Chapter 69

There were too many preparations needed to start a pharmaceutical business, and the first step was to build the basic factory facilities. A pharmaceutical company required even stricter standards than a food business.

"This whole stretch, along our property, is going to be the pharmaceutical company. It's up against the mountain, and the water source is good. I'll handle the disposal of the herbal medicine waste myself so it won't pollute the land or water."

Huo Jilin said to Chen Jue. Huachen Pharmaceutical had done excellent wastewater treatment back then, which is also why Huachen's representative had to be a state-appointed person.

You can't just look out for yourself—you've got to think about what's best for the country too.

Huo Jilin had pulled that off before, and he planned to do it again.

He didn't want this little mountain village, as pretty as a 5A scenic spot, to get ruined.

From now on, all the medicines would be herbal, made to break down naturally over time.

Chen Jue wasn't worried about that. Pure herbal meds meant no pollution. What he was worried about was the rest of the costs.

"Do we really need to build something this big?"

It had taken Chen Jue almost a month just to put together that one sterile room. Even if a pharma factory didn't need to be that strict, you still had to meet basic hygiene standards, so he knew exactly how much work and money that took. And with what they had right now, it wasn't nearly enough.

Huo Jilin looked at him. "I know you've got money, Chairman of Chen's Pharmaceutical. You gonna chip in or what?"

Huo Jilin nodded toward his camphorwood chest. Might as well blow through it all—once the money was gone, Chen Jue would stop thinking about bolting.

He handed Chen Jue the banknotes from today's caterpillar fungus sale. "Let's add up everything we've got."

"In fall and winter, the villagers are all free. This gives them a chance to work—better than hauling sacks at the docks."

Chen Jue took the notes and looked at them. Today, Shopkeeper Dong had given him a nice round number—a hundred taels—more than the fungus was actually worth. Looked like the fungus was worth more to him than the herbs themselves.

Rich folks always cared about their health, no matter the era. Looked like they'd be leaning on caterpillar fungus to bankroll their medicines for a good while.

Even though Chen Jue had never run a company, he knew that in the short term, making finished medicines was nothing but a money pit.

He counted up every bit of silver he'd saved.

"Four hundred fifty taels and three strings of cash, all together."

Chen Jue showed him the numbers. "You call the shots."

That silver sounded like a lot, but there was no way it could build the kind of factory Huo Jilin had in mind. At most, they could manage a small workshop.

Huo Jilin picked up the silver Chen Jue had stashed for a getaway and grinned. "Alright, I'll handle it. You keep this hundred taels for production. These ten taels and three strings are for our living expenses. The rest goes to the factory, herbs, and packaging—labor, materials, and supplies each get a third."

Chen Jue was a little worried. "Everything at the same time? Can we even manage that?"

Back at Huachen, Huo Jilin just gave orders and people did the work. But now it was just the two of them—how were they supposed to pull this off?

Huo Jilin stayed cool, as calm as ever, like success was already a done deal. He had it all mapped out. "For the factory, I'll go talk to Village Head Zhou. It's the off-season for farming, so we won't be short on hands."

He pointed outside. "Five people can knock out the stable in half a day. The factory gets five days, plus two more for sterilizing. For the equipment—cutting, pounding, boiling, distilling, sterilizing, plus the tools for cutting and sealing the packaging—I'll sketch out a rough plan today and get the craftsmen started tomorrow. I want everything ready within a week. We'll start with simple stuff we can build ourselves—nothing fancy—and upgrade later.

As for buying the herbs—oh, right, your mom sent this along with you."

Huo Jilin suddenly remembered something. He carried a red cloth bundle in from the carriage, laid it out on the kang, and pulled out a set of baby clothes. "Your mom made these for the baby—a little padded jacket and padded pants."

He held one up in each hand.

The tiny clothes weren't much bigger than his hand—like they were made for a doll.

Huo Jilin even held the little outfit up against Chen Jue's belly. "This is the head here, and this is the tail. Pretty cute."

