Chapter 49: Chapter 49: Memorial Day
Secrets never stay secret for long.
Especially at a private enterprise like the West Sea Company, where gossip was rampant, news of the mass eel deaths at its breeding base spread like wildfire locally.
In less than two days, it had spread throughout all of Ryukyu.
And naturally, Rokkaido Eel Company and Hailufeng Company, which had been secretly monitoring West Sea Company, were among the first to hear the news.
Inside a private room in the company cafeteria.
"Hahaha, serves them right!" Zhang Xincheng roared with laughter.
Jiang Dahai was also grinning from ear to ear, gloating over West Sea Company’s misfortune without a shred of guilt. "This is karma!"
"Dad, Brother-in-law, go ahead and laugh, but don’t choke," Jiang Miao reminded them with a slight smile.
"If I weren’t supposed to be avoiding alcohol, I’d definitely have a few drinks to celebrate." Although Jiang Dahai hadn’t shown it, he had been worried about his son’s company over the past few days. Now, he could finally set his mind at ease.
Jiang Miao placed a piece of roasted suckling pig into his father’s bowl. "Dad, your health is what’s most important. Alcohol and cigarettes are like poison—it’s best to avoid them entirely if you can."
"I was just talking. I don’t actually want to drink." Jiang Dahai wasn’t a big drinker. In the past, he would only have a little when entertaining guests, and even then, only out of obligation. Nowadays, he was completely abstinent.
Zhang Xincheng ate a piece of char siu, then asked in a low voice, "Ah Miao, should we keep holding back our stock?"
"Yes, keep holding it. We’ll sell once the news about West Sea Company has spread completely. That will be our time."
Zhang Xincheng nodded. "Got it! A few more days won’t make a difference."
Li Zhou had just come downstairs. He hadn’t taken any time off for the past few days, choosing instead to remain at the company.
He took a meal box from a shelf in the cafeteria.
The company cafeteria’s meals were all pre-packaged in meal boxes. This was done to reduce queuing time and to make it easier to deliver food to employees at the farms, breeding centers, and canning factories.
He was just about to find a random seat when he suddenly saw Jiang Miao emerge from the private room.
Li Zhou walked over, meal box in hand. "Boss, we’ve gotten a lot more calls from farmers asking about prices over the past two days, especially from the Min Nan Region."
"No rush. Let the news brew for a while."
"You’re a true prophet, Boss." Li Zhou picked up a piece of pork chop, thinking to himself:
’It’s like the boss knew something was going to happen to West Sea Company. Did he hire someone to poison them? No, that’s not possible. The risk is too high. Wait a minute...’ His mind wandered for a moment before a new possibility occurred to him.
’Could it be that confidential formula? Did the boss tamper with it? That makes sense. The boss would never write down the real formula directly. It must have contained some kind of secret code that only he knew. I just never imagined that formula could also cause a mass die-off of eels. It looks like from now on, anyone who tries to steal secrets from our company will have to think twice.’
In fact, Li Zhou wasn’t the only smart one.
Others in the company had, to some extent, guessed that there might be a serious problem with the stolen formula.
...
「East Japan, Kagoshima Prefecture.」
Inside the breeding facility of the Rokkaido Eel Company.
Watching the large batch of glass eels that had successfully hatched in the cultivation tank, Watanabe Junichi smiled with satisfaction.
Just then, his nephew, Watanabe Hongda, hurried over from outside and whispered in his ear for a moment.
Upon hearing this, Watanabe Junichi’s eyes glinted. A slight smile touched his lips. "Heh heh, this Jiang Sang is more capable than he lets on! To bring West Sea Company to the brink of bankruptcy so quietly."
"President, several large domestic eel farms have emailed us, hoping to cooperate," Watanabe Hongda added.
Watanabe Junichi scooped a large portion of Hai Xue feed into the cultivation tank, then said with a smile, "Reply to them. Tell them our eel fry have already been reserved, and that they should wait a month."
"Yes, sir."
Of course, Watanabe Junichi had no intention of providing these eel farming companies with eel fry immediately. He knew that not long ago, these same people had sent a man named Yamada to Ryukyu to secretly cooperate with West Sea Company in establishing a fish fry company.
