Sheng Liena was on the road to entering the world of corporate pharmacy where her father currently worked as the President of Sheng Pharmaceuticals.

First year is said to be the hardest for new undergrads, but as the student move up in cla.s.s year they may find it easy, although not everyone see it that way. In Sheng Liena's case she was neither dull nor smart, an above average student that made mostly "Bs" and a few "As" and in some rare instances a "C" or two could pop up on her result sheet.

Deking University was one of the top pharmacy schools that many fought to get into, fortunately or unfortunately, Sheng Liena's father was one of the sponsors of the university.

"Who can describe to the cla.s.s the mode of action of Erythromycin?"

The lecturer, a woman in a white lab coat and chin length asked the students in her cla.s.s, moving from one face to the other, waiting for one of them to raise up their hand and answer the question.

"Yes Ms. Junxia?"

A chubby girl of average height rose up from her seat to answer the lecturer.

"Erythromycin acts by blocking prostaglandins in the body."

The young woman spoke with much confidence while looking at the lecturer to give her a nod of approval.

"What are you describing?! An anti-inflammatory medication?!"

The cla.s.s erupted into a fit of laughter, the woman that answered the question, lifted a portion of her white pullover to cover her face in shame.

"Doesn't anyone know how erythromycin acts in the body? Has anyone come across the drug?"

"Prof Fu I think it is an antibiotic."

"At least someone here has a glue about the drug. Yes, it is an antibiotic. I'm listening!"

The male student that spoke fell silent after that, the lecturer was looking as her students were flipping the pages of their pharmacology textbook to look for the answer.

"Ms. Sheng can you stand up and answer the question."

When Sheng Liena heard the lecturer call out her name, her heart skipped a beat, she could feel the palms of her hand starting to sweat. Rising slowly to her feet, Sheng Liena opened her mouth to answer the question.

"Erythromycin is a macrolide and macrolides work by inhibiting or blocking bacterial"

"Thank you Ms. Sheng, you may now take your seat."

Prof Fu gave the student a nod before turning back to face the rest of the cla.s.s, while Sheng Liena sat back on her seat in the middle row. Within her, Sheng Liena was grateful that she took the incentive to buy a pharmacology cheat sheet of sorts from the university's bookstore which listed drugs in their various categories with bullet point summary of each drug cla.s.s. The pressure was there for her to live up to her family's name. Students and lecturers at the pharmacology department knew who her family was, which wasn't surprising when the lecturer called her out.

"I want to point out some things out of what Ms. Sheng said, it is true that Erythromycin is a Macrolide antibiotic, but it does not necessary mean that all drugs that are categorized as macrolides would work in the same way. For example, take Azithromycin, it is a macrolide antibiotic just like Erythromycin, but the chemical composition of both drugs are designed a bit differently. This is to say that drugs in the same category may not work the same, but a macrolide antibiotic like Erythromycin will inhibit the protein supply that is needed for bacteria organisms to multiply inside of its host cell. Moving along, what are chelating agents?"

"Yes Ms. DanDan?

The female student rose from her seat to reply the lecturer.

"Chelating agents are chemicals that react to metal ion which results in a water soluble complex being formed."

"Can you give me an example?"

"Lead?"

"Excellent! Well done Ms. DanDan!"

Prof Fu was br.i.m.m.i.n.g with smile at the student whom had answered her questions in a concise manner. The student that was praised looked in the direction of Sheng Liena as though saying that she was way better than her, when she saw the look the other student gave to her, the smug smile on her face disappeared.

"Ms. Sheng can you come to the board to draw the structure of acetaminophen?"

"..."

Everyone in the cla.s.s stared at Prof Fu, it was unusual for the student to be asked to draw the chemical structure of a drug in her first year, it was usually reserved in their final year. It was in pharmaceutical chemistry cla.s.s that students would be asked to draw chemical compounds, not in a pharmacology cla.s.s. Which was no surprise as to why Prof Fu earned the name "Witch Fu" behind her back. The students began to sweat, as neither of them had the confidence to walk to the white board to draw the chemical structure, when they didn't even know how it looked like in the first place!

"Ms. Sheng, can you come to the board and draw acetaminophen for the cla.s.s?"

Sheng Liena hesitantly rose from her seat, although she had the cheat sheet for drugs, but she didn't have anything that will help her in mastering the chemical component of the a.n.a.lgesic.

She took the red marker by the board and began drawing what she thought could be the shape of acetaminophen. Of course it was a disaster, neither of them knew what she had on the board, which resembled a roll of "Hs" and "Os" after she was done she turned to face her lecturer.

"What is that?! Where is your benzene ring? Where is your acetyl group?....."

