There was a job fair going on in the Zengwuwei Square. In the scorching hot weather, it was crowded with young faces and extremely lively.
Ye Zhao stood in front of the office window. It was a windless day. She looked outside and saw Aqin jogging back from the bus stop to Shunfeng Building. She almost bumped into a young man.
She just came back from the quarantine station.
Just now Ye Zhao made several phone calls to Hongbao Village but couldn't find Sun Qinfang. She said she went to the vegetable field. Ye Zhao asked the person who answered the phone to go and find her.
After Ah Qin came back, she immediately went to her office to report the situation. She took out the report from her bag and put it on Ye Zhao's desk: "The methyl parathion level exceeded the standard! It exceeded the standard by more than 1,000 times!"
"The level of methyl parathion exceeds the limit? How is that possible?" Ever since signing the cooperation agreement with Shijiulou, Ye Zhao has specifically studied the relevant safety regulations. Among them, methyl parathion is banned in almost all vegetable bases supplying Hong Kong because of its high toxicity.
As an experienced technician at the Huicheng Hong Kong Supply Base, it is impossible for Sun Qinfang to make such a low-level mistake as to use methyl parathion.
Ah Qin was sweating all over. She fanned herself with a notebook and said, "I think there will be a heavy fine. Fortunately, the vegetables in this truck were not transported to the port city, otherwise it would be a big disaster. They said that this dosage would be poisonous enough to kill people."
It's a blessing in disguise.
Ye Zhao asked: "Where is Xiaofeng? Why didn't she come back with you?"
"Sister Feng went to customs. She will be back later."
Ye Zhao: "Today, all vegetables supplied to Hong Kong have been suspended. All vegetables that can be recovered should be recovered. Inform Food Floor 9 to re-inspect all vegetables that have already arrived at Hong Kong City."
Aqin and her team had been busy all morning. She said, "Except for the vegetables on this truck that had methyl parathion residues, all other vegetables that arrived at Hong Kong were taken for inspection and found to be fine. We have already discussed this with Food 9, but Mr. Jiang is still very angry. He said that this incident has seriously affected Food 9's reputation and it will be difficult for them to cooperate with us in the future."
Ye Zhao was mentally prepared, "They finally found an excuse."
"Yes, the poisonous vegetables have not been leaked out, and the vegetables that have arrived at the port are all good vegetables. How can it affect the reputation of Food 9? No one else knows about this except us. Mr. Jiang is just selfish."
The phone rang and Aqin went out to drink water.
The call was from Sun Qinfang, and Ye Zhao briefly described to her what happened today.
Sun Qinfang was anxious. As a plant conservationist, she should bear the main responsibility for the excessive use of pesticides.
Sun Qinfang must have run back from the vegetable field, still panting: "Impossible. Excessive levels of methyl parathion are usually caused by the use of chlorpyrifos. We didn't use chlorpyrifos at all! We don't have this pesticide in our pesticide warehouse."
Ye Zhao asked: "Could it be that the vegetable farmers who came to work in the village used it privately?"
Sun Qinfang: "We have very strict regulations. Vegetable farmers cannot use pesticides without permission. I am here every day to monitor them. I will never let this happen. Xiao Zhao, you can trust me on this."
Ye Zhao believed in Sun Qinfang, but it was useless to just say it. She said, "Go pick some samples of the leafy vegetables that we are about to put on the market, including the two vegetables that had problems today, and send them over for quarantine immediately."
Sun Qinfang asked, "I'll pick them right away. We have very few varieties planted in our vegetable garden right now. Most of them are water-resistant vegetables as you requested. By the way, which two vegetables were in trouble today?"
“Boanga chinensis and kale.”
Sun Qinfang said yes and was about to hang up when Aqin ran in and said, "Don't hang up yet!"
Ye Zhao asked her: "What's the matter?"
Aqin said: "Shijiulou requested to suspend cooperation and asked Hongbao Village not to pick the vegetables tomorrow."
Shi Jiulou was really quick. Ye Zhao pressed the hands-free button and said, "Talk to her."
Ah Qin told Food 9th Floor about their requirements, and Sun Qinfang said on the other end of the phone: "The lettuce and Chinese cabbage that will be on the market tomorrow are not long-lasting..."
