Chapter 139: Bill's Request

Stepping into the conference room, Lin Feng and Xia Ruoxi found Asano Haruko already inside, looking impatient. Seeing Lin Feng appear, she sat in her seat with a dissatisfied expression and complained, "Why are you only just getting here? We've been waiting ages."

Hearing this, Lin Feng felt a sense of melancholy. He rolled his eyes speechlessly at Asano Haruko, his expression seeming to say, "I didn't invite you here; you came unannounced yourselves, so how can you blame me!"

Seeing Asano Haruko act so devoid of manners, Asano Jiro rebuked her sharply from the side, "How can you speak like this? How unseemly! This is the Huaxia country, the Asano family cannot afford to be so presumptuous!" With that, he even stood up and bowed to Lin Feng on behalf of Asano Haruko to express his apologies.

Asano Jiro truly was an old hand in the world. With just this single maneuver, he instantly glossed over Asano Haruko's rudeness, turning the situation around so that Lin Feng and Xia Ruoxi suddenly felt rather embarrassed instead.

"Patriarch Asano is too polite. Lin Feng and I are both young people, and we don't have so many rigid rules here. Besides, Miss Haruko is a friend of our Lin Feng, so it's quite normal for her to speak more freely. You really don't need to scold her!" Xia Ruoxi stepped out from beside Lin Feng and spoke to Asano Jiro on his behalf.

"President Xia is entirely right, Patriarch Asano, you needn't blame Haruko! By the way, what brings you two here to see me?" Just as Xia Ruoxi's voice trailed off, Lin Feng chimed in.

Hearing Lin Feng inquire about the purpose of their visit, Asano Jiro didn't stand on ceremony and cut straight to the point. "Chairman Lin, you understand our family and you know that the Asano family operates in the computer industry. Before your company was established, our sales figures were quite decent, but ever since your company emerged so abruptly, our product market share has been shrinking steadily. Now that you have developed market-leading computer accessories, my purpose in coming here today is to reach a cooperation agreement with you. The Asano family's computer company needs to procure the newly developed computer accessories from your company!"

Lin Feng listened silently to Asano Jiro's request. In truth, he had already guessed the reason for their visit beforehand.

However, Lin Feng's original intention in manufacturing computer accessories was precisely to sell them for profit, so he certainly wouldn't turn down business delivered right to his doorstep.

High as the profit margins of Future Technology Company might be, pulling in a fortune every single day, Lin Feng had numerous external ventures that constantly required capital! To say nothing of the massive amount of cash needed for Future Technology Company to build its new corporate headquarters on the newly acquired plot of land, the laboratory out in the suburbs was also a bottomless pit for money. Not to mention that Lin Feng now had a brand-new plan: Zhao Ze leading a hundred members to build up forces in Iraq. That was where funds were needed on a massive scale, and Lin Feng's current mission was simply to make money as frantically as possible.

"Patriarch Asano is too modest. You're essentially bringing money right to my door. The products our company develops are naturally meant to be sold for a profit! If this was the only reason for your visit today, you really didn't need to come in person; you could have simply sent a company representative to our department," Lin Feng said happily to Asano Jiro, recognizing this as a thoroughly positive development.

"Hehe, since Chairman Lin agrees, then I can finally rest easy!" Hearing Lin Feng state his willingness to sell the accessories to the Asano family's enterprise, Asano Jiro's long-anxious heart could finally relax, and he spoke to Lin Feng in high spirits.

Yet, the sudden frown that appeared on Lin Feng's face instantly tightened Asano Jiro's newly relaxed heart right back up.

"Chairman Lin, is there still a problem?" Asano Jiro asked nervously, casting a wary glance at Lin Feng, terrified that some unfavorable news might tumble from his lips.

"There is a minor issue! As you know, our new products have just hit the market and we need to build up our inventory. My production capacity cannot keep up with your order volume in the early stages, so if Patriarch Asano wishes to order these accessories, I'm afraid I won't be able to deliver them to you for a little while," Lin Feng said to Asano Jiro, furrowing his brow as he considered the company's current production bottleneck.

"Haha, you really gave me a fright! If it's merely a matter of production capacity, I can understand that! As long as you are willing to sell the new accessories to us, our company in Island Nation can wait," Asano Jiro said politely, letting out another sigh of relief upon learning it was only that reason.

Since the other party didn't mind, Lin Feng wasn't foolish enough to stand on ceremony. He straightforwardly proceeded with Asano Jiro to the stage of mutually signing the agreement. After resolving a few minor divergent opinions on the terms, Lin Feng and Asano Jiro signed the letter of intent on the spot.

It wasn't until both sides finished signing the agreement that Asano Jiro finally left the headquarters of Lin Feng's Future Technology Company, perfectly content, with Asano Haruko trailing behind him.

No sooner had the people from the Asano family departed than Microsoft Corporation from the United States arrived. Bill and his team walked right into Lin Feng's company.

"Chairman Lin, I'll get straight to the point: Microsoft wants to establish a partnership with your company! The test data for the new high-definition monitors and hard drives produced by your company is exceptionally impressive. If the actual products live up to the test data, Microsoft needs to procure these two types of accessories!" As soon as Bill sat down in the Future Technology conference room, he spoke in a preemptive and aggressive tone, acting as though they were the overlords and that purchasing products from Lin Feng's company was an act of charity toward him.

