Chapter 49: Haughty Female Boss
Haughty Female Boss
The woman finished changing and closed her wardrobe, then twisted the handle.
This was a strange thing to do. The wardrobe was already closed so why did she twist it again?
As Xia Lei wondered curiously about it, the wardrobe suddenly moved sideways and revealed the alloy doors of a safe.
Xia Lei was surprised, ‘So there’s a safe behind the wardrobe. It must be where she keeps her valuable items and cash.’
Xia Lei did not use his ability on the safe. Judging from the safe’s materials and thickness, it would be very difficult to see through it and it would drain a huge amount of his energy. It was obviously not worth the effort to look at a pile of cash or gold bars or something.
The woman took two steps back, grabbed a briefcase that was on a chair, then went back to the safe.
Xia Lei willed it and his left eye looked at the briefcase in the woman’s hands. The briefcase was made of leather and it was no different from a sheet of paper based on Xia Lei’s current ability. His eye saw through it in an instant and the contents of the briefcase entered his field of vision.
There were several things in the briefcase; a copy of some information, a passport, a Parker gold pen and a patent application.
The first thing Xia Lei looked at was the patent application since the front of it was coincidentally facing him. It was a patent application for an automatic surfboard. The name on the patent application was ‘Liu Ying’, legal representative of Nice Moves Sports Equipment Company.
Behind the patent application was a passport and it also had Liu Ying’s name on it, and her picture, which matched the person he was looking at. She was unquestionably the ‘Big Sister Liu’ whom Chi Jing-Qiu had spoken with.
Behind the passport was the thick stack of information on the automatic surfboard’s design plans, parameters of various components and so on. There was a lot of information but the amount of did not deter Xia Lei’s eye. His gaze was like a hungry snake, eating one page, then the next till he had ‘eaten’ all the pages of the stack of information in under 15 seconds.
The door of the safe opened and Liu Ying put the briefcase in, closed the door of the safe, then made the wardrobe go back to its original place. She then left the room and headed towards the stairs.
Xia Lei stopped using his eye and thought, ‘So the parts Liu Ying ordered from Chi Jing-Qiu are to be used in automatic surfboards. This sort of surfboard would need to be powered by electricity and would have to be able to move by itself without waves. The market prospect for this will surely be very good. She’s still applying for the patent for it and this new, novel product is not on shelves yet. It’s still in the process of trial production and preparation. If I can get orders from her and build a partnership, any parts needed for this sort of automatic surfboard would be mine to process.’
After he knew of the client’s business secret, he felt much more confident about the negotiations which would come later.
He reached out and pressed the doorbell, then waited quietly.
The nanny opened the door and she looked at Xia Lei in surprise, “May I ask who you’re looking for?”
Xia Lei put a smile on his face and spoke politely, “I’m looking for CEO Liu.”
The nanny did not let him in, “May I ask who you are? Do you have an appointment?”
“I spoke on the phone with CEO Liu and she told me to come here to look for her. Please inform her that I’m here,” said Xia Lei.
At that moment, Liu Ying’s voice came from the living room, “Let him in.”
The nanny then took out plastic shoe covers from the shoe cabinet and handed them to Xia Lei.
Xia Lei put them on over his shoes, lifted his bag and walked in.
Liu Ying looked Xia Lei over and said, “Please have a seat.”
“CEO Liu, I do apologise for the intrusion.” Xia Lei held out his hands, intending to shake with her.
Liu Ying, however, did not extend her hand for a shake. She just spoke indifferently, “Let’s dispense with that. I’d just applied some hand cream so it isn’t convenient. Please take a seat.”
Xia Lei retracted his hand somewhat awkwardly and sat opposite Liu Ying.
From Liu Ying’s perspective, Xia Lei was just an underling of Chi JIng-Qiu’s and there was no need for her to lower herself to talk to him. There was no shaking of hands nor asking the nanny to fetch a glass of water for Xia Lei.
Xia Lei had expected as much. He opened the canvas bag he had brought and took out the processed part, then placed the part on the bag to make it more convenient for Liu Ying to inspect.
After seeing the processed part on the coffee table, a small smile appeared on Liu Ying’s face, “Chi Jing-Qiu is quite efficient in her work. The sample was delivered so quickly. That’s right, why didn’t Chi Jing-Qiu come?”
“I don’t know,” said Xia Lei.
“You don’t know?” Liu Ying looked askance at Xia Lei.
Xia Lei smiled, “Take a look at the processed part first, CEO Liu.”
Liu Ying’s gaze returned to the processed part. She reached out, picked it up and held it before her eyes for inspection.
Xia Lei then took out a piece of A4 paper and a micrometer out of the canvas bag and placed them in front of Liu Ying, saying, “CEO Liu, this was processed according to your specifications. The materials and precision accuracy all meet your requirements. You can do some simple measurements now and if you feel the micrometer is not accurate enough, you can ask your own company’s experts to do the inspection. I can guarantee that there will be no problems at all with quality.”
“I know a little about processing. This part is not bad; there shouldn’t be any problems. Right, who processed this?” said Liu Ying.
“I did,” said Xia Lei.
“You?” Liu Ying’s eyes went to Xia Lei’s face and she looked surprised, “You’re so young! It’s impossible, isn’t it?”
