Peerless Beauty – Chapter 60

Science

Scientists have national boundaries

Jian Qing observed the interface, found the microphone button, turned on the mic, and said: “I haven’t played before, I’m quite inexperienced, please bear with me.”

A cold voice entered her ears, Lu Yinxi looked at the chat history in the chat interface

——Although she hasn’t played before, her skills might be quite poor, but with my skills, I can definitely carry her [cool emoji]

——You should go ask her, just tell her I’m here, she might come to play…

Vividly explained what is called “confidence”…

Lu Yinxi rubbed her nose, thumb moved away from the microphone icon, didn’t dare to turn on the mic, eyes searched around, wanting to find a wall, find a crack to crawl into.

As soon as Wei Mingming heard their boss’s voice, quickly turned on the mic to flatter: “Boss, it’s just entertainment, as long as you have hands it’s fine! Your voice is really pleasant! It’s better than any CV ¹ I’ve heard in all the games I’ve played! I’ve never heard such a pleasant voice in my life!”

No flattery ever goes wrong.

Zhang Yue couldn’t listen any longer: “Alright, alright, enough is enough, haven’t you ever answered your boss’s call? First time hearing her speak?”

Wei Mingming shouted: “How can that be the same? This is my first time playing a game with the boss, I have to take a screenshot to commemorate, and by the way, post it on my social media, make my classmates envious, that I have a beautiful, generous, approachable mentor who mingles well with students and subordinates.”

The latter half of the sentence was purely making up nonsense with eyes wide open.

Zhao Wenqian turned on the mic and teased: “Should we also set up a memorial day? Take it out every year on this day to commemorate and reminisce?”

After speaking, she and Zhang Yue both burst out laughing.

Jian Qing intentionally diverted the conversation and asked: “How does the game start?”

“Senior Sister, you just need to click on that match option later.” Zhang Yue guided Jian Qing on the operation while asking, “Xiaolu, Xiaolu, where are you? Why aren’t you turning on the mic to communicate? We are all our own people, don’t be shy. Is it inconvenient? If it’s inconvenient to speak, just type a 1 in the channel.”

Suburban film set.

Lu Yinxi stood in front of a concrete wall, scratched her mosquito-bitten arm, switched her phone to the chat app interface, and conscientiously sent a message to Jian Qing: 【Dr. Jian, I’m reflecting on my mistakes facing the wall.】

She took a photo of the concrete wall and sent it over, trying to earn Jian Qing’s forgiveness.

Jian Qing replied with a smiling emoji.

In the eyes of some elders, a smile does not have a sarcastic meaning; it simply expresses kindness.

But Jian Qing is obviously not at an age where she could be considered Lu Yinxi’s elder.

She was being sarcastic.

Lu Yinxi stared at the emoji, pondered for a moment, and replied with: 【QAQ】

Acting cute, showing weakness.

Jian Qing replied: 【Go back, there are many mosquitoes outside.】

The suburban mosquitoes are big and vicious; a bite can swell into a large bump.

Lu Yinxi slapped her mosquito-bitten arm, obediently went back, and sprayed some floral water.

Jian Qing: 【Turn on the mic.】

Lu Yinxi switched back to the game interface and turned on the team mic: “Good evening, angels in white.”

Wei Mingming’s voice was a bit excited: “Xiaolu, Xiaolu, play Yao, the one that can transform into a deer, it suits you!”

Lu Yinxi refused: “No, I want to play the jungler, to carry you all.”

Zhao Wenqian said: “I haven’t played much, I only know how to play the marksman, and my favorite is Luban.”

Zhang Yue said: “I’m fine with anything, I like the ones that look pretty.”

Wei Mingming said: “Xi Shi, Zhaojun, Diao Chan, Xiao Qiao, choose one of the Four Beauties, I’ll play the top lane.”

Jian Qing asked: “Which one is Yao?”

Zhang Yue said: “Senior Sister, you first click match, Yao is this pink-haired, antlered loli.”

Entering the game hero selection interface, Zhang Yue helped Jian Qing pick out Yao.

