Rebirth 70: I am a Koi

The potion in the space exudes a faint fragrance, mixed with the smell of soil. I carefully handed it to the old man, full of hope. The old man has been dealing with flowers and plants all his life, and he is experienced, so maybe he can recognize the origin of this potion.

"This potion is extracted from a rare herb. It can effectively inhibit the growth of pests and is harmless to the plants themselves." I tried to explain it in simple and easy-to-understand language, concealing the secret of the space.

After hearing this, the old man's brows did not relax, but instead furrowed even more. He took a magnifying glass, moved closer to the potion to observe it carefully, and then sniffed it. After a long time, he slowly spoke: "This potion is indeed unheard of, and its effect is also very magical, but..."

He paused, with a hint of worry in his tone, "This pest is coming with great force. I have never seen such stubborn insects. Ordinary medicines can't eradicate it at all. I'm afraid..."

My heart skipped a beat and a bad feeling came over me. Could it be that the potion in the space is also ineffective?

In the following days, we closely monitored the situation after the trial of the pesticide, but the results were disappointing. The pests and diseases were not effectively controlled, but became more rampant. The leaves of the vegetables and fruits that were once lush and green were now yellow and covered with dense insect eggs, which was shocking to me.

The employees at the planting base are all very frustrated. During this period, everyone has been busy day and night to fight against pests and diseases and has put in a lot of effort, but there is still no hope in sight. Everyone's face is filled with fatigue and worry.

"Jinli, what should we do now?" Lin Xiao's eyes were red and he looked at me worriedly.

I suppressed the bitterness in my heart and pretended to be calm and said, "Don't worry, we will think of a solution. There will definitely be a solution!"

At the same time, bad news came from Bai Hanchuan. After much investigation, he finally found the source of the counterfeit products, who turned out to be one of our competitors!

"They take advantage of the brand influence of our planting base and use inferior raw materials to produce counterfeit products, passing inferior products off as genuine ones and disrupting the market order. It's really despicable!" Bai Hanchuan said with a hint of anger in his tone.

I clenched my fists, anger burning in my heart. Not only were these people competing maliciously, they were also trying to destroy the brand reputation we had worked so hard to build!

"Hanchuan, we can't just sit there and wait for death. We must expose their true colors and protect our hard work!" I said firmly.

Bai Hanchuan nodded, a cold light flashed in his eyes, "I have arranged for people to collect evidence, and I will never let them go unpunished!"

However, we didn’t know that a bigger storm was quietly approaching… That night, I suddenly received a call from an unfamiliar number, and a deep voice came from the other end of the phone:

"Mu Jinli, you'd better pray that your planting base can survive this..."

The voice on the other end of the phone was like the tongue of a poisonous snake, cold and dangerous. I held the phone, my palms were full of cold sweat. Before I could say anything, the call was hung up. An ominous premonition spread in my heart.

Seeing my pale face, Bai Hanchuan immediately put down the documents in his hand and asked me worriedly: "What's wrong? What happened?"

I told him what happened on the phone, and his face became serious. "It seems that we underestimated the other party's determination." He said in a deep voice, "They want to kill us."

As expected, the next day, all kinds of negative reports about our planting base came flooding in. Pests and diseases were exaggerated, counterfeit products were exaggerated, and the brand image we worked so hard to build was destroyed overnight.

"These reports are all fake! They are slandering us!" Lin Xiao angrily threw the newspaper on the table, his eyes red.

I suppressed my anger and comforted her: "I know that we are upright and have nothing to fear. Those who are innocent will be cleared."

However, things turned out to be far worse than we imagined. Negative reports spread like a plague, consumers began to boycott our products, partners terminated contracts one after another, and even the bank began to urge us to repay the loan.

The capital chain of the planting base suddenly became precarious.

"What should we do now?" Lin Xiao asked me anxiously, with a hint of panic in his tone.

Looking at the worried eyes of my employees, I felt helpless. I couldn't watch the planting base go bankrupt, and I couldn't let everyone's efforts go to waste.

"Hanchuan, we..." I looked at Bai Hanchuan, hoping to get some comfort and encouragement from him.

However, he, who was always calm, now frowned, and the anxiety and fatigue in his eyes made me feel distressed.

