Chapter 83: Intercepting Lei's quotes, leaving Lei speechless.

The only sound left in the office was the "hissing" of air leaking from the central AC vent.

Boss Lei was perched on the very edge of the leather sofa, his body leaning forward.

A large patch of sweat had soaked through the back of his gray checkered shirt, clinging tightly to his spine.

His fingers, reddened by hot coffee, clutched a roll of paper, veins throbbing on the back of his hand.

His Adam's Apple bobbed violently, the sound of him swallowing dryly echoing harshly in the room.

" L-Lu, Boss Lu... "

Boss Lei pushed up his black-rimmed glasses, which had slid to the tip of his nose; the eyes behind the lenses were burning with intensity.

" Do you think... my idea... can actually work? "

He wheezed, his chest heaving like a student waiting for a teacher to grade their exam.

Lu Jingming didn't respond.

He leaned back in his chair, his gaze sweeping over the plan with its curled corners.

He reached out, picked up the cold tea on the table, and brought it to his lips.

The light brown tea, astringent and bitter, slid down his esophagus and hit his stomach, sending a chill through him.

The bottom of the porcelain cup clattered against the mahogany desk with a dull thud.

" A pig on the wind-swept edge? "

Lu Jingming curled the corner of his mouth, revealing half a canine tooth.

" Brother Lei, if the wind blows hard enough, a pig can indeed get off the ground. "

He rubbed the condensation on the cup with his fingertip.

" But have you thought about what happens when the wind stops? "

Boss Lei froze, his lips slightly parted.

Lu Jingming leaned forward, resting his elbows on the edge of the table.

" A pig that falls will be smashed into a pulp of meat. "

Chu Xuan, picking at his fingernails nearby, couldn't help but interject.

" Exactly, Boss Lei. Jumping around without wings is just asking to jump off a building. "

Boss Lei grew anxious, his bottom squeaking against the sofa leather.

" N-no! We're building phones, that's giving the pig wings! "

He stammered, his tongue licking his cracked lips.

" The low-end market is huge! As long as we slash the price, the common people—they'll definitely pay! "

" Slash the bottom line, you mean. " Lu Jingming chuckled softly.

He opened a drawer, took out a plastic lighter, and spun it in his hand.

" With only a five percent profit margin, how will you handle the risks? "

Lu Jingming stared at Boss Lei's flushed face.

" If the upstream supply chain raises prices slightly, or the assembly line defect rate drops a few points, your pig will die in mid-air. "

Boss Lei's face went pale, and a fine layer of sweat broke out on his forehead.

Before he could find words to retort, Lu Jingming slapped the lighter in his hand onto the table with a "snap."

" In hardware, having guts isn't enough. "

Lu Jingming stood up and walked to the coffee table.

He looked down at the middle-aged man huddled on the sofa.

" You need to have a reckless, rogue spirit in your bones. "

Boss Lei craned his neck, his eyes unfocused.

" R-rogue spirit? "

Lu Jingming put his hands in his pants pockets and looked down at him.

" If you make low-end phones, competitors will call you a market disruptor, and foundries will give you attitude because there's not enough profit. "

" When you run into trouble, you can't back down. "

Lu Jingming narrowed his eyes and spat out a few words.

" You need to carve eight words into your forehead: 'Life and death are indifferent, if you're not convinced, fight.' "

Boss Lei shuddered all over, his scalp tingling as if electrocuted.

Lu Jingming had posted these words on social media a while ago.

Hearing them now, it was like a rusty hammer smashing through the pretentious, bookish airs deep in his heart.

Lu Jingming walked to his side, his shoes making no sound on the Persian rug.

" When facing those arrogant foreign devils out there. "

Lu Jingming turned his head, " Don't try to reason with them; just smile and ask them, 'Are you OK?' "

" Disgust them to death, and the traffic from them breaking down will go straight into your pocket. "

Boss Lei gasped, his knuckles turning white as he gripped his leather bag.

This Boss Lu... he's practically an ancestor at manipulating human nature.

Chu Xuan rolled his eyes in the corner.

" We're familiar with this routine; the harder you get scolded, the faster you sell. "

Lu Jingming ignored Chu Xuan's chatter and fixed his gaze back on Boss Lei.

" The most important point. "

He bent down, staring into Boss Lei's bloodshot eyes.

" If hardware doesn't make money, what will you rely on to sell? "

Boss Lei's mind went blank, his mouth open: " Sell... sell what? Sell services, I guess? "

" Sell expectations. "

Lu Jingming curled his lips into a devious smile.

" You have to make those people who paid but couldn't grab the goods feel... "

" That buying your machine is buying into a belief. "

Lu Jingming patted Boss Lei's stiff shoulder; the shirt fabric was damp.

" Go be a missionary and tell the people below you— "

" Always believe that something wonderful is about to happen. "

Boom.

It was like a landmine exploded in Boss Lei's brain.

His ears were ringing, and he couldn't even hear the sound of the cleaner washing a mop in the hallway outside.

This sentence felt like a voice from his own soul, carved out from his very bones.

It fit his crinkled business plan perfectly.

It even laid bare the underlying logic that he hadn't fully grasped himself.

Boss Lei's breathing was rapid, his chest heaving like a bellows.