When Yao appears, she will say a line: “I want to become light, because there are people who are afraid of the dark.”

Jian Qing looked at the character’s entrance animation on the game interface, watching as the bouncing little deer transformed into a cute little loli, and felt satisfied, calmly saying: “I’ll use this one.”

Lu Yinxi said: “I’ll pick Yun Zhong Jun, you just jump onto my head later to protect me.”

Zhang Yue played Xi Shi, Zhao Wenqian played Luban, and Wei Mingming played Lu Bu.

The match started, and as they walked out from the base, Jian Qing observed the character that Lu Yinxi was controlling and said: “Little bird person.”

Yun Zhongjun is a game character with a pair of large wings. In the game, Yao and Yun Zhong Jun are an official couple, a love story between a bird and a deer.

Lu Yinxi controlled the character, circling around Jian Qing: “Follow me, and when you reach level 4, you can press the third skill from the left on your right-hand side to jump onto my head. Then just randomly press the first and second skills. If I’m surrounded, you should run back and not give away kills.”

Zhang Yue said: “Don’t worry, Brother Zhang is here to provide on-site guidance.”

Jian Qing was completely clueless about the game, while the remaining four felt a great sense of relief and joy, like liberated serfs singing songs of freedom. One taught her game operations, another explained game mechanics.

Jian Qing, in an unfamiliar field, did not put on any superior airs and listened attentively to their instructions.

Gradually, she was able to make some sense of it.

She has good comprehension skills and learns quickly. Yao, this game character, is also easy to operate. In less than five minutes, she was already proficient at using skills and generating shields.

Her emotions while playing the game did not fluctuate much; she wasn’t particularly happy when she killed an enemy character, nor did she complain when she was killed. She calmly revived.

Very quiet.

Unlike Wei Mingming and Zhang Yue, Zhang Yue in the hospital office was fine, just occasionally shouting “Oh my!” Wei Mingming’s voice, on the other hand, seemed loud enough to tear the whole house down.

Zhao Wenqian would continuously mutter: “Protect our Luban.” “Take this shot!” “Master Luban, IQ 250, bow down, quickly bow down.”

The three of them talked a lot, making Lu Yinxi seem quiet in comparison.

Jian Qing asked her: “Why aren’t you talking?”

Lu Yinxi feared that if she spoke a bit more, the noisy environment would annoy Jian Qing, causing her to put down her phone and stop playing, so she kept quiet.

When Jian Qing asked her, she cheerfully said: “I’m coming to gank!”

“I’ll take you to attack the enemy’s blue buff, the blue circle looks really nice on you.”

“This kill is for you, quick, press the skill!”

Jian Qing quietly controlled the game character, riding on Lu Yinxi’s head, following her, flying all over the map.

Lu Yinxi watched the phone screen, a smile constantly on her lips.

The depressive and low spirits had long been swept away.

Meeting her, both sadness and happiness had become fleeting emotions.

After playing the game for half an hour, Jian Qing ended up working an extra half hour in the office.

When she got home, the house was empty.

Jian Qing put down her handbag, leaned on the sofa, and closed her eyes to rest.

At the entrance, there were pairs of shoes; on the living room wall, decorations still hung; on the sofa, there were a few throw pillows and fluffy stuffed toys; on the coffee table, her favorite fruits and snacks were placed; the balcony was filled with Boston ferns and sprawling ground-cover bamboo, lush and green.

There were traces of her everywhere in the house, but she herself was not there, and her heart was not there either.

Why was she always thinking about leaving?

She couldn’t understand.

A full day of intense work had drained her energy, and Jian Qing had no strength left to think more. She furrowed her brows and lay on the sofa for a short nap.

After a brief rest, she woke up and began preparing for her overseas trip.

This time, she was going abroad to attend an international academic conference focused on lung cancer.

In recent years, the field of oncology in the country has been heavily focused on research in immunotherapy. In the oncology, radiotherapy, and hematology departments of major hospitals, 70-80% of clinical trials are related to immunotherapy.

Hu Jianjun was also going to report on the results of a global, multicenter, open, randomized phase III clinical trial of a certain PD1 drug.

