What If I Refused to Sell It to You?

The negotiations in Western Europe had originally still been locked in a tug-of-war. No one had expected the treasure they had been dreaming of to be buried beneath a shipload of corn cobs. When that batch of equipment was dug out from the pile of corn, the customs officers nearly stared their eyes straight, then immediately reported the news to their superiors.

Because the matter was of great importance, the news was sent directly to the Science and Industry Bureau.

Meanwhile, because engineers had been contacted from Shenyang Machine Tool to inspect the equipment, the company side caught wind of it.

Among the country's major machine tool enterprises were Shenyang Machine Tool, Qizhong, and many others such as Qier, Beijing No. 1 Machine Tool, and Jinan No. 1 Machine Tool. They all held considerable shares of the domestic machine tool market, and every one of them coveted the high-end machine tool market.

The problem was that, in theory, everyone had the capability and confidence to reverse-engineer the equipment and master at least part of its core technologies. Yet there were only two key machines. There were too many monks and too little porridge to go around.

Thus, as soon as he heard the news, Academician Yang Zhongquan, Shenyang Machine Tool's chief engineer and deputy manager, did not even stop for lunch. He dragged Secretary Wu from the factory along and hurried over from Fengtian by plane.

In the lounge of the Jinling Institute for Advanced Study, the two sat on a sofa.

Secretary Wu, wearing glasses, glanced toward the door and lowered his voice.

"Old Yang, that equipment is extremely important to our factory. We have to find a way to secure at least one of them. Better yet, we should negotiate for both."

Yang Zhongquan picked up his teacup