Chapter 45: The Price He Desperately Resisted

Shi Ningyu quickly made contact with a buyer, setting the meeting place at a KTV in the provincial capital.

Most of the suppliers of any scale in their city had already been absorbed by the major boss behind Old Ba. Therefore, both Boss Tian and themselves had no choice but to seek breakthroughs in neighboring cities.

When Fu Lan and Shi Ningyu walked into the private room, many people cast odd glances their way, their hands pausing mid-motion where they had been embracing the hostesses.

Fu Lan felt a twinge of embarrassment himself; he could easily imagine how out of place their combination was in this sort of establishment.

Adjusting his baseball cap, he sheepishly cleared the way for Shi Ningyu.

The latter planted both hands on her hips, puffed out her chest, and asked in a booming voice that easily overrode the music, sounding like a summer camp drill sergeant, "Is Brother Chen here?"

A man on the sofa with a slicked-back hairstyle and a floral shirt lowered his wine glass and chuckled, "I've been awaiting your arrival for a long time.

"Ah, the legendary Snow White! Come, right this way."

As he uttered the word "White," some of his underlings let out a chorus of jeering laughter and whistles, while the women clinging to them covered their mouths and snickered.

However, Shi Ningyu shot them a vicious glare, and the laughter vanished instantly, the temperature in the entire room dropping a few degrees.

Without batting an eye, Brother Chen shifted his gaze to Fu Lan. "This must be Teacher Fu Klin. Teacher Fu, please have a seat!"

Fu Lan nodded and greeted the man, who was clearly younger than him, "Brother Chen, a pleasure to meet you."

He glanced around the private room. Compared to his previous transaction with Boss Tian, the venue and personnel this time truly matched his impression of the underworld, which instinctively made him feel uneasy.

Brother Chen poured two glasses of wine, raised his glass toward the two seated guests, and indicated, "Thank you both for making the special trip. Let's have a drink and settle in before we talk business."

Fu Lan hesitated, staring fixedly at the wine glass.

He never drank during work engagements, not to mention the doctors' repeated warnings after his illness to stay far away from alcohol and tobacco, but right now, it seemed impossible to refuse without offending the other party.

Everyone else had stopped singing and drinking, staring intently at them. The originally lively private room fell into absolute silence, exuding a palpable sense of oppression.

"Spare us the formalities," Shi Ningyu said bluntly. "Do you think drinking a glass will make me look at you differently? Cut the act with me. I'll just ask you straight: do you still want to take back the market that was swallowed up?"

Brother Chen stared at the frost on the outside of his glass for a long moment before dropping his fake smile. He waved a hand to dismiss the irrelevant people from the room, leaving only a bodyguard standing in a corner shadow.

Intuition told Fu Lan that the man must be a spellcaster.

"Just like the rumors say, your temper is really bad," Brother Chen remarked, sizing up Shi Ningyu.

"Then you should also know the rumors say my goods never disappoint."

Brother Chen smiled. "Indeed. As long as the result is good, skipping the process doesn't matter. It's actually quite refreshing to do this occasionally. But you mentioned earlier that what we're trading this time is a technology?"

Shi Ningyu and Fu Lan exchanged glances, and Fu Lan stepped forward to explain, "Yes, a technology that makes raw material production safer and more stable."

"That sounds no different from what you said on the phone. Can you be more specific?"

Fu Lan weighed his words. "It's a method that can completely control ball-beasts, ensuring they do nothing other than eat and reproduce, completely eliminating the various risks involved in conventional breeding."

Hearing this, Brother Chen's eyes lit up. He had built his business starting out in ball-beast breeding; he naturally knew how difficult those creatures were to take care of, so the value of such a technology went without saying.

"Demonstrate it to me. I can make a phone call and have a ball-hound shipped right over here." Noticing Fu Lan's expression, he added, "Don't worry, this entire area is my turf."

Fu Lan shook hands—no, shook his head. "That's not what we're worried about. We won't demonstrate anything until the deal is struck."

Brother Chen frowned. "What? You don't trust me?"

"Apologies, but after all, this is exclusive technology, and according to our research, nothing similar has ever appeared on the market."

Brother Chen slowly swirled his wine glass and took a sip on his own. "Fine. You name your price first."

"We'd like to use a revenue-sharing model."

"Revenue sharing? Interesting... How much do you have in mind?"

Fu Lan said steadily, "We want twenty percent of the revenue from the raw materials sector."

Brother Chen almost laughed out loud, pointing at him with the hand holding his glass as wine sloshed over the rim. "Twenty percent? You've got some nerve! You think this is some kind of... technology equity investment? My brothers put up the capital and they only take ten percent."

Fu Lan glanced at the wine splashed on his clothes, refrained from wiping it off, and replied with the same steady composure, "With our technology, your profits will at least double. Twenty percent is not excessive."

Twenty percent was definitely asking too much; their initial psychological expectation had been five percent.

Yet Shi Ningyu had insisted with absolute certainty that this was the exact price to quote Brother Chen, leaving Fu Lan with no choice but to follow her lead and give it a try...

