Negotiations

Everyone with a technical background wanted to change their industry.

But in reality, anyone who could truly understand the cutting-edge technology in their field was already among the best.

Jiang Nan was a natural genius when it came to pharmacy.

But she couldn't imagine how powerful the code Wu Chen had typed out could be.

Still, she felt a faint, inexplicable sense of trust in Wu Chen.

When Jiang Nan recalled the look he had given the people who wanted to strike up a conversation with her at dinner the night before, her heart fluttered rapidly again, much to her frustration.

She couldn't help taking a couple more looks at Wu Chen.

Then she noticed that despite going to bed so late the night before and teaching five classes that morning, he didn't look the least bit tired. If anything, he looked refreshed and full of energy.

And why did she feel like Wu Chen's physique had gotten a little better than it was yesterday...?

"Why haven't you left yet?"

Just as Jiang Nan was lost in thought, Wu Chen reached for the coffee cup beside him. When he looked up, he found her staring at him.

"I only just stood up."

Jiang Nan rolled her eyes at him.

This time, Wu Chen didn't dodge it.

"Oh, I thought it had been a long time."

Wu Chen checked the time and saw that only a minute really had passed.

But he felt as though he had been thinking for a long time.

This was the change that level-one intelligence brought!

He thought much faster than ordinary people, so he often had the illusion that time had slowed down.

If he activated the deep reading function, just how terrifying would his ability to think become...?

Wu Chen could hardly wait to go home that night and try out his new skill.

After leaving the office, Jiang Nan took the elevator straight up to the sixth floor and knocked on the door of Wang Hongfa's office.

"Come in!"

Wang Hongfa sounded delighted, as though something good had happened.

Jiang Nan pushed the door open and saw Wang Hongfa humming a little tune as he made himself some tea.

When he saw her, Wang Hongfa stiffened for a moment, but he quickly put on a smile. "Teacher Jiang, please, have a seat."

Jiang Nan nodded and sat down on the sofa for visitors.

She had actually wanted to give him a polite response, too.

But when she thought about what he had done, she felt sick and chose not to say a word.

Wang Hongfa, however, acted as though he hadn't noticed Jiang Nan's coldness, choosing instead to forgive her slight breach of manners.

He even asked warmly in the local dialect, "Teacher Jiang, how about a cup of pre-Qingming Longjing? It's the genuine stuff from Meijiawu. Tastes mighty fine!"

"Mighty fine" meant very good.

"The Xiaoshan dialect isn't the same as the Hangzhou dialect, Dean Wang. Please speak Mandarin instead."

Jiang Nan's tone was stiff.

This time, Wang Hongfa finally had some trouble keeping up appearances.

He had wanted to bring the two of them closer, only to run into a wall.

They were separated by nothing more than the Qiantang River. How could their dialects be different?

Even so, he chose to forgive her again.

After all, Jiang Nan was the paying client today.

After sitting down across from Jiang Nan, Wang Hongfa didn't get straight to business. Instead, he asked, "Teacher Jiang, thanks for your hard work last night. Did you get a good rest?"

"It was all right."

"Well, I didn't expect you and Teacher Wu to come together... I heard you two are dating?"

"No."

Jiang Nan responded coldly.

"So you don't have any thoughts of that kind, either? I was planning to pull some strings and promote Teacher Wu to associate professor, but the higher-ups didn't approve it. I could only get him to level-eight lecturer for now, sigh..."

"Dean Wang, let's discuss the cooperation project instead."

Jiang Nan interrupted him coldly, acting as though she had no interest in Wu Chen's affairs whatsoever.

She could tell that Wang Hongfa was probing her about her relationship with Wu Chen.

"Heh, right you are!"

Wang Hongfa patted his bald head and said, "Speaking of that project, word just came from my senior, Lavrov. They've made a major breakthrough. With human intervention, they can achieve one hundred percent accuracy..."

As he spoke, he showed her the email Lavrov had just sent.

He had thought Lavrov would stand him up today, but unexpectedly, the message had arrived just before Jiang Nan came.

In the email, Lavrov excitedly told him that after conducting research with his colleagues at Carnegie Mellon University, he had fully mastered a way to improve the recognition rate.

