Qingming Festival

There were no walls in the world that could keep secrets forever.

Especially in a private enterprise like Xihai Company, where there were so many people and so many loose tongues, news of the mass eel deaths at Xihai Company's Eel Farming Base quickly spread through the local area.

In less than two days, it had spread across all of Ryukyu.

Kagoshima Eel Company and Hai Lu Feng Company, which had been secretly keeping an eye on Xihai Company, naturally received the news immediately.

Inside a private dining room in the company cafeteria.

"Ha ha ha, serves them right!" Zhang Xincheng burst into laughter.

Jiang Dahai was also grinning from ear to ear, gloating over Xihai Company's misfortune without the slightest guilt. "What karma!"

"Dad, brother-in-law, laugh all you want, but don't choke," Jiang Miao reminded them with a smile.

"If I weren't unable to drink, I'd definitely have a few ounces to celebrate." Though Jiang Dahai had not shown it these past few days, he had still been worried about his son's company's future. Now, he could finally put his mind at ease.

Jiang Miao placed a piece of roasted suckling pig into his father's bowl. "Dad, your health is what matters most. Tobacco and alcohol are like poison. It's best not to touch them if you can help it."

"I was just saying. I didn't really want to drink." Jiang Dahai did not usually enjoy drinking. In the past, he only drank a little when guests came and he had no choice. Now, he did not touch a drop.

Zhang Xincheng ate a piece of char siu, then asked softly, "A Miao, should we keep holding back our stock?"

"Mm. Keep holding it. Once Xihai Company's situation has completely spread, that'll be the time for us to sell."

Zhang Xincheng nodded. "All right! A few more days won't make a difference."

Li Zhou had just come downstairs. He had not taken leave these past few days and had instead remained at the company.

He took a meal box from the cafeteria's lunchbox cabinet.

The company cafeteria prepared all meals in meal boxes in advance. This reduced the time spent lining up for food and also made it convenient to deliver meals to employees at the farms, Eel Farms, and Canned Food Factory.

Just as he was about to casually find a seat, he suddenly saw Jiang Miao walk out of the private dining room.

Li Zhou walked over with his boxed meal. "Boss, quite a few more farmers have called to ask about prices over the past two days, especially the farmers from Southern Fujian."

"No rush. Let the news ferment for a while."

"The boss really sees everything coming." As Li Zhou picked up a piece of pork chop, he secretly thought:

The boss seemed to know beforehand that something would happen to Xihai Company. Did he get someone to poison them? That's unlikely, and the risk would be too great. Wait... While eating absentmindedly, Li Zhou thought of another possibility.

Could it be that confidential formula? Did the boss tamper with it? That makes sense. He definitely wouldn't have written the formula directly in the notebook. There must have been some code or something else nobody knew about. I just never expected that formula could cause mass eel deaths. If anyone tries to steal secrets from the company in the future, they'll probably have to think twice.

In fact, Li Zhou was not the only clever person.

Others in the company had more or less guessed that there might be a serious problem with the stolen formula.

Japan, Kagoshima Prefecture.

Inside Kagoshima Eel Company's Eel Farm.

Looking at the large batch of Glass Eels that had successfully hatched in the breeding pools, Watanabe Junichi smiled in satisfaction.

Just then, his nephew Watanabe Hirotada hurried in from outside and whispered into his ear for a moment.

Watanabe Junichi's eyes flickered at the news, and a faint smile appeared on his lips. "Heh heh, this Jiang really knows how to hide his abilities! Without making a sound, he pushed Xihai Company to the brink of bankruptcy."

"President, several major domestic eel farms have sent emails hoping to cooperate with us," Watanabe Hirotada added.

Watanabe Junichi scooped up a large shovel of Sea Snow Feed and tossed it into the breeding pool, then said with a smile, "Reply to them. Tell them our Eel Fry have already been reserved and ask them to wait a month."

"Yes."

Watanabe Junichi naturally would not immediately provide Eel Fry to those eel farming companies. He knew that those people had recently sent a fellow named Yamada to Ryukyu to secretly cooperate with Xihai Company and establish a fry company.

