Chapter 197: The method is not applicable now

'Qingyuan, do we really have to do this? If we do, won't we have offended Ye Jianlin and the others completely? By then, when the loan sharks come to repossess the house, I'll lose my job too. What can I do?'

'Huizhen, we don't have any other options right now. If we want to offend them, it already started when Ye Jianlin and I disagreed. We have different views, and it's only a matter of time before we break up. Besides, Boss Zhou is still looking at me, and I must help him win a beautiful battle!'

Li Qingyuan said to his wife Zuo Huizhen, 'We are at the entrance to the alley of the Doll's Smile Company. We are holding a banner and a loudspeaker in our hands, and there are bundles of leaflets on the ground next to us.

'But you know Ye Jianlin. He used to be a street thug, arrogant because of his family connections, and often dining and drinking with the police. You are just an ordinary person. I'm afraid you'll suffer if they get violent!' Zuo Huizhen was still a little worried.

Li Qingyuan smiled and said to her, 'Don't worry, I've already called the TV station and the newspaper. He dares not do anything to me in the presence of a reporter. Moreover, this matter involves foreigners, and the police dare not handle it rashly. I don't think I will suffer any loss. Another important point is that Boss Zhou is watching me, and I must get this matter done properly!'

Li Qingyuan said very firmly, and when he spoke, his eyes looked down the road, where a black Santana was parked, Zhou Ming's car.

Zuo Huizhen was about to say something, but seeing Li Qingyuan being so insistent, she didn't say much. After all, she had married him, and they had survived all these years together. Now that they had a chance to get rich, she would accompany him and do whatever he wanted, just as she had done two years ago when he quit his job as a salesman at the factory and borrowed money from loan sharks to take over the school tuck shop.

Then with a flash, Li Qingyuan and Zuo Huizhen opened the banner in their hands, propped it against the wall with a bamboo pole, and Li Qingyuan picked up the megaphone in his hand and shouted, 'Comrades, I am Li Qingyuan, the chairman of the Doll Smile Company. Today, I want to expose the shady practices in this Doll Smile Company to you!'

It is said that everyone has a devil in their hearts who likes to investigate gossip, especially when it comes to this kind of company where the chairman of the company turns his gun on the company and starts a war of words.

It is for this reason that Li Qingyuan's shout immediately made the passers-by stop in their tracks and involuntarily gather around him.

Li Qingyuan was very satisfied with this good start, and continued, 'Comrades, I believe many of you have drunk our Baby Smile oral liquid. This was originally a very good product, and our company was also funded by the Education Bureau to build the factory. But now the company's general manager Ye Jianlin is actually going to sell the entire Baby Smile company to foreigners!'

'We used to drink our own products, which were very good, so why should we give our money away to foreigners for nothing? Why can't we keep such a good product that we can produce ourselves? Isn't this a kind of treason? I worked hard for him for two years, growing the Doll Smile brand, and he's just going to sell it. Isn't he a bastard?'

Li Qingyuan waved his arms and shouted, 'And if it's just making money for foreigners, that's one thing, but if foreigners take the opportunity to replace this oral liquid with their immature products and use us Chinese as human guinea pigs, then we'll be the ones who suffer even though we've paid money!'

Li Qingyuan's words caused an uproar, and taking advantage of the commotion, Zuo Huizhen hurriedly began distributing flyers, saying as she handed them out, 'Everyone, look! This is the shady truth behind Baby Smile. Ye Jianlin and the others are willing to sacrifice the interests of Baby Smile and all consumers just to please foreigners. They are nothing but inhumane, despicable people!'

'Comrades!' Li Qingyuan continued, "As Chinese people, do we want to support our own brand? Do we want to regain our dignity and not be used as guinea pigs by foreigners?'

Faced with Li Qingyuan's question, everyone shouted out a resounding yes. In this united front, Li Qingyuan said, "Since everyone wants to be Chinese, then please join me in an interview with the comrades from the press. Together, we will appeal to the leaders through the TV and newspapers that we want our own Baby Smile and not sell it to a foreign bastard brand!'

As Li Qingyuan spoke, several cars belonging to the provincial TV station, Hangzhou City TV station and the newspaper stopped not far away. Several reporters quickly ran out of the cars, grabbed their cameras and video cameras, and began to record the scene. Some reporters took out notebooks and wrote the news on the spot.

'Comrade reporter, Ye Jianlin is a son of a bitch who wants to sell Doll Smile to foreigners. We are all protesting!'

Li Qingyuan saw the reporters coming and shouted towards them, and under Li Qingyuan's leadership, the other onlookers also followed him in a mighty crowd towards the reporters.

Zhou Ming and Su Han watched this scene unfold before their eyes. Zhou Ming smiled and said, 'I really didn't expect that Li Qingyuan is quite resourceful, and he actually came up with this method to force Ye Jianlin to give in.'