Ye Zhao comforted him, "There's nothing you can do if you can't keep it. Don't collect it tomorrow. Let's see how things develop later before making a decision."
If it really doesn't work, we can only take it to the market in Shenzhen and sell it at a low price.
Ye Zhao: "Take the samples back to Shenzhen as soon as possible, and put the rest aside. Ask the driver to take you directly to the quarantine bureau. Don't go to the wrong place, it's the Animal and Plant Quarantine Bureau, on Jianshe Road. I'll arrange for someone to wait for you at the door."
After hanging up the hands-free phone, Ye Zhao asked Aqin: "How long will Food Nine Floor suspend cooperation?"
"They said we'll put it on hold for a few days, and the details will be determined after Mr. Jiang's meeting." Ah Qin asked anxiously, "What did Sister Sun say? Is it our problem?"
Ye Zhao: "She said we didn't use pesticides containing methamidophos."
Ah Qin immediately concluded: "Someone must have framed me."
Ye Zhao thought so too. She asked Aqin: "Who do you think framed us?"
Aqin: "We no longer use Huicheng Vegetable Supply Base for Hong Kong. They are very dissatisfied with us. After framing us, given their relationship with Mr. Jiang, Food 9th Floor will definitely purchase directly from them. They can also sell at a higher price."
The motive and logic make sense, but the people at the Huicheng Vegetable Base for Hong Kong have no access to the vegetables from Hongbao Village, so how could they frame them
Ye Zhao said: "When Sister Sun comes back, gather all the relevant people and we will review the situation."
No one had an appetite for lunch, so Mu Xin and Ms. Song from Finance went to the Hunan restaurant downstairs and ordered some stir-fried dishes for everyone, which they then packed up and took back to the company.
Sister Song is a slightly plump girl from the north. She is very humorous. She put the food in the meeting room and then stood at the door to greet everyone: "People are iron, and food is steel! Comrades, eat first, and then think of ways to solve the problem."
Ye Zhao also said: "Eat first. If the sky falls, I'll still be there to support it, right?"
As they were talking, Gan Xiaofeng came back from the customs. Ah Qin stood up and asked, "Sister Feng, how is it? Will there be any punishment?"
Gan Xiaofeng looked exhausted. She put her handbag on the chair and said, "There is no result yet. I asked Section Chief Xiao, and he said that the fine should be at least 10 times the value of this batch of vegetables..."
Ah Qin thought this was a heavy fine. She said, "Shanghai greens are okay, they are cheap, but broccoli is expensive. A truckload of them is worth about 1,000 yuan. If the fine is 10 times that, then that would be 10,000 yuan. Isn't this too much?"
Ye Zhao expected the result to be more serious. "If it can be stopped at 10,000 yuan, then this result is pretty good."
Gan Xiaofeng communicated directly with the customs. She knew the seriousness of the matter. "It is definitely impossible to stop them. The fine will be at least 10 times, and at most 20 times. The fine is not a big deal. They have not yet decided whether to revoke our business license."
When we heard that our business license might be revoked, we were all dumbfounded. We knew the situation was serious, but we didn’t expect it to be this serious.
Ah Qin asked worriedly, "Do you want to use some connections to suppress this matter?"
Gan Xiaofeng shook her head: "How can we find connections? How can we pressure them? Can our connections be stronger than those of Food 9? It is obvious now that Food 9 pays the most attention to food safety. They will not let this matter pass so easily."
Aqin sighed. She had never been so worried before. "If we lose Shijiulou as a big customer, what will happen to our vegetable base? Will our company collapse?"
Yes, Zhaohua’s biggest problem now is its single clientele. As long as there is any problem in their cooperation with Shijiu Lou, it will be fatal to Zhaohua.
This incident is also a wake-up call for them. They must find ways to develop more customers and not tie their lives and deaths to a single tree, Shijiulou.
Ye Zhao had never thought about expanding the vegetable business supplying Hong Kong. She simply wanted to make money to buy land and build houses. Now the land has been bought, but the house has not been built yet. Zhaohua cannot fail.
