The Sea Queen of 1985

Chapter 202: Chapter 202: Prying into Secrets

In the afternoon, a Chinese man from Singapore came to their booth.

The man could speak Mandarin, but he didn’t, insisting on speaking entirely in English.

Yang Jianguo and Zhou Wei couldn’t understand a word!

Han Xiaorui stood up, her smile warm and friendly. ”Mr. Li, how can I help you?”

The man looked surprised. He hadn’t expected her English to be so good, so fluent.

’What a joke!’

Han Xiaorui wanted to sell her ornamental fish through international trade, so of course she had prepared in advance.

She had studied English before, memorizing many words, but her spoken English wasn’t great.

She had specifically bought a radio to listen to English channels, following along and repeating what she heard.

She was a fast learner; it would be strange if her accent wasn’t standard!

Mr. Li looked at the fish tank. ”The fish are nice.”

”Yes, they’re excellent.” Han Xiaorui handed him a flyer. The print quality wasn’t good; it was basically just ink on plain white paper.

It wasn’t much to look at, but its main advantage was that everything was clear at a glance.

Mr. Li paused for a moment. ”Are you sure they’re as good as your flyer claims?”

Han Xiaorui nodded. ”Positive. They’ve been tested by the local fishery department. The report isn’t just something we made up; it’s legally binding.”

”As long as you follow our transportation and husbandry methods, you can achieve these results. You see, we also have many delicate little fish tanks in all sorts of shapes. They’re sure to be very popular.”

”In Singapore, many of the local Chinese are superstitious, and foreigners love ornamental fish too, so the market there is excellent. We have a wide variety of high-quality, affordable fish. If you raise them with our recommended combinations, not only will they thrive, but the water will also stay very clean.”

”In the future, we’ll also be selecting and breeding miniaturized aquatic plants with water-purifying functions to use at the bottom of the tanks. It’s not a mature technology yet, but we will continue to improve on it.”

Mr. Li listened carefully, his gaze fixed on the ornamental fish. ”Can I visit your breeding farm?”

”Yes!” Han Xiaorui agreed. ”But not right now. If you’re interested, please come back here tomorrow morning. We will arrange vehicles to take a group to tour the ornamental fish farm.”

Mr. Li nodded and handed her his business card, then said in Mandarin, ”I hope we have the opportunity to work together, Ms. Han.”

”It would be my honor,” Han Xiaorui replied, also in Mandarin. In this era of reform and opening up, some people felt that speaking a foreign language made them superior.

Han Xiaorui was all about fair business. If someone expected her to bow and scrape, they could forget it!

Mr. Li didn’t leave. Instead, he stepped into the exhibition area, leaned in for a closer look, and continuously took pictures with his camera.

Afterward, a customer from Japan approached.

He spoke Japanese. Ever since Chen Yupeng told Han Xiaorui he would arrange a trip for her to visit a seafood farm in Japan,

she had found a Japanese textbook with Ye Feng.

To Han Xiaorui’s surprise, Ye Feng actually knew Japanese and had taught her the fifty-sound chart.

With that foundation, Han Xiaorui could basically teach herself, especially since Japanese uses many Chinese characters.

She couldn’t say anything too complicated,

but Han Xiaorui could still manage to introduce the fish and state the prices.

The Japanese customer was very interested and said he also wanted to tour the farm.

Yamashita Ichiro had come on this trip to procure other goods, but his father-in-law’s family was in the ornamental fish business.

His father-in-law had given two-tenths of the profits to his wife as a dowry, so Yamamoto Ichiro also wanted his father-in-law’s business to do even better and make more money.

The varieties here were more numerous, and their colors and shapes were more beautiful. If he could import them from Hua Country, they would definitely be cheaper than local ones.

The key was that he would only be responsible for sales, without having to worry about the most difficult part—the breeding—which would make things much easier.

By that evening, five clients had expressed interest in touring the fish farm and the fish tank factory.

