The mood of Xinghe’s distributors is one thing, but seeing the current state of Mingde, other brands in the industry began to feel uneasy.

This brand, which was initially dismissed as insignificant, seemed to be rising rapidly as a new competitor. The market was already highly competitive—could they afford to let a new brand grow unchecked? Or would it be better to nip this emerging rival in the bud?

However, such a decision wasn’t as simple as exerting pressure by casually paying a visit to Xinghe’s distributors.

Any suppression attempt would inevitably require leveraging the resources and influence of their brand companies.

Thus, the distributors of various brands came together and reported their concerns, along with their prior actions, to their parent companies.

Brand executives across the country were bewildered when they received calls from their Beijing distributors.

A sudden dark horse emerging in the industry?

Of course, the top players in the market wouldn’t sit idly by. In fact, before distributors in other cities even realized the presence of a new competitor, the shifting dynamics in Shenzhen’s market had already prompted brand executives to hold high-level meetings to discuss the matter.

Initially, their focus was naturally on eliminating the competitor before Mingde’s influence could expand beyond Shenzhen and Linjiang.

But as the meetings progressed, the agenda changed entirely.

Mingde was no longer just a competitor fighting for market share in Shenzhen—it had become a trailblazer, pioneering international recognition and sales channels for domestic frozen foods.

For the former, elimination was the obvious choice. But for the latter, things were different.

A competitor venturing into the global market was better treated as a partner than an adversary.

The domestic market was already nearing saturation.

The big players had been vying for a mere percentage of each other’s market share for years.

However, with Mingde breaking into the international market, if they could extend a hand to brands with good industry relations, it would open up a much larger playing field for everyone involved.

Was there even a choice to make?

As the executives pondered the obstacles Xinghe had thrown in Mingde’s way earlier, they couldn’t help but feel fortunate.

While they had initially observed passively, thinking it wouldn’t be a bad thing if Xinghe managed to suppress Mingde, and even considered whether they should lend a hand, it had ultimately only been a discussion.

They themselves hadn’t taken any action.

Since they hadn’t directly intervened, their relationship with Mingde wasn’t irreparably damaged. At worst, they were neutral competitors.

As industry leaders, it wouldn’t cost much to reach out and earn Mingde’s trust, would it?

But now, their Beijing distributors had quietly gone ahead and offended Mingde.

Sitting in their respective conference rooms, the executives could only sigh at their distributors’ recklessness.

The damage was done—what could they do?

Great achievements require tolerance for small setbacks.

The best course of action now was to demonstrate sincerity and make Mingde see their goodwill.

At the Jin residence, a steaming plate of Baihua Pastries had just come out of the oven.

Jin Yaotiao sat across the table, calmly watching Debbie blow on a pastry to cool it before taking a bite.

The crisp pastry crust crumbled into Debbie’s hand, releasing a rich, sweet fragrance that spread across her palate.

She paused, then smiled softly. “Jin, you weren’t lying. This jar of honey is even better than the last time I visited. I’m so glad I get to taste this.”

Time had refined it. The jar of honey Jin Yaotiao had carefully prepared was now far better than before.

The moment it was opened, its intoxicating aroma was enough to captivate anyone.

When used to make a new filling, its layers of complex and nuanced fragrance seemed almost divine.

When Jin made her promise back then, she hadn’t been entirely sure she could fulfill it.

But in the end, she had endured the darkness and emerged into a brighter new life.

Jin didn’t mention much about the past. She simply said, “You’ve improved too.”

Debbie grinned. “Even though I’m just as busy with work as before, I’ve been making time to cook. Of course I’ve improved.”

Seeing Debbie’s radiant smile—so much brighter than in her memory—Jin chuckled softly. “I’m so glad to see you doing better and better.”

As Debbie reached for a second pastry, she asked, “What about you? Are you doing better too?”

Jin was quiet for a moment. She glanced at a message on her phone and replied, “Of course.”

The message was from her cousin at the company, informing her that Mingde’s marketing efforts were thriving.

However, there was something peculiar—many media outlets promoting Mingde, both domestically and internationally, hadn’t been hired by the company.

Some of these media outlets had official standing and seemed to be reporting on Mingde voluntarily.

But there were others that clearly couldn’t have been so kindhearted.

Jin Yaotiao told her cousin not to worry about it.

After replying, she received a call from Shen Qiming. In a serious tone, Shen Qiming asked, “Is Mingde’s production line sufficient?”

Jin Yaotiao was silent for a few seconds before replying, “The Deep City Park has already allocated a new factory area to me.”

Shen Qiming sounded a bit aggrieved. “Alright, then.”

Jin Yaotiao was speechless. “…Even though you’re a shareholder of Mingde, you don’t need to worry about these things.”

