Rebirth 70: I am a Koi

The truck stayed at the entrance of the village for a long time without moving, like a dormant beast, which made me feel more and more uneasy.

Bai Hanchuan patted my hand soothingly: "Don't worry, I'll go take a look." He stood up and walked towards the village entrance, and his figure quickly disappeared into the night.

I sat in the yard, but my heart couldn't calm down.

After a long while, Bai Hanchuan came back, looking unhappy.

"He's from the neighboring county," he said in a deep voice, "He said he came here to investigate and study." Neighboring county?

What is there for us to investigate and learn here?

I was confused and always felt that things were not that simple.

The next morning, I went to the market in town.

As soon as I walked to our stall, I heard the vendors next door talking: "Hey, have you heard? The county next door has also started growing watermelons. I heard that the quality is similar to ours, and the price is much cheaper!"

"Is this true? Wouldn't our business be affected?"

My heart tightened and I hurried forward to ask what was going on.

It turned out that watermelons from the neighboring county had recently started to be sold in large quantities, and under the banner of "affordable price and high quality", they attracted many customers.

I picked up a watermelon from the neighboring county and looked at it carefully, and found that its shape and color were indeed very similar to our watermelons, but upon careful comparison, I could still see some subtle differences, such as the texture of the rind, the shape of the stem, and so on.

When I returned to the base, I immediately told Bai Hanchuan about the situation.

His brows were furrowed and his face was terribly gloomy.

"It seems that the challenges we face are more severe than we imagined." He said in a deep voice.

In the next few days, the order volume began to decline.

As I looked at the decreasing numbers, I felt like a huge rock was pressing on my heart and I couldn't breathe.

Bai Hanchuan has also become much quieter than before, and I know that he is under more pressure than I am.

In the evening, accountant Xiao Zhang ran into the office in a panic, "Brother Bo, Sister Jinli, something bad has happened. Today's order volume is one-third less than yesterday!" His voice was trembling.

I took a deep breath and tried to stay calm. "Xiao Zhang, don't panic. Let's sort out today's sales data first."

Bai Hanchuan walked up to me and gently held my hand. His palms were cold, but they gave me great strength.

"Don't worry," he whispered, "we can fix this."

He turned around, picked up his coat, and said firmly, "I'm going to the city."

Bai Hanchuan went to the city, and I became even more anxious, but I knew it was useless to worry.

I immediately called together the key members of the base and began to investigate the watermelons in the neighboring county.

"Xiao Liu, take your people to the market in the next county and buy a few watermelons from them. Then compare them carefully."

"Xiao Wang, you are responsible for contacting the old customers and asking them why they changed to buying watermelons from the next county."

"Xiao Zhang, please count the recent order volume and sales volume to see how much they have dropped."

Everyone acted quickly and the base was filled with busy scenes.

Soon, the watermelon that Xiao Liu brought back was placed in front of me.

I picked one up and looked at it carefully. Its rind was slightly lighter in color than ours, and the red color of the flesh was not bright enough. More importantly, its sweetness and juiciness were obviously not as good as our watermelons.

“Although their watermelons look similar, their inner quality is far inferior!” I said firmly, “What we need to do is to let our customers see this!”

I immediately decided to hold a public comparison event, inviting customers and the media to watch and compare the quality of watermelons from our base and the neighboring county.

As soon as the news was released, it immediately attracted widespread attention.

On the day of the event, the base was crowded with people, and many old customers also came after hearing the news.

I asked someone to cut the watermelons from the two counties and put them together so that everyone could taste and compare them.

"The gap is too big! The watermelons from the next county can't even compare!"

“No wonder the price is so cheap, you get what you pay for!”

"I still think the watermelons at our base are delicious!"

Customers were talking about it, and the orders that had been lost started to come back. Seeing the renewed confidence of customers, I finally put my mind at ease.

However, the story does not end there.

This comparison activity not only won back old customers, but also attracted more attention from out-of-town customers.

They came one after another to discuss cooperation, the base became more famous, and orders came in like snowflakes.

I looked at the pile of orders and felt a little pressure besides joy.

