Rebirth 70: I am a Koi

"Rumors about me and Bai Hanchuan?" I frowned slightly, feeling uneasy. "What are the rumors?"

Uncle Wang looked embarrassed and stammered, "That is... that is, you and Mr. Bai, you..." He paused, as if he couldn't speak, "That you deliberately wanted to occupy the base..."

I took a deep breath and instantly understood what he wanted to say. It seemed that those people were still lingering around and were spreading such rumors behind my back. I suppressed my anger and asked calmly, "Uncle Wang, do you believe these rumors?"

Uncle Wang waved his hands quickly and said firmly, "Of course I don't believe it! Everyone has seen how many good things you and Mr. Bai have done for the base! Those people are just jealous and deliberately spread rumors to cause trouble!"

"I know." I forced a smile, "Uncle Wang, thank you for telling me about this. Don't worry, Bai Hanchuan and I will take care of it."

After Uncle Wang left, I stood alone on the ridge of the field, but the uneasiness in my heart could not be shaken off. Although those rumors were absurd, the speed at which they spread should not be underestimated. Moreover, since those people dared to spread rumors in secret, it meant that they must have a back-up plan and would never give up.

I returned to the office and Bai Hanchuan was checking the documents. When he saw me coming back, he put down the documents in his hand and asked with concern: "What's wrong? What did Uncle Wang tell you?"

I told him what Uncle Wang said, and his face darkened. "It seems that they are planning to use this despicable method to deal with us."

"We can't just sit there and wait for death." I clenched my fists. "We must find out as soon as possible who is spreading rumors behind this."

Bai Hanchuan nodded, a cold light flashed in his eyes. "I will arrange for someone to investigate. Don't worry, I will protect you and won't let them hurt you."

In the next few days, Bai Hanchuan and I were busy investigating the source of the rumor, and at the same time strengthened the management within the base to prevent the rumor from spreading further.

However, beneath the calm surface, a greater crisis is hidden.

That night, I was sorting out documents when I heard a quarrel outside the door. I walked out and saw several old employees gathered together, arguing about something emotionally.

"Why do they get such a huge bonus? We have worked so hard for so many years, but in the end, we get nothing!"

"That's right! This new management plan is not fair at all!"

"I think they just want to drive us old people away..."

My heart sank as I realized that although most of the old employees' attitudes had softened over the past few days due to the improvement in their welfare benefits, there were still some who were dissatisfied with the new management plan and had been spreading unfavorable remarks in private, affecting the emotions of other employees.

I was about to step forward to stop them, but I heard a familiar voice from the crowd: "Stop making noise! ​​I tell you..."

My heart skipped a beat, and I quickly walked over, pushing through the crowd, and saw that the person who was talking was actually...

...It turned out to be Liu Cheng, the old accountant I fired!

When Liu Cheng saw me, a flash of panic flashed in his eyes, but he quickly regained his composure. He said loudly: "Director Mu, I am telling the truth! Since you and Mr. Bai came, the base has changed! You don't care about the lives of us old employees at all!"

His words resonated with the old employees around him, and everyone began to blame me and Bai Hanchuan, and the scene suddenly became chaotic. I took a deep breath and was about to explain, but suddenly I felt Bai Hanchuan holding my hand and gently shaking his head.

I understood what he meant. Now was not the time to argue. The emotional crowd would not listen to any explanation. We listened to their complaints in silence until the crowd gradually dispersed.

"It seems that we underestimated the means of those people." Returning to the office, Bai Hanchuan said in a deep voice, "They are inciting the emotions of the employees and want to disintegrate us from within."

I was also full of worries. The recent series of events made me feel an invisible pressure. What made me even more uneasy was that the logistics costs of the planting base had also begun to increase inexplicably. Although Bai Hanchuan had already negotiated with the logistics company he had previously cooperated with and promised to give them more benefits, the other party seemed to have tampered with the transportation costs, causing our expenses to continue to increase.

To make matters worse, some crops in the planting base began to suffer from diseases and insect pests for unknown reasons. I personally went to the fields to check and found that the leaves of crops that were originally growing well began to turn yellow and wither, and the fruits were also deformed. I suspected that this was the work of competitors, but I could not find any evidence.

In order to solve the problem of pests and diseases, I read a lot of books and tried various methods, but the effect was not satisfactory. Looking at the fields that were once thriving, my heart gradually sank like those withered crops.

