Lou Fengqin was getting an injection while Lin Shuyue chatted with several parents of the children.

These children were all between the ages of 1 and 3. Some were breastfed, some had started eating solid food, and some were formula-fed.

But after inquiring from various sources, all of these infants were, without exception, consuming something under the name of “Taixida Group.”

Taixida Group was a nationally renowned dairy group. Its predecessor was the “Beautiful Dairy Production Cooperative,” established in 1955. By the 1970s, the cooperative had become a milk factory, mainly dealing in fresh milk and dairy products.

In the 1980s, with the reform and opening up, this cooperative introduced advanced production lines from abroad and, before other milk factories, developed and produced refined infant formula.

By the 1990s, the product was advertised on television and in the media, and its brand influence reached its peak.

Today, Taixida has become a leading enterprise in the domestic dairy industry. In recent years, their products have also begun to focus on the research and development of infant supplementary food, and they have several infant supplementary rice cereal products under their brand.

Taixida’s headquarters weren’t in Guangdong Province, but they did have a branch factory in Guangdong Province, and this branch factory mainly produced rice cereal and rice-based snack foods.

Lin Shuyue went to the supermarket and bought one of each of the various Taixida rice cereals that she had inquired about today. Before leaving, she also grabbed a few of their best-selling milk powders and sent them to the testing institution that she had found out about from Huang Qiang to be tested.

When she returned, Lou Fengqin had finished her IV drip, and Bai Wenhua had come to accompany her.

Lou Fengqin’s IV drip was almost finished. “Your Uncle Bai is here. You should go to work. Don’t delay too much.”

Bai Wenhua’s supermarket was already in the renovation stage, and he was very busy every day. But no matter how busy he was, he would always find time to accompany Lou Fengqin for meals and chats. He had just received a call informing him that she was sick, and Bai Wenhua had rushed over without stopping.

With Bai Wenhua accompanying her, Lin Shuyue wasn’t too worried. “Then, Mom, remember to take your medicine on time and drink more water.”

Lou Fengqin smiled and rolled her eyes at Lin Shuyue. “Your mom isn’t senile yet. Wouldn’t I know that?”

“Then I’m leaving. Bye, Uncle Bai.”

“Drive slowly.” Bai Wenhua advised.

When Lin Shuyue arrived at the newspaper office, Huang Qiang wasn’t out covering news today. He sat down on the stool beside Lin Shuyue with a cup of coffee and chatted with her.

They were talking about what Lin Shuyue had said on the phone just now.

After listening to Lin Shuyue describe it again, Huang Qiang said, “My daughter had a cold the day before yesterday. I took her to the clinic for an injection, and also saw many children with diarrhea and stomach pain. My daughter had a high fever at the time, so I didn’t think much of it. So many children are like that now?”

“Did they all eat Taixida’s products?”

Lin Shuyue nodded. “Yes, I asked children of different age groups separately. Depending on the child’s age, they were either drinking Taixida’s milk powder, eating Taixida’s rice cereal, or eating Taixida’s supplementary food snacks.”

Huang Qiang’s expression became serious.

With the development of the times, people’s quality of life for the next generation was getting better and better after they had enough to eat and wear, and had some money.

Especially for infants and young children, everyone was most willing to spend money on what they ate and wore.

Taixida’s products undoubtedly occupied the majority of the infant and young children’s food market, and Taixida was commended by the state every year. Last year, it even obtained the title of “China Famous Trademark.”

It could be said that if you randomly asked passersby on the street which brand of infant formula they had the most impression of, the answer would definitely be Taixida.

If this product had a food safety problem, then it would undoubtedly cause a violent earthquake nationwide. The impact of this matter would be much greater than that of the internet addiction schools.

Internet addiction schools were only a choice for a small number of students’ parents and didn’t account for a large proportion nationwide.

But Taixida was different. It was the choice of eighty percent of parents within China! Once this report came out, the public’s trust in domestic milk powder would drop to its lowest point! Without a doubt, the industry prospects for the domestic dairy industry would regress by thirty years!

“Ah Yue, if this matter is Taixida’s problem, then after you report it, you will suffer attacks from many sides. These attacks are different from the internet addiction schools last time.” Huang Qiang felt that, as Lin Shuyue’s mentor, he needed to explain the dangers involved in this matter to Lin Shuyue.

Lin Shuyue had, of course, thought about the dangers involved. If Taixida was the same nature as that milk powder incident in her previous life, then the reporter who broke the news would be in some danger.

Because she was moving the cake of an entire industry. The owners of these cakes would not let her go.

Just like the whistleblower in her previous life, even though he became famous because of this matter and single-handedly improved the country’s food safety standards, he still left the news industry, and there were even rumors that he had been retaliated against and killed.

