Chapter 52: Chapter 52: Coming from Afar
Newlywed bliss.
Jiang Miao had reduced his workload for the past few days, making time to be home with Shuya.
On the fifth day after their wedding, in the company cafeteria, Shuya spoke up while eating breakfast. "I received a special gift today."
"What kind of gift?"
"A notice of expulsion." Shuya nonchalantly picked up a piece of bok choy.
Jiang Miao didn’t seem to care much either. Instead, he chuckled and shook his head. "Oh? Your advisor finally couldn’t take it anymore?"
"I haven’t replied to his messages in almost half a year, so of course he’s furious. I feel bad for my senior classmates. He bosses them around all day, and they’re in their thirties and still haven’t graduated."
"Don’t think too much about it. There’s no need to get angry over someone like him."
"I’m not angry. I just think my past self was a bit ridiculous. It’s not a big deal if I don’t get my doctorate, anyway." Shuya pursed her lips in self-deprecation.
Although Shuya had split the family assets with her two older brothers, she still owned a 144-square-meter apartment in the Yangcheng District, Panyu, mortgage-free.
Even if she couldn’t graduate, Shuya could still go back to Yangcheng and find a job. She didn’t have to worry about her future at all, though her salary might be a little lower.
"By the way, Ah Miao, I’m going back to my normal work schedule today. You should get back to your work too!"
"You don’t want to rest a few more days?"
Shuya rolled her eyes at him, speechless, then gave a dry laugh. "Heh heh, you’re like an animal. You call *that* resting? I’d rather go work in the lab! We’re sleeping in separate beds tonight."
Not far away, Ye Meijing and Li Wenna, who had overheard, quickly lowered their heads and covered their mouths to stifle their giggles.
"Alright!" Jiang Miao said helplessly. He quickly finished the multigrain rice in his meal tray and drank the last of the bok choy and lean pork soup in his bowl.
Shuya also made short work of her remaining food. She took her meal tray, bowl, and chopsticks and placed them in the cafeteria’s designated basket for used dishes.
"Wenna, An Ning, let’s go!"
"Okay." Li Wenna had already finished eating.
An Ning was the female bodyguard, who also served as Shuya’s dedicated driver.
An Ning went out first and pulled a white pickup truck out of the small parking lot by the entrance.
Jiang Miao had wanted to get Shuya a regular sedan, but she refused, as a regular sedan wasn’t suited for country roads and lacked a proper bed for hauling things.
However, this Great Wall Pao pickup truck had a fully-covered bed, not an open-air model.
An Ning pulled the pickup truck out of its parking space.
Wenna opened the rear door for Shuya.
Watching them drive away, Jiang Miao didn’t head over to the lab, because he also had things to take care of today.
About an hour later, an Alphard minivan appeared at the company entrance.
Li Zixuan, who had received word in advance, came out to greet them on Jiang Miao’s behalf.
Several people got out of the vehicle: a tall, middle-aged white man, a young blonde white woman, and three middle-aged men with East Asian features. They exited the minivan one by one.
"Mr. Brown, hello. Welcome to Hailufeng Company. I am General Manager Jiang’s secretary, Li Zixuan."
One of the men with East Asian features quickly translated for the middle-aged white man. After a moment, the translator spoke again, "Mr. Brown would like to see General Manager Jiang. When might that be arranged?"
"Our General Manager Jiang is in his office right now. I’ll take you all up."
"Please lead the way."
"It’s my pleasure."
In the chairman’s office on the second floor, Jiang Miao and Jiang Haibo had already prepared tea.
A short while later, Li Zixuan led Mr. Brown and his group in.
"Mr. Brown, welcome to Hailufeng Company." Jiang Miao smiled and extended his hand.
The two men shook hands and then took their seats.
After listening to the translator, Mr. Brown said something in French. After a moment, the translator turned to Jiang Miao. "General Manager Jiang, Mr. Brown hopes to discuss the potential partnership as soon as possible."
"Of course. How does Mr. Brown envision this partnership?"
Mr. Brown said to his translator, "Tell him that we hope to purchase their patented technology. The price can be based on the deal with the Japanese."
