Chapter 19: Breach Of Contract
Accompanying the completion of the contract signing with Deli Electric Power, Aomei Electric Power and De Suo Group finally couldn’t sit still any longer.
Both parties accelerated the negotiation process, and in the end, they all completed the contract signing procedures by the end of August.
Under Liu Jun’s efforts, the prices negotiated by these two companies were finalized at 800 million, each one billion more than Deli.
As the money in the company account grew more and more, a series of R&D work gradually unfolded.
In mid-August, all company employees moved into the office.
For Xinghai’s first high-voltage wireless charging product, Fan Ren chose the charging pile business.
Under his lead, heading a group of design department and R&D Department employees. He was responsible for the main design, and the employees handled the supplementary details.
Soon, the R&D of the first product entered its final stage.
However, no matter how they rushed, Sea Cow and San Xin, the two enterprises, under massive investments regardless of cost, released their first charging pile products ahead of them.
In the Xinghai Meeting Room, as San Xin’s press conference came to an end, the room instantly fell silent.
Fan Ren turned off the display screen, looking at the crowd in the room with their low morale, and couldn’t help but smile silently.
“Let me say a few words.”
He lightly tapped the table, bringing everyone back to their senses.
“Everyone need not be discouraged. I believe everyone knows by now that I myself am the patent holder of this charging technology.”
“In terms of product release, we are indeed behind these two companies. But I think that’s normal.”
“On the contrary, I think everyone present is remarkable!”
“Why? Because Xinghai has been founded for less than three months, and you all have been with Xinghai Technology for less than two months.”
“But in such a short time, our product R&D progress is only about a week behind these two companies. And this was achieved even though they started R&D before us.”
“Moreover, many may not know yet, but as the technical development founder, I am confident that in the high-voltage wireless charging field, no company’s product can surpass mine!”
After these words, the employees in the meeting room couldn’t help but show some excitement on their faces.
Among them, some older employees still did not look favorably on the project.
But several young employees were inspired by Fan Ren.
Fan Ren took all this in, nodding inwardly and quietly noting these young faces.
After the meeting, Fan Ren went to Liu Jun’s office and closed the door behind him.
Liu Jun was also busy here, just glancing at Fan Ren while on the telephone without any response, continuing to communicate on the phone.
Lighting a cigarette on his own, Fan Ren reached for a document on the office desk and quietly flipped through it.
After all, coming from a merchant family since childhood, Liu Jun had already secured charging pile projects for dozens of car 4S stores in Linhai City Area and surrounding areas with his somewhat limited connections.
Fan Ren looked at the negotiated prices, and with a quick mental calculation, he knew these were obviously unprofitable.
But this was something he had discussed with Liu Jun in advance.
In his idea, the main purpose of developing the high-voltage wireless charging project was to cultivate a group of capable generals for Xinghai.
Now, in Xinghai’s account, aside from the R&D and daily expenses spent these days, there was still a staggering 3.2 billion in funds.
Only 200 million had been spent—not painful at all!
A string of numbers flashed through Fan Ren’s mind, but his hand couldn’t help covering his chest, trying to mask the slight pain.
“What’s wrong? Uncomfortable?”
Liu Jun hung up the phone and saw Fan Ren rubbing his chest, looking puzzled.
Over the many years he’d known him, Second Brother didn’t like exercising, but his health wasn’t that bad.
In his words, poor people are easy to raise, with very high resistance, no need for exercise.
“Nothing, another dinner party tonight?”
“Hey, how can business be done without drinking? Now you know how tough it is to do real industry, right?”
Liu Jun shook his head nonchalantly. That call just now had arranged a dinner party with a district manager from a new energy car company.
Whether it would succeed was uncertain, but at least you had to strive in that direction.
And the direction of striving was drinking.
Looking at Liu Jun’s nonchalant appearance, Fan Ren felt somewhat sorry for his good brother.
“No need to be in such a hurry, you don’t have to…”
“Go, go, I warn you, don’t dampen my enthusiasm. What did you come to see me for?”
Liu Jun couldn’t stand hearing this and quickly changed the subject.
What a joke, he was a shareholder!
In his father’s words: A successful merchant is someone who constantly prepares for the next opportunity that might come at any time. No opportunity? Then create one yourself!
Fan Ren didn’t dwell on it and stated his purpose.
The R&D of the new product was entering its final stage, but the previously contacted foundry had run into trouble.
It was quite speechless.
The wireless charging market was originally not large, and various foundries controlled their production capacity strictly, never daring to increase productivity.
But now, with the emergence of a new revolutionary technology, industry leaders led by San Xin were frantically placing orders with those foundries within their capacity limits.
And Xinghai’s previously negotiated Yun Kang Manufacturing had substantially raised the previously agreed price because of this.
They were even willing to pay 10 million in liquidated damages for it!
Why did they dare to do this? Because currently, foundry capacity was in short supply, and corresponding foundry fees had also increased significantly.
If Xinghai didn’t agree to their demands, even if they paid the liquidated damages and abandoned cooperation with Xinghai, they wouldn’t lack orders from other manufacturers.
After hearing this, Liu Jun couldn’t help but curse a few harsh words under his breath.
But that wouldn’t solve the problem.
This was the sorrow of small companies—no fame or strong legal department, so others could breach contracts at will.
You simply couldn’t negotiate a liquidated damages amount at the initial order that would deter them from breaching.
Liu Jun pondered for a long time, finished a cigarette, but came up with no good solution.
After thinking, he said helplessly: “I’ll make time in the next couple of days to go to Yun Kang and talk to their boss. Damn, I didn’t expect that woman to look so harmless but play this hand behind the scenes.”
Then he continued, “But I have to give you a heads-up first. I don’t think I’ll negotiate anything substantial even if I go. You know the current market—supply exceeds demand.”
After hearing this, Fan Ren thought for a moment and shook his head: “You’re busy and can’t get away. Anyway, R&D is wrapping up, so leave it to the employees. Later, send me Yun Kang’s contact info and general information, and I’ll go there personally.”
After that, the two discussed some market details, and Fan Ren then returned to his own office.
Sitting on the thick sofa, Fan Ren’s consciousness returned to his mind.
Basic Science: Level 1 (192/1000)
Electronics: Level 1 (237/1000)
Mechanics: Level 1 (239/1000)
Materials Science: Level 1 (241/1000)
Space Science: Level 1 (5/1000)
With the R&D work these days, the various data on the Seed of Civilization in his mind continued to grow steadily as expected.
He just didn’t know when the next technology unlock would be.
Fan Ren clearly felt that as his knowledge of related disciplines increased, the data growth had also slowed down.
Not like the huge improvement during the first R&D.
Probably mainly because only learning new knowledge he hadn’t learned before could increase the data.
For example, this time’s wireless charging pile R&D had many technical aspects the same as the prototype from his first R&D.
Not much new learned.
Consciousness exited his mind, Fan Ren didn’t think much more, and immediately opened his email to browse the information about Yun Kang Manufacturing that Liu Jun had sent.
