue listened intently.

She nodded, knowing full well what she should do.

“Lastly…”

After giving the instructions, Fang Qiu took a short breath and added, “Announce this matter on the Foundation’s official Weibo account. No matter what, it has already happened. Our company must bear all the responsibility!”

But after he said that…

“I disagree.”

Yang Ningyuan immediately objected and said, “The Foundation belongs to our Renyi Group, which is known to the public. I think protecting the reputation of the group is the most important. Once the matter is made public, the Foundation will have to take the blame. It will implicate us.”

“That’s what I think too.”

Zhao Shanlin nodded in agreement and chimed in, “Our group cultivates and produces traditional Chinese medicine. And this incident happened to be related to fake and inferior traditional Chinese medicine. Thus, I think it’s best not to get our group involved in this matter. How could a company that cultivates and makes medicine sell shoddy medicinal herbs? This incident will exert a damaging impact on our company!”

Zhu Benzheng and the other two also nodded in agreement.

“Let’s isolate the Foundation’s affairs from our group.”

Jiang Mengjie also said, “I’m in charge of such things, so I have to stand up and face the public when this incident happened.”

“It’s not necessary.”

Fang Qiu immediately shook his head and said, “We belong to one company and the same group. No matter what happens, we should be open and aboveboard, not to mention this is a matter of life and death. I don’t think releasing an announcement in the name of the Foundation will implicate our group. On the contrary, covering up the facts will land us in real trouble. Netizens nowadays are not easy to deal with. If anyone with ill intentions publicizes the matter, it will be more troublesome!’

At this point…

Fang Qiu took a deep breath and added, “We made a mistake, and we must bear the consequence!”

“I second that.”

Li Qihua, who had not spoken for a long time, echoed.

“I also agree.”

He Xue nodded approval.

Soon after…

All the others nodded in agreement.

Perhaps, it was because they had never encountered such a big crisis. Everyone was trying to avoid the problem without considering the possible outcomes. But after they heard what Fang Qiu had to say, they finally realized what was happening.

In this era…

There was no concealing the truth. The more one wanted to hide something, the quicker it would be dug out by others!

“Let’s do it now.”

Since everyone agreed, Fang Qiu said, “Find out the truth as soon as possible!

The meeting was over.

After everyone left the chat room, they went back to work.

Not long after…

While the quarrels online were getting increasingly heated, the Three Billion Foundation’s official Weibo account released an announcement according to Fang Qiu’s request.

“A rural physician from our company was found to have sold inferior traditional Chinese medicine. We are shocked at the news. Our company has officially called the police, and a report had been filed. No matter what the truth is, our company will face the consequences caused by this incident and will not shirk any responsibility!”

Honestly…

The relationship between the Three Billion Foundation and the Renyi Group was no secret. The Three Billion Foundation was a foundation under the Renyi Group, and anyone could learn about it by searching online. But because of the Renyi Group’s well-earned reputation, the public subconsciously overlooked this connection.

And now…

The Three Billion Foundation took the initiative to issue a statement. Instantly, it attracted a lot of attention!

“They issued a statement?”

“I hope this matter has nothing to do with the Renyi Group!”

“It can’t be true. Medicines from the Renyi Group are the best in the world. Such a leading company would not sell products of poor quality. This is the Foundation’s problem!”

“I’m waiting to see if you have the guts to stand up and bear the consequences. I appreciate that you didn’t pass the buck.”

“Since they’ve called the police, let’s wait for the truth.”

“What the hell is the truth?”

“We’re looking forward to the truth!”

Gradually…

Public opinions began to soften.

The Foundation chose to shoulder the responsibility and managed to restore a little of its previous good reputation.

Over at their end…

He Xue also acted quickly and arranged for some people to take immediate action. At the same time, she issued a notice to all the doctors in the countryside, asking them to seal all the important items in the clinic and not sell them.

All the rural doctors received this notification!

...

They dare not disobey it.

It was because the Foundation openly released the notice within the company. Once any doctor was caught prescribing traditional Chinese medicine, the doctor would be condemned.

However…

All of them were busy with this matter. Abruptly, another piece of news appeared on the Internet, which astounded everyone!

“Shocking news! In a village of a county in Qilu Province, a patient used the traditional Chinese medicine bought from a clinic under the Three Billion Foundation. As a result, instead of a full recovery, the patient is now at death’s door!”

When this news came out…

The netizens were stupefied.

Afterward…

Before they could recover from the shock, the second the third case were reported. In the end, there were our cases in total.

All four patients had taken traditional Chinese medicine from clinics under the Three Billion Foundation. Yet, none of them recovered, and their illnesses were even aggravated.

