The mention of the intelligent lathe made Xia Lei’s anger flare.
He had gone to Germany with Long Bing back then, risking life imprisonment and even death to steal the design plans for the intelligent lathe. When he had made it back to China, China Industrial Group was unable to make a machine of the right specifications and he had built Josef’s intelligent lathe with his own two hands. China Industrial Group had turned up again and used their higher status to buy away his lathe when he had been poised to do great work with this intelligent lathe, even forbidding him from copying it.
What was sold was sold and he didn’t hang onto that bit of the past – it was for the nation after all and he had also received a sizeable monetary reward just at the time that he needed it. It was different now though. His business was on the right track and his future bright, so he was not going to let the fruit of his labour be taken from him again!
Mu Jianfeng wanted to do the same thing, and repeat the forced buying deal from before – how could this not anger him?
Before Xia Lei could speak, Ye Kun interrupted to say, “Xia Lei, it was a good thing for you back then to be able to sell the intelligent lathe to China Industrial Group. You contributed to the nation. After we buy your military factory, you shall receive one more note of honour upon your record of contributions to the nation and you will gain even more from it. Be decisive. Name a price.”
‘Be decisive. Name a price.’?
What was he, the emperor?
Ahn Suhyeong looked at Xia Lei in schadenfreude. He seemed to know something.
Shentu Tianyin looked worriedly at Xia Lei. She couldn’t help in matters like these and could not casually speak up either.
“You done?” Xia Lei finally spoke after keeping himself under control. “If you’re done then I have something to say too. One word. No.”
“You’d better think it through!” Ye Kun was starting to turn hostile.
Xia Lei scoffed. “I’ve thought it through, nice and clear. No. Can’t you hear? Who do you think you are? Think you can do whatever you want?”
“Xia Lei.” Mu Jianfeng stepped in to mediate again. “I’ll say something as a middleman. Don’t think so simply of this matter. Honestly, I regard you highly, you young man. I don’t want you to go too far down the wrong path.”
“Is me not selling my own company ‘walking down the wrong path’?” Xia Lei looked at Mu Jianfeng. “Elder Mu, I respect you but that doesn’t mean I’ll listen to you. My stand on this is clear, so say no more or it would be awkward to meet again.”
Xia Lei’s meaning was clear: If you help your pupil in hoodwinking me then we won’t be friends anymore.
Mu Jianfeng smiled wryly and shook his head. “Stubborn as always. Must I make it clear?”
“Speak,” said Xia Lei.
“Never mind. It’s better if you say it, Ye Kun.” Mu Jianfeng did not pull his old fox mask off and even left himself some breathing room.
Ye Kun looked at Xia Lei, his gaze full of anger. “I’ll explain it to you, Xia Lei. If you don’t sell to me today, your little military factory is doomed. I have the power to make it so that you won’t be able to sell a single gun. I also have the power to get people to come inspect your factory multiple times and shut down your operations. And just one word from me and the skilled labour in your military factory will come to us, Hanwu Weapons. They will have the skills needed to do your jobs and come to our company to make your products. What will you fight us with then?”
These three points were like three stabs of the knife, each one cutting at the lifeline of the newly-established Thunder Horse Military Factory. What was worse was that Ye Kun was not saying big, empty words. He did have the power to wield these knives and stab at Thunder Horse Military Factory this way.
Mu Jianfeng sighed. “Sell, Xia Lei. I guarantee that Hanwu Weapons will give you a price that you’d be satisfied with. You have the capabilities but you don’t have to enter the military sector. Take the money. You’ll be able to do a lot of things with it.”
To put it simply, they wanted to chase Xia Lei out of this sector.
Tang Yuyan was right. How could a civilian private company enter a monopolised sector? And this civilian company had the ability to topple the mountains in this sector too!
“Ai.” Xia Lei sighed. “What you said worries me. All right, all right, I’ll name a price.”
Mu Jianfeng and Ye Kun couldn’t help exchanging looks, barely keeping their glee under wraps. They knew full well the value of the XL2500.
Ahn Suhyeong spoke scornfully, “And I thought you had guts. You said so much and went in such a roundabout way but that was all for more money. A labourer is still a labourer.”
Xia Lei pretended not to have heard this barb; he just smiled.
“Name a price, Mr Xia,” said Ye Kun with a smile. “2,000,000,000?”
Xia Lei shook his head.
“3,000,000,000?” Ye Kun was cursing him inside already.
Xia Lei shook his head.
Ye Kun couldn’t hold it in anymore. “Mr Xia, I am not Mr Moneybags. 3,000,000,000 is the highest price I can offer. Know when to stop.”
Xia Lei spoke evenly. “The price you quote is still far from what I’m expecting. Adding two more zeros to the end of that number is more like it.”
Adding two more zeros meant 300,000,000,000.
Ye Kun’s expression changed once this price was mentioned. “How dare you ask for so much, Xia Lei!”
Xia Lei sneered, “No money? Why pretend to be rich then? You want to buy but I don’t want to sell. You’re forcing me to sell and I’ve named my price but you can’t afford it. Are you joking with me?”
“You…” Ye Kun had never been ridiculed in this way. Never.
Mu Jianfeng did not have a pleasant expression on his face either but he didn’t say anything more. He could already tell that Xia Lei had no plans to sell Thunder Horse Military Factory.
“Mr Ye,” said Xia Lei, “You say you have the power to shut down my military factory. I do believe that you have this power but I also believe in our country’s laws, and our country’s decision-making. They will not let someone like you have your way.”
