446: Alfa Romeo looks down on people?

"Director Zhu, you go have fun. I'm a bit jet-lagged from the flight, so I'll rest today."

Ren Yi declined Zhu Chao's invitation.

If he had said he needed to work, it might have seemed a bit pretentious, and the other party would have felt awkward going to play by himself.

So, he told a white lie.

Seeing Ren Yi constantly yawning, Zhu Chao didn't suspect a thing.

"Haha, Ren, you young people aren't as strong as I am. This isn't a good thing. You need to exercise more and stay away from women in the future. Fenglei still needs you to carry it."

Zhu Chao made a joke and then left.

Ren Yi felt a bit bitter, realizing he had been thought of as that kind of person.

Forget it, play the part perfectly, just like this.

He closed the door and began to study the contract.

Two hours later, Ren Yi picked up his phone, ready to check messages and such.

He found more than ten missed calls, all from local numbers.

"What's going on?"

Curious, Ren Yi dialed one of them.

"Hello..."

He had only said one word when a voice immediately came from the other side.

It was Zhu Chao.

"President Ren, you finally answered the phone! Come pick us up, we're at..."

Upon hearing this, Ren Yi was utterly speechless.

"What happened to Director Zhu? Why aren't you using your own phone?"

"Don't ask! We encountered thieves! Our ID cards, phones, and bank cards were all taken in one swoop."

Zhu Chao's voice was filled with anger and helplessness:

"I thought those short videos about poor European public safety were just fabricated by influencers to gain attention, but it turns out they were true."

After confirming that Zhu Chao and his assistant were not kidnapped or victims of a scam, Ren Yi sighed.

Half an hour later, he found Zhu Chao.

They were at a brothel in a small plaza.

Zhu Chao must have been trying to "commit a crime," and in an unguarded moment, his wallet was snatched by two black men on motorcycles.

Apparently, they had reported it to the police and were in the process of giving their statements.

Before leaving, the other party kindly reminded them that the European economy was not doing well, and police salaries had been drastically cut, so they shouldn't expect much from catching thieves.

Because thousands of such incidents happen every day, and the local police force simply cannot handle them all.

His words were so sincere that Zhu Chao didn't know what to say.

He had never encountered such a thing once in his life in China.

Even if he did, a phone call to the local mayor would have that thief kneeling before him, begging for mercy, the next day.

After this incident, Zhu Chao became much more subdued.

"Damn it, I'm so unlucky! When have I ever suffered such a loss?"

Zhu Chao grumbled.

"Indeed, I didn't expect the public safety here in Europe to be this bad. Will our charging pile project be affected?"

Thinking of the exposed, unprotected charging piles, Ren Yi also showed a worried expression.

After this incident, they had a completely new assessment of Europe's quality and public safety situation.

Italy, this country, looks old, and unexpectedly, the overall quality of its Chinese, like its architecture, is full of decay.

Of course, the foundation is still there.

After all, no matter how bad it is, it's still a developed country, with so many car companies and large groups setting up their headquarters here.

Ren Yi could only comfort himself:

"It's okay, we can strategize. Charging station operations will primarily be manned, and the share of unmanned charging will be reduced, only deployed in areas with relatively better public safety."

"Let's rest. After we sign the contract tomorrow, we can go visit Alfa Romeo to see how capable their supercars are."

Hearing the words "supercar," Zhu Chao's eyes lit up, and he became much more energetic.

Although he held a high position as a Director of a state-owned enterprise, he couldn't always do as he pleased.

For example, his official vehicle was provided by the group, and to maintain his image, they were always those old-fashioned administrative cars, which he didn't like at all.

Zhu Chao was also half a supercar enthusiast, extremely obsessed with supercars, and knew all the models like the back of his hand.

The Alfa Romeo 6C was a supercar he greatly yearned for.

Therefore, upon hearing that they were going to Alfa Company, how could Zhu Chao not be excited?

The next day, the group arrived at the conference hall and, witnessed by the Italian government, signed the largest cross-border transaction between Italy and China this year with the Italian energy group.

The total amount reached 30 billion euro for charging pile and energy storage station projects.

The reason the total price was so high was that the Italian government, for national security and to appease public sentiment, required a factory to be established in Italy and 80% of Italian workers to be employed for production.

This caused the cost to more than double.

However, even so, it was still a big deal that was guaranteed to be profitable.

Currently, most of Italy's power grid is outdated and needs to be completely renovated and rebuilt.

Among these, China's State Grid will take the lion's share, introducing many domestic equipment and technologies.

Therefore, this was a project entirely led by China's State Grid.

Italy, on this side, was essentially just working for them.

The rest were Fenglei's adaptive charging piles and energy storage stations.

Relatively speaking, Fenglei building these was also to open up the European market, which was a mutually beneficial arrangement for both sides.

The contract signing process was entirely led by the State Grid, and Ren Yi's presence was basically just to accompany the prince, a mere formality.

After the contract was signed, the group immediately headed to the Alfa Romeo headquarters.

...

Monza Circuit is located north of Milan, Italy.

It hosts a series of world-renowned events, including the F1 Championship, World Motorcycle Championship, and World Touring Car Championship.

Being able to attend in person is definitely an unforgettable experience for racing enthusiasts.

Greeting Ren Yi and his group was President Mayila, the President of Alfa Romeo.

"Welcome, friends from China!"

President Mayila stepped forward and embraced everyone one by one, cheek to cheek.

Besides visiting Alfa Romeo's supercars, Ren Yi had another important purpose for this trip.

He wanted to see how Alfa Romeo compared to the thor m14.

After some pleasantries, they got to the main topic.

"This is our Alfa Romeo 6C. President Ren, would you like to try it?"

President Mayila pointed to a silver-gray supercar in front of them, saying proudly.

She was a complete white supremacist, deep down looking down on black people, and even more so on Chinese.

She had basically looked into the so-called black technology that Fenglei boasted about.

And she herself believed it was all nonsense, just Fenglei exaggerating their propaganda, with no actual effect.

Ren Yi was also very displeased when he saw her expression.

However, out of politeness, he still got into the driver's seat of the Alfa Romeo 6C.

...