Su Han also nodded and said, 'Yes, he used the fact that the investor is a foreigner to say that Ye Jianlin is betraying the interests of the country and the nation by seeking funding from Solny. He also speculated that foreigners might use us for experiments, provoke people's antagonistic feelings towards Ye Jianlin, and then invite reporters from TV stations and newspapers to come and interview. This is a chain of events. As long as this news is spread, I'm afraid the higher authorities will definitely intervene, and then the joint venture between Ye Jianlin and Solny will be impossible.'

'According to your speculation, do you think Li Qingyuan is about to succeed?' Zhou Ming asked.

Su Han subconsciously nodded and said yes, but then she remembered something and asked, 'If you say so, it seems that you don't think highly of his method?'

'I can't say whether I think highly of it or not, but he had to do it that way in order to gain time,'

Zhou Ming said, 'First of all, he took advantage of national and ethnic sentiments. If this was done when the country was suffering from great sorrows and hatred, or if it was done after our country developed in the future, or if the target was a person from the East Island country, it might have been much better. But now the country is just starting to develop, and people's thinking is in a period of confusion. This method may not be very effective. For many people, the concept of a national enterprise simply does not exist.'

Zhou Ming continued, 'There's another point. Xiaohan, do you remember what Li Qingyuan told us? Ye Jianlin is not someone who will let others walk all over him, right?'

'That's right. Li Qingyuan said that Ye Jianlin is a very ambitious person, otherwise they wouldn't have gotten into such a stalemate over this disagreement about future development.' Su Han thought for a moment and continued, 'And Li Qingyuan also said that Ye Jianlin's family has very strong connections in the authorities.'

'That's the crux of the problem,' Zhou Ming said. 'Since Ye Jianlin is so strong and has such hard connections, why would he tolerate Li Qingyuan provoking him like that? The media is supposed to be a public opinion watchdog, but when it comes up against powerful authorities, does he really dare to do his job?'

In fact, there is another thing that Zhou Ming didn't say, and that is that the state now strictly controls public opinion. Most people can only learn about current affairs through television and newspapers, and there is no ubiquitous internet. Both television and newspapers are controlled by the government, and if you have enough power, it is still very easy to control them through officials.

'I'm afraid our Chairman Li is going to suffer, and it's not going to be a small loss.'

Zhou Ming said quietly. As soon as his words fell, there was an immediate change. All he could hear was the sound of several shrill police sirens, and several police cars whizzing by.

'What's going on here? What are you doing here? Who gave you permission to gather here? Who did you apply to? Who instructed you to do this? What are you trying to subvert and sabotage? What rumours are you trying to spread?'

A police officer got out of the car and asked Li Qingyuan and the others a barrage of questions. Li Qingyuan had always been a model citizen, and had never encountered a situation like this before, so he was stunned.

While Li Qingyuan was in a daze, Ye Jianlin appeared out of nowhere. Filled with anger, he looked as if he wanted to devour Li Qingyuan alive. Pointing at Li Qingyuan, he said to the police, 'Comrade policeman, this is the guy who started the rumours here. Not only has he damaged the reputation of our company, Doll's Smile, he has also slandered a foreign friend who came here to invest and start a business. Arrest him!'

After listening to Ye Jianlin's words, the police immediately came over and grabbed Li Qingyuan. It wasn't until the cold handcuffs were placed on Li Qingyuan's wrists that he suddenly reacted.

'What are you doing? Why are you arresting me? What law have I broken?' Li Qingyuan struggled and shouted.

'Behave yourself, what are you shouting for?' The police officer who had arrested him tapped him on the back, "Comrade Ye Jianlin reported to the police that you are slandering and spreading rumours here, and we have to detain you according to the law. Please cooperate.'

Hearing this, Li Qingyuan struggled even harder: "I'm not spreading rumours, he really is selling the factory and collaborating with foreigners, everyone here is a witness!'

Li Qingyuan wanted to drag the onlookers into it, after all, the law does not punish the masses, but the police officer just laughed coldly and turned to the crowd and said, 'We received a report that someone is illegally gathering here, and we are going to take everyone from the illegal gathering back. Are you all illegally gathering here?'

Faced with this question, all the onlookers immediately shook their heads and said no, and then quickly dispersed, only Li Qingyuan's wife Zuo Huizhen remained there at a loss.

At this time, Ye Jianlin went to the reporters again and said, 'Comrades reporters, this was all a misunderstanding. This guy played a prank, it's not true. I hope you can be lenient with your writing. I know it's not easy for you to come here, and I won't let you make a wasted trip. I'll treat you to a meal, to properly reward you all, okay?'

With that, Ye Jianlin happily led the reporters away, and before leaving, he gave Li Qingyuan a disdainful smile and spat at him, saying, 'You're asking for trouble, you'll suffer!'

This scene dashed Li Qingyuan's last hope: 'You're all in the same gang, you're all bastards!'

Pang!

The police officer slapped Li Qingyuan in the face, condescendingly said in a bad mood, 'Stop screaming here, you can scream when you get to the station, take him away.'

In the Santana car, Zhou Ming saw Li Qingyuan being taken away by the police and immediately reached out to Su Han and said, 'Xiao Han, give me your phone, I need to make a call. Li Qingyuan is, after all, the future leader of our company. I don't want anything to happen to him.'