Chapter 213 Heavy Heart
On the other end of the phone, Lu Liangchen's voice was low and firm: "Haitang, this matter is not simple. You must be careful in Huacheng. As for the problem you are worried about, I will find a way to deal with it. You and Zhao Kai just need to focus on the Canton Fair."
Although Lu Liangchen's words were firm, Jiang Haitang was still worried that something might be wrong. She warned him, "Although it seems that the problem is in Huacheng, I'm worried... Anyway, you have to take good care of yourself and Xiao Taozi in Beijing."
"Haitang, I remembered something. I got some information, which isn't entirely accurate. Yue Province might have introduced a textile production line similar to ours, also producing blended woolen fabrics."
Jiang Haitang immediately realized that Yue Province occupying their better booth might be related to this.
"Are they afraid that our products will steal the spotlight?"
"Perhaps Deputy Director Yan isn't someone who would recklessly vent his anger on his daughter. The most likely reason he agreed to give up the booth to Yue Province is that they promised him something." Lu Liangchen paused. "Don't make this public for now. I'll continue investigating."
After hanging up the phone, Jiang Haitang stood at the door of the post office, staring at the bustling streets of Huacheng in a daze.
In the distance, several fashionable young people were pointing at the imported fabrics in the window, as if they were looking at something rare.
The city of flowers in May was already a bit hot and stuffy, making Jiang Haitang uneasy. She felt heavy in her heart, as if something was about to happen.
"Sister Haitang, something happened! Someone has tampered with our samples!" Kang Xiaoxia ran over breathlessly, stammering the bad news without even catching her breath.
In the exhibition hall, Zhao Kai was standing in front of booth No. 15 in Area A with a grim expression.
A glaring oil stain suddenly appeared on the beautiful blue blended cloth.
"I went to the restroom just now and came back to see this," a worker said with red eyes. "I was gone for five minutes... If I had known this, I wouldn't have left."
Jiang Haitang squatted down and rubbed the oil stain with her fingers. "It's motor oil, and it hasn't completely dried yet. It shows that the person who did it just left." She looked up and around. "Who was here just now?"
"When I came back, I saw people from Yue Province..." It was still the worker.
Zhao Kai gritted his teeth, "It must be them! They're taking revenge on us for occupying a good booth, and they're deliberately trying to ruin our plans!"
He slammed his fist on the booth and said with red eyes: "I'm going to find the organizing committee!"
"Wait." Jiang Haitang stopped him. "If we make a big fuss about something we have no evidence about, it will only make us look unreasonable."
"Are we just going to swallow this loss like this?" Zhao Kai said unwillingly.
"A gentleman's revenge is never too late. If it's them, they'll definitely jump out again. Let's be careful behind the scenes." Jiang Haitang took out a pair of scissors from the toolbox. "Xiao Xia, help me cut this off."
"Cut it?" Kang Xiaoxia's eyes widened, her voice choking. "This is our best sample!"
In terms of color and texture, this is the best fabric they brought this time. She couldn't bear to cut it like this.
Jiang Haitang had already neatly cut out a square piece of cloth.
"We can't just leave this piece of fabric with flaws hanging around, right? We'll cut some of the good material into samples and send them to customers for their appreciation.
Since she had the blue fabric, she simply cut a few pieces of fabric in different colors and fixed them in a conspicuous place on the display board with pins to form a fan shape.
“See, isn’t this a featured display?”
Everyone's eyes lit up.
The monotonous display of large pieces of fabric has been transformed into a collage of small, staggered pieces, which makes it look even more refined.
The oil-stained part that was cut off became a window to show the cross-section of the fabric.
"Brilliant!" Zheng Kaihe was originally setting up the exhibition area at the machinery factory. When he heard that there was a problem at the textile factory, he immediately rushed over. Seeing Jiang Haitang handling the problem fearlessly, he applauded, "Mr. Jiang, you are so quick-witted!"
Jiang Haitang smiled, but her eyes flicked to the group of people from Yue Province not far away. A man was staring at them gloomily. When he saw her looking over, he gave her a vicious look and turned away.
Jiang Haitang couldn't understand why the people from Yue Province snatched their booth. They just took it back, but the people from Yue Province were so malicious.
"Director Zhao, the people from Yue Province are very hostile. You should arrange two people to guard the booth tonight. From now on, as long as the exhibition area is open, you must arrange people to watch it." Jiang Haitang said in a low voice.
This time, I just smeared oil on the sample cloth, but what about next time?
As night fell, the exhibition hall gradually became quiet.
Although Zhao Kai had arranged for someone to guard the place, Jiang Haitang was still worried and stayed until the end.
Jiang Haitang was the last one to leave the exhibition hall. When she reached the door, she was stopped by a middle-aged man in a Zhongshan suit.
"Comrade Jiang Haitang?" the man asked.
Jiang Haitang was sure she didn't know this person, but when the other party asked, she nodded and said, "Yes!"
"I'm Engineer Liu from the Guangdong Textile Research Institute. I'd like to talk to you."
Jiang Haitang looked at him warily: "What's the matter?"
