Age of Legends

Chapter 253 Son's Business Startup in Progress, Father's Success is Astounding

That day in the conference room, seeing the result Zhang Zhonghua had fought for until the very end, amidst the applause from the government and State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission personnel, Zhou Ping and Ding Shenghua looked extremely ugly. Although they also subconsciously clapped, only they themselves knew whether they were truly willing or not, hidden beneath their awkward expressions.

“Didn’t you say that Zhang Zhonghua’s technology could never pass LG’s test? How could the Koreans admit that they are inferior to us in this area!” Back in the office, Zhou Ping took his anger out on Ding Shenghua.

"Who knew that Zhang Zhonghua, who spent all his time studying and pondering, actually found a breakthrough." Ding Shenghua thought to himself, "Wasn't this your idea? How did it get pushed onto me?"

But of course he wouldn't call out Zhou Ping's excuse. This was exactly what upset Zhou Ping most: if Chenguang Display Technology were to join, it would mean eroding the share that Nanguang Company could have originally secured in the joint venture factory.

"LG Group can admit that the FD29 is more advanced than the Silver Core, but there's nothing we can do about it. After all, Zhang Zhonghua's patent can reduce costs and increase efficiency for the joint venture. It is said that for every Silver Core electron gun produced, the Korean side has to provide a portion of the patent fee to Sony."

If Zhang Zhonghua's electron gun were put into use, they could save a huge amount of money. Moreover, Zhang Zhonghua's technology has lower costs; reducing the cost per color picture tube, with an annual production of three million units, could potentially save over $5000 million a year! LG Group would definitely be willing to use Zhang Zhonghua's technology.

"It's hard to say how much power they'll relinquish for this benefit. After all, Zhang Zhonghua only controls the electron gun technology. LG also possesses fluorescent material technology, circuit integration technology, and they control the international market and distribution channels. So they're not afraid of losing core technological control. Only our Nam Kwong Group will end up as nothing more than a contract manufacturer, and we'll probably have even less say in the future!"

Ding Shenghua was deeply worried.

What was originally a two-party joint venture has now become a three-party joint venture, and it was Zhang Zhonghua who broke through this barrier with his own abilities, tearing open the gap and letting it fall from the sky.

LG Group is happy to save costs, and Zhang Zhonghua gains power for no reason. So what is their share of the joint venture with LG Group?

According to their original plan, in order to balance the equity, the equity distribution between South Korea and Namkwang should be 50% to 50%, with all the technology belonging to LG. In addition, with LG's investment, Namkwang Group actually benefited from the situation, as the country ceded market access.

However, once Chenguangxian arrives, their market share will inevitably shrink, and in terms of funding, it may not be so easy to operate.

More importantly, Zhang Zhonghua was previously an employee who was "reassigned" and eliminated by them, but now, in the blink of an eye, Zhang Zhonghua has been directly parachuted into a core position in the joint venture factory by doing this operation.

In such joint ventures, whoever controls the technology has the power.

If they were to be obsequious to the South Koreans, that would be one thing. After all, it's not uncommon for them to do so before, and they could use their local power to outwardly comply while inwardly defying them.

Bowing down in front of Koreans is nothing, but the thought of having to watch Zhang Zhonghua's expression made the two of them feel as if the prestige and status they had accumulated over most of their lives, as well as any sense of superiority they held, were threatened.

"It's all that Chen Yu's fault for betraying his own side. He gave the company meeting minutes to Zhang Zhonghua, helping him get a certificate!" Ding Shenghua said bitterly.

Zhou Ping held the thermos, seemingly devoid of spirit, and remained silent for a long time.

……

Overnight, the following story spread throughout Fuzhou: A Chinese engineer, undaunted by powerful figures, argued forcefully at a Sino-foreign joint venture conference, asserting that his self-developed technology was not inferior. Facing accusations from the South Koreans, he dared to point out that the problem lay with the South Korean testing equipment. Ultimately, the truth came out: the South Korean testing equipment had indeed malfunctioned, definitively proving that the engineer's technology was superior, and that Chinese technology had surpassed South Korean technology!
Faced with this rampant rumor, Zhang Chen had not expected it. When Zhang Zhonghua unearthed his research from old documents, Zhang Chen had the idea of ​​letting his parents do whatever they wanted in this life and supporting them.

Everyone had imagined that if Zhang Zhonghua failed in his business and faced debt problems, Zhang Chen would suddenly appear out of nowhere, throw a wad of cash in front of him, and say, "Let's lay it all out. I'm not pretending anymore. Your son is actually very rich!"

This idea kept swirling in Zhang Chen's mind.

Who would have thought that in their family, the son's business was still in its early stages and he hadn't even cashed out yet, but the father had already made a name for himself.

“Zhang Chen, I heard about your dad’s situation. At first, I thought it was someone else, but when I found out, I was shocked. It’s Zhang Zhonghua, an engineer at Nanguang Company… I thought to myself, isn’t that my godfather’s son-in-law? I just asked your mom, and she didn’t know either. She probably doesn’t know what’s going on with your mom either.”

When Zhang Chen returned home from evening self-study, he took the phone from Huang Huifen, who said, "Godmother wants to say a few words to you." Only then did Zhang Chen start chatting with Chen Xuran.

"My dad hasn't come back yet, he's still in a meeting. It's true what happened, but the scene wasn't what the rumors said..."

"Let me make this clear first: whenever it's convenient for your dad, he'll have to appear on my talk show," Chen Xuran said.

"Don't worry, I'll agree on behalf of my dad."

