Zhang Yang had no idea about saponin, but he was quite familiar with tea seed residue.

Tea seed residue is the leftover after tea seeds are pressed for oil. Many freshwater aquaculture bosses like to use it to clear the fish in their ponds. When sprinkled into the pond in the right proportions, it doesn't take long for all the small fish to die.

Before the rise of synthetic aquaculture drugs, this was a very common and cost-effective solution for clearing small fish.

All animals have the instinct to seek benefits and avoid harm. Using a bait with such toxic substances to fish in a competition would be ridiculous.

"Alright, I got it! Just keep this to yourself, don't let any third party know!" Zhang Yang nodded seriously, giving a firm reminder.

"Don't worry, I handled it myself, no one else was involved! What's going on? Are you in trouble?" Yu Dong asked with concern.

"Just a little trouble, now that I have the results, I know what's up! You carry on with your work, I'm leaving now. Let's meet up at the store this weekend if we're free; maybe let our mom cook us a few dishes, and have a drink together!"

"Alright, let's plan for it later!"

After leaving the laboratory, Zhang Yang got in the car but didn't start it immediately. He lit a cigarette and began to ponder.

In the team, there are only a few people, Meng Fan, Liu Zi, Xiaobao, and Han Mocheng.

Han Mocheng had the highest level of angling skills and was appointed as the temporary captain, responsible for preparing the bait during fishing.

If you think a bit darkly, is it possible for him to be up to something?

Zhang Yang felt it was unlikely. First, with his temperament, there was no need. Even if you ignore personal traits and just look at the pros and cons, as the captain responsible for preparing bait, he wouldn't sabotage the bait, as it would be like digging a pit for himself.

What about Meng Fan? Zhang Yang felt it was even less likely. If he were the one causing trouble, he wouldn't have needed to secretly save a sample of the bait to bring back to Zhang Yang. That wouldn't make sense either.

Then what about Liu Zi and Xiaobao?

From what Zhang Yang knew about the two, Liu Zi's character was absolutely trustworthy, someone you could entrust your back to at any time.

In comparison, Zhang Yang felt less certain about Xiaobao's temperament.

Xiaobao, being older than Liu Zi, had picked up some bad habits from society. Although he behaved reasonably well in the team, he never gained Zhang Yang's full trust like Liu Zi.

Could it be him? Zhang Yang fully engaged his cautious thinking, but with so little information, he pondered for a long time without any reliable conclusion.

For now, he decided not to dwell on it since it was already a done deal, and finding out the truth would be quite difficult.

Zhang Yang just kept this matter to himself, maintaining a nonchalant demeanor as if nothing had happened.

In the following week, Zhang Yang became relaxed again. Lao Zhao presented a more detailed marketing strategy for the new bait's promotional advertisement and tournament sponsorship. Zhang Yang only took a few quick glances, made minor adjustments, and entered the execution phase.

Spending two hundred thousand, they set up a new advertisement sign for the renowned brand "Yellow Storm" fish bait in the prime spot at the entrance plaza of Jinghai Garden. Then another three hundred thousand was spent establishing three individual ten-thousand-yuan prize "black pit" tournaments.

The preparation and execution of all events were entirely handled by Lao Ma's side, while Zhang Yang's team assumed a hands-off approach, not inquiring into the specific implementation at Jinghai Garden.

In contrast to Jinghai Garden's completely laid-back attitude, the company had to work harder on the sponsorship strategy with local regional agents nationwide.

Lao Zhao arranged for staff to conduct phone follow-ups with existing regional agents, then invited all major agents to the company headquarters in W City for an in-person meeting to express the company's intent to promote the new product.

The company headquarters was willing to allocate a large budget to sponsor tournaments, which was undoubtedly great news for regional agents.

Agents and the parent company were stalwart supporters in the same camp. To put it bluntly, the parent company's sponsorship of tournaments was equivalent to spending money to help regional agents develop and nurture the market. Anyone with even a bit of sense would certainly not refuse.

After the offline communication meeting concluded, a decision was immediately made to allocate competition sponsorship amounts ranging from five to eighty thousand yuan for each major region to support organizing offline "black pit" tournaments.

They then selected regions with representative fishing conditions to have Wang Yan's "black pit" livestream team parachute in to engage in PK exchanges with local anglers, striving to maximize the hype.

After this combination of efforts, in just over a month, the new bait "Yellow Storm" quickly gained nationwide recognition.

The company's operational data clearly showed a significant result. With less than two million spent on sponsorships, the outcome was a dramatic increase in new bait orders from all major offline agents.

Apart from the existing old agents, many previously untouched market areas also had numerous people in the fishing gear industry starting to contact the company through various channels, seeking product agency and distribution.

Zhang Yang and Lao Zhao slightly underestimated the chain reaction effect after investing so much in advertising, as the warehouse stock was quickly sold out, unable to withstand even the first wave of peak orders.