Yu Hanfeng was very surprised.

The four days of clinical data verification had just ended, and her office welcomed a rare visitor.

“This is the first time you’ve come to me on your own.” She lit a cigarette, habitually handed the cigarette case to Fang Yongnian.

Fang Yongnian didn’t take it, poured himself a glass of water instead.

Yu Hanfeng raised an eyebrow. “The little girl made you quit?”

Fang Yongnian put down the glass, looked at her.

Yu Hanfeng was almost choked by the smoke under his gaze. She coughed twice and raised her hand in surrender. “Alright, alright, pretend I didn’t ask.”

“Thrice is enough.” Fang Yongnian didn’t say more, only warned her once before starting the main topic. “The verification’s done. We can enter production by the end of the year.”

“I know, the verification expert already called me.” Yu Hanfeng waved her hand. “The reputation of this drug has already spread.”

Because of Fang Yongnian’s data requirements that were even more abnormal than the verification team’s, although their three drugs hadn’t yet entered production, they had already made a name for themselves.

What he said to her back then about competitiveness wasn’t just talk.

“But…” Yu Hanfeng thought for a moment, feeling rather indignant. “I think, between you and that little girl, even if I asked for a matchmaker’s cup of tea, it wouldn’t be too much. Why are you still saying thrice is enough?”

“Exactly because of that, thrice is enough.” Fang Yongnian corrected her words.

Precisely because she had arranged for Lu Yixin to be across from him in order to keep him, he forced himself to stop at thrice.

Getting involved to have Lu Yixin placed opposite him was the first time.

Going to Lu Yixin’s home for dinner was the second time.

He wouldn’t tolerate a third.

Yu Hanfeng was a very smart person, so she naturally quickly understood Fang Yongnian’s meaning.

She exhaled a ring of smoke speechlessly.

Fang Yongnian was someone who held grudges and was petty, with a strong possessiveness. No wonder so many people thought he was abnormal.

“You used to be cuter.” Yu Hanfeng felt rather wistful. Fang Yongnian used to be much easier to trick than he was now, and not as resentful.

Still, she had achieved her goal in the end. After Lu Yixin came, he never mentioned the fruit shop to her again.

“Don’t worry, I’ve already achieved what I wanted, so I won’t be meddling in your private life again for no reason.” Yu Hanfeng stopped while she was ahead.

Getting Fang Yongnian to start thinking about what he wanted to do in the future had already achieved her purpose.

As for the rest, interfering in his private life was useless. On one hand, Fang Yongnian would be angry, and on the other, that little girl Lu Yixin wasn’t someone to be trifled with either.

Neither of them liked to play by the rules, stirring things up would only cause more trouble.

“Let’s talk business.” After getting Yu Hanfeng’s promise, Fang Yongnian’s tone eased slightly. “About the Kang Mo’s project.”

Yu Hanfeng stubbed out her cigarette and nodded.

“According to what you said, if we apply for five more generic drugs next year, with the company’s current manpower, it’s not enough.” He looked at Yu Hanfeng. “With my own ability, it’s not enough either.”

Yu Hanfeng crossed her arms, gesturing for Fang Yongnian to continue.

“The three generic drugs the company is currently making were topics I chose. Although I didn’t plan to do this long-term at that time, for the convenience of whoever would take over later, I chose the direction of the body’s immune system. These kinds of drugs have wide application ranges and bring in money quickly.”

“But, they’re not my specialty.” When Fang Yongnian said this, he paused.

During these few days of closed verification, he had thought a lot.

For someone at his level in the pharmaceutical field, it wasn’t difficult to avoid starving. Choosing, as before, to work on generic drugs with broad demand—those hospitals need to keep in long-term stock—was actually a very reasonable career path.

Future projects wouldn’t be as chaotic as the first three. Once the key staff were trained and the project workflow refined, what remained would just be iteration.

He could soon become the rightful “President Fang.” Making money was one thing; his social status wouldn’t be low either.

At the very least, by then, no one would dare call him a “unicorn” in front of Lu Yixin anymore.

That way, he could take good care of Lu Yixin too. The girl was easily satisfied; raising her had never been a big problem.

But…

In the heart of every pharmaceutical researcher, there is a dream of developing an original drug.

Even though this dream may never be realized in one’s lifetime.

Wu Yuande had gone mad because he wanted too much to make an original drug. Back then, Lu Boyuan had also turned a blind eye and deaf ear for the sake of an original research project.

And as for him—because he wanted it too much—after the car accident, he didn’t even dare to touch it again.

He was already thirty-three years old. In the research field, that might not be too old, but he had entered early—almost half his life had been spent struggling and crawling in this field. He understood its rules all too well.

At his age, with his body, he should have chosen the path where the end could already be seen. He had succeeded in the first step; the rest, though procedural, was controllable.

But…

Lu Yixin had stirred up the restlessness inside him.

Her vitality—wild, headstrong, always charging forward and acting shameless when she couldn’t win an argument infected him, making him feel that perhaps he could still try for something better.

Harder, but truly better.

Not for anyone’s expectations. Not because his so-called talent demanded it. He just wanted to try that path with a failure rate of 99.6%.

The path on which, just as he had taken his first step, his lifeline had been cut off.

He picked up the glass and took a sip of water.

“Not long ago, Lu Boyuan met a genetics expert in pharmaceutical research—an old acquaintance in the field, with a rich résumé, who just returned from Sweden.” When he spoke again, his tone no longer carried hesitation. “They talked for an entire night and exchanged contact information.”

“I think if we can bring him in to sit where you are now, he’d be much more suitable than you.”

