June 2003, Beijing:

The sun hangs high in the sky, but the sky is not blue, economic development will inevitably bring serious negative effects, environmental pollution has become a headache for some developed cities in China.

In the second ring road, in a courtyard house several acres in size, two children are constantly chasing each other.

Accidentally, one of the boys bumped into a middle-aged man, who was none other than Xu Zhi.

The boy glanced up, and the hippie smile immediately became serious: "Daddy." ”

The little girl in the back was a few years younger, but she was not afraid of the middle-aged man at all, so she ran up and coquettishly said, "Daddy, my brother stole all my KFC chicken wings." ”

"Zirui, you've already eaten a few meals of KFC a few days ago, and you can't eat more. Xu Zhi said.

The little boy scratched his head and asked, "But KFC is delicious, and I heard Mommy say that KFC is not our family?"

Xu Zhi smiled: "It's true that our family is true, but KFC will get fat if you eat too much, do you want to become a fat cat?"

"No......" The little boy thought about the appearance of the fat cat in the TV series, and his head immediately shook like a rattle.

Xu Zhi squatted down, picked up the little girl, and asked, "Where's Mommy?"

The little girl and the boy were a little dazed, and the nanny who followed behind replied, "Miss Ho was with us just now, and then she received a phone call saying that there was a problem with the business in Macau, so she asked me to take the children around." ”

Xu Zhi nodded and nodded, and said, "Okay, take them away first, let them eat more fruits, and when there are guests coming, it is not convenient for them to be here." ”

"Okay, Mr. Xu. The nanny waved her hand, and the two children were a little reluctant to leave at first, but they didn't know what the nanny said in their ears, and the two children immediately jumped up and walked to the backyard.

"Is Minister Tang from the Ministry of Health here?" Xu Zhi asked the assistant next to him after seeing the two children leave.

The assistant replied: "I was on the phone before, there was a traffic jam on the road, and it should be 5 minutes away." ”

"Okay, let's go to the door to greet you!" Xu Zhi tidied up his clothes and walked outside.

The courtyard where several people are currently located is the merger of several courtyard houses acquired at the end of the 80s, all the old buildings have been demolished, and then a group of feng shui, ancient buildings and modern designers have been invited to create this ancient style courtyard, which is equipped with rockeries, fountains, artificial flowing water, mahogany corridors and so on...... , full of the style of a hundred years ago.

Inside, except for the kitchen and bedroom with a TV, the other rooms do not contain any modern electrical appliances, and the decoration is made of wood, which looks like a real ancient courtyard house.

As for the air conditioning and heating, ducted ventilation is used and brought in from outside the courtyard.

And this is only one of the courtyards owned by Xu Zhi in the capital, after entering the 21st century, with the rapid development of the capital, the courtyard has become an extremely scarce resource, most of the nouveau riche, even if they have money, can not buy, and the number of courtyards, except for the government official, no one can surpass Xu Zhi.

……

An Audi A6 sedan stopped at the door, several leaders inside walked out, and Xu Zhi personally came to the door to greet him: "Minister Tang, welcome." ”

Mr. Xu was polite. Minister Tang also smiled and shook back.

"Inside please. Xu Zhi waved his hand.

Everyone followed the two and walked in, and soon came to the hall.

Minister Tang glanced at the internal layout and said with a smile: "Mr. Xu, your courtyard is really ancient!"

"Since they are all called courtyard houses, of course they have to have an ancient style, otherwise, I might as well build a modern villa directly. Xu Zhi replied with a smile.

After the assistant served tea, he withdrew, and Xu Zhi said a few polite words, saying: "Minister Tang, now that the SARS epidemic has passed, I know that many medical workers in China have sacrificed their lives because of the epidemic, and some have saved their lives, but they still have very serious sequelae. ”

"Mr. Xu, the central government has already issued an order that the treatment of SARS patients is responsible for the state finance, although there is no policy for the sequelae at present, but the ministry is already discussing this matter, I think it is better to wait for this result to come out before you decide the next step." Minister Tang suggested.

"I didn't think it through. Xu Zhi nodded, and said: "Then I have another idea, if any SARS patient in China is unemployed due to physical reasons, he can come to my company, and I will also ask the following companies to try to find jobs they can do for these people to help them return to normal life." ”

"Mr. Xu's idea is good, it is indeed difficult for these once seriously ill patients to work normally like ordinary people, and it is indeed a very good thing to have a stable income. Minister Tang sighed: "This epidemic has indeed hit my country's public health cause very hard, but fortunately, Mr. Xu has invested heavily in helping my country build some cutting-edge laboratories, otherwise, our losses will be even greater!"