"The only way now is to lay off employees, reduce expenses, and preserve the foundation of the planting base as much as possible." Bai Hanchuan's voice was low and hoarse. Saying this was undoubtedly a torment for him.

I understand that this is a last resort, but having to lay off those partners who have fought with us personally is like a knife cutting my heart.

"Knock knock knock..." There was a knock on the office door and Lin Xiao walked in with a hint of hesitation and struggle on her face.

"Jinli, I..." She bit her lip, as if she wanted to say something but found it difficult to speak.

"Jinli, I..." Lin Xiao hesitated, her eyes red. I held her hand, and I understood a little. "You want to tell me that you're leaving?"

Lin Xiao couldn't hold back her tears and shed them. "Jinli, I'm sorry, my family..." She choked and couldn't continue. I patted her shoulder, suppressed the bitterness in my heart, and said with a smile, "I understand, go ahead and don't forget us wherever you go."

After seeing Lin Xiao off, my heart sank to the bottom. The layoff news had just been released, and people had already started to leave one after another. Looking at the empty office, I felt powerless.

Bai Hanchuan had been sitting silently by the side. His face was paler than before, and his eye sockets were sunken. It was obvious that he was under great pressure during this period. I walked over and gently held his hand. "Hanchuan, it will be fine. Let's work hard together."

He held my hand in his own, and said in a low but firm voice, "Well, let's do it together."

There was also some bad news from the mysterious ally. Through his network of connections, he found some clues about the mastermind behind the scenes, but the other party was powerful and deeply rooted, and it was not easy to bring them down.

"Jinli, you have to be mentally prepared. This struggle may be very difficult." My ally reminded me in a serious tone on the phone.

I took a deep breath, "I know, no matter what, I won't give up."

However, the cruelty of reality was beyond my imagination. For some reason, those new varieties that we had high hopes for had problems one after another, growing slowly, with low yields, and some even withering and dying.

Looking at the greenhouse that was once full of vitality, but is now a withered scene, my heart seemed to be tightly grasped by an invisible hand, and I could hardly breathe.

"How could this happen? How could this happen?" I muttered to myself, my vision going dark.

Bai Hanchuan supported my shaky body, his eyes full of heartache and worry, "Jinli, don't be afraid, I'm here."

However, at this moment, facing this devastated scene, facing this foggy predicament, how long can I hold on? Can we still hold on until the day when we see hope?

Late at night, Bai Hanchuan and I sat in the greenhouse, looking out the window at the dark night sky, his hand tightly holding mine, without saying a word... There was no light in the greenhouse, only the faint moonlight from the window shone through the glass, illuminating the dead branches and leaves on the ground. The air was filled with a rotten smell, as if despair was growing and spreading. I held Bai Hanchuan's hand tightly, my palms were full of cold sweat.

"Hanchuan, do you think we did something wrong?" My voice trembled, as if it came from the depths of my throat. "Maybe we shouldn't have come back in the first place, and shouldn't have placed our hopes on this land..."

Bai Hanchuan didn't say anything, but just held my hand back even harder. I could feel the warmth of his palm, but it couldn't warm my cold heart.

"We put in all our efforts and even gave up our peaceful lives, but in the end, we got this result..." I couldn't hold back my tears. "Are we really going to give up?"

"No, Jinli, we can't give up!" Bai Hanchuan's voice was low and firm. He stood up and pulled me up from the ground. "We still have a chance. There must be a way!"

There was a tremor in his words, and I knew he was about to collapse. But looking into his eyes, I seemed to see a glimmer of hope.

"Yes, we can't give up!" I wiped my tears and took a deep breath, "There must be a way, there must be..."

My eyes fell on the laboratory table beside me, where various reagents and instruments were placed. Suddenly, an idea flashed through my mind, a bold but hopeful idea.

I walked quickly to the laboratory table, picked up a petri dish, and then a bottle of reagent...

"Jinli, what are you going to do?" Bai Hanchuan looked at me puzzled.

I didn't answer, but just dropped the reagent in my hand into the petri dish and carefully closed the lid.

"I seem to..." My voice trembled with excitement, "I seem to have found a new method..."