Chapter 79 Are we friends?
Going into a small hall with president Rank, Xu Yi found that there were already five people sitting there. It was not a private talk like he had thought it would be.
He looked over the people in the room and Xu Yi revealed a faint smile. President Rank wasn’t beating around the bush with him at all, directly bringing these people out, was he planning to lay out all his cards tonight?
But thinking about it, whether it was Xu Yi or the Frestech Chamber of Commerce, in the eyes of president Rank or the others, it wasn’t worth mentioning at all. There was no need to play around with him, it was better to be direct.
Thinking of this, Xu Yi’s lips couldn’t help curling into a taunting smile.
“Come, chairman Xu, please sit.” President Rank had an inviting appearance to Xu Yi, before pointing at the people sitting, “Let me introduce you, these people are……”
Xu Yi raised a hand to stop president Rank and said with a smile, “President Rank, these are all the most famous merchants in our Banta City, if I don’t even recognize them, would I have the qualification to do business? What do you think, chairman Morgan?”
Xu Yi looked at a middle aged man with graying hair and a normal sized build. He was the chairman of the Falcao Chamber of Commerce Xu Yi had talked to Viscount Leslie about before, chairman Fuller Morgan.
Seeing that Xu Yi took the initiative to talk to him, there was a trace of surprise that flashed on chairman Morgan’s face before he said with a big smile, “Chairman Xu is joking. If we’re talking about fame, is there anyone with bigger fame in Banta City than your Frestech Chamber of Commerce? Chairman Xu’s name frequently appears in the ?Banta Times?, so not mentioning our colleagues, there isn’t a single person of the Banta City citizens who doesn’t know you, right?”
Xu Yi revealed a faint smile as he said with a shrug of his shoulder, “Actually I just want to properly do my business and don’t want to care about other things, but Baron Hannas always says that there is news in our Frestech Chamber of Commerce. He always wants to report on our Frestech Chamber of Commerce and I have no way of dealing with him.”
Hearing this, the expression of the others slightly changed.
Banta Times?, when this new thing appeared, these people didn’t care about it at all. However, when the ?Banta Times? quickly became popular in the city and was even sold to the nearest two cities, everyone realized the giant influence this thing contained.
Using the Frestech Chamber of Commerce as an example, because the ?Banta Times? kept reporting on the actions of the Frestech Chamber of Commerce, their fame in Banta City swelled. There was no need to mention everyone in Banta City knowing about it, even the people outside the city was the same.
Moreover, every time the Frestech Chamber of Commerce came up with a new product, the ?Banta Times? would give a detailed report about it. Not only did it clearly state the use of the new product, it also highly praised it, saying that the Frestech Chamber of Commerce made people’s lives much easier.
During this time, whether it were the nobles or the commoners, the Frestech Chamber of Commerce had a high approval rate in Banta City. There were some people who didn’t know the truth and would buy magic machines from other companies, but now there was no one who did this.
Once someone had this idea, they would definitely be called a fool by everyone around them.
“The Frestech Brand magic machines are the best. If you buy those magic machines from who knows where, the one who will suffer will definitely be you!”
This was already well known knowledge to everyone in Banta City.
Moreover, there were even Frestech Chamber of Commerce’s magic machines in the houses of these large merchants. They had to admit, the quality of the Frestech Brand magic machine was better than the imitations.
During this time, the ?Banta Times? had even reported on news from Saltan City. It’s said that the Leo Chamber of Commerce from Saltan City had tried producing magic machines like the Frestech Chamber of Commerce, but there were serious quality issues with the Leo Brand Magic Fans because the blades would fall off and hurt people. Recently the Leo Brand Magic Rice Cooker had even exploded, causing serious accidents with one dead and three injured to appear among the citizens.
Even if the Leo Chamber of Commerce was the biggest company in Saltan City, after being plagued with continuous accidents, their fame in Saltan City had fallen to shambles. It even attracted several hundred people to surround their company in protest.
Compared to the Leo Chamber of Commerce, the Frestech Chamber of Commerce’s magic machines hadn’t had a single accident. Not only were the Frestech Brand magic machines very durable, it was very unlikely that there would be problems with their quality.
Then again, even if there was a quality problem, there was a special “post sale service center” created by the Frestech Chamber of Commerce in Banta City. As long as there was a problem with a Frestech Brand magic machine, there were free repairs for a year here, so the people who bought the Frestech Brand Magic Fans had no more worries.