Even if not for myself, I have to fight for Zhaohua's employees. Everyone is still thinking about making money and buying a house together. There are also the villagers of Hongbao Village. I have just given people hope. Don't let hope turn into despair.
Tremendous stress.
Ye Zhao knew that everyone was very anxious now. She said, "Let's eat first. Sister Song is right, 'Man is iron and rice is steel'. Let's eat and talk at the same time."
At around two o'clock in the afternoon, before going to work at the Quarantine Bureau, Sun Qinfang delivered the vegetable samples to be inspected.
The quarantine results were not available so quickly, so Sun Qinfang came to the company for a meeting first, and Gan Xiaofeng called all relevant people to hold a traceability meeting.
Sister Song asked Liu Yang to move the only floor fan in the office to the conference room.
After everyone was seated, Gan Xiaofeng said, "Come on, let's reconstruct the entire process and see if we can find the loophole."
Ah Qin spoke first: "The day before yesterday, Sister Sun, I and Food 9th Floor agreed on the types and quantities of leafy vegetables to be served today..."
Ye Zhao asked: "Are the Shanghai greens and Chinese kale specified by Food 9, or are they dishes we provide?"
Aqin: "We provided it. Food No. 9 placed an order for the quantity."
This means that the problems with the two vegetables, Shanghai green and kale, were caused by random selection and have nothing to do with the vegetables themselves.
Sun Qinfang continued, "We started picking, rinsing, and packing the vegetables for Hong Kong yesterday evening. At around 12:00 p.m., our small trucks transported the vegetables in batches to the intersection and loaded them onto large trucks."
Although Hongbao Village has built a village road, it is very narrow and can only be transported by small trucks. Normally, vegetables are transported by small trucks to a vacant lot at the intersection of the provincial road, and then loaded onto large trucks for transportation.
There are two small trucks, which are second-hand cars that Ye Zhao bought from the Irene Toy Factory at a low price.
After Ye Zhao finished recording, he asked, "From picking to transportation to loading, the entire process is fine, right?"
Sun Qinfang nodded: "There will definitely be no problem from picking to operation, but I was not there when it was running. Xiao He was there last night."
Xiao He is a small truck driver. He drove the truck to urgently bring Sun Qinfang to Shenzhen today and was also called to the meeting.
Xiao He was a little nervous when attending a company meeting for the first time. He stammered, "Four trucks of vegetables were loaded last night. I remember the bok choy and kale were on the last truck."
Gan Xiaofeng asked: "Were you watching the loading at the site?"
Xiao He: "Yes, I was watching at the scene."
"Is there anything unusual?"
"I helped load the first three trucks, but the last truck was late, the other three trucks had left, and the fourth truck hadn't arrived yet. Brother Feng said it was too late and we didn't need to load the goods, so they could do it themselves. So I went back to the village with a few other people." Xiao He swallowed, a little afraid of taking responsibility.
Sister Sun comforted her: "It's okay, it's not your fault."
Since Zhaohua does not have its own large truck, the transportation of vegetables from Hongbao Village is contracted to Qiantang River.
Ye Zhao asked: "Did Afeng follow the car yesterday?"
Xiao He: "Brother Feng has been following the car recently."
Liu Yang tapped the notebook with the pen in his hand. "You mean, Kailan and Shanghai Qing are from the last car?"
Xiao He confirmed: "Yes, at least half an hour late."
Liu Yang raised his head slightly: "This is not right."
"What's wrong?"
Liu Yang: "I only found out about the random inspection when I went to handle customs formalities early this morning. I waited for a long time at the customs. It was almost four o'clock when the Qiantang River truck arrived. I hurriedly urged the first truck to go for quarantine, and then the problem was found."
Ah Qin asked in confusion, "Wait a minute, wait a minute. Aren't Kailan and Shanghai Qing the last cars? How come they are the first to arrive?"
"Yes, so I said something was wrong."
Ye Zhao had roughly understood it. She snorted coldly: "It means that they knew in advance that there would be a random inspection today and arranged it on purpose."
Gan Xiaofeng: "That is to say, the fourth car was tampered with on the road."
Ah Qin asserted: "That's too bad! It must be Ah Feng, he was bribed."
