Second update,

...

"Why do women always resort to a beauty trap..."

Qin Fang was truly speechless inside; Aoi had done it before, and now Li Enhui was pulling the same trick. Weren't the Thirty-Six Stratagems from the Dragon Country? Why was it that foreigners seemed to use them more often?

Too bad... it was useless.

Qin Fang wasn't lacking in beautiful women by his side, and he really wasn't very interested in Japanese or Korean women.

Li Enhui was indeed pretty, and Qin Fang even took a good look at her face—it was delicate and flawless. His first reaction was that her face must have been the result of plastic surgery.

The plastic surgery industry in Korea was very advanced, almost every beauty was manufactured, so many faces looked exceedingly alike. Looking at Li Enhui's face, it seemed very similar to those of the actresses in Korean dramas.

"There's no need to look anymore, my face is real, every part of my body is real..."

Li Enhui was rather direct, understanding what he was looking at from Qin Fang's expression.

Qin Fang felt a bit awkward at her words, but he still harbored some disbelief inside. Nevertheless, he didn't pay too much attention to it; after all, he wasn't going to have much to do with Li Enhui.

"Let's talk business. As you've said, the technology is in my hands, and Miss Li surely understands the potential of this tech. So I won't bother with nonsense, I am only looking at the price! As long as the price is right, I don't mind to which company I sell!"

Qin Fang calmed himself a bit before stating directly.

"So what does Mr. Qin think would be an appropriate price?"

Qin Fang was direct, and Li Enhui was even more so, cutting straight through any superfluous chatter.

But such a question actually stumped Qin Fang. "Indeed, how much should I quote?"

Qin Fang had planned to let the manufacturers make offers, then pick the highest one. As long as it wasn't too pitiful of an amount, he would definitely agree to it.

Qin Fang's goals were simple: to make money and to... scam people.

His likely partners were either Japanese or Korean manufacturers, and Qin Fang didn't have much affection for either country. Scamming either would be the same to him.

Of course, Qin Fang wanted to scam the Japanese more; as a person of Ninghai, who didn't know of the notorious Ninghai Massacre where more than three hundred thousand souls perished…

However, since the Japanese were playing tricks, Qin Fang planned to leave them hanging for a while until they got serious about negotiations. But he hadn't anticipated Li Enhui stepping in early and immediately cornering him with an ultimatum.

As for how much to ask, Qin Fang really had no idea. If he asked for too much, probably no one would buy it, but asking for too little would mean a loss for him; neither option was profitable.

"Forget it, let's just split the difference,"

Eventually, Qin Fang decided to meet halfway and smiled as he held up a finger.

"One million?"

Li Enhui, seeing the one finger and hesitating a bit, asked.

"Does Miss Li think I'm that in need of money?"

Qin Fang shook his head, responding with a disdainful question.

Li Enhui was slightly startled, then she remembered the information she had gathered about Qin Fang, which included him staying in the presidential suite of the Hilton Hotel in Shenzhou and driving a Mercedes-Benz S600. Indeed, a mere one million truly wasn't much in his eyes.

If she had gone through all this trouble just for a mere one million, it would have been utterly childish.

"Ten million?"

After a moment's hesitation, Li Enhui asked again, raising the price tenfold, but even then, her brow wrinkled at mentioning the amount.

Hearing this, Qin Fang still shook his head; he couldn't even recoup his costs for a mere ten million, so how could he possibly agree? He also felt some contempt for Li Enhui—she was the daughter of the chairman of the Seven Stars Group, the president of the Longguo Branch, yet even ten million made her appear so stressed. It was just too disgraceful.

"One hundred million!"

Waving his finger, Qin Fang said very calmly.

"This is impossible!"

The moment she heard such a price, Li Enhui's eyes widened in disbelief, then she immediately denied it without hesitation, "Mr. Qin, I admit the technology you have is cutting-edge, but you should know that our group invests up to ten million dollars every year in lithium battery research and development. Your asking price of 100 million US dollars is equivalent to our investment for more than a decade, and it far exceeds my expectations..."

"Ah..."

Qin Fang wasn't surprised by Li Enhui's refusal, but after hearing her reason, he was momentarily taken aback, his mouth slightly agape, yet he couldn't make a sound.

"100 million US dollars..."

Inwardly, Qin Fang really wanted to laugh; it turned out he had been mistaken from the start. Li Enhui was talking about US dollars, not the RMB Qin Fang had assumed.