It was because of these clear differences that in just a short three months, the Frestech Chamber of Commerce and the Frestech Brand magic machines had been deeply rooted in the hearts of the citizens from the surrounding cities, attracting everyone’s approval.
The Frestech Chamber of Commerce had just released the Magic Rice Cooker and without doing any big advertisements in the surrounding cities, the companies of those cities all came for the right to sell the Frestech Brand Magic Rice Cooker.
When the people of those cities heard that this Magic Rice Cooker came from the Frestech Chamber of Commerce, they didn’t have any doubts and they were very quick with their purchases.
The main reason was that the Frestech Chamber of Commerce’s magic machines were easy to use and were of high quality, but the advertisement from the ?Banta Times? was also very important.
The people here were all large merchants in Banta City, how could they see this point?
Morgan looked over and smiled at Xu Yi as he said, “Chairman Xu, I’ve heard that you have a good relation with Baron Hannas who is the chief editor for the ?Banta Times??”
Xu Yi waved his hand, “We are just normal friends.”
The others couldn’t help rolling their eyes at Xu Yi.
Normal friends? Who would believe you!
If they were just normal friends, would the ?Banta Times? report on the Frestech Chamber of Commerce for no reason? Moreover, the reports were also positive and never negative?
It had to be known that the companies behind these people had also approached Baron Hannas, wanting him to give their companies a positive report, but they were directly rejected by Baron Hannas.
The reason Baron Hannas gave was that the ?Banta Times? would focus on reporting on the Frestech Chamber of Commerce! The other companies didn’t have anything to report on, it wouldn’t attract the people’s attention!
Everyone felt that this reason was nonsense. Normal people might not know, but these people knew that while the ?Banta Times? didn’t seem to have any relation to the Frestech Chamber of Commerce, there was actually a complicated relation between Xu Yi and the creation of the ?Banta Times?.
Not mentioning anything else, the reason why the ?Banta Times? could print over a thousand copies was because the ?Banta Times? used a Magic Printing Press that Xu Yi had invented, greatly increasing their printing speed.
If it was said that Xu Yi didn’t have any investment in the ?Banta Times?, no one would believe them.
Chairman Morgan couldn’t help giving a soft snort, “Chairman Xu, aren’t you being too unfriendly here? Even if you let us know that you have a good relation with Baron Hannas, what does it matter? Anyway, everyone here is good friends in the Business Union and you’re about to join the union, so everyone will be colleagues. What reason do you have to hide this from us?”
“Friends?” Xu Yi revealed a surprised expression as he looked at chairman Morgan and said while shaking his head, “Chairman Morga, so you consider us friends? I thought you didn’t think that way, otherwise, why would you suddenly raise the price of pig iron by 10%?”
When Xu Yi raised this question, the atmosphere in the room froze.
Chairman Morgan was stunned as he looked at Xu Yi in surprise. He never thought that Xu Yi would actually mention this matter in front of others and he would do it so straightforward, not hiding anything at all.
“This……” Chairman Morgan said with a dry laugh, “Chairman Xu, business and personal matters aren’t related, right? Raising the price of pig iron was a joint decision within our company, it wasn’t a relationship made by me alone. Then again, the price wasn’t raised just for chairman Xu’s Frestech Chamber of Commerce, so I ask chairman Xu not to think too much.”
“Is that so? The personal friendship between me and Baron Hannas naturally is unrelated to the ?Banta Times? reporting on our Frestech Chamber of Commerce. After all, the ?Banta Times? is not just decided by Baron Hannas alone.” Xu Yi said with a faint smile.
Chairman Morgan instantly choked up. He narrowed his eyes as he looked at Xu Yi and although there was still a smile on his face, it became a bit colder.
President Rank suddenly gave a soft cough and attracted the attention of everyone in the room.
“Chairman Xu, the reason why we invited you to this banquet tonight, you should have already guessed a few things.”
Xu Yi nodded, “If my guesses aren’t wrong, president Rank wants to admit our Frestech Chamber of Commerce as a member of the Business Union?”
President Rank nodded with a faint smile, “That’s right, it is exactly this. Actually with the Frestech Chamber of Commerce’s current scale, you aren’t qualified to join our Business Union yet. But chairman Xu is not a normal businessman and the Frestech Chamber of Commerce is not a normal company. After we have discussed this matter, we have decided to make an exception in letting the Frestech Chamber of Commerce become a member. Does chairman Xu have any opinion on this matter?”
