Chapter 69 I Never Bargain

Cheng Shi's tone was calm, but his eyes carried a trace of mockery. "Director Zhang knows that I never bargain here. Comrade Zhang Zisheng is doing business with me for the first time, so it is understandable that he does not know. You should go back and discuss this with your father."

His words had a double meaning, landing a heavy slap across Zhang Zisheng's face. He was essentially telling Zhang Zisheng: *"You came here putting on an arrogant air of 'how much better I am than my good-for-nothing younger brother,' and in the end, you can only rely on the protection of the older generation? You are the real good-for-nothing."*

Zhang Zisheng clenched his teeth. "Fine, then I will take my leave."

Furious, he climbed into the Crown sedan that had been sent to pick him up and immediately started cursing. "Who on earth does this Cheng Shi think he is? How dare he try to squeeze a major state-owned factory?"

The driver did not dare to make a sound.

Usually, Zhang Zisheng appeared refined and cultured in front of everyone; nobody expected him to have such a violent temper.

Realizing he had lost his composure, Zhang Zisheng took a deep breath and said, "He made me so angry I'm losing my mind."

The driver forced a smile. "Director Zhang frequently gets driven up the wall by him as well."

Zhang Zisheng sneered, "Indeed. The man may look young, but he is craftier than a fox. What's even more infuriating is that Zhang Ziqian refuses to help at all."

No one knew what the actual truth was.

He only knew that if he kept repeating it over and over, Zhang Ziqian's image as a traitor who aided outsiders would become deeply ingrained in everyone's minds.

When he returned, he let out a heavy sigh and relayed Cheng Shi's words—naturally omitting any mention of Cheng Shi's previous quote of 4,500 yuan per set.

Finally, he said to Zhang Guohua, "I suspect Ziqian leaked our confidential information to Cheng Shi. Otherwise, how could Cheng Shi possibly have figured out our bottom line?"

Zhang Guohua gnashed his teeth in anger. "It is entirely possible! That ungrateful wretch who eats our food while smashing our pots. Now that I think about it, when Cheng Shi first came to our factory, he specifically named Ziqian to bring him in. Later, when I told him to go check where Cheng Shi's machine tools were, he made endless excuses and procrastinated. Even when someone else failed in their attempt to rob Cheng Shi of his goods, Ziqian was actually happy for him. He must have known Cheng Shi for a long time and spilled all our factory's details to him, which is why Cheng Shi came running at me with such a precise and ruthless price."

It felt as though he had been struck right in his Achilles' heel, making him grind his teeth in frustration while having to offer up his thigh for Cheng Shi to slice off meat at will.

Zhang Zisheng, unaware of this past history, frowned and said, "Ziqian wouldn't do that..."

It wasn't that he believed in Zhang Ziqian's character; rather, he simply felt that Zhang Ziqian lacked that kind of intelligence.

Zhang Guohua stood up and began pacing back and forth. "You don't need to put in a good word for him. I know you treat him like a younger brother, but he doesn't necessarily view you as an older brother. That little beast—now that he sees Cheng Shi is on the rise, he doesn't even bother to put up a pretense anymore and came straight to me shouting and yelling. If he hadn't already hooked up with Cheng Shi long ago, where would he get the guts to run away from home? A man as calculating as Cheng Shi would never have given him a job as a sales manager out of the blue unless he felt Ziqian had helped him."

Having listened to all of this, Zhang Zisheng knew that the wisest course of action at the moment was to say nothing at all.

Once Zhang Guohua had vented enough and sat back down, Zhang Zisheng asked, "Then what should we do about the contract quote? Cheng Shi told me he never bargains."

Zhang Guohua sighed. "That bastard is always like that. The more urgently we need something, the wider he opens his lion's mouth. We have no choice but to agree to his price, because only he can do the job."

Zhang Zisheng asked, "Should I make another trip there this afternoon?"

Zhang Guohua replied, "Yes, sorry for the trouble. Blame that little beast Zhang Ziqian."