Yu Hanfeng was very surprised. But after all her years in the business world, she knew Fang Yongnian hadn’t reached his main point yet.

She held herself back.

And just lit another cigarette.

“I’m not a qualified company leader.” Fang Yongnian gave a wry smile when he saw her light up again. “If there were a 360-degree project evaluation for these three projects, I’d probably fail.”

“The company has just started. I can still hold things together now, but if we want to reach the scale you mentioned next year, relying only on me and Lu Boyuan—it’s definitely not going to work.”

“So what?” Yu Hanfeng finally couldn’t hold it in.

Hearing someone like Fang Yongnian say one sentence after another of “I’m not good at this,” “I can’t do that,” was really awkward to listen to.

“Don’t rush.” Fang Yongnian said slowly. “I haven’t gotten to the most troublesome part yet.”

Yu Hanfeng: “……”

“To expand the company’s scale, finding a new leader is the first step.” He smiled slightly. “The second step is the original drug research I mentioned.”

“The research cost of an original drug is many times higher than you imagine.”

“The equipment we use for generic drugs can’t be used for original drug development for now. The laboratories will all need to be redone. We’ll have to transfer several key members from current projects and recruit a whole new team.”

“And that’s only the preliminary preparation.” Fang Yongnian rubbed his brow. “Most importantly, given the company’s current situation, the best direction for an original drug would be genetic immunity related. That way, we’d have a foundation and wouldn’t have to split our limited resources between two fields.”

“But, you chose Alzheimer’s.”

“From a market perspective, Alzheimer’s disease will become increasingly prevalent as society ages. It’s a trillion-dollar global market, so it’s indeed profitable.”

“But the truth is, globally, there hasn’t been a new AD drug on the market for sixteen years. The pathogenesis of AD is unclear, its causes are complex, the disease course is long and insidious. Finding a target is difficult; even if you find one, proving drug efficacy is also difficult. The human nervous system is extremely complicated. There are many examples of failed AD research, but almost none of them failed for the same reason.”

“That day at dinner, you said that no pharmaceutical company in China currently has the strength to develop an AD drug. That’s actually not entirely true.”

“Those who have the money and resources can choose better directions. The AD drug field, while an unclaimed cake, is one that no one can actually take a bite of for now.”

“So?” Yu Hanfeng started knocking on the table.

“So we’ll do it.” Fang Yongnian put down his glass.

Yu Hanfeng: “……”

“Why did you choose this project?” Fang Yongnian didn’t continue to throw cold water. “I know that before you rented your house to Lu Boyuan, you had already taken a liking to the data Wu Yuande gave you.”

She always acted with intention.

Renting out the house was partly to see whether Lu Yixin could make him stay, but more importantly—most importantly—because she had learned about the data Wu Yuande provided.

So from the start, Yu Hanfeng had planned to work on Alzheimer’s.

That was also why he was willing to sit here today and talk so much with her.

Setting aside the talk about the company’s roadmap, from the beginning of founding the pharmaceutical company, Yu Hanfeng had already harbored this idea.

“You know, my mother died of Alzheimer’s.” When Yu Hanfeng said this, her expression was blank. “And it was early-onset familial Alzheimer’s. She was only fifty-two when she passed.”

“My grandmother, and about eighty percent of the women on my mother’s side of the family, all died of Alzheimer’s. You know that too.”

Back when they worked on the anti-AD project, he had taken the medical records of everyone in her family.

“I think I’ll get it too.” Yu Hanfeng looked at Fang Yongnian. “I know there’s only a probability, but my life has always been like this—no matter how small the chance, if it’s bad luck, it finds me.”

“Before I married into the Yu family, I didn’t think too much about it. These things are fate anyway.”

“But after entering the Yu family, I realized that sometimes, money can change fate.”

“Just like you said, no new AD drugs have been released in years. Many pharmaceutical giants have declared failure or gone bankrupt over this. My hopes have been broken again and again, so I wanted to try doing it myself.”

“The old man has more money than you can imagine.” Yu Hanfeng laughed. “And my capability is also beyond imagination.”

“As long as this project can be approved, I absolutely have the means to keep it alive—but the prerequisite is that you’re willing to do it.”

“That five-year plan you mentioned that day?” Fang Yongnian spoke slowly.

He was a little shaken by Yu Hanfeng’s dazzling, money-can-change-fate theory.

“Because, in the short term, I can’t get the funding for project approval.” Since everything was already laid bare and since Fang Yongnian had already agreed to join, she didn’t bother hiding it anymore.

“The old man really was unwell some time ago, but after half a year in the hospital, he’s alive and kicking again. His mind is perfectly clear now. If we’re waiting for him to hand over control, it’ll still take a few more years.”

“If we don’t ride on the momentum of the IPO, then we’ll have to wait until I obtain inheritance rights to get project approval funding.”

“So, if we’re doing this project, it has to be under the IPO banner. Every single line and item in the project’s budget during initiation, I’ll have to go over it with you.”

“I can secure the funding for project approval, and I can also tell you—this project definitely won’t last just five years. But you have to promise me that the pharmaceutical company’s profit curve will be at least twice what it is this year.”

Fang Yongnian finished the tea in his cup.

“This is the last thing I have to say.” His tone was unhurried. “For the Kang Mo’s project, I won’t be the project manager. Once I enter this project, I also won’t handle the pharmaceutical company’s profit curve.”

“My professional ability is strong. If I give it one hundred percent, maybe—I can save your life.”

That last line, he said with a smile.

Just like the Fang Yongnian from before the car accident.

Back then, when he found her, he had worn the same expression.

He told her that the Kang Mo’s project had been approved, and that he believed he could succeed.

The same confidence, even after all that had changed in between.