Chapter 39: Four Star Group's Warning - Screens Begin to Be Suppressed in Supply

In July in Donghai City, the sun was so vicious it could bake the asphalt roads until they melted.

Inside the CEO's office, the air conditioning was cranked up to the max.

Lu Jingming had just finished instructing Chu Xuan to book flight tickets, and before Chu Xuan could turn to leave—

"Bang!" The heavy solid wood door was slammed open.

Old Li charged in like a startled mule, heedless of anything else.

He had been running so fast that his left foot tripped over his right, and he almost face-planted onto the coffee table.

"Young Master! The sky is falling!" Old Li panted like an ox.

He was clutching a freshly printed fax in his hand so tightly that it rattled as it shook.

Lu Jingming frowned and casually handed him a glass of cold water.

"Take a breath and then tell me. If the sky falls, the tall ones will hold it up."

Old Li pushed the water glass away and slammed the fax onto the table.

Shen Qingqiu walked over and glanced down at it.

With just that one look, the CFO's face turned instantly deathly pale.

"It's from the Samsung Group Greater China Region." Shen Qingqiu bit her lower lip, her voice laced with chill.

Chu Xuan and Dazhuang also crowded over, craning their necks.

"What does it say? Are those Korean bastards raising prices?" Niu Dazhuang asked in a rough voice.

Shen Qingqiu shook her head, her finger pointing at the black text on the page.

"It's not a price hike. They claim the capacitive screen production line in Shenzhen has suffered a sudden malfunction and requires a complete shutdown for maintenance."

She took a deep breath. "The three million sets of light-emitting components originally scheduled for delivery next week have been unilaterally cut by ninety percent."

"They're only giving us three hundred thousand sets."

"Ninety percent?" Chu Xuan howled.

He grabbed his center-parted hair, his eyes nearly popping out of their sockets.

"Doesn't that mean our xinghai gen 2 production capacity has just been cut in half?"

"There are hundreds of thousands of orders online that have already been paid in full, just waiting for shipment!"

Old Li was so anxious he slapped his thigh repeatedly. "This isn't maintenance! This is clearly us being strangled! Three hundred thousand sets of components aren't even enough to fill the gaps in our teeth!"

Dazhuang was furious, slamming his pipe wrench against the floor with a loud clang. "These bastards have no integrity! We already paid the deposit, how can they breach the contract? Let's sue them!"

Shen Qingqiu pushed up her gold-rimmed glasses, her eyes filled with a deep sense of helplessness.

"We won't win."

"The contracts of such multinational giants are full of liability exemptions; just the wrangling and lawsuits alone could drag on for three to five years."

She looked at Lu Jingming, cold sweat breaking out on her palms. "Lu Jingming, there is currently no high-end screen supplier in the country that can replace Samsung."

"If we don't get this shipment, Xinghai's assembly lines will have to shut down completely tomorrow."

Supply cutoff. In the tech world, that is equivalent to a death sentence.

The air in the office seemed to freeze. The executives who had just been calculating how to make a big splash were now doused with a bucket of icy cold water.

Lu Jingming leaned back in his chair. He didn't get angry, nor did he smash any cups. He simply picked up the fax paper and shook it against the sunlight from the window.

"Production line malfunction? They couldn't even come up with a decent excuse." A cold sneer curled the corners of his mouth.

As soon as he finished speaking, the black landline on the desk suddenly rang sharply. "Ring-ring—"

The jarring ring echoed through the deathly silent room. The caller ID showed a strange number with a Yanjing area code.

Lu Jingming's eyes flickered, and he pressed the speakerphone button. The call connected.

From the speaker came a slightly languid yet haughty and seductive female voice.

"Good morning, Mr. Lu. I am Park Min-young, President of the Samsung Group Greater China Region."

The woman's Chinese was fluent, even carrying a hint of playful mockery.

Chu Xuan and Dazhuang exchanged looks, their teeth grinding. The person in charge had actually come knocking on their door.

Lu Jingming leaned back in his swivel chair, playing with a plastic lighter in his hand.

"President Park's call is perfectly timed." His tone was flat, revealing neither joy nor anger.

"The fax just arrived on my desk, and your greeting follows. This maintenance notice was sent quite strategically."

A coquettish laugh came from the other end of the line.

