Rebirth 70: I am a Koi

The flash of the lights gradually faded, and the applause died down. I put my phone back into my handbag and turned to look at Bai Hanchuan, who still had a confident smile in his eyes. I lowered my voice and told him the message from the sales manager, and his smile gradually faded.

"Don't worry, let's go back to the base and see the situation first." Bai Hanchuan held my hand with his backhand, and the warmth of his palm was as reliable as ever.

When we got back to the base, the sales manager had been waiting for a long time, his face full of anxiety: "Boss Mu, Boss Bai, the sales of vegetables at our base have dropped sharply in the past few days. I have inquired about it. A new supplier suddenly appeared in the market. Their vegetable varieties are exactly the same as ours, but the price is 30% lower than ours!"

"What?" I was shocked, and a bad premonition came to my mind. "Can you find out the details of this supplier?"

"I've sent someone to investigate, but..." The sales manager looked embarrassed. "This supplier is very secretive, and we haven't found any valuable clues yet."

"I understand. You go and do your work first. Report to me anytime if you have any news." I rubbed my eyebrows, and a feeling of fatigue came over me.

Before I could catch my breath, Bai Hanchuan's cell phone rang. After he answered the call, his expression suddenly became extremely solemn.

"What's wrong?" My heart skipped a beat, and a depressing feeling as if a storm was about to come enveloped me.

"Something happened at the company. Our core technology..." Bai Hanchuan took a deep breath and said in a heavy tone, "It is very likely that it has been leaked."

I froze in my tracks, as if struck by a bolt from the blue. The successive blows made me a little overwhelmed. I took a deep breath and tried to stay calm: "Don't panic, let's find out the situation first."

As the night deepened, Bai Hanchuan and I sat in the office, with documents piled up on the desk, but we still couldn't find any useful clues. The competitors were aggressive and acted so flawlessly, which made us more certain that there must be an invisible hand behind the scenes controlling everything.

"Dong dong dong..."

A rapid knock on the door interrupted my thoughts. I looked up at the door and saw the assistant standing there in a panic, holding a document in his hand: "Mr. Mu, you...you'd better take a look at this."

I took the document, opened it, and my pupils shrank suddenly. The name of the legal representative of the competitor company was written on the document, and I was not unfamiliar with this name. I could even say that I was extremely familiar with it...

"How could it be him..." I muttered to myself, and the documents in my hand slid weakly onto the table. "How could it be him..." I muttered to myself, and the documents in my hand slid weakly onto the table.

Bai Hanchuan picked up the document, frowning, his expression more serious than mine. "It seems we all underestimated our opponent."

"It's him, he must be behind this!" I gritted my teeth, clenched my fists so tightly that my nails almost dug into my flesh. The name on the document was my stepmother's younger brother, my uncle - a greedy and cunning man who would do anything for his own benefit.

"Now is not the time to be angry. The most urgent task is to find out what he wants to do and who is behind him." Bai Hanchuan analyzed calmly.

In the next few days, Bai Hanchuan and I worked separately to investigate the matter. I mobilized all my connections and finally found out that there was indeed a powerful company secretly supporting my uncle's newly established company. Bai Hanchuan also found out that the leakage of the company's core technology was likely related to a new engineer, and this engineer actually had a close connection with the company that supported my uncle's company.

All clues point to one conclusion: someone carefully planned all this with the purpose of forcing us into a dead end.

"It seems that we have really met our match this time." There was a hint of solemnity in Bai Hanchuan's tone.

"If the enemy comes, we will fight them; if the water comes, we will block it with earth. I don't believe they can really cover the sky with one hand!" I took a deep breath, with a determined light flashing in my eyes.

We decided to fight back together. On the one hand, I stepped up marketing efforts and personally visited customers to assure them of the quality and safety of our products and stabilize market share. On the other hand, Bai Hanchuan strengthened the company's technology research and development and conducted a thorough investigation within the company to prevent technology leaks again.

However, just as we were doing our best to deal with the crisis, the phone at home suddenly rang, and the nanny's anxious voice came from the other end of the phone: "Sir, Madam, Xiaobao...he seems to have a fever..."

