Rebirth 70: I am a Koi

The golden sunlight sprinkled on the flower fields of the planting base, and the air was filled with the faint fragrance of flowers. However, my heart felt as if it was being weighed down by a huge rock, and was extremely depressed.

"Long time no see, Jinli." The person standing in front of me was actually the one who had disappeared for a long time...

I took a deep breath, tried to control my complicated emotions, turned to Bai Hanchuan and said, "Hanchuan, this is..."

Before I could figure out how to introduce him, he had already extended his hand with his usual elegant smile on his face: "Hello, Mr. Bai, you can call me Mr. Williams."

Bai Hanchuan held his hand calmly, but his eyes showed a subtle vigilance: "Mr. Williams has come from afar, what can I do for you?"

"I don't deserve your advice," Mr. Williams smiled. "I came here mainly to discuss cooperation with you two. I heard that the flowers in your base are of excellent quality and I really want to introduce them to the European market."

In the following time, Mr. Williams introduced his cooperation plan in detail. The conditions he proposed seemed generous, but in fact they were full of mysteries.

"We need absolute controlling rights, and you must guarantee to provide a certain amount of flowers every year. As for the price..." He paused, his tone unquestionable, "We will adjust it according to market conditions."

I sneered in my heart. It was obvious that they wanted to turn our base into their plantation!

Bai Hanchuan naturally heard the hidden meaning in his words, and he said in a deep voice: "Mr. Williams, we need to consider your conditions again."

"Of course, of course," Mr. Williams still maintained a decent smile, "But I hope you can give me a reply as soon as possible. After all, opportunities don't wait for anyone."

After seeing Mr. Williams off, Bai Hanchuan and I both felt very heavy-hearted.

"This Williams seems to have bad intentions." Bai Hanchuan frowned.

I nodded, feeling a little uneasy, as if there was some secret hidden behind this matter...

At this time, Lin Xiao ran over in a hurry with an anxious look on his face: "Jinli, it's bad, the children are in school..."

Her voice stopped abruptly because she saw Bai Hanchuan behind me and her expression became a little hesitant.

"What happened to the children?" I asked hurriedly, my heart suddenly lifted. Lin Xiao is my best friend and also a member of the planting base. She usually helps me a lot.

Lin Xiao glanced at Bai Hanchuan and said hesitantly, "The children had some disputes with their classmates at school, and it seemed... it seemed that they even got into a fight."

When I heard this, I suddenly had a headache. Children are at the age of being naughty and it is inevitable that they will occasionally have conflicts with their classmates, but at this critical juncture...

Bai Hanchuan saw my embarrassment and said, "Jinli, go see the children first. I'll take care of the things at the base."

I nodded, looked at him gratefully, and then hurried to school with Lin Xiao. Although I was upset about the children's affairs, I didn't forget about Mr. Williams. Before leaving, I specifically told Lin Xiao: "Xiaoxiao, help me check Mr. Williams's background. I always feel that he has bad intentions this time."

"Don't worry, I'm already checking." Lin Xiao gave me a reassuring look.

After dealing with the children's affairs, I returned home with a heavy heart. Bai Hanchuan was processing documents in the study. When he saw me come back, he put down his pen and asked with concern: "How are the children?"

I briefly explained what happened and finally sighed: "It's all my fault. I've been too busy recently and didn't have time to spend time with them. They suffered injustice at school."

Bai Hanchuan came over, gently hugged me, and comforted me, "This is not your fault. We will solve the children's problems together. As for you, don't put too much pressure on yourself. I will take care of Mr. Williams's side."

I leaned in his arms, listening to his strong heartbeat, and the anxiety in my heart subsided a little.

The next day, Lin Xiao brought news about Mr. Williams.

"Jinli, I checked. This Mr. Williams is not an ordinary European flower merchant at all!" Lin Xiao lowered his voice and said seriously, "He is actually..."

I held my breath, waiting for her next words.

Lin Xiao took a deep breath and said slowly: "He is the heir to a large European multinational company. The main business of this company is biological genetic engineering!"

My heart suddenly sank, and an ominous premonition came over me. Could it be that Mr. Williams really came here for the core technology of our base?

At this moment, there was a sound of hurried footsteps outside the door, and an old but loud voice rang out: "Jinli, something bad has happened!"

I quickly got up and opened the door, only to see a gray-haired old man standing outside, looking panicked. This old man is a retired gardener from our base and one of the elders that Bai Hanchuan and I trust the most.

"Mr. Wang, what's wrong with you?" I asked hurriedly.

Mr. Wang took a deep breath and said hurriedly, "When I was walking outside just now, I overheard a conversation between Mr. Williams and his men. They...they..."

"What happened to them?" I asked anxiously.

"They said..." Elder Wang paused and lowered his voice, "They said they wanted to use this cooperation to control the core technology of our base, and then..."

He didn't say the rest, but I guessed what he meant. My face turned pale instantly, and my heart was filled with anger and fear.

"They...how dare they!" I said through gritted teeth.

Bai Hanchuan walked up to me, held my hand, and said with a firm look in his eyes: "Don't be afraid, Jinli, we won't let them succeed."

I took a deep breath and tried to calm myself down. At this point, fear and anger could no longer solve any problems.

"Mr. Wang, please don't make this matter public for now. Hanchuan and I will handle it." I said calmly.