Unlike many academic conferences in the country, which are held to earn credits or expand the influence of hospitals, this international conference was attended almost exclusively by top scholars and teams from various countries engaged in lung cancer research and clinical work. Many studies presented at the conference were revealing clinical data for the first time.

Jian Qing was responsible for organizing and translating the reports from scholars of different countries, studying the objective response rates, median progression-free survival, overall survival, and other content under different treatment plans. After returning to China, she would give an academic report to doctors and students at the hospital and school.

When it came time for the China session, Hu Jianjun, in a suit and tie, stood on the podium and fluently delivered his report. Zhang Yue, holding a camera, snapped several photos and whispered in Jian Qing’s ear, “Our boss is so handsome! His presence here is way stronger than his speeches during hospital leadership meetings!”

In the hospital, everyone usually called Hu Jianjun by his titles: Vice President Hu, Director Hu, Leader…

At his level as a doctoral advisor, students he accepted were almost only in name, and he did not personally mentor them; it was left to others under him, so no one called him “boss.”

This time traveling abroad, Zhang Yue called out “boss” on the plane, which Hu Jianjun found quite refreshing.

Perhaps being away from the hierarchical atmosphere of the hospital, during the business trip, the group did not talk about medicine. Instead, they amicably exchanged stories about local customs and cultures abroad, making it feel more like a mentor-mentee relationship.

Jian Qing replied to Zhang Yue, “When he became famous, you were still playing in the mud.”

In recent years, Hu Jianjun had spent a long time in hospital management, somewhat engrossed in administrative power struggles. However, his academic ability and research achievements were still unmatched within the hospital.

After the afternoon conference ended, Hu Jianjun gave an interview to media reporters, while Jian Qing and Zhang Yue, in their roles as assistants, waited nearby.

During this period, Jian Qing encountered her mentor from her time studying abroad and was pulled away to have a cup of coffee.

When Hu Jianjun returned, a leader from a domestic pharmaceutical company, who was also Hu Jianjun’s classmate, invited their group to dine, shop, and tour at a hotel, but Hu Jianjun repeatedly declined.

In the end, the team found a random Chinese restaurant to dine at.

During the meal, Hu Jianjun did not forget to sternly instruct the students, “In the future, you will have many opportunities to go abroad. You must be cautious in your words and actions, and not give anyone leverage over you. A few years ago, several experts and professors attended conferences abroad and were treated to meals, free tours, shopping, and reimbursed airfare by pharmaceutical companies. Eventually, these were handled as bribery cases. Certain relationships with classmates and alumni must be handled with great caution.”

The team members nodded repeatedly.

“There really have been quite a few old acquaintances we’ve met these past few days. I also ran into an old classmate this morning. He invited me to do an academic exchange at their hospital in H City. When we return to the country, we’ll make a stop there first,” Hu Jianjun said, then asked Jian Qing, “Did you encounter your former mentor?”

Jian Qing nodded and said, “He was just checking in on my current situation.”

She was a jointly trained doctoral student between Jiang University and UCB (UC Berkeley), receiving an MD degree² abroad and a PhD degree domestically. When she returned to China, her foreign mentor wanted her to stay in his lab, but Hu Jianjun told her, “Science has no borders, but scientists have national boundaries.”

So she returned to China.

Suddenly, someone at the dining table brought up the price war of PD-1 drugs. Hu Jianjun earnestly reiterated, “Science has no borders, but scientists have national boundaries. Today, scholars from various countries share and exchange research results at conferences without borders. Tomorrow, when research results are converted into products, it will be divided by national boundaries, and a price war will begin.”

A doctoral advisor in epidemiology³ chimed in, “Like those two immune drugs that first entered the Chinese market from abroad, O drug and K drug, initially costing over 300,000 yuan per year. How many people can afford that?”

A pharmacology PhD accompanying them said, “There’s no way around it, you all know that the R&D costs are too high.

The development of anti-cancer drugs involves preclinical research and clinical trials, spanning over ten or even dozens of years, requiring billions in capital investment.

