"Damn it, if my superiors weren't pressuring me, I couldn't be bothered with you!"
At Zhong Wei Technology in Peng City, Peng Fan listened to Zhou Feiyu's teasing over the phone and cursed inwardly, feeling thoroughly unlucky. Still, he had no choice but to force himself to say some humble pleasantries.
Speak like a person when meeting people, speak like a ghost when meeting ghosts. That was the survival wisdom Peng Fan had picked up over the years, and he did not care in the slightest about face or dignity.
If you were in Peng City, you were a Peng City person, with the soul of Peng City.
In Peng City, nothing mattered more than six words: make money! Make money! Make money!
As long as you could make money, everything was negotiable.
Oupai's mobile phone project had been snatched away by Hua Long Technology, and everyone at Zhong Wei Technology—from sales and R&D to procurement—had been chewed out by the boss.
Yes, after the business director had reprimanded their procurement department, the boss, upon learning of it, dragged in the heads of all those departments and gave them another dressing-down. The procurement department got it worst of all. Their director, Liao Yongqing, had been cursed out so badly he was practically smoking, and when he returned, he immediately chewed Peng Fan out, clearly venting some of his own anger on him.
Peng Fan had no choice either. After all, Zhou Feiyu had agreed to meet with him, only for Hua Long Technology to use Zhou Feiyu's material to catch Zhong Wei Technology completely off guard.
Like a mute swallowing bitter herbs, he had suffering he could not voice—especially since he had brought that bitterness upon himself.
In the end, Peng Fan had to write a deeply remorseful self-criticism and was docked one quarter's performance pay. His immediate superior, Procurement Director Liao Yongqing, was also docked one quarter's performance pay.
On top of that, Peng Fan had been assigned a task: obtain Zhou Feiyu's material for testing. That was why, after hesitating again and again today, he had finally forced himself to call Zhou Feiyu.
"President Zhou, you're still in Peng City, right? Come out tonight. Drinks are on me!"
After exchanging pleasantries, Peng Fan spoke with a smile in his voice.
Zhou Feiyu said, "Next time. I've already returned to Nanjiang Province. Next time President Peng comes to Nanjiang, I'll treat you to dinner and let you try Nanjiang's specialty dishes."
"You've already gone back?"
Peng Fan was startled. He truly had not expected Zhou Feiyu to leave Peng City so quickly. "All right, then. Looks like we can only get together when we have time in the future."
Zhou Feiyu replied with a simple "Mm," then said nothing more.
Peng Fan smiled bitterly to himself and could only get straight to the point. "Here's the thing, President Zhou. Zhong Wei Technology wants to use your FY-01 material. Would it be convenient for you to arrange some samples? Don't worry, I can sign a confidentiality agreement and guarantee that I won't disclose your material."
"You're being so cooperative?"
Zhou Feiyu was secretly surprised. It seemed Hua Long Technology had put no small amount of pressure on Zhong Wei Technology. Such a large listed company was actually willing to lower its head to him.
But since the other party had put it that way, Zhou Feiyu paused for a moment before giving an affirmative response. "All right, President Peng. I'll send you a confidentiality agreement shortly. Once you've signed it, send me an email with your sample requirements, and I'll arrange a response."
Business was business no matter who he dealt with, especially with Zhong Wei Technology, the second-largest player in the mobile phone ODM industry. Its scale was enormous.
As for the competition between Zhong Wei Technology and Hua Long Technology, it would not have much impact on his supply. Although the two companies' businesses overlapped, the projects their clients gave them were not a zero-sum game. They were widely distributed, since clients also feared putting all their eggs in one basket.
Therefore, supplying FY-01 to both Hua Long Technology and Zhong Wei Technology would not cause them to affect one another. On the contrary, it would greatly increase FY-01's market share.
Besides, the customer bases of Hua Long Technology and Zhong Wei Technology did not completely overlap. This market was neither particularly large nor particularly small.
After hanging up with Zhou Feiyu, Peng Fan let out a long breath. The task was more than halfway done, and barring any surprises, it would be completed soon. At least one major problem had been resolved.
Ding-dong!
Zhou Feiyu quickly sent him an electronic contract, clearly having prepared it in advance.
Peng Fan quickly read through it, immediately signed his name, stamped it with the company's procurement seal, and sent it back to Zhou Feiyu. Once that was done, he went to find the people in charge of the project and R&D departments to discuss sample-making and validation for FY-01.
The project and R&D departments had been chewed out alongside procurement. Upon hearing why he had come, they briefly discussed it and quickly settled on a validation plan.
An hour later, an email listing the sample requirements from R&D arrived in Peng Fan's inbox. Peng Fan glanced over it and immediately forwarded it to Zhou Feiyu.
Peng Fan also remembered to photograph the email with his phone and send the picture to Zhou Feiyu, followed by a message, just in case Zhou Feiyu overlooked it.
"I'll follow up again tomorrow."
Peng Fan thought to himself, feeling somewhat exhausted. It had been years since he had handled procurement this tiring.
Back when he had first entered the workforce and started in procurement, his unfamiliarity with the business and the company's payment issues had often forced him to smile apologetically at suppliers.
Ever since becoming Zhong Wei Technology's procurement manager, aside from chip and glass suppliers who still had to be carefully wined and dined, suppliers of other materials were basically the ones begging him for favors. He had grown used to them coming to him while he sat comfortably at the company and waited to be courted.
Fei Yang Technology was the first non-chip, non-glass material supplier in history to make him put on a smiling face.
Well, chip and glass manufacturers had always been the big shots. Just because you were their customer did not mean you could act like God and buy their products. They were the type to judge people by their status and act high and mighty.
By the time he finished all that, it was nearly time to get off work.
Just as Peng Fan was about to leave, he received a call from the sales director of another materials manufacturer.
Qian Jia Optics' Sales Manager Deng Guangyi.
"President Peng, you're getting off work soon, right? The usual place—Xiaoxiang Farmhouse Restaurant. I've ordered a table full of good food, all free-range chicken and duck, and brought a bottle of fine liquor. We're just waiting for you."
As soon as the call connected, Deng Guangyi's hearty laughter came through.
"Eat, eat, eat. All you know is eating."
Peng Fan was already in a foul mood. Seeing that it was Qian Jia Optics—and that it was the company that had bid alongside Zhou Feiyu that day—he could not help cursing inwardly.
Still, Peng Fan had considerable self-control. He did not curse aloud, nor would he vent his anger on a supplier, especially when the other party had kindly invited him to dinner and drinks.
"Wait for me. I'll be a while longer."
Peng Fan thought for a moment before replying.
No matter what, he still needed to maintain his relationships with these material suppliers. Qian Jia Optics remained one of their larger optical material suppliers.
"Strange. Something's off about him today?"
On the other end, Qian Jia Optics' Sales Manager Deng Guangyi, who had ordered good food and liquor while waiting for Peng Fan, was puzzled after hanging up.
Normally, whenever he called Peng Fan to invite him to a meal, Peng Fan would be all smiles and laughter. But today, he had been rather cold, as though Deng Guangyi had offended him.
Deng Guangyi thought about it. Recently, neither he nor Qian Jia Optics had done anything to offend Peng Fan or Zhong Wei Technology, had they?
"Could there have been a large-scale quality problem with our deliveries? That makes no sense. I know the people in Zhong Wei Technology's production department well. If there were a problem, they would have given me a heads-up first, wouldn't they?"
Deng Guangyi could not make heads or tails of it.
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