Chapter 272: It's Time for a Major Move

Chapter 272: It’s Time for a Major Move

The sudden online trend left the Farm Baffled.

Lin Muxue also found Zhang Lin in the first moment: "President Zhang, the current online situation is not looking good. The person who posted the thread is speaking with great confidence. We have already sent them a Legal letter through Chen Xin."

"If they delete the video and apologize, we can let it go. What I fear is if the whitening sweet potatoes they bought are real, that would be a major problem."

Zhang Lin understood what Lin Muxue meant when he heard her words.

If that were the case, there might have been an issue with the harvest of the whitening sweet potatoes in Xinlin Village.

Previously, the whitening sweet potatoes he planted on the farm had a yield of more than 1,000 pounds per acre.

This time, there were many plots in Xinlin Village that did not reach 1,000 pounds per acre.

The Agricultural Bureau had said that it was due to soil conditions, which caused the yield to vary.

The key was that the shortfall from 1,000 pounds was not significant, so he did not think much about it.

Now, it seems that the shortfall might not have been caused by soil conditions at all!

If his guess is correct, the problem could lie with the farmers or even the county. A thorough investigation would be necessary.

If the issue is with the farmers, it would be easier to handle. At most, they would be compensated according to the contract, reducing their original 40% profit to 5%.

In other words, they would forfeit 35% of their profit, with the remaining 5% as a humanitarian gesture to prevent them from working for nothing.

Additionally, their planting qualifications would be revoked.

As for other penalties, they were not specified in the contract, but this would already be a significant punishment.

After all, they could have made a lot of money in a year, but now, due to their own greed, they have lost this opportunity to earn money.

They would have to return to being poor, watching others plant and profit from the whitening sweet potatoes.

To make it even more painful, their quotas could be given to other residents of Xinlin Village, letting them watch others plant and profit, which would be a truly heart-wrenching situation.

Of course, the specific circumstances would depend on the results from Chen Xin's investigation.

If it turns out that the poster is just spreading rumors to gain attention, it would be easier to handle. After sending the legal letter, if they apologize, it would be fine. If they don't, a lawsuit can be filed, and under this level of public scrutiny, they could even be sent to jail for free.

Fujian Province.

In a wealthy residential area, Qin Hong looked bewildered at the legal letter she received on her Douyin backend.

This legal letter was sent by Linyuan Farm, warning her to stop damaging the farm's reputation and to delete the video and apologize.

She immediately realized it was because she had also endorsed the video dissing Linyuan Farm, proving that Linyuan Farm's whitening sweet potatoes were indeed on sale.

The key was that she had indeed bought the whitening sweet potatoes. After eating them yesterday, she compared her skin tone and found that she had become slightly fairer today.

She had bought the whitening sweet potatoes.

Why should Linyuan Farm be allowed to secretly sell them while forbidding others from talking about it? What kind of logic is that?

Therefore, she did not care about the legal letter and even felt very annoyed.

It felt like she was being threatened by some capital, as if they could do it but she couldn't talk about it.

With this mindset, she immediately opened her Douyin video recording and said, "Linyuan Farm is really something, sending us legal letters to threaten us. They secretly sell them but don't allow us to talk about it? I bought the whitening sweet potatoes, look at these."

She then specifically took a shot of the whitening sweet potatoes she had bought.

She even edited the legal letter from Linyuan Farm into the video and uploaded it directly.

Since the online resistance had already gained a lot of attention, her video was immediately noticed and sparked a new wave of attention.

Moreover, the most crucial point was that after Linyuan Farm was found to be doing something shady, they still sent legal letters to threaten people, which was very annoying.

So, people online began to condemn Linyuan Farm, and several others posted videos of the legal letters they had received, fanning the flames even more.

Chen Xin immediately reported to Zhang Lin, "Junior Brother, the situation is a bit troublesome. These people come from wealthy families and are not ignorant of the law. They should know that under these circumstances, causing such a stir, if it is slander, they will definitely face legal consequences."

"But now they are speaking with great confidence, which means there is only one possibility: they really bought the whitening sweet potatoes and have already verified their effects."

Zhang Lin nodded.

If that were the case, the situation would be heading in a bad direction.

Now, they need to investigate what exactly happened.