"Regarding your blended formula, someone is willing to buy it at a high price. The price is negotiable..." Engineer Liu lowered his voice, as if he was afraid that someone around might hear them talking.
Jiang Haitang's heart skipped a beat, but she didn't show it on her face: "Comrade Liu has the wrong person. The formula is the collective wisdom of the factory. I personally have no right to meddle with it."
"Don't be so quick to refuse. This money can solve many problems and will also ensure that you will live a comfortable life in the future."
Jiang Haitang was already on guard, but her expression remained calm.
Seeing that she was silent, the man smiled and said, "After the opening ceremony tomorrow, a foreign customer is 'very interested' in your fabrics. Mr. Jiang, please consider it carefully."
At this moment, two comrades from the textile factory who had gone to the toilet came back, and the man strode away into the night.
Looking at the man's receding back, Jiang Haitang's palms were covered in cold sweat.
She realized that this was not a simple business competition, but a war that might be related to enemy spies.
It seems that even if the enemy spies in Jincheng have been dealt with, it does not mean that the entire country will be peaceful.
I just don’t know what the situation is in Yue Province, and what role Deputy Director Yan plays in it.
After returning to the guesthouse, Jiang Haitang tossed and turned and couldn't sleep. Early the next morning, she went to the post office again to call Lu Liangchen and inform him of the situation there.
After listening to her story, there was silence on the other end of the phone for a long time.
"Haitang, you should personally report this matter to Vice Minister Zhou. Vice Minister Zhou is trustworthy. Also, no matter what the situation, you must make sure that you have other comrades with you. Do not meet with anyone alone."
After hanging up the phone, Jiang Haitang stood in front of the phone to calm down before turning around and going to the Canton Fair.
Today is the official opening day of the Canton Fair, and what she faces is a war without gunpowder.
As soon as she arrived at the Canton Fair, Kang Xiaoxia rushed towards her, holding a copy of Southern Daily in her hand, and her face was full of uncontrollable excitement.
"Our technology has been featured in the newspaper, Sister Haitang. Our blended woolen fabric was featured in the newspaper!"
Kang Xiaoxia's voice was trembling with excitement.
Jiang Haitang took the newspaper and saw a small piece of news in the lower right corner of the fourth page: "Longnan Province has made a breakthrough in innovative blending technology."
Although the chapter is short, it clearly mentions the characteristics of Jincheng Textile Factory and blended woolen fabrics.
"This was arranged by Vice Minister Zhou." Zheng Kaihe happened to walk over. "I just came back from the organizing committee. I heard that an Eastern European delegation will be coming today specifically to see our products."
Jiang Haitang asked, "Director Zheng, is Vice Minister Zhou with the organizing committee now?"
Zheng Kaihe nodded: "It was still there when I came here. You should be able to find it now if you go there."
After Jiang Haitang expressed her gratitude, she turned and went to the organizing committee office.
Zheng Kaihe asked, "Director Zhao, can you handle this? Do you need me to send someone to assist you?"
Zhao Kai shook his head: "Thank you, Director Zheng. It should be fine for now. If we encounter any difficulties, I will send someone to you for help."
Although the two booths are not too far apart, they are not in the same area after all, so it takes some time to run back and forth.
Jiang Haitang found Vice Minister Zhou and reported the situation to him in detail.
When Vice Minister Zhou started listening, he didn't think anything of it, but as he listened further, his expression became more and more solemn.
"Comrade Jiang Haitang, I will arrange for someone to protect you and the Jincheng Textile Factory, and I will also arrange for someone to investigate this matter."
By the time Jiang Haitang finished talking with Vice Minister Zhou, the exhibition hall was already packed with people.
Jiang Haitang finally squeezed to Booth No. 15 in Area A and saw several foreigners with high noses and deep eyes stopping in front of the booth.
These people brought translators with them, and Kang Xiaoxia and Han Zhiqiu were able to communicate with them in foreign languages, so there were no major problems in communication.
Jiang Haitang just stood in the corner and watched without moving forward.
Her goal today is to keep a low profile.
One of the gray-haired men smiled and said in English, "I'm Hans Müller. I'm very interested in your blending technology. I heard that this was developed independently by you?"
Jiang Haitang immediately became nervous. Could this be the person that Mr. Liu mentioned, who was coming to look for him?
She pretended nothing happened and continued to stand aside.
Han Zhiqiu responded with a polite smile, "Yes, sir. This is a technology independently developed by our factory's research team. Currently, this technology is also in a leading position internationally."
For the next half hour, the other party and Han Zhiqiu talked back and forth, and several times they mentioned whether they could meet with the R&D staff.
But Han Zhiqiu and Jiang Haitang had some tacit understanding. After receiving Jiang Haitang's hint, Han Zhiqiu insisted that the technical staff were not there and there was no way to fulfill their wishes for the time being.
The other party was obviously disappointed. In the end, he just said that he would go to other booths to have a look and then left.
Kang Xiaoxia watched the other party talk for such a long time and finally leave, and her mood was affected a little.
"How could this happen? We talked so much, and they just left without saying they wanted to take a look?"
Han Zhiqiu comforted her: "This is actually normal. If every merchant who comes to our booth can make a deal with us, then won't we be rich?"
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