Watching Fu Lan display such confidence, Brother Chen wavered for a brief moment, but ultimately said, "I'm not going to spend money on unverified technology. If Snow White hadn't proposed this deal, I would have thrown you out as fraudsters long ago."

"Then I suppose there's nothing to talk about." Shi Ningyu pulled Fu Lan to his feet. "You lack even this bit of backbone, no wonder you got chased out of your hometown back then."

With that, ignoring whatever reaction Brother Chen might have, she headed straight for the door.

"Wait!" Brother Chen called out to them. "How about five percent?"

Before Fu Lan could figure out how to respond, Shi Ningyu answered, "Out of the question."

"Then let's change the approach. If profits increase after using the technology, we'll carve out eight percent of the growth portion for you. That's fair to everyone."

"No, that's too little."

Brother Chen hesitated. "Twelve percent!"

Shi Ningyu sneered. "Twelve percent of the total profit, or twenty-five percent of the growth portion. Take your pick."

Not only Brother Chen, but even Fu Lan was shocked by her asking price. Restraining the urge to speak to her, Fu Lan simply looked at Brother Chen just as she did, waiting for his response.

Finally, Brother Chen gritted his teeth and said, "Fine! We'll go with twelve percent of the total profit!"

Before they could nod, he added, "But the formal transaction must take place tomorrow. I'm bringing a professional to conduct an on-site verification. I'll send the location tomorrow."

"Tomorrow?" Shi Ningyu glanced at Fu Lan, displeasure written across her face.

Understanding her intent, Fu Lan said, "If that's the case, you need to pay a deposit right now."

Brother Chen looked as if he was amused to the point of anger. "Damn! I've never seen anyone negotiate business like this... I want to see what kind of price you actually dare to call out."

"Fifty thousand. Once the deal is officially concluded, this fifty thousand can be deducted from the first month's share."

Brother Chen didn't hesitate for too long either. "Alright, you've got guts!"

With that, he clapped his hands. A bodyguard walked up to the door, spoke a few low words outward, and shortly after, someone brought in a bag of cash and handed it to Fu Lan.

Having collected the money, Fu Lan did not waste words and bid farewell to Brother Chen. Shi Ningyu still maintained her arrogant swagger, not even bothering to mutter a "see you tomorrow," as if Brother Chen owed her money by birthright.

"Don't let me down tomorrow," Brother Chen said sinisterly.

After the two left, Brother Chen raised his wine glass and drained it in a single gulp.

With an ambiguous expression, he looked down at the wine glass for a moment before beckoning to the bodyguard by the wall.

After checking the micro-camera on the bodyguard, he took out his phone. "Hello? Old Ba, did you see all that?"

"Saw it, and heard it too."

"Do you think it's legit? Is there really a technology that can lock down and control ball-hounds?"

Old Ba let out a wretched snicker. "Why ask if it's legit or not? You're not actually planning to buy it anyway."

"I just forked out fifty thousand without even hearing a peep in return."

"Oh, come on, mere fifty thousand. Does Brother Chen care about that kind of money? Of course, I, Old Ba, won't take advantage of you like that either—I'll double it and pay you back once it's done!"

Brother Chen smiled. "You know, part of me actually wants to buy it for real just to see it. Those two are asking so ruthlessly; they're either complete lunatics or they actually have something real in their hands."

"Forget about it. Just do as I say, and at least you'll get tangible benefits. Just get it done, brother!"

...

Walking along the street, Fu Lan still felt that the negotiation just now felt somewhat unreal.

Using vegetable-market bargaining tactics to negotiate a business worth hundreds of thousands had actually succeeded, and the final agreed price was significantly higher than expected.

Shi Ningyu explained that this was because Brother Chen had missed a prime opportunity in his early years, getting suppressed by competitors until he was forced to flee his original city, and only managed to make a comeback in the provincial capital by latching onto a powerful patron.

He never brought up that past to anyone around him, fearing most of all that others would use that history to provoke him.

"It's a pity we couldn't close the deal on the spot; somehow it still feels a bit unsettling," Fu Lan said. "He won't go back on his word by tomorrow, will he?"

"Unlikely. People in our line of work have to value their word. Since signing a duplicate contract is out of the question, verbal agreements must hold, otherwise no one will do business with him in the future." Having said that, Shi Ningyu added in a thoughtful whisper, "Though there are exceptions... We might need to guard against a double-cross tomorrow."

Fu Lan nodded. Regardless, they had at least secured fifty thousand in deposit money, which was a baseline measure he and Shi Ningyu had discussed beforehand.

The two split the bag of cash evenly as usual.

Compared to the true value of the breeding technology, fifty thousand was certainly a bit low, but with the way they were pulling off what looked almost like empty-handed maneuvers, asking for too much might have caused the deal to fall through completely.

The journey back from the provincial capital wasn't too long, and Fu Lan had to go to work the next day, so the two didn't stay overnight nearby and instead caught a ride back home in Shi Ningyu's car.

Fu Lan had assumed that with this fifty thousand deposit, the business transaction wouldn't run into any major issues.

However, the next morning, he received a call from Shi Ningyu, and she sounded furious enough to explode.

"We got played by that bastard! He leaked the news—now a bunch of people know we're selling technology, and my phone is practically blowing up!"