Prof Fu was very displeased with her student and she let the cla.s.s know through her high pitched voice.

"Go to your seat! Unbelievable! I can't even figure out what she scribbled on the board! Wait! Go back and clean the rubbish you drew on the board!"

The look in the eyes of the students seated read, "oh oh she's really upset" while watching their fellow cla.s.smate clean the board.

"Cla.s.s is dismissed! As punishment read chapter 13-21 of your pharmacology textbook, I will be giving you a test tomorrow afternoon at 1 pm . Ms. Sheng draw the chemical compound of acetaminophen and bring it to cla.s.s tomorrow, make sure you know it because I will ask you to demonstrate that you know it by draw the structure on the board."

The cla.s.s could only silently groan, not wanting to incur the wrath of witch Fu. They waited for her to leave before one after the other the students began filing out of the cla.s.s. Sheng Liena took the elevator, on getting out she began walking towards the main road where she could hail a cab.

President Sheng had a fight with his daughter regarding her using public transportation rather than having a driver take her to school. In the end it was clear who won, Sheng Liena wanted to show everyone that she wasn't a spoiled rich girl like they thought she was, she didn't mind taking a cab to cla.s.s almost everyday. She was already at the parking lot almost getting close to the main road when she heard someone call her name.

"Liena! Wait I need to talk to you!"

It was the student named Peng DanDan that was one of the last people to leave.

"What is it?"

"You are the reason why I have to read over seven chapters after cla.s.s! Why don't you go to another Uni?! Can't you see that you are making everyone in cla.s.s miserable? You can't claim not to know that Prof Fu hates your gut?!"

"DanDan I don't have time for time, take your bad att.i.tude somewhere else, I need to go home and study for tomorrow's test."

"What is the rush?! You made us go through the same punishment and suddenly you don't have time to talk about it?!"

Peng DanDan was boiling with anger at her cla.s.smate, she couldn't stand the arrogant rich daddy's girl anymore. Filled with the rage inside of her, the other girl raised her hand and slapped Sheng Liena in the face. Not willing to back down either, Sheng Liena dealt the other girl a slap to the face. The two women were involved in a struggle and not too longer after, people began gathering to see what the commotion was, taking their phone out to snap pictures of the female students in a fight.

"h.e.l.lo! There are two students fighting at parking s.p.a.ce E!"

One of the students made a call to the campus security office, a short while later two hefty men came out to separate the two students, by then their pictures had been uploaded online.

"What is your name and contact of your parents or guardian?"

Sheng Liena and Peng DanDan gave the security guards their name and the phone number of their parent and guardian respectively.

------

Sheng Jinzhe heard his phone ring, he saw the number on his phone was his daughter's

"h.e.l.lo Liena."

"Is this the parent of Sheng Liena?"

"Yes and why do you have my daughter's phone?"

"Mr Sheng your daughter was involved in a fight at school and could face possible suspension, I need you to come in and speak with the school administrator."

Sheng Jinzhe was very angry when he heard the reason for the call, it took a few seconds for him to calm down a little to give his reply to the security guard at the other line.

"I will be there shortly."

The security guard then went ahead to call the guardian of Peng DanDan, who were also quite unhappy that they had to show up at the administrator's office.

"Follow me!'

The security guards in grey uniform held a female student in hand, as the four of them made their way to the office of the university's administrator.

A pleasant looking woman in dark s.h.i.+rt suit greeted the four that walked into the office of the administrator. There was no change in the demeanor of the woman, as she asked, "Are you here to see Director. Tsing?"

"Yes, but we are waiting for the parents this two to show up."

The security guard pointed to the two female students that were with him and his colleague. Both women looked disheveled, scratch mark appeared on the face of Peng DanDan while Sheng Liena had some scratches to her neck.

"Please take a seat."

All four sat side by side as they waited for their parent to show up. Twenty minutes later, Sheng Jinzhe walked in dressed in a brown suit, not bothering to greet the people he saw at the office, he walked straight to where his daughter was and gave her a slap to the face.

"How dare you embarra.s.s me!"

"Mr Sheng please calm down!"

The guards tried to placate the angry father, who looked as though he was ready to deal another blow to his daughter's face.

"You! Wait till we get home!"

Sheng Liena barely flinched from the slap her father gave her, she continued to look defiantly at him. Sheng Jinzhe had never felt more ashamed of his daughter than he was at that moment.

"Please Mr. Sheng, have a seat here."

The woman who greeted them when they first got in, left her cubicle to lead Sheng Jinzhe to a seat from where his daughter was, as though afraid he was going to beat his daughter up. The President of Sheng Pharmaceuticals sat down with the rest, as he waited for the other party to arrive.