Chapter 140 Sister Dong Admits Defeat, Willing to Become Xinghai Supplier

The red LCD digits on the independent power monitor remained frozen in place. They didn't jump up by even a single decimal point.

Inside the testing shed at the Donghai City International Expo Center, there was absolute silence. The hundreds of people present seemed as if someone had pressed a mute button on them. Only the faint, rustling sound of the Xinghai air conditioner quietly blowing air inside the glass room could be heard.

The energy consumption was only one-third that of traditional air conditioners. This figure, which forcefully broke the laws of physics, was like a resounding slap across the faces of all the home appliance giants.

In the shadows at the back of the testing shed, Sister Dong had arrived at some unknown time. She wore her sharp, gray professional suit, staring intently at the meter reading on the big screen. She didn't speak, but her molars were grinding audibly, and a sour, metallic taste of blood welled up in her gums. Fine red bloodshot veins instantly covered the whites of her eyes.

Having struggled and climbed in the industrial sector for thirty years, she knew better than anyone what this one-third energy consumption meant. Xinghai Technology hadn't used any flashy internet marketing; they had used the most brutal industrial technical parameters to stomp Gree's copper tubes into scrap metal.

"Chairwoman Dong..." The assistant beside her swallowed hard, their voice trembling violently.

"Let's go." Sister Dong closed her eyes and took a deep breath, suppressing the roiling blood in her chest. She was a tough-as-nails industrialist. She wanted to win beautifully, but if she lost, she would never welch on a debt. She turned and strode away, her high heels clicking steadily against the concrete floor.

The next morning, at the Xinghai Technology headquarters building in Donghai City, the air cooler puffed out white mist, keeping the room temperature at eighteen degrees.

"Bang!" The heavy solid wood door of the top-floor office was pushed open. The door panel slammed against the sound-absorbing pad and bounced back half a foot.

Chu Xuan followed behind, slapping his thighs in anxiety. He was wearing a loud, green-and-yellow floral shirt today, clutching a crumpled tissue in his hand. Oily sweat was pouring down his forehead like a waterfall.

"President Lu! I couldn't stop her!" Chu Xuan panted heavily. "Chairwoman Dong didn't even register at the front desk; she took the elevator and stormed right up!"

Lu Jingming leaned back against the leather executive chair. His faded black T-shirt was slightly wrinkled, and his legs were casually crossed, resting on the edge of the desk.

Sister Dong walked up to the mahogany desk. She didn't waste any words, pulling a long slip of paper from her handbag. With a "slap," she slammed the paper onto the desk.

"I lost. I'm a good sport." Sister Dong's voice was cold and hard, revealing an unyielding stubbornness. "A cash check for one billion. It's a cashier's check stamped with Gree's official seal; it can be cashed at any time."

Chu Xuan stood to the side, his eyes bulging out. He gripped the soaked tissue in his hand for dear life. His calves began to tremble uncontrollably, and his knees went weak, nearly causing him to collapse onto the carpet. One billion! Just like that, on a flimsy piece of paper? Chu Xuan swallowed hard, his throat aching.

Lu Jingming didn't even lift an eyelid. He didn't even look at the massive check that countless companies would fight tooth and nail for. He reached his right hand into his old jeans pocket and pulled out that one-yuan green plastic lighter. "Click." A crisp mechanical sound echoed in the office. A deep blue flame shot up.

The firelight reflected on the explosion-proof floor-to-ceiling window, illuminating the sharp, white canine tooth on one side of Lu Jingming's face.

"Chairwoman Dong is a straightforward person." Lu Jingming casually extinguished the flame, the plastic casing making a crisp sound. He took his legs off the desk and leaned forward slightly. With his left hand, he opened the desk drawer and took out a black-and-gold metal USB drive, along with a stack of A4 paper blueprints printed overnight.

"Slap." Lu Jingming flicked his wrist. The USB drive and the blueprints landed squarely on top of the one-billion check.

Sister Dong's brows furrowed sharply. "Lu Jingming, what is the meaning of this? Do you think the money is dirty?"

"Take this one billion back." Lu Jingming braced his hands on the edge of the desk, his eyes like two steel blades scraping bone. "Use it as startup capital for your Gree production line upgrades."