“This was indeed processed by me. If you don’t believe me, you can go to my workshop and I’ll process another part for you,” said Xia Lei.
“Hold on,” Liu Ying interrupted, “Chi Jing-Qiu said that she has a very impressive friend. Was she talking about you?”
Xia Lei nodded, “She was talking about me. I’m Xia Lei. My workshop is Thunder Horse Workshop. I processed very important high precision parts for East Wind Heavy Industries and I also processed parts for Beach Motors. Our quality and reputation are guaranteed.”
Liu Ying looked steadily at Xia Lei and suddenly laughed after half a beat, “I get it now. I go to Chi Jing-Qiu to make an order and she went to you to get the job done. You’re bypassing Chi Jing-Qiu by coming here and trying to get an agreement directly with me. Is that correct?”
Xia Lei gave a small laugh too, “You quoted 310 for the price and she quoted me the price of 260. After I finish the job, I’d still have to pay her 8% as commission. My employees and myself would not make as much as her even if we tired ourselves out, so why not come directly to you? CEO Liu, you are a smart person. You should understand why I’m doing this.”
“Little guy, doing this isn’t good. It’s not according to the rules,” said Liu Ying.
“How is it not according to the rules?”
“I have an agreement with Chi Jing-Qiu and she plays the role of an agent in this business transaction. If you want to make money, you can only make money from her, not me,” said Liu Ying.
Xia Lei was silent for a bit before he spoke, “I understand. You had an agreement with her because you hold some regard for her position at East Wind Heavy Industries. She can put in some good words to Chairman Ning, can’t she?”
Liu Ying neither confirmed nor denied it. She just looked at Xia Lei.
Xia Lei continued, “CEO Liu, what you are putting importance on is the future of collaboration but I can tell you that East Wind Heavy Industries is busy working with the Shentu clan’s Vientaine Group on a large wind power plant project. Your company’s smaller order may not even be of interest to them and they may not put their full effort and attention into the job. What will you do if you’re in a hurry but cannot get your parts to make your product?”
Hesitation appeared in Liu Ying’s eyes.
Xia Lei kept talking, “We’re different. We have the technology and the talent. We are an up-and-coming team and we just so happen to fulfil your requirements. Your product can actually be wholly processed by us. There is no need for you, CEO Liu, to go to a large enterprise such as East Wind Heavy Industries. Choosing us instead would be very wise.”
“Little guy, this is only our first meeting and you want to talk about such important matters with me? Other than your name, I know nothing about you. I don’t even know anything about your workshop. You tell me, what should I base my trust in you on?”
“You can make an order of 10,000 yuan and order again once I finish the first one,” said Xia Lei.
Liu Ying laughed, “Are you joking, little guy? When did my company start doing business like this? Do you think you’re playing house?”
The fairly disrespectful tone made Xia Lei uncomfortable but he held it in. He wanted to get the purchase order from Nice Moves Sports Equipment Company since it would be a big help for his business. He could not just give up because he felt a little uncomfortable. Xia Lei humbled himself once more, “CEO Liu, I am just suggesting a proposal to prove my sincerity and the strength of my workshop. If you are not satisfied I can propose other plans. Please reconsider. It will be a win-win situation for us if we work together.”
“How about this – I give Chi Jing-Qiu a call and talk with her, then give you a reply. Is that okay?” Liu Ying put Xia Lei’s personally-processed part back on the canvas bag, and pushed the micrometer and information back to Xia Lei.
This meant that he was to be seen the door.
She said she would give him a reply after talking to Chi Jing-Qiu but she had not even bothered to ask for his contact information. Her attitude was clear; she would not work with a small fish such as Xia Lei.
Xia Lei slowly put away the processed part and stood, “Then that’s that. Goodbye, CEO Liu.”
“Yes, I won’t be seeing you out.” Liu Ying spoke indifferently, then got up and walked towards the child playing with toys, “Aw, mummy’s Precious One. Come to mummy, give mummy a hug.”
The child turned only to give her a glance, then went back to busying himself with his Transformers.
Xia Lei took two steps and stopped. He took out his mobile phone and pressed some random numbers, then spoke into the phone, “Hello, Xiao-An? Contact that sports equipment company and tell them that I have a good idea for them. However, the parts for it has to be done by us.”
There was no sound from Ma Xiao-An, of course. There was only the system prompt for an invalid number.
The phone call, however, made Liu Ying, who had walked to her son, suddenly turn around to stare intently at Xia Lei.
Xia Lei continued, “What idea? An automatic surfboard. Isn’t this idea great? Tell them I already have a processed transmission drive in my hands… Yep, okay, I’ll be right back.”
When he was done, Xia Lei pretended to hang up and strode towards the door without looking at Liu Ying.
“Hold on-” Liu Ying suddenly ran over and blocked Xia Lei’s way.
Xia Lei frowned at her, “What are you doing?”
He had been humble earlier but he wasn’t even bothered to refer to her as CEO Liu now.
“You can’t go!” Liu Ying looked very anxious, “You have to explain some things before you leave!”
Xia Lei laughed humourlessly, “You must be joking. I am neither your prisoner nor your subordinate. Why do I need to explain anything to you?”
“You-” Liu Ying was rooted to the spot with anger; she could not remember when was the last time she, CEO Liu, had been so mad!