"Really... Even if your mom agreed, there's nothing she can do; she can't make the decision. But you and I know we definitely can. Your dad will listen to you. Your mom said he wasn't originally planning on getting involved in this; it was you who encouraged him. Your mom said she'd listen to you, that they'd made a fortune and the family wouldn't be short of money. And with your grades improving, your dad felt he had no major worries, so he decided to take a gamble. Who would have thought that betting on your dad would actually pay off!"

“My dad is still open to advice.” Zhang Chen was quite happy about this; at least Zhang Zhonghua wasn’t stubborn and wouldn’t listen to reason.

"Alright, when do I need you to treat me to dinner? This is great news. How about we come to your godfather's house this Saturday night? I'll cook a few dishes."

"Okay. I'll have my dad tell you the specifics later. If she wants to be on your show, you two can discuss it further." "Alright!" Chen Xuran always had this girlish charm. Zhang Chen thought to himself that his godfather was truly blessed. The two of them weren't publicly dating yet, since Chen Xuran was a public figure and sometimes it was necessary to keep a low profile. But his godfather had truly found love again, and he and Chen Xuran were discussing marriage.

Everyone is making progress, everyone is gaining something, and everyone is growing.

……

In the evening, a car with municipal license plates dropped Zhang Zhonghua off at his apartment building. After getting out of the car, Zhang Zhonghua said goodbye to Xi Mingrong in the car, and then the mayor's car slowly drove away.

Zhang Zhonghua came home carrying his briefcase, changed his shoes, and saw Zhang Chen eating fruit on the sofa. He immediately beamed and exclaimed, "Son!"

Huang Huifen came out of the bedroom with a cucumber face mask on. "Why are you only getting back now?"

"I'm discussing the joint venture with Xi Mingrong. We need to go over the plan again tomorrow. We're busy pushing these things forward!"

"Oh, you're famous now! Aunt Chen just called me to ask how you are! You're practically a household name!" Huang Huifen said with a hint of jealousy.

"Ha, how can I compare to you!" Zhang Zhonghua laughed. "Aren't you the more famous one in our family?"

Indeed, Huang Huifen had been on Chen Xuran's show, so many people knew of her, and she was also well-known in the real estate industry. However, her mother, Huang Huifen, was famous for her "recklessness," unlike her father's recent fame, which was purely positive. No wonder Huang Huifen was jealous.

Zhang Zhonghua washed his hands, took off his coat, and squeezed next to Zhang Chen, peeling an orange.

Huang Huifen frowned. "You've been drinking again!"

“Can I not drink it? I had dinner with the Korean side today, and Park Jung-soo handed me a mobile phone privately at the table. It’s a Motorola, and it costs 10,000 yuan on the market. He clearly wanted to give it to me, and he even said something to me,” Zhang Zhonghua said.

Huang Huifen's eyes widened. "Wow! A phone worth ten thousand yuan?! You want it?"

“I wouldn’t dare accept it.” Zhang Zhonghua shook his head.

Huang Huifen expressed her regret, saying, "Why didn't you take it? You should have taken it!"

Then Zhang Chen saw Zhang Zhonghua give him a helpless look.

Zhang Chen's focus was on the latter part: "What did he say to you?"

"He said my performance at the conference, and my personality, were somewhat like that of Lee Chung-hyun, the chairman of Samsung in South Korea when he was young, but he had the backing of the country. He asked me what I had?"

Zhang Chen said, "Dad, he's trying to make you make a mistake."

“How could I not know? So his gift is a real hot potato, you absolutely can’t accept it!” Zhang Zhonghua said.

"It's just a phone, what's the big deal if I give it away for free? I didn't even agree to anything!" Huang Huifen was still fixated on the ten thousand yuan phone. Honestly, she's a boss herself, yet she still can't shake off this greedy mentality.

Zhang Chen said, "Dad, Park Jung-soo was very arrogant back then. And to be honest, your joining in is beneficial to LG Group, but not to him. After all, he was instructed by the Korean side to form a joint venture with Namkwang Group on his own. Now that your share has decreased, he wants to win you over instead. I don't think this is his personal intention."

Zhang Zhonghua pondered for a moment, then frowned at Zhang Chen, "You mean, this was done at the behest of his parent company?"

"Whoever controls the technical standards controls the front line. Your FD29 surpasses LG's technology in key indicators such as brightness and power consumption. I think they are worried that if the joint venture breaks free from its dependence on Korean technology, it might export it back and threaten LG's global strategy. This is what they are guarding against. In addition, I suggest that you immediately clarify the related patents and production direction of the FD29, make arrangements in advance, and register the patents first, so as not to let them lull you into a false sense of security and secretly block your technological upgrade path. This will prevent your technological upgrade from threatening their long-term advantage."

"What you're saying... isn't it a bit too advanced? Will they really delve into that much?" Zhang Zhonghua asked, unsure.

It's clearly not right that an arrogant technocrat like Park Jung-soo would lower his stance like this. Moreover, there are many examples of South Korea doing this in the past, such as sowing discord among Chinese management and making Chinese personnel take the blame, the Korean Patent Office personally analyzing Chinese technology, preemptively registering patents in related fields, and blocking future upgrade space. LG Corporation did this before, encircling and attacking Chinese companies with patents related to PDP technology.

Zhang Chen had reason to suspect they would do the same to Zhang Zhonghua. Although CRT technology was declining, its precision manufacturing experience, such as the electron gun calibration in the core technology of the FD29, was the foundation for the transition to LCD panels.

LG is making moves in the LCD panel market, and it's also worried that its joint venture might accumulate LCD technology capabilities ahead of time. From this perspective, it's possible that LG is making early moves to target and suppress Zhang Zhonghua.

What Zhang Chen needed to do was remind his father to make plans for a counter-encirclement and suppression as soon as possible.

(End of this chapter)