Chapter 228 We Are Comrades-in-Arms
Special Zone, Hongyan Hotel.
Wang Rui and Duan Yongping had been chatting since eight o'clock, and by now it was already deep into the night.
They had been sipping wine slowly the whole time. Although their faces were flushed, they remained clear-headed throughout.
"Old Duan, to be honest," Wang Rui said, raising his glass with a smile, "Zhongxin is a bit better off, but Yuanxin, we're basically a bunch of techies. Even those who transitioned into management are only half-baked at it.
Unlike you — you're also from a technical background, but you've systematically studied business management too."
Wang Rui clinked glasses and laughed. "Come, once again, welcome to Yuanxin!"
Duan Yongping laughed as well. "President Wang, this is like the eighth time you've said that tonight."
After clinking glasses, Wang Rui cheerfully refilled both their cups. "Then just think of it as me welcoming you on behalf of every department in Yuanxin."
"Haha, then there's no end to it," Duan Yongping said, swirling his glass, glancing at the time. "This will be the last one for tonight. I still have things to handle back home tomorrow — brothers to calm down and arrangements to make."
"Alright, last one. I'm heading to Siam tomorrow to join President Chen in negotiations. Hopefully, we can wrap things up quickly so she can return and we can go back to the provincial capital together."
"Good! Then I wish you success tomorrow."
...
Back at his hotel room, Wang Rui glanced at the time and dialed Su Yuanshan's number. It rang busy at first, so he washed his face and tried again. This time it connected immediately.
"We were just talking about you with President Chen," Su Yuanshan said with a bright laugh — he sounded wide awake.
"Heh, talking about me, my ass," Wang Rui said, tossing his towel onto the coffee table and kicking his legs up. "I've been talking with Duan Yongping for four or five hours. He's agreed to come over — and he'll bring a team with him too."
"Not bad, Senior Brother, you've done great!" Su Yuanshan praised.
"It wasn't hard. The truth is, Duan wasn't happy over there.
We analyzed it: even though Xiaobawang's revenues look good, the company has no future.
Learning machines are destined to be replaced by PCs — it's inevitable, just like Chinese character cards.
Old Duan saw that clearly. He wanted to pivot and push into new markets — but he didn't have control over the company, so he couldn't."
Wang Rui neatly summarized the core issue, then added:
"He's sharp.
He pointed out a flaw in our brand strategy — said that from a marketing perspective, 'Yuanxin' isn't an ideal brand for mass consumer goods. It's not catchy enough.
I really think he's right — and when he joins us, I bet he'll make targeted plans to fix it."
He paused before continuing. "I'm telling you this because it's worth thinking about ahead of time..."
After a few seconds of silence, Su Yuanshan chuckled.
"Yeah. Forgetting the big environment for a moment — that's definitely a sharp observation."
"Alright, I'm off to bed. Got to meet President Chen tomorrow. Anything you want me to pass along?"
Su Yuanshan snorted. "I literally just hung up with her. What's there to pass along?"
Wang Rui laughed. "Fair enough.
By the way, isn't your dad supposed to be inducted into the Academy of Engineering this year? I heard the first batch is mostly old heavyweights from the Academy of Sciences, but your dad's one of the few newcomers?"
"Maybe," Su Yuanshan replied lightly.
"Then let me congratulate him in advance."
"Please don't spread that around, Senior Brother," Su Yuanshan said seriously. "It'd be a real mess if it didn't happen."
"Relax. I'm not loose-lipped," Wang Rui laughed.
After some more joking, they hung up.
...
Next door, Duan Yongping had just finished washing up.
Lying on the bed, he couldn't sleep either.
He had always thought he understood Yuanxin pretty well — that's why when Wang Rui first extended the olive branch, he had shown immediate interest.
But after formally agreeing to join tonight and hearing Wang Rui's in-depth introduction, Duan realized:
His understanding was superficial at best.
VCDs, mobile phones, CPUs, wafer fabs, commercial arms, Zhongxin...
Duan Yongping quickly counted on his fingers — Yuanxin's ecosystem was absolutely massive.
Even more astonishing was Yuanxin's dual-track model of R&D plus industrialization — a structure that left a tech-minded person like Duan in awe.
Compared to Yuanxin, Xiaobawang was nothing.
Duan Yongping felt incredibly relieved about his decision.
After thinking for a while, he grabbed his phone and started calling his trusted apprentices.
Three days later, Chiang Mai, Thailand.
The day after Wang Rui arrived, Yuanxin's high-level meeting with TrueCorp finally began.
On the TrueCorp side, the attendees included CEO Sompatsorn, the VP overseeing mobile communications, technical department heads, and translators.
On Yuanxin's side, Sun Xihui did not participate — her earlier role had been primarily to make introductions and build rapport.
The negotiation team was led by Chen Jing, Wang Rui, and Li Yinan.
In terms of the lineup, Yuanxin had given TrueCorp immense respect.
Most importantly, the day before, Chen Jing had subtly revealed Yuanxin's intentions — and TrueCorp had picked up on the hint.
Now, it was just a matter of whether they would play along.
After everyone was seated, Sompatsorn — a man in his early forties, short and amiable-looking — beamed and said,
"Miss Chen, everyone, I hope we can reach an agreement today."
"Yes, we hope so too," Chen Jing nodded formally.
Today she wore a sharp, professional outfit — the very image of a corporate powerhouse.
"But," she continued, "before discussing the pricing for the base stations, may I suggest we start with broader cooperation opportunities?"
Sompatsorn nodded slightly. "Of course."
"Simply put," Chen Jing said, "if you sign an agreement with us, we won't just offer you discounted pricing and flexible payment terms to help you rapidly scale your base station network.
We'll also provide preferential access to communications equipment — both Yuanxin and Zhongxin phones included."
After the translator finished, Chen Jing watched Sompatsorn's composed expression carefully.
"We understand," she continued, "that you may worry about heavy upfront investments leading to irreversible losses if things don't go as planned."
She paused.
At that moment, she saw a flash of emotion in Sompatsorn's eyes.
So she smiled gently and said,
"Therefore, Yuanxin is willing to engage in deeper cooperation — and share the risks."
"How would you do that?" Sompatsorn asked.
"We're prepared to invest directly in TrueCorp.
Let us become true partners.
Together, we can build the strongest mobile communications network not only in Siam — but in all of Southeast Asia."
Chen Jing handed over a detailed proposal she and her team had spent all of yesterday preparing.
"Mr. Sompatsorn," she said with a smile,
"In a sense, we are comrades-in-arms —
Fighting to free ourselves from the shadows of governments and international giants."
"We're on the same side."
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