He was measuring the clothes against his belly like that—head and tail. If a kid had a tail, that'd be some kind of throwback, and people would think it was a monster!

Chen Jue didn't even want to respond.

But Huo Jilin just kept holding up piece after piece to measure.

Chen Jue's mom had probably poured all the love she'd missed giving him over the years into this baby. She must have made these without him knowing—besides the padded jacket, there were thin clothes and a baby bib.

Bright red silk, embroidered with green lotus leaves and a few golden carp. The stitching was gorgeous, so lifelike. Huo Jilin held the bib up by its four straps and pressed it against Chen Jue's belly. "You'd look cute in this too."

When he looked up and saw Chen Jue's dark expression, Huo Jilin coughed and put the bib away, realizing he'd let that slip. He'd never seen Chen Jue in a bib—they were still broke, and there were no bibs to wear under their clothes anyway.

He tried to cover it up by digging through the red bundle.

"Oh right, there are diapers and a little quilt too. Your mom said since the baby's coming in winter, we need lots of quilts and diapers."

Under Chen Jue's death glare, he folded the clothes back up one by one, neat and crisp with sharp creases. Even that palm-sized bib he folded up square as a handkerchief. Folding clothes was about the only thing he was good at.

Chen Jue watched him fold and shook his head, at a loss for words. Huo Jilin had just been going on about his big business plans, and now he'd completely forgotten them.

One tiny bib and all his big plans went out the window.

Once he was done folding, Huo Jilin asked, "Where were we again?"

Chen Jue was starting to think the pregnant one was him. As the saying goes, a pregnancy makes you scatterbrained for three years. Medically, it was about qi and blood messing with memory—estrogen made pregnant women focus only on the baby and file everything else as unimportant, then wipe it clean.

But Chen Jue couldn't be bothered to argue. He yawned and said, "We were talking about going to see the village head about the workshop."

Huo Jilin said, "Oh. I'll go see him in a bit. We'll lock it in tonight, and tomorrow we start.

First, let me heat up some water for your bath. Soak and unwind, then you can sleep."

Huo Jilin boiled up a whole big pot of water. With him around, bathing wasn't such a hassle for Chen Jue.

The custom bathtub they'd ordered was made specifically for Chen Jue as a pregnant man—pretty much like a modern tub. Easy to get in and out of, and half-reclining in it, his belly wouldn't feel squished or uncomfortable.

He soaked with a herbal pack of mugwort and chrysanthemum to ease the fatigue—after standing all day, Chen Jue was worn out. This kind of pack actually helped.

Once everything was set, Chen Jue kicked Huo Jilin out. He soaked in the wooden tub for a bit until he felt less tired, then got out. A pregnant man shouldn't soak too long.

But he could soak his feet a little longer. For that, they could use a deeper wooden tub with a special herbal pack to bring down the swelling.

Huo Jilin helped massage his feet. Chen Jue couldn't even see his own feet anymore when he looked down, so he stopped trying to tough it out.

Huo Jilin massaged him gently. "How's that? Hurt?"

Chen Jue pulled his foot back. "It tickles. You don't need to keep doing that—go see the village head."

He hadn't expected Huo Jilin to be that gentle.

Huo Jilin clicked his tongue. "Let me tell you, nobody's ever gotten this kind of service from me."

Chen Jue wasn't having it. "I don't need it."

Huo Jilin wiped Chen Jue's feet dry and went to dump out the foot-washing water: "You get some sleep first."

Chen Jue washed his face and felt a bit more awake, shaking his head: "I'm gonna write for a bit longer. You head on out."

"Alright, wait up for me to get back."

Village Head Zhou was easier to handle. Magistrate Liu warranted a bit more sweet talk, but Village Head Zhou didn't need that.

Huo Jilin only picked a few things he had said to Magistrate Liu—like how working with the army's medical tents to produce ready-made medicines was a great service to the nation and its people, and a major accomplishment that would earn him recognition from Magistrate Liu.

