Chapter 61: Secret Deal
Lu Jingyao was very curious and asked, “This technology was developed independently by the Yasuda Consortium. Where did you get it?”
Xu Youyou kept a straight face. “Don’t ask. The more you ask, the worse it is for both of us.”
Just as Lu Jingyao was about to say more, Xu Youyou pointed to the stage where Shen Wenxing was about to give her speech. “Aunt Shen is about to present her report. I want to improve myself, so I’ll listen carefully.”
She was actually just making an excuse to brush him off, but Shen Wenxing’s speech surprised her. Unlike other speakers who used obscure industry jargon, Shen Wenxing’s report was more like a vivid and engaging popular science article.
For someone like Xu Youyou, who knew nothing about the industry, she could actually understand about seventy to eighty percent of it.
“Aunt Shen is really amazing! I actually understood everything she said!” Xu Youyou marveled.
Lu Jingyao felt a little jealous. “Are you saying you don’t understand what I say?”
Xu Youyou avoided his gaze.
Lu Jingyao was slightly annoyed but patiently explained, “The Shen family has produced many female scientists, and Shen Wenxing is the brightest among them. She studied under a top industry scholar in the U.S. The U.S. originally didn’t want to let her return, and our country had to go through a lot of trouble to bring her back.”
“Isn’t this a modern society? How can they restrict someone’s personal freedom like that?” Xu Youyou was puzzled.
“For some scientific fields, progress relies entirely on a handful of top experts,” Lu Jingyao explained. “Between countries, having a strong scientist means weakening the other side. So foreign governments would rather keep her hidden than let her return home.”
Xu Youyou thought she was finally catching on, but after a few more reports, she was back to understanding nothing. She couldn’t help but admire Shen Wenxing even more.
The conference schedule was packed. At noon, everyone ate at the hotel buffet, then returned to the conference hall for more reports. They endured until nightfall.
Lu Jingyao tried to act casual. “Assistant Liu managed to book a highly exclusive French restaurant. The chef is decent. Want to join us?”
Xu Youyou felt that a French restaurant wasn’t the right place for negotiations. All she cared about was money. “I’m too lazy to move. We’ll talk business after you and Assistant Liu finish dinner.”
Lu Jingyao’s eyes darkened slightly. He suddenly changed his mind. “The restaurant is a bit far. Since you’re in a hurry to discuss the deal, I won’t go either.”
Xu Youyou found him fickle. “Didn’t you want French food?”
Lu Jingyao: …
“I just suddenly feel tired and want to rest early,” he said as an excuse.
Xu Youyou: “Then should we discuss the deal tomorrow instead?”
Lu Jingyao replied directly, “No need. We planned to negotiate down to 1.5 billion, but our actual bottom line is 1.7 billion. Our company has had many meetings on this; the price can go lower, but not higher.”
Xu Youyou was shocked. He just revealed his bottom line. Wasn’t this the CEO personally selling out his own company?
“If you do this, the board will definitely give you trouble,” she said.
Lu Jingyao replied calmly, “The company buying the technology is Luyun Tech, a subsidiary of Lu Group. I founded it in college. It’s only affiliated with the group, but the purchase doesn’t require group funds.”
In other words, he had full control over the money.
Xu Youyou had done her research—Luyun Tech was a big company in the internet and electronics industry, highly profitable, and constantly urged by investors to go public, though it never had any intention of doing so.
Luyun Tech proved the saying: “The best companies never go public.”
Lu Jingyao continued, “Seventeen billion dollars. Three billion upfront, and the remaining fourteen billion—do you want cash or goods?”
“Cash!” Xu Youyou said without hesitation.
“If you want cash, it will be paid in installments over three years. Can you accept that?”
Xu Youyou had no objections. Such a large sum would be difficult for any company to pay all at once.
“That’s fine.”
She handed over a third of the documents for Lu Jingyao to review. He skimmed through them quickly and nodded. “Most likely legit.”
“You can read Japanese?” Xu Youyou asked.
“When learning languages, Japanese and Korean are the easiest,” he replied casually.
Curious, Xu Youyou asked, “How many languages do you know?”
“Not many, just six.” Lu Jingyao wasn’t being modest—he genuinely thought it wasn’t enough.
Xu Youyou clicked her tongue. She remembered in her past life how Gu Xueying’s family boasted about her knowing four languages.
“This technology… it must have been obtained through some shady means,” Lu Jingyao suddenly remarked.
“How can you tell?” Xu Youyou asked.
She had deliberately avoided including “Yasuda” in the portion she gave him.
Lu Jingyao pointed to the document’s watermark—dense patterns of camellia flowers. “This is the Yasuda family crest.”
Xu Youyou: …
Lu Jingyao continued, “I won’t reject the Yasuda deal outright. Instead, I’ll keep pressing them until they refuse to sell. As for your payment, I’ll transfer it through another company. If you don’t trust me, I can wire it directly, but that might alert the Yasuda family.”
Xu Youyou knew he was doing this for her safety. If the money went through an intermediary, it would take Yasuda longer to trace it back to her.
At this moment, Lu Jingyao looked incredibly pleasing to her—like a walking fortune god. She happily flattered him. “Of course, I trust you.”
Lu Jingyao’s lips curled up slightly. “Once the contract is signed, the money will be in your account within three days.”
Xu Youyou thought she was seeing things—why did he suddenly look like a puppy wagging its tail?
Assistant Liu cleared his throat, subtly signaling his boss to rein in his emotions.
Lu Jingyao then advised, “There’s still a lot to handle. You should hire a professional lawyer to audit the contract. The sooner, the better. It’s best to finalize everything here in the hotel to avoid Yasuda’s suspicion.”
Xu Youyou realized the biggest gap between herself and truly wealthy people wasn’t just money but a lack of professional support teams. She had admired the elite team Lu Jingyao lent her in the U.S.—they could provide expert advice at a moment’s notice.
But Xie Ran was indeed a system-certified super talent. When she asked him to find a lawyer at night, one was already waiting at the hotel by morning.
“Miss Xu, I’m lawyer Feng Jing. President Xie sent me to assist you.”
Feng Jing was around Xie Ran’s age, supposedly a former classmate—an elegant and highly capable-looking middle-aged woman.
When she received the secret transaction contract that Assistant Liu had rushed to complete overnight, she glanced at the amount and her eyebrow twitched. But she quickly concealed her reaction.
