Su Tao straightforwardly approved Mo Sun"er and Xiao Jingjing"s leave. Ever since Xiao Jingjing joined the Three Flavour Hall, she hasn"t been taking any leave except for the Chinese New Year. Although she would occasionally head to school to have her homework settled, it was only half a day of leave at best. She had been the reason why Su Tao was so relaxed.

The Three Flavour Hall was filled with customers on a daily basis, and they"re already having a hard time keeping up with the crowd. But fortunately, Dou Fanggang sent a disciple over to relieve the pressure. That Senior Brother of his was skilled, but he wouldn"t stay long. Hence, Su Tao had to make a call to Liu Ruochen and discuss the cooperation between the Three Flavour Hall and Aqua Cloud Stream.

The two of them were already into the details, such as the salary for the Aqua Cloud Stream"s disciple and the swapping of shares between the Aqua Cloud Stream and Three Flavour Hall. Although they were old friends, Liu Ruochen did not give much leeway to Su Tao in the discussion.

Letting out a sigh, Su Tao bitterly smiled. "Alright, we"ll each take a step back. I"ll set the annual salary for disciples of the Aqua Cloud Stream as ¥100,000, ¥120,000, and ¥150,000 based on their capability! With three different levels, it will also promote their improvement. As for the Three Flavour Hall"s shares, I can only go with 5%, and I can"t go any further! You must know that this isn"t only the shares of the Three Flavour Hall"s pharmacy chains, but it also includes the Three Flavour Cosmetics International"s shares! Although the Three Flavour Cosmetics International still hasn"t been listed on the stock market, you will still benefit greatly from the profits now!"

Liu Ruochen knew that Su Tao has grasped onto her heart. Her bottom line was 5% shares of the Three Flavour Cosmetics International, which was the reason why she requested 10%. After Su Tao probed and made an alteration in the salary, he also changed the shares to 5%.

"The Aqua Cloud Stream is a Traditional TCM Sect, and if we cooperate, the Three Flavour Hall will also gain confidence. Even the capital of the Three Flavour Cosmetics International will also increase, and it"s still not for certain who"s the biggest winner here!" After a brief pondering, Liu Ruochen continued, "I"ll host a meeting with the Elders in the sect and seek their opinion. If they have no problem in this matter, then we"ll sign the contract next week."

With a smile, Su Tao replied, "We have to get it done quickly. The Three Flavour Hall will be opening a new branch every month, and once our cooperation is confirmed, we will be able to expand much faster!"

Su Tao has already planned for branches in cities like Qiongjin, Minzhou, Fushan, and Baihe; they were practically cities that Su Tao had once been to in the past.

Zhao Jian had already gone to those cities to conduct a market investigation. However, Su Tao wasn"t rea.s.sured about his safety and sent Liu Jianwei as well.

In fact, it would be swift once the Three Flavour Hall starts to expand their branches, since they did not have to seek any strategic location like other large corporations. They just had to find a popular location.

Although the Aqua Cloud Stream wasn"t comparable to the Medical Dao Sect, they still had a considerable amount of people dispersed over the various cities. Through the Aqua Cloud Stream, he would be able to swiftly find suitable physicians and guarantee the stability of personnel.

Although cooperating with the Medical Dao Sect was the best option, he was tactfully rejected when he talked to the Sect Master of the Medical Dao Sect, Zhang Qingsong, a few times.

Su Tao understood in his heart that the Medical Dao Sect knew about the compet.i.tion between him and w.a.n.g Guofeng, so chances of working with them weren"t high.

Not only did his existence threatened w.a.n.g Guofeng"s position in the TCM industry, but it was also due to the Medical Dao Sect"s pride. In their eyes, only those provincial-level hospitals could contain their disciples. Although the Three Flavour Hall was famous, it wasn"t strong enough, and it was still uncertain if they could reach the peak of the TCM industry.

After students of the various sects graduated, they would usually choose famous hospitals, and if worse comes to worst, they would pick a private TCM pharmacy. The Medical Dao Sect was considered an elite, and Su Tao wanted to hire their disciples with just two branches? Thus, it was reasonable for Su Tao to be rejected.

Su Tao also did not feel angered by the Medical Dao Sect"s refusal since he knew that he still lacked any convincing achievements.

Furthermore, Su Tao also felt gratified with Liu Ruochen since the Three Flavour Hall was only just beginning, and it was truly valuable that she was willing to cooperate with him.

After Su Tao ended the call, Liu Ruochen"s gaze fell onto the cooperation contract when her door was knocked. After she saw her guest, she immediately stood up with a smile. "Master, what are you doing here?"

The guest was a middle-aged woman who was in her fifties. She had no makeup, was portly-looking, and dressed in ordinary clothes. If someone else looked at her, they wouldn"t believe that this woman would be the famous Pan Zhuyun of the TCM industry.

"I"m just visiting!" Pan Zhuyun smiled as she glanced at the table with a few photo frames. Aside from Liu Ruochen"s portrait, there was also a joint photo, where she stood in the middle with Liu Ruochen and Mo Sun"er by her sides.

Pan Zhuyun might be skilled, but she did not have many personal disciples. There was a common characteristic to Liu Ruochen and Mo Sun"er; they were both extremely talented.

