Reborn in 1994, escaping from marriage and going sea fishing, I won!

Director Wu looked at Lai Sanmao, who had just been rescued from the people's fists. "What he did is already considered a fraud! Send him to the town hospital for examination. If there's no problem, detain him directly."

Lai Sanmao gritted his teeth and defended himself: "I didn't know it would be like this. The tools I bought were originally like this!"

Director Wu sneered: "Then tell us where you bought the tools, and we'll investigate!"

Lai Sanmao was stunned when he heard this and stammered, "Yes...my friend bought it for me!"

"Which friend?" Director Wu asked.

"Yes..." Lai Sanmao couldn't continue his story. He had custom-made this tool set. He knew that if he lied now, Director Wu would send someone to investigate and he might even be charged with another crime. So he pretended to faint and slumped to the ground.

After coming out of the police station, Mr. Liu walked straight to a crowded place and joined the villagers in chatting.

Uncle Zhou was telling everyone in a vivid voice, "I told you all along, those people from outside aren't reliable! The purchase price they offer seems high, but in reality, they lower the grade of the pearls, and in the end, we lose even more! If you don't believe me, just use Lai Sanmao's broken tools to test them, and then calculate based on the price. Did you get too much or too little for the pearls?"

At this point, Uncle Li quickly took over the conversation, "There haven't been any major storms this year, so we haven't lost more than 10% of our cultured pearls. We've saved 95% and the quality is excellent. But just now I saw Ergou at the village entrance making only 20% more from pearls than last year."

Another old man echoed: "Even if we sell it to Dafu Jewelry, we should at least make 50% more!"

Uncle Zhou stamped his feet in anger. "It's one thing for a foreign businessman to cheat people, but this Lai Sanmao is no good either! He's been out there for a few years, but instead of learning any real skills, he's become a master of deception. He helped a big company buy pearls, used fake tools to cheat, and profited from the difference in price, making a lot of dirty money!"

Someone chimed in, "From now on, the people on our island must not be deceived by outsiders. Sell your pearls honestly to Dafu Jewelry and don't trade with those shady people. These people are full of bad intentions, and who knows how they'll try to cheat us in the future!"

For a moment, the villagers on the entire island were in an uproar and talked about it.

Finally, everyone came to the town government together and begged Mayor Tang to come forward and negotiate with the people from Roland Company.

"Mayor, please help us! We've been ripped off!" a villager said bitterly. "This year's pearl harvest is so good, but based on the measurements they made with fake tools, our income is only a little bit higher than last year."

Another villager added, "If they don't give us a reasonable explanation, we'll sue them! Not only will they not return their deposit, but we'll also sell all the pearls to Dafu Jewelry."

Mayor Tang reassured everyone, "Please be quiet, folks. The matter hasn't been fully investigated yet. I'll contact Roland Company right away. Please wait a moment."

In front of everyone, Mayor Tang got Lisa's phone number from Liu Meilan.

Lisa was stunned when she received the call from Mayor Tang. "Our company has absolutely never done anything like this. Someone must be behind this, taking advantage of the situation to profit! I'm calling the police right now and I'm going to catch that bad guy!"

Mayor Tang breathed a sigh of relief and said seriously, "No matter what, you must deal with this matter as soon as possible. We have evidence that Lai Sanmao committed fraud, and he has been detained! If you don't handle this well, the islanders will hire lawyers to sue you. Not only will you not be refunded your deposit, but you will never be sold the pearls."

Lisa then realized the seriousness of the problem and immediately decided to go to Sifang Island in person: "Mayor Tang, I will call the police now and will go to the island immediately to deal with this matter."

Mayor Tang nodded and urged, "Then hurry up! If you're any later, I can't guarantee the villagers will do anything drastic!"

After hanging up the phone, Lisa immediately contacted the company's legal department and then went to the police station with them to report the case. Although the investigation would take time, Lisa couldn't wait and asked Mayor Tang for permission to go to Sifang Island in advance.

This time, she brought not only a lawyer but also a staff member to oversee the acquisition, and she also prepared sufficient funds. Even if it meant spending more, Lisa was determined to ensure the successful completion of the pearl acquisition. Otherwise, all her achievements this year would be less than the losses caused by this one mistake.

Mayor Tang wanted the matter to be resolved as quickly as possible to avoid mass incidents, so he took the initiative to guarantee Lisa and personally went to the dock to pick them up.

Seeing Mayor Tang waiting at the dock, Lisa quickly disembarked, her face apologetic. "Mayor Tang, I'm so sorry to trouble you! The police are working with the Sifang Island police station to investigate this matter, and a decision will be forthcoming soon. But in the meantime, to appease the farmers, I've decided to give each one a 2000 yuan subsidy as a small compensation."

Mayor Tang waved his hand and said bluntly, "Don't be so frivolous. 2000 yuan won't do anything. The pearl harvest is good this year. If you just buy according to the contract price, the farmers' income will naturally increase, and the problem will be solved."

He paused and added seriously, "Don't cheat like you did before. If something like this happens again, everyone in your company will be beaten up, and even we won't be able to control it. Didn't you bring people with you? Start the acquisition quickly. You get what you pay for. Work hard and there will be no problems."

Lisa originally planned to start the purchase after compensating the breeders. Since Mayor Tang said that no additional subsidies were needed, this was a good way to save the expense, so she immediately agreed to arrange the purchase.

At this point, the farmers had already graded their pearls at home and were carrying them directly to the purchasing point to sell them. However, because some villagers had previously torn up their contracts with Dafu Jewelry without authorization, Dafu Jewelry no longer allowed them to use the company's sterile workshop to mine pearls.

Zhou Xingwang saw that pearl mining required a sterile workshop. Although the initial investment was large, the profits would be considerable in the long run. So he simply invested in building a sterile workshop specifically for pearl mining.

His fee is not low, five dollars for digging a pearl oyster. Even so, half of the pearl farmers on the island dig their pearls from him.

Perhaps influenced by Lai Sanmao's practice of "passing off large pearls as small ones," farmers are also tempted to pass off small pearls as large ones when selling them. Lisa specifically has her purchasing staff re-measure each pearl, confirming its accuracy before purchasing each one.

In addition, Lisa opened a bank account on the island in advance and transferred the money on the spot when purchasing the fish, never delaying the payment. This quick and decisive approach finally calmed the farmers' anger.

At the same time, everyone discovered that after fair and authentic measurement using tools and purchasing according to the contract price, their income increased by 60% compared to last year. This good profit made the farmers overjoyed, and they happily deposited the money into the bank.

For a long time, those farmers who have signed contracts with Dafu Jewelry have seen that other villagers sell to Roland Company at higher prices, and they also hope that Dafu Jewelry can increase the purchase price.

After Wang Lemei learned of Roland's purchase price, she approached Liu Meilan and Tang Xiaoyu to discuss, "How about we raise the purchase price as well?"

Liu Meilan hesitated: "If the price goes up, our costs will increase a lot."

Wang Lemei explained with a wry smile, "I've been keeping an eye on the pearl acquisition situation on Sifang Island. If our price is lower than Roland Company's, maybe no one will be willing to sell pearls to us in the future. Xiaoyu's family has so many pearls, I'm sure her relatives feel the same way."