Chapter 151: Funing Tea Talk Goes International

In China in 1976, amidst the chilly spring weather, there was a hint of economic easing.

With its unique flavor and good reputation, Funing Tea Talk has ushered in a franchise boom across the country.

Letters and phone calls flew to Qin Nan like snowflakes. Many young people in the city were eager to open such a fashionable beverage shop.

However, undercurrents are surging beneath the prosperity.

During a trip south to inspect raw materials, Jiang Weidong discovered that several shops named "Fuqi Tea" and "Tranquility Tea House" had quietly appeared in major cities such as Guangzhou and Shanghai.

The decoration, products and even promotional posters are very similar to Funing Tea Talk, but the ingredients are inferior and the taste is unsatisfactory, which seriously affects the brand reputation.

Upon hearing the news, Shen Lingning immediately split up with Jiang Weidong and personally visited the cities where counterfeit products appeared.

The investigation found that the capital flows behind these stores were complex, but ultimately they all pointed to a common source - the Japanese-funded Yamaki Group.

This group started out as a trade company. In recent years, as an overseas Chinese businessman, it has frequently traveled to and from China and started to get involved in the food and beverage industry with radical means.

In China, private prescriptions and secret methods are bought and sold through various means.

"It turns out they are behind this."

In the office of Changan headquarters, Shen Lingning looked at the investigation materials brought back by Jiang Weidong with cold eyes.

She had been prepared for this. Two years ago, when the milk tea formula was stabilized and the category was initially formed, Fubao reminded her with his childish words, "Mom, this recipe is our treasure, you have to keep it hidden."

Through Zhao Changhe's connections, he successfully but arduously completed the intellectual property registration and global patent application for the core milk tea formula, specific process and "Funing Tea Talk" brand logo in the country's industrial and commercial management and science and technology departments that had just resumed operations.

I'm not afraid of the little guys or the Koreans copying and imitating me.

"Since they don't follow the rules, let's see you in court."

Shen Lingning made a decisive decision. She hired one of the earliest legal teams in China to specialize in intellectual property rights and filed a lawsuit against several of the most rampant counterfeiting stores and the Shanmu Group agency behind them.

This lawsuit caused a huge sensation at the time.

Intellectual property disputes between Chinese and foreign companies are still new, and the trial process has experienced many twists and turns.

Shanmu Group hired a strong team of lawyers to try to challenge the validity and originality of the patent.

However, Shen Lingning's side was well prepared, providing detailed research and development records, proof of the originality of the formula, and solid evidence of the other party's infringement.

After several rounds of fierce confrontation, the court finally ruled in favor of Funing Tea Talk, ordered the counterfeit shop to immediately stop the infringement, compensate for the losses, and make Shanmu Group's unfair competition behavior public.

This campaign not only safeguarded the legitimate rights and interests of Funing Tea Talk, but also set a benchmark case for intellectual property protection nationwide.

All provinces in China began to actively apply for patents for their secret recipes, inventions and prescriptions, thus avoiding the situation in later generations where a large number of China's essence and treasures were claimed by others as Chinese medicine.

Shen Lingning's name, along with her deeds in defending national brands, once again appeared in major newspapers and magazines, and her reputation reached new heights.

At the celebration banquet for winning the lawsuit, Shen Lingning received an encrypted telegram from Shanghai.

The telegram was forwarded by the base's intelligence department, and its content showed that the "black hand" who had previously searched for Shen family relics in Shanghai and had secret contacts with the Shanmu Group had been identified.

It turned out to be Shen Huairen, a long-estranged descendant of the Shen family's side branch. He colluded with the Shanmu Group and attempted to use the Shen family's old network of relationships to steal or even destroy the core resources of China's tea industry. The rapidly rising Shen Lingning and her Funing Tea Talk naturally became their primary target.

In 1978, the spring thunder of reform and opening up was rumbling.

Because of his outstanding contributions in leading military families to start businesses, developing community enterprises, and bravely safeguarding rights abroad, Shen Lingning was invited to BJ to attend a high-level national economic work symposium to offer suggestions for the country's future economic development.

This is a great honor and also means that her abilities and ideas have been recognized at a higher level.

At the meeting, Shen Lingning combined his own practice and boldly put forward a number of specific suggestions, such as "protecting national brands, encouraging technological innovation, developing deep processing of characteristic agricultural products, and opening up domestic and foreign trade channels." His words were meaningful and his ideas were clear, which attracted the attention of the leaders and experts present.

During a break in the meeting, an elegantly dressed, gentle elderly woman found the guesthouse where Shen Lingning was staying. It was none other than Aunt Miao. After several years of separation, the two met again, filled with mixed emotions.

Aunt Miao carefully took out a yellowed letter. The paper was fragile, but the handwriting was still clear.

"This is from the young master...your uncle. Before he left the country, he asked someone to pass it on to me. He said that if there are any descendants of the Shen family who can establish themselves in the future, they might be able to use it."

Aunt Miao's voice was choked with sobs.

Shen Lingning took the letter and she recognized her uncle's handwriting.

The letters mostly contained family greetings and expressions of reluctance to leave, but upon closer inspection, the arrangement of certain words and the repetition of specific phrases seemed to hold hidden meanings.

With her extraordinary memory and logical thinking, combined with the family stories occasionally mentioned by her mother, she gradually deciphered the secret code in the letter pointing to a specific wall brick in an abandoned library in an old house in Shanghai.

After the symposium, Shen Lingning did not return to Qinnan immediately. She took Fubao with her, accompanied by Zhou Weiguo and secretly protected by the arranged personnel, and embarked on a journey back to Shanghai, which she had been away from for a long time, in the name of visiting relatives and friends.

Following the hint in the letter, she found the loose brick in the dusty and almost forgotten bookcase.

After prying open the bricks and stones, a sealed rosewood box was hidden inside.

After opening the wooden box, even though Shen Lingning had been mentally prepared, he was still shocked by the scene before him - the box was filled with neatly stacked jewels and jades, each of which was very valuable, and there were also several volumes of ancient paintings and thread-bound ancient books underneath.

This is the last guarantee that my grandparents left for their descendants when the storm was about to come, and it is also a heavy family inheritance.

Shen Lingning did not say anything. Using her body as a cover, she moved her mind slightly and quietly transferred this astonishing amount of wealth into the space for safekeeping.

During this trip, she not only solved some family mysteries, but also gained valuable resources for her future career development.

Shen Lingning strongly invited Aunt Miao to return to Qinnan to retire and leave this sad place in Shanghai.

Aunt Miao was reluctant to leave her hometown at first, but Shen Lingning persuaded her, "Aunt Miao, you watched me grow up, don't you want to go see the family business that Nannan has built and taste the milk tea at our Funing Tea Talk?"

Eventually, Aunt Miao was persuaded to go with her to Chang'an. Shortly after they left Shanghai, Shen Huairen and the Shanmu Group he was associated with were completely eradicated by the joint task force for suspected economic crimes and endangering national security.