Rebirth 70: I am a Koi

The newspaper slipped from my hand and fell to the ground like a dead leaf. The eye-catching headline and the dazzling photo were like a sharp knife, stabbing my heart. Boss Zhou was taken away, which should have been a happy thing, but now it has become the last straw that broke the camel's back.

"This...how is this possible?" I muttered to myself, feeling it difficult to breathe.

Bai Hanchuan's face was also terribly gloomy. He grabbed the newspaper, quickly glanced through it, then suddenly crumpled the newspaper into a ball and slammed it hard on the table. "Despicable! He actually turned the tables!"

The staff of the trade fair explained anxiously: "Before being taken away, Boss Zhou spread rumors everywhere, saying that there were quality issues with the products in your planting base and that it was caused by economic crimes. Now many customers have begun to doubt, and the order volume has dropped..."

My heart sank to the bottom. Boss Zhou's move was extremely vicious. He took advantage of the opportunity when he was taken away to throw dirty water on us and completely destroy our credibility.

"We must clarify it immediately!" Bai Hanchuan made a prompt decision and pulled me to rush to the trade fair.

The atmosphere at the trade fair has changed subtly. The once bustling booths now only have a few customers, and most of them are just watching and not daring to place orders.

Bai Hanchuan walked to the booth, picked up a tomato, and said loudly: "Dear customers, please trust the quality of the products from our planting base! All our products have undergone strict testing and are absolutely safe and reliable! Boss Zhou's remarks are pure slander, please don't believe them!"

His voice was loud and powerful, echoing throughout the trade show. However, it had little effect. People were still skeptical and whispering.

"Is it true? I read in the newspaper that it was very accurate."

"Yes, food safety issues are so serious now, so it's better to be careful."

"Let's wait and see. If it's true, it will be a big loss."

I stood beside Bai Hanchuan, feeling extremely anxious. Seeing the customers leave one by one, my heart felt like it was being cut by a knife. The reputation we had worked so hard to build was destroyed by Boss Zhou.

Bai Hanchuan explained over and over again, his voice became hoarse, but he still couldn't reverse the decline. The anxiety and helplessness on his face made me feel even more distressed.

"Hanchuan, stop talking..." I gently pulled his sleeve, my voice low and hoarse.

He turned to look at me, his eyes full of fatigue and frustration. I knew he was feeling worse than me.

As night fell, the lights of the trade fair were still bright, but they could not illuminate the haze in our hearts. The crowd gradually dispersed, and our booth was empty, just like our mood at the moment, empty and full of despair.

Suddenly, my cell phone rang. I answered the call, and when I heard the other party's voice, my heart sank.

"Ms. Mu, regarding the next batch of cooperation..."

The voice on the other end of the phone stopped abruptly, but I had already anticipated what would happen next... "Ms. Mu, regarding the next batch of cooperation... we may need to reconsider it." The voice on the other end of the phone was like ice water, extinguishing the last glimmer of hope in my heart. The other party's euphemistic words had already made clear their attitude.

I held the phone tightly, my knuckles turning white, but I was powerless to refute. I knew this was just the beginning. Boss Zhou's trick was like an invisible net, tightly entangling us and suffocating us.

After hanging up the phone, I turned to look at Bai Hanchuan. His face was even gloomier than before. Needless to say, he had expected this result.

"Hanchuan, what should we do?" I asked in a trembling voice, trying to hold back my tears.

He took a deep breath, his eyes flashing with determination. "At this point, there is only one way - test on the spot!"

His words gave me a glimmer of hope. There is absolutely no problem with the quality of the products in our planting base. As long as we test them on the spot, we can prove our innocence!

The next morning, we contacted a professional testing agency and moved the equipment to the trade fair. As the news spread, some customers came to watch out of curiosity.

Bai Hanchuan personally operated and tested our products one by one. The testing process was long and arduous, and every second seemed as long as a century. I stared at the screen of the testing equipment nervously, and my palms kept sweating.

At the beginning, everything went smoothly and all indicators showed normal. I breathed a sigh of relief, and when I saw some people in the crowd nodding, my confidence gradually recovered.