Ye Kun harrumphed. “Just you try, and you’ll see!”
“There is no one in our country who can keep the truth from the masses – not you either. I’m going to Russia tomorrow and the XL2500 sniper rifle is going to make a splash there. Don’t even talk about not being able to sell it – the people who want it will have to see what mood I’m in if they want to buy.”
Ye Kun’s face darkened and he did not speak.
Xia Lei continued, “You say you can get people to keep coming to my factory to carry out inspections and make it stop operations. Let me tell you – when the XL2500 becomes the best sniper rifle in the world, and when the world finally exclaims at the prowess of our Chinese military production, will you still be able to cause trouble for me and make me stop production? The higher-ups will be the first ones to stomp you dead!”
Ye Kun’s face darkened further.
Xia Lei went on. “And the point about you taking away our skilled labour – I welcome it, as long as you pay them better. I will be glad for them to earn more. My Thunder Horse Group has its roots in machining, and every worker is a machinist. I currently have almost 2,000 workers. If you take all of them then I’ll throw them a sending-off party too.”
“Enough!” Ye Kun was irate. “Just you wait!”
Mu Jianfeng shook his head. “Forget it, forget it. I’m off. It’s between the two of you so you two talk it out.”
An old fox indeed. He had been putting pressure on Xia Lei just a while earlier but he had maintained a degree of flexibility for himself and a way out, just barely in abject opposition. It was plain to see that Ye Kun was his student but had not learnt all of the old fox’s wiles.
Ye Kun pointed a finger at Xia Lei but said nothing. He left.
Ahn Suhyeong was making fun of Xia Lei earlier but he could not laugh now. The stance Xia Lei had displayed, his negotiation technique – these were not anything a person born with a silver spoon such as he could emulate.
Xia Lei’s gaze went to Ahn Suhyeong and he smiled as he said, “How about we play another game, Mr Ahn? A bet of 200,000,000?”
“Humph! Let’s go.” Ahn Suhyeong left too.
The blonde-haired, blue-eyed man stared straight at Xia Lei, and went off with Ahn Suhyeong.
Xia Lei kept his gaze on that caucasian man and looked thoughtful.
“How unexpected.” Shentu Tianyin laughed. “I thought you wouldn’t be able to stand your ground and sell off your military factory but you actually sent Ye Kun away with his ears flaming. You know what? If it were me I would sell it for 5,000,000,000. I think Ye Kun would have considered it if you quoted this price.”
Xia Lei shook his head. “There are some things money cannot buy.”
“Like?” Shentu Tianyin looked at Xia Lei with interest.
“Too many to count. I’ll give you a simple example. America is the leader in the weapon technology and our foreign exchange reserves rank number one in the world, but can we buy the technology of the Americans? No amount of money can buy that.”
Shentu Tianyin paused. She’d thought that Xia Lei would use love or family as an example but had not expected him to talk about America.
It was true. The current situation was one where China wanted to exchange a fighter plane from America with its weight in gold but the Americans were not even taking notice of the offer.
Fu Mingmei interrupted with a laugh, “Xia Lei, you’re unexpectedly patriotic, talking about all these nice ideals so smoothly like that. But you were quite cool when you were giving that Ye Kun a tongue-lashing. I respect that.”
Shentu Tianyin rolled her eyes at Fu Mingmei. “Don’t add on to it. Cool is cool but can being cool solve the problem?”
Fu Mingmei pursed her lips but she sneakily stuck a thumb-up at Xia Lei.
“I’m actually quite worried, Lei. Mu Jianfeng and Ye Kun are not ordinary people. They represent a part of military power and you’re entering the military industry too. That sector is one that not even I dare to think of… I’m worried that you’ll run into a lot of problems in the future.”
Xia Lei gave a laugh. “I am not afraid of trouble. I would have sold just now if I were afraid of them. Why offend them? If I dare to scold Ye Kun, it means I’m not afraid of him. People like him are self-righteous and arrogant. Someone has to stand up to people like him and stomp his arrogance out.”
Shentu Tianyin sighed again. “Forget it, let’s not talk about this anymore. There are many things about you which worry me but I can’t seem to caution you.”
“Aren’t you the same? I can’t seem to caution you on some matters either,” said Xia Lei.
Fu Mingmei interrupted again. “You two have stubborn characters and can’t persuade each other out of stuff. Looks to me like you two should just have a fight when you have a disagreement in the future, and the winner will get to decide. Won’t that work then?”
Shentu Tianyin was amused by her words. “Won’t that mean that I would have to listen to him in everything?”
“You can appoint a representative. I can fight in your place,” said Fu Mingmei.
“Shoo, shoo, go book a restaurant,” said Shentu Tianyin. “Xia Lei is going to Russia tomorrow. We have to send him off.”
“Right away.” Fu Mingmei didn’t want to be a third wheel. She took the caddy with her too when she left.
Just Shentu Tianyin and Xia Lei were left on the green.
Their eyes met but nothing was said for quite a while.
“Nn.” Shentu Tianyin broke the silence. “Teach me how to play golf.”
“I learnt it all from you, so why are you asking me to teach you?” said Xia Lei with a laugh.
“Liar. How can it be your first time playing golf when you’re so good? Are you going to teach me, or not? I’ll ignore you if you won’t teach me.” Shentu Tianyin’s voice had a rare degree of warmth.
Xia Lei was speechless.
