Rebound

The incident of Xihai Company's shareholder jumping off a building.

Swiftly spread throughout Jiayi County.

As the flashing ambulance arrived, the old man with glasses' family also reached the scene. More than a dozen people cried and caused a commotion outside Xihai Company.

A large crowd of onlookers had gathered nearby as well, watching from a distance and whispering among themselves.

At the same time, the managers of several banks that had loaned money to Xihai Company, Wang Da Fu, and the others arrived at Xihai Company with lawyers in tow.

Inside the chairman's office on the fifth floor.

Ryukyu Bank's loan manager adjusted his gold-rimmed glasses and asked sternly, "Mr. Wang, your loan repayment for this month, principal and interest included, comes to 2.75 million. Given your company's current funds, I'm afraid it will be difficult for you to gather it all before the repayment date on the fifteenth, won't it?"

The bald manager from Taichung Commercial Bank was even more blunt. "Mr. Wang, given the enormous risks your company faces, as well as the fact that you fabricated Eel Artificial Breeding Technology to obtain loans, our bank is formally notifying your company that the previous 12 million yuan loan contract has been officially revoked. We expect you to repay all loans before the twentieth. Otherwise, we will sue you for fraudulently obtaining loans."

"You can't do this!" Wang Yongli's expression turned exceedingly ugly.

"We're not here to listen to your excuses. We're here to notify you." The horse-faced manager from First Commercial Bank wore a stony expression, his face utterly cold.

Faced with pressure from all three banks.

Wang Da Fu had just risen to his feet, intending to stall for time, when he suddenly felt the world spin. His vision went black, and he collapsed stiffly to the floor.

"Dad!"

"Boss!"

"Call an ambulance!"

Seeing this, the bank managers exchanged looks.

The Ryukyu Bank manager was expressionless. He brushed off his suit and muttered under his breath, "What bad luck."

"Hmph, don't think you can muddle through this by playing dead here. If you can't come up with the money when the time comes, we'll immediately apply for compulsory enforcement and liquidate Xihai Company through bankruptcy." The First Commercial Bank manager threatened them without restraint.

Banks were just like that.

When you had money, they scrambled to lend you more.

When you had no money, they demanded that you repay them as soon as possible.

They displayed the meanings of adding flowers to brocade and kicking someone when they were down to perfection.

Meanwhile, Zhang Biao, who had remained inconspicuous throughout, had already quietly fled with his people. Though his losses were severe, he had not yet reached the end of the road.

Still, whenever he thought of the methods used by those bloodsuckers at the banks, Zhang Biao's head throbbed.

After all, transferring assets required time as well. Those commercial bank managers had reacted quickly. The moment they received news that Xihai Company had blown up, they immediately applied to freeze the bank accounts and real estate transactions of Xihai Company's major shareholders.

Fortunately, Zhang Biao's wife had been clever. Long ago, she had divided the family assets into four portions: one under Zhang Biao's name, one under her own name, and two under their two sons' names. The couple had also divorced long ago.

In other words, the banks could now only apply for compulsory enforcement against assets under Zhang Biao's name.

But whenever he thought about losing nearly 30 million, Zhang Biao could not help but ache inside.

Elsewhere, as Wang Da Fu was rushed to the hospital for emergency treatment after suffering a stroke, Wang Yongli and his family were absent from the company as well. Panic immediately spread throughout Xihai Company.

In less than half a day, after employees at the breeding farm received reliable news, they began secretly organizing themselves.

Inside the warehouse where tools were stored.

"Old Tang, what do we do now?"

"What do we do?" Old Tang took a drag from his cigarette, tossed the remaining butt beneath his feet, and ground it out. "Wang Da Fu's in the hospital. Whether he can pull through is still unknown. That Wang Yongli has lofty ambitions but little ability; he definitely can't save the company. We need to make plans early."

A crew-cut man glanced out the window, then turned back to Old Tang and the others. "Old Tang, why don't we take these tools home while no one's managing the breeding base?"