As early as January 1988, an outbreak of hepatitis A broke out in Shanghai, 300,000 people were infected, primary and secondary schools in Shanghai were suspended, panic spread across the country, and even Xiangjiang was affected, and after several months of treatment, the epidemic disappeared.

This is the first large-scale outbreak since the reform and opening up, and a major public health emergency not only endangers people's health and life safety, but also hinders economic development and social progress.

After Xu Zhi learned about the situation, he came to the capital to negotiate with many leaders, and he personally donated a P4-level biological laboratory, and also built three P3-level laboratories in Shanghai, Guangdong and Jiangcheng to help domestic scientific research and development in the field of microorganisms.

These laboratories not only have state-of-the-art equipment, but also have a large number of experienced researchers, and several laboratories also played an important role in the aftermath of the SARS outbreak.

"Minister Tang is polite, it can save lives, and it is worth spending more money. Xu Zhi said politely.

In the 90s, there were only a handful of countries in the world that had such laboratories, and their main role was to study various level 4 virulent viruses, such as mad cow virus, Ebola and so ......on.

How much money was spent on the construction of this kind of laboratory was only secondary, and all kinds of cutting-edge equipment and professional materials were also bought by Xu Zhi using a lot of contacts in the United States, and then sent to the mainland.

Cutting-edge biological research laboratories can be said to be one of the components of national security.

On the commercial side, the Beijing municipal government transferred three pieces of commercial land next to the subway to Hongkong Land, which was seeking investment from the mainland, at a preferential price. In '91, the Ministry of Commerce also formally agreed that A.S. Watson could fully enter the retail industry in the mainland.

The former has several pieces of commercial land, although the value is higher, but there is also an upper limit, while the opening of the retail industry in the latter is an unlimited business opportunity.

It is important to know that except for a few cities that have opened up to the mainland, the entire mainland did not relax restrictions on overseas retail until 1996.

And Watsons was able to enter the market five years ahead of schedule, and there are tens of billions of dollars earned from the Japanese market behind it, which means that Watsons has booked the entire mainland market.

The special policy of the central government and the opening of the way with US dollar investment, Watsons from 92 years, with 100~200 new stores per year or mergers and acquisitions, quickly occupied the major cities in the mainland, starting from some cities such as Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou, and then slowly radiating to the four sides, all the stores have adopted the self-owned property model, avoiding the impact of high rents in the future 21st century.

At the end of the 90s, after the logistics industry allowed foreign investment, A.S. Watson spent another US$2 billion to build dozens of logistics operation centers, and also set up its own fleet, and by the way, entered the express transportation industry, reducing the operating costs in the mainland to a minimum.

Today, Watsons has 1,800 large supermarkets in the mainland, and there are more than 100 large cities of this type in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Tianjin.

With such a good policy, Watsons will have a certain social responsibility while making money, such as suitable positions that can take care of local disabled and difficult families, and have formed a mature operation model.

Therefore, no matter where the sequelae of SARS are, Watsons can be involved, even in rural farming, a procurement tilt can help these people.

Minister Tang was very satisfied with this plan, and said with a smile: "Mr. Xu, you invited me here today, not just for this matter, right?"

"Of course. Xu Zhi said with a smile: "Although SARS was suppressed in time, it also proves that the biggest enemy of our human beings is these viruses or bacteria and other microorganisms, especially in China, which has a large population, after urbanization, a large number of people gather together, and at the same time, transportation will become more and more developed, these factors are convenient for us and also facilitate the spread of the virus."

Therefore, I intend to build some special hospitals in China to ensure that when a major public health event breaks out, the medical force can quickly keep up and suppress the spread of the epidemic!"

"What kind of hospital?" asked Minister Tang curiously.

Xu Zhi simply introduced: "To put it simply, all wards in a hospital are designed with negative pressure, and the whole hospital is equipped with a large number of ICU equipment and negative pressure transport ambulances, which can quickly serve as a rescue base when it is urgently needed." ”

"It's all negative pressure design, isn't that a small investment?" said Minister Tang.

