Free Web NovelChapter 58: Chapter 58: Vigilance
"Zixuan, distribute these documents to the managers."
Li Zixuan hurriedly took out a large stack of photocopied documents and distributed them to the department managers. The policy documents for this meeting had, in fact, already been prepared in advance.
Jiang Miao then stood up. "That’s all for today. An early Happy May Day to everyone. Meeting adjourned!"
CLAP CLAP CLAP... Everyone applauded again.
After Jiang Miao left, his sister followed him, a conflicted look on her face.
Sensing someone behind him, Jiang Miao turned to see his sister. He smiled and asked, "Sis, what’s on your mind?"
His sister came to her senses and voiced the thoughts she’d been mulling over. "Ah Miao, do you think the gold store should add new product lines? Like diamonds, gemstones, or jadeite jewelry."
"There’s no need for diamonds. We don’t want to tarnish our reputation." Jiang Miao shook his head. When he and Shuya got married, they hadn’t bought a diamond ring, either. They’d opted for gold rings.
However, Jiang Miao did have some thoughts about jadeite. Since he had to make a trip to Yangcheng in a few days anyway, he said,
"Sis, we can look into jadeite. I have to go to Yangcheng for a conference in a few days. Why don’t you come with me? We can make a side trip to Pingzhou and check things out."
"Pingzhou? Isn’t this year’s public auction already over?"
"We’re going to look at raw jade, we don’t have to go to the public auction. We can check out private sales." Jiang Miao then turned to Shuya. "Ah Ya, let’s go to Yangcheng together in a few days. I’ll pick out a nice piece of jadeite for you and have a bangle made."
"A jadeite bangle? Isn’t that just a worthless piece of rock?" Shuya didn’t seem to think much of jadeite, but she recognized it was a heartfelt gesture from Jiang Miao, so she agreed. "Well, it might be nice to take a look. I’ve never been to Pingzhou."
"Then it’s settled. We’ll take the high-speed train the day after tomorrow." Jiang Miao then glanced at Ke Yong, who was standing behind him, and casually ordered, "Ah Yong, have one of the men drive to Pingzhou ahead of us and wait there."
"I’ll arrange it immediately." Ke Yong nodded and hurried off to make the arrangements.
The reason they weren’t driving to Yangcheng was primarily for safety. Jiang Miao disliked traveling on highways; he wouldn’t even do it in one of his own company cars.
With the decision made, his sister hurriedly hailed a taxi back to the City Gold Store to prepare for the upcoming business trip.
As Jiang Miao reached the entrance, he saw his brother-in-law coming out of the restroom. "Brother-in-law, are you heading to the farm?"
"Yeah! You heading over, too?" his brother-in-law asked, walking over as he pulled out a paper towel to dry his hands.
"Let’s go together, then!"
After arranging for bodyguards to go to Pingzhou and scout ahead, Ke Yong pulled up to the entrance in a pickup truck.
Li Zixuan ran over and opened the doors for them.
In the back seat, Jiang Miao and his brother-in-law discussed plans for after the upcoming business trip.
The pickup truck drove through the center of Magong Town and soon neared the Salt Town Farm. Suddenly, Ke Yong slowed down. He frowned, his gaze fixed on the side of the road up ahead with a look of suspicion.
"What is it?"
"Boss, that guy fishing by the road with the motorcycle... I’ve seen him at least ten times in the past two weeks. I’ve never seen him around here before."
His brother-in-law looked up at the man. "Isn’t that Big Bird from the next village? Since when does that guy fish?"
"You know him, Brother-in-law?" freёwebnoѵel.com
"Yeah, he’s a punk from the next village. Spends all his time in town eating, drinking, whoring, and gambling. I’ve never once heard about him having a fishing hobby. Ah Miao, we should call the police! That guy’s definitely up to no good."
Jiang Miao focused his gaze on the man.
Even through the car window, Jiang Miao could see Big Bird’s condition—a heart rate of 133 and surging hormone levels, all clear indicators of the man’s inner anxiety.
"Ah Yong, keep driving."
"Huh? We’re not calling the police?" Ke Yong asked in confusion as he accelerated.
His brother-in-law also chimed in, "Ah Miao, that guy’s obviously trouble. With our company’s position in town, we could..."
