After hearing Sister Ye, Chen Chen nodded. "As for your proposal to have the app join your platforms, I'm all for it, but..."
Everyone immediately perked up.
"If you want Little X Translation Assistant to join your platforms, one hundred million won't be enough."
Chen Chen held up two fingers. "I want two billion!"
"Mr. Chen, isn't that a bit much?"
Tony was stunned. "We value your company at only 1.5 billion. Two billion exceeds your company's entire valuation. I'm afraid we can't accept that!"
"That's fine. We can always try another kind of partnership."
Chen Chen smiled, completely unbothered. "Whichever of your two companies is willing to pay three billion dollars can have the exclusive license for the entire Federation."
At that, Tony and Alvin both went pale. Tony stammered, "M-Mr. Chen, what you're doing is unethical. In Central Continent Region, there's a saying for this... What was it again? Raising the price?"
"Price gouging?" Chen Chen asked.
"Pfft..." Xia Yin nearly spat out her water.
"No! It's... taking advantage of the situation to raise the price!"
Tony slapped his thigh. "That's right, raising the price! It's not something a gentleman would do!"
"Enough."
Chen Chen waved a hand. "I'm giving you only these two options. Otherwise, there's nothing to discuss."
"If you insist on this, I'm afraid we won't be able to continue negotiating!"
Tony took a deep breath, suppressing his anger. "We can't see any sincerity from you or your company!"
"Manager Xia?" Sister Ye beside him looked anxious, hoping Xia Yin would try to persuade Chen Chen.
But Xia Yin only pressed her lips together, wanting to laugh but not daring to. She was practically turning red from holding it in.
"You've probably noticed that this software of mine isn't really suited to the Central Continent market."
Chen Chen abruptly changed the subject and said calmly, "Neither QQ nor WeChat, nor even Tieba or Weibo, is a good fit for Little X Translation Assistant. The only platforms that truly need it are international communication platforms like yours."
"Our company's translation software was made for international communication platforms. The software itself may not be worth much, but its real value goes far beyond the revenue it generates on the surface."
Chen Chen analyzed the situation coolly. "Have either of you considered what would happen if my translation software were used by one of your competitors?"
The moment Chen Chen said this, the conference room fell silent.
Tony and Alvin exchanged a glance. How could they fail to see the value of Little X?
They had simply been pretending not to understand.
Not only that, they knew exactly what a disaster it would be for them if social platforms like Tumblr or Telegram got their hands on Little X. It could even shake their dominance in the social media world!
"Think about it again. If your company gets the exclusive license, not only will your dominant position become even more secure, you'll also have a chance to break into emerging markets!"
Chen Chen looked the two men in the eye. "Have you ever considered entering the Central Continent Region?"
That final question struck like a bolt from the blue, leaving everyone present holding their breath!
At that moment, they all thought of Tencent.
Everyone knew how the internet empire Tencent had risen to power.
But precisely because they knew, they were insanely jealous—jealous enough to want to tear it apart and devour it!
With the world's largest market and no strong competitors to speak of, Tencent had grown from a tiny chat app into a corporate empire with tentacles reaching every corner of the internet—all in just over a decade!
It had even easily overtaken Twitter and surpassed Facebook!
That was the chronicle of the Tencent empire!
"There are plenty of other international platforms like Facebook and Twitter, such as Tumblr, Instagram, Telegram, LINE, and so on..."
Seeing how tempted everyone looked, Chen Chen smiled faintly. "Strictly speaking, whichever international communication platform gets my exclusive license could become the next Facebook. Even if you two aren't interested, I'm sure someone else will be."
At that, the representatives from Facebook and Twitter fell completely silent.
After a long while, Tony finally said with some difficulty, "I'll need to contact our head office about this. If you don't mind, we'll come back tomorrow."
"By all means." Chen Chen gestured for them to leave.
Only after watching everyone slowly file out of the conference room did Xia Yin exclaim in a quiet voice, "They seem tempted..."
"It's not that they seem tempted. They're definitely going to do it."
Chen Chen shook his head. "If I'm not mistaken, someone will contact us within the hour."
Sure enough, just half an hour later, Sister Ye hurriedly knocked on Chen Chen's office door again. "Chairman, Ms. Emily from Facebook is here!"
"Send her straight in," Chen Chen said.
"Okay!"
Soon, Sister Ye led in the woman who had been beside Tony earlier, along with several lawyers.
Unlike Tony, Emily didn't speak Chinese. She hurriedly spoke in English instead. "Mr. Chen, we've met before. On behalf of Facebook, I agree to your second proposal: three billion dollars for the exclusive license to Little X Translation Assistant across the Federation!"
"Is that so? What a shame..."
Chen Chen gently wagged his finger and said regretfully, "Twitter just contacted me too. They're willing to do the same."
"That's impossible!" Emily exclaimed. She glanced at Chen Chen's side. "You're deceiving us!"
"You can say what you like over a meal, but you shouldn't make baseless accusations."
Chen Chen took his time replying. "If you don't believe me, you can wait for Mr. Alvin to arrive and confront him yourself."
Emily was momentarily speechless. Then she took a deep breath. "In that case, Facebook is willing to pay four billion dollars for Little X's exclusive license across the Federation. That's our limit, Mr. Chen!"
"Pleasure doing business!" Chen Chen held out his hand with a warm smile.
Signing the contract took nearly three hours.
After Sister Ye escorted the pale-faced Emily and the others out, Xia Yin suddenly poked her head through the doorway.
"Did it work?"
"It did." Chen Chen took out a copy of the contract. "Four billion dollars."
"Yeehaw!"
Xia Yin let out a cheer and rushed in, thrilled. "Oh my God, I'm not dreaming, am I? Four billion—and in U.S. dollars! Even if I sold my dad, he wouldn't be worth that much!"
"Facebook and Twitter are a pair of greedy wolves. They're not good people to begin with. How could we let them off without making them pay dearly?"
"If they're no good, why let them enter the Central Continent Region?" Xia Yin asked with a laugh as she flipped through the contract.
"Do you think they can get in?" Chen Chen scoffed and tossed the contract into a drawer. "Never mind the district government and Tencent—this contract doesn't even say they have to update it with a Chinese-language interface..."
"Huh?" Xia Yin was startled. "You're planning to screw them over?"
"No need for that yet. If they really intend to enter the Central Continent market, we can screw them over then."
Chen Chen sneered. "Just remember this: sooner or later, these two platforms will be our enemies."
Before you continue