However, he was not in a rush. He would wait for the county to contact him. The county authorities cannot be unaware of the online situation. Since the problem arose under their leadership, they would definitely need to provide an explanation and solve the issue.

The County.

County Chief Liu was already in a state of distress, his face full of anger.

He had naturally seen the trend online and was well aware that Linyuan Farm had never engaged in such activities. However, with the sudden rise in attention, there must be a reason.

The most critical issue was that the soybean planting cooperative had just been established, and the related industrial factory had also been set up in Youcheng. This incident would be like a slap in the face, causing significant doubt and scrutiny.

The investors would undoubtedly think that the county’s capabilities were lacking; otherwise, why would an issue arise when Linyuan Farm, known for its large-scale operations, entrusted them with leading the project?

The importance of Linyuan Farm to Youcheng was evident to everyone. If a problem could occur with a project Linyuan Farm entrusted to them, what would it say about their other investments?

Such doubts, once raised, would have a significant impact.

Therefore, at the peak of development, being suddenly tripped up, how could County Chief Liu not be furious? He hurried out of his office, got into his car, and instructed the driver to head to Linyuan Farm.

No matter what, they needed to meet with President Zhang first.

Soon, County Chief Liu met with Zhang Lin and immediately apologized, "President Zhang, I am truly very sorry. It's all because we didn't handle the matter well. We must address this issue. Have you already sent legal letters to those people? We need to curb their statements immediately."

Zhang Lin sighed and said tactfully, "County Chief Liu, we have already sent legal letters to those people. They are not afraid and have even posted videos in response. So, it's very likely that they did buy the real whitening sweet potatoes."

Upon hearing this, County Chief Liu immediately understood that there was an issue within the county. He frowned and said, "I understand. I will return and handle it immediately."

Without further ado, he headed straight to the county and immediately convened the police, instructing them to file a case and investigate the matter as quickly as possible.

The police, seeing his angry state, did not hesitate and immediately traced the IP addresses of the video posters, quickly identifying them as being from Fujian Province. They rushed to the location and found the specific addresses.

Qin Hong was bewildered when the police arrived at her door, but upon learning the details, she was even more confused.

The whitening sweet potatoes she had bought were not sold by Linyuan Farm but by someone who had sold them illegally.

So, her online post was not a problem, but the whitening sweet potatoes she had purchased were confiscated.

Watching the police take away the sweet potatoes, she suddenly regretted posting the video.

She had already experienced the effects of the whitening sweet potatoes, and they had significantly lightened her skin. Now, with all of them confiscated and the illegal channel shut down, she would have no way to buy more.

She was not the only one; the woman who had posted the first video had bought the most. When the police took the sweet potatoes from her villa, she was stunned for a long time.

She had boasted to her friends about having a channel to buy more and had promised to share some with them.

Who knew it was an illegal channel?

She realized she had made a mistake. Otherwise, she could have quietly bought many more whitening sweet potatoes.

Soon, the police officers from Youcheng traced the sellers of the whitening sweet potatoes.

In this era of widespread surveillance, it was impossible to hide any activities. Even their identities were quickly locked down through the information database.

The names Lin Sanzhou and Chen Gongzhang appeared before the police.

Moreover, Lin Sanzhou's identity as a villager from Xinlin Village and a whitening sweet potato grower was also confirmed.

This was a case of insider theft, but fortunately, these two individuals were uneducated and had acted very crudely, making it easy for the police to control the situation.

This was one of the easiest cases to solve.

Through further investigation of the ID system, they discovered that these two individuals had used their IDs to check into a hotel.

So, they were likely still at that hotel.

...

Lin Sanzhou and his uncle had slept until the afternoon in the hotel.

They had partied too hard in the bar the previous night.

"Unc, do you think those women last night looked down on us? We bought so much alcohol, and they didn’t even come out with us," Lin Sanzhou said, still angry about the previous night.

His uncle quickly consoled him, "That’s normal. We didn’t spend that much money. If we had dropped a few thousand in the bar, they would have eagerly followed us out. Money is still the key."

Lin Sanzhou nodded, "Unc, let’s head back to Youcheng quickly. The sweet potatoes in the other villages should be almost ripe, and Lin Yuanbin and the others should be starting to cultivate seedlings. It’s time for a major move."

(End of Chapter)

Chapter end