July 16, 2004, Friday.

It was a very ordinary workday, but today was destined to be extraordinary.

As Pengcheng Metropolis Daily hit the stands, the headline attracted a large number of people to buy it.

Some people read it while walking to work, cursing out loud after reading it. Some people rushed home after reading the report, and some picked up their phones to call their families.

Some people saw the report at home. They were watching TV when they saw the report, and Taixida’s advertisement was playing during the commercial break. The advertisement said, “Taixida, for forty years, has been dedicated to making good milk powder and good rice cereal that the Chinese people can trust. Taixida, the choice of eighty percent of Chinese mothers.”

The advertising copy, when read in conjunction with Lin Shuyue’s report, was full of irony.

Countless citizens who saw the newspaper went to clinics and hospitals to verify the information. After receiving affirmative answers, they angrily called the government departments they could think of.

Parents who had fed their children Taixida’s products called the Pengcheng distributor’s headquarters in shock and anger.

–

Pengcheng Distributor Headquarters.

Huang Tianying came to work as usual. She first watered the lucky bamboo, money tree, and pothos that General Manager Lu Zhengtian liked, then wiped her workstation, mopped the office floor, and seeing that it was almost time for work, she quickly went to turn on the company’s electricity switch.

Their manager was particularly frugal. As soon as it was off-work hours, he would turn off the company’s electricity switch and then turn it back on when they came to work in the morning.

She had just returned after turning on the switch when the phone on her desk rang. Huang Tianying immediately walked over, took a deep breath, sat down, put on the sweet smile she had been trained to have before starting work, and answered the phone in a gentle tone, “Hello, Taixida Pengcheng Distribution Department, how can I help you?”

“Help you your mother help. You Taixida are really morally bankrupt, using poisonous rice to make rice cereal and selling it to children to eat. You’re so capable, why don’t you eat the poisonous rice yourselves? I [censored], all of you deserve a terrible death!” A string of curses stunned Huang Tianying on the spot.

Their manager, Lu Zhengtian, didn’t have much education and didn’t require his employees to have a high education either. Lu Zhengtian never read things like newspapers, so there were no newspapers in the company. Huang Tianying also didn’t have a habit of reading newspapers.

So, she still didn’t know what had happened. The person on the other end of the phone threatened to sue them and then hung up. Before Huang Tianying could even react, the phone rang again.

Huang Tianying answered it. It was the same, someone cursing her. After her gentle reassurance, the curses became even more unpleasant.

Huang Tianying almost hung up the phone in tears. Her colleague finally arrived late. “Tianying, Tianying, something happened, something big happened, something huge happened.”

Huang Tianying wiped her tears and walked up to her colleague, asking, “What happened?”

Her colleague gave her the newspaper. At first glance, the headline caught Huang Tianying’s eye. Huang Tianying even forgot to cry.

The phone in the company kept ringing. Huang Tianying’s colleagues answered it, and curses came through the receiver into the office. Huang Tianying’s hands trembled as she called the company’s general manager, Lu Zhengtian, who was also her brother-in-law, but the line was always busy, and no one answered.

Inside a villa in Pengcheng, Lu Zhengtian was holding one mobile phone to each ear, frantically calling Taixida in Guancheng, but the line was either busy or no one was answering.

The sun was so good today, but for Lu Zhengtian, it was no different from a sky full of dark clouds. He was just an ordinary businessman who had paid a great price to be the distributor for Taixida’s products.

He had only been pleased with himself for two years when this kind of thing happened. Lu Zhengtian felt like dying. He couldn’t care less about the company. He grabbed his car keys and headed towards Guancheng.

–

At the same time that Lu Zhengtian was in a terrible state, various departments of the Pengcheng government, after receiving reports from the public, still sent investigators to investigate and verify, no matter what they thought in their hearts. Major testing institutions received many individual testing businesses.

Pengcheng Television also responded quickly. Their reporters, with cameras, found the attending physicians of the children involved. At the same time, they bought one of each of the rice cereals that could be bought on the market and, in front of the camera, sent them to the testing institution for urgent testing.

And they kept waiting in front of the laboratory of the testing institution. When the results came out, the reporters presented them on camera as soon as possible.

The clear marks on them indicated the qualified and unqualified aspects of these batches of rice cereal. The words “aflatoxin exceeds the standard” could be recognized by anyone who could read.

Moreover, the rice cereal with excessive aflatoxin mostly appeared in the rice cereal produced by Taixida within the last two months. Rice cereal produced before the two-month period did not contain aflatoxin.

Two months didn’t seem like a long time, but according to the boss’s statement that Taixida had a daily production capacity of one ton, from the beginning date to now was a total of 65 days, and the amount of rice consumed would be an astronomical figure. But Taixida’s daily production capacity definitely couldn’t reach one ton. But even if it was calculated at a daily consumption of 1,000 catties, 500 catties, or 300 catties, the figure was still huge.