Making money was important, of course, but he wanted to make sure these eel farming companies understood who would be the top dog for the next few years.
At least until other fry cultivation companies mastered the technology for artificial eel breeding, the Rokkaido Eel Company and the Hailufeng Company would be the monopolists of the market.
As long as they could reap the first wave of profits, they could then team up with Hailufeng Company to dump eel fry on the market when other companies finally developed the technology, crushing the price.
In this regard, Watanabe Junichi was very grateful for West Sea Company’s implosion. It filled other companies that were attempting to steal secrets or imitate their methods with hesitation and suspicion.
In fact, other companies that had been watching the developments in artificial eel breeding technology were truly shocked by the catastrophic incident at West Sea Company.
「In just three days.」
In West Sea Company’s 66 acres of fish ponds, all 650 tons of mature eels died. There wasn’t even a chance to process them into canned eel.
It wasn’t that Wang Dafu and his partners hadn’t considered selling the eels to nearby canning factories. Unfortunately for them, the factory owners weren’t fools.
The mass die-off of eels at West Sea Company was now common knowledge throughout Ryukyu, and those within the industry were privy to even more of the inside story.
What kind of cannery would dare accept eels that had died so suddenly and in such massive numbers? They would have to have a death wish.
Some eel canneries in Ryukyu that had previously worked with West Sea Company, fearing they’d get caught in the fallout, rushed to issue public statements declaring they had not recently purchased any eels from them.
"Heh, so this is what it means to kick a man when he’s down, huh?"
Wang Dafu sat slumped in his office chair, completely drained. The room was thick with smoke, the ashtray overflowing with cigarette butts.
"Dad! This is bad! The bank is demanding a loss report for the incident, and they’re going to freeze our financial accounts!" Wang Yongli rushed in.
"It’s over! It’s all over!" Wang Dafu lit another cigarette, his gaze utterly lifeless.
BANG! Zhang Biao kicked the door in, flanked by a few of his men. "Wang Dafu, you made me lose a fortune! I’m not done with you!"
"Heh, Zhang Biao, what exactly are you not done with?" Wang Dafu shot back, spreading his hands with a look of utter indifference.
"You!" Zhang Biao clenched his fists but didn’t dare to actually hit him. He was all talk; the chances of him actually doing away with Wang Dafu were slim to none.
The incident had indeed caused colossal losses for Wang Dafu and his two partners.
In order to breed the eel fry as quickly as possible, they had spent the last two months frantically buying up large quantities of mature eels in Ryukyu and the Min Nan Region. They had purchased 573 tons of eels at an average price of 92,000 Hua Yuan per ton, spending a total of 52.71 million Hua Yuan.
On top of that, they had expanded the site, adding another 33 acres of fish ponds and constructing an accompanying indoor breeding facility.
All told, their investment was nearly one hundred million Hua Yuan.
To make matters worse, he had accepted deposits from numerous other farms, a sum totaling more than twenty million Hua Yuan.
Then there were the company’s original seventy-plus tons of mature eels, which also died, adding a few million more to their losses.
Although Wang Dafu’s family fortune was worth tens of millions, most of it was in fixed assets. He only had about ten million in cash on hand.
The farmers and companies that had placed pre-orders had already brought people overnight to blockade West Sea Company and surround Wang Dafu and his partners, demanding their deposits back.
This situation completely drained West Sea Company’s and Wang Dafu’s cash flow.
Now, the banks, equipment suppliers, and construction companies were also worried about West Sea Company’s ability to repay its debts. They were demanding that Wang Dafu either pay up immediately, provide proof of the company’s profitability, or offer up more collateral.
As the men were arguing noisily.
A black shadow flashed past the window.
THUD!
"Ahhh..."
"Someone jumped!"
"Quick, call an ambulance..."
"It’s no use."
"Isn’t that one of West Sea’s shareholders? You don’t think Wang Dafu is planning to jump too, do you?"
"This is bad! Everyone, rush in! We have to make West Sea give us our deposits back first!"
Wang Yongli quickly threw open the glass window and looked down to see that the company’s other shareholder, a bald man with glasses, had jumped to his death.
