After a brief exchange of pleasantries, the three people in the study fell silent, creating an atmosphere of tension. Mu Lin had no intention of speaking first. Out of his deep disdain for Y Country’s former government, he extended his dislike to all politicians in the country. He wanted to see what this person’s true intentions were. As for the aide from the U Country presidential office, after introducing both parties, he had no desire to get involved in this murky situation. Choosing to ignore the expressions on both sides, he simply closed his eyes and pretended to rest.
Mejor felt somewhat embarrassed. As the de facto highest administrative official of a nation, he had to visit a businessman or a doctor’s home to apologize, which made him feel deeply humiliated. Before meeting Mu Lin in person, he had mentally prepared various justifications to motivate himself. However, seeing the young Mu Lin face-to-face made him feel a sense of degradation. Yet for the sake of the empire’s interests, he had to act and was now carefully choosing his words.
“Excuse me, gentlemen, I’m feeling a bit unwell. If you don’t mind, I’d like to rest first. Please excuse me!” Mu Lin’s voice broke the brief calm in the room. Impatient with Mejor’s evasive manner, Mu Lin said this expressionlessly and then turned to leave his study.
Left behind, Mejor turned pale, as if someone had suddenly pulled the backbone out from him, leaving him slumped on the sofa, at a complete loss. He had never imagined that Mu Lin would treat him this way either. It seemed that this mission had already gone wrong.
“Prime Minister Mejor, there’s no need to be so anxious. From what I know, Doctor Daniel prefers soft approaches rather than hard ones. If you lower your stance, he will surely leave you enough room for negotiation. For now, let’s return first and report today’s events to the president. If the president intervenes, I believe your efforts won’t be in vain!” It was the presidential envoy who had come along who, unable to bear seeing Prime Minister Mejor so exhausted, tried to console him. The two soon left Mu Lin’s residence.
Although both sides had kept this meeting low-key, the ever-pervasive journalists still managed to catch a glimpse of some information. Soon, newspapers revealed that Y Country’s new prime minister had paid a visit to U Country. While the media had not captured the news of Mejor visiting Mu Lin, some outlets began speculating that the new prime minister might have come especially to see Mu Lin. This greatly complicated Mejor’s mission.
Very quickly, a large number of media outlets joined the discussion. Faced with the media’s speculation about the continuous economic decline in Y Country, the world’s attention once again focused on Mejor. People were eagerly anticipating that the new prime minister would come up with solutions to Y Country’s economic crisis. All media eyes were tightly following Mejor, leaving him no time at all to revisit Mu Lin.
Media coverage of Mu Lin’s clinic once again drew the world’s attention to this integrated clinic that combined both traditional Chinese and Western medicine. People began to associate Mu Lin’s experiences in Y Country with the clinic’s closure and further speculated about the mass withdrawal of well-known global companies from Y Country. Some bolder media outlets even started linking these events together.
All the media highlighted the clinic’s record of having no incurable cases in the years since its establishment, praising Mu Lin’s medical skills and lamenting his unfortunate experiences. However, amid all these praises, a few opposing voices rose above the rest.
These were newspapers controlled by the Sun Country, which claimed that the essence of traditional Chinese medicine resided in their country. They accused Mu Lin of being nothing more than a fraud who relied on superficial knowledge and the excellent skills of Western physicians to create a false reputation for his clinic. They argued that if a clinic were established by Sun Country’s practitioners of traditional Chinese medicine, it could achieve even greater honors than Mu Lin’s clinic, relying solely on traditional Chinese medicine.
These opposing voices gained support from Mu Lin’s detractors. Some media outlets under their control quickly began republishing these reports, creating a snowball effect that gradually increased their influence. Soon, these two factions began fierce verbal battles in the media, and Mejor was temporarily forgotten.
When Mu Lin saw these reports, he laughed bitterly in anger. He never imagined there could be such shameless people in the world. Previously, their Black Dragon Gang, in collusion with their government, had planned to abduct him to steal his medical techniques. Now, seeing that he had brought great prestige to traditional Chinese medicine and opened up a huge market, they actually wanted to get a share of the pie here. If he didn’t teach these people a serious lesson, they would never learn.
Faced with such a favorable situation, Mejor, a natural-born politician, quickly arranged another meeting with Mu Lin at his home in New York through the intervention of the U Country president. Unlike those foolish opponents of Mu Lin, Mejor relied only on the reports and summaries provided by his intelligence department, which included statistical data indicating that Dr. Daniel was indeed the most skilled physician in the world.
“I’m sorry, Dr. Daniel. Last time I saw you, I was taken aback by your youth and didn’t know quite what to say. Please forgive my rudeness!” Remembering the president’s advice, Mejor sincerely admitted his mistake with a humble attitude.
“Haha! Prime Minister, I apologize for my poor health condition and also for my youthful arrogance!” Mu Lin believed in the principle of giving respect when receiving it. Since the other party had already apologized, why should he keep holding a grudge?
“I wonder, Dr. Daniel, if your health has improved somewhat. On behalf of our previous government’s actions, I would like to sincerely apologize to you!” In the room where only the two of them were present, Mejor apologized to Mu Lin once again.
“Thank you for your concern, Prime Minister. My health has improved significantly and I will fully recover soon. As for what the previous government did, it has nothing to do with you. Why should you apologize? I clearly distinguish between gratitude and resentment. You are you, and they are they. Since they have already stepped down, I don’t want to dwell on the past anymore. Besides, I still have many friends in Y Country. If I were too nitpicky, I wouldn’t be able to remain friends with them!” Seeing Mejor’s words, Mu Lin magnanimously decided to erase the past grievances.
“Thank you very much for your generosity. To compensate for the harm caused by our previous government, after our discussions, we have decided to grant you the title of Duke, with your fief still being Augustus. Please do accept our apology and compensation!” Mejor said excitedly, as in this modern world, only Y Country’s noble titles were lifelong pursuits for some elites. Now, to compensate Mu Lin, they had to offer the highest noble title in Y Country. Even Mejor himself wasn’t sure whether he would eventually receive a noble title.
“Haha! I’m a duke now!” Mu Lin secretly fantasized, his face showing no emotion. “Do you have any other good terms? Just say them all at once!”
“Your clinic in Y Country will be under the protection of our empire. You may establish clinics in all our federal states. The taxation on your clinic will be charged according to the standard for protected enterprises.
“You will be appointed as a lifelong expert on the Y National Family Medical Committee and the Chief Expert Representative on the Acupuncture Physicians’ Examination Committee, fully in charge of setting the examination rules.
“As an obligation, your clinic will become the royal family’s designated healthcare hospital. You can set a limit on the number of royal patients. Everything else will follow your own rules.” After finishing, Mejor looked at Mu Lin with great anticipation.
After a moment of silence, Mu Lin finally spoke. He stretched out his hands toward Mejor and said, “Alright! I accept your terms. However, my clinic’s taxes should be collected at the same rate as other hospitals in your country. I hope our future cooperation will be pleasant!”
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