Rebirth 70: I am a Koi

The night wind rustled the leaves outside the window, but it couldn't blow away the heavy haze in my heart. Bai Hanchuan held my hand tightly, and the warmth from his palm gave me a little strength.

Every word on the letter stung my eyes like a needle. ParknShop, the supermarket we cooperated with, actually tampered with the payment! They claimed that they had difficulty in cash flow and kept delaying the settlement cycle. The original promise of half a month settlement has now been delayed for almost two months.

"They are playing tricks on us!" Bai Hanchuan slammed the letter on the table, his usually gentle face full of anger. "The flowers we provide are of high quality and in short supply in the market, but they deliberately delay payment. This is clearly fraud!"

I knew this, the base had been expanding recently, and money was needed everywhere. The supermarket's payment had not been received, and there was already a problem with capital turnover. I tried to suppress the anger in my heart and comforted him, "Don't worry, let's figure out the situation first, maybe it's just a misunderstanding."

The next morning, we rushed to the ParknShop headquarters with the contract. However, the purchasing manager kept shirking responsibility, saying that the finance department was not there or that he needed to consult the leader, leaving us alone and doing things perfunctorily.

"Mr. Bai, Ms. Mu, as you all know, the market conditions have been bad recently, and our supermarket's funds are also rather tight..." The manager had a big smile on his face, but his words were extremely hypocritical.

I suppressed my anger and slammed the contract on the table. "Manager Wang, this is not what was said when we signed the contract. It is written in black and white. You are breaching the contract!"

Manager Wang's smile froze for a moment, his eyes flickered, and he stammered, unable to speak. Bai Hanchuan snorted coldly, saying, "Manager Wang, I hope you understand that we are not here to discuss with you, but to solve the problem. If you can't give us a reasonable explanation today, we'll see you in court!"

Manager Wang's face changed and he wanted to say something else, but I had already lost my patience, so I pulled Bai Hanchuan and turned away.

"It seems that this matter is not that simple." Walking on the way back to the base, Bai Hanchuan frowned and spoke in a serious tone.

I was also filled with uneasiness, and an ominous premonition came to my mind. At this time, Lin Xiao called me, her voice was anxious and flustered: "Sister Mu, it's not good, I...I found something..."

Lin Xiao's voice was intermittent, and my heart tightened. "Don't be anxious, tell me slowly, what happened?"

"I...I heard from the finance department that ParknShop has had problems with its capital chain recently, and it seems that it owes a lot of loans to the bank..." Lin Xiao's voice became smaller and smaller, and it was obvious that she also realized the seriousness of the matter.

My heart sank suddenly, and Bai Hanchuan's face changed. "It seems that our guess is correct. ParknShop Supermarket is not having difficulty in cash flow, but deliberately delaying payment for goods!"

"What should we do now?" Lin Xiao asked anxiously, "Can we get our payment back?"

I took a deep breath and tried to calm myself down. "Don't worry, we will collect evidence first and then negotiate with the supermarket."

In the next few days, we split into two groups. Bai Hanchuan was responsible for investigating the financial situation of ParknShop Supermarket, while I took Lin Xiao to visit various places to understand the market conditions and look for new partners.

Hard work pays off. Bai Hanchuan soon found out that ParknShop Supermarket did have serious financial problems. In order to expand their scale, they blindly borrowed money, which led to a broken capital chain. Now they are on the verge of bankruptcy.

"They want to use us as scapegoats!" Lin Xiao said angrily, "We worked so hard to grow these flowers, why should we let them get away with it for free?"

"We must not let them succeed!" A determined light flashed in my eyes, "We must unite and safeguard our rights!"

I found a retired master gardener who was highly respected and influential in the industry. I told him the whole story and asked him to come forward to help us.

After listening to my story, the old man was filled with indignation and immediately expressed his willingness to help us to the best of his ability.

With the help of the old man, we quickly contacted several large flower wholesale markets. They praised the quality of our flowers and expressed their willingness to cooperate with us.

"It seems that we are not alone." Bai Hanchuan looked at me with hope in his eyes. "We have strength and allies. We will definitely be able to overcome the difficulties."

I nodded, my heart full of confidence.

