Returning to the mountain village, starting with mushroom picking to get rich

"Damn it, absolutely awful!"

At this moment, Su Rong understood perfectly well.

Their company is being targeted and suppressed.

Those European matsutake mushroom exhibitors were afraid that their matsutake mushrooms would not be able to compete with the exhibits of their own company, so that Xianglong Company would steal the spotlight at the exhibition.

They then joined forces to suppress their company.

They resorted to underhanded tactics, bribing two other exhibitors from China to ruin the reputation of Chinese matsutake mushrooms with inferior quality, thus causing tourists to lose interest in the Chinese exhibits.

And it highlights the excellence of other European exhibitors.

Instead of allowing visitors to move easily between the various exhibition areas, the organizers deliberately installed obstacles and railings in places that would impede traffic on the opening day of the event.

This made their company's exhibition area extremely remote.

There's probably some sabotage on the part of the organizers.

Filled with anger, Su Rong and her companion made several more turns before finally returning to the company's booth, where they explained the situation at the event to Yang Lin and the other company employees.

"Those traitors! We were even planning to congratulate them, but they colluded with those European merchants to ruin the reputation of our Nanzhao mushrooms..."

Several hot-tempered company employees couldn't help but start hurling insults at each other on the spot.

When they are away from home and in a foreign land, they carry with them a sense of national pride and patriotism.

I felt a natural affinity and closeness to the other two exhibiting companies from China.

Unexpectedly, they were betrayed by the other side.

"I'm going to find the organizers to reason with them. Why are they putting up obstacles on the road to separate our company's booth?"

Fuming, Su Rong, along with her translator Han Mei, went to the organizers.

As competitors in the same industry, she could understand why other companies joined forces to suppress them.

She could not accept the organizer's blatant favoritism.

She was paying to participate in the event, just like everyone else, and she didn't ask the organizers to help them stop the business tactics of other competing companies.

But at the very least, the organizers must ensure basic fairness.

When exhibiting their products side-by-side, visitors didn't like the company's matsutake mushrooms.

She accepted that their matsutake mushrooms were not good.

After all, it's their freedom to choose what they like and what they want to buy.

However, the organizers deliberately set up obstacles and railings in the exhibition's passageways, making it difficult for visitors to reach the company's booth.

As a result, no one paid any attention to their company's exhibits.

Su Rong was not satisfied with not being given a fair chance to compete.

"Ms. Su, I'm sorry."

"The railings on the passageway are to effectively guide tourists and avoid safety hazards."

"The obstacle you mentioned is our Alba's mascot, and also the mascot of this event."

"Their locations were all designed by the church pastors themselves. In your Eastern terms, moving them would disrupt the feng shui, so the arrangement of the event venue cannot be altered."

"Furthermore, we have also opened up a passageway for our company's booth, so visitors are not without ways to reach your exhibition booth."

"Miss Su's claim of deliberate targeting is an unnecessary misunderstanding..."

Su Rong, who stepped forward to argue, quickly found herself outmaneuvered by the organizers.

On the surface, this is an open international exhibition.

Alba welcomes matsutake mushroom merchants from all over the world to participate in the grand event.

However, in reality, the officials who organized the event harbored a strong sense of local protectionism.

To protect the interests of European matsutake mushroom merchants, their officials, though not personally involved in commercial competition, would not intervene.

However, they were very keen to exclude other countries within the rules and create favorable conditions for European merchants.

……

The deserted booth of Xianglong Company stood in stark contrast to the bustling crowds at the exhibition.

Upon seeing Su Rong and Han Mei return, the bored employees immediately went up to inquire about the situation.

"Manager Su, how are the negotiations going?"

Has the organizer agreed to adjust the aisle location?

"I'm so angry, so angry..." Su Rong told everyone with great resentment about the organizer's deliberate bias.

"This is outrageous!"

"That's too much!"

The employees were filled with righteous indignation.

They made a great deal of effort to arrive in Alba smoothly before the event began.

Let's not even mention working overtime.

Just to get to Italy, their boss was almost kidnapped by thugs at the airport, and while he was eating a bowl of noodles after getting off the plane, he was targeted by a gang of thieves.

We finally arrived in Alba and entered the event venue.

The organizers were utterly inhumane, deliberately making things difficult for them and giving them a hard time.

It's really frustrating to think about.

"Mr. Lin, what should we do now?"

The sad and frustrated employees all turned their gaze to Yang Lin.

As the company's boss, Yang Lin is undoubtedly the backbone of the group.

"Don't worry, there will be a way."

Yang Lin patted the employees on the shoulder to comfort them.

He asked his employees:

"Think carefully about why these European businessmen would band together and join forces to target us?"

"Why would the organizers risk reputational damage by making our location so remote and inconvenient to access?"

"What else could it be? To drive down our prices, they can't stand to see us making money in Europe," several employees replied without hesitation.

Yang Lin then asked, "Then think about it again. If our matsutake mushrooms from Nanzhao really can't fetch a good price here, why would they go to such lengths to join forces and suppress us?"

"I understand, it's because of fear!" Su Rong immediately said.

"They are afraid that our matsutake mushrooms will be loved and praised by tourists, and that we will become famous at the exhibition, so they have gone to great lengths to target and suppress us."

"The more afraid they are, the more it proves that our Nanzhao matsutake mushrooms are not really unpopular with European diners, as they say."

"Otherwise, are all the thousands of tons of matsutake mushrooms that our country exports to them every year just being bought to feed dogs?"

Upon hearing Yang Lin's explanation and Su Rong's analysis, the company employees suddenly understood.

The more afraid their competitors are, the more they resort to underhanded tactics to suppress them.

This just proves that their participation in this overseas exhibition was the right decision!

They are eager to open up the European market as long as they can get their exhibits noticed by visitors at the event.

"But some people outside are ruining the reputation of Nanzhao, and the organizers have made such a mess of the venue's passageways. How can we attract the attention of tourists?"

The crowd asked with concern.

Yang Lin thought for a moment, then asked:

"Who among you is a good cook, especially good at preparing matsutake mushrooms?"

"Me, me, me, boss, I can do it!" Translator Li Lei suddenly raised his hand.

"I have learned some Western etiquette and Western cooking techniques."