However, when the test was halfway through, an accident occurred. The test equipment suddenly issued a piercing alarm, and the data on the screen began to flicker, and finally froze at an abnormal value.

There was an uproar at the scene, and the customers who were originally a little shaken began to talk about it again.

"I told you, there must be something wrong!"

"In this world, you can't believe anything!"

“Fortunately I didn’t buy it…”

My heart sank again, and a chill ran from my feet to my head. How could this be possible? There was absolutely nothing wrong with our product!

Bai Hanchuan was also stunned. He checked the equipment repeatedly but could not find any problems. Beads of sweat oozed from his forehead, and his eyes were full of doubts and confusion.

I realized that this must be Boss Zhou's doing! He must have secretly tampered with the testing equipment!

"There must be something wrong with this equipment!" Bai Hanchuan said loudly, with a hint of anger in his tone.

However, his explanation seemed pale and powerless. In the face of "iron evidence", any excuse seemed powerless.

The crowd began to disperse, leaving behind a mess and our desperate figures.

At this moment, a familiar voice came from the crowd: "Boss Bai, Miss Mu, what's wrong with you?"

I turned around and saw several old employees standing outside the crowd, their faces full of worry. Lao Li, the most experienced farmer in the planting base, walked up to us and said in a heavy tone: "...Everyone in the base is talking about this..."

The appearance of Lao Li was like another blow to our already broken hearts. I then remembered that the employees at the base were still in the dark. The result of this trade fair was undoubtedly a bolt from the blue for them.

"Lao Li, why... are you here?" I forced a smile, but it looked uglier than crying.

Lao Li sighed and pointed at several equally worried employees behind him: "It's said in the base that there's something wrong with our products and the trade show has been messed up. Everyone is worried... about future wages, and about the future of the base..."

I bit my lips tightly, trying hard not to let the tears fall. I was worried too, but now, I couldn't even comfort myself, so how could I comfort them?

Bai Hanchuan walked up to Lao Li, patted him on the shoulder, and said firmly: "Lao Li, don't worry, we will definitely solve this problem. The base's wages will not be delayed, and everyone's future will not be affected."

His words gave the employees a little comfort, but only a little. The worries on their faces did not completely disappear, and their eyes were still full of confusion and anxiety.

After seeing Lao Li and the others off, I couldn't hold on any longer and sat down on the ground dejectedly, tears streaming down my face.

"Hanchuan, what should we do? Are we really at the end of our rope?" I asked with a sob, my voice full of despair.

Bai Hanchuan squatted down beside me, hugged me in his arms, patted my back gently, and said in a gentle but firm tone: "Don't be afraid, Jinli, I'm here. I will definitely find a solution."

I know he is comforting me, but I know in my heart that this time the opponent is different from the past. The power behind Boss Zhou is far more powerful than we imagined. We are like a moth that has strayed into a spider web. The more we struggle, the deeper we sink.

In the next few days, we ran around trying to find new cooperation opportunities, but we were repeatedly rejected. Boss Zhou's influence had penetrated into every link and completely blocked us.

I felt more and more helpless, like a drowning person who desperately wants to grab a life-saving straw, but finds that there is only a vast ocean around him.

Although Bai Hanchuan said that he would find a way, I knew that he also felt powerless. He went out early and came back late every day, looking for information everywhere, but he never found anything. The fatigue and anxiety in his eyes became more and more intense.

One night, Bai Hanchuan came home with a terribly gloomy face. My heart tightened, and I had a premonition of something.

"Jinli," he said in a deep voice, "I found out some information about Boss Zhou's background..."

He paused, and a complex light flashed in his eyes, like anger, but also like... excitement?

"The person behind him is more complicated than we thought... But because of this, I may have found a breakthrough..."

He took out a document from his pocket and handed it to me. I took it and saw the words "XX Project Cooperation Agreement" clearly written on it.

"What is this?" I asked puzzledly.

Bai Hanchuan raised the corners of his mouth slightly, revealing a meaningful smile: "This is...Boss Zhou's biggest secret..."