Rice cereal was divided into bagged and canned. The expensive ones sold for more than ten yuan a can, and the cheap ones sold for a few yuan a bag. The weight ranged from 500g to 200g. How many catties of powder could one catty of rice grind out, and how many catties of rice cereal could one catty of powder make?

How many infants and young children in the whole city chose Taixida because of its reputation? What about nationwide?

Wang Mingzheng had already received Huang Qiang’s call. He personally waited downstairs for the three of them to return.

As soon as they met, the group of four hurriedly went upstairs.

“The company’s phones have been ringing off the hook since morning. Even the cleaning lady has received many calls asking if it’s true. The boss is here.” While walking, Wang Mingzheng told Huang Qiang and the other two about what had happened in the past few hours since morning.

Lin Shuyue was very curious about the boss of Pengcheng Metropolis Daily. She had previously learned about the information of Xun Heng, the boss behind Pengcheng Metropolis Daily.

He was a descendant of the Xun family in the capital. His grandfather was a general who fought alongside the great man to establish the country, and was not persecuted during those ten years.

Now, the entire Xun family was developing in the military and political circles. Xun Heng was the exception among all the children. He had liked doing business since he was young. So, after the reform and opening up in the 1980s, he came to Pengcheng to make his own way. His investment vision was extremely good, and he invested in Pengcheng’s real estate companies early on.

His Dingsheng Real Estate and Limin Real Estate under Yang Hao’an’s name were jointly known as the leaders of Pengcheng’s real estate industry. The Dingsheng Building, where Lin Shuyue and the others worked, was a property under Dingsheng Real Estate. It was also because of this that Pengcheng Metropolis Daily, a newspaper that was already on the decline, could rent such a large office building in the prime location of Pinghu District in Pengcheng, and there was even a dedicated cafeteria next to the office building.

But unlike Limin Real Estate, Dingsheng Real Estate had long since transformed into Dingsheng Group, and its industries, besides real estate, also involved the entertainment industry and the electronics industry.

Pengcheng Metropolis Daily was also under the umbrella of Dingsheng Group.

It was said that Pengcheng Entertainment News was started by Xun Heng and a friend back then, because Xun Heng, who was born into a wealthy family, had a dream of becoming a reporter since he was young. Later, due to various reasons, the friends who started the newspaper with him all withdrew from the newspaper office to do other businesses.

Xun Heng became the sole boss of Pengcheng Metropolis Daily. And Pengcheng Metropolis Daily became the least profitable and even loss-making company under his name. But even so, Xun Heng still hadn’t given up on Pengcheng Metropolis Daily.

Because Xun Heng’s background was strong, Yang Baozong didn’t dare to kill Huang Qiang back then. Even though he knew Huang Qiang had evidence of his smuggling, he didn’t dare to openly do anything to Huang Qiang in Pengcheng. Instead, he only took action against Huang Qiang after he entered Yangcheng.

Later, after Huang Qiang was rescued, Yang Baozong didn’t even dare to make Huang Qiang disappear from the news industry directly.

Lin Shuyue had been very curious about him for a long time.

When they arrived, Xun Heng was standing by the window in Wang Mingzheng’s office.

He was about the same age as Huang Qiang and the others, in his forties. He was handsome, wearing a white shirt and black trousers, and he looked very charming standing by the window, looking down.

Especially when he turned around, he wasn’t smiling, and the sound of his voice when he spoke was also the bubbly voice that made girls swoon the most.

But unlike the forced bubbly voices of those “sissy boys” online in her previous life, his voice was very natural and magnetic. When talking to people, he was very serious and gave others enough respect.

After the leaders exchanged some pleasantries, Lin Shuyue and the other two handed the camera to Wang Mingzheng. Wang Mingzheng inserted the camera’s card into the computer, closed the window, and projected it onto the screen in the office.

After silently watching the three people’s interviews, Xun Heng said, “You can report this. Don’t worry. If anything happens, I’ll take responsibility for you from above.”

Xun Heng was very confident when he said this. His grandfather’s generation lived during a time of national crisis. The Xun family was originally a merchant family. At that critical moment, a total of five young adults from the Xun family went out to save the country. Only his grandfather survived. By his generation, two of his older siblings had already sacrificed themselves for the country.

The “poisonous rice cereal incident” violated national law and touched the foundation of the country. This was something the country couldn’t allow, not to mention that this batch of poisonous rice came from the national reserve!

How important was reserve grain to a country? Wouldn’t the people who worked in the storage bureau know? Knowing the importance of reserve grain to the country, they still chose to target it! They were embezzling and derelict in their duties.

But regardless of which it was, they were all parasites of the country! Once discovered, the country would never tolerate these people!

Xun Heng had called his uncle in the capital last night. They talked for ten minutes. His uncle told him to report this matter openly. Some blisters had to be lanced. Otherwise, if they were allowed to continue developing, the consequences would be unimaginable.

With Xun Heng’s words, Wang Mingzheng and Huang Qiang breathed a heavy sigh of relief.