Liu Yang and A Feng usually have a good relationship and often drink and eat together. He shook his head repeatedly: "I didn't expect it."
Mu Xin didn't understand: "What if it's the driver?"
Liu Yang knew the driver well. He said, "The driver didn't have the guts to do that. And it's impossible for him to stop the car to spray pesticides. It's inconvenient. It's very likely that he sprayed the vegetables with a spray bucket before loading them at the provincial road intersection in Hongbao Village."
"you say."
Xiao He: "Today, several families in Hongxi Village were sent to the hospital due to food poisoning."
"What kind of food did they eat?"
"It seems that he ate dead fish."
Gan Xiaofeng: "Is Hongxi Village far from Hongbao Village?"
Xiao He: "It's the next village, very close. Hongxi Village is close to the provincial road and is a bit more affluent."
Ye Zhao ordered: "Call Huang Dongliang and ask him to investigate immediately. I remember there is a stream at the bottom of the mountain at the entrance of the provincial road in Hongbao Village. Ask him to look for any relevant clues. Tell him not to touch any suspicious objects and not to leave fingerprints."
Gan Xiaofeng went out to make a phone call and they continued the meeting.
Aqin asked: "Should we call the police?"
Ye Zhao: "Of course. Otherwise, are we going to have our license revoked? We'll call the police after the results of the next batch of vegetables we sent for inspection come out."
Liu Yang looked at the clock on the wall and said, "The test results should be out by four or five o'clock. I'll keep an eye on it."
Ye Zhao bit his lip and ordered, "Call Lao Qian and A Feng!"
Aqin: "When we convened relevant personnel for the source-tracing meeting just now, we called them, but they all said they were busy and couldn't get away. They couldn't refuse to come."
"You hit them again now!"
"Okay." Aqin went out to make a phone call.
Ye Zhao was worried, so he followed her out and listened to Aqin calling Lao Qian. As expected, Lao Qian couldn't refuse to come again!
"Give me the phone." Ye Zhao reached out and took Aqin's phone. "Lao Qian! It's me! Ye Zhao!"
When Lao Qian heard this, he hurriedly said, "Hey, Boss Ye, something happened at home and I'm dealing with it. Can you wait until I'm done with this and then go?"
Ye Zhao laughed and said, "If you really don't have time, forget it! However, if you don't come today, I won't be able to pay you for the goods in the past few days. I'm also busy."
Hearing the tone, Old Qian knew he couldn't avoid it, so he said, "Okay, okay, okay? I'll do it. But to be honest, I can't help you with this matter even if I come."
"No need for your help, let's just reminisce about the past. Ask A-Feng to come along too!"
Lao Qian hasn't arrived yet, but Shijiulou called and asked the person in charge, Zhaohua, to come over immediately.
Ye Zhao took Sister Sun, Xiaofeng, Aqin and Liu Yang to the meeting in a grand manner.
Sister Song and Mu Xin stayed at the base camp and waited for Lao Qian to come, and asked them to wait for Ye Zhao to come back at the company.
The office of Shijiu Floor is just above Song Rongji. Because the business volume of Shijiu Floor is relatively large, the office is much more luxurious than Song Rongji downstairs. Even the chairs for meetings are leather.
Shi Jiulou hurriedly called Zhaohua's people and left them in the conference room. After waiting for half an hour, President Jiang still hadn't arrived.
Gan Xiaofeng went to urge them several times, but Xiao Liao, who was in contact with them, always said that Mr. Jiang was talking to an important guest and asked them to wait a little longer.
Feeling pressed to the limit, Xiao Liao had no choice but to knock on the door and go into Mr. Jiang's office to urge him.
Mr. Jiang was having his feet on the desk with a magazine covering his face. He was still taking a lunch break.
"Mr. Jiang, Zhaohua's people have been waiting for a long time..."
Without even opening his eyes, President Jiang snorted coldly and said softly, "Let them keep waiting!"
Ye Zhao just came out of the restroom. When he passed by, he saw that the door of Mr. Jiang's office was open. He couldn't help but take a look and called out, "Mr. Jiang!"
Mr. Jiang was so frightened that he quickly put his feet down from the desk. The magazine on his face fell to the ground and he almost fell.
