After Zhao Longfei finished speaking, he turned around and started typing something on his laptop.
The office fell into complete silence.
The sound of his fingers tapping on the keyboard felt especially loud.
Neither Zhao Sifang nor Gu Yunpeng had expected Zhao Longfei to drop such explosive news right in front of them.
Zhao Sifang was shocked that, as a Zhao family member, he hadn't heard anything in advance.
Gu Yunpeng was shocked that, not being a Zhao family member, he still got to hear this news.
What shocked them even more was that Qin Siyang could actually make the Zhao family give up such enormous benefits in exchange for his support of the Crystal Coin issuance plan.
The two of them looked at Qin Siyang with much more caution.
A deal with a legion?
If nothing unexpected happened, Qin Siyang might be about to take a key step forward.
Qin Siyang stood there silently.
He'd considered that in order to persuade him to surrender the Crimson Crystal, Zhao Longfei would offer tempting conditions.
Like building him a villa inside South Glory University, letting him settle down all at once.
Or giving him enormous dividends, or materials he might need in the future.
The most shocking condition Qin Siyang had imagined was Zhao Longfei handing over black market operation rights of certain districts, or putting him in charge of the black market in District 7.
But he never imagined it… poverty had clearly limited his imagination.
This time, Zhao Longfei wasn't being stingy. He was playing big.
He was letting Qin deal directly with the military, negotiate interests with an entire legion.
Just like Zhao Longfei said, his previous deals with Chu Xiao'ang and Qin Yingguang were all personal deals.
Those two might have pressured him with their status as legion commanders, but they'd never used their legion commander authority to negotiate conditions with him.
Pure mismatch of strength and interests, that was all.
Now, the Zhao family was using a year's worth of accumulated drugs to trade with the military.
And Qin Siyang wasn't acting alone anymore. He had the Zhao family behind him. This time, he truly became a representative of a faction, sitting on equal footing with a legion commander at the negotiation table.
Keep in mind, Zhao Longfei had said the Zhao family's original condition was to borrow a division's worth of troops and forcefully control the surrounding districts, turning District 7 into the Zhao family's true base.
And the Zhao family was confident the military would accept that.
That meant that when Qin Siyang negotiated, he couldn't limit himself to trivial things like points, money, or materials.
What conditions could he propose?
His mind suddenly ran wild with possibilities, so many that he couldn't help sucking in a cold breath.
Compared to this, all the deals and negotiations he'd fussed over before… were just child's play.
But being used to small-scale tricks, Qin Siyang also wasn't sure whether he could really hold his ground at such a large-scale negotiation, squeeze the maximum benefit from the military, and not mess things up.
Just then, Zhao Longfei suddenly stopped typing.
A sudden silence.
The three boys, each lost in their own thoughts, all looked at him.
Zhao Longfei said blandly, "Little Qin, your hands are shaking."
"Really?"
Qin Siyang looked down and saw that his hands were indeed trembling slightly.
Not just his hands. His muscles were twitching too. It was so faint he hadn't noticed while thinking.
Zhao Longfei chuckled, "Little Qin, are you nervous or excited?"
"Both, I guess."
"I've been with you through some big scenes. Every time, you brushed things off with jokes. This is the first time I've seen you nervous and excited."
Qin Siyang let out a small laugh, "Those so-called big scenes I'd been through before were all things I could handle with a bit of cleverness. But this time, it's too big. Tricks won't cut it."
"You're right. This time, tricks won't solve it."
"But Little Qin, you know I've always appreciated you, and I'm willing to protect you more than others. At the very least, I'll never hurt you."
He looked at Qin Siyang with interest, then lit himself a cigar.
His sudden kindness didn't make Qin resistant, because it was all true.
He looked at Zhao Longfei, waiting for his next words.
"So if I thought you only had small cleverness, I wouldn't give you this chance. Giving a man benefits he can't control is the same as pushing him into a pit of fire."
"You can handle it."
Qin Siyang sighed, "Director Zhao, you really do trust me. Honestly, I don't trust my abilities that much. This is serious. I'm worried I'll screw up."
Then he looked at Zhao Sifang and Gu Yunpeng, "President Zhao has you and Uncle Zhao protecting him. President Gu has the Gu family behind him. If they went to negotiate with the military, they might be more suitable. I'm just a little orphan dancing on a knife's edge. Of course I'm nervous."
Zhao Longfei laughed loudly, "What you just said is exactly what my big brother told me."
"I told him this idea too, and he also worried you might make a careless mistake and plant a landmine you wouldn't be able to defuse later."
"But Little Qin, there's a problem you haven't thought of."
His expression suddenly turned serious.
"President Zhao's surname is Zhao. President Gu's surname is Gu. They'll eventually get chances like this. Right now, it's too early for them. We old guys can still hold on for a few more years."
"If you refuse this time, I can't guarantee you'll ever get another opportunity like it. You get what I mean, right?"
Qin Siyang glanced at the deep look in his eyes, then lowered his head in thought.
Because of their family background, Zhao Sifang and Gu Yunpeng would eventually shoulder major responsibilities, make contact with factions, and face such scenes. Even if they didn't participate this time, there would be a next time.
But he was just a mud-legged nobody, not a Zhao or a Gu. Getting the chance to lead this major transaction with the military was pure luck.
According to Zhao Longfei, if a few years passed, this kind of training and exposure would naturally go to Zhao Sifang or Gu Yunpeng and would no longer have anything to do with Qin Siyang.
The chance was rare.
Even someone as capable as Li Tianming spent most of his life relying on his personal strength.
Even with a Tiger Card, he still couldn't reach the Lion Card level.
So, Qin Siyang had to seriously consider whether this was the once-in-a-lifetime chance.
A chance for him to step beyond personal gains and losses, and go from being a pawn to the person making the moves.
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