Lin Feng frowned. Although he was thoroughly displeased with Bill's attitude, a business open to the public dealt with all kinds of customers. In the end, Lin Feng accepted Bill's request, expressing Future Technology's willingness to cooperate with Microsoft, while once again mentioning the production capacity issue he had just discussed with Asano Jiro.

"What? Insufficient production capacity and deliveries will have to be delayed? No, I cannot accept this. Our company is launching new products in October, and I must use your newly developed computer accessories in those new products! If it's just a capacity issue, you can simply halt shipments elsewhere and clear up the supply to prioritize us," Bill demanded in a rigid and uncompromising tone upon hearing the news that deliveries would take longer.

"Mr. Bill, that hardly seems reasonable, does it?" Seeing the other party refuse to be accommodating and instead put forth even more unreasonable demands, Lin Feng continued to frown as he looked at him.

"There is nothing unreasonable about it. We are the customers now, and we have the right to make such demands of you!" Bill ignored Lin Feng's displeasure and maintained his overbearing stance.

While cooperating with Microsoft was certainly important, Lin Feng could not possibly halt the assembly of domestic second-generation computer products just to accommodate them. Moreover, Bill's demands were utterly excessive, and his obnoxious attitude had deeply displeased Lin Feng.

"Mr. Bill, if that is truly your stance, then I can only offer my sincere apologies. It appears our two companies cannot reach a consensus, and this cooperation cannot proceed!" Since the other party refused to make any concessions, Lin Feng had no choice but to make this reluctant decision.

"What? You actually refuse to cooperate with us? You..." Bill was choked with rage by Lin Feng's decision, unable to utter a complete sentence. Perhaps he had never imagined that a day would come when his Microsoft would be rejected by someone else.

"That's right, Mr. Bill. I cannot meet your demands, so we have no choice but to cancel the cooperation," Lin Feng replied firmly once again.

Bill stormed out in a blind rage without even looking back, his face contorted with fury. As far as Microsoft's dominance in the computer technology industry was concerned, this was undoubtedly the greatest humiliation Bill had ever suffered.

"Lin Feng, might this turn out poorly? By offending the founder of Microsoft, aren't you afraid they'll play dirty behind our backs?" Xia Ruoxi watched Bill and his entourage leave the conference room, turning to Lin Feng with a worried expression.

"Have no fear. Competitors are natural enemies; we and they are rivals, and a clash was bound to happen sooner or later. Besides, do you really still consider Microsoft the reigning king of the computer technology world? Their position is hanging by a thread! Otherwise, Bill wouldn't have come running over to procure our products—that was a manifestation of desperation." Lin Feng didn't take Bill's furious departure to heart, having perhaps anticipated a confrontation with Microsoft all along.

What Xia Ruoxi said was indeed correct. The moment Bill left the hotel, he immediately headed to the Zhanhai City airport with his corporate team, where their chartered private jet was already waiting. Bill had no intention of letting this matter rest. The Huaxia government still relied heavily on Microsoft's support for a great deal of its computer technology. Bill was confident that by using these technologies as leverage, the Huaxia government would have no choice but to yield to his conditions. This time, he intended to force Lin Feng to fly personally to Microsoft in the United States and present the technology for the high-definition monitors and hard drives as a gift of atonement.

Sure enough, the moment Bill's aircraft left Huaxia airspace, the Huaxia government far away in Yanjing received threats regarding this very matter from Microsoft Corporation.

"Bastard, who does this man think he is? How dare a mere company attempt to threaten an entire nation?" Inside the Prime Minister's office in Zhongnanhai, Yanjing, Minister Xie slammed the fax sent by Microsoft onto Premier Zhu's desk in a fit of rage.

"Sigh, who is to blame for our technological backwardness? We still rely on their company's products for a vast array of our computer technology. If they truly cut us off, our losses will be far more severe. We are in a transitional period right now; once all our computer tech products are replaced with Future Technology's, this kind of threat will cease to exist!" Premier Zhu explained to Minister Xie with a furrowed brow, though he was equally infuriated by the foreign threat.

This explanation struck straight at Minister Xie's soft spot, causing his imposing anger to deflate considerably. Even so, unwilling to let the matter rest, he asked once again, "Will the United States government simply stand by and do nothing, allowing a corporation of theirs to run amok like this?"

"Hmph, the higher-ups in their country are probably dying to watch us make a fool of ourselves. They just sent over a document explaining that this is a commercial matter in which the state cannot intervene. Those are all mere excuses," Premier Zhu said contemptuously, clearly holding the American rhetoric in utter disdain.

"Every year we invest massive amounts of funds into our domestic scientists, yet they haven't produced a damn thing, leaving me to swallow this humiliation! If not for Lin Feng's company existing now, goodness knows how much longer we'd have to endure this abuse. Old Zhu, let me tell you right now, you can forget about even thinking of letting Lin Feng hand over that technology. If we compromise once, there will be a second time!" Minister Xie thought for a moment, then slapped the desk as he stubbornly insisted on his stance to Premier Zhu.