Chapter 69: Do You Take Me for a Fool?

Very soon.

Sitting in Lan Yaoming’s spacious office, after three rounds of tea and much conversation, the atmosphere between the two gradually became more harmonious...

“Director Lan, I’ve already reviewed all the materials on your assembly lines a few days ago, and I’m very satisfied. However, I’d still like to discuss the price with you further. I hope you can make some concessions on top of the twenty thousand per line.”

Wu Ya steered the conversation directly back to the main topic.

“Well…”

Hearing this, the smile that had just filled Lan Yaoming’s face—thanks to old grievances being set aside—vanished instantly, replaced by a heavy look of difficulty.

“To be honest with you, Mr. Wu, our factory is a private enterprise affiliated with the local community office. While we enjoy certain conveniences, we also have to pay the price. Just the annual affiliation fee is a substantial expense. Adding to that the labor wages and other costs, our yearly expenditure exceeds half a million. So, we are in a difficult position! Especially since the product you want to purchase is our latest development—we haven’t even recovered the development costs yet!”

After some deliberation, Lan Yaoming decided to play the sympathy card, hoping his woes would move Wu Ya.

Dozens of workers need to be fed, the community office keeps extending its hand, and we have to invest in developing new products—all of this requires money!

But to his surprise, his attempt to stall Wu Ya’s negotiations with complaints inadvertently gave Wu Ya a new idea!

“Director Lan, when did your factory start producing these most advanced, upgradeable assembly lines? I’m planning to buy three at once—do you have existing units in stock?”

He probed for information.

Since it’s your latest product and you haven’t even recouped the development costs, you clearly haven’t sold many. Once this was confirmed, it would give him leverage in price negotiations.

But unexpectedly—

“Hahaha, Mr. Wu, you truly are a lucky man! Before you arrived, our third line had just been completed. It’ll finish final testing tomorrow morning. And because these most advanced lines are so costly and expensive, our production target for this year was only four. To be honest, we haven’t sold a single one yet! So, you want three, and it just so happens we have three in stock!”

Lan Yaoming burst into hearty laughter, delighted.

In his view, Wu Ya needed three lines, and he happened to have three in stock—no need to hide anything since the numbers matched perfectly.

But for Wu Ya, this was a revelation: not a single one of these most advanced lines had been sold yet! The reason—excessive pricing.

Three lines.

The factory was sitting on unsold inventory, just waiting for him to come and solve their problem!

Lan Yaoming never imagined that his honesty would only give Wu Ya more confidence and strengthen his resolve to buy a million-yuan assembly line for just three hundred thousand!

Moreover, he had originally planned to negotiate the price further before proposing a deferred payment scheme. Now, that plan had changed.

“Director Lan, so if I understand correctly, your factory hasn’t been producing these advanced machines for long, and since their launch, they’ve already accumulated in stock. That means no one has used them yet, right? So, any data on their actual performance and the stability of their quality is only theoretical, isn’t it?”

Wu Ya suddenly looked up, firing off three pointed questions at Lan Yaoming, his tone sharp and his expression grave.

Each question hit on a key point about the equipment.

A short production history meant the products were immature. The existence of unsold stock meant no one had used them yet. If no one had used them, then their stability and supposed advanced features were unproven.

Undoubtedly, if he spent a fortune purchasing them, he’d be the factory’s guinea pig.

A million yuan, just to be a test subject?

In the business world, that’s an absolute taboo!

“This…”

Lan Yaoming was stunned, a deep flash of regret crossing his eyes. How could he have let his guard down and revealed his own weaknesses so easily?

Negotiation is key in business. Before talks had even properly begun, he’d already exposed his vulnerabilities to the other party. All because he’d gotten carried away!

Their factory was the only one that had this upgradeable product. Other factories might have similar features and mature technology, but lacked this crucial upgradeable component!

But now, because of his own mistake, he’d turned their greatest strength into a weakness!

Even though the factory had conducted countless experiments, ensuring the production line’s stability after upgrades, would the client believe it? After all, it was his money at stake—a significant amount!

Who would be willing to spend their own money to be your test subject? Only a fool would agree.

“Mr. Wu, we’ve carried out dozens of operational experiments with this product! I can guarantee stable production for ten years without problems!” Lan Yaoming, unable to remain silent, could only pat his chest and offer his assurance.

But business carries risks. If a promise alone could earn trust, then business fraud would run rampant across the globe!

“Director Lan, to be honest, it’s not that I don’t trust you—I just don’t trust your product! If I buy your assembly line and it has quality issues that delay my garment production, who am I supposed to turn to? Your guarantee would be nothing but empty words! Especially since this isn’t a matter of ten or twenty thousand—it’s over a million!”

Wu Ya’s face was grave, his gaze toward Lan Yaoming filled with obvious dissatisfaction.

Who would spend over a million on just a promise? This wasn’t a negotiation—it was treating him like a fool!

“This…I…”

Lan Yaoming mumbled, at a loss for words despite his vast business experience. For a moment, he was stumped by Wu Ya’s challenge.

At last, he gritted his teeth and looked at Wu Ya with a serious expression.

“Mr. Wu, in your opinion, what would it take for this deal to move forward?”

A faint, almost imperceptible smile flashed in Wu Ya’s eyes.

In your opinion, what would it take to proceed? This was exactly the answer he had been hoping for—the outcome he wanted to see!

Because it meant Lan Yaoming had handed the initiative for this deal over to him.

“Director Lan…”