The Secret of the Yoga Club: The Women's Identity is Not Simple

The next morning at 8:30, Lin Feng and his team gathered in the hotel lobby on time. The van drove to the BYD factory, and on the way, the group went over the key points of the negotiation they had prepared the day before.

The key technical staff member flipped through the notes on their phone, reading aloud several clauses that needed to be confirmed. Vice President Zhang, sitting in the back, tapped his fingers lightly on his knee, clearly also somewhat nervous.

"President Lin, Minister Lu was very firm on the maintenance fee yesterday, insisting on hourly rates with no upper limit. It's clear he's treating post-maintenance as a long-term revenue stream." Vice President Zhang closed the folder in his hand. "We've done the calculations. If we follow their pricing standard, the annual maintenance cost for a production line will account for at least 12% to 15% of the total equipment price. Over three years, that's equivalent to buying another set of equipment."

Lin Feng nodded without saying anything.

He didn't sleep well last night either, repeatedly rehearsing today's negotiation strategy. He could negotiate the equipment purchase price and the scope of technology licensing, but the maintenance fee was his bottom line.

If costs are uncontrollable, a project cannot be undertaken; this is the most basic business logic.

"Our strategy today has three layers." Lin Feng turned around and looked at the people in the car. "First, we need to push the equipment procurement price down to a reasonable range based on our calculations. Lu Jianguo loosened his grip a bit yesterday, but it hasn't hit rock bottom yet, so we'll continue to push today. Second, we need to strive to include technical support for future product upgrades and iterations in the technology licensing scope, so that we can't charge separately for each upgrade. Third, maintenance fees—"

He paused, his tone turning serious, "Maintenance fees must be capped. Whether it's billed annually or per unit, the total cost must have an upper limit. If we can't reach an agreement on this, even if the other terms are signed, we won't be able to implement them."

A key technical staff member added, "Mr. Lin, I checked the publicly available maintenance data for the same model of equipment from BYD last night. The annual maintenance cost for similar production lines in Shenzhen is about 8%, while their quote to us is almost double that."

"So there's room for maneuver," Lin Feng said. "It just depends on whether Lu Jianguo is willing to give it to us."

As the car entered the BYD factory area, the security guard at the gate checked the license plate and visitor registration. Lu Jianguo was already waiting in the lobby.

Today he wore a dark blue shirt with the collar buttoned up neatly, his hair was more styled than yesterday, his trousers were crisp, and his leather shoes were polished to a shine.

When Lin Feng got out of the car, I noticed that he was wearing a BYD badge on his chest, which he didn't have yesterday, making him look much more formal than yesterday.

"Good morning, Mr. Lin, Mr. Zhang, and everyone." Lu Jianguo greeted them with a handshake, his smile even warmer than yesterday. "Today, let's go over the few things we couldn't agree on yesterday again. I spoke with the leadership last night, and some clauses can be adjusted, and quite significantly."

Lin Feng caught the message in his words, but didn't rush to ask further. He simply nodded and said, "Thank you for your hard work, Minister Lu."

Lu Jianguo led Lin Feng and his group upstairs to the same meeting room from yesterday. A new version of the documents, two pots of hot tea, and several printed drafts of the revised terms were already laid out on the table, clipped together with paperclips, with red and blue markers placed beside them.

Lin Feng noticed this detail: yesterday there were only whiteboard markers on the table, but today there were red markers, indicating that Lu Jianguo had indeed made preparations, and were more thorough than yesterday.

The group took their seats on either side of the long table.

Lu Jianguo sat by the window, with Lin Feng opposite him, each accompanied by three people. Lu Jianguo opened a document in front of him and pushed it towards Lin Feng: "President Lin, I've summarized the terms we discussed yesterday. The main points of contention are concentrated in three areas: equipment procurement pricing, the scope of technology licensing, and the billing method for subsequent maintenance fees. Let's go through them one by one. First, the equipment—"

Turning to the second page, he pointed to a row of numbers. "The base price for this automated welding line was 42 million yesterday. I applied to headquarters and it can be reduced to 38 million. The prices for several core pieces of equipment on the final assembly line can also be reduced by 5 to 8 percent each. Overall, the total price for the equipment procurement can be reduced to about 92 million, which is 8 million less than yesterday."

Vice President Zhang flipped through the quotation sheet and checked each item one by one.

He slid his finger down from top to bottom, paused on a few numbers, looked up at Lin Feng, and shook his head slightly.

Lin Feng agreed and pushed the quotation back. "Minister Lu, we've calculated the figure of 92 million, and it's still too high. To be frank, we did a detailed cost calculation beforehand. The purchase price of similar equipment with the same configuration at other OEMs is less than 85 million."

Lu Jianguo smiled, picked up his teacup and took a sip. "President Lin, BYD's equipment is not exactly the same as other factories'. Our welding line uses the latest laser composite welding technology, which has a higher precision and yield rate than traditional equipment. You can't buy this configuration for 85 million, I can say that clearly."

"I acknowledge the technological advantages of the welding line," Lin Feng said, leaning slightly forward with his hands crossed on the table. "But our production line is for the chassis of new energy trucks, which doesn't require the same level of welding precision as passenger cars. Laser composite welding is certainly a good thing, but do we necessarily have to use the highest configuration? If we make some adjustments to the configuration and reduce costs, can we reach 85 million?"

Lu Jianguo clearly hadn't expected this angle.

He paused for a moment, adjusted his glasses, and thought for a while before saying, "Mr. Lin's idea is worth discussing. If you accept using traditional welding processes for some workstations, we can recalculate and the quote should be around 88 million. However, doing so will reduce the overall yield rate of the production line by 0.3 percentage points, and you will need to assess this consequence yourself."

"0.3 percent is perfectly acceptable at the bottom line," Lin Feng immediately replied. "Then it's settled. Please have Minister Lu arrange for a recalculation and report 88 million."

Lu Jianguo nodded and made a mark on the document.

Negotiations on the scope of technology licensing went more smoothly than expected. Both parties already had a high degree of consensus on the licensing framework for core technologies, and the focus of the discussion was on the wording of several specific clauses.

BYD agreed to include the right to use its core patents as a long-term license in the contract, with the term tied to the project cycle and not requiring annual renewal. Lin Feng was very satisfied with this clause. Vice President Zhang checked the wording twice to confirm there were no hidden renewal clauses, and then gave Lin Feng a thumbs up.

"We've basically reached a consensus on the technology licensing issue," Lu Jianguo circled on the document. "Next is the maintenance fee, which was the most contentious issue yesterday."

The atmosphere in the meeting room noticeably tensed up.