Chapter 80 Shameless
Xu Yi immediately said with a smile, “To receive special admission rights into the Business Union, naturally I am flattered. But president Rank, I have only heard of the Business Union, what are the exact details of the Business Union? For example, if our Frestech Chamber of Commerce joins the Business Union, what rights will we get? What duties will we need to fulfill?”
President Rank laughed before waving his hand and saying, “Chairman Xu, there is no need to be nervous. Actually, our Business Union is just to join the large companies in Banta City to let everyone develop together. This is much better than working alone, don’t you think?”
“I do agree with this. But president Rank, this so called developing together, what does it specifically involve?” Xu Yi kept asking.
“As for the specifics, it’s having a close business relationship with the companies of the Business Union and not blindly competing with each other, like raising prices or stealing resources. Other than that, we also share resources and information, giving members preferential treatment. For example, if your Frestech Chamber of Commerce joins the Business Union, you will be able to receive a preferential price when buying pig iron from the Falcao Chamber of Commerce.”
Chairman Morgan gave a slight nod, “That’s right. If chairman Xu’s Frestech Chamber of Commerce joins the Business Union, our Falcao Chamber of Commerce will give you a preferential price when it comes to selling pig iron. I can’t give you a specific number yet, but I can guarantee it is close to 5% cheaper.”
“5%?” Xu Yi couldn’t help smiling.
The Falcao Chamber of Commerce raised the price by 10% and now the preferential price is only a 5% discount.
Compared to the initial price, it was still much higher.
Thinking of this, Xu Yi gave up this question and asked president Rank, “This is the resource sharing, but what about the information sharing?”
“As for information sharing, that is much more complicated.” President Rank thought for a bit before pointing at a rich looking fat man who had the same smile as the Buddha back on earth, “Let’s talk about it with chairman Vincent’s Armani Chamber of Commerce and my Sarank Chamber of Commerce. The Armani Chamber of Commerce’s main business is fabricating cotton and a part of the high end cotton produced is used in my Sarank Chamber of Commerce’s product. So the Armani Chamber of Commerce shares information with our Sarank Chamber of Commerce, helping us understand the needs of high end customers, pairing them with expensive clothes and precious jewels.”
Xu Yi gave a slight nod, “I mostly understand. In short, this is also a type of resource sharing, but the resource is information on customers.”
President Rank revealed a smile, “Chairman Xu really is an intelligent person, now wonder you could develop the Frestech Chamber of Commerce so far in a short period of time.”
“President Rank is too generous with your praise. But president Rank, our Frestech Chamber of Commerce’s products are magic machines and our customers are normal people, so we don’t have any resources to share. Of course, if everybody wishes to purchase products from our Frestech Chamber of Commerce, I can give you a satisfactory preferential price.”
“Chairman Xu is joking.” President Rank shook his head with a faint smile, “Your Frestech Chamber of Commerce’s most valuable resource is not your magic machines, but rather……” After saying this, president Rank paused before saying with a serious expression, “The technology needed to make those magic machines. Chairman Xu, do you understand what I mean?”
Xu Yi couldn’t help sneering in his heart.
Of course he understood what president Rank meant.
According to what president Rank said, all the companies in the Business Union needed to share resources and he had classified the magic machines produced by the Frestech Chamber of Commerce as resources. This meant that he clearly wanted him to share the technology for producing them.
Towards this idea of president Rank, Xu Yi had only one word.
Shameless!
That’s right, it was shameless!
If this was earth, what was the most important thing to a company? Some people thought it was money, some people thought it was talented people, and some thought it was management, but Xu Yi was clear on the fact that the most important thing to a company was its core technology.
This meant that as long as they had core technology, a business had hope. Whether it was funds or talented people, they could do without them. As long as they didn’t lose their core technology, they wouldn’t lose their foundation and would have a hope of rebounding.
President Rank immediately asked Xu Yi to give the Frestech Chamber of Commerce’s core technology, if this was back on earth, it would be strange if one wasn’t met with a string of curses.
Of course, this was the Sines Continent. Xu Yi didn’t have the right to curse president Rank just yet, so he could only remain silent.
His eyes looked over the other five people and Xu Yi could see the greed that they weren’t hiding at all on their faces.
Xu Yi gave another cold laugh in his heart. Even though he had already known that tonight’s banquet wasn’t going to be good and these fellows didn’t have any good intentions towards him and the Frestech Chamber of Commerce, he never thought that they would be so open about it, not hiding it at all.
As the president of the Business Union, this Manhattan Rank immediately asked Xu Yi for his core technology. The people here must have already reached an agreement.
