"Why are you staring at me like that?"
After ordering, Wu Jun noticed Chen Lin staring blankly at him. "Why are you staring at me like that?" he asked with a smile.
"N-Nothing." Realizing her lack of composure, Chen Lin hurriedly picked up the glass of water in front of her and took a sip to hide her embarrassment.
"Wu Jun, I’m so sorry. I..." Chen Lin put down her glass, looked up at Wu Jun, and apologized once more.
"Let’s not talk about that. This isn’t your fault," Wu Jun said, raising a hand to stop her. "Someone is deliberately targeting us. When a schemer plots against the unsuspecting, it’s hard not to fall into their trap."
"What do we do now? Is there anything I can do?" Chen Lin asked Wu Jun, her face etched with guilt.
Even though Wu Jun had repeatedly assured her it wasn’t her fault, Chen Lin couldn’t overcome her guilt.
’If it weren’t for my mistake, which gave someone an opening to exploit, the company wouldn’t be in such a passive position right now.’
"Let’s eat first. We’ll talk about this after," Wu Jun said as he saw a waiter approaching with their dishes. He unwrapped a set of utensils and handed them to Chen Lin.
The three dishes and a soup were all her favorites, but today, she couldn’t taste a thing.
After the meal, Wu Jun got up to pay the bill. Chen Lin picked up the jacket he had left on the back of his chair and went outside to wait for him.
「Inside the car.」
Wu Jun spoke as he drove. "Chen Lin, I’m going to have to ask you to run another errand."
"What do you need me to do?" Chen Lin asked from the passenger seat, turning her head to look at him.
Wu Jun said, "Prepare another set of all the materials and documents. This time, send them to a national agency for testing. As for the third-party lab, I’ll think of something. We’ll have two plans in motion."
"Okay, I’ll get it ready as soon as I’m back," Chen Lin nodded. ’This is the only way,’ she thought. ’We can’t pin all our hopes on the third-party lab just because we’ve already wasted so much time with them.’
Back at the company, the two parted ways downstairs. Chen Lin went to handle the task Wu Jun had given her, while Wu Jun went up to his office. He called each of his regional managers to inquire about the situation’s progress.
Wu Jun spent the entire afternoon in his office, constantly on the phone, talking until his mouth was dry and his throat was sore.
Without solid evidence to back them up, the tasks Wu Jun had assigned to the four regional managers saw little progress.
The rumors in social media circles would just pop up again in a new form after they were reported and taken down, cropping up one after another.
Even his mother, who was at the hospital taking care of his father, called to ask what was going on.
The news had even reached Huang Zili, who was all the way out in Lu Dong.
Hongyun Rice’s infamy spread far and wide. Junheng Trading Co., Ltd., which had only just been established, was already being branded a dishonest business.
At five in the afternoon, Wu Jun called each of the four regional managers and told them to clock out for the day. That was all they could do for now.
After finishing his calls, Wu Jun stood up, left his office, and drove back to the small supermarket.
"Wu Jun, I tried calling you several times this afternoon but couldn’t get through. What happened? I saw a lot of posts on my phone slandering our Hongyun Rice."
The moment Wu Jun walked in, Xu Minli asked with a look of concern.
"Don’t worry about it," Wu Jun said, trying to reassure Xu Minli. "Sales might take a hit for the next couple of days, but things will go back to normal after that."
Xu Minli said angrily, "Those damn bastards! They’ve got nothing better to do. We shouldn’t even sell them such delicious rice. How dare they tell such blatant lies about it!"
"I want a refund! I just bought this rice from you yesterday!" Just as Xu Minli finished speaking, an unfamiliar customer stormed into the store carrying a bag of rice.
Xu Minli was about to argue with him, but Wu Jun, who was standing nearby, said, "Just give him the refund."
Xu Minli sighed and gave the customer a refund as instructed. After getting his money, the customer cursed, "Conscienceless bastards! You’ll sell anything!" then turned and walked out.
Xu Minli fumed, "Are these people idiots? They’ll believe anything anyone tells them!"
Wu Jun comforted her, "Gossip is a terrifying thing, and a lie told often enough becomes the truth. They’re just poor souls swayed by rumors, unable to distinguish right from wrong. It’s not worth getting angry over them."
After he finished speaking, Wu Jun excused himself from Xu Minli and went into the small room where he slept.
At six-thirty, Xu Fei came in, her young face tense. She greeted her aunt, then went into the kitchen, tied on an apron, and started making dinner.
When dinner was ready, Xu Fei knocked on the door to call Wu Jun out to eat. The three of them gathered around the small dining table. Wu Jun ate with gusto, as if nothing was wrong, while Xu Fei and her aunt just picked at their food, lost in their worries.
"Xu Minli, Xu Fei, you two better eat. Otherwise, I’m going to finish everything," Wu Jun said, placing food onto both of their plates and urging them to eat.
"Minli, Wu Jun, Feifei, just starting dinner?" Auntie Liu from upstairs said with a smile as she came in and saw the three of them in the kitchen.
Wu Jun joked with her, "Have you eaten, Auntie Liu? Why don’t you join us? My two partners here seem to have lost their appetites today, so there’s plenty of food."
Auntie Liu chuckled and waved her hand. "No, thanks, I just finished eating and came downstairs."
"What can I help you with?" Xu Minli collected herself, put on a smile, and got up to go out into the main shop area.
Auntie Liu took out five hundred yuan and handed it to Xu Minli, who just stared at it, unsure if she should take the money.
Auntie Liu stuffed the money into the pocket of Xu Minli’s shirt and said with a chuckle, "Minli, what are you spacing out for? Get me two bags of your rice."
"Auntie Liu, you..." Xu Minli looked at her old neighbor, her eyes filled with gratitude.
All day long, they hadn’t sold a single bag of rice; in fact, about ten bags had been returned. This was their very first sale of the day.
Auntie Liu comforted Xu Minli, saying, "I heard what’s going on with the rice. If you’ve done nothing wrong, you have nothing to fear. You can’t make what’s right into what’s wrong. Good rice is good rice. I’ll keep one bag for myself and take the other to my daughter."
Hearing Auntie Liu’s words, Wu Jun felt a surge of warmth. ’Hongyun Rice has been on the market for almost two months, and we already have a group of loyal customers who aren’t swayed by rumors.’
"Auntie Liu, I’ll help you with the rice," Wu Jun said, getting up and heading out of the kitchen.
"I’ll get it, Brother Jun. You finish eating," Xu Fei said, following him out.
The two young people, Wu Jun and Xu Fei, each carried a bag of rice out and saw Auntie Liu off at the door.
When the two of them returned after seeing Auntie Liu off, they saw Xu Minli helping another regular customer with their rice.
It was the small supermarket’s evening rush hour, and a steady stream of customers came in to buy rice. They were all old regulars who had heard the rumors about Hongyun Rice and had come to show their support through action.
As they sold the rice, Wu Jun had Xu Minli take down the names of these regulars. He planned to issue membership cards to these loyal customers who continued to support Hongyun Rice in the face of the rampant rumors.
Once this incident was over, Wu Jun planned to adjust the price of the rice. When that time came, these old customers would be able to use their membership cards to continue enjoying the current preferential price.
In the two hours from six to eight in the evening, business at the small supermarket returned to its usual brisk pace. When they finally tallied the sales, they had sold a total of 38 bags of rice, almost matching a typical full day’s worth of sales.