“But Mentor, if we don’t expose it, how many children will suffer?” Lin Shuyue had seen more than a dozen just in the clinic. What about other clinics? What about other places? What about areas with less developed medical care?

What a huge amount of data that would be?!

“Mentor, if what I suspect is true, then this industry has grown a huge blister. If I don’t become the person to lance that blister, then tens of thousands of infants and young children will be affected.”

“Mentor, there always has to be someone to pierce through the darkness beneath their glamorous exterior, right? Wasn’t that what you told me? Don’t forget your original intention, be factual.”

Huang Qiang looked at Lin Shuyue’s serious face and couldn’t help but think of Chen Jianlong back then.

He patted Lin Shuyue’s shoulder. “Then go ahead boldly. Inside the newspaper office, I’ll help you smooth things out with the higher-ups.”

This wasn’t a small matter. This was the lever that could move the entire dairy industry, and their newspaper office would also face a lot of pressure. This matter had to be reported to the big boss.

With the big boss protecting her, Lin Shuyue’s safety could be guaranteed.

“Thank you, Mentor.”

“Let’s go, I’ll go with you. I’ll help you out with this news.”

Lin Shuyue couldn’t have wished for more. Her abilities were ultimately limited. Pengcheng was so big, with so many clinics and hospitals. She couldn’t possibly visit them all in a short period of time, even if she ran her legs off.

Li Weisheng, who was at his workstation, heard them talking. His older sister had just given birth to a little niece recently, who was at her cutest stage. He felt very uncomfortable thinking about countless children like his little niece being harmed by substandard products. So, he caught up with the two of them and said he wanted to join this investigation.

“I’ll go with you too.”

Lin Shuyue and Huang Qiang exchanged a glance and then agreed.

Among the three of them, Li Weisheng and Huang Qiang both had their own cars. Li Weisheng’s was bought by his family, and Huang Qiang’s was a second-hand Xiali he bought for work convenience.

Lin Shuyue rented a car, and the three of them split up to investigate three different districts.

In the evening, the three of them went to a street food stall near the company to eat grilled fish.

While waiting for the grilled fish to be served, the three of them first summarized their visits today:

Li Weisheng spoke first, “I visited clinics and hospitals of all sizes in Taijiang District today. In the past three days, there have been about a hundred infants who came for treatment, and their symptoms are almost identical. Among them, Taijiang Hospital examined these infants and confirmed that they all have food poisoning. And they have already sent the food that these infants ate for testing.”

Huang Qiang said, “The number of people diagnosed in Pingjiang District, which I visited, is a bit higher than in Taijiang District on your side, Ah Sheng. There are nearly two hundred infants. Pingjiang Hospital has already sent the food that these children ate for testing and has obtained the results. The rice cereal that those infants ate contained a large amount of aflatoxin.”

“The hospital is conducting further examinations on infants who have consumed these products.”

After he finished speaking, Lin Shuyue said, “There are more people in Pinghu District, over three hundred children. Pinghu Hospital detected aflatoxin in the rice cereal, rice cakes, and other supplementary foods tested. And it exceeded normal standards. The laboratory department of Pinghu District Hospital has already tested and found that these children’s liver functions have varying degrees of damage.”

According to online searches, aflatoxin exists in soil, various plants, and various nuts, especially easily contaminating grain and oil products such as peanuts, corn, rice, soybeans, and wheat. It is a type of mycotoxin with the greatest toxicity and the most prominent harm to human health among mycotoxin poisoning.

The main raw material for rice cereal is rice. If Taixida Company used moldy rice as the raw material when making rice cereal and rice-based snack foods, then moldy rice would breed aflatoxin.

When humans ingest large amounts of aflatoxin, acute poisoning can occur, leading to acute hepatitis, hemorrhagic necrosis, fatty degeneration of liver cells, and bile duct hyperplasia. When ingested continuously in small amounts, it can cause chronic poisoning, growth disorders, induce fibrous lesions, and lead to the proliferation of fibrous tissue.^[1]T/N: To summarize: Aflatoxins are harmful toxins produced by molds that grow on crops like peanuts, corn, and nuts in warm, humid climates. When people eat contaminated foods, these toxins can cause … Continue reading

From any perspective, this toxin should not be used in food, especially not in infant products.

The grilled fish was served. Huang Qiang ordered a bottle of beer, and while eating, they discussed what to do.

Lin Shuyue took a few bites to comfort her empty stomach and took out a test report. “This is the test I had done at the testing institution this morning on the Taixida products I bought. It’s not just the rice cereal that has a problem anymore. The milk powder also contains chemicals that shouldn’t be used in food.”

According to Lin Shuyue’s investigation this morning, those infants had all eaten rice cereal or rice-based products. Testing the milk powder was Lin Shuyue’s wishful thinking, but the results of the test made her very heartbroken.

