The Sea Queen of 1985

Chapter 273: Chapter 273: Fell for It at First Sight

Kuno Hiroo said in a deep voice, ”Based on my experience dealing with Hua Country, they wouldn’t arrest someone without conclusive evidence, especially not during a time when they are open to the world, like the Yue Province Trade Fair.”

Watanabe Nagazumi pondered for a moment. ”Mr. Yamamoto... will he be released? Would it be effective if we applied diplomatic pressure?”

Kuno Hiroo shook his head. ”If they were afraid of diplomatic pressure, they wouldn’t have arrested him at a time like this. It’s true that Hua Country needs investment from Japan, but likewise, Japan needs Hua Country to be our source of raw materials and a market for our goods.”

”Applying pressure blindly, especially to protect a criminal, is a very sensitive matter. Right now, countries from Europe and America are all investing in Hua Country, scrambling for market share. If we create friction with Hua Country over such a minor issue, it could have much larger repercussions.”

Watanabe Nagazumi thought for a moment and agreed that Kuno Hiroo had a point. ”Thank you for the reminder, Mr. Kuno. However, I still hope you can plead our case with the people in Shencheng.”

Kuno Hiroo nodded. ”I’ll do my best.”

He was willing to help, but whether or not it would succeed was beyond his control.

He had originally planned to visit Han Xiaorui on the last day, but with this incident, Kuno Hiroo decided he would go see her tomorrow, just before the exhibition was about to close.

If possible, he could even invite Han Xiaorui to dinner.

Exhibitors, as staff, were tasked with setting up their displays and preparing the exhibition hall, so they could use their work passes to arrive a little early.

Zhou Wei led his team in moving all the ornamental fish into the exhibition hall.

Zhou Wei was so enthusiastic because he had figured out that the better Han Xiaorui’s ornamental fish sold, the better his fish tanks sold.

Many customers only became willing to discuss fish tanks with them after taking a liking to Han Xiaorui’s ornamental fish.

You could say that the fish tank factory was being carried to success by Han Xiaorui’s ornamental fish farm.

Therefore, Zhou Wei truly treated Han Xiaorui’s business as his own, putting his heart and soul into it.

Besides, this was all heavy lifting. He couldn’t just let Han Xiaorui and her female employees handle it, especially since he was counting on her and her foreign-language speakers to attract customers later!

Han Xiaorui, of course, placed the most eye-catching fish at the front. The colorful saltwater ornamental fish could be seen from a great distance, their vibrant hues immediately grabbing people’s attention.

Once interested people came inside, she could introduce them to the different varieties within, especially the Panda Butterflytails, which Han Xiaorui had high hopes for. They had to be in the C-spot, right in the center.

Zhou Wei checked everything one more time. ”Everything’s in place. Now it’s all up to us.”

Han Xiaorui scanned the area. ”Great work, everyone. You guys watch our booth; I’m going to go check out the other exhibits.”

Since there wasn’t a separate aquarium section, the flowers, plants, insects, and fish all shared one exhibition hall.

Unlike the light industry foreign trade fair in Shencheng, the visitors to this hall were at least customers involved in these specific industries.

There were many ornamental fish from Yue Province as well, but after looking around, Han Xiaorui felt none were as good as hers.

A walk around the hall was truly an eye-opening experience.

Many other exhibitors had the same thought as Han Xiaorui.

She just took a quick stroll and didn’t linger anywhere.

But when many people strolled by Han Xiaorui’s booth, they stopped in their tracks and gathered around to look.

One man, who also produced ornamental fish, had his eyes practically glued to the tanks, examining them carefully one after another.

If Yu Zhenxing hadn’t been watching him like a hawk from the side, the man probably would have reached in, grabbed a fish, and held it in his hand to study it.

”How much are these fish?” Wang Fu asked, pointing at the Panda Butterflytails. If he could buy them, he would take them back to his farm to study.

He could see the value of the Panda Butterflytails at a single glance.