Unable to find an English speaker at short notice, Han Xiaoqing volunteered to help out at the exhibition.

Liang Xiaoyu and Granny Cai helped take care of the children.

While Han Xiaoqing handled customers at the booth, Han Xiaorui took the foreign businessmen on the tour.

”Brother Jianguo, the key technology is in the feed. Don’t let them see our feed production process.”

”Zhou Wei, your glass-making process has been technologically updated and is excellent. Don’t let the foreign businessmen see it.”

Zhou Wei was taken aback. ”Aren’t foreign countries very developed? You’re telling me they can’t make glass tanks?”

Seeing that Zhou Wei had no sense of caution at all, Han Xiaorui quickly reminded him, ”Foreign countries are developed, but not in every single aspect. Your process for manufacturing glass tanks might be more advanced than theirs.”

”One of the foreign clients is a glass manufacturer. When he was talking to me about the ornamental fish, he was distracted and didn’t seem to care much about the tanks. Instead, he kept asking about the glass itself.”

Hearing this, Zhou Wei’s expression turned serious. ”Then I won’t let any foreigners go see it. If they want to buy, they can buy. If not, forget it.”

Han Xiaorui didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. ”Of course, you can’t generalize like that. Business is business. Let them tour if they want to tour. You just have to protect the most crucial parts of the process.”

”Oh, and your technicians—you have to be willing to pay them well. Don’t be stingy. For key technical personnel, you should even give them a little equity, make them feel like the factory is their own.”

”Otherwise, if foreigners really take a liking to your glass, they could buy the process just by spending a little money to poach your people. What a huge loss that would be!”

Zhou Wei took her words to heart. ”Ms. Han, you’ve got a point. The head technician is my brother-in-law. When I get back, I’ll give him a ten percent stake, and I’ll give stakes to the other technicians too.”

”If we really grow, the future dividends will be much more than any money foreigners could offer, and it’s a better prospect. They should know that a steady stream is better than a flood.”

That very night, Zhou Wei called his brother-in-law and the relevant technicians together, distributed shares to them, and had them sign legally effective documents on the spot.

A few of the customers did end up purchasing ornamental fish and tanks, but two of them had their eyes on the glass-making process at Zhou Wei’s factory.

It was so transparent and pure that it could be used to make glass rhinestones—better than even the most high-end glass rhinestones currently on the market.

They wanted to see the key process, but the factory staff refused them.

They even threatened to pull their business if they weren’t allowed to see it, which made Zhou Wei even more vigilant. He stated directly that he’d rather not do business with them than let them see.

When these people didn’t get their way, they started trying to bribe the technicians.

But the technicians had just received equity, and Zhou Wei was a generous boss. The factory was developing well—only a fool would betray it!

They reported the attempt directly to Zhou Wei. After a moment’s thought, Zhou Wei created a fake process and sold it to the foreign businessmen, easily pocketing five thousand yuan from them.

Although Yamamoto Ichiro came to see the fish farm, he didn’t know much about the industry. He didn’t place an order on the spot, but only asked for some informational materials.

”Could you show me your specially formulated feed?” Yamamoto Ichiro felt that the ornamental fish here were more vibrant than his father-in-law’s.

He couldn’t figure out the reason why, but he had noticed that the feed the workers used was a different color from his father-in-law’s.

Hearing this, Han Xiaorui refused without hesitation. ”No, that’s a trade secret.”

’Even if I don’t admit it now, they’ll eventually realize the feed is special and try to study it in secret.’

’It’s better to be firm and say nothing now, to cultivate an air of mystery.’

’In truth, even if they stole the formula, they wouldn’t be able to replicate it.’

’Besides, these ornamental fish have all been selectively bred by me. If they tried to research them, they wouldn’t even know where to begin.’

Yamamoto Ichiro sized up Han Xiaorui, realizing this impossibly beautiful woman was different from other Hua Country people.