Mr. Wang nodded, turned and left.

There were only Bai Hanchuan and I left in the room.

"It seems that we have to change the plan..." I said in a deep voice, my eyes were firm and cold. Mr. Williams' true identity and purpose were like a huge rock, weighing heavily on my heart, making me breathless. Bai Hanchuan hugged me tightly in his arms, his eyes were firm and calm, as if he had injected me with a dose of cardiotonic.

"Hanchuan, we can't just sit there and wait for death anymore. We must take the initiative." I raised my head from his arms with a firm tone.

"I know. I have already arranged for someone to investigate Williams and the company behind him. Once we have solid evidence, we will be able to expose their conspiracy."

In the following days, we maintained a cooperative relationship with Williams on the surface, but in fact we had already started an investigation secretly. However, Williams was not an easy person to deal with. He seemed to have noticed our intentions and began to create chaos inside the base.

Some employees were tempted by Williams' high salary and began to spread rumors, questioning the ability of me and Bai Hanchuan, and even instigating others to obstruct the normal operation of the base. The originally united team began to crack.

"Mr. Bai, something bad has happened in the experimental field!" Lin Xiao ran over in a panic, sweating profusely.

Bai Hanchuan and I looked at each other, our hearts sank, and we immediately rushed to the experimental field.

As expected, the experimental field was in a mess, precious flower seedlings were destroyed, and some protest slogans were scattered on the ground. Some employees who didn't know the truth gathered around the field and talked about it.

"Boss Bai and Manager Mu must have introduced some dangerous species in pursuit of profit without regard for everyone's safety!"

"Yes, we can't let them do whatever they want anymore. We must make them give us an explanation!"

Angry voices came one after another. I looked at the chaotic scene before me, my heart burning with anger, yet I felt extremely powerless.

"Who told you to do this?" Bai Hanchuan's voice was cold, with unquestionable majesty.

There was a commotion in the crowd. Several employees who had received bribes from Williams and led the riot avoided his gaze and did not dare to look him in the eye.

"Tell me who ordered you to do this, and I will forgive you for what happened." I suppressed my anger and tried to make my tone sound calm.

However, my tolerance did not bring about their confession, but instead aroused their arrogance.

"Boss Bai, Manager Mu, please stop threatening us here. We are only concerned about our own safety!"

"That's right, if you really have a clear conscience, then show us the evidence!"

Just then, a familiar figure walked out from the crowd with a smug smile on his face.

"Mr. Williams?" I looked at him in disbelief, my heart filled with anger and disappointment.

He walked to the front of the crowd, with a hypocritical smile on his face, and said loudly: "Everyone, I know that you are all kind and upright people, so today I want to reveal a shocking secret..."

Bai Hanchuan and I looked at each other, feeling vaguely uneasy, and an ominous premonition came to my mind. Williams' next words would completely destroy everything we had worked so hard to build... Williams had a hypocritical smile on his face and said in broken Chinese: "Boss Bai, Manager Mu, the reason they questioned you is because you introduced an extremely aggressive flower variety that will destroy the ecological balance and harm the growth of other plants!"

The crowd suddenly exploded, the employees were talking among themselves, and they looked at me and Bai Hanchuan with eyes full of fear and suspicion.

"You're talking nonsense!" I was furious. "The species we imported have all gone through strict inspection and quarantine. What you said will never happen!"

"Whether there is a problem or not is not up to you to decide." Williams spread his hands, looking confident of victory. "I have sent the samples to an international authority for testing. I believe there will be results soon."

His words were like a bombshell, causing an uproar in the crowd. I knew that Williams had come prepared, and he had carefully planned all this just to bring us down.

In the next few days, Williams used the media and public opinion to widely publicize the news that we had introduced dangerous varieties. For a time, the planting base became the target of public criticism, all kinds of negative reports flooded in, and orders also dropped sharply.

Bai Hanchuan and I were extremely anxious, but there was nothing we could do. Williams was too powerful, and we simply could not contend with him.

"Am I just going to let him control me like this?" I sat powerlessly on the sofa, my heart filled with despair.

Bai Hanchuan held me in his arms, stroked my hair gently, and said firmly: "Don't worry, we will find a way."

"But what else can we do?" I raised my head and looked at him with tears in my eyes. "Now all the evidence is against us. We have no way to prove our innocence."

Bai Hanchuan was silent for a moment, his eyes became fierce, "Since we can't break through from the front, we can only take a different approach."

Late at night, Bai Hanchuan and I sat in the study and secretly met with the retired gardening master.

"Williams came prepared this time. If we want to turn the tables, we must produce solid evidence." The gardening master said solemnly.

"But he now has the test report from an international authoritative organization in his hand, and we can't overturn it at all," I said anxiously.

"Unless..." The gardener paused, his tone becoming meaningful, "Unless we can find a more authoritative organization than him to prove that there is no problem with the varieties we introduced."

"But how easy is that?" I smiled bitterly and shook my head. "In the field of flowers, who else can be more authoritative than that organization?"

"Yes!" The gardener's eyes suddenly became sharp, "But we need to pay a huge price..."

Bai Hanchuan and I looked at each other, and we both saw the determination to fight to the death in each other's eyes.

"No matter what the cost, we must give it a try!" Bai Hanchuan said firmly.