"Jinli, don't worry, we will find a solution." Bai Hanchuan held my hand and said firmly, "I have contacted agricultural experts and they will be here tomorrow."

I forced a smile and nodded. However, at this moment, the office door was suddenly pushed open, and Uncle Wang ran in in a panic, saying in a hurried tone: "Oh no, Mr. Bai, Director Mu, something happened..."

"What happened, Uncle Wang? Please tell me slowly." I quickly stood up, helped Uncle Wang sit down, and poured him a glass of water.

Uncle Wang took a breath and said anxiously, "Just now...just now several suppliers came to the office and said they wanted to...terminate their cooperation with our base ahead of schedule!"

"What?!" Bai Hanchuan and I exclaimed almost at the same time.

"They...they said..." Uncle Wang looked embarrassed, "They said that our base is having difficulty in cash flow, and they are afraid that we...are afraid that we will not have the money to pay for the goods in the future..."

I immediately understood that the news of Bai Hanchuan mortgaging his personal property must have spread, and those shrewd businessmen smelled the risk, so they were eager to distance themselves from him.

"What should we do now?" I looked at Bai Hanchuan, my heart chilled.

Bai Hanchuan frowned, but he quickly regained his composure and said in a deep voice: "I'll go talk to them."

However, the situation turned out to be worse than we expected. The suppliers were very stubborn and refused to give in. Some even threatened to stop supplying us and sue us in court if we could not pay off all the money within one month.

The pressure from suppliers and the risk of capital chain rupture are like mountains that are weighing us down and making it hard for us to breathe.

After finally appeasing the supplier, before we had time to breathe a sigh of relief, new problems arose.

Recently, there has indeed been a lot of new customers who have come to us seeking cooperation, but they have also become more cautious and strict in their inspection of the planting bases. Bai Hanchuan and I have to spend a lot of time and energy to receive them, introducing the planting situation, product advantages, and cooperation models over and over again...

I was exhausted physically and mentally, and I was also filled with anxiety. This feeling of being suspected and scrutinized made me feel extremely depressed and exhausted.

It was late at night, and I lay in bed, but I couldn't fall asleep. A series of events that had happened recently made me feel unprecedentedly confused and scared.

"Don't worry, everything will be fine." Bai Hanchuan held me in his arms and comforted me softly.

I forced a smile and nodded, but the gloom in my heart could not be dispelled.

Suddenly, I felt a burning sensation on my wrist, which was the prompt for the space system to start. I quickly opened the system panel and saw a line of bright red text flashing on it:

"Warning! Abnormal energy fluctuations detected, the system is about to..."

Before I could take a closer look, the text suddenly disappeared and the system shut down.

My heart sank suddenly, and an ominous premonition came to my mind... The burning sensation disappeared, and the system interface returned to calm again, as if everything just now was just an illusion. But I could clearly feel that my heart was beating violently, and my palms were full of cold sweat.

"What's wrong?" Bai Hanchuan noticed that something was wrong with me and asked with concern.

I shook my head and tried to force a smile: "Nothing, maybe I'm too tired recently and a little flustered."

I don't want to worry him, at least not yet.

"Well, go to bed early. You have to get up early tomorrow." Bai Hanchuan stroked my hair gently, with a hint of fatigue in his tone.

I nodded and closed my eyes, but I couldn't calm down. What did the system mean by the last sentence? Abnormal energy fluctuations? A huge crisis?

All sorts of terrible speculations emerged in my mind: natural disaster? man-made disaster? or...

I didn't dare to think any further and could only hold Bai Hanchuan's hand tightly, as if only in this way could I gain a sense of security.

In the following days, I kept suppressing my inner anxiety and pretended that nothing had happened. Together with Bai Hanchuan, I worked hard to maintain the normal operation of the planting base.

We actively sought new suppliers and obtained more favorable cooperation conditions; we increased the publicity of our products and attracted more attention from potential customers...

Everything seems to be moving in a good direction, but my heart is always shrouded in an lingering haze.

That uneasy feeling was like a thorn that pierced deeply into my heart, reminding me all the time that the danger was not far away, but was approaching quietly.

Until that day, Uncle Wang rushed to my house, his face pale, and said incoherently: "Oh no, something big has happened! Someone...someone is..."