Of course, money had to be made, but he wanted those eel farming companies to understand who would be in charge over the next few years.

At least before other fry-breeding companies mastered Eel Artificial Breeding Technology, Kagoshima Eel Company and Hai Lu Feng Company would be the market monopolies.

Once they secured the first wave of profits, when other companies developed the technology, they would join forces with Hai Lu Feng Company to dump Eel Fry onto the market and drive down prices.

On this point, Watanabe Junichi was deeply grateful for Xihai Company's collapse. It had made other companies trying to steal secrets or imitate them feel uncertain and wary.

In fact, the related enterprises that had been watching Eel Artificial Breeding Technology were indeed shocked by Xihai Company's disastrous accident.

In only three days.

All 650 tons of mature eels in Xihai Company's four hundred mu of fishponds had died. They could not even be turned into Eel Canned Food.

It was not that Wang Da Fu and the others had not considered selling the eels to nearby eel canneries, but the cannery owners were not fools.

Xihai Company's mass eel deaths were now common knowledge throughout Ryukyu, especially among people in the industry, who knew plenty of inside details.

Who would dare accept eels that had died so suddenly and on such a massive scale to make Eel Canned Food? That would be like an old man eating arsenic—asking for death.

Several eel canneries in Ryukyu had even worked with Xihai Company before. Afraid of getting dragged down with them, they hurriedly issued announcements stating that they had not recently purchased eels from Xihai Company.

"Heh heh, is this what they mean by everyone kicking a man when he's down?"

Wang Da Fu slumped dejectedly in his office. Smoke filled the room, and the ashtray was crammed with cigarette butts.

"Dad! This is bad. The bank is demanding that we provide a loss report for this accident, and they also want to freeze our accounts." Wang Yongli hurried into the room.

"It's over! Everything is over!" Wang Da Fu lit another cigarette, his eyes devoid of life.

Bang! Zhang Biao kicked the door open with several lackeys. "Wang Da Fu, you made me lose so much money. I'm not letting this go!"

"Heh heh, Zhang Biao, what exactly aren't you letting go?" Wang Da Fu spread his hands and asked with an indifferent expression.

"You!" Zhang Biao clenched his fists, yet he did not dare actually throw a punch. He was only talking tough. If he were really asked to kill Wang Da Fu, he would not dare.

This accident had indeed caused Wang Da Fu and the other two enormous losses.

To breed Eel Fry as quickly as possible, they had spent the past two months snapping up large quantities of mature eels across Ryukyu and Southern Fujian. They had purchased 573 tons of eels at an average price of 92,000 Huayuan per ton, spending a total of 52.71 million Huayuan.

They had also expanded the site, added two hundred mu of fishponds, and built supporting indoor breeding facilities.

Altogether, they had invested nearly one hundred million.

Even worse, he had accepted advance payments from many farms, amounting to more than twenty million.

Then there were the more than seventy tons of mature eels the company had already been raising, which had also died, causing another loss of several million.

Although Wang Da Fu possessed assets worth tens of millions, much of that was in fixed assets. He had only a little over ten million in cash.

The farmers and companies that had previously placed orders had already brought people overnight to surround Xihai Company and Wang Da Fu's group, demanding their deposits back.

This situation instantly drained Xihai Company and Wang Da Fu's cash flow.

Now, the bank, equipment companies, and construction companies were also worried about Xihai Company's ability to repay its debts. They demanded that Wang Da Fu pay up as soon as possible, provide proof of the company's profitability, or offer additional collateral.

While the group was arguing noisily.

A dark shadow flashed past the window.

Bang!

"Ahhh..."

"Someone jumped from the building!"

"Call an ambulance, quickly..."

"He's beyond saving."

"Isn't that one of Xihai's shareholders? Wang Da Fu isn't planning to jump too, is he?"

"This is bad! Everyone, rush in! We have to make Xihai return our deposits first."

Wang Yongli hurriedly opened the glass window and looked down, only to discover that the bald old man with glasses, another shareholder in the company, had jumped from the building.