There are plenty of people like Wang Lei—those who act like kings online, all high and mighty and untouchable, but are complete cowards in real life.
Besides, the six Farmers Wu Jun had brought with him were all giants, each well over two meters tall. Dressed in black suits, crisp white shirts, and black sunglasses, they looked as cool as could be.
You wouldn’t even see a scene this intimidating in the movies. The sight would make anyone’s legs tremble.
Through a mix of coaxing and threats, Wu Jun quickly got the information he wanted out of Wang Lei, including the phone number for He Qingfeng, the general agent for Meng Zalang in Shimen.
Wu Jun called He Qingfeng and claimed he wanted to discuss a partnership to become a distributor for Meng Zalang. He was told the man was abroad and wouldn’t be back for a while, and to get in touch again in a few days.
Wu Jun had planned on paying him a visit to teach him a lesson, but hearing the man was out of the country, he had no choice but to drop it and casually hung up.
Watching from the side, Wang Lei didn’t dare to breathe too loudly. In his mind, he was cursing He Qingfeng and all his ancestors.
’Of all the people to mess with, you had to go and provoke a monster like him!’
"Do you know what this bowl of rice is for?" After hanging up on He Qingfeng, Wu Jun turned and pointed to the bowl of rice he had previously placed on the dining table, asking the trembling Wang Lei.
"Sir... you... I..." Wang Lei stammered, looking at Wu Jun in utter confusion. He truly hadn’t grasped Wu Jun’s intention. "Are you trying to teach me," he asked tentatively, "that every grain of rice is the result of hard work, and that I shouldn’t slander food that is so difficult to produce?"
Wu Jun: "..."
"I watched your livestream today. I even sent you some gifts," Wu Jun said, speechless at Wang Lei’s lack of comprehension, deciding to just spell it out. "You did plenty to slander my rice on your stream. Now, you’re going to clear its name the same way you smeared it."
Wang Lei: "..."
He had just ended his stream and was about to eat, but after Wu Jun’s "gentle reminder," he started another one.
During the stream, Wang Lei faced the camera with a smile, wolfing down the Hongyun Rice. He devoured an entire pot in one sitting, shouting "This is delicious!" the entire time.
He even let out a burp and recited a slogan for Hongyun Rice: "For the holidays this year, don’t accept just any gift; if you accept a gift, make it Hongyun Rice!"
The viewers in his livestream chat were left completely dumbfounded...
Wu Jun knew this wouldn’t have much of a real effect; he just wanted to teach Wang Lei a lesson.
After the short livestream ended, Wu Jun warned Wang Lei a few more times before turning and leading the six Farmers out and downstairs.
Taking off his baseball cap and sunglasses to remove his disguise, Wu Jun recalled the six Farmers back into the game from inside his car, then drove off.
Wu Jun already knew about the rice expo Wang Lei had mentioned; he’d seen it while looking up industry news a while back, but he hadn’t planned on attending.
At the rice expo, there would be plenty of big-spending foreign buyers placing huge orders.
Right now, just by supplying restaurants, he was able to sell through almost all the daily production from the game. There was really no need to attend some rice expo.
If he signed another massive order like the one with the Industrial and Commercial Bank and something unexpected happened that prevented him from fulfilling it, it would be a huge, thankless hassle. It was better to just keep selling his stock steadily as he had been.
This time, the Meng Zalang agent had completely overthought things, simply looking for trouble where there was none.
’Since you don’t want me to participate, I’m definitely going to participate now.’
Wu Jun drove to his company, ready to start planning for the rice expo.
A whole day had been wasted. Between the existing stock and the returned shipments, over 100 tons of rice had piled up in the warehouse.
He couldn’t start debunking the rumors until the inspection certificates were in hand. As for sales over the next couple of days...
It was laughable to even talk about sales right now. With the rumors spreading like wildfire, Wu Jun could only hope that the restaurants that had placed orders had already used up their stock. He would be grateful just to have fewer returns.
In order to solve the issues surrounding the Farmers’ identities and the origin of the rice, he had already upgraded his in-game production capacity to the maximum—100 tons per day. At this rate, he had probably accumulated several hundred tons of stock over the last few days.
He could use the rice expo to find a client to take these several hundred tons off his hands, and in the process, teach Meng Zalang another lesson.