Xiao Liao was afraid that her leader would make a fool of himself, so she hurried out to stop him. She smiled and said, "Boss Jiang will be here soon. He will be here soon."
Ye Zhao had sharp eyes. She had already noticed that Mr. Jiang had raised his feet high. Now was the time to ask for help, so she couldn't expose him. She just said, "Mr. Jiang, we'll be waiting for you in the conference room."
President Jiang: “Come on, come on!”
Ah Qin, who followed Ye Zhao to the bathroom, stuck out her tongue and whispered, "Still pretending."
Returning to the conference room and closing the door, Aqin whispered, "Do you know what Mr. Jiang is doing?"
Gan Xiaofeng: "Is he the only one in the office?"
"You guessed it, baby. With your feet on the desk and a magazine over your face, you're sleeping... and you left us all here, how rude..."
Ye Zhao didn't want to cause any trouble: "Okay, stop talking. It's in someone else's company."
Liu Yang had just gone out to borrow food and called the quarantine bureau on the ninth floor to inquire about the results. As soon as he came in, he said, "Good news. The vegetables that Sister Sun took for quarantine later, including kale and bok choy, all met the standards and contained no methyl parathion."
Everyone breathed a sigh of relief, and Sister Sun was pleased to say, "I've never had any problems with vegetables I've grown."
Gan Xiaofeng hugged her shoulders and said, "We always believe in you."
Sister Sun smiled helplessly: "I know, thank you for your trust."
Aqin: "If that's the case, then our speculation is almost correct. After the meeting, we will call the police."
After several minutes, Mr. Jiang finally arrived.
Seeing a row of Zhaohua people sitting in the conference room, he pulled out a chair, sat at the head, and said sarcastically: "You are quite grand this time. You finally take us seriously. Good!"
Ye Zhao smiled and said, "Boss Jiang, when have we ever not valued you? Shijiu Lou is our Zhaohua's most important customer."
Mr. Jiang said sarcastically with a fake smile on his face: "Isn't he the only customer?"
Ye Zhao smiled awkwardly but politely: "We also have Song Rongji as our client. If one day you and Song Rongji merge into one, then you will be the only client of our Zhaohua."
Fine! Even when death is imminent, you are still so stubborn.
President Jiang's face darkened slightly: "Such a big thing happened this time, how do you plan to deal with it?"
Ye Zhao smiled dumbly: "We are waiting for your decision, Mr. Jiang."
President Jiang knocked on the table lightly. "Originally, you don't have the qualifications to cooperate with us. How did the contract between us come about? To put it bluntly, it's an unequal treaty. You used ginger to pinch our boss' neck and forced us to sign."
Ye Zhao said calmly, "Boss Jiang, you can't say that. Our cooperation is the result of concessions from both sides. I gave Mrs. Song two choices at the time, either to buy Jiang at a high price or to cooperate for a long time. I didn't strangle her. It was Mrs. Song who chose the long-term cooperation. If you don't believe me, you can call Mrs. Song here and we can confront each other face to face."
The thing that Mr. Jiang hated most about Ye Zhao was that she knew Mrs. Song and had a good relationship with Mrs. Song's secretary, which was why he had tolerated Zhao Hua for most of half a year and didn't dare to take any action.
President Jiang avoided the topic: "Okay, let's not talk about this. Let's talk about your problem now. Since you signed this contract, you should at least ensure food safety, right? This is something I emphasized on the first day we met, but something went wrong. You didn't use the good Huicheng vegetable base for Hong Kong, but insisted on building a vegetable base yourself. You want to get rich overnight, and you may end up eating too much."
Ye Zhao: "Mr. Jiang, we, like you, have always attached great importance to food hygiene and safety issues..."
President Jiang interrupted Ye Zhao: "Do you take it seriously? If we hadn't picked up this batch of problematic vegetables during today's random inspection, and if this batch of vegetables with 1,000 times more methylamidophos than the standard had flowed into the Gangcheng Market through our ninth floor, we would have had to meet in prison. Don't you understand the seriousness of this matter?"