If things went well, maybe they could build a memorial archway in Pingshan Village.

Village Head Zhou automatically pictured an archway in his mind, and his eyes went wide.

Their village hadn't turned out a single scholar or official in decades, and that route was a dead end now, so this might be their best shot.

That directly convinced Village Head Zhou. He had never even met Magistrate Liu, but he treated his words like gospel.

He quickly had Aunt Zhang light the lamps and light a few more candles, dead set on having a heart-to-heart with Huo Jilin all night to nail down the medicine workshop plans before dawn.

Huo Jilin wasn't about to chat all night, so he quickly jotted down a flowchart for the workshop build on scrap paper. He'd seen tons of PPTs in his past life, so now he just sorted and condensed it all.

From the workshop's location, materials, and manpower to the construction timeline—

it was done very quickly.

Village Head Zhou stared at him, utterly astonished, with a hint of wariness in his eyes.

Huo Jilin knew he was suspicious and casually explained: "Village Head Zhou, the County Magistrate's office had the water conservancy engineers suggest this. I just remembered all of it. Village Head Zhou, is there anything you'd like to add?"

Village Head Zhou let out a quiet sigh of relief. He hoped Huo Jilin would do great things and lift up the whole village, but if Huo Jilin got too impressive, he'd also be on guard.

So hearing the Magistrate had a hand in the plans made it all click—how could Huo Jilin have become so capable just from one trip to the battlefield?

Village Head Zhou quickly straightened up and said, "The County Magistrate has already planned everything for us very thoroughly... thoroughly. We'll just follow his instructions and do it carefully."

Zhou Shuyao listened to his father forcing out fancy words and sneered coldly. This Huo Jilin had really stumbled into good luck—not only did he survive the battlefield, but he also earned great merit and won the trust of the whole village. Now he'd even gotten in with Magistrate Liu, making his father try to sound refined for him.

Village Head Zhou couldn't string together elegant phrases to begin with, and the more he spoke, the more awkward it got. Now, provoked by his son's cold laugh, he flew into a rage and pointed at him: "If you don't want to listen, get out! Idle and useless all day, never doing anything productive!"

Zhou Shuyao didn't dare glare at his father, but he shot a vicious glare at Huo Jilin instead. Ever since that time Huo Jilin nearly ran him over with his horse and then swept him aside with a whip, Zhou Shuyao had both hated and feared Huo Jilin. He'd been avoiding him, so how could Huo Jilin still end up in his house?

Huo Jilin glanced at him. This Zhou Shuyao still hadn't learned his lesson.

The last time he'd used the whip to sweep him aside had been a warning.

If he provoked him again, next time he'd just run him over.

Zhou Shuyao met his icy gaze, his chest heaving a few times, before he finally turned and stormed off.

Village Head Zhou said to Huo Jilin, "My son is immature. Don't take offense. I'll discipline him properly from now on."

It seemed he knew exactly what kind of character his son had.

Huo Jilin only nodded. Village Head Zhou saw no change in his expression—that cold, almost ruthless face gave him an air of unyielding authority, which was hard to comprehend in someone only nineteen years old.

It could only be said that once a person gained power, their presence grew with it. Thinking of his position as Regional Commander, Village Head Zhou's confidence sank further.

Sometimes a person had to read the situation clearly—there was always a higher mountain, a stronger person. He hadn't been able to suppress Huo Jilin before, and now he never would.

He could only go with the flow.

Having come to that realization, Village Head Zhou became very cooperative and said solemnly to Huo Jilin: "Tomorrow I'll consult our village's elder patriarch to find us a good location and pick an auspicious date. As for the workers to build the workshop, I'll follow your lead. There are plenty of idle people in the village now—we'll definitely get it built. It's just the... money..."

Author's note:

Tomorrow I'll post an extra chapter for everyone! Haha! Celebrating that I finished writing this.