Chapter 8: Negotiation
In July’s scorching heat, Liu Jun had just stepped out the door when he suddenly felt a wave of heat rushing toward him.
On the road, the old men wearing tank tops, shorts, and flip-flops looked at him with gazes that seemed to carry a hint of pity.
No kidding, in Linhai, a city where it’s almost summer all year round, only salespeople selling houses or insurance would dress like him.
Not sure if it was due to the mindset of “people fight for one breath, Buddha fights for one stick of incense,” but Liu Jun didn’t go home to get his own luxury car.
Wiping the sweat from his forehead, Liu Jun extinguished the burned-out cigarette butt in his hand, puffed out his chest, and walked toward the skyscraper not far ahead.
Deli Electric Power, a domestic wireless charging enterprise with top-three market share, has its technology adopted in many wireless charging solutions on the market today.
This was also Liu Jun’s first stop.
Limited by the current constraints of low voltage and low power in wireless charging technology, this market isn’t particularly large yet.
The global market prediction is around 50 billion.
Through these days of cramming, Liu Jun knew it was because of low voltage, low power, and high cost; this technology is mostly used only on personal smart terminals at present.
Such as mobile phones, tablets, smartwatches, and other related small devices.
But the high-voltage charging mastered by Xinghai is a technology that can bring earth-shaking changes to the entire industry.
Under the decision discussed with Fan Ren, Xinghai’s demand was simply to authorize this technology at an extremely low price, in exchange for a ticket to enter the game.
Liu Jun knew in his heart that this negotiation wouldn’t be difficult.
This was his battlefield.
“Hello, sir. Liu Jun?”
The receptionist coming toward him froze in place as soon as she opened her mouth.
Liu Jun looked up and saw that the person in front of him was Xu Min, dressed in a professional suit with a pair of black stockings on her straight legs.
‘Good grief, if Second Brother saw this, wouldn’t he be smitten into an idiot?’
After teasing inwardly, Liu Jun withdrew his gaze. Although he felt some disgust, the other party was just working here. Business was more important, so he had no intention of starting a fight.
“Yeah, help me make an appointment with your leader here. I have some business matters to discuss with him.”
Xu Min had learned from Fan Ren that Liu Jun’s family background was not simple. Her face was embarrassed at the moment, but she didn’t have the guts to cause trouble here. She nodded, asked him to wait a moment, then turned to pick up the desk phone.
“What Liu Jun? Don’t know him. What’s his identity? What’s his purpose? Didn’t you ask these clearly? Do I look idle to you?”
An impatient voice came from the other end of the phone, and Xu Min looked at Liu Jun with a sullen face.
“General Manager of Xinghai Technology. I have technology your company is interested in. Tell him that.”
Upon hearing this, a look of envy appeared on Xu Min’s pretty face.
Others come out of school as enterprise general managers, while she could only snag this company front desk job through Ma Wei’s connections.
People really can’t be compared.
Putting aside her random thoughts, Xu Min relayed Liu Jun’s visit intention over the phone. Only then did the other end agree to the meeting with Liu Jun.
After hanging up, the two didn’t exchange any other words and led Liu Jun toward the elevator.
Following behind Xu Min, Liu Jun couldn’t help but feel a bit mischievous seeing her deflated expression.
Not doing her job as “Chairman”‘s wife properly, but coming here to be a receptionist.
The receptionist job looks glamorous, with air conditioning and pretty outfits, no need to be exposed to wind and rain outside.
But he knew that this position faced customer tantrums externally and workplace harassment internally.
“Where’s Fan Ren? Has he found work now?”
In the elevator, Xu Min asked softly.
Liu Jun held back a laugh and said mischievously, “He’s been holed up in the rental apartment for two weeks, not sure what he’s tinkering with, all scruffy with beard.”
“Ah? He… I…”
Liu Jun interrupted unceremoniously: “It has nothing to do with you, don’t get ahead of yourself.”
With a ‘ding’, the elevator reached the corresponding floor, and their conversation stopped.
Xu Min quickly gathered her thoughts and led Liu Jun to a reception room.
“General Manager Ma, this is General Manager Liu of Xinghai.”
“Alright, you can go out now. Put some heart into your work.”
“Yes, General Manager Ma. I’ll go down first. You two chat.”
In the reception room, a pot-bellied bald man in a suit squinted and scolded the Xu Min in front of him.
To be honest, he was very dissatisfied that his son Ma Wei had taken a liking to this girl with no background.
Over these years, he had finally climbed to this position, and with his experience, he knew well that one must marry someone of equal social status, not a girl who offered no help to his career.
But there was no way around it; his son begged shamelessly. He finally agreed, but made his attitude clear overtly and covertly: playing around was fine, but don’t think about entering the Ma family door.
Xu Min kept her head down, her face flushed red from the scolding as she retreated. Only then did Ma Gaosheng change to a smiling face and invite Liu Jun to sit down.
How could he not know who Liu Jun was? What he said earlier was just intentional.
The Liu Family had been in business for three generations locally. Though just a supplier in a certain link of the communication industrial chain, they were strong in being the domestic exclusive and a fully privately owned enterprise, with quite a reputation in the local business circle.
One must know that in this era of rampant capital, owning a tens-of-billions personally sole proprietorship enterprise is extremely rare.
But Ma Gaosheng was also curious: a while ago, the Liu Family had a marriage alliance with a communication enterprise boss, and this Liu Jun in front of him had his successor position in the family overtaken by his younger brother Liu Neng.
So how did he now hold the title of “General Manager of Xinghai”?
Liu Jun explained his purpose, and Ma Gaosheng sitting opposite him listened in a fog.
“You mean Xinghai Technology was established less than a month ago?”
“Yes, General Manager Ma, but our technical achievements can withstand practical testing. If convenient, you can send someone to do on-site testing with me. Here, this is the technology patent proof.”
Ma Gaosheng was amused with anger; he didn’t even glance at the so-called patent proof handed over by Liu Jun.
“General Manager Liu, Young Master Liu, are you here to make fun of me? To tell you the truth, this kind of patent—I can casually find an engineer from a company’s Research and Development Department, and in less than a week, produce a prototype and get the patent proof. But does that work? Can it withstand market testing?”
Laughing and pointing at Liu Jun, Ma Gaosheng couldn’t help but say: “Making fun of me?”
A trace of displeasure appeared on Liu Jun’s face. He knew that with Xinghai’s current scale, it would be hard to make the other believe, so he immediately stated that on-site equipment testing was possible.
But unexpectedly, he was mercilessly mocked right after speaking.
“General Manager Ma, Xinghai’s founder won multiple domestic and international technology competition bonuses during university. And the equipment has passed testing. If you doubt this, feel free to send an engineer for on-site testing.”
“Enough, I’m very busy. No time to waste with you. See him out.”
Before the words finished, Ma Gaosheng stood up impatiently, waved his hand, and walked out.
To be honest, if Liu Jun were still the Liu Family’s first successor, he would give some face, at worst send an engineer to deal with it.
But obviously, Liu Jun, who had lost the Liu Family successor identity, wasn’t worth his time on this.
Listen to that—what breaking the high-voltage radio charging record, high voltage more than twice the existing technology.
As the manager of Deli Electric Power’s Linhai Branch, he knew a fair bit about wireless charging business.
The highest voltage commercially viable on the market now is only 300-400V. How could an obscure little company founded less than a month ago have such a huge breakthrough?
Patents—that thing, only useful ones are patents; useless ones are just crap!
If this isn’t making fun of him, what is?