During the R&D phase of a pharmaceutical company, nine times out of ten, it is in a state of loss and can only survive by continuously making grand promises to secure funding from investors.

Once the R&D succeeds and a patent is obtained, there is an opportunity to monopolize the market. During the patent protection period, to ensure they recoup costs and make money, wouldn’t they have to desperately raise prices?

“Plus, when you add import tariffs, manpower, and material costs, it becomes a sky-high price.”

The high drug prices are due to high R&D costs, not high raw material costs.

Zhang Yue said, “If it weren’t for our domestically developed drugs being included in medical insurance, the foreign ones wouldn’t have dropped in price so quickly.”

The year O drug and K drug entered the Chinese market, domestically produced PD-1 drugs were launched, firing the first shot in the price counterattack. Subsequently, they entered medical insurance through price negotiations.

Though the foreign pharmaceutical companies did not officially lower their prices, they adopted a ‘buy one, get one free’ policy to compete for the Chinese market, effectively lowering the price.

Subsequently, with the continuous launch of domestically produced PD-1 drugs, the price of imported drugs dropped from the initial 300,000 yuan per year to less than 100,000 yuan per year today.

No one is immune to illness, and not every ordinary family can afford the high medical expenses of hundreds of thousands of yuan. When a serious illness strikes, having medication but no money for treatment is the most despairing situation.

With domestic drugs competing and domestic drugs entering medical insurance, it forces the price of imported drugs to drop, or they also strive to lower their prices to enter medical insurance.

Hu Jianjun said, “Falling behind means getting beaten, not just at the national level, but in any field. If we don’t have our own drugs, if domestically developed original drugs can’t stand up, and the market is monopolized by international pharmaceutical giants, then our country’s pharmaceuticals will always be held back and always controlled by others.”

The price war behind immunotherapy drugs is a microcosm⁴ of the rise of Chinese pharmaceuticals. It is the first direct confrontation between China and international pharmaceutical giants in the field of innovative drugs.

After breaking the monopoly of international giants, China became the country with the lowest price for PD-1 drugs in the world, benefiting millions of cancer patient families.

Zhang Yue said, “To be honest, currently, domestic drugs have relatively more side effects. When such drugs enter medical insurance and occupy the market, good drugs with fewer side effects are forced out of the market. Isn’t this a case of bad money driving out good money?”

Hu Jianjun pointed to the rice in the bowl: “If we don’t do this, ordinary people wouldn’t even be able to afford or access any medication, let alone talk about using good medication. Just like when I was young, being able to eat enough was already a blessing. In the era of the Great Famine⁵, we even gnawed on tree bark. How can you, in your current times, still pursue eating well?”

There are 1.4 billion people nationwide, and the medical insurance funds are limited. Every time expenses exceed the budget, isn’t it the doctors who end up covering the costs themselves?

We are a socialist country, prioritizing the interests of the masses. Medical insurance is meant to ensure that the majority can afford medication, and only secondly to ensure that the majority can access better medication.

“One bite does not make a fat person; you cannot have both fish and bear’s paw⁶ at the moment. How can you have both in the future? How can ordinary people use better medicine? It is the responsibility of your generation.”

Zhang Yue immediately felt encouraged and his eyes turned into stars of admiration. “Vice President Hu, I will work hard!”

“You? Just don’t play games with your senior sister.” A doctor from the same department laughed and said, “A few days ago, I was sleeping in the duty room and heard shouting and fighting outside. I was so scared that I thought there was a medical dispute. I rushed out to see the two of you sitting side by side playing games, with the exact same posture!” Saying this, he leaned back in his chair, imitating Zhang Yue’s expression and actions.

Everyone burst into laughter, and Hu Jianjun also smiled, saying, “Did you hear that? Don’t let playthings destroy your ambition.”

Jian Qing and Zhang Yue nodded repeatedly. The older mentors then continued the conversation started by Hu Jianjun, reminiscing about the hardships of studying and eating when they were young, teaching the young people to be hardworking and diligent.