Shen Qiming replied earnestly, “It has nothing to do with being a Mingde shareholder. I’m just trying to pursue you. But it seems I still have a lot to learn.”

After hanging up the phone, he thought for a moment and then opened the drawer, pulling out the book The Ultimate Guide to Love: Overbearing CEO Edition and tossing it into the trash can.

This isn’t working.

As Mingde’s products rapidly expanded across various regions, Xinghe’s big boss was in a state of shock.

Mingde’s approach had completely surpassed his logical understanding.

This was not a normal company at all.

If, previously, he was just cautious about Mingde’s rapid development in Deep City, now he was full of a sense of crisis toward this new brand that had just entered the industry.

Thanks to Mingde, the promotional advertisements Xinghe had invested heavily in Deep City barely made a splash. The costs spent suppressing Mingde’s expansion in other cities yielded no returns either.

One by one, distributors he had previously relied on to sabotage Mingde reported unfavorable outcomes.

Deep City’s surrounding areas, more distant places, and even Xinghe’s stronghold with the highest national market share—the capital—were succumbing to Mingde’s influence in retail and marketing.

At this point, he wasn’t thinking about how to make Mingde cooperate in entering Deep City’s market.

Instead, he was determined not to let this new brand succeed!

As one of the domestic leaders in the frozen food industry, Xinghe absolutely could not tolerate another fierce competitor in an already cutthroat market taking away their resources.

He even regretted it a little. If he had known Mingde had such potential, he wouldn’t have hesitated to crush them earlier.

But because he had been tempted by the prospect of cooperation, he ended up in a dilemma where Deep City made no progress while other cities became threatened.

But…

The big boss had another thought and relaxed a little.

After all, while Mingde was in Deep City, only he treated this brand as a rival.

Now that Mingde was expanding nationwide, it was a different story.

He didn’t believe the other industry leaders wouldn’t feel the same sense of crisis.

At this level of industry competition, while there were rivalries among leaders, there was also some surface-level camaraderie. For instance, when promoting his brand in evaluations, he would also include other big brands on the list.

Surely, if he spoke up, these major brands would rally together.

This idea had just formed when his dimwitted brother-in-law burst into his office. “Brother-in-law! What’s going on?!”

The big boss frowned at his brother-in-law’s panicked expression. He looked at the phone screen his brother-in-law handed him and froze.

It was the page for an industry product evaluation event that Xinghe had previously commissioned through a certain association.

When Mingde’s new product launch was suppressed, some netizens from Deep City and Linjiang were already stirring things up, but it didn’t cause much trouble.

However, as Mingde’s product gained popularity, criticism increased.

Eventually, the once-authoritative host association had to quietly delete all malicious comments about Mingde, hoping the incident would fade from memory.

As a sponsor, Xinghe wasn’t thrilled about this but didn’t object, understanding the circumstances.

Cold treatment usually worked.

But not long ago, a leading competitor in the industry publicly criticized the organizers for their lack of professionalism.

In essence, they claimed the event was a farce and distanced themselves from the association’s bestowed honors.

The big boss was bewildered. Even if there was no direct benefit for them, why wouldn’t they quietly accept free publicity? Why act like moral paragons?

But soon, he was left speechless.

One by one, more major brands followed suit, condemning the association.

The collective action reignited public interest in the incident. Netizens flooded in to eat the drama, while the association, under tremendous pressure, crumbled.

In a last-ditch effort to save face, they leaked “internal information,” revealing that Xinghe had orchestrated the suppression of Mingde.

For a well-known national brand like Xinghe, this was explosive gossip!

Xinghe finally garnered the attention of Deep City’s netizens—an effect far surpassing their expensive ad campaigns.

Unfortunately, it was all negative.

Even official media from Deep City and Linjiang joined in, criticizing Xinghe for using its industry clout to suppress a new brand.

The moment the big boss saw these reports, he knew his brand’s chances of entering Deep City’s market were slim to none.

He thought this was bad enough.

But soon, more bad news flooded in.

In cities beyond Deep City, his competitors launched aggressive campaigns against Xinghe—through marketing, pricing, and all the tactics he knew too well.

But what used to be one-on-one battles was now a group effort.

The big boss finally realized the entire industry had turned against him.

What had Xinghe done to deserve such collective wrath?

Meanwhile, the competitors, shocked at each other’s similar actions, thought:

“So, you wanted to cozy up to Mingde by distancing yourself from Xinghe too?”

Faced with this unspoken consensus, they decided to fully commit.

“Well, since we’re already in this together, let’s finish Xinghe off!”

At Mingde, when Jin Yaotiao heard the news of her competitors ganging up on Xinghe, she hesitated for a moment.

She hadn’t even begun retaliating for Xinghe’s earlier sabotage.

Why were the other brands already attacking Xinghe?