Ye Zhao didn't respond to his words. She wanted to finish what she had just said: "I have to explain that the Hongbao Village vegetable base for Hong Kong strictly abides by the rules and does not use any pesticides containing methyl parathion. My colleague just pulled samples directly from the vegetable field for testing. All 20 samples were fine."
President Jiang: "Boss Ye, whether the vegetables in your garden are up to standard or not has nothing to do with us. What matters is that the vegetables you provided today were found to contain serious excess levels of methyl parathion, which almost caused a safety accident. According to our company's regulations, you are no longer qualified as a supplier."
Zhaohua's colleagues looked at each other in bewilderment. Gan Xiaofeng said, "Boss Jiang, we were framed. We will call the police later."
President Jiang glanced at them and said, "There's something wrong with your vegetables. What's the point of calling the police?"
Gan Xiaofeng: "The penalty notice from the customs has not come down yet. Even if it does, we will appeal. The final result has not come out yet, so you should first..."
President Jiang: "Okay, Manager Gan, stop talking. Our company has just held a meeting and decided to cancel your supplier qualification."
Ye Zhao said sternly: "You can't cancel the cooperation unilaterally. At least before the administrative penalty results come out, your so-called cancellation of supplier qualifications is illegal. The contract between us does not support you to do so."
President Jiang had expected that Zhaohua would not give in easily. "You have a safety issue now, and you still want to supply us during this sensitive period? This is impossible. We have to be responsible to the millions of citizens and consumers in Hong Kong."
"No matter how responsible you are, we have to abide by the contract. The final result hasn't come out yet, but you are so impatient to cancel Zhaohua's supplier qualification. I don't believe that you have no selfish motives." Ye Zhao usually doesn't say harsh words in such a big occasion, but once she chooses to say it, she will not show mercy.
Speaking of selfishness, Mr. Jiang felt a little guilty. He was afraid that Ye Zhao would cause trouble, so he glanced at his colleague Manager Lin next to him.
Manager Lin immediately changed the subject and said, "It's like this. Maybe you all misunderstood me just now. We are not going to cancel your supplier qualification. We are just suspending our cooperation."
Ye Zhao really wished she had a recorder so she could rewind and let them listen to what was said. However, since the other party had already given in, it would be inappropriate for her to continue to argue.
She asked, "What do you mean?"
Manager Lin brought out the alternative plan they had discussed before: "From today on, we will suspend our cooperation with Zhaohua for one month. During this month, if there is a result of the administrative penalty, we will review our cooperative relationship based on the result one month later."
Gan Xiaofeng didn't understand: "If we are punished administratively, we will terminate the cooperation. If we are not punished administratively, we will continue the cooperation. Is that what you mean?"
"That's what I mean."
"So what is our one-month deadline?"
“Relationship freezing period.”
Gan Xiaofeng and Ye Zhao looked at each other, and Gan Xiaofeng asked, "If the police clear us next week, can this freezing period be thawed early?"
Manager Lin shook his head and smiled, "Impossible. Even if the police clear you now and prove that you were framed, our partnership will still be frozen for one month."
Gan Xiaofeng was puzzled: "Why didn't the police clear our name and you immediately unfreeze the freezing period?"
President Jiang smiled coldly: "No matter what the reason is, even if you didn't make any subjective mistakes, the vegetables had problems during your transportation. Objectively, you cannot shirk your responsibility. This month is a warning to you."
This is clearly a deliberate attempt to make things difficult!
Ye Zhao understood that President Jiang must want to get rid of them completely. Even if he couldn't get rid of them, he would force them to choose Huicheng Vegetable Base for Hong Kong as their supplier again.
Today's situation cannot be reversed for the time being.
Ye Zhao asked: "What day is today?"
"July 28th." Manager Lin thought Ye Zhao wanted to confirm the expiration date with him, "The earliest it can be unfrozen is August 29th."
July 28, 12 days before the once-in-a-century flood. Ye Zhao nodded and said, "Okay, the freezing period is one month, that's it. No matter what happens in this month, we won't trade, right?"
Mr. Jiang: "Your vegetables are rotting in the fields. If you come to us without asking for money, we can't defrost them in advance. We at Shijiulou are as good as our teeth and we keep our promises. I hope you do the same."
"Okay. Please give us a written formal notice."
(End of this chapter)