Previously, when the conveyor belt reached a speed of 1.8 meters per second, the accuracy of pill recognition dropped to less than half.

But through their tireless efforts, the recognition rate had now risen to ninety percent!

The only problem at present was that implementing the system on Jiangdong Pharmaceutical Factory's production line would cost a tiny fortune.

Not much at all, just 800,000 dollars!

Jiang Nan's long eyelashes trembled when she heard the figure.

Hazelnut Technology's production line was already running, and the first set of products could be shipped next month.

Yet the price, including installation and after-sales service, was only around a million yuan, and the results were even better.

Had this Lavrov drunk so much vodka... no, bourbon whiskey that he'd ruined his brain, to dare ask for 800,000 dollars?

That came to more than five million yuan!

No matter how deep Jiangdong Pharmaceutical Factory's pockets were, it couldn't possibly advance that much money.

Fortunately, Wang Hongfa also knew it was unrealistic.

"Teacher Jiang, the initial investment is indeed substantial, so I'm planning to establish a research team in the name of a partnership between the university and your company, specifically to tackle the problem. I happen to have three PhDs under me available for the work, and I'll put in a million. You can invest the rest. What do you think?"

Jiang Nan did some quick calculations.

A million wasn't much to Wang Hongfa. If he poured it in, he could easily make up the loss. It had to be more than three million at least.

So she refused outright and gave the answer she had prepared long ago.

"No. I can't put up any money at the initial stage, but I can sign a sales performance agreement. If the technology passes acceptance testing, I'll take responsibility for sales."

"You can't put up any money?"

Deep disappointment flashed across Wang Hongfa's face. "Then it'll be hard to get this project off the ground. The university can't possibly come up with five million all at once, either."

Wu Chen had gotten it done for 1.7 million, with money left over!

Jiang Nan secretly pursed her lips and said, "I don't think money is the key. The question is whether the technology over in the ugly country actually works. The process still requires human intervention, which isn't cheap, either. It doesn't seem very reliable."

"You can rest assured about that!"

Wang Hongfa said, "Lavrov is my senior. Although there was a small misunderstanding last time, his research abilities are excellent. There's absolutely no problem there!"

Birds of a feather really do flock together!

Jiang Nan said coolly, "I don't think that was a misunderstanding. It also made me question his character, and whether the labor costs are just a way to inflate the budget unnecessarily."

"Oh, Teacher Jiang, that's where you don't understand. You've never been abroad, so you don't know what things are like over there. Besides, human intervention is actually the highlight of this project! Let me tell you about one little incident to explain their customs!"

After taking a sip of tea, he cleared his throat and began his story.

"A few years ago, my colleagues and I went to Brooklyn on a business trip. We saw several workers kneeling on the ground, laying asphalt with their bare hands.

"I was very puzzled. Why didn't they use machines, instead of wasting time and effort doing it by hand?

"Someone guessed they might be getting some exercise. Another laughed and said perhaps labor was cheaper than machinery.

"After hearing our discussion, a local professor smiled and explained:

"First, whenever they built a road there, they buried spare equipment for maintenance a hundred years later. So only by laying the road by hand could they ensure flawless precision!

"Second, they did it for pedestrians' comfort. Just as hand-pounded beef balls always have a little more flavor than machine-made ones, a road laid by hand has a warmer human touch!

"Finally, they placed tremendous importance on quality. Even though their machinery led the world, the workers still laid the road themselves with their bare hands to avoid mechanical errors!

"Upon hearing this, we were suddenly enlightened!

"Now, whenever I recall those workers, I often find myself reflecting.

"In an age when we pursue the idea that time is life, perhaps we should learn to slow down and pay more attention to quality and detail. Only then can we go farther and walk more steadily!

"And that's why, even though the investment comes to more than five million, human intervention is still necessary!"

After listening to Wang Hongfa's lengthy discourse, Jiang Nan's face remained expressionless, but inwardly she was deeply shaken.

She was wondering whether the workers back then had used their shovels to smooth out the folds in Wang Hongfa's cerebral cortex.