Chapter 14 Negotiation (Part 2)

  A delegation from Daxing Electronics arrived at Yanshan on Saturday, and perhaps because the negotiations with the municipal party committee had already concluded and all conditions had been agreed upon, the head of the delegation, Director Jin of the Market Development Department of Daxing Electronics, appeared somewhat arrogant. Tang Yi asked the secretary who followed from the municipal party committee and only then learned that the result of the negotiation was that Daxing Electronics would invest in building a factory in Yanqing, and in return, the municipal party committee would allow Daxing Electronics to repair its villa at Yanshan and also agreed to have the city TV station broadcast several South Korean TV dramas.

  Tang Yi frowned upon hearing this, is this the result of the negotiation? It seems that being able to get an investment from Dasheng Electronics to build a factory was already satisfactory for those city committee leaders, and these leaders were probably all skilled players in the game of officialdom. As for the negotiations, they were completely inexperienced, and they gave the green light to the conditions proposed by the Korean side, which was too easy for them.

  The county committee meeting room, China and South Korea were having a heated discussion about the location of the repair depot. Minister Kim seemed to be unaccustomed to the mainland's empty and tasteless meetings, sitting upright with his eyes scanning around him, occasionally frowning impatiently. The female translator next to him was only in her early twenties, a pretty young woman wearing a black professional suit that accentuated her slender figure. She was the most relaxed person in the room because Minister Kim didn't care about the discussion between the two sides at all. She held a pen and seemed to be taking notes, but in reality, she was drawing cartoons out of boredom.

  Secretary Tao felt uncomfortable in his heart, but on his face was a smile as he chatted warmly with the representative. The municipal party committee had already made its decision, and all he could do was cooperate to the best of his ability.

  Tang Yi, however, kept staring at the female interpreter beside Director Jin, making the beautiful interpreter, Ms. Piao, blush and her heart skip a beat. When they first met, she had heard that this young man surnamed Tang was the county party secretary, so she paid close attention to him. She had never seen anyone in their early twenties with such an aura of authority, which only a few high-ranking members of the board of directors possessed. Young women like Ms. Piao, who were worldly-wise and fond of successful men, were impressed by his demeanor, giving them the impression that they preferred middle-aged men. But upon seeing Secretary Tang, Ms. Piao realized how striking it was to see such an aura in a young person.

  It's just that he keeps looking at me, could it be... As she thought of this, Park's face turned even redder, her heart seemed to jump out, her mind went blank, her ears temporarily lost their hearing, and even when Tang Yi started talking to her, she didn't hear him, only seeing his mouth move as he said something to her. Park was a bit dazed, in her eyes, Tang Yi's face was blurry, as if he was gazing at her with affection, seeking her love. Park blurted out: "I agree."

  The voice was quite loud, and the whole room fell silent. She naturally spoke in her native language, and the county committee thought Minister Jin had something to say, so they quickly asked the Chinese translator, but the Korean side looked at Ms. Park with some surprise, not knowing what she would answer.

  "Director Jin frowned and said: 'Ms. Piao, when can you represent Daehan Electronics? What did Mr. Tang say?'"

  Miss Piao finally came to her senses, her face red like an apple, and she hadn't heard Tang Yi's words clearly, so she had to ask awkwardly: "Mr. Tang, I'm really sorry, can you please say it again?"

  Tang Yi smiled, smiling so that Ms. Pu blushed and lowered her head, but in her ear she heard the young secretary say word by word: "I didn't expect your translator to be as unqualified as your delegation."

  Miss Pak's face turned white, he, how dare he scold me, she raised her head with a resentful look at Tang Yi, wanting to distinguish herself as better than the representative team, but heard Tang Yi continue: "Director Jin thinks that the overall situation has been decided, so there is no need to listen to our opinions from Yan Shan County Committee? Does he think this is just going through the motions, boring?"

  "Tell Minister Jin that the negotiation results between the municipal party committee and you are one thing, but whether our county party committee agrees or disagrees with your plan to build a hut is another matter. Of course, we will definitely follow the instructions of the municipal party committee, but the location of the hut will be decided by our county party committee. Let me think... it seems there's a suitable place - there's a stinky ditch in the east of the city, which I think was where Mr. Han Chengzi built his hut."

  Tang Yi said with a polite gesture: "Please tell Minister Jin the truth."

  Miss Piao was still seeing the mainlanders' politeness for the first time, and the previous resentment had flown away. She thought to herself that he was actually a gentleman, but forgot that gentlemen don't have the standard of criticizing others with their mouths open. With her mind wandering, she busily translated sentence by sentence for Director Jin.

  Minister Jin was taken aback by Tang Yi's words and frowned, asking Tang Yi: "Mr. Tang, are you intentionally making things difficult for us?"

  Ms. Park didn't wait for the Chinese translator to speak and directly told Tang Yi what Minister Kim said in Chinese, it would be better if she could say a few more words to Tang Yi.

  Tang Yi smiled and said, "Director Jin, your words are not quite right. How can you say that we're making things difficult for you? If we didn't have the intention to negotiate with you sincerely and only wanted to make things difficult for you, then there would be no need for us to waste our breath here talking to you. Let's take the TV dramas you brought as an example. The political inclination is already quite problematic. I'm not sure if our State Administration of Radio, Film, and Television will pass the censorship. You probably don't know about the policy direction of our SARFT. Let me give you a real-life example. Last year, Guangdong Province's TV station produced a TV drama called 'Public Relations Miss', but because the main character was a Hong Kong representative with a conservative and backward mindset, it was criticized by the SARFT for having an incorrect political inclination and was banned from broadcast. I also think that your TV dramas have some problems."

