Chapter 26: A Satirical Look – What's the Difference Between the Su Group and a Clown?

In the afternoon, Su Qiaoer sat in the Chairman of Su Group's office, staring at her phone screen with fear. Only three minutes remained until the press conference mentioned by Zheng Jie began.

At this moment, Su Qiaoer prayed. She prayed that what Zheng Jie said this morning was false. If all this were true, Su Qiaoer couldn't imagine the blow Su Group would suffer.

Especially since the stock was already falling. With news like this, Su Qiaoer felt the stock price could drop another 80% from its current level. Even if they threw more money at it, they wouldn't be able to control the stock price. Thinking of this, Su Qiaoer clasped her hands together and prayed incessantly.

"God, please protect us. Let this not be true, please let it not be true."

Now, Su Qiaoer could only choose to believe in superstition, but in the face of facts, prayer was useless.

Three minutes later, the press conference started on time. This press conference was broadcast live across the entire internet. Because Zheng Group had been in the spotlight recently with various news stories surfacing, and the internal strife within Zheng Group was already common knowledge, this Zhengfeng Group press conference attracted quite a few onlookers.

"Welcome, reporter friends and netizens, to our press conference."

"Since everyone's time is limited, let's get straight to the point."

"Today, we would like to introduce our group's first product—the Zhengfeng A1 Battery."

As soon as the words fell, a photo appeared on the big screen behind Zhengfeng Group's Chairman, Liu Rui.

Looking at this photo, Su Qiaoer's eyes twitched wildly.

At this moment, she held her breath, not daring to miss a single detail. Liu Rui stepped aside, revealing the entire big screen.

"As you can all see, this is a battery for new energy vehicles."

"In the past, our group invested 4 billion in R&D funds for this battery, searching for talent globally, and finally developed this..."

These words were basically boilerplate, failing to pique anyone's interest. On stage, Liu Rui watched the lackluster crowd, the corners of his mouth curling up slightly.

Then, he spoke the following words unhurriedly.

"Solid-state Battery."

When they heard these three words, everyone was stunned.

Solid-state Battery?

A Solid-state Battery for new energy vehicles?

How could this be... Everyone at home and abroad said it was impossible to develop this thing within 20 years. How did it come out now?

All the reporters raised their heads and looked at Liu Rui on the stage.

"It seems you all are quite interested in this."

"Let me briefly introduce our product."

"In our various tests, under extreme cold conditions, meaning minus 40°C to 50°C, the range is 1000 kilometers. Apart from that, the standard range is 1300 kilometers. In other words, after one charge, you can drive continuously for 1300 kilometers."

"Furthermore, the entire battery cost is relatively cheap. Taking the mainstream new energy batteries on the market as an example—we won't display the comparison product here, mainly because we're worried about being sued by them."

When he said this, Liu Rui specifically made a joke, and the atmosphere at the venue livened up slightly.

"Compared to mainstream products on the market, our cost is 30% lower, and the battery warranty is extended by 3 years."

Immediately after, the background screen behind Liu Rui changed. One side showed the Zhengfeng battery data, and the other, although unnamed, Su Qiaoer recognized instantly as her company's battery data. Besides Su Qiaoer, everyone else had already realized it was Su Group's battery.

Actually, everyone wasn't surprised. A while ago, the news of Su Group and Zheng Group canceling their cooperation was known to everyone. It was rumored that Zheng Group was preparing to sue Su Group. Now that Zheng Group had the upper hand, they were certainly going to retaliate.

Of course, some well-informed people also knew about the complex relationship between the Zheng family and Su Qiaoer. How to put it—if we use popular modern slang, they were a pair of star-crossed lovers.

Su Qiaoer frowned, looking at this data.

Her face was grim.

In reality, she knew that since the other party mentioned this at a press conference, it must be true. Otherwise, both Zhengfeng Group and Zheng Group would become clowns because of this press conference. Zheng Group was currently in the spotlight; there was no need to cause trouble for themselves. It was precisely because it was true that Su Qiaoer had such a headache.

She opened her phone. A large number of terms had already appeared on the trending searches: Zhengfeng Group, battery, Solid-state Battery—they occupied almost all the top spots. And among the related searches, there was also the term "Su Group Clown." Seeing this term, Su Qiaoer, who was already feeling sad, felt a pang of pain in her heart.

This was the ultimate humiliation. It seemed... although she didn't want to admit it, their Su Group had indeed become a clown.

Meanwhile, on the other side, Father Zheng and Zheng Tian were also watching the live stream. When they heard the voice from the broadcast, Zheng Tian was shocked.

Solid-state Battery?

Zhengfeng Group actually managed to produce a Solid-state Battery?

This...

Zheng Tian looked at Father Zheng beside him.

"Dad, is Qiaoer going to be in trouble?"

Zheng Tian understood how important the new energy battery business was to Su Group. Now that someone else had a better battery and the price was cheaper, who would still be willing to come and buy her batteries? Did they really think people were foolish and had too much money?

"Yes..."

Father Zheng took a deep breath at this moment.

Suddenly, he felt that he was truly a clown.

When he originally asked Su Qiaoer to cancel the cooperation, he thought he had the winning hand. But now it seemed that Zheng Jie had probably been prepared for a long time, and they were actually preparing to celebrate taking back the position of chairman at that time. This was simply a joke.

"Then I'll go contact Qiaoer."

"Qiaoer must be in a bad mood right now."

Zheng Tian took a deep breath and said this.

After saying this, Zheng Tian walked to the door, opened his phone, and after hesitating for a moment, dialed the number.

But this time, the call didn't go through.

It wasn't because Su Qiaoer didn't want to answer, but because she was in no mood to answer right now.

Because after this live stream, her phone had already been blown up. And besides her own phone, the marketing department for new energy batteries had also been bombarded by calls from countless partners.

And these partners only had one request—

That was to cancel the cooperation.

Besides this, the stock price of Su Group, which had seen a decrease in the rate of decline, had also begun to drop massively. The magnitude of this drop even far exceeded the first time Zheng Group announced the cooperation group.

Therefore, Su Qiaoer was now overwhelmed, so how could she have the mood to answer the phone?