"What?!" My heart sank suddenly, and the phone slipped from my palm and bounced twice at my feet. Bai Hanchuan quickly supported me and said anxiously: "What's wrong? What happened?"

"Xiaobao has a fever..." My voice trembled, and my son's burning face and helpless eyes appeared in my mind, and a strong sense of self-blame surged in my heart. During this period of time, Bai Hanchuan and I were busy with company matters and neglected to accompany our children.

"Let's go! Let's go back!" Bai Hanchuan made a prompt decision and helped me get into the car. Along the way, I was extremely anxious and kept urging the driver to drive faster. Normally, it only took half an hour to drive, but today it seemed particularly long.

When I got home, the nanny was holding my son and pacing back and forth in the living room. His face was flushed, his brows were furrowed, and he was mumbling "Mom". I hugged my son, his little head was terribly hot, and I was so distressed that tears were about to fall.

"What did the doctor say?" Bai Hanchuan asked the nanny while taking the coat from my hand.

"The doctor said he might have caught a cold, so he prescribed some medicine and asked me to cool him down physically first," the nanny replied.

I didn't have time to say anything more, I carried Xiaobao into the room and started to wipe his body with warm water. Seeing my son in pain, I felt like a needle stabbing my heart. It was all my fault. If I had been with him more, he wouldn't be sick...

In the next few days, I stayed by Xiaobao's side, feeding him medicine, telling him stories, and coaxing him to sleep. Bai Hanchuan also tried his best to turn down work and stay at home with us. Fortunately, Xiaobao's fever subsided quickly and he was in much better spirits.

However, this sudden illness made me and Bai Hanchuan realize that we can't go on like this. Career is important, but children only have one chance to grow up. We can't miss their most precious childhood in pursuit of success.

"Should we calm down and have a good talk?" After dinner, I looked at Bai Hanchuan who was playing with his son and said softly.

Bai Hanchuan put down the toy in his hand, walked over to me, held my hand, his eyes full of guilt and self-blame: "I'm sorry, I neglected you and the child during this period of time."

"No, it's not your fault. I was too obsessed with work and neglected my family." I shook my head, took a deep breath, and continued, "We can't go on like this. We need to find a balance so that we can take good care of our family and balance our careers."

Bai Hanchuan nodded in agreement. We decided to hold a family meeting with our son tomorrow night...

After Xiaobao recovered from his illness, Bai Hanchuan and I became different people. I began to try to slowly shift the focus of my work to my family. I left work an hour earlier every afternoon to play games with Xiaobao and tell him stories. Bai Hanchuan also turned down many social events and tried to take us on outings on weekends to enjoy the rare parent-child time.

That night, our family of three sat on the carpet in the living room. Xiaobao held his teddy bear and looked at me and Bai Hanchuan curiously.

"Xiaobao, mom and dad want to talk to you." I tried to speak in a relaxed tone.

"What are you talking about?" Xiaobao asked innocently, blinking his big eyes.

"Let's talk about the things that mom and dad have done wrong recently." Bai Hanchuan touched Xiaobao's head with a gentle tone.

Xiaobao tilted his head and thought for a while, then said in a baby voice: "Mom has been coming home very late recently, and I don't have time to play with Xiaobao."

My heart ached, I hugged Xiaobao guiltily, and said softly: "I'm sorry, Xiaobao, Mom will come back earlier next time."

"Dad seldom plays with Xiaobao. He always holds the phone." Xiaobao looked at Bai Hanchuan again and said with a pout.

Bai Hanchuan smiled and pinched Xiaobao's face, and promised: "Dad promises you that I will put down the phone and play with you in the future."

"Really?" Xiaobao's eyes lit up and he asked happily.

"Of course it's true. When have your parents ever lied to you?" I smiled and kissed Xiaobao's forehead.

Xiaobao clapped his hands happily, and the atmosphere among the family of three was warm and harmonious.

However, at this moment, a rapid phone ring broke the silence. Bai Hanchuan picked up the phone and his face gradually became solemn.

"What? How could this happen..."

My heart sank suddenly and an ominous premonition came over me.

"What's wrong?" I asked anxiously.

Bai Hanchuan put down the phone, his face gloomy, his tone solemn: "Something happened at our planting base..."