The young people accompanying him listened to a bellyful of grand principles. When they returned to the hotel, they opened their literature, but within less than three minutes, some were watching dramas, some were chatting in groups, and some were on the phone for long calls.

Lu Yinxi sent a message to Jian Qing, saying: 【Dr. Jian, the day after tomorrow is next month.】

The two had agreed to meet next month.

Jian Qing replied: 【Plans have changed. I need to go to H City first.】

After returning from H City, she would go directly to work. It would take a few more days before she could go to the university town.

Lu Yinxi did not reply.

Several young people complained in a small group without their leader about the leader suddenly changing plans, not having any vacation after returning to the country, and not being able to spend time with their partners. Their partners were angry, and they didn’t know how to appease them.

Jian Qing saw this, muted the group messages, and thought expressionlessly, “What is there to be angry about? We are all adults; who can stick to each other every day? Such a partner is not worth having.”

Lu Yinxi didn’t reply for several minutes.

Jian Qing waited for a while and then belatedly realized—

——Is she angry too?

The first thought that leaped to her mind was: How should I explain?

Jian Qing scrolled back to the small group, unmuted it, and looked at how people in the group suggested appeasing someone.

After another minute, she received a reply from Lu Yinxi: 【I’m back. I was suddenly pulled to do a cameo for a back view just now! Oh oh, it’s okay. We’ll meet a few days later then. H City is still very cold; remember to buy some thicker clothes to wear.】

Jian Qing replied with a “Got it” and muted the group chat again.

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The author has something to say:

Immunotherapy, PD-1, and PD-L1 were explained in Chapter 6~

Little Theater

Jian “Double Standard” Qing: If someone loves to get angry, they’re not worth having.

Lu “Loves to Get Angry” Yinxi: (Doesn’t reply for a long time…)

Jian “Double Standard” Qing: (Opens the group chat to learn how to appease someone)

References:

1. Literature

[1] Zhang Jianzhong. The PD-1 Antibody Race [N]. Medical Economy News, 2019-01-31(F02).

2. Others (Securities Reports, Web Pages)

[1] Guangdong Kai Medical Special Research Series Four: The Breakthrough Path of Innovative Pharmaceutical Companies in China from the Perspective of PD-1 (L1) Antibody Innovative Drugs; Author: Li Zhixin

[2] Hengrui Medicine In-depth Report: The Innovative Craftsman from a Global Perspective; Source: Dongwu Research Institute

[3] The Involution of Domestic PD-1: Price Wars, Prisoner’s Dilemma, and the Disappearing Trillion-Yuan Market; Author: Wu Jing

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LP: Sorry, I was sick ദ്ദി(˵ •̀ ᴗ – ˵ ) ✧

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1. CV: Stands for “Character Voice” or “Cast Voice,” which refers to the voice actors or actresses who provide the voices for characters in video games, anime, and other forms of media.
2. MD degree: Stands for “Doctor of Medicine”, which is a professional doctoral degree for physicians and surgeons.
3. Epidemiology: The branch of medicine that deals with the incidence, distribution, and possible control of diseases and other factors relating to health. It focuses on the patterns, causes, and effects of health and disease conditions in defined populations. Epidemiologists study how diseases spread, their causes, and how they can be controlled or prevented.
4. Microcosm: A small, representative system that reflects or encapsulates the characteristics, qualities, or structures of a larger system. Essentially, it’s a miniature version of something much bigger. The term is often used metaphorically to describe a smaller situation or environment that exhibits the same essential features as a larger one. For example, a classroom can be seen as a microcosm of society, displaying many of the same dynamics and interactions found in the broader world.
5. The Great Chinese Famine: Occurred between 1959 and 1961 in China, resulting from a combination of the Great Leap Forward campaign, which aimed at rapid industrialization and collectivization, adverse weather conditions, and flawed government policies. These factors led to widespread food shortages and the deaths of millions of people, making it one of the most severe famines in history.
6. You cannot have both fish and bear’s paw: which means that one cannot have two desirable things at the same time. It implies that sometimes in life, one must make a choice between two mutually exclusive options or benefits, as it is impossible to have both.