Thinking about it, Xu Yi wasn’t that surprised.
Compared to these people, Xu Yi and the Frestech Chamber of Commerce was just a small shrimp. If there weren’t for some scruples in their heart, they would have directly swallowed the Frestech Chamber of Commerce and wouldn’t be wasting words with him.
Looking at everyone’s expectant and greedy eyes, Xu Yi slowly said, “President Rank, may I ask what kind of technology you’re referring to?”
President Rank laughed, “That is for chairman Xu to consider yourself. Of course, as the president of the Business Union, the objective I’ve followed is that all members should share all the resources they have. That way, everyone can become stronger together. Chairman Xu, don’t you agree with me?”
Xu Yi couldn’t help cursing him as shameless again.
The meaning of president Rank’s words was that he wanted Xu Yi to take out all of the Frestech Chamber of Commerce’s technology.
If he really did this, with the manpower that their companies had that surpassed the Frestech Chamber of Commerce, they could easily crush the Frestech Chamber of Commerce and not leave a single scrap.
“I agree to this point as well. But president Rank, since we are all merchants, if we take something out and we don’t get anything in return, that goes against our code as merchants, don’t you think so?” Xu Yi said.
President Rank instantly understood, Xu Yi was beginning to bargain with him.
He was not surprised at this, rather he was filled with joy.
He was not afraid of Xu Yi’s bargaining, he was afraid that he wouldn’t bargain.
If negotiations today broke off and Xu Yi directly left, because there was Viscount Leslie behind the Frestech Chamber of Commerce, Xu Yi was related to Baron Hannas, and because the Lord City Lord cared about the Frestech Chamber of Commerce, they would have many scruples about moving against the Frestech Chamber of Commerce.
It was good that Xu Yi intended to cooperate with them. As long as they pulled Xu Yi and the Frestech Chamber of commerce in, with the ability of these people, it wasn’t a problem carving up the Frestech Chamber of Commerce. They could do it in a manner that Viscount Leslie and the Lord City Lord couldn’t find any problems with at all.
“Of course. The goal of the union is to develop together, sharing things between members, so naturally there are benefits. For example, if chairman Xu can share the technology of your Frestech Chamber of commerce, then I can say on the behalf of the Sarank Chamber of Commerce that we will share information on gem lodes with the Frestech Chamber of Commerce, as well as help the Frestech Chamber of Commerce enter the jewelry business. What do you think about this?”
Xu Yi could only give a cold laugh in his heart again.
Giving information on gem lodes? Helping them enter the jewelry business?
What a joke! The Frestech Chamber of Commerce doesn’t half any foundation in the jewelry business, so what could we do with information on gem lodes anyway? Those gem lodes must be in the hands of large nobles of the Lampuri Kingdom and without any relation, they couldn’t be opened at all!
As for helping them enter the gem business, it was all nonsense. The Frestech Chamber of Commerce had no understanding of the business and had no clients, so even if they could make jewelry, they definitely couldn’t sell them.
President Rank’s words sounded good, but it was a large hole for Xu Yi to jump in.
“If chairman Xu agrees, I will do my best to lower the price of pig iron for the Frestech Chamber of Commerce by 10%. The price will even be cheaper than before, what does chairman Xu think?” Chairman Morgan on the side added in.
With these two speaking, the other four also began speaking. They gave Xu Yi favourable conditions, speaking in a very exaggerated manner.
Xu Yi listened without any changes in his expression and when they finished speaking, he said with a faint smile and a slight nod, “I can see everyone’s sincerity. Since you want me to share the technology for making the magic machines, it isn’t a problem…..” Seeing the happy looks on their faces, Xu Yi laughed as he changed his tone, “But, I feel these conditions aren’t good enough, can we change them?”
President Rank made an inviting pose to Xu Yi, “If chairman Xu has any ideas, please raise them. We’re all friends in the Business Union, you can just say whatever you want to say.”
“Very good, I have a plan here, everyone please take a look.” Xu Yi took out a document he had already prepared out of his chest and gave it to president Rank.
Seeing Xu Yi take out the plan, everyone’s expression changed slightly.
This brat, he had actually already prepared for this!
President Rank’s face sunk. But the more he read the document, the more shocked his expression became.
When he finished reading with great difficulty, his face was filled with absolute shock. He shook the document in his hand as he asked Xu Yi, “Chairman Xu, are these your true thoughts? It’s just this simple?”
Xu Yi shrugged his shoulders, “It’s just that simple.”