Merchant and doctor

Chapter 2025 Establishing a Business System
For Bian Mu, the core purpose of opening a traditional Chinese medicine clinic was undoubtedly "to heal the sick and save lives!" Under this guiding principle, Bian Mu sought to continuously improve his medical skills while also accumulating funds, connections, and other high-quality resources. Following the principle of "using borrowed resources to generate profits," he planned to collaborate with reputable pharmaceutical companies that were shrewd, ethical, and focused on minimal profit to develop several highly effective traditional Chinese medicines. Ideally, these would be top-tier traditional Chinese medicines that filled gaps in the history of Chinese medicine, making them virtually irreplaceable!
The profits from highly effective traditional Chinese medicines should be quite astonishing. Bian Mu's assessment of this was not a simple guess. His teacher, Duan Hongyi, was even more capable than he had imagined. The two of them had repeatedly deduced and estimated the profits using electronic counting rods and mathematical models, and the theoretical profits far exceeded Bian Mu's expectations.

With the blessings of the ancestral master, if everything goes smoothly, Bian Mu may accumulate a large sum of money. At the same time, many capable people will be continuously selected, and everyone will work together to open a traditional Chinese medicine specialist hospital that meets Bian Mu's vision in every aspect.

Bian Mu had meticulously calculated using counting rods that, with his overall "talent," opening a specialized TCM hospital would basically be the pinnacle of his life; going any further... he probably wouldn't be able to keep going.

The system framework behind the general hospital is too complex. Bian Mu could never reach it even if he devoted his entire life to it. At least, the "digital model system" that Bian Mu built in private only calculated negative values. He never saw a positive value, not even a logical value like 0.00000X.

One shouldn't be too greedy. Compared to other university students, I'm already quite lucky.

Recently, Bian Mu has gradually realized that making traditional Chinese medicine and opening specialized hospitals are purely business ventures, and the "medical" aspect may have to take a back seat to below 49%. Otherwise, with his limited resources, it would be impossible to continue moving forward.

So, in private, Bian Mu would occasionally peruse some of the "business" books that resonated with him, both ancient and modern, Chinese and foreign. Thanks to the special support of Su Linwen and Qi Yuewei, who found many rare and unique copies for him through various channels, Su Linwen would simply photocopy them, bind them herself, and deliver them to him.

After the "New Concept" Traditional Chinese Medicine Clinic branch successfully went into operation, Bian Mu gradually discovered that while saving lives, the clinic was also a commercial entity, and many relationships inside and outside the clinic began to become subtle. For example, if he were to set up another pharmacy at the Lin family's old residence, according to the statistics of the "Digital Medicine" system, the branch would definitely lose more than one-third of its customers.

Ultimately, patients and their families still rely on Bian Mu's prestigious reputation.

At first, Bian Mu was only worried that he wouldn't be able to stay at the Lin family's ancestral home for long before he had to make way for them. After all, Old Madam Lin was over ninety years old and her lifespan was limited. If anything happened to her, the Lin family descendants might not even wait until the funeral was over before kicking her out.

After staying in this location for a while, Bian Mu gradually realized just how valuable the Lin family's ancestral home really was! The younger generation of the Lin family had long been envious and were hoping that the clinic would close down as soon as possible!
Bian Mu has never wanted to take advantage of anyone since he was a child, and Old Mrs. Lin is no exception. Whenever there is extra income in Bian Mu's private account, he always withdraws a portion and deposits it into a special bank card. In the future, when the lease is terminated amicably, Bian Mu will personally deliver the principal and interest to Old Mrs. Lin. If necessary, Bian Mu plans to bring cash with him.

Not long after, the statistical program under the "Digital Medicine" system showed that it was fortunate that the pharmacy had transferred Bian Mu to the branch; otherwise, the main branch would still be overcrowded, and the actual revenue of the branch would have dropped directly.

For patients and their families, going to a clinic is almost no different from shopping at a supermarket. To them, a clinic is also a commercial establishment that charges money, and clinics charge even more! In a sense, both doctors and patients are doing business, which is completely different from public hospitals.

Gradually, Bian Mu accepted a cold, hard truth with near frustration: the clinic he founded showed almost no philanthropic character.

Moreover, since the branch library began operating normally, Bian Mu has repeatedly noticed subtle changes in various aspects of people, including Nurse Lin, besides Dian Shuhua. Interestingly, all these changes revolve around the word "money"...

