Chapter 60: A Sloppy Scam?

  Feng Yue is the deputy director of Yangcheng Institute of Botany and also the person in charge of the nursery company affiliated to the institute. As a gardening company with a certain scale in South China, Feng Yue naturally received an invitation from the organizing committee of the Expo and came to attend the meeting.

  Because the business scope of the research institute is relatively stable, most customers are the government of Yangcheng and local enterprises and institutions, so Feng Yue's idea of developing business in Haicheng is not strong. In addition, the institute has no outstanding achievements recently, so Feng Yue did not set up an exhibition hall at the Expo.

  A few days after socializing with the organizing committee and some related brother units, on the fifth day after the opening of the Expo, Feng Yue finally managed to extricate himself from the wine pool and meat forest, and went to the exhibition hall to take a look. Unlike ordinary tourists who come to see the novelty and excitement, Feng Yue, who comes from the Horticulture Department, is a technical official, he always looks at new products from a professional perspective, and can also look at the economic benefits of these products from an enterprise management perspective.

  However, after walking through the various exhibition halls at the Expo, Feng Yue couldn't help but feel a little disappointed, because this Expo was actually just an empty shell.

  Despite the high specifications of the expo, with many provincial and ministerial officials attending the opening ceremony, a large exhibition hall area, and record-breaking visitor numbers, there were no particularly eye-catching products on display.

  This is also closely related to the current situation in China. Most companies and research institutions are not willing to calm down and do research, and they desperately pursue some quick-acting projects. They don't pay much attention to some basic research that is difficult to achieve results. The gardening company responsible by Feng Yue is no exception. Even if Feng Yue wants to change this situation, one person can't make a difference. As a result, the gardening company has not introduced any new products or technologies in three years and has been barely surviving on government orders and funding.

  Sometimes, Feng Yue really wanted to quit and leave the institute to start his own company, but he never found a suitable opportunity or project. This time, participating in the Horticultural Expo, Feng Yue was just here with the mentality of traveling on public funds, if not for fear of affecting the bad, he would have brought his wife and daughter along.

  Following the crowd of onlookers, Feng Yuxin walked aimlessly in the exhibition center, gazing at the elaborate decorations and extravagant promotional boards in front of each exhibition hall. She felt like she was watching a farce. Many of the eye-catching exhibition halls were run by state-owned enterprises under the municipal government of Haicheng, which used their usual tricks to make the entire expo seem exceptionally bright and vibrant. However, anyone with discerning eyes could tell that it was all just a facade.

  Feng Yue strolled freely between the exhibition halls, taking it as a way to relax.

  However, when he walked into the 'Green Source Gardening' exhibition hall, he felt a bit different. Other companies tried to decorate their exhibition halls like CCTV's No. 1 studio, but this 'Green Source Gardening' was the most simple and crude one that Feng Yue had ever seen.

  Suddenly, Feng Yue became interested and walked in casually.

  A huge billboard coming straight at him had three bright big characters that instantly caught Feng Yue's attention - 'Zhi Wu Rong'!

  Feng Yue stood in front of the display board, carefully reading through all the introductions and pictures on it. Then Feng Yue's first thought was - this is a scam company!

  At that time, Wang Hongcheng's 'water into oil' scam was touted as high-tech, deceiving a large number of officials, scientists and entrepreneurs, sweeping the country! At the beginning, Harbin Institute of Technology, the Science and Technology Commission, and even the local government were all deeply involved, almost making it the most famous high-tech scam of the 1990s.

  Could it be that I will stumble upon a clumsy scam today?

  At this thought, Feng Yue suddenly became excited, and the dizziness from the days of drinking immediately disappeared!

  "Is this 'pollution-reducing' thing of your company real?" Feng Yue beckoned a staff member over, pointing at the promotional poster for the "pollution-reducing" device and asked.

  "Of course it's true!" Shi Yifei said with some pride: "We have finished products on site, the effect is clear at a glance!"

  Shi Yifei is the youngest and most eloquent employee in 'Green Source Gardening'. His colleagues naturally pushed him forward as a commentator. In recent days, tourists have been passing by the exhibition hall entrance without entering to visit, let alone asking questions, which has made Shi Yifei feel somewhat depressed. Today, he finally met a tourist who seemed very serious, and how could this not make Shi Yifei happy?

  If it were a few days ago, Shi Yifei would still have a guilty conscience, but after seeing the magical effect of 'Zhi Wu Lan', he was already full of confidence.

  "Oh? Then take me to see!" Looking at the young man in front of her who was excited and flushed, Feng Yue became even more interested!

  Feng Yue thinks that the first thing a scam company needs to do is to hypnotize its employees, making them believe every word the company says, so they can be convincing when they go out to scam. Looking at it now, this 'Green Source Gardening' is quite professionalized, and this young man has clearly been brainwashed into becoming a believer.

  At this time, Feng Yue felt a sharp spirit that had been gone for a long time rising up in her heart. She wanted to deeply understand everything about 'Green Source Gardening' and then expose the scam.

  For the past forty years, Feng Yue's life trajectory has been planned by his family since birth, from elementary school to university, work, marriage... everything was precisely arranged like a product on an assembly line. Feng Yue, who had already been suffocated by reality and driven nearly mad, even had the urge to end it all after passing the age of forty, but he never had the courage.

  Now, he ran into such a clumsy scam confirmed by Feng Yue at a glance, making him realize that this might be an opportunity for him to break the monotony of his life and live a more colorful one.

  Feng Yue, who had made up her mind, followed Shi Yifei into the exhibition hall and saw that the setting of the exhibition hall was not ordinary. It also gave her a rough estimate of the company's strength. The person in charge of this company seemed to be a bit clever, but the simple decoration seemed to show their average economic strength.

  While listening to Shi Yifei's somewhat absurd introduction, Feng Yue widened her eyes and tried to find the flaws in the exhibition hall's details, then she could find a few acquaintances at the organizing committee, and then find people from the Administration for Industry and Commerce to catch these swindlers!

  Seeing Feng Yue listening to his explanation very seriously, occasionally even asking some key professional terms, Shi Yifei's state came. The person in front of him was obviously an insider, and the first deal at the exhibition might fall on this middle-aged man with glasses.

  In this way, two people with different thoughts began their in-depth exchange about 'Zhi Wu Rong' in this simple exhibition hall.

  Years later, Shi Yifei and Feng Yue are no longer insignificant figures like they were at the time, but looking back on this scene still feels worth reminiscing about.