"Brother-in-law, it’s best not to use the company’s influence for something we have no proof of. It wouldn’t look good." Jiang Miao glanced at the ditch on the side of the road and then at the farm, where they were in the process of changing the pond water. He instantly understood what the person behind this was planning.
"Then what do we do? We can’t just sit back and watch, can we?" his brother-in-law asked anxiously.
"If I’m not mistaken, they’re after the farm’s wastewater, which is discharged every two weeks."
His brother-in-law caught on quickly. "The wastewater? You think they’re trying to analyze it to figure out our feed formula? You really can’t guard against everything."
"Yes. Have a few men clean out the drainage ditch right away. Don’t give them a chance to take any samples. We’re going to check the surveillance footage."
"Okay."
The pickup truck pulled into the farm.
His brother-in-law hurriedly called over a few workers, who grabbed rakes, shovels, and other tools, and went to clear the weeds and silt from the drainage outlet.
Meanwhile, not far away, Big Bird was still pretending to fish by the ditch.
He had just breathed a sigh of relief when he saw several workers from the farm walking out with rakes and shovels. The sight nearly made him piss his pants. He frantically fumbled for his phone, about to call the police.
However, he stopped after dialing just two digits.
The workers weren’t coming for him; they were climbing down into the ditch to clear out weeds and silt.
’That scared the hell out of me! Holy shit...’ Big Bird quickly shoved his phone back into his pocket and pretended to keep fishing, but his heart was racing with anxiety.
’With these guys here, I can’t get close to the drainage outlet! What should I do? Do I have to wait? Forget it, I’ll just wait. If I get caught, a small fry like me won’t be able to handle the consequences.’
Clearly, Big Bird was well aware of Hailufeng Company’s status in Magong Town. If he were exposed, he knew he wouldn’t be able to get away with it.
But the temptation was too great for Big Bird to resist.
All he had to do was collect a few bottles of water to get 100,000 yuan. The client wanted him to do it at least five times in a row, for a total of 500,000 yuan.
Besides, the risk was relatively low. As long as he didn’t set foot inside the farm and stuck to the public drainage ditch, he figured he wouldn’t get into any serious trouble.
But given this unexpected development, he decided to give up for the time being.
He had already figured out the farm’s drainage schedule—they discharged water about once every two weeks. If he couldn’t get a sample this time, he’d just wait for the next.
Back inside the farm, Jiang Miao and his brother-in-law reviewed the footage from the surveillance cameras at the entrance.
Sure enough, Big Bird had appeared frequently by the roadside ditch this month, but he had never actually gone down to collect any wastewater.
"Looks like he hasn’t gotten anything yet, but we still need to take countermeasures."
"Ah Miao, what’s your plan?"
"We’ll have to sacrifice the eel pond nearest to the drainage outlet. I’ll create a special feed. I’ll need you, Brother-in-law, to feed it to the eels in that specific pond the day before we discharge the water each time."
"Got it." His brother-in-law nodded.
Jiang Miao thought back on the genetic defects of eels, searching for exploitable target genes.
The poisoned-bait tactic he’d used against West Sea Company was out of the question this time. After all, unless his opponents were complete fools, they would run small-scale tests first to verify the formula.
This, however, was no challenge for Jiang Miao.
He quickly identified several gene targets he could use and jotted down a new, ’spiked’ formula on a piece of paper.
This formula included several nutrients that would cancel out the components needed for sex change, and it also added two ingredients that would cause the eels’ earthy, muddy taste to skyrocket.
If his rivals used this formula, their eels would never reach the critical threshold for sex change, and their meat would develop an overwhelmingly muddy flavor.
Of course, Jiang Miao didn’t actually expect them to fall for it.
After the West Sea Company fiasco, his rivals were bound to run small-scale experiments first. They wouldn’t be so reckless as to bet the whole farm at once.
But that didn’t matter. His goal was simply to buy time and prevent them from replicating his real formula anytime soon.
Still, recognizing this vulnerability with the farm’s wastewater, Jiang Miao had someone send an email to Rokkaido Eel Company and Brown Company to warn them, so they wouldn’t have their own secrets stolen.
