Chapter 451 — One More Underling

"You're giving up your family's business?" Wei Zhao found it hard to figure out what Fatty Lai was after.

"Doctor Lin, the family business has all gone to my big brother. I don't want it, and I don't care for it—saves me from scheming and backstabbing all day long." Fatty Lai chuckled. "Besides, I figure sticking with you is a far better prospect than messing around with family businesses! Doctor Lin, mark my words, your company is bound to be even more impressive than that Doctor Kang Pharmaceutical Group. By then, as the group's professional manager and your spokesman, won't I have risen to the heavens? And once my big brother realizes how important the Life-Extending Detox Pill is—heh heh—he'll be on his knees, weeping and begging me!"

"On his knees? Is that so rare? Don't you cry on your knees all the time?" Hearing Fatty Lai's words, Wei Zhao could not help but admire the man's boldness—he had actually abandoned his family business to come work with him.

"Heh heh, that's different. You're a miracle doctor. With anyone else, I wouldn't go crying on my knees." Fatty Lai said, a little embarrassed.

Wei Zhao had assumed the fellow was born a crybaby, but it turned out he only did it for him—which gave Wei Zhao a serious headache.

"Your idea is a good one, but this pharmaceutical group of mine was just a passing whim. Whether I can keep it going, or whether there will be new products to develop—none of that is certain yet!" Wei Zhao had to get the ugly truth out front. Who knew how his own road would unfold? Even the old man at home had no clear answer.

"No problem, Doctor Lin. How about you take me on as your underling?" Fatty Lai was a smart man and had long since seen the truth: Wei Zhao was no ordinary person, and following him would never be a losing proposition.

Money—Fatty Lai, raised from childhood in a wealthy household, no longer valued it much. What he pursued was fame and status, and Wei Zhao could help him realize that dream perfectly.

Being someone's underling was not much fun—but it depended on whose underling you were. As Wei Zhao's, Fatty Lai was a hundred percent willing! How extraordinary was Wei Zhao? With medical skills like his, every great family and power would scramble to curry favor with him. Who did not fall ill, who did not age and die? And if Wei Zhao could delay their deaths, would they not come flocking like ducks to feed?

And then, though he would be a mere follower, he would be Wei Zhao's spokesman to the outside world! Wei Zhao was busy every day—when would he have time to deal with all those outsiders? Once this underling stepped forward—heh heh...

Just thinking about it made Fatty Lai feel wonderful. What was one electronics industrial park? His big brother was truly short-sighted. Look at him—how brilliant his decision had been, made on the spot!

A man has to be thick-skinned, has to be a crybaby. Look at him—thick-skinned and a crybaby both, and had he not already won Wei Zhao's goodwill? "You want to be my underling?" Wei Zhao looked at Fatty Lai oddly. "I don't lack underlings."

"Not so, not so. Chief Wei Zhao, hear me out!" Fatty Lai began his analysis, and his way of addressing Wei Zhao slipped into "Chief" as well, which left Wei Zhao somewhat exasperated. "Chief, think of your standing! Once the pharmaceutical group is founded, there will surely be great families coming to beg for medicine, and every one of them will want to see you. Can you possibly meet them all? You are already busy every day, and you still have to chase women and enjoy life—where would you find the time to deal with them? That is when you need an underling to handle these matters for you! And I happen to be just right for the job!"

Wei Zhao thought it over. There was no lack of sense in what Fatty Lai said, so he replied, "But I already have an underling."

"You mean Kang **? Think about it—that is not enough!" Fatty Lai shook his head. "How can one underling be enough? Kang ** is with you all day, keeping you company at school and enjoying life. He cannot be handling company affairs every day, can he? Let him be vice chairman, and I will be the underling who manages the company's affairs for you!"

Wei Zhao nodded. What he did not say was that he had another underling back in his hometown, named Ergoudan. But thinking of Ergoudan's intelligence, Wei Zhao shook his head—that kid could only serve as a brawler and a punching bag, all brawn and no brains!

Mm, one of these days he would give Ergoudan a call and see what the fellow was up to now. It had been a long time since he had gone back; he rather missed him.

Seeing that Wei Zhao was somewhat moved, Fatty Lai pressed his advantage. "Besides, Chief, what kind of man are you? You cannot possibly have just one underling at your side. Look at any great man—are there not always a whole crowd of followers around him? Each with his own duties: bodyguards, life secretaries, clerical secretaries, a steward, a nanny, and a little honey..."

"All right... stop droning on. I will reluctantly take you on as a temporary underling. Pass the assessment and you will be promoted to full status!" Wei Zhao was getting a little impatient with Fatty Lai's talk, and since what he said made a good deal of sense, Wei Zhao agreed.

Only, he himself was still someone else's follower, and now Fatty Lai had become his follower. In the future, if he went out together with the young miss, what sort of scene would that make?

A follower with a follower of his own—he was probably unprecedented, the most badass follower in history.

"Haha, then from now on I am Doctor Lin's underling!" Fatty Lai was overjoyed, automatically ignoring the word "temporary." "Don't worry, leave this pharmaceutical company to me!"

"..." Wei Zhao was a little speechless. Fatty Lai was even more enthusiastic than he was; taking on such an underling would save him a lot of worry in the future. Only, Wei Zhao did not yet fully trust Fatty Lai—he had not gotten a clear picture of the fellow's character, and there were still things he could not confidently hand over to him. He would wait until he had assessed him for a while.

He gave the decocted medicine to Fatty Lai and sent him off, then sat back down on the sofa in Guan Xuemin's study. "Grandpa Guan, what do you make of this?"

"You mean Mr. Lai?" Guan Xuemin asked.

"Mm. Doesn't this fellow seem a bit unreliable?" Wei Zhao felt that in speech and manner, Fatty Lai did not come across as a business elite—more like an idiot. Were it not for those earlier suggestions Fatty Lai had made about running the company, Wei Zhao would even have taken the kid for nothing but a good-for-nothing rich brat waiting around to die.

"Not so!" Guan Xuemin shook his head. "While you two were talking, I took a moment to look up this Lai Changyi online. After graduating from university at twenty-two, he took the fifty million in seed money his family gave him and started his own business. Though one might suspect he borrowed his family's connections, in just ten short years he grew that fifty million into two real estate and trading companies each with assets over a billion. That alone shows he is no fool! As for his being a crybaby, I imagine it is simply a matter of playing to his audience. For one thing, he is quite filial—it is only over his father's affairs that he will kneel and weep without stopping. In the business world, there is no news of him making a public spectacle of himself."

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