Yu Zhenxing shook his head. ”These few fish are not for sale.”

Hearing this, Wang Fu was instantly displeased. ”Sell them to me after the exhibition is over. I’m not asking you to sell them to me right now.”

Yu Zhenxing smiled and explained patiently, ”Because Panda Butterflytails are very rare, our boss has said they are not for sale.”

Wang Fu grew anxious. ”Not for sale? Then why did you bring them here! This is a trade fair, not child’s play. Foreign businessmen travel thousands of miles to come here, they see your fish, and you refuse to sell them!”

Yu Zhenxing usually dealt with foreign businessmen and was a bit of a xenophile, so he could actually tell this old man wasn’t a foreigner. Since he wasn’t responsible for developing the domestic market, he was naturally unwilling to entertain a local customer.

Right now, the hall was mostly filled with other exhibitors. Since this old man was so interested in ornamental fish, he was probably the owner of another fish farm.

’If I sell to this old man, and he turns around and sells them to foreigners, wouldn’t that hurt the competitiveness of our Jinshan Bay Ornamental Fish Farm?’

”We’re mainly focused on foreign trade today. Sir, if you’re interested, you can come visit us at Jinshan Bay for an inspection after the exhibition ends.”

Hearing this, Wang Fu nodded. ”Alright. I’ll go for an inspection and to learn a thing or two. It would be even better if we could cooperate.”

Yu Zhenxing finally managed to coax the old man away, and just then, Han Xiaorui walked over.

”What happened?” Han Xiaorui asked curiously, thinking the old man looked a little familiar.

Yu Zhenxing explained what had happened, and Han Xiaorui had a flash of realization. ”I remember now. He’s indeed the person in charge of one of the ornamental fish booths, probably the owner. I just saw him a moment ago.”

Yu Zhenxing grew nervous. ”Just now, to get the old man to leave, I told him he could visit our Jinshan Bay Ornamental Fish Farm after the exhibition. He even took some of our pamphlets. He won’t steal our techniques, will he?”

Han Xiaorui shook her head and smiled. ”If this old man could learn our breeding techniques just by visiting, do you think Yamamoto Ichiro would have spent a fortune to steal our feed formula and resort to kidnapping?”

Hearing this, Yu Zhenxing was struck by the realization. ”Oh, right! The breeding technology at our Jinshan Bay Ornamental Fish Farm is so advanced, it’s true that no one could steal it just by looking around a few times.”

”Then there’s no need to worry. Focus on attracting more customers and make sure we can secure every genuine client who enters our booth. In any case, the new farm has already begun operations, so our production capacity will increase later on.”

Yu Zhenxing nodded as well. ”Yes, ornamental fish are different from other industrial products. Even if a customer likes them, they won’t place a large first order. They’re afraid the fish won’t survive the shipping.”

”Small initial orders followed by larger subsequent ones—that’s what we learned from the Shencheng Trade Fair. With the capacity of the new farm, we can absolutely meet customer demand.”

The new farm wasn’t just a single floor; it was five stories tall, all equipped with vertical aquaculture tanks. This greatly maximized the space, naturally allowing them to raise many more fish.

Everyone’s spirits were high as they prepared to welcome the customers.

But after waiting for over an hour, they had only seen a few foreign businessmen in twos and threes, which made Yu Zhenxing a little anxious.

”Ms. Han, you keep an eye on things here. I’m going to take some pamphlets to the entrance. We can’t just sit around waiting; we have to be proactive.”

The foreign trade orders from the Jinshan Bay Farm had allowed Yu Zhenxing to firmly establish himself among the sales representatives at Eastern International Trade.

On top of that, Han Xiaorui was very generous. When the farm paid out bonuses, he always received a share, meaning she treated him like one of her own employees.

He was earning two salaries and two sets of bonuses, which had significantly increased his income and greatly improved his family’s financial situation.

At this point, Yu Zhenxing was even more eager than Han Xiaorui to make the Jinshan Bay Farm’s foreign trade business a success!