Upon hearing Cheng Su’s question, Chen Zhiquan broke out in sweat despite the freezing weather.
He struggled to squeeze out a semblance of a smile, but it was uglier than a cry, and he said, "President Cheng, I don’t quite understand what you mean!"
"Is that so?" Cheng Su was in no hurry and simply passed over a tissue, "Wipe your sweat!"
Chen Zhiquan was unbearably embarrassed. He took the tissue but didn’t wipe; he became even more tense.
"Zhiquan, you know how much effort our company has put in since its inception. If such contaminated jam were really to be consumed, tarnishing our company’s reputation would be the least of our worries; if it caused a fatality, that would be a major incident. I really can’t fathom who would have such a deep hatred against Joy Soon Loy to set up such a despicable trap against us," Cheng Su glared at him.
Chen Zhiquan pursed his lips and said, "President Cheng, the batch for Prosperous was delivered by Zhao Da on my behalf. I saw Master Liu and his team personally move it into the store. Could there be a problem with how it was stored?"
"Are you suggesting that this jam is indeed our company’s product and that there was an issue during production or with the vacuum packing that led to spoilage?" Cheng Su looked at him.
Chen Zhiquan said, "Do you think that might be possible?"
"It is possible, but this batch did not come from Joy Soon Loy; it’s obviously been tampered with and swapped out."
"But the labels and everything are real," Chen Zhiquan argued.
"That’s correct. But Zhiquan, Joy Soon Loy was founded by me; I personally developed the recipe. Others may not know whether it’s our company’s product, but wouldn’t I know?" Cheng Su said with a faint smile, lowering her eyelids, "It seems you also can’t explain it, so you may go now."
Chen Zhiquan was like a man reprieved, nodding his head.
But as he reached the door, Cheng Su’s voice came from behind him, "Zhiquan, whenever you’re ready to talk, come and find me!"
Chen Zhiquan trembled all over.
Watching him disappear at the doorway, Cheng Su’s eyes were deep and solemn. Ying Xiaoya approached and asked, "Susu, do you think he’s involved?"
Ying Xiaoya had been present throughout the conversation, so she had heard everything.
"What do you think?"
Ying Xiaoya cocked her head and said, "I’m not as sharp as you are at judging people, but since you spoke to him like that, he must definitely have an issue!"
Cheng Su sighed and said, "Yes, sometimes it’s better to be a bit naive; at least one isn’t prone to disappointment!"
A coincidence is a coincidence, but two coincidences are not by chance. On this thread, Chen Zhiquan’s name appeared twice. A coincidence? She didn’t believe it.
Wang Bo and Zhu Lifen each returned and reported on their respective conversations.
"Master Liu said that from the warehouse to the delivery to the stores, the goods they handled were indeed brought into each store directly, including those for Prosperous, without any interruptions," one of them mentioned.
Listening, Cheng Su pondered and asked, "So, from the warehouse to the delivery into the stores, there were no issues."
"Could it be the jam..." Zhu Lifen hesitated, as it’s not uncommon for food to spoil if not properly handled.
"Impossible, this is definitely not the jam from Joy Soon Loy!" Cheng Su interrupted her, "The same batch of goods, dispatched on the same day, to several outlets, and only the batch for Prosperous spoiled? Such a coincidence? Do you think that’s more credible?"
Zhu Lifen fell silent.
"Is there a possibility?" Ying Xiaoya suddenly spoke up, "Our jam did indeed get into Prosperous, but maybe Prosperous attached our labels to a batch of inferior, counterfeit jam and sold it off as luxury quality? Could it have been switched like that?"