Chu Xuan gasped in shock nearby. The cold air choked his lungs, and he nearly broke into a violent cough. One billion! He wouldn't even eat the meat delivered right to his door?

Sister Dong stared at the blueprints on the table. She was an expert who knew her stuff. She only had to glance at the mechanical structure cross-section on top, and her breathing instantly stopped. The red bloodshot veins in her eyes flared up again.

"Magnetic levitation brushless motor?" Sister Dong's voice cracked, trembling. "You're showing me these core technology blueprints?"

"Not just the blueprints. The USB drive contains the full set of production processes and the Pandora control code." Lu Jingming curled his lips, exuding a predatory dominance. He tapped his knuckles on the desk twice, making a "tap-tap" sound. "I don't lack this one billion in pocket money. And I don't want to build factories to make those bulky metal boxes. It's too low-end."

Lu Jingming stared into Sister Dong's wavering eyes. "I want your Gree. I want all your massive production capacity across the country to be fully integrated into the underlying Xinghai smart home ecosystem."

Sister Dong's head buzzed. Blood rushed to her brain, and her scalp tingled. She finally understood what a massive game this madman Lu Jingming was playing. He didn't want to be a competitor. He didn't care at all about the hard-earned money from selling air conditioners. He wanted to turn the industrial giant Gree into the largest OEM tool in the Xinghai ecosystem!

"You're handing down core technology to me." A layer of cold sweat seeped out on Sister Dong's back, her shirt sticking to her skin, ice-cold. "Aren't you afraid that once I learn the technology, I'll kick Xinghai to the curb and strike out on my own?"

Lu Jingming let out a mocking sneer from his throat. "Core technology?" He toyed with the plastic lighter in his hand. "Without the computing power redundancy of Xinghai Cloud and the microwave wireless power supply module, what you build according to these blueprints will just be a broken rotor that can levitate."

Lu Jingming leaned back in his chair. "Sign this exclusive OEM agreement. From now on, all air conditioners in the world, no matter what brand they are, must have a Xinghai core."

The office was dead silent. Only the air cooler continued to tirelessly emit white noise. Sister Dong stared at the one-billion check, then looked at the magnetic levitation blueprints pressing down on it. She was a smart woman. She knew that if Xinghai gave these blueprints to Midea or Haier, Gree's old compressor production lines would become a pile of scrap metal by tomorrow. In the face of absolute dimensional-reduction technology, an industrialist's pride was thinner than paper.

Sister Dong took a deep breath, her chest heaving violently. She picked up the pen from the table and signed her name heavily onto the Xinghai exclusive OEM agreement. The pressure went through the paper, nearly tearing it.

"President Lu. You win." Sister Dong put down the pen and stuffed the check back into her bag. Carrying the USB drive and the blueprints, she didn't say another word of nonsense. She turned and left, her high heels clicking.

Chu Xuan watched the one-billion check being taken away, his heart aching. He wiped his sweat with the crumpled tissue. "President Lu, are we just going to let this golden goose that lays the eggs get away?"

"Get away my ass." Lu Jingming snorted coldly. "She takes away one billion, but later she'll have to earn back ten billion in ecosystem commissions for Xinghai."

Accompanied by the "click-clack" of high heels on the wool carpet, Shen Qingqiu pushed open the solid wood door and walked in. The collar of her white shirt was buttoned meticulously. Behind her gold-rimmed glasses, her cold, sharp eyes showed a rare ripple of emotion. In her hand, she clutched a kraft paper document bag stamped with a top-secret red seal.

"The final piece of the smart home puzzle is complete." Lu Jingming looked at her, the corners of his mouth curling slightly.

Shen Qingqiu walked to the glass coffee table. She slammed the document bag onto the tabletop, the veins on the back of her hand slightly bulging. "Lu Jingming." Shen Qingqiu pushed up her glasses, her voice carrying an undisguised tremor. She swallowed hard. "News from the underground core laboratory." Shen Qingqiu looked straight into Lu Jingming's eyes, speaking rapidly. "That batch of holographic projection superconducting base materials that Xia Weiliang requested." She took a deep breath, her chest heaving slightly. "They've been successfully synthesized."