Rebirth 70: I am a Koi

The warehouse manager's words were like a bolt from the blue. My heart sank suddenly, and an ominous premonition came over me. "What's wrong? Speak slowly." I tried to stay calm, but my voice still trembled a little.

"Several of our partners called us and said they wanted to cancel their orders!" The warehouse manager was sweating and speaking in a hurry. "They said there was a problem with the quality of our products. Recently, there have been a lot of negative comments about the vegetables from our base in the market..."

My head buzzed and my vision went dark. Although I had expected this, it all happened so suddenly and violently that I still felt powerless and hopeless.

I immediately turned on my computer and searched for news about our base. Sure enough, the web was full of negative reports, saying that the pesticide residues in our vegetables exceeded the standard, and the taste was far worse than before. Some people even said that they had diarrhea after eating vegetables from our base.

Most of these reports were rumors spread by competitors who hired trolls, but some were true. In order to reduce costs, I did relax quality control in some links, which gave competitors an opportunity to take advantage of me.

I took a deep breath and tried to calm myself down. Now was not the time to blame myself. The most urgent task was to control the situation as quickly as possible and recover the losses.

I immediately contacted the PR company and asked them to deal with the negative news online as soon as possible. At the same time, I also began to investigate the product quality issues and severely punished the relevant responsible persons.

However, nothing helped. Negative news had already fermented, and consumers' trust in us dropped to the freezing point. Partners cancelled their orders one after another, and the vegetables in the planting base were piled up like mountains, but no one was interested in buying them.

Every day I rushed between various partners, trying to regain their trust, but was rejected again and again. Seeing the vegetables withering in the base, my heart was broken.

To make matters worse, Bai Hanchuan's company also ran into problems...

As the sky gradually darkened, the afterglow of the setting sun shone through the office window, bringing a hint of warmth to the originally cold room. However, my heart felt as if it had fallen into an ice cellar, freezing cold.

Bai Hanchuan's tired voice came from the other end of the phone, "Lili, I tried my best..."

Before he finished speaking, I had already guessed the result. Sure enough, the next second, he told me solemnly that the company's capital chain was broken, the bank refused to lend, and several important cooperation projects were forced to stagnate due to funding problems. The company is now in a precarious situation and can't take care of itself.

My hand holding the phone drooped weakly, and my heart dropped. Bai Hanchuan's company had always been operating steadily, so how could it suddenly have a broken capital chain? I suppressed my uneasiness and asked, "How could this happen? Wasn't the company doing well recently?"

There was silence on the other end of the phone for a moment, and then Bai Hanchuan whispered, "Someone is behind this and maliciously cut off our source of funds. Now the company has been included in the high-risk list by the bank..."

My heart sank suddenly, and a terrible thought flashed through my mind. Could it be...

Before I could think about it, the phone rang again. This time, it was the hospital calling. My father's condition had worsened and he needed surgery immediately. The surgery cost $200,000!

Two hundred thousand! This is an astronomical figure for me now. The planting base is on the verge of life and death, and Bai Hanchuan's company is also in trouble. Where can I raise this huge sum of money?

I fell into a chair, and all I could see was darkness. Despair overwhelmed me like a tide. Was I really going to watch my father...

At this moment, the office door was pushed open, and Lin Xiao rushed in anxiously, "Lili, something bad has happened, the flower shop..."

Lin Xiao's voice was hurried because of running. Before she finished speaking, tears fell, "Lili, the flower shop... the flower shop can't hold on any longer!"

My heart was shaken, and I didn't care about being sad anymore. I grabbed her hand and asked anxiously, "What's going on? Isn't the flower shop always fine?"

Lin Xiao choked up and said, "It's all because of the base... Recently the quality of the flowers at the base has been getting worse and worse. Many customers have complained. Some flowers have withered before they were delivered. I lost a lot of money and now I can't make ends meet..."

I immediately understood that due to my negligence, there were serious problems in the management of the base, which not only led to the base facing bankruptcy, but also implicated Lin Xiao's flower shop.

Guilt and self-blame weighed on my heart like a huge rock. I opened my mouth and wanted to say something, but nothing came out.

Seeing my pale face, Lin Xiao tried to hold back her sadness and comforted me: "Lili, don't worry, I just... I just feel sad. We have been friends for so many years, I..."

I knew she was trying to comfort me, but I felt even worse. My best friend, who used to talk to me about everything, now couldn't even say a word of blame because of my mistake.

Before I could digest the bad news, my phone rang again. This time, it was the bank calling, informing me in a cold tone that my loan was overdue and that if I did not repay it, legal action would be taken.

I put down the phone, and my vision went dark. The planting base was about to close down, Bai Hanchuan's company was also in trouble, I was still in debt, and my father's surgery fee was still not settled. All of this was like a mountain, pressing me down and making me breathless.

I began to run around looking for help, but those relatives and friends who had been so warm to me, began to avoid me when I was down and out. Some even took advantage of my misfortune and made sarcastic remarks.

"I advised her to find a down-to-earth job at the beginning. She had to start a business. Look what happened now. She has lost everything she has..."

"Who made her so glorious in the past, with her eyes on the top of her head, and now she knows how to beg for help?"

……

I listened to these harsh words numbly, my heart aching.

As the sun was setting, I stood alone in the empty planting base, looking at the desolate scene, feeling hopeless. At this moment, a black car slowly drove up and stopped in front of me...

The car door opened, and the person who got out of the car was Bai Hanchuan. He was facing the light, so I couldn't see his expression, but from his heavy steps, I could feel his mood at the moment, which must be as bad as mine.

"How's Dad?" My voice was very hoarse.

Bai Hanchuan walked over to me and gently held me in his arms. His voice was low and tired, "The doctor said that Dad's condition is not optimistic and he needs surgery as soon as possible."

"Money..." I opened my mouth, but couldn't utter a complete sentence. Where can we get the money now?

"I'll find a way." Bai Hanchuan stroked my hair gently, as if to soothe the uneasiness in my heart, "Don't worry, everything will be fine."

There was a subtle tremor in his words, and I knew that he was under no less pressure than I was. Bai Hanchuan's company was also in trouble, and in order to support my planting base, he had sold a lot of his family property, and now he was running around for my father's medical expenses.

I couldn't hold back my tears and burst out. I clutched his clothes tightly, as if I was grabbing the last straw.

"Hanchuan, I'm sorry..." I choked up and said, "It's all because of me that you got hurt..."

"Fool, what nonsense are you talking about?" Bai Hanchuan gently wiped away my tears. "We are a family. Who are you talking about harming whom?"

As night fell, the entire planting base was shrouded in darkness. I walked aimlessly on the ridge of the field, my mind blank.

"Am I really giving up like this?" I murmured to myself.

No, I am not reconciled!

I raised my head suddenly, and a determined light flashed in my eyes. I couldn't be defeated like this, I had to cheer up, for myself, for my family, for...

I turned and ran to the warehouse, where some of the seeds I had collected before were still piled up. Maybe there was still a glimmer of hope...

The door of the warehouse creaked harshly because it had been in disrepair for many years. I lit a kerosene lamp, and the weak light illuminated the mess in front of me.

I rummaged through boxes and drawers and finally found a pack of forgotten seeds in a corner.

This packet of seeds is... I opened the bag and carefully identified it under the dim light. Suddenly, I felt a surge of ecstasy in my heart... This, this is not...