Chapter 55: Powerful Opponent
Chapter 55: Chapter 55: Powerful Opponent
Perhaps hearing the noise outside, or maybe because the appointed time was drawing near, Feng Feifei came out with Hou Fei to greet them, just as Chen Xiao was leading Cha Lan and Xu Wu through the door.
After making introductions for both parties, Chen Xiao stepped aside.
Feng Feifei invited Cha Lan, Xu Wu, and their party to the conference room for a meeting.
Cha Lan was very polite. After all, Chen Xiao was giving him seven million in orders a week, and had now brought him in to collaborate on this major project. This was about more than a single order; it opened up a new business channel with immense future potential.
"President Cha, please have a seat. We’re a small company, so our space is a little tight," Feng Feifei said modestly.
"You’re too humble, President Feng. If you ask me which company in the industry has the most potential, it has to be Dr. Feng’s Robot. Your technical prowess and business capabilities are both top-notch!"
This kind of empty business flattery was best just to listen to and forget. Once the support staff served tea, both sides got down to business.
There were no issues with the division of R&D labor, but a disagreement arose when it came to profit sharing.
Hou Fei laid out Dr. Feng’s Robot’s reasoning: the company had secured the project and was providing the core technology.
Cha Lan wasn’t nearly as polite to him as he was to Feng Feifei. "Zhi Fei Aerospace is responsible for the hardware investment," he said bluntly. "Your company is just handling the algorithms—a few people writing code. Does it seem appropriate for you to take the vast majority of the profits?"
Hou Fei was thinking solely of his own company’s interests, while Cha Lan was reasonably fighting for his. Neither was in the wrong.
In truth, Cha Lan was already holding back. To him, what was the point of taking on a project, no matter how good, if it wasn’t profitable?
He was making the investment and taking on the risk, but the profits had nothing to do with him? Wasn’t that just being a sucker?
Seeing the negotiations had reached a stalemate, Xu Wu turned to Chen Xiao. "Chen Xiao, you’re the one who made this project happen. Why don’t you share your thoughts?"
’If I support Hou Fei... to be honest, I really don’t approve of his negotiating style.’
’But if I support Xu Wu, it will look like I’m selling out my own company.’
But since Xu Wu had asked, he couldn’t play dumb. "I have a suggestion," he said. "Instead of talking about profit sharing, what if we act as the general contractor for this project and place orders with Zhi Fei Aerospace?"
"We’ll guarantee no less than 50 million in orders within a single contract period. Zhi Fei Aerospace will cover their own R&D costs, and if the total order value doesn’t meet the minimum, we will compensate their losses proportionally to the shortfall."
"Done!"
"No!"
Cha Lan agreed, but Hou Fei immediately shot it down.
Hou Fei said, "I personally participated in and proactively secured this project. Everyone can see its potential. I can say with confidence that if we just put the word out, we’d have companies lining up at our door to partner with us!"
"Under these circumstances, I see no reason to make concessions on the profit share!"
’You led the talks?’ Chen Xiao fell silent. ’Some people mistake their own thick-headedness for importance. No point wasting words on him. It’s like talking to a brick wall.’
Cha Lan was clearly displeased. He ignored Hou Fei and addressed Feng Feifei directly, "President Feng, what’s your take on this?"
This was a headache for Feng Feifei. She agreed with Chen Xiao’s proposal, but with Hou Fei being so insistent, she was reluctant to undermine his authority in front of outsiders.
But failing to make a decision now could jeopardize the project. After a moment of thought, she said, "Both President Hou and Chen Xiao have made valid points."
"President Hou is speaking from the perspective of our company’s interests, while Chen Xiao is focused on how to make the cooperation between our two companies successful."
"This collaboration involves three parties and is also time-sensitive, so I’m willing to concede a portion of the profits."
"Finding a new partner would require a settling-in period, technical evaluations, and so on. I’m concerned that would affect the delivery and final acceptance."
"Let’s go with Chen Xiao’s proposal. As for the purchase price for the orders, President Cha, please give us a fair price, and we can consider this deal settled."
"President Feng, you’re a truly formidable leader. So decisive! Rest assured, we’ll give you a quote that’s well below market price. We’re more interested in a long-term partnership than squabbling over every last detail."
His words carried a veiled jab, accusing Hou Fei of not being as decisive. He was being indirect, but he didn’t realize Hou Fei was completely oblivious to the barb.
With the plan settled, the rest of the conversation was much more relaxed.
Cha Lan gave everyone a heads-up. "The Jiangzhou Design Institute is very capable, but water conservancy isn’t their core business. Their advantage entering this field won’t be that significant."
"And in Jiangzhou, there’s a very powerful competitor in this space. They’ve been entrenched in the water conservancy facilities sector for years. The company’s name is Nantong."
"Nantong was started by a group of people with extremely powerful social connections. They leveraged that network to quickly capture the vast majority of the market share."
"Their annual revenue is 15 billion!"
Everyone in the room felt the pressure.
Just two weeks ago, Dr. Feng’s Robot had been on the verge of bankruptcy. Now it was getting a second lease on life. According to Feng Feifei’s plan, if they could break 100 million in revenue for the year, it would already be considered meteoric growth.
Zhi Fei Aerospace was doing a little better, with an annual revenue of just under 200 million.
Compared to Nantong, they were small fry.
The market was huge, the competition was fierce, and the business team had its work cut out for it.
After seeing Cha Lan and his party off, on the way back to the office, Hou Fei said to Chen Xiao, "Chen Xiao, that OKR and today’s daily report I asked you for—make sure they’re submitted before the end of the day."
Feng Feifei shot him a surprised glance but said nothing.
Chen Xiao replied calmly, "Okay."
’I’ll have my junior assistant handle it for a few days, just to be polite,’ he thought. ’If he still doesn’t back off, he can’t blame me for not cooperating.’
’Looks like the CTO isn’t too happy with me. Thinks I’m not very cooperative.’
He didn’t let it bother him. After all, Feng Feifei was the boss. Her attitude was the only one that represented the company.
「In the underground parking garage of Hu Hai Manor.」Wang Hao parked the Mercedes-Benz E-Class and turned to Zhao Xiangjun’s parents and Zhao Hui. "Sir, Ma’am, we’re here. Let’s head up."
Ever since seeing Zhao Xiangjun at her home, Wang Hao had been having sleepless nights. Today, he’d found the right moment to contact Zhao Hui and make good on his promise to show Mr. and Mrs. Zhao his apartment.
Hu Hai Manor was a fairly large development, comprised of both high-rise residential towers and garden-style apartment blocks.
Wang Hao’s apartment was in one of the high-rise towers. As he led Mr. Zhao and Mrs. Zhao to his place, he enthusiastically described the complex’s layout, its beautiful landscaping, the available recreational facilities, and the excellent property management services.
Their resettlement housing had none of these things. Zhao Hui was practically drooling with envy.
Wang Hao’s apartment was on the 10th floor of a 28-story building. The floor level was decent, if not spectacular.
He pushed the door open. The apartment looked like it had just been renovated; the smell of fresh paint and new materials still hung in the air.