The translator relayed Mr. Brown’s thoughts faithfully.
Jiang Miao smiled and nodded. "No problem. I can license the technology to your company. However, the license will be restricted to use within the European Union, and the price will be 30 million US dollars, paid in one lump sum."
After hearing the translation, Mr. Brown frowned. "A lump sum? That doesn’t seem appropriate, does it?"
"We licensed the technology to the Japanese, and they’ve already started mass-producing glass eels this month. If you’re worried, we can stipulate a penalty for breach of contract when we sign."
Mr. Brown discussed it quietly with the blonde woman for a moment, then nodded.
"There’s one thing I need to make clear," Jiang Miao added. "Our artificial eel breeding technology is limited to the Pacific Eel and requires Duckweed as feed. I have not researched the Atlantic Ocean eels found in the European Union."
The translator quickly explained this to Mr. Brown.
Mr. Brown wasn’t surprised. He smiled and spoke. "Zhang, tell him that we have farming bases in the New Caledonia Islands in the Pacific Ocean. We don’t need to farm them on the mainland."
After hearing the translation, Jiang Miao nodded. "I see." Inwardly, however, he thought with a hint of envious jealousy, ’These damn colonizers are really loaded!’
Since they didn’t need to farm in Western Europe, it wasn’t a major issue.
"Mr. Brown, in that case, we can discuss the details of the contract. By the way, did you bring your legal team with you?"
After relaying the message to Mr. Brown, the translator said to Jiang Miao, "General Manager Jiang, Miss Zhu Lina and Mr. Fan Leng are our legal counsel. We can begin discussing the contract at any time."
So the blonde woman was legal counsel for Brown Company.
Jiang Miao immediately suggested, "Then there’s no time like the present. However, it’s almost noon now. Why don’t we have lunch in the cafeteria downstairs and officially discuss the contract this afternoon? Is that acceptable?"
Mr. Brown naturally wouldn’t refuse.
"Yes, that’s fine."
The cafeteria served its usual menu.
Seeing the ordinary dishes, Mr. Brown was rather surprised. It wasn’t that he hadn’t dealt with Chinese people before, but it was the first time he had seen a company boss as unpretentious as Jiang Miao.
Each person had a meal tray. The variety of dishes on it was rich, but the portions weren’t large.
"General Manager Jiang, Mr. Brown asks if this is what you usually eat. He’s also curious if you don’t drink alcohol."
Jiang Miao smiled and explained, "This is the daily meal for me and all my employees; we all eat the same thing. As for alcohol, my background is in technical research, and alcohol can damage the nervous system, so I’ve always abstained."
After hearing the translated explanation, Mr. Brown couldn’t help but show a trace of admiration. After all, a tech-oriented CEO with a science and engineering background like Jiang Miao was the real deal. He wasn’t one of those phonies who could only talk a big game, or some nouveau riche who just got lucky.
In reality, the reason Jiang Miao didn’t drink was that he was afraid of misspeaking while intoxicated and revealing his biggest secret. That’s why he chose not to touch a drop of alcohol.
As for things like talking in his sleep, Jiang Miao had secretly tested himself before. He had set up a security camera in his room and recorded for over a week, but there were no incidents of sleep-talking or sleepwalking.
Mr. Brown finished his lunch and also tried the strawberries served as a post-meal fruit. After some inquiries, he learned that these strawberries were cultivated by Hailufeng Company itself.
He immediately began to praise the strawberries profusely, saying that if his company didn’t specialize in aquaculture, he would definitely want to import Hailufeng Company’s strawberry variety.
「That afternoon, at 2:30.」
The two parties began discussing the details of the contract. Since it was an international partnership, they had to consider each other’s laws as well as international law, discussing every detail meticulously.
Fortunately, Jiang Haibo had previously hired two professional legal experts, one of whom specialized in contract law.
Neither side dragged their feet. In just two days, they finalized all the details of the contract. Then, Jiang Miao and Mr. Brown signed it on behalf of their respective companies.
Immediately after the contract was signed, Mr. Brown had his company wire 30 million US dollars to Hailufeng Company’s account.
