ABT Chapter 201: Not Falling for Your Trick
On the large bed in the suite’s bedroom, Li Fanyu and An Ning were wrapped in a thin blanket like two white fish. The afterglow of their passion still lingered on An Ning’s face.
It was at this moment that the phone rang inopportunely.
Li Fanyu grumbled softly and slowly drew his arm out from under An Ning, answering the call.
On the other end was Kang Tongcheng’s magnetic voice: "Brother, I left early last night. I heard you had a bit of a disagreement with Xu Guangsheng?"
Li Fanyu rolled his eyes: "What disagreement? I had a great time with Mr. Xu last night, we drank a lot and enjoyed ourselves. What’s up, Mr. Kang?"
"Well, if it's convenient for you, why don't we meet up and talk? I've already booked a place, I'll text you the address. By the way, you made quite a name for yourself at the association yesterday. To be safe, let's stick to tea instead of alcohol today. How about it?"
Li Fanyu: "..."
More than an hour later, Li Fanyu arrived at a very elegant tea house. The location was a bit secluded, but it looked quite impressive.
He didn't bring An Ning along; he felt that if Kang Tongcheng was really interested in introducing platform technology, today would just be to convey an intention. There was no need for both him and An Ning, the two top executives of the company, to go together, as that might give the impression they were overly eager.
The tea house was large and very distinctive. In the lobby on the first floor, there was even a performance, with a girl with a strong southern charm playing the pipa with an affectionate expression.
As Li Fanyu walked past, he smacked his lips—this setting would be even more appealing if the girl were replaced by a man in round sunglasses playing the erhu.
Hmm, perhaps "The Moon Reflected in Two Springs" would be nice.
Led by the server, Li Fanyu arrived at a private room on the second floor. The tea room inside wasn’t large, and the tea table had a narrow, antique design.
Seeing Li Fanyu enter, Kang Tongcheng quickly stood up to invite him to sit.
Due to the layout, guests could only sit on the floor facing each other, which unintentionally brought them closer. Although they were drinking tea and chatting, it didn’t feel distant.
Watching Kang Tongcheng skillfully arrange the tea set and start brewing tea, Li Fanyu joked, "It seems Mr. Kang comes here often? You didn’t really invite me for tea just to avoid me throwing up on you, did you?"
Kang Tongcheng laughed heartily and shook his head: "Not at all, just kidding. I invited you for tea today mainly because I don't discuss business while drinking. Since I wanted to talk about cooperation with you, tea it is."
Li Fanyu liked this straightforward approach. Using a bamboo stick to stir the tea leaves in the box, he said with a smile, "The more you drink, the more confused you get with alcohol; with tea, the more you drink, the clearer you get. Not discussing business while drinking is a good habit."
Kang Tongcheng nodded: "That's the idea."
After a few polite exchanges, Kang Tongcheng steered the conversation to the main topic. As expected, Guangqi was indeed interested in introducing platform technology.
Before coming, An Ning had briefed Li Fanyu on Guangqi's situation, which was similar to what Kang Tongcheng had just described. From this point, it seemed he wasn’t playing any tricks on Li Fanyu.
After listening, Li Fanyu nodded and said, "Mr. Kang, you speak straightforwardly, so I won’t beat around the bush. I can provide Guangqi with the platform technology. But I’m curious, what price can you offer?"
Kang Tongcheng pondered for a moment, "Guangqi is currently on a tight budget. Although the sales after the launch of Legend have been good, we spent everything to acquire those three production lines. We also know a bit about Zhengxin’s situation; capacity is the main constraint on your development right now. How about this: we exchange one production line for your platform technology. This way, neither side loses, and it’s a win-win."
Not lose...
Li Fanyu felt a toothache; come on, I just praised you in my mind, and now you're playing tricks on me!
He grimaced, "Mr. Kang, this isn’t fair. How much did it cost to develop your Legend SUV?"
"Nearly seven hundred million."
Li Fanyu pressed on, "How long did it take?"
Kang Tongcheng’s face turned red: "Uh… seven years..."
Li Fanyu leaned forward and asked, "After introducing our platform technology and developing modularly, how much would it cost to develop a car, and how long would it take?"
"Ahem, given Guangqi’s current research and development capabilities, if we rely on the platform for development... it would still take 6-8 months and about 200 million yuan."
Li Fanyu spread his hands, "Mr. Kang, you're only talking about one model, right? If you rely on the A4 platform and derive four models, how much time and money would you save? How much is one Mitsubishi production line worth?"
Kang Tongcheng was somewhat stumped by his series of questions. To cover his embarrassment, he poured more tea for Li Fanyu.
"Brother, we can’t always talk about money... You know the current situation of the domestic automobile industry. To be modest, Zhengxin and Guangqi together support half of the national automobile industry. Deepening cooperation between our two companies can drive the development of the entire industry..."
Li Fanyu didn’t respond, he picked up his tea cup and drank it all in one gulp, showing no regard for the fact that it was a premium Da Hong Pao tea.
When I’m sincere, you play tricks on me, and now when I talk about money, you want to talk about ideals?
Pah! As if I’d fall for that!
Seeing Li Fanyu remain silent, Kang Tongcheng shook his head helplessly, "Brother, name your price."
Li Fanyu held up two fingers, "Two production lines!"
Kang Tongcheng’s composure finally broke. He widened his eyes and waved his hands, "No way, absolutely not! Those are Mitsubishi Heavy Industries MIsubi lines, put into use only 12 years ago. We got a good deal, and one line still cost us over 700 million yuan!"
Hearing this, Li Fanyu stood up and started walking toward the door, "Well, then forget it, I don’t think we can negotiate this."
Hmph! The first trick of the Li negotiation method—bait and switch!
One step, two steps, three steps, four steps... looking at the sky.
Huh? Why hasn’t he chased after me or called for me to stop? Li Fanyu turned around and glanced back.
"Brother... let’s not play these games between us," Kang Tongcheng said helplessly, rubbing his temples.
Li Fanyu blushed; alright, the first trick of the Li negotiation method, ineffective.
He stood at the door, pretending to be in a difficult position, "Brother Kang, I'm in a tough spot too... Zhengxin is a private company, not as wealthy as your state-owned enterprise. We need to eat too..."
Kang Tongcheng waved his hand, "Brother, to be honest, Chairman Xue’s bottom line was one production line. This isn’t something I can decide on my own. How about this, I’ll go back and discuss it with Chairman Xue, and we’ll touch base again. How about that?"
Li Fanyu hadn’t planned to finalize anything today anyway, so he nodded in agreement. Although the matter wasn’t settled, Kang Tongcheng didn’t leave immediately.
Even if the deal wasn’t made, there was still goodwill to maintain, especially since the deal might still happen. The two listened to some music and chatted for a while before leaving together.
NEXTNEXT