As cases of the four patients were exposed online…

...

There arose a great uproar on the Internet.

“What the fuck! This crisis has blown up, hasn’t it?”n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

“So horrifying. Inferior medicine!”

“Oh, their problem is now much more serious than that. Their drugs are killing patients!”

“Fake drugs can endanger people’s lives!”

“Let’s pray for the patients who have taken the fake medicine. I hope they can survive.”

“If anyone dies, Fang Qiu, the Three Billion Foundation, and even the Renyi Group will suffer!”

The netizens were greatly agitated.

It was as if…

This incident had changed from a potential fraud event to a criminal case.

Once someone died, some people would have to be held accountable.

By then, Fang Qiu might even go to jail!

A seismic shift in public opinion occurred.

The Three Billion Foundation’s official Weibo account and Fang Qiu’s Weibo account had just regained some support. However, all of a sudden, countless netizens flooded into the two Weibo accounts to deliver verbal attacks!

They had a hard time winning back a little appreciation. Unfortunately, as this incident had gone from bad to worse, they completely lost all the goodwill.

While the netizens went into a frenzy of complaints and beratement…

All over the country…

People in business circles also focused their attention on this matter.

After all, the Renyi Group behind the Three Billion Foundation was undoubtedly the best company group in the business circle of Huaxia.

Once this matter broke out, everyone in the business circle began to worry about the Renyi Group!

“It seems that Fang Qiu will lose his impeccable image!”

“And the Renyi Group.”

“Since the beginning, Fang Qiu and the Renyi Group have maintained a perfect reputation. I never expected they would end up like this. If someone dies, the unblemished image they have maintained for a long time will be completely gone!”

“Since Fang Qiu appeared before the public, he has been saving people and hasn’t done any harm to anyone. That’s why he is so popular on the Internet. But if someone dies this time… No matter how excellent the image that he had tried to create, it will collapse due to this incident. Once his ideal public image is shattered, Fang Qiu will be doomed!”

On the other side…

When all the people in all sorts of circles of the country were animatedly talking about this matter…

A pharmaceutical company that provided the Three Billion Foundation with Chinese medicinal herbs suddenly issued a statement!

“An important statement: our company is one of the suppliers of the Three Billion Foundation, and the shoddy Chinese medicinal herbs in this incident have nothing to do with our company. Our company is willing to accept all kinds of investigations in this matter. The Three Billion Foundation has been slow in dealing with this matter and has not solved the problem as yet. Therefore, our company has made a decision — from now on, we will stop all business dealings with the Three Billion Foundation, even if we have to pay any compensation for breaching the contract. Our company will always stick to our principles: save people with good medicine!”

That was because…

Companies that provided Chinese medicinal herbs for the Three Billion Foundation were chosen through bidding. Then, the list of bid winners was posted on Weibo. From the beginning of the scandal, netizens had been watching the 30 companies.

To everyone’s surprise, Qiming Pharmaceutical Company was the first to step forward!

Undoubtedly…

This statement was very pleasing to all the netizens.

Sure enough…

Right after the statement was released, it won the support of many netizens.

“Well done! That Foundation is quite shameless and black-hearted.”

“I hope the fake and inferior medicinal herbs are not related to your company. If your company makes good medicine, I will only buy your products!”

“I support you in your disassociation with that fraudulent Foundation.”

Here…

After making all the necessary arrangements, Fang Qiu left Jiaxiang County and rushed all the way to the place where the incident took place.

On the way…

Fang Qiu had also been keeping tabs on public opinions on the Internet.

He also saw the statement issued by the Qiming Pharmaceutical Company.

This statement…

It made Fang Qiu feel very helpless.

Of course, he could understand Qiming Pharmaceutical Company. After all, it was a big company. In the face of a coming crisis, it would want to avoid it as quickly as possible to protect its reputation.

After he scrolled through for a while, Fang Qiu was about to put away his phone.

“Beep, beep, beep…”

His cell phone suddenly rang.

Jiang Mengjie was calling him.

“Hello?”

Fang Qiu answered the phone.

“I’ve received some information about those pharmaceutical companies that supplied us with medicinal herbs. They all have issued a statement saying they didn’t know anything about it.”

Jiang Mengjie said gravely.

“Don’t worry about that for now.”

After a short silence, Fang Qiu said, “First of all, look into our organization and see if there is any problem with the sealed medicinal herbs in each clinic. When you carry out your investigation, try your best to prevent the unfavorable situation from developing!”

“Okay.”

Jiang Mengjie responded. Fang Qiu paused and added, “You don’t have to be overly anxious or furious. Always keep a cool head during the crisis!”