Liu Ruochen excelled in her memory and observation, while Mo Sun"er had a pair of unique eyes. That was the reason why Pan Zhuyun would teach her skills to the two of them without any reservation.

As Liu Ruochen poured a cup of tea for her master, she smiled, "Master, you don"t have to beat around the bush. You can just tell me if you have any instructions, and I will surely heed your words!"

Pan Zhuyun smiled as she took a sip of the tea. "I"ll stop beating around the bush, then. My visit today is to ask about the cooperation between the Aqua Cloud Stream and Three Flavour Hall!"

Locking her brows together, Liu Ruochen soon smiled. "Did someone play tricks by your ears?"

Letting out a sigh, Pan Zhuyun asked, "We"re master and disciple, and we"re as close as a mother and daughter pair. I just want to ask you if you and Su Tao had a relations.h.i.+p like the rumors mentioned?"

Liu Ruochen"s face blushed as her gaze briefly flickered. However, she firmly shook her head. "That"s only rumors. My cooperation with the Three Flavour Hall is out of consideration for the sect"s expansion!"

"I"ve watched Guofeng growing up. Although he might be a little prideful, he was fascinated with you." Pan Zhuyun said as she sighed in regret, "You"ve grown up, and you have your own thoughts. I won"t stop you from canceling your engagement, but the Medical Dao Sect is the leader in the TCM industry, so we still have to respect them."

With a flicker of disdain across her eyes, Liu Ruochen asked, "The Medical Dao Sect told all the other major sects to obstruct the Three Flavour Hall from obtaining talents. Based on the bottom of your heart, do you think that"s the heart a leader should have?"

After a brief stun, Pan Zhuyun sighed as she patiently replied to Liu Ruochen, "Ever since you took over the Aqua Cloud Stream, the development has always been good. So I will not interfere with your thoughts, but I would like to meet with that Su Tao. I"m interested to see how capable he is to receive such a high evaluation from you!"

Hearing her master"s words, Liu Ruochen was briefly stunned before she smiled. "Master, I will be heading over to Hanzhou City next week to sign the contract with him. Why don"t you come with me? If you don"t think that it"s workable, then I"ll reject the cooperation with him at that time."

With a smile plastered on her face, Pan Zhuyun sighed, "Alright. To get through my eyes, he will need some genuine ability!"

"Right, there"s something that I would like to ask you!" Liu Ruochen"s brows flickered with concern.

"With regards to Mo Sun"er?" Pan Zhuyun naturally understood the thoughts of her disciples well.

"Indeed, she has deep feelings for Guofeng." Liu Ruochen was worried as she continued, "I"m afraid that she might be hurt!"

Pan Zhuyun was briefly stunned by Liu Ruochen"s words. It seems that her recent talk with the Medical Dao Sect"s Sect Master didn"t escape from Liu Ruochen. "Ruochen, I have to apologise to you in this matter. You have your thoughts, and I have my concern. I know your ambition, but you have to allow me to leave a path for retreat."

"But, you can"t use Sun"er as a bargaining chip!" Liu Ruochen solemnly said. "She"s too innocent!"

Looking at Liu Ruochen with a complicated glance, Pan Zhuyun replied, "I will arrange this matter well, so you don"t have to be worried about it."

After sending Pan Zhuyun away, Liu Ruochen sighed. There truly were quite a few trials standing within Su Tao"s path. The Medical Dao Sect has already issued a secret order, and that meant that any physicians who wanted to join the Three Flavour Hall had to consider it seriously.

Joining the Three Flavour Hall would mean that they"re going against the Medical Dao Sect. In the future, they would have no hope of entering other large hospitals" TCM Departments since the Medicine Dao Sect holds absolute authority.

Hence, it wasn"t a surprise that Pan Zhuyun would come to look for Liu Ruochen, since she knew her disciple"s thoughts.

Liu Ruochen might seem gentle, but she was actually firm in her heart, and her ambition for the Aqua Cloud Stream was not at the level of a va.s.sal. She hopes that the sect could change the current situation in the TCM industry and allow those practicing TCM to have a better environment.

Although the Medical Dao Sect has been the leader for so long, they did not do well in leading the development of TCM.

Since Liu Ruochen wanted to change the current situation in TCM, she would have to topple the current leader and nurture the Aqua Cloud Stream as the new leader; that was her ambition. It was unimaginable how such a feeble lady could have such grand ambition.

On the other hand, her master, Pan Zhuyun, had a tranquil nature, and now that Liu Ruochen wanted to bring down the Medical Dao Sect, she has been laying out a cus.h.i.+on as a precaution.

A resolute light flickered in Liu Ruochen"s eyes. She had to win this gamble. Otherwise, Mo Sun"er would be sacrificed to smoothen the relations.h.i.+p between the Medical Dao Sect and Aqua Cloud Stream.

There wasn"t any fault in Mo Sun"er liking w.a.n.g Guofeng. Still, Liu Ruochen did not wish for Mo Sun"er"s romance and marriage to be so complicated, not to mention that her impression of w.a.n.g Guofeng has been getting worse by the day. Her ex-fiancé has walked on a different path, and it was a path of no return!