Rebirth 70: I am a Koi

President Wang's voice on the other end of the phone was tinged with anxiety: "Manager Mu, Supplier Zhou came to our bank and said that your base is in arrears with payments for goods, and asked us to freeze your account immediately!" My heart sank. Supplier Zhou was trying to cut off the source of our income and completely bring our base to ruin!

I suppressed my anger and said to President Wang as calmly as possible: "President Wang, don't worry. Things are not as he said. We will deal with this matter soon." After hanging up the phone, I looked at Bai Hanchuan. His face was a little gloomier than before.

"It seems that we must solve the problem of Zhou's supplier as soon as possible."

I rubbed my aching temples and felt exhausted.

During this period of time, we have been working almost day and night for the development of the base, but things always seem to be unsatisfactory.

At this time, Lawyer Zhao came and brought good news and bad news.

"The good news is that I have found evidence that supplier Zhou violated regulations," said Lawyer Zhao, handing me a document.

"The bad news is..." He paused, his tone heavy, "Because of the previous crisis, the reputation of the base has been affected to some extent. Some new customers who originally intended to cooperate with the base are taking a wait-and-see attitude towards the base."

I took the document, glanced through it quickly, and the fire of hope in my heart was rekindled.

"Thank you, Lawyer Zhao, you did a great job!" I thanked him sincerely.

With this evidence, we can completely solve the problem of Zhou's supplier.

However, the new customer's wait-and-see attitude was like a bucket of cold water, extinguishing the hope that had just ignited in my heart.

I know that our previous efforts were not enough and we need to work harder to regain their trust.

Bai Hanchuan patted my shoulder and gave me an encouraging look.

"Don't be discouraged. We can work together to overcome this difficulty."

Lawyer Zhao also comforted me and said, "Ms. Mu, don't worry too much. I will do my best to help you recover your losses." I nodded gratefully, but I still felt heavy in my heart.

Just then, there was a knock on the office door, and a strange voice came from outside the door...

"Come in," I said.

The door opened and a young man in a bank uniform walked in. He greeted us politely: "Manager Mu, Manager Bai, Lawyer Zhao, hello, I am President Wang's assistant, my last name is Li." He handed me a document and said, "President Wang asked me to give this to you."

I took the document and found it was a pre-approval notice for a loan application. I looked at Xiao Li in surprise, "This is..."

Xiao Li explained with a smile: "President Wang said that in view of the recent good development momentum of the base and the new business plan you provided, he decided to re-evaluate the base's loan application. This pre-approval notice indicates that as long as you complete some necessary materials, the loan will be approved soon."

Before I had time to digest this good news, Lawyer Zhao brought another piece of news: "There's some movement from the supplier Zhou!" He said with a hint of excitement, "I just got the news that the supplier Zhou had some irregular operations in the previous cooperation. I have warned him again and said that if he makes trouble again, these things will be made public."

Lawyer Zhao paused and continued, "Somehow this news got out, and now his colleagues are pointing fingers at him, saying that he is not doing things cleanly. It seems that Supplier Zhou is now in a difficult situation."

A huge weight lifted off my shoulders, it seemed like we were really going to turn the danger into safety this time.

Sure enough, not long after, supplier Zhou came to the door in person.

He looked dejected, no longer having the arrogance he had before.

He humbly asked for our forgiveness and expressed his willingness to relax the repayment period and continue to supply raw materials to the base.

Bai Hanchuan and I looked at each other and both knew in our hearts that supplier Zhou had completely surrendered.

After a brief discussion, we decided to accept his request for reconciliation, but required him to make a public apology to restore the reputation of the base.

Although supplier Zhou looked hesitant, he finally agreed.

After he left, Bai Hanchuan picked up the apology statement he had just sent, but his face gradually became gloomy.

"This statement..." He handed it to me, "Look."

I took the apology statement handed to me by Bai Hanchuan, quickly read it through, and frowned.

This statement did indeed avoid the main point and did not mention his malicious price-raising and rumor-mongering behavior. It only vaguely stated that the previous "misunderstanding in communication" had caused "inconvenience" to the base and expressed "deep apologies."

This is not an apology at all, it's clearly a perfunctory response!

"He's playing with words." I put down the statement and my face darkened.

Bai Hanchuan's face was terribly gloomy. He picked up the phone and said to the supplier Zhou in a cold tone: "Boss Zhou, I don't understand your statement. I hope you can rewrite it, explain the whole story clearly, and sincerely express your apology. Otherwise, the previous agreement will be invalid."

Supplier Zhou's angry voice came from the other end of the phone: "Manager Bai, I've already apologized, what else do you want? Give me some time so we can meet again in the future..."

"See you later?" Bai Hanchuan sneered, "If you continue like this, I'm afraid there will be no 'later'." He hung up the phone without hesitation.

We all understand that Supplier Zhou is testing our bottom line.

He thought we were eager to resolve the problem and would accept his perfunctory apology.

But he is wrong, we will never compromise!

About an hour later, supplier Zhou called again, and his tone was noticeably softer.

He expressed his willingness to redraft the apology statement and promised to express his sincere apology in accordance with our request.

In the evening, a new apology statement was faxed in.

This time, Supplier Zhou finally admitted his mistake and publicly apologized to us.

Looking at this statement, Bai Hanchuan and I hugged each other and cried. All the pressure was released at this moment.

"Jinli," Bai Hanchuan stroked my hair gently, his voice choking, "All this is thanks to you. You are so strong."

I shook my head and nuzzled into his arms, "It was our hard work. We did it together."

Although the supplier issue has been resolved, the base's loan from the bank has not yet been fully finalized. We have no idea what the attitude of President Wang will be.

"Let's go meet President Wang tomorrow." Bai Hanchuan said, with a barely perceptible hint of worry in his tone.

I nodded and picked up the new business plan on the table...