Xu Zhi shook his head and said: "Actually, there are not many, I have consulted professionals, 1,000 wards, all of which are designed with negative pressure, and they are planned in a unified manner when the building is built, and the total cost is about 100 million yuan, relatively speaking, ICU equipment is a little more expensive." ”

"With negative pressure wards and a large number of ICU equipment, Mr. Xu is worried that there will be another one of this year's events?" asked Minister Tang.

"It's not about worrying about it again, it's about when. Xu Zhi said: "The SARS epidemic that has just been suppressed, the global influenza that breaks out every few years, the Ebola outbreak that is now on a large scale in Africa, and even the unknown new virus, I hope that I have invested too much in these things."

Moreover, these hospitals have so many advanced equipment, which can also be used to treat patients with various difficult and miscellaneous diseases in ordinary times to ensure the normal balance of income and expenditure, especially with so many ICU equipment, if there are natural disasters such as earthquakes that cause a large number of casualties, these hospitals can also undertake treatment work. ”

"Then how many such hospitals does Mr. Xu plan to build?" asked Minister Tang after a moment of silence.

"Tentatively set at ten, the site selection will give priority to densely populated cities, as for the size of the hospital, it needs to be followed up. Xu Zhi replied.

"Okay, I will report this matter to the authorities as soon as I go back, and strive to give Mr. Xu an accurate reply in the shortest possible time. Minister Tang promised.

"Thank you, Minister Tang. Xu Zhi smiled and said, "There is one more thing, I also hope to get Minister Tang's help." ”

"Oh, what's the matter, just say. Minister Tang smiled heartily.

Xu Zhi said: "Minister Tang, my Watsons has reached a consensus with the largest pharmaceutical chain in the United States, the Civis Group.

A.S. Watson is preparing to acquire Civis Group as a wholly-owned company, and if the deal can pass the U.S. antitrust investigation, A.S. Watson will become the world's largest pharmacy chain and will have the capital to negotiate with Western pharmaceutical giants.

At present, there are a large number of patients with cancer or some special diseases in China every year, many of whom need to import expensive drugs from overseas, because of the scattered purchases, resulting in the extremely high prices of these drugs, and the average family cannot afford it at all, so I also hope that the country can set up a special working group to negotiate the purchase price with Watsons and Western pharmaceutical giants. ”

In the 90s, A.S. Watson had a huge amount of money behind it, and in addition to the traditional supermarket retail industry, there was another market that A.S. Watson was also the main target of, and that was the pharmaceutical retail market.

With a large amount of money earned from Japan, plus a huge profit from the third oil crisis and the Asian financial crisis, which cost more than $30 billion, and more than $50 billion in borrowing and financing, A.S. Watson has built a huge pharmaceutical retail chain in Europe and the United States through successive mergers and acquisitions, restructuring and self-construction.

In 1999, Xu Zhi ordered the sale of a large number of technology stocks, including Microsoft, Oracle, Yahoo, Netscape and other companies, and made another profit of tens of billions of dollars.

These funds are once again used for Watsons' expansion, and Civis is one of the most successful acquisition targets, and if the acquisition is really successful, then 16% of the pharmaceutical retail and medical devices in the U.S. market will be controlled by Watsons, plus market share in Europe and Asia, even pharmaceutical giants such as Pfizer and Merkel will have to be subject to Watsons.

Biotechnology R&D is a high-end industry, which is more difficult than the space shuttle, these non-professional fields, even if you invest more money, may not be able to make a splash, therefore, Xu Zhi decided to do what capital should do, to open the way with funds, to control the pharmaceutical terminal retail market.

It's a very good investment, and pharmaceutical retail is a good industry in terms of returns, and it's not afraid of the economic crisis, because even in the Great Recession of 1929, those who take medicine will have to take medicine after all.

"It's a good thing to be able to reduce the price of these targeted drugs, and I will report this as soon as I go back, and I think there will be a response soon. Minister Tang said with a smile.

Xu Zhi smiled and said, "Okay, then thank you Minister Tang, we will definitely be able to suppress the price of targeted drugs when we join forces." ”

"A few years ago, when I was still in Shanghai, I heard that Mr. Xu loves the country and the people, and has been running around for the affairs of the country or the welfare of the people. Minister Tang said cautiously.

"Thank you. Xu Zhi said with a smile: "I dare not love the country and the people, I just do my best while doing business! These are also what a Chinese should do!"

……

(End of book)