"It seems that we need to plan our future development carefully..." I said to Bai Hanchuan.

He had just returned from the city, looking exhausted, but he couldn't hide the joy in his eyes.

He nodded and was about to speak when the office door was suddenly pushed open and Xiao Wang walked in anxiously, "Sister Jinli, Brother Bo, something happened..."

Xiao Wang said in a panic: "Sister Jinli, Brother Bo, something happened... There are too many orders, and our current production scale cannot meet them all!" My heart skipped a beat, and joy turned into worry.

Bai Hanchuan frowned and immediately asked about the details.

"Many orders require delivery as soon as possible, but we don't have enough manpower and equipment. What should we do?" Xiao Wang stamped his feet in anxiety.

I immediately called a meeting of all the staff at the base.

The atmosphere in the meeting room was tense, with new and old employees arguing endlessly with each other.

Old Zhang spoke on behalf of the old employees, his tone heavy: "Jinli, I think we can't expand blindly. If we take too big a step, we'll get into trouble! If the orders decrease and we have overproduction, the losses will be huge!"

Xiao Li, a young and energetic young man, immediately retorted: "Uncle Zhang, this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity! The market demand is so great now. If we miss it, we will regret it in the future!"

For a moment, the conference room was in an uproar, and everyone started talking at once.

I felt like my head was about to explode. I rubbed my temples and looked at Bai Hanchuan.

He gave me a soothing look, then stood up and said in a calm tone: "Everyone, please be quiet! I know everyone is doing this for the good of the base, but now we need to calmly analyze the situation and find the best solution."

Bai Hanchuan analyzed the current situation and future development trends in a clear and logical manner, and his words gradually calmed everyone down.

Finally, we decided to take a compromise solution: gradually expand the scale of production while strengthening risk control.

After the meeting, I felt exhausted both physically and mentally.

Bai Hanchuan walked up to me and held my hand tightly. His hands were warm and powerful, as if an electric current ran through my whole body.

"Don't worry, we'll face it together." He said softly, his eyes firm and gentle.

I looked at him and my heart was filled with warmth and strength.

Suddenly, there was a knock on the office door...

"Come in," I said, trying to appear calm.

The door opened and the old accountant of the base, Uncle Liu, walked in. He was holding a stack of documents in his hand, with a hint of hesitation on his face.

"Jinli, Bai Hanchuan, take a look at this." Uncle Liu handed us the document and sighed, "I just received news that the 'Red Star' planting base in the next county has also started to grow our specialty vegetables."

Red Star Planting Base?

My heart sank.

That is the largest planting base in the county. It is very powerful and has always been our competitor.

They used to mainly grow grain crops, but now they have also set their sights on our specialty vegetables.

I took the document and glanced through it quickly.

The documents show that the Red Star Base not only began to grow our specialty vegetables, but also sold them at lower prices.

"They are engaging in malicious competition!" I couldn't help but say, with a surge of anger in my heart.

They easily imitated the specialty vegetable varieties that we had cultivated with great effort, and even seized the market with low prices.

Bai Hanchuan also frowned. He picked up the document and looked at it carefully, then said in a deep voice: "It seems that we underestimated their determination. They are going to start a price war with us."

"Price war?" I was a little worried. "Our current production costs are already high. If we lower the price further, our profit margin will be very small, and we may even suffer losses."

Bai Hanchuan patted my shoulder and consoled me, "Don't worry, we still have an advantage. Our vegetables are of better quality, and we have established stable sales channels. As long as we hold our ground, they may not be able to win."

His words gave me some confidence. Yes, we can't panic and must respond calmly.

"Uncle Liu," Bai Hanchuan said to the old accountant, "Please pay close attention to the movements of the Red Star Base and report to us in a timely manner."

"Okay, I understand." Uncle Liu nodded, turned and left the office.

Bai Hanchuan and I looked at each other and saw a hint of solemnity in each other's eyes.

This competition has just begun, and I don’t know what challenges will be waiting for us next.

But I believe that as long as we work together, we will be able to overcome all difficulties.