On the one hand, Bian Muzhi is quite strict in his management of the branch clinic. On the other hand, the "Digital Medicine" system is incredibly useful, and its AI capabilities are increasing daily. It's almost impossible for any colleague to make any underhanded moves regarding money. Furthermore, Dian Shuhua considers the branch clinic his second home and devotes all his attention to its affairs. With such a special colleague around, anyone who wants to do anything behind the scenes can only do so under the guise of the clinic to avoid Dian Shuhua's notice. As a result, it's quite difficult for other colleagues to seek personal gain.

however……

What about the future?!

If the root causes are not thoroughly resolved, all sorts of troubles will inevitably arise!

Therefore, when opening the third, fourth, fifth, and so on branches in the future, Bian Mu really couldn't imagine how he would supervise and restrain them, or how he would kindly guide or even educate them. Would he really do what some chain pharmacies, chain restaurants, and chain supermarkets do, singing corporate culture songs and performing those supposedly unifying corporate dances every day?! Or organizing corporate culture team-building activities every now and then?!
Whether it works or not, Bian Mu felt he definitely couldn't do it. Today, while chatting with Lao Hou, Bian Mu suddenly noticed that Lao Hou seemed much more approachable than before. After thinking about it carefully, Bian Mu realized that Lao Hou was actually a pretty good person. He was rough on the outside but kind on the inside, and most importantly, he wasn't a bad person at heart. He was someone she could work with.

A sudden inspiration struck Bian Mu: in addition to the medical clinic system, he needed to build a second commercial system. This system was not allowed to intersect with the traditional Chinese medicine system, and at most, it could intersect with the traditional Chinese medicine system in the future.

Bian Mu had been spending all his time working with Teacher Duan Hongyi on this system and that system, and the consciousness of the system had gradually penetrated into Bian Mu's brain. It was just that it was suddenly activated at this moment.

Yes! Let's do it!

For example, Old Hou in front of us, and that "striped-faced" brother who abandoned evil for good, Li Yunhu, may become important members, or even partners, of that commercially driven little system in the future. Of course, the most core figures are the forest ranger Old Liangtou and the herb farmer Old Pei. Even Su Linwen and Assistant Zhang are core members of the system.

Bian Mu's eyes lit up.

"What?! There's still something to talk about with the descendants of the Cao family?!" Old Hou was quite perceptive and immediately asked.

"It's hard to say right now, it's just a feeling... Lei Xueming also has the surname Lei, and Lei Xiaoxuan is a direct descendant of the Lei family. It just so happens that a descendant of the Cao family works at the Lei family pharmacy. Even after she gave birth, they didn't fire her. Although the salary is a bit low, the loyalty is still there! I'm afraid other employees wouldn't be so kind!"

"Exactly! You mean..."

"Back then, someone actually obtained some of the prescriptions from the Cao family, that's beyond doubt! Sima Kui almost became enemies with some people because of this. I guess the Cao family's valuable Chinese medicine literature, let's just call it literature for now, and their constant talk of secret prescriptions as if we're always on crooked paths, haha... those documents should be divided into four or five parts. Lei Xiaoxuan has always been 'very concerned' about this, but the Cao family knows perfectly well that they won't easily show it to anyone unless they see a benefit they can fully accept. So, not dismissing them, only giving them a living allowance, and deducting a portion of their salary is very much in line with Lei Xiaoxuan's style. In this regard... I'll have to trouble Brother Hou to keep an eye on things!"

"Really? That's great! Now we have something to look forward to! I'll do my best! Just let me know, and I'll take care of the details!"

"Here's what I think: the studio that Teacher Duan opened really inspired me..." As she spoke, Bian Mu briefly explained her collaborative relationship with Teacher Duan Hongyi.

As he listened, Old Hou's eyes gradually shone with a fiery light, a light of hope for a better future!

"You can set up a studio too. The procedures are much simpler now. Take your time to choose a location, preferably three. I'll go with you to pick one out. You know a lot more about this than I do. If you ever run into trouble later, I can lend you some money interest-free!"

"I do have that much money. So... what exactly does my job entail? What kind of business does it usually involve?"

"No! This kind of studio will definitely lose money in the first phase. Since it was my suggestion, the initial investment is on me. We'll talk about profits later. Let's set up a Traditional Chinese Medicine Culture Research Studio for the first phase! The first advertisement we'll make will be nothing more than soliciting TCM classics, prescriptions, and even old-fashioned TCM medical equipment. I'll decide whether to accept them and at what price! You just need to act as an intermediary. Later, I might open a third or fourth clinic, and some things will have to be handled by this studio. You won't be shortchanged by a penny, and you'll have an extra source of income. Your current business will hardly be affected. What do you think?"

Upon hearing this, Old Hou was overjoyed.