Rebirth 70: I am a Koi

Xiao Li's words were like thunder, exploding in my ears. Before I could ask what happened, there was a loud noise outside the office. My heart sank suddenly, and I looked at Bai Hanchuan and rushed out immediately.

The usually orderly office area was in a mess, with employees gathered in groups of three or five, talking about something in a panic. When they saw us, their voices gradually became lower, but they could not hide the anxiety and uneasiness on their faces.

"Mr. Mu, Mr. Bai, I heard that all the orders for our base have been cancelled. Is that true?" A young employee mustered up the courage to ask, his tone full of worry.

"Yes, President Mu, I heard that the son of Mr. Wang next door was planning to come to our base to work, but now he is not coming..." another older employee continued.

I took a deep breath, tried to stay calm, and said loudly: "Everyone, please be quiet. We are actively dealing with the order. Please believe us, we will be able to solve it properly!"

As soon as I finished speaking, someone in the crowd couldn't help crying: "Boss Mu, I have elderly people and children to take care of at home. If the base closes down, what will I do..."

Looking at the familiar faces in front of me and listening to their desperate cries, my heart was broken. Over the years, in order to develop the base, Bai Hanchuan and I have devoted countless efforts, and these employees have also been working diligently. We are like a family. But now, our common home is facing the danger of collapse.

"Don't worry, we won't give up any hope, and we won't give up on anyone!" Bai Hanchuan's voice was firm and powerful, giving everyone a shot in the arm.

In the next few days, Bai Hanchuan and I ran around trying to recover the losses. We contacted all the customers we had worked with and humbly asked them not to cancel the orders, but the responses we received disappointed us again and again.

"Boss Mu, it's not that we are heartless, it's just that the market conditions are not good right now and we dare not take any risks..."

"Boss Bai, you know that the competition is so fierce now, we have no choice but to..."

Listening to these high-sounding excuses, I knew in my heart that there must be someone behind this. But who on earth has such great power to deal such a huge blow to us in such a short period of time?

"It seems that it's time for our biggest competitor to take action..." Bai Hanchuan put down the phone, a cold light flashed in his eyes, and his tone was so cold that it made me feel unfamiliar.

"You mean..." I felt vaguely uneasy but couldn't utter a complete sentence.

He stood up suddenly, walked to the window, looked at the lights of thousands of houses gradually lighting up in the distance, and said in a low and firm voice: "I want him to know what price he will pay for being our enemy!" Bai Hanchuan's words made me even more uneasy, but I also knew that now was not the time to retreat. If our competitors were to kill us like this and we just sit there and wait for death, we would really have no way out.

The days that followed were like being stuck in a quagmire. Every step was extremely difficult. My competitors used some unknown means to unite many peers in the industry to boycott us, and they tripped us up everywhere from raw material supply to product sales. The bank also began to urge us to make loans. The crisis of a broken capital chain was like a sword of Damocles hanging over our heads, which could fall at any time.

I couldn't sleep well almost every day, my hair was falling out in clumps, and I lost a lot of weight in just half a month. Bai Hanchuan saw it and felt pain in his heart, but he said nothing. He just silently took on all the pressure and rushed around every day, trying to find a solution to the problem.

"Don't worry, everything will be fine." He would comfort me like this every time before going out, and his tone was as calm and powerful as always, as if everything was under his control.

But I know that things are not as easy as he said. The new fine lines around his eyes and his increasingly hoarse voice are silently telling of his fatigue and anxiety.

Just when I was about to despair, an accident happened.

That day, Bai Hanchuan went to a neighboring city to visit an old leader, hoping to get some help. I was anxiously waiting for news at home, but I received a call from the hospital in the evening.

"Hello, are you Bai Hanchuan's family member? He is..." The nurse's voice on the other end of the phone was intermittent, and my head was buzzing as if it was about to explode.

When I rushed to the hospital and saw Bai Hanchuan lying unconscious on the hospital bed, my heart seemed to be grabbed by someone and I could hardly breathe. The doctor said that he had been in a car accident due to fatigue driving. Fortunately, he was sent to the hospital in time and was not in danger of life, but he needed to be hospitalized for observation for a period of time.

I suppressed my grief and stayed by the bedside all night. The next day, Bai Hanchuan finally woke up. When he saw me, he smiled weakly and tried to comfort me, but his wounds moved and he couldn't help but groan.

"Stop talking and have a good rest." I held his hand, tears streaming down my face.

I didn't dare tell him about the base, fearing that it would aggravate his injuries. But without him, how could I survive on my own?

Just then, the phone in the office rang. I picked it up and an anxious voice came from the receiver: "Mr. Mu, something bad has happened. The irrigation system's..." "Mr. Mu, something bad has happened. The pipes in the irrigation system have burst and the water has flooded Jinshan!" On the other end of the phone, the employee Xiao Liu's voice was anxious and fearful, with an obvious crying tone.

My heart sank suddenly, as if I had fallen into a bottomless abyss. The irrigation system is the heart of the base, and if it fails, the consequences will be disastrous.

"I understand. You organize people to repair it first and try to minimize the losses. I'll be back right away!" I tried to calm myself down and quickly hung up the phone.

One crisis after another. Competitors’ suppression, banks’ loan demands, my husband’s accident, and now the irrigation system failure… The continuous blows made me feel suffocated. Am I really going to watch the base being destroyed?

In desperation, I thought of the mysterious benefactor who suddenly appeared a few months ago and generously helped us overcome our financial difficulties, but he refused to reveal his name and only said that everything was up to fate.

I felt like I had grabbed the last straw, and with shaking hands I dialed his number, praying for a miracle. However, what I got in response was a cold, robotic female voice: "Sorry, the number you dialed is unavailable..."

I felt as if someone had poured a basin of ice water over me from head to toe. I was shivering all over. How could this happen? Was God really going to kill me?

Looking at my husband sleeping on the hospital bed, I couldn't hold back my tears any longer and burst out. I couldn't fall down, and I couldn't give up! I still had the base, the staff, and... him.

Suddenly, a flash of inspiration came to my mind. Space! Yes, there is also space!

I was like a drowning person grabbing a lifebuoy, and a glimmer of hope ignited in my heart. Since my rebirth, the space system has been with me, providing me with various supplies and assistance. This time, will it be the final turnaround?

I took a deep breath, closed my eyes, and silently recited the formula for entering the space. The familiar feeling of weightlessness came over me, and when I opened my eyes again, I was already in a vast white space. However, the scene before me made my heart tighten...

"How...how could this happen?" I muttered to myself, looking at everything in front of me in disbelief.