He looked at the young man in front of him.

He felt that the other person was bottomless, like a monster with a third eye.

His very insides had been completely seen through.

" L-Lu, Boss Lu... "

Boss Lei stood up abruptly, his legs weak, and his kneecap knocked against the glass coffee table.

It hurt enough to make him grimace, but he stubbornly didn't bend down to rub it.

" You... you've enlightened me. "

The roll of the business plan in his hand fell to the floor, the pages scattering.

He didn't bother with it, instead grabbing the "Xinghai Ecological Alliance Agreement" on the coffee table with both hands.

" I'll do it! I'll follow Xinghai! "

Boss Lei's eyes were burning with fire, his voice raspy and cracking.

" As long as you give me an opening for the low-end chips. "

" Wherever you point, this pig will root! "

Shen Qingqiu happened to push the door open and enter.

She held a stack of freshly printed transaction records.

Seeing this middle-aged man with a flushed face, looking ready to kowtow and become a disciple, her high heels paused.

" Who is this guy? Is he possessed? "

She lowered her voice and nudged Chu Xuan with her elbow.

Chu Xuan rolled his eyes and muttered.

" He's been hoodwinked by Boss Lu. I think he's about to swear a blood oath any second now. "

Lu Jingming straightened up and strolled back behind his desk.

He opened a drawer and took out a black signature pen without a cap.

He tossed it onto the desk, and the pen rolled twice before hitting the keyboard.

" Brother, empty words are useless. "

Lu Jingming gestured toward the pen with his chin.

" Sign it, get the system layers integrated, and the launch rights for the Xialong Chip are yours. "

Boss Lei lunged forward and grabbed the pen.

He didn't even glance at the exorbitant breach-of-contract clauses in the agreement.

He flipped straight to the last page and scribbled his name.

He pressed so hard that the tip of the pen tore through the paper.

After signing, he pushed the contract over with both hands, his chest still heaving.

" Boss Lu, I'm going back right now to gather my team and register the business license! "

Lu Jingming picked up the contract and glanced at the signature.

The name was scrawled crookedly.

He tossed the paper into the file bin and opened the drawer to take out a chip supply order.

" Your new company will focus on cost-performance, go wipe out the tumors in Huaqiangbei who deal in refurbished phones. "

Lu Jingming signed the document and handed it over.

Boss Lei took it with both hands, his eyes reddening.

" Rest assured! I guarantee I'll turn the prices in the lower-tier market into a mess! "

" Those selling knock-offs, I'll grind them all to death one by one! "

Lu Jingming curled his lips into a satisfied smile.

He walked around the mahogany desk to the floor-to-ceiling window, watching the traffic below.

The glaring sunlight hit the explosion-proof glass.

" That's the spirit. "

Lu Jingming put his hands in his pockets and turned his head to look at Boss Lei.

" Once this ecological alliance is established. "

" Your new company will be responsible for cleaning up the knock-offs in the mud, seizing the market share of the poor. "

His eyes turned cold, revealing a blade-like sharpness.

" I, Xinghai, will hold the high ground and go head-to-head with Apple and Qualcomm. "

Chu Xuan leaned over, clutching the window frame to look down.

" Boss Lu, Fatty Xu and his group are still waiting outside in the sun. I think some of them are about to get heatstroke and dehydration. "

" Let them in to sign. "

Lu Jingming turned around and tugged at his collar.

" If they don't want to install Xinghai OS, tell them to get out and wait for their doom. "

Boss Lei clutched the supply order as if it were a get-out-of-jail-free card.

He rubbed his numb cheeks and swallowed, asking.

" Boss Lu, can our alliance really withstand the US's counterattack on chips? "

" Those foreign masters at Qualcomm don't play by the rules. "

Lu Jingming walked to the coffee table and picked up the lighter.

He clicked the grinding wheel, but no flame came out.

He tossed the lighter onto the sofa cushion.

" Withstand? "

Lu Jingming scoffed, his smile not reaching his eyes.

" We joined forces not to act like turtles and just take a beating. "

He raised his eyelids, looking at Boss Lei and Shen Qingqiu.

" This time, we're going to strip the foreign brands down to their underwear in front of the whole world. "

The China Anti-Foreign Tech Alliance had officially laid its foundation in this chilly office.

Shen Qingqiu flipped through the transaction records in her hand, her brows slightly furrowed.

" The alliance has been built. "

She pushed up her glasses that had slid to the bridge of her nose, the paper rustling in her hands.

" But Samsung Group has caught wind of it. "

Lu Jingming raised an eyebrow, " Is Lee Jae-yong acting up at headquarters again? "

Shen Qingqiu tossed the document onto the coffee table, her voice cold.

" Just received a briefing from foreign media. "

" The Koreans have announced a sudden fire at their memory wafer plant. "

She bit her lower lip, her fingertip pointing at the bolded data on the paper.

" Global memory chip prices spiked threefold just an hour ago. "

Boss Lei's legs went weak, and his body, which had just straightened up, swayed again.

" Spiked threefold?! "

The supply order in his hand was almost crushed, his voice cracking.

" Then we'll have a CPU but won't be able to afford the memory to install the system. This hollow shell of a phone... are we going to make it out of sheet metal, Boss Lu?! "