February 11th.
The day before the Lantern Festival.
Eleven o’clock, nearing noon.
A police car and a news van drove, one after the other, through the main gate of the Hailufeng Company’s eel breeding base in Salt Town Village.
The ones who stepped out of the police car were Ma Qiang, the deputy captain of the economic investigation team, and two regular police officers.
"Manager Zhang, General Manager Jiang."
"Captain Ma, welco!" Zhang Xincheng said with a smile as he went to greet them.
"Hello! Captain Ma, please, co in..." Jiang Miao also smiled and extended his hand.
anwhile, the CCTV film crew staff, carrying bags of all sizes, and the interview reporter also got out of their vehicle.
Soon, the three parties had coordinated the arrangents for the interview.
Zhang Xincheng first took the caraman inside the breeding farm to shoot so photos and videos to be used as B-roll for the news segnt.
anwhile, Jiang Miao and Ma Qiang first discussed the details of the upcoming interview questions with the reporter, including what questions would be asked and what the answers would be. Although it was a pre-recorded segnt, they certainly couldn’t just improvise on the spot. Discussing it beforehand would ensure the shoot went both smoothly and quickly.
All in all, the filming and interview took a little over two hours to complete.
Jiang Miao treated the group to lunch at the company cafeteria before having Li Zixuan and Ke Yong see them off.
「That evening.」
In their small villa in Nanhu Village, Jiang Miao and Shuya were lying on the living room sofa. He was resting his head on Shuya’s lap, watching the evening’s television programs. Shuya, however, had no interest in TV and was engrossed in a professional book about cultivating edible fungi.
Before they knew it, it was ten o’clock at night.
A slight rattling sound ca from the window; the cold winds of a late spring cold snap were a bit fierce.
Jiang Miao finally sat up, because it was ti for the evening news to start.
On the screen, just a few minutes after the host’s opening, the report on today’s interview began.
"The Lingnan police recently solved a major economic cri case. This case caused direct economic losses of several hundred million yuan and potential indirect losses of up to several billion yuan. We now go to our reporter on the scene for a detailed report..."
The scene changed.
It showed Zhang Xincheng rushing out of his office, followed by a police car with flashing lights pulling in. Then, it cut to interview footage of Xiaocai, Sun Moon Lake, and others dressed in striped prison uniforms.
After these clips flashed by, the formal interview segnt began.
"Five days ago, on February 10th, a major economic cri that shocked the local community occurred right here. The suspect, Caiyu, stole a confidential formula and a bottle of confidential feed from Hailufeng Agricultural Technology Company and sold them for 1.5 million yuan to Wang Moufu, the boss of a company in Ryukyu..."
The reporter quickly and concisely summarized the details of the case.
Then ca a segnt on the investigation, such as Zhang Xincheng discovering the problem and reporting it, Fang Hongbin imdiately leading a team to arrest Xiaocai, and following the trail to have the Peng City police arrest Sun Moon Lake and the others.
This was followed by Xiaocai’s confession, explaining how he was led down the path of cri, and how Sun Moon Lake had connected with him online to lure him into stealing Hailufeng Company’s confidential feed and formula.
Next was the reporter’s interview at the Lingnan Aquaculture Research Institute.
"Researcher Hu Fei, hello. Does the artificial breeding technology for eels really have such imnse economic value?"
Researcher Hu Fei nodded with a serious expression. "Yes. Currently, there are three categories of eel fry on the market. One is imported wild glass eel fry. The second is wild leptocephalus eel fry caught dostically at river estuaries. The third is the artificially bred glass eel fry produced by Hailufeng Company."
In fact, the Lingnan Aquaculture Research Institute had taken notice of the glass eel fry produced by Hailufeng Company since last November.
After all, as a researcher at the Aquaculture Research Institute specializing in artificial eel breeding technology, the appearance of these off-season eel fry imdiately made Hu Fei think of artificial reproduction.
"May I ask, are there any differences between the three types of eel fry?"
"Our institute studied Hailufeng’s eel fry so ti ago. We found that they are healthier than the wild ones. Their glass eel rearing survival rate is over 98%, which is much higher than the 80% survival rate for wild glass eels."