Xun Heng copied all the undercover videos and then left.

As soon as he left, Wang Mingzheng said to Lin Shuyue and the other two, “I know you were tired all night, but you’ve already walked ninety-nine steps. You have to take this last step too. I’ve already made an appointment with Zhang Xiongfeng, the director of the news department of Pengcheng Television. They’ll be here soon.”

Speak of the devil, and he shall appear. As soon as Wang Mingzheng finished speaking, Xiao He from the front desk came to say that Director Zhang had arrived. Wang Mingzheng immediately went out to greet him.

Zhang Xiongfeng reached out and shook Wang Mingzheng’s hand. “Ah Ming, let’s not say any extra words. It’s almost noon, and this news is planned to be broadcast at noon. There’s no time. I’ll treat you to dinner after everything is done tonight.”

“I understand, I understand. Then let’s start quickly.”

The group went to Wang Mingzheng’s office. Being interviewed by the TV station was like the saying goes, the first time is unfamiliar, the second time is familiar. This time, Lin Shuyue was already experienced. Still facing away from the camera, she, Huang Qiang, and Li Weisheng each accepted the interview.

After obtaining the interview footage and the undercover footage, Zhang Xiongfeng and the others left without stopping.

It was ten o’clock now. There were still two hours before the noon news broadcast. These two hours were all for post-production. They had to tell the story as completely as possible within the limited time.

Lin Shuyue and the other two could finally go home to sleep.

Just as the three of them were sleeping soundly, the public opinion they had created fermented once again.

The central media’s noon news used Pengcheng Television’s interview. The whole country knew about Taixida’s “poisonous rice cereal incident.” Countless parents of infants and young children who had eaten Taixida’s rice cereal rushed their children to the hospital.

The number of infants and young children diagnosed with diarrhea, abdominal pain, and vomiting soared at a rocket-like speed. At the same time, many children were diagnosed with liver damage and impaired growth and development.

The Ministry of Health dispatched eight special investigation teams to various Taixida factory areas, including the headquarters, to conduct investigations. At the same time, they would also conduct random checks on all milk powder and rice cereal companies nationwide.

At the second branch factory in Guancheng, the top leaders of the branch factory had already been criminally detained by the police. The ten tons of moldy rice in their factory’s granary that hadn’t had time to be cleaned up and destroyed hadn’t had time to be cleaned up.

The polishing machine in the polishing area was paused, and the rice in the hopper that hadn’t been polished and waxed hadn’t become finished products yet.

Aflatoxin was detected in the rice in the rice soaking area and the ground rice cereal.

The fruit and vegetable area smelled terrible during the hot daytime! Flies flew all over the rotten fruits and vegetables, and some would even fall into the fruit and vegetable processing machine and be carried away by the fruit and vegetable processing machine, eventually flowing to the next production link.

Flies, fruits, and vegetables were ground into juice together, mixed with rice cereal, and after a series of operations such as sterilization and drying, they became finished products appearing in the packaging area.

All of this was recorded by the camera and perfectly presented to the general public.

The dairy farm under Taixida’s name was also raided and filmed by countless people. Like the dairy farm near Guancheng, the environment of these dairy farms, except for the areas that needed to be shown to outsiders, was very worrying.

In the exposed videos, there were even scenes of feces falling into the milk, causing countless viewers to vomit again.

The person in charge of the storage bureau in Guangdong Province who sold the moldy rice, from top to bottom, was secretly taken away for interrogation last night. What awaited them was the severe punishment of the law.

However, this matter wasn’t over yet. The next morning, another piece of news appeared on the front-page headline of the Central Daily.

The report said that after random checks, different doses of melamine were found in all infant milk powders on the market during testing. And Taixida’s milk powder had the highest melamine content.

After investigation, melamine could increase the protein content in milk powder without any taste. Because of its low cost, Wang Xinhua, the chairman of Taixida, personally ordered the addition of more of this chemical to the milk.

The batch of milk powder with the highest content was transported to poor areas across the country for sale on the day it was released.

The National Food Safety Department, upon learning of this news, immediately issued an order to recall all rice cereal containing aflatoxin and milk powder containing melamine from the market.

Governments at all levels in various regions actively responded after receiving the order. Children in remote rural areas who had drunk Taixida’s milk powder had been taken to hospitals for examination. Fortunately, the toxic milk powder containing melamine had just entered the market, and not many infants had drunk it. The condition of the infants who had drunk the toxic milk powder was also within a controllable range.

The leadership of Taixida and other milk powder factories containing prohibited substances were all criminally detained.

The matter seemed to have come to an end here.

But a week after Lin Shuyue reported on Taixida’s poisonous rice cereal, she received a package.

When the package was opened, inside was a cat that had been tortured to death. When the box was opened, the cat’s eyes were still open, just staring straight at Lin Shuyue.

Li Mingfang’s screams, who was opening the package with Lin Shuyue, echoed throughout the entire building.