"This..."

"What's there to fear? We'll all take some. As long as none of us talks, who'll know we took them? Right, we need to disable the surveillance cameras first."

Old Tang considered it, then hardened his heart. "Let's do it. Call everyone over. We'll treat it as this month's wages."

Xihai Company's series of troubles.

Further stirred up the entire eel fry market.

Inside the Online Store Department's telephone sales office.

The three telephone salespeople watched the phones ringing incessantly on the desk. They did not answer immediately, waiting for a while before one of them finally picked up a receiver.

"Hello! Hai Lu Feng Agricultural Technology Company, Online Store Department."

"Hello, I'm Gao Da Shan. I previously ordered eel fry from you..."

"Gao Da Shan?" The salesperson entered the name into the computer and quickly found the relevant sales record in the internal database.

"Hasn't the eel fry you ordered already been delivered? Is there something wrong with it? If so, you should call after-sales service..."

"Uh... no. I want to order another batch."

"Sorry, the company is cleaning the breeding ponds recently, so there is currently no eel fry available for sale."

"Can I place an advance order, then?"

The salesperson replied with a smile, "You can, but there have been a great many orders these past few days. If you want some, it'll probably be around August."

"What? August? Can't it be sooner?"

"There's nothing I can do about that."

"I'll add ten cents. How about 23,000 per kilogram?"

"That can move you up by one month."

"...24,000. Can I get it this month?"

The salesperson secretly breathed a sigh of relief, then said with a smile, "No problem. I'll squeeze you into the queue right away. The date will be the sixteenth. Confirm the eel fry quantity on the online store, then confirm the delivery address, contact person, and contact number. Also, please pay a 30% deposit in advance."

"No problem..."

Before long, a notification popped up in the Online Store Department's backend system. A deposit of 150,000 yuan had been transferred into the company account.

Through this kind of hunger marketing.

The Online Store Department and Sales Department quickly pushed the price of eel fry up to 24,000 yuan per kilogram. Though it could not compare with the previous 28,000 yuan per kilogram, it still halted the decline in eel fry prices.

Over the following week or so.

Many customers who had previously complained that eel fry were too expensive had no choice but to accept reality and purchase Hai Lu Feng Company's Glass Eel at 24,000 yuan per kilogram.

Haijing Company, another major aquaculture business in the Shanmei Region, naturally noticed the rebound in eel fry market prices.

Inside Haijing Company's prawn breeding base.

"Dad, that Hai Lu Feng Company really got lucky. Who would've thought Xihai Company would blow up?"

Gu Haijing, who was inspecting the shrimp fry, raised his head and glanced at his younger son, Gu Yiming. "Do you really think Xihai Company blew up on its own?"

"Wasn't that it? Don't tell me that kid sent people to poison them?" Gu Yiming guessed wildly.

"Why don't you try and see whether you can poison several hundred mu of fishponds in Ryukyu? Jiang Miao wouldn't do something so foolish that would only cause trouble for himself."

Gu Yiming froze for a moment before realizing it. "That's true. If it were just a few mu of fishponds, poisoning them might be possible. But poisoning several hundred mu without being discovered would be nearly impossible. But Dad, do you know why Xihai Company blew up?"

"That confidential formula that was stolen."

Gu Yiming's eyes widened. "That kid knew someone was going to steal the formula, so he prepared a flawed formula in advance?"

"So use your brain more. With that little intelligence of yours, your emotions are written all over your face in front of others. Spend less time with those worthless friends of yours." Gu Haijing's tone then turned serious.

"Yiming, I'm giving you two choices. Either get married and have children as soon as possible, then stay home and coast; or spend less time with those worthless friends and follow me in managing the company. Stop entertaining naïve ideas like starting your own business all day."

"Dad! How do you know I can't do it?" Gu Yiming's rebellious streak flared up at once.

Gu Haijing gave his son no face at all. "Heh, do you think you're Jiang Miao? He has skills and methods. Other than having me as your father, what do you have?"