The reporter continued to ask, "So where is its value reflected?"
Researcher Hu Fei had clearly reviewed the script, and he began to speak fluently. "With the pollution of the marine environnt and overfishing, the population of Pacific Eel has declined sharply. Last year’s total catch of Pacific Eel fry was less than 35 tons, whereas the catch of wild eel fry at its peak was as high as 200 tons..."
"Under these circumstances, without artificial breeding technology, the Pacific Eel population could face extinction in the future, and it would beco very difficult for us to eat eel anymore."
The reporter asked again, "According to so sources, several research institutions in East Japan also have artificial breeding technology for eels. Is their technology different from Hailufeng Company’s?"
"There’s a huge difference." Researcher Hu Fei paused for a mont. "The technology from the East Japan research institutions cannot be mass-produced on a large scale at low cost. Hailufeng Company’s technology, however, has already achieved low-cost, large-scale mass production. In other words, the forr is just a laboratory product, while the latter is a mass-produced factory product."
"Then, Researcher Hu, in your opinion, what is the value of Hailufeng Company’s technology?"
"It’s hard to say specifically. However, based on the current wholesale market price for glass eels, and calculated on the scale of Hailufeng Company selling tens of millions of eel fry each month, they could generate at least 1 billion yuan in revenue per year. As for profit, I’m not aware of the company’s production costs."
"Alright, thank you for your clarification, Researcher Hu."
The scene changed again, returning to the Salt Town Breeding Base.
The reporter held the microphone to Jiang Miao and asked, "Chairman Jiang, what kind of impact will this case have on your company?"
"The main impact is the technology leak and its potential for widespread dissemination, causing our company to lose its leading edge. Other companies could use the confidential formula to research similar technologies. I estimate that new competitors could appear in as little as six months." Jiang Miao put on an expression of helplessness and anger.
"Is it possible to protect your company’s invention patent through legal ans?"
Jiang Miao shook his head and said helplessly, "Although we have applied for many dostic and international patents, as long as the other party doesn’t openly sell the confidential feed, or if they add so substitutable materials to the original confidential feed, they can circumvent the patent restrictions. What’s more, if it’s a foreign breeding company, it will be very difficult for us to investigate and collect evidence, and fighting a lawsuit abroad would be fraught with difficulties."
But then, his tone shifted. Jiang Miao added, "However, our company will not give up on using legal ans to defend our legitimate interests. We have already partnered with the Rokkaido Eel Company in East Japan to file lawsuits against the Ryukyu West Sea Company in various regions."
"I express my deepest sympathies for what your company has been through."
The screen cut back to the news anchor, signaling the end of the story.
A detailed press release was also uploaded simultaneously to the CCTV News app and website.
Many Shani locals saw the evening news and began sharing it on their WeChat Monts and in QQ groups.
It instantly caused a huge stir in the local community.
Many people began cursing Xiaocai for being ungrateful and betraying his own, saying he was a disgrace to his hotown.
Fortunately, the news report didn’t specify where in Shani Xiaocai was from. Otherwise, the Cai Family’s front door might have been splattered with paint.
The Cai Family also saw the news being shared on WeChat Monts and completely extinguished any thought of causing trouble for Hailufeng Company or Jiang Miao. They even had the idea to pack up and leave Magong as soon as possible.
Clearly, they were scared. With the technology being so valuable, they put themselves in Jiang Miao’s shoes and couldn’t help but worry that he might send people to ’take care of’ them.
Therefore, they discussed it overnight and prepared to move in with relatives in the city for a while. They didn’t dare stay in Magong Town any longer.
In fact, over the past few days, word of the incident had already spread throughout Magong Town, and many neighbors were gossiping about it behind their backs.
This was especially true for those with family mbers working at Hailufeng Company; they didn’t give the Cai Family the ti of day.
After all, the incident affected Hailufeng Company’s profits, which in turn indirectly affected its employees. Those employees and their families were certainly not happy with the Cai Family, and their dislike grew even stronger after hearing that the family had gone to the Hailufeng Company Headquarters to cause a scene a few days prior.
User Comments
0 comments from readers