Melamine was still being used in milk powder by these profit-driven industries in this era. The purpose was to make the protein content in these milk powders appear higher during factory inspections.^[2]T/N: In 2008, melamine-contaminated infant formula in China caused kidney stones and urinary issues in nearly 300,000 infants and led to six deaths. Infants are especially vulnerable because their … Continue reading

They only thought about achieving the greatest profit with the smallest cost, but they forgot what impact these chemicals, which the human body couldn’t eliminate, would have when they accumulated in the body. They certainly wouldn’t think that their customers were all 1-3 year-old infants, who were inherently fragile.

The image of the “big-headed person”^[3]T/N: effect of kidney failure she had met by chance after she became an adult appeared in Lin Shuyue’s mind. They were the same age. She was healthy, but the big-headed person needed dialysis every year to maintain normal bodily functions and also suffered from others’ strange gazes.

Even though they were working hard to live, they suffered different degrees of discrimination in all aspects of life.

But they were originally healthy! No different from those who discriminated against them.

Li Weisheng and Huang Qiang couldn’t bother to eat anymore. They took the test report from Lin Shuyue’s hand to look at.

After reading it, Huang Qiang handed the report to Lin Shuyue and said, “Eat first. After eating, let’s go back to the unit. You two write the report, and Lao Wang and I will go find the boss. The boss shouldn’t be asleep yet at this hour.”

Huang Qiang took a sip of his iced drink. “Let’s make two preparations. If our report isn’t allowed to be published, we’ll post it online. The internet today is more powerful than we imagine.”

After visiting so many hospitals and seeing so many infants suffering from illness, Huang Qiang and Li Weisheng were no longer doing this report for money. They were doing it to spread justice throughout the world.

Huang Qiang’s words coincided with Lin Shuyue’s thoughts. Although it wasn’t the era of everyone being their own media like in her later life, there were still many people online. Take the internet addiction school incident and Yang Hao’an’s case that had caused such a stir last time. Those posts could turn several pages in minutes.

Infant food safety could also attract a lot of attention. As long as someone paid attention, their goal would be achieved.

“Mentor, I want to go to Taixida’s rice cereal processing plant to take a look. I want to take advantage of the situation before public opinion ferments to take pictures of their granaries and see how black their hearts are.”

Taixida’s Guangdong rice cereal processing plant was in Guancheng, not far from Pengcheng, about a two-hour drive.

Li Weisheng immediately followed up, “I’ll go too.”

Lin Shuyue wanted to see, and Li Weisheng also wanted to see. He wanted to see what kind of people those who used moldy rice as raw materials were. Didn’t they have children among their relatives and friends? Didn’t they have children themselves?

Huang Qiang looked at the two indignant young people through the hazy smoke from the grilled fish and said, “It’s only eight o’clock now. I’ll give you two hours to write the report. At ten o’clock, we’ll go together. I’ll be waiting for you outside.”

Reporters all had a bit of youthful idealism in them, even Huang Qiang, who was already in his forties.

Hearing this, Lin Shuyue and Huang Qiang immediately sped up their eating.

On the way back to the unit, the three of them called their families separately.

The lights were still on in Dingsheng Building at night. Lin Shuyue and the other two took out their employee IDs and swiped their cards to enter.

Two or three companies on the fifth floor were still working overtime, and there were also many people working overtime in the newspaper office.

Wang Mingzheng, as the editor-in-chief, also had to work overtime. Lin Shuyue and the other two had a clear division of labor. Lin Shuyue and Li Weisheng went to their workstations to turn on their computers and write the report, while Huang Qiang took the test report and today’s visit report to find Wang Mingzheng.

Ten minutes later, Huang Qiang and Wang Mingzheng hurriedly walked outside together.

An hour and a half later, Lin Shuyue and Li Weisheng exchanged reports to read and check each other’s work before sending the draft to Wang Mingzheng’s email.

The two turned off their computers, picked up their bags, and walked downstairs. Wang Mingzheng and Huang Qiang were standing downstairs smoking.

When Huang Qiang saw them come down, he put out his cigarette. “Get in the car.”

Li Weisheng went to the front passenger seat, Lin Shuyue sat in the back, Huang Qiang opened the car door of the driver’s seat, sat down, and rolled down the window. “Lao Wang, I’m leaving. Our backs are in your hands.”

Wang Mingzheng blew out smoke rings and waved at him.

Huang Qiang stepped on the gas, and the car drove forward.

Wang Mingzheng also put out his cigarette and went upstairs. The content for tomorrow’s issue had already been laid out, but now it had to be revised, and he also had to communicate with the printing department.

There were many things to do. Tonight, they were destined to be sleepless.