Although the exchange rate of US dollars to RMB had risen significantly, it was still about 6.3 to 1, so 100 million US dollars equaled more than 600 million RMB. It's no wonder Li Enhui immediately refused upon hearing this price; Qin Fang wasn't just selling something, he was practically committing robbery.

And the ten million Li Enhui had mentioned before was naturally also in US dollars, which equals over sixty million RMB. Even that price made Li Enhui frown.

A frown indicated that the price was considered quite high but still within an acceptable range; however, Qin Fang's outright "100 million" was way beyond what she considered acceptable.

Nevertheless, Qin Fang didn't switch from quoting in US dollars to RMB.

"Miss Li, in Dragon Country, there's a saying, 'quote high and pay cheap.' I admit my asking price is very high, but the technology I have is almost like a revolution in lithium battery technology. I believe that if your company acquires this technology, it can easily beat other competitors and monopolize the entire lithium battery industry..."

Qin Fang continued unflustered, "Before coming to Shenzhou, I also did some research. Currently, the global lithium battery industry has an annual output of over 13 billion US dollars, and it's still growing. Your company currently has a market share of about 11%, which is lower than Japan Siyang Group's 14% and Sony Corporation's 13%, but your annual output is also around 1.5 billion US dollars. My asking price of 100 million US dollars is merely equivalent to one month's output for your company, but if your company is able to acquire this technology, it could easily increase that 11% market share to 60%, 70%, or even 80%, 90%... Now, that's a massive number!"

Anyway, bluffing doesn't cost a thing, so Qin Fang didn't bother keeping track and just spewed whatever came to mind. As for how accurate those figures were, Qin Fang wasn't sure; he got them from the internet, and whether they were correct was debatable. At least they gave Qin Fang a rough idea for reference, so even if he was bluffing, it was with some basis.

But with these figures, Qin Fang's quote suddenly seemed a lot more reasonable.

"Mr. Qin, I'm afraid you're mixing up the concepts. You need to understand that our company is in manufacturing; there's a cost to the product. The lithium battery is an industry with low profit margins. A profit of 100 million US dollars might require tens of billions in sales to achieve. That means if we spend 100 million US dollars to buy your technology, we would have to commit several years of profits to it..."

But Li Enhui wasn't easy to fool, either. She had become the Longguo Branch President thanks to her shrewd mind.

"Is that so? Then you should also calculate the benefits of a monopoly position and a massive market share, which certainly can't be bought with just a few hundred million dollars... That is something Miss Li should be quite clear about, isn't it? The strength of Seven Stars Group comes precisely from your increasing market share yearly, right?"

Qin Fang smiled, "I've already made my offer. You can think about it carefully. The price is negotiable, but you'll have to give me a price I can accept, or else... I can totally sell to Japanese manufacturers or even cooperate with domestic enterprises..."

By this time, Xiao Muxue had already approached Qin Fang. Qin Fang was no longer interested in staying, so he left with Xiao Muxue.

"Who is she?"

Xiao Muxue looked at Li Enhui with some curiosity, thinking this woman was not only very beautiful but also very formidable.

Whether a woman is formidable or not really can't be determined just with the eyes. Some are tough on the outside but tender within, while others are the opposite. It's not easy to say.

But out of a woman's intuition, Xiao Muxue felt a very dangerous vibe from just a brief exchange of looks with Li Enhui.

"Li Enhui from Seven Stars Group, the sister of that Li Mingjun who was fooled by me previously!" Qin Fang didn't hide it, although he had the experience of being seduced, he hadn't had much contact with this woman in the end.

"She wants to buy our technology, too?"

Xiao Muxue immediately grasped Qin Fang's meaning, and after a moment of hesitation, she still asked.

"Hmm, seems she wants it even more desperately than the little Japanese..."

So Qin Fang recounted the conversation he had with Li Enhui to Xiao Muxue, especially when Xiao Muxue heard about the confusion over the currency unit between Li Enhui and Qin Fang, she couldn't help but laugh.

"You're really too bad..."

As Xiao Muxue laughed, she couldn't help but say, "But with such a high asking price, I'm afraid it's going to be hard to sell..."

The price tag of 100 million US dollars was indeed extravagant, and Qin Fang never intended to sell at that figure; he would have been satisfied with 100 million RMB.

Since the asking price was already out there, Qin Fang didn't care what Li Enhui would counteroffer for now. He planned to let Chen Jiangnan know so he could also quote that much while dealing with Japanese manufacturers, and see how the competition pans out in the end, to see how much Qin Fang, the "fisherman," could profit from it.(To be continued. If you like this work, please come to Qidian (qidian.com) and vote for it, your monthly pass. Your support is my biggest motivation.)

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