Chapter 30: The Wealthy and Powerful Apple Group

On the third day of chinajoy, due to some foresight, Zheng Xiling was brought over by Shang Da to help out with a few fairly decent-looking girls. So, although the foot traffic at the booth continued to rise, Zhao Lan'an and the others found it much easier than yesterday.

Not long after the customer flow passage opened, a few mobile phone company representatives who had returned empty-handed the previous night directly stormed the booth. However, they were driven away by Zhao Lian'an's scolding. This finally brought a moment of peace, but it was only for a moment.

About a quarter of an hour later, a foreigner who spoke fluent Mandarin came to the door and said, "Mr. Zhao, sorry to disturb you, I am Smith Wilson, the CTO of Apple Inc. for the Greater China region."

Wilson had just finished introducing himself when a middle-aged man with an old-fashioned middle parting hurried over, "Hello, Mr. Zhao, I am Park Chang-nam from Samsung Electronics. It's a pleasure to meet you."

Looking at the two people in front of him, Zhao Anxin felt a tightness in his heart. These two are serious electronic giants. He thought about waving them off, but then felt it was inappropriate. After all, we are a country of etiquette, how could we lose our composure in front of two foreigners? 

"Gentlemen, please come in." Zhao Lian'an appeared relatively calm during his first encounter with the foreigners, thanks to the various interviews over the past two days. After shaking hands with each of them, he invited them into the lounge. "The place is simple, and I apologize for any shortcomings in hospitality." After handing over two bottles of Evian that Zheng Xiling had bought out of her own pocket, Zhao Lan'an smiled and asked, "I wonder what brings you two here..."

Wilson had no intention of beating around the bush and got straight to the point, which was typical of Westerners. "Mr. Zhao, Apple Blossom Group highly values your company's friction charging technology and is interested in discussing the acquisition of this technology with you."

Look at that, as expected of the world's largest electronic service provider, a giant with a market value of over 800 billion USD, talking about acquisitions right off the bat, truly extravagant!

"And you?" Zhao Lian'an did not make any indication but instead looked at Park Chang-nam, who was sitting there with his back straight, seemingly trying to compensate for his height of only 168 cm. "If Mr. Zhao is willing to transfer the friction phone technology, that would be best. The price is not an issue. Of course, if Mr. Zhao is unwilling, that's fine too. We can discuss other cooperation methods."

Look, Koreans are so cunning, they cover all bases in their words, even having backup plans ready.

Zhao Lian'an still wore a smile on his face, and no one knew what he was thinking. He simply asked lightly, "I'm curious about what kind of price you two families can offer for the friction charging technology?"

This time, Park Chang-nam spoke first, confidently saying, "Samsung will offer 80 million RMB to purchase the friction charging technology!"

Before Zhao Lian'an could prepare to say anything, Wilson over there laughed, "Mr. Zhao, I think the Koreans are completely insulting you. Such excellent technology, and they only offer 80 million? It's really short-sighted!"

Zhao Lian'an couldn't deny his words, thinking to himself, this guy really is a China expert, even a short-sighted person would know, and that damn Samsung Electronics really thinks of themselves as beggars? Putting other things aside, just based on the current trend, Anlan Technology alone can earn tens of millions from this Chinajoy. Yet Samsung actually dares to attempt to buy their own technology for 80 million. If it's not that their person in charge has a problem with his brain, then it must be that this Changnan brother has offended someone, making him deliberately embarrass them. 

"I wonder how much Apple plans to charge this time?" Zhao Lan'an asked curiously.

Wilson said with a smile, "Mr. Zhao, we are absolutely sincere. The technological content of friction charging technology is beyond doubt, especially in the field of smart phones, which will greatly impact market share. Therefore, we are willing to offer a sky-high price of 500 million for this great technology. This way, Mr. Zhao, you will immediately become a billionaire."

After Wilson finished speaking, he smiled at Zhao Lianan. Seeing that he didn't react much, he quickly realized that he might have let something slip and hurriedly added, "Oh, sorry! Mr. Zhao, please forgive my momentary oversight, I meant US dollars."

"What!" Zhao Lianan finally couldn't stay calm anymore, swallowing hard, "500 million, US dollars?"

Wilson was satisfied with his expression and provocatively glanced at Park Chang-nam, who was on the phone, speaking Korean non-stop and insisting that the price evaluation was incorrect. "Mr. Zhao, I wonder if you are satisfied with this price?"

"This..."Zhao Lian'an was so excited that he couldn't even speak, completely stunned by Apple's grand gesture. If it were 500 million RMB, he might have been able to stay calm, as he had once boldly imagined such a price. But 500 million USD? To be honest, Zhao Lian'an, who was scared for several days and couldn't sleep well after receiving 5 million in patent fees last time, never thought he could earn this much money through friction charging technology. Never thought!

Zhao Lian'an was completely disturbed by this sudden fortune. Wilson's words, "You can become a billionaire immediately," kept echoing in his mind. He subconsciously wanted to nod and accept the deal, but at that moment, Cao Zheng walked in.

"An... Ge, hurry up and come out, I don't know if I've been seeing things, but it seems like someone has come!" Cao Zheng seemed a bit nervous as he spoke.

"Who is it?" Zhao Lian'an frowned, thinking, "Can't you see I'm in the middle of a multi-billion dollar deal?"

"Brother An, you have to take a look." Cao Zheng insisted.

"Can't you not look?"

"No!"

"..."Zhao Zhen'an, who had surrendered and laid down his weapons, could only gesture for Wilson to wait, then followed Cao Zheng out. As for Park Chang-nam, he had already been directly passed over by him.

At this moment, on the left side of booth 106, in an inconspicuous corner, a kind-eyed elderly man was carefully examining a black S1 prototype. People around him occasionally cast surprised glances his way, but he remained focused on his own gaze, completely oblivious to them.

When Zhao Lianan saw the old man, he almost trembled and knelt down. After taking a deep breath, he hurriedly ran over, "Mr. Ren, what brings you here?"

Don't be fooled by how familiar Zhao Lianan sounded; in reality, it was their first meeting, and he wasn't even sure if the other party recognized him. But none of that diminished his heartfelt respect for the old man in front of him, because he was—Huawei's president, Ren Zhengfei!

"Mr. Zhao, hello." Ren Zhengfei smiled as he placed the prototype back in the display case, extending his hand without any pretentiousness, just like an ordinary person attending the exhibition.

But Zhao Lan'an was already overwhelmed with joy and quickly clasped the old man's weathered hand tightly with both hands.

A person built an empire and distributed 98.6% of Huawei's shares, valued at over 700 billion, to the employees. What kind of magnanimity is this? It should be noted that Huawei is still the only unlisted company among the Fortune Global 500. It is not an exaggeration to say that if Huawei were to go public, it would instantly surpass Alibaba and Tencent to become the largest publicly traded company in China by market value.