Chapter 186: Chapter 186: A trip to Pudong
A few days after the winter break ended, Feng Yiping set off to Shanghai with his father. Feng Yuxuan had once again fallen ill, and wanted to go see the big city she had only seen in TV movies. 'I've worked hard for a year, I want a vacation too, and I want to go!'
There was no way around it. In China, apart from one's hometown, at least two cities carry an aura in most people's minds. The first is, of course, the capital, and the second is, without a doubt, Shanghai. Especially during the era of planned economy, Shanghai was the second largest city in everyone's minds, and everything produced there was a guarantee of quality, especially in terms of clothing, food, housing and transportation.
In the 1970s and 1980s, when people got married in the city, the three most popular items were a bicycle, a sewing machine and a watch. Shanghai-branded watches, Fenghuang or Yongjiu bicycles, and Butterfly or Bee sewing machines were the first choices in the dreams of many brides-to-be.
For Feng Yiping and his friends, the most memorable things were the White Rabbit candies when they were young, and the Adidas sneakers after they started school. When they were young, being able to eat a White Rabbit candy was much happier than eating silky smooth chocolate later on. After they started school, being able to have a pair of white Adidas sneakers was definitely more fashionable than the Nike and Adidas that were all over the street.
In short, Shanghai was like New York to these people from the countryside.
However, the end of the year is always a good time for business, and there is a lot to do. If Cai Hong hadn't reacted so strongly, Feng Yiping would have wanted to go with his sister-in-law. Now that his father is going with him, Feng Yuxuan can't possibly go.
This whole year, Feng Yuxuan has indeed had a hard time, and her parents don't want to hurt her feelings, so they comfort her, 'This time we're not just going to have fun, we have some business to attend to. Maybe next year, when you have some time off, we'll let you go and have some fun.'
'What's the point of going there to have fun? You should make more money, go there next year and buy a flat, move your household registration there and become a Shanghainese. Wouldn't that be nice?' Feng Yiping always speaks in a big way.
After dozens of hours of bumpy travel, Feng Zhenchang arrived at the destination with Feng Yiping. It was still light outside, and the two of them wandered around the Nanjing Road area for most of the day before finally finding a cheap hotel in an alley.
Feng Zhenchang had not had a proper meal since the train journey, and with his son tagging along, he found a restaurant and ordered a few dishes. Although the food was a little sweet, which he wasn't used to, he still ate it all up.
Feng Zhenchang is now considered an urbanite, but when Feng Yiping took him to the Bund, he was still deeply impressed. 'How high is that!' he said, looking up at the TV tower across the way.
'More than 460 metres,' Feng Yiping replied.
'Wow, that's almost a mile,' Feng Zhenchang said.
'After we finish here tomorrow, let's go up and have a look. There's a special sightseeing floor.'
'Really? That sounds like fun.' Feng Zhenchang, who had spent the previous decades in the countryside, was more attracted to the skyscrapers than the natural scenery.
At 9am the next morning, the Shanghai representative office of the American law firm Davis Polk & Wardwell on Nanjing Xi Lu welcomed two guests. The adult in front was a little reserved, but the young boy behind him was carefree and looked around.
'Hello! How can I help you?' the receptionist asked Feng Zhenchang.
'Intellectual property,' Feng stuttered out the difficult term in his local dialect.
'Do you have an appointment?'
'No. Do we have to have an appointment to see a lawyer? Then we won't waste any more time here,' Feng Yiping said.
Thanks to the negotiations on China's accession to the World Trade Organization, the Ministry of Justice has begun to gradually open up the legal market since last year, allowing qualified foreign law firms to set up offices in China. However, the scope of services they can provide is limited.
For example, the law stipulates that these offices cannot represent clients in Chinese legal affairs. What does this mean? To put it bluntly, if we ordinary people want to file a lawsuit in China, they cannot accept such cases, not even for consultation. If foreigners want to file a lawsuit in China, they cannot deal directly with the relevant authorities, but must entrust a domestic law firm to do so.
At the same time, these offices are not allowed to hire Chinese lawyers, and the supporting staff they hire are not allowed to provide legal services to their clients. They have not yet found as many alternative methods as they have now, so business is definitely average.
Furthermore, making an appointment sounds very high-class, but does it fit the current situation in China?
"I'm sorry, that's not what I meant. The main thing is to ask if you know any familiar lawyers. This way, please!'
After sitting in the meeting room upstairs for a while, and before Feng Yiping had finished his cup of coffee, a tall white foreigner in his forties, wearing a dark blue suit, walked in, shook Feng Zhenchang's hand, and said in a very strange accent, 'Hello, I'm Smith.'
At this time, a Chinese girl in a grey professional suit appeared behind the foreigner. Smith was too tall and too big, and he had completely blocked her just now. 'Hello, my surname is Fan, I'm Mr. Smith's interpreter.'
'Hello, I'm Feng Yiping, and this is my father Feng Zhanchang.'
The rest of the conversation was entirely conducted by Feng Yiping, but this time with his father by his side, he felt more confident. Feng Zhanchang didn't feel left out either, and was very proud to see his son talk so eloquently in front of a foreigner.
After half an hour, Feng Yiping introduced his two proposals to Smith, but the communication wasn't very smooth, mainly because some of the proper nouns in the proposals made Fan the translator a bit embarrassed.
After listening, Smith said a long speech, which, when translated, was to confirm whether the two proposals were his original work. Feng Yiping replied affirmatively. Although Smith was a little surprised, he did not ask why he could come up with such a proposal, as Lawyer Du from Dacheng Law Firm had done. Feng Yiping really liked the foreigner's habit of respecting privacy.
The second question was whether such a 'show' would be acceptable.
Feng Yiping had long been prepared for this question. He used his not-quite-standard spoken English to read the paper to the other party. Sure enough, as the movie 'American Dreams in China' said, the hardest part of speaking English poorly is listening to the other person.
Smith smiled and took the piece of paper, which Feng Yiping had handed him. Feng had only three points: first, reality TV is the inevitable direction of mass media; second, many TV companies in your country have already made many useful attempts in this area; and third, the commercial value of these two options should be judged by professional TV industry personnel.
Feng Yiping asked through the translator, 'If there really was such a show on TV, would you participate? Would you watch it?'
Smith laughed when he heard this. If there really was a programme like The Amazing Race, even if he couldn't participate, as long as the edited results weren't too bad, he would definitely watch it. For a TV programme, the most important thing is ratings. As long as the ratings go up, everything is negotiable.
He will take on this commission on behalf of the office, but the signing of the official documents will have to wait until the two proposals are translated into English.
On the third day, Feng Yiping and the others received a phone call, and Feng Zhenchang signed the official commission agreement with them. The chief representative of the office, a foreigner who had taken the Chinese name Cai, was also present, and he smiled and said that they were very confident that they could get a higher transfer fee for Feng Yiping and the others.
Before leaving, Feng Yiping left a piece of paper and asked Fan to translate it and post it on the BBS of various universities. Seeing that it was a small favour like looking for software designers for recruitment, Fan naturally agreed.
Seeing that things were going well, Feng Zhenchang took Feng Yiping to the foot of the Oriental Pearl Tower. They had been here yesterday, but Feng Zhenchang was a bit put off by the price. Today was different. It seemed that his son would make money from the Americans, so it didn't matter if he spent a hundred or eighty dollars for him.
This time it was Feng Yiping who held back. At the ticket office, he handed his camera to his father, 'Dad, you go up, I'm scared!'
He was really afraid of heights. It was okay to fly in a plane, where there was a small window to look out, but in a sightseeing tower with a glass exterior, he felt uneasy.