"Mr. Lu is a smart man, so I won't beat around the bush." Park Min-young stopped laughing, her tone instantly becoming cold and arrogant.

"There is an old Chinese saying: The tree that stands above the forest will be destroyed by the wind."

"The commotion caused by xinghai gen 2 these past few days has been too big—big enough to keep many people awake at night."

She paused, her voice tinged with a tone of condescension.

"As for capacitive screen components, Samsung has as many as we want. As long as I give a nod, three million sets of stock can be delivered to your factory gates tomorrow."

Old Li stood by, swallowing hard as he listened. This was the confidence of an international oligarchy; a single casual sentence could decide the life or death of a company.

"And the conditions?" Lu Jingming twirled the lighter in his hand.

"It's very simple." Park Min-young seemed quite satisfied with this attitude, assuming Lu Jingming was ready to compromise.

"First, Xinghai Technology will become a sub-brand of the Samsung Group; in the future, your machines must carry Samsung's joint trademark."

She paused for two seconds before playing her real trump card.

"Second, the source code of the Xinghai OS underlying system must be opened to Samsung, and you must transfer fifty-one percent of the absolute controlling interest."

As soon as these words were out, the office instantly exploded.

"Bullshit!" Dazhuang roared at the top of his lungs, spraying the landline with spit.

"This is daylight robbery! You want to swallow our system and make us your dogs?"

Chu Xuan was also flushed with anger, his fists clenched tight. "This is too much! You're leaving us no way out!"

Shen Qingqiu's face was deathly pale. She knew all too well what this meant.

If they handed over that fifty-one percent stake, Xinghai would completely degenerate into an OEM factory for Samsung, and Lu Jingming would be kicked out.

But if they didn't hand it over, the assembly lines would shut down tomorrow, and hundreds of thousands of breached orders would force Xinghai into an abyss from which there was no return.

This was an open conspiracy, vicious to the core.

On the phone, hearing the cursing from this side, Park Min-young didn't get angry; instead, she laughed even louder.

"Mr. Lu, keep your dogs in check."

"In this industry, without technical foundation, you cannot survive by relying solely on marketing." Her tone was full of mockery.

"I'll give you one day to consider."

"Whether you obediently hand over the system and become a hero for Samsung, or die along with your crappy assembly plant, that's your choice."

Having said that, she waited quietly for a response. In the face of absolute monopoly, any domestic mobile phone manufacturer only has one path: to kneel.

Lu Jingming stared at the landline on the desk. There was no fluctuation in his expression; he didn't even furrow his brow.

With a "click," he lit the lighter in his hand. The deep blue flame flickered, illuminating his deep eyes.

He leaned close to the microphone and said only one word. "Get lost."

The voice wasn't loud, but it was like a slap across the face, striking the speaker hard.

"Snap!" Lu Jingming pressed the hang-up button without hesitation. The busy signal sounded exceptionally harsh in the office.

Old Li was stunned, Chu Xuan's mouth was agape, and the pipe wrench in Dazhuang's hand nearly fell to the floor. The entire room was deathly silent.

Shen Qingqiu was the first to recover. She rushed to the desk in a few steps, bracing her hands on the tabletop.

"Lu Jingming! Are you crazy?" Her eyes behind her gold-rimmed glasses were wide open, her voice cracking.

"That 'get lost' felt good to say, didn't it! Tomorrow, when there are no screens, what are you going to use to answer to the hundreds of thousands of users?"

"The breach of contract penalties could bankrupt Xinghai!" Shen Qingqiu panted heavily.

Old Li was also so anxious he slapped his thighs. "Young Master! That's a monopolized supply source; we can't even find a backup supplier right now!"

Lu Jingming stood up and picked up the black jacket draped over the back of his chair. He put it on slowly and methodically, his eyes flashing with a wolf-like ferocity.

"A living man won't be suffocated by his own bladder." Lu Jingming straightened his collar.

"But we don't even have a single usable screen left!" Shen Qingqiu countered loudly.

"Who says we don't?"

Lu Jingming strode toward the door and pulled open the solid wood door. He turned his head and looked at the despairing crowd.

"Chu Xuan, go to the airport."

"I want to let these high-and-mighty Koreans see for themselves how we Chinese make our own screens!"