Chapter 24

Please collect, please recommend.

Mrs. Durand was in her small shop, leaning by the window, quietly reading a ledger in the sunlight, occasionally writing something with a fountain pen. Suddenly, the sound of wheels and hooves came from outside the door. Mrs. Durand immediately put down her pen and ledger and looked up. She saw her assistant Henry getting off the carriage, carrying a large package on his shoulder, followed by a young man dressed as a gentleman, who somewhat resembled Dr. Blumstein in appearance.

Mrs. Durand went out to greet them and smiled at the young man, "Are you Mr. Meyer Blumstein, the son of Dr. Blumstein? I am Roman Durand, the sister of Countess Denave. You can just call me Roman."

The young man took off his hat, bowed slightly, and smiled, "Roman, my father mentioned your beauty on the way to London, but you are even more beautiful and charming than he described."

Mrs. Durand giggled and waved her hand, "Meyer, you are such a smooth talker, better than your father. Oh, what do you think of this place? Can it accommodate a small pharmacy? If it's not spacious enough, I've already talked to the owner of the neighboring grocery store, and we can rent his shop for 150 pounds a year."

Meyer nodded in satisfaction and smiled, "This place will do for now. Although it's smaller than the big pharmacies, it's just right for our newly established Heroin Pharmacy. By the way, is Mr. Zhu here? Can I see him now?"

Zhu Jishi's first pharmacy had a very prominent name—Heroin Pharmacy! If this were in the future, it would probably attract the police as soon as the sign was hung. However, at the moment, it was not a problem. According to Zhu Jishi's explanation, the name Heroin (Heroin) comes from the German word "heroisch," meaning "hero." However, considering Heroin's miraculous therapeutic effects, without considering its addictive properties, it was indeed the hero of all medicines!

This small pharmacy, which had yet to officially open, would become the world's largest pharmaceutical company, Hero Pharmaceuticals, in the future. Although it was currently just a small pharmacy, it was already a joint-stock company. The pharmacy had six shareholders: Zhu Jishi, Isabella, Dr. Blumstein, Roman Durand, Kosper William, and Will Heming. Each of the five shareholders, except for Zhu Jishi, held 5% of the shares, which was equivalent to 500 pounds based on the capital of the small pharmacy.

Zhu Jishi, on the other hand, contributed three drug patents—hydrochloride morphine, diacetylmorphine, and hydrochloride berberine—valued at 7,500 pounds. He knew that the value of these three patents far exceeded 7,500 pounds, but to repay Isabella, Dr. Blumstein, and Mrs. Durand for their care during this time, he did not overly concern himself with these small profits.

Additionally, Will Heming had been busy running between London and Manchester, arranging for Zhu Jishi to gain fame, while Kosper William had gone to America to raise shares for the "Jason-Kosper Rubber Company" and collect rubber tree seeds and purchase rubber. Therefore, he could not let these two be too disadvantaged in the pharmacy business.

Although the business of the "Jason-Kosper Rubber Company" did not require much of Zhu Jishi's attention, he had been extremely busy these days. On one hand, he was setting up the Heroin Pharmacy. Although Mrs. Durand, who had run a clothing store for many years, was fully supporting him, there was a significant gap between running a clothing store and a pharmacy. As for Zhu Jishi, who had studied basic medicine, he was not daunted by small-scale drug synthesis in the laboratory. However, running a European pharmacy in the first half of the 19th century was not as simple as just synthesizing drugs.

It might be hard to believe, but in 1842, the first Industrial Revolution was said to be largely completed. However, in the European pharmaceutical industry that Zhu Jishi was about to enter, there was hardly any sign of industrialization. At the time, European pharmacies were integrated into production (raw materials), compounding (using raw materials to prepare finished drugs), and retail, with no professional division of labor. The production model was entirely manual, and many Western pharmacies even had resident doctors. The operating model was essentially the same as traditional Chinese pharmacies, except that the drugs sold were even less effective. In fact, ketchup and petroleum were sold as medicines, which gives an idea of the state of Western medicine and drugs at the time.

However, this did not mean that Zhu Jishi, whose knowledge and expertise in medicine were 170 years ahead of his time, could easily navigate the "traditional Western medicine" industry, which still sold ketchup as medicine. The knowledge he possessed was largely disconnected from the Western medicine market of this era. For example, the popular ketchup in Western pharmacies was something Zhu Jishi would definitely not produce, and no pharmaceutical company in the future would produce ketchup either.

In fact, Zhu Jishi did not understand how most of the finished drugs in the "traditional Western medicine" market were made. Like traditional Chinese medicine at the time, Western medicine also had "secret formulas." Many Western pharmacies would use "ancient Egyptian formulas," "ancient Greek formulas," or even "Chinese formulas" as selling points, but what they actually sold was anyone's guess.

Fortunately, Dr. Blumstein, one of the shareholders of the Heroin Pharmacy, seemed to understand Zhu Jishi's difficulties and was preparing to send his pharmacist son, Meyer Blumstein, to assist him. This solved the problem of Zhu Jishi's limited knowledge of "traditional Western medicine" and allowed him to focus on synthesizing the three "miracle drugs"—hydrochloride morphine, diacetylmorphine, and hydrochloride berberine.

At the same time, there was another matter Zhu Jishi needed to address urgently: using the "germ theory of disease" to harshly criticize the life-threatening practices of Western medicine in this era. Of course, he would only provide the material, and the articles in the "Polar Star" newspaper would be written by Engels—future selections for the "Collected Works of Marx and Engels"! With Engels' writing skills, the quacks of the Royal Medical Society would likely be provoked soon, but this was exactly what Zhu Jishi wanted.

As an Asian, whether considered a Tartar or a Chinese, it was extremely difficult to rise through the ranks in Europe during this era. The only way to attract attention was to create enmity and a bad reputation. When he became the public enemy of the entire European medical community, he would use the "Gram staining method" and the "pasteurization method" to prove his theories. This would allow him to rise to the top and become a leading figure in European medicine and microbiology, as well as the founder of bacteriology!

With such academic status, the "miracle drugs" based on hydrochloride morphine, diacetylmorphine, and hydrochloride berberine, which his Heroin Pharmacy would launch, would not lack a market.

The thought of using Heroin, the top drug of the future, to make a fortune in Europe made Zhu Jishi, who had been writing in the room all day, feel incredibly elated, even happier than if he had taken Heroin. He imagined living in a magnificent mansion like a palace, with a group of maids of various skin tones serving him, and embracing Isabella and Mrs. Durand, the sisters. Although these sisters were not proper women (Mrs. Durand had already revealed everything about her sister to Zhu Jishi), they were indeed seductive and alluring, far more attractive than Ye Yiren!

Although they might not be suitable as wives, they would be perfect as mistresses, and it would be best to take them both! Mrs. Durand was not a problem; she seemed ready to be bedded at any time. However, she had some health issues and could not have children—due to complications from an early abortion, which Zhu Jishi suspected caused an infection leading to fallopian tube adhesions and blockages, making it unlikely for her to become a mother...

However, Isabella, Mrs. Durand's sister, was more difficult to win over. According to Mrs. Durand, her sister had the title of a countess and looked down on Eastern men like him. Many men had fallen at her feet, and a duel with any of them would not be a joke. However, the more challenging it was, the more exciting it would be!

Just as he was feeling the thrill of success, he heard a voice from outside, the sweet voice of Mrs. Durand, one of the sisters: "Jason, Mr. Meyer Blumstein has arrived. He wants to meet you to discuss the pharmacy's operations."

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