  Minister Jin listened to Ms. Park's sentence-by-sentence translation of Tang Yi's lengthy argument, his face growing increasingly unpleasant. Originally, this negotiation had gone more smoothly than he had imagined, and the low-interest loan card he had brought hadn't even been played, yet the Chinese side had already agreed to their conditions for building a factory, broadcasting Korean dramas, and so on. This also made him somewhat look down on the Chinese people, thinking they were just a group of fools who didn't understand negotiation tactics. Although he was sitting here, his mind had already flown to Korea, considering the strategic decisions for Dae Sung Electronics in Korea. Unexpectedly, a young man from the other side suddenly pressed him hard, with a threatening tone that was very clear: if you don't negotiate seriously with us, I can also sabotage the series of conditions agreed upon by the municipal committee.

  Director Jin couldn't help but look at Tang Yi with a cold eye, Tang Yi smiled back at him. Director Jin snorted and turned to ask Ms. Piao who this young man was. He had thought the matter was already settled and that coming here was just a formality. When he heard Ms. Piao say that the young man was the third-ranked county party secretary, Director Jin was even more surprised and couldn't help but take a closer look at Tang Yi.

  Tang Yi smiled all over his face, pulled out a piece of paper from the thick stack of materials on the table and handed it to Ms. Piao: "If Director Jin agrees to the conditions I listed, I will work with our historian to carefully verify the location where Mr. Han Chengzi built his hut."

  Miss Park looked at the words on this paper and couldn't help but take a cold breath. There was only one sentence: "A 10 billion won interest-free loan to support the construction of Yeonsan New City." She raised her eyes and looked at Tang Yi, calling out "brilliant" in her heart. Indeed, he was different from others and knew how to open his mouth wide for us lions.

  Minister Jin's face fell when he saw Tang Yi's condition. He had brought government-approved low-interest loans as his trump card, but the matter that was supposed to be settled suddenly became complicated again. How could he be willing to play the loan card now?

  Minister Jin frowned and asked Secretary Tao: "Mr. Tao, does Mr. Tang's words represent the view of your county committee?"

  When Tao Secretary heard Tang Yi and Minister Jin chatting, he sat up straight, pretending to listen carefully. When Minister Jin asked him a question, he nodded slightly, thinking that even if things fell apart, it would be the problem of that foolish kid. Later, he could use Secretary Lin's hands to drive him away. Whether the talk succeeded or not, he would still benefit from it.

  Minister Jin stood up angrily and said: "This is disrespecting the agreement, going back on your word! I will report this to your leader!"

  Mr. Jin, your actions are what we Chinese call "giving someone a crime to commit and then finding fault with them". We never had the intention of tearing up the letter of intent signed between Dasheng Electronics and Yanqing. Our county committee doesn't have that power either. What we want to do is simply sign a cooperation agreement with Dasheng Electronics alone.

  Tang Yiyu smiled and added emphasis: "If Mr. Jin walks out of here now, I dare to guarantee that all the efforts made by China and Daxing Electronics for friendly cooperation will be in vain, can you afford it, Mr. Jin?"

  Secretary Tao was originally watching the excitement with a carefree attitude, but when he heard Tang Yi's last sentence, which was plain but full of pressure, he couldn't help but be shocked. He involuntarily looked at Tang Yi, and this tone was not his impression of the silly boy's words. He couldn't help but seriously size up Tang Yi, and his eyebrows slowly furrowed.

  Tang Yi also noticed the unusual gaze of Secretary Tao, and smiled slightly in his heart. He didn't mind it because he had already grasped the subtle relationships within the county committee over the past few days, and it was time for Old Tao to re-examine himself slowly. Moreover, this negotiation concerned the well-being of hundreds of thousands of people in Yanshan, and he couldn't afford not to speak up.

  After going through countless life-and-death corporate mergers and acquisitions wars, Director Jin was also called a ruthless robot by his peers. Many big business people would lower their proud heads in front of him, but this time, he was disappointed. Director Jin stared coldly at Tang Yi's eyes for over a minute, but from Tang Yi's eyes, he couldn't capture any useful information. What he saw was just calmness and fearlessness, as if the other party had successfully concealed their intentions or they really had the upper hand. Director Jin couldn't help but secretly blame himself for being too careless, not making sufficient preparations for the negotiation, such as not understanding what the young man in front of him said about the General Administration of Radio, Film and Television, and thus having no way to refute him, no weapon to strike back.

  "Minister Jin finally let out a long sigh: 'I need to report to the board of directors.'"

  The Korean representatives, including Ms. Park, were all stunned, and did Minister Kim also have a moment of concession?

  Tang Yi smiled: "Please go ahead, you can also take this opportunity to understand our policies and the operation of the General Administration of Radio and Television."

  Minister Jin nodded slightly, that was exactly what he had planned, although the young man's words had exposed his thoughts, but he only found it interesting, and unexpectedly met such an opponent in a poor northeastern county on the mainland.