Chapter 490: One Negative News After Another

Boss, the City Health Bureau has been frequently inspecting our cold storage and offline chain stores lately; is it because Wang Haifeng's matter is starting to backfire?

Anna, they haven't found any problems, have they?

No, we have always been very strict in our health inspections.

Then let them inspect! Tell everyone not to be emotional; as long as you do your job conscientiously, your wages won't be withheld.

Okay!

Chen Yang was well aware that the head of Xingcheng Health Bureau was certainly a person connected to Wang Haifeng's deputy secretary. Seeing Wang Haifeng suffer, he deliberately stepped forward to back him up.

However, the Old Hundreds Agricultural Products Trading Company is at least a star enterprise in Xingcheng. If the Health Bureau keeps inspecting every few days and still finds no problems, it will surely provoke public outrage.

The offline stores of Old Hundreds all have surveillance installed; as long as we resolve our own issues, the other side cannot frame us even if they want to.

Over the next few days, the Industry and Commerce Bureau, Taxation Bureau, Fire Bureau, and Food and Drug Administration took turns coming for inspections. In the end, they still found no problems.

"Boss, why don't you talk to Mayor Sun?" Faced with the endless inspections by the relevant departments, Shen Anna couldn't sit still and had Chen Yang go complain to Mayor Sun Changqing. Only then could this farce end.

Chen Yang told Shen Anna to calm down. "Anna, as long as we can withstand the scrutiny, it doesn't matter how many days they inspect; there will be no problem. After they finish, we'll run an advertisement promoting our product quality, and the effect will definitely be fantastic!"

Seeing Chen Yang refuse to listen, Shen Anna helplessly returned to the office to work.

Meanwhile, Chen Yang shuttled back and forth in the stock market, and within two days he had made up for the losses of the offline stores.

On the first day of March, Chen Yang was playing Landlord online when Shen Anna suddenly called, saying that a chain supermarket called Green Agricultural Products had appeared near the offline stores of Old Hundreds.

Moreover, besides Jiangmen Dao, near every Old Hundreds Agricultural Products Trading Company chain store in Xingcheng, a Green Agricultural Products chain supermarket had sprung up.

Chen Yang drove to a Green Agricultural Products chain supermarket to take a look. Their agricultural product quality was about the same as Old Hundreds', but their prices were ten percent lower.

Old Hundreds Agricultural Products Trading Company's product profit margin was already low, and they actually cut another ten percent—this is clearly a move to fight to the death!

But the current Chen Yang fears no price war. He immediately called Shen Anna, instructing her to temporarily reduce the price of Old Hundreds' agricultural products by ten percent.

If they lowered their prices, Old Hundreds Agricultural Products Trading Company would continue to lower its prices as well.

To avoid affecting the e-commerce platform's performance, Chen Yang also launched a limited-time, limited-quantity promotion online.

Under the pressure from both sides, the Green Agricultural Products chain supermarket, due to insufficient supply, only lasted ten days before closing down for good!

At the most outrageous moment, their boss actually ran to the entrance of Old Hundreds Agricultural Products Trading Company, causing a scene and accusing the company of driving him to a dead end. Then, in front of a TV station reporter, he drank pesticide.

When Chen Yang received the news, the person had already been sent to the hospital.

Then, all over the internet were negative news stories accusing Old Hundreds Agricultural Products Trading Company of bullying others with its power and forcing small and medium private enterprises into a dead end.

That evening, the footage of them drinking pesticide at the entrance of Old Hundreds Agricultural Products Trading Company was also exposed on Dongjiang Satellite TV's evening news channel.

At the same time, Liu Jianghua's call also came through.

"Chen Yang, what are you doing? How did you drive someone to drink pesticide?"

Chen Yang sighed and said, "Governor Liu, this isn't my fault. He started the price war himself. Moreover, our product prices are synchronized with theirs. Now that they can't keep it up, they run to our company's gate begging for life or death—this is just the classic case of the wicked crying out first."

Upon hearing this, Liu Jianghua fell silent instantly.

Chen Yang continued to pour out his grievances: "Governor Liu, I feel the business environment for Old Hundreds Agricultural Products Trading Company in Xingcheng is getting worse and worse. First, the relevant departments took turns conducting inspections, hindering normal office work. Now a Green Agricultural Products chain supermarket has popped up, specifically targeting our store layout to wage a price war. If they can't compete, they resort to begging for life or death and smearing us. If this goes on, the company will surely shut down sooner or later."

Liu Jianghua had recently been busy with the East Jiang Second Bridge Old City Renovation Project and hadn't expected Old Hundreds Agricultural Products Trading Company to encounter so many issues. He curiously asked Chen Yang: "Why don't you go find Mayor Sun to resolve this?"

Chen Yang gave a wry smile and said, "I feel this matter is retaliation by those behind Wang Haifeng, and I'd feel embarrassed to disturb Mayor Sun."

"Nonsense! How can the power given by the people be used for personal revenge?" Liu Jianghua's voice immediately turned angry. After a moment of silence, he told Chen Yang: "Don't worry about this for now. I'll go look into the situation right away. If someone is indeed carrying out retaliation, I will handle it impartially." He then hung up the phone.

The reason Chen Yang had remained inactive was actually that he was waiting for Liu Jianghua's call. Because Mayor Sun Changqing's rank is still a bit lower, only Liu Jianghua stepping forward would make the other side wary.

After Liu Jianghua's call ended, Chen Yang posted a statement on the official website of Old Hundreds Agricultural Products Trading Company:

Regarding the marketing competition of the Green Agricultural Products chain supermarket near our company's various stores, we have always adhered to the principle of fair competition and will never adopt any illegal means to gain a competitive edge. We firmly believe that only through legitimate competition can we truly earn consumers' trust and support.

However, we have noticed that malicious news reports defaming our company have appeared online and in various media outlets. These reports are baseless, pure fabrication, and seriously damage our company's reputation and image. For such malicious behavior, we express strong condemnation and reserve the right to pursue legal action against those responsible.

After the statement was released, several major portal websites immediately removed the related news.

At the same time, Dongjiang Satellite TV also reported on our company's website statement in the next morning's news, and furthermore exposed that the boss of the Green Agricultural Products chain supermarket had drunk fake pesticide made from mineral water.

Chen Yang thought the matter was about to be resolved when the demolition project in International New City again burst out with negative news.

The construction team responsible for the demolition, while the relocation households were asleep, tore down their houses overnight, resulting in three injuries and one death.

Coincidentally, this incident was again captured on site by a Dongjiang Satellite TV reporter and then exposed in the evening news.

Although Chen Yang was not in charge of resettling the relocation households, after the forced demolition incident was exposed, the Old Hundreds Financial Investment Company's project in East Jiang New City was still temporarily halted by the Provincial Party Committee.