He had managed to snatch the Industrial and Commercial Bank deal right out from under He Qingfeng last time, and he could just as easily sideline him at the rice expo.
The Mercedes-Benz pulled to a stop in front of the company building.
Wu Jun got out of the car. Before he even made it into the building, his phone rang.
He glanced at the screen; it was Chen Lin. He answered the call. "What’s wrong, Chen Lin?"
"Mr. Wu, things aren’t going smoothly with the testing agency."
Chen Lin’s anxious voice came through the phone. "They gave us their word that some of the certificates would be ready today and all of them tomorrow. But just now, they suddenly changed their tune and said we have to wait several more days."
"Don’t panic. Head back to the office first, and we can discuss it in detail here," Wu Jun said, his brow furrowed. He offered her a few more words of reassurance before hanging up and heading into the building.
He greeted the young woman at the front desk with a relaxed expression, then headed up to his office on the second floor.
He had just finished a cup of tea when Chen Lin rushed in and gave him a detailed report of what had happened at the testing agency.
"Mr. Wu, this is all my fault," Chen Lin said guiltily after finishing her report. "If I had just gone to a national certification agency from the start, this never would have happened."
To get the necessary certificates as quickly as possible, Chen Lin had chosen a licensed third-party testing agency.
Although such agencies charge higher fees, they are known for their fast turnaround on testing and certification. Nothing like this had ever happened before.
If they were to go to a national agency now, it would take ten days to half a month to get the certificates.
Every day they were delayed was costing them hundreds of thousands in business. Imagine the losses over ten-plus days!
Wu Jun asked, feeling a headache coming on, "Have you contacted the head of the agency? If that doesn’t work, just offer more money."
"I tried," Chen Lin said angrily. "She’s out of the office for a while and told me to talk to the supervisor about the details. But the supervisor just keeps giving me the runaround and won’t give me a clear answer. These people take your money and don’t even do their job! I’m never working with them again!"
From the moment he received Chen Lin’s call, Wu Jun sensed that this matter wasn’t simple. Now, after hearing all the details, he could smell a conspiracy.
He’d be damned if he believed no one was pulling strings. How could this all be a coincidence?
Wu Jun’s first suspect was He Qingfeng of Meng Zalang. It couldn’t be anyone else.
’Looks like this He Qingfeng from Meng Zalang has a lot of tricks up his sleeve. He even managed to extend his influence into the testing agency.’
’First, he spreads rumors about Hongyun Rice until they’re everywhere. Then, he puts a hold on the certificates, leaving Hongyun Rice unable to defend itself. We’re too busy dealing with the fallout to even think about participating in the rice expo.’
’By the time our certificates finally come through and we can start refuting the rumors, the rice expo will already be over. The situation will be settled by then. Catching a few small-fry rumor-mongers will be useless.’
’The people who dared to spread these rumors must have been prepared to get caught. They were probably well compensated for their trouble.’
Wu Jun glanced at his watch. It was nearly noon.
"Let’s eat first. There are always more solutions than problems," Wu Jun said, getting up and motioning for Chen Lin to head downstairs with him. "We’ll figure something out after lunch."
Chen Lin shook her head, looking distressed. "I can’t eat. I don’t have an appetite."
"How are you going to work on an empty stomach?" Wu Jun smiled, coming out from behind his desk to gently guide her out the door. "Let’s go. It’s my treat today."
It was an offer she couldn’t refuse, so Chen Lin had no choice but to compose herself and follow Wu Jun downstairs.
Wu Jun drove out of the villa complex and found a reasonably elegant restaurant nearby. After parking, he got out and led Chen Lin inside.
The restaurant was quite busy, but there were still open tables. A waiter showed the two of them to a small table.
It wasn’t the first time he’d had a meal with Chen Lin, so Wu Jun took the liberty of ordering a few dishes before handing the menu back to the waiter.
Chen Lin sat across from Wu Jun, her feelings complicated as she looked at the young boss she had known for only two months.
Wu Jun had hired her with a generous salary, and she had been eager to prove her worth through her actions. Instead, she had already messed up her first important task.
And yet he, far from blaming her, had constantly reassured her, taken her out to lunch, and even ordered her favorite dishes.