On the day of the negotiation, we arrived at the ParknShop headquarters early. In the conference room, ParknShop's general manager, Mr. Wang, had been waiting for a long time, and next to him sat a lawyer in a suit and tie, looking arrogant.

"Ms. Mu, Mr. Bai, have you thought it through?" Mr. Wang said with a fake smile, "We have shown our utmost sincerity. If you still insist on terminating the contract, don't blame us for being rude!"

I put a document on the table and said coldly, "Boss Wang, you should take a look at this document first!"

Mr. Wang's face changed. He picked up the document and glanced at it hastily, with a hint of panic in his eyes. This document was the evidence we had painstakingly collected over the past few days, including ParknShop's financial statements, bank loan records, and proof of their arrears in payments to other suppliers.

"Mr. Wang, we have always had a pleasant cooperation," I said calmly, but with a sharp edge. "We also understand the difficulties of running a business, but ParknShop's deliberate concealment of facts and delay in paying for goods is really unacceptable."

Bai Hanchuan followed up on me with a sharp tone: "We are not here to listen to your excuses, but to solve the problem." He put a new contract on the table, "This is the new cooperation agreement we have drafted. If ParknShop can pay the purchase price according to the contract, we are still willing to continue our cooperation."

Mr. Wang's face was uncertain, and the lawyer beside him sneered and said, "Ms. Mu, Mr. Bai, are you threatening us? Don't forget, the penalty for breach of contract is not a small amount!"

I met his gaze without fear. "Of course we know about the penalty, but we know our rights even better." I said firmly, "If ParknShop insists on doing what it wants, we will not rule out taking legal action to protect our rights!"

The negotiations reached a deadlock, and the air was filled with gunpowder. Mr. Wang was silent for a long time. Finally, he raised his head and looked at me and Bai Hanchuan, with a sneer on his face: "Ms. Mu, Mr. Bai, do you really think that you can beat our ParknShop supermarket?"

I took a deep breath and was about to speak, but Bai Hanchuan held my hand. He stood up and stared at Mr. Wang with a sharp gaze: "Then give it a try..."

The atmosphere in Mr. Wang's office was so oppressive that it seemed frozen. Bai Hanchuan's words were powerful, and my heart trembled slightly as he spoke.

"Do you think you can defeat our ParknShop supermarket?" Mr. Wang's tone was full of disdain and threats, and the lawyer beside him also smiled contemptuously.

I took a deep breath and was about to open my mouth to refute, but Bai Hanchuan patted my hand gently, signaling me to calm down. His deep eyes flashed with a firm and sharp light.

"Mr. Wang, we are here today with the sincerity to solve the problem." Bai Hanchuan's voice was calm and powerful, "But we are not lambs to be slaughtered. If ParknShop insists on taking legal action, we will fight to the end."

Mr. Wang's face changed slightly. He obviously didn't expect us to be so determined. He was silent for a moment, then sneered and said, "Okay, very good! Since you don't want to drink the wine, don't blame me for being rude!"

After saying that, he stood up abruptly, slammed the documents in his hand on the table, and walked out of the office angrily.

Watching Mr. Wang leave, I couldn't help but feel a little uneasy. I knew that once this lawsuit was launched, it would be a long and difficult battle. ParknShop Supermarket is rich and powerful, and has a strong network of relationships behind it. We are weak and alone. How easy is it to win this lawsuit?

"Don't worry, we will definitely win." Bai Hanchuan seemed to see my worry. He gently held my hand and said firmly, "We stand on the side of justice. Good will prevail over evil."

His words, like the warm sunshine in winter, dispelled the haze in my heart and rekindled my hope. Yes, we are doing things right, why should we be afraid?

I took a deep breath, looked at Bai Hanchuan's determined face, and my heart was filled with strength.

"Well, we will definitely win!"

Walking out of the ParknShop building, the sun shone on my face and I felt a sense of relief. I knew that this was just the beginning and a bigger storm was coming, but I was ready to meet the challenge.

After returning to the planting base, I immediately called Lin Xiao and the retired gardening master and told them what happened today.

"What? ParknShop actually dared to do this?!" After listening to my story, Lin Xiao slammed the table in anger, "This is too much! They are going too far!"

The retired gardening master also frowned. He pondered for a moment and said, "It seems that we have to prepare for a protracted war..."