Meanwhile, Zhang Ziqian called Cheng Shi, his voice filled with barely suppressed excitement. "The factory director said the bearing meets their requirements. What is the set price?"

Cheng Shi answered, "Two hundred each. Just fill in the precision according to the specs he provided yesterday. How many do they need a month?"

Zhang Ziqian replied, "Fifty, but he said they need plenty of other parts as well."

Cheng Shi instructed, "In that case, invite him to come over, bring the procurement list, and we can discuss the price face-to-face and sign the contract. He can pay the deposit at the same time."

When Zhang Zisheng arrived in the afternoon, he found Cheng Shi in the middle of a discussion with someone else.

He wanted to edge closer to listen, but Cheng Shi's office door was wide open, making it impossible to get near without being noticed.

He could faintly catch snatches of conversation: "Fifty of each bearing type per month," "Thirty thousand in total," "Deliveries divided into twice a month, on the first and the fifteenth," "The first delivery will be in ten days," and similar phrases.

Soon after, the contract was signed and the deposit was paid.

Cheng Shi politely escorted the visitor out and watched him get into his car.

Catching sight of the man's face just then, Zhang Zisheng vaguely remembered that he seemed to be the director of the shipyard.

No wonder Cheng Shi was acting so tough; he truly had no shortage of business.

Waiting until Cheng Shi turned back, Zhang Zisheng said, "Ah, Comrade Cheng Shi, I'm here to sign the contract."

Cheng Shi gave a slight nod. "I need to go out. Ziqian will handle this matter."

With that, Cheng Shi collected the money, mounted his bicycle, and rode off.

At that moment, Zhang Zisheng was more than happy that Cheng Shi was out of the picture, as it meant he could sweet-talk Zhang Ziqian into signing with him at yesterday's price.

Once Cheng Shi returned, if he dared to renege, it would be a breach of contract.

He sat down and said, "Let's do it. Sign the contract."

Zhang Ziqian sighed. "If you had just signed it yesterday, how wonderful would that have been? I told you back then that 4,000 was already the best price possible. But you insisted on negotiating further. Now he won't budge an inch, saying it must be 5,100. There's nothing more I can say."

Zhang Zisheng's heart sank. He glanced over the contract and saw that Cheng Shi had already filled in the unit price, quantity, and total price, and even stamped it with the official seal.

All he had to do was take it back, stamp it on his end, and bring the deposit, and the deal would be sealed.

There was nothing left to negotiate.

Zhang Zisheng's face darkened. "For the sake of the thousands of workers in the factory, I cannot accept this price."

Cheng Shi had figured him out completely, accurately anticipating every single one of his moves. He was toying with him like a cat playing with a mouse, making him run back and forth—what did he take him for?

Zhang Ziqian winced, his face twisting into a scowl. "You saw it yourself just now; his order book is completely full, and right now he even has to squeeze out time to repair machine tools. If I hadn't put in a good word for him, he wouldn't have taken the auto factory's order at all. If you keep hesitating, the price might go up even higher next time."

Zhang Zisheng stared at the contract for a long time before finally standing up, picking it up, and walking out without a word.

Zhang Ziqian gave a bitter smile. Knowing Zhang Zisheng, he would undoubtedly return and shift all the blame entirely onto him.

Oh well, it didn't matter. In the eyes of Zhang Guohua and the others, he was already a good-for-nothing, an unfilial son, and a punk anyway.

Adding one more charge was like adding another louse to a beggar—it didn't make any difference whether there were more or fewer.

Meanwhile, Cheng Shi had gone to the bank.

The moment he stepped inside, Elder Sister Wan hurried over to greet him. "Oh, Comrade Cheng Shi is here. Are you here to make another deposit? I heard you've even started your own company now! You'll be earning even more money from now on, then."

Cheng Shi replied, "I'm here to pay off my loan."

Previously, he had needed the loan to keep Liu Construction in check, but now there was no longer any need for that.

With his cash flow flush and abundant, there was no point in paying all that high interest to borrow money from the bank.