August 5.
Shiguang Blog, which had accumulated 24.67 million users, had a post about Suiren Company shoot straight to the top of the day's trending list.
The post was published by Suiren Company's official account, the parent company of Shiguang Blog, and reposted by Lingnan TV Station's official account.
Titled "Announcement on the Guizhuling Industrial Park Incident," it described how rumors had led to local villagers' crops being boycotted by the market, prompting them to protest at the factory.
The announcement then outlined the response: Lingnan TV Station would report from the scene, a joint evaluation team would supervise on-site, and three third-party testing agencies would conduct a comprehensive inspection. Suiren Company would cover the costs.
As the parent company of Shiguang Blog, and with its founder Huang Xiuyuan's renown, the incident quickly gained traction online.
Under Suiren Company's blog account:
[All crows are black. What capitalist doesn't suck people dry?]—Count Dracula
[Let the bullets fly for a while.]—Fragrance Is Poison
[If Suiren Company dares to make this public, there probably isn't much of a problem.]—First-Generation Objective Observer
[@First-Generation Objective Observer, how can you be sure there's no problem? Maybe Suiren Company already destroyed the evidence in advance.]—Lu Datou
[@Lu Datou, I suggest you donate your corneas to someone who needs them. The testing covers more than just the factory itself—it also includes the surrounding soil, water, crops, and villagers. So tell me, how could they destroy the evidence?]—The Unruly Crowd
[Some people will always nitpick.]—Ultraman
[The person above got it wrong. It's not nitpicking; they're deliberately choosing to turn a blind eye.]—Super Fifty-Cent Army
Amid the flood of comments,
Overall, more netizens felt favorably toward Suiren Company, which was due to several factors.
First, Shiguang Blog required users to register under their real names, and the Content Evaluation Studio continually debunked fake claims, making its online environment relatively wholesome.
Another reason was the good reputation Huang Xiuyuan had built. Whether it was through charitable donations, recent legal aid, or the local perception of the company in Shanmei, Suiren Company was well regarded.
After the story had been brewing for three days, even the top state media outlet—CCTV—sent a reporter to the urban district of Shanmei.
They scheduled the public inspection and on-site coverage for the 10th, avoiding the Olympic opening ceremony on August 8.
The sun blazed overhead that day. Outside the Guizhuling Industrial Park, there were crowds of curious onlookers, as well as reporters from Shanmei TV, Lingnan TV Station, and CCTV.
There were also 35 members of the joint evaluation team, staff from the three third-party testing agencies, and Suiren Company's representatives.
The third-party testing staff began collecting samples from the environment around the factory. They also randomly gave 50 local villagers physical examinations.
The main event came last: entering the factory for a sampling inspection.
Wang Xiaobing, an intern reporter from CCTV, was following the joint evaluation team, the testing staff, and Cai Haiyi and the others, who were feeling nervous, as they entered the factory.
Quite a few people had looked into the factory beforehand. It handled all the urban district's municipal waste, and even with the public inspection underway, it kept operating smoothly without interruption.
Garbage trucks and sewage suction trucks came and went at regular intervals.
What puzzled Wang Xiaobing was that the factory wasn't as filthy and disorderly as she had imagined. Not only were the vehicles spotless, but there was no noticeable odor around the factory buildings either.
It didn't look like a waste treatment plant at all. It looked more like a high-tech modern factory.
Had they cleaned it up in advance? Wang Xiaobing wasn't the only one wondering; others had the same question.
Huang Xiuyuan led the group into the waste recycling plant, starting with the rough-sorting area.
They found that machinery handled most of the sorting and separation, with workers only needed for a few steps.
But the protective equipment worn by those workers looked very unusual to anyone seeing it for the first time.
Curious, Wang Xiaobing asked, "Mr. Huang, may I try it out?"
"No problem. Guotong, show Reporter Wang how it works." Huang Xiuyuan nodded.
Huang Guotong led her into a sorting booth. The entire booth resembled a car's cockpit.
When she sat down, a cool breeze blew from above. Through the glass window in front of her seat, she could see a steady stream of garbage passing by right before her eyes.
The rubber gloves, built into the booth, allowed her to pick specific items out of the garbage and drop them into the sorting bins beside her.
With this setup, sorters never came into contact with the garbage unless the rubber gloves were damaged. Wang Xiaobing couldn't smell anything inside the booth either. It was hardly any different from sitting in an office.
"Director Huang, do all the sorters at your company work this way?"
Huang Guotong smiled. "Of course not. This is where we handle mixed waste. It contains all kinds of strange things, so it needs to be completely isolated."
After that, he took her to the glass bottle recycling workshop, the aluminum can recycling workshop, the wastepaper recycling workshop, the scrap metal recycling workshop, and others.
The different recycling workshops did vary considerably, depending on the materials they handled.
But they all shared one feature: they were clean and orderly.
Following the recycling line, the group came to the area for processing kitchen waste, fallen branches and leaves, and livestock manure.
This was where much of the wastewater was discharged.
At the end of the workshop was a wastewater collection tank. As water flowed out, the third-party testing staff quickly took samples from the tank.
Wang Xiaobing stared at the crystal-clear water in disbelief. It didn't look like wastewater at all. "Mr. Huang, is this your wastewater collection tank?"
Zheng Dashan, who had been silent until then, suddenly pointed at the tank and shouted, "You didn't prepare clean water in advance to fool everyone, did you?"
Huang Xiuyuan smiled. "Everyone can check the pipes. Is the water connected to the wastewater from the dewatering workshop?"
A dozen representatives from the evaluation team put on gas masks and entered the dewatering workshop. After inspecting it, they found no hidden pipes or anything of the sort.
The water in the collection tank really did come from the wastewater pool, passing through the dewatering equipment before flowing there.
Huang Xiuyuan picked up a cup and filled it from the steady stream of water coming out of the dewatering workshop's drainpipe.
"This is the water the factory discharges. After a series of treatments, it meets drinking-water standards." With that, he drank the whole cup.
Everyone stared at him, dumbfounded. They even felt sick, their stomachs churning.
They had just watched the production workshop, where manure, kitchen waste, and the like were constantly soaking in wastewater.
"This water is actually cleaner than the tap water everyone drinks. It's just pure water, no different from the purified water C'estbon sells." He filled another cup and drank it without blinking.
Gulp! Wang Xiaobing hurriedly fought down the acid rising in her throat, while the dedicated cameraman filmed every detail from beginning to end.
"Would anyone else like a cup?"
Everyone except Suiren Company's employees drew in a sharp breath and instinctively took a step back.
Huang Xiuyuan smiled and shook his head. "Trust the science. This is nothing but pure water molecules."
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