Chapter 657: Chairman Shi? First Meeting with Kang Yiping! Meng Yuanzhi's Little Scheme, the Luzhou Branch Factory Plan

Chen Yansen smiled. He was aware that the Starry Card had its share of issues, but he kept it to himself.

He knew that Zhao Maolin could handle any solvable problems. As for the unsolvable ones, bringing them up would just create the awkwardness of an amateur telling a professional how to do their job.

The web of interests within the carrier was equally complex—a fact made clear by its Fetion project.

Despite being nearly crushed out of existence by WeChat, it still couldn’t escape its own constraints. At best, they would optimize a few non-essential modules, which had no real impact.

So, for the most part, Kang Yiping did the talking while Chen Yansen listened, with Zhao Maolin occasionally chiming in to add a point.

The trio’s conversation moved from the Starry Card to the Senlian Business Card, and then to broadband services.

Eventually, the topic drifted to unlimited data plans in the North American Region.

Kang Yiping’s stance was clear: unlimited data plans were off the table for now. There were too many stakeholders involved; never mind him, even Sun Gejing couldn’t make it happen.

Back in the 2G era, China Mobile had launched an unlimited data plan, but it was eventually canceled after a flood of coordinated complaints.

When China Telecom tried it, the result was the same.

“One step at a time,” Kang Yiping said calmly. “The rates for the Senlian Business Card have dropped by forty percent compared to last year. Based on the average user’s monthly data usage, they can get 10GB of data for less than thirty yuan a month, which is more than enough for daily use.”

The higher-ups were demanding faster speeds and lower rates, but these things take time.

“I understand.” Chen Yansen raised his glass and clinked it against Kang Yiping’s.

For Senlian Capital, the combination of the Starry Card as the primary plan and the Senlian Business Card as a supplement was enough to cover data usage for food delivery, ride-hailing, shopping, and short videos.

The dinner and drinks went on until eleven o’clock at night. With all five bottles on the table empty, both parties mutually decided to call it a day.

After seeing Kang Yiping and Zhao Maolin off, Chen Yansen got into his car and told Huang Boxiang to drive him back to Meng Jie’s residential complex.

He leaned back in his seat, mulling over what Kang Yiping had said during dinner. A faint smile touched his lips as he decided to pay a visit to Tiangong Technology’s Luzhou branch the next day.

After Gao Weilin took over as CEO of Semir Online, he moved his office to Luzhou, renting an entire office building in a Software Park in the Government District.

The first phase of construction for the Senlian Headquarters was finished, but the supporting infrastructure wasn’t fully in place, so it couldn’t be occupied yet. They would have to wait until the first quarter of next year.

At that time, Orange Technology, Pinbei, Today Technology, Orange Pay, and Tiangong Technology would all move into their new home.

The Gusteau sped along Luzhou’s elevated highway late at night. Its taillights, like two pulsing crimson stars, carved continuous trails of light through the traffic.

「At the same time.」

An inspection team from Apple flew directly to Shencheng City, intending to conduct a full review of the Orange Phone Factory’s production environment, regulatory compliance, and process capabilities.

For the exact same product, even when provided with precise technical specifications, significant disparities can arise due to inconsistencies in manufacturing processes.

Take Apple’s A5 and A6 chips, for instance. Before partnering with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), Cook had considered Mountain Star. However, the processors produced by Mountain Star had low yield rates and unstable performance, so Apple ultimately had to give up on them.

Chen Yansen wanted to trade the supply rights for the Deep Blue Battery for a piece of Apple’s iPhone manufacturing business. After careful consideration, Cook agreed.

In the foreseeable future, phone manufacturers like Orange, Huawei, and Samsung were all set to release new models with long-lasting batteries.

If Apple didn’t use the Deep Blue Battery, it might not be a fatal blow, but it would definitely have a negative impact on sales.

Cook couldn’t afford to take that gamble!

The next morning, Chen Yansen changed into a black suit and was driven to the Central Bureau.

Before he could even get out of the car, he saw Tao Jingwen striding toward him.

“President Chen, it’s been a while.” Tao Jingwen opened the car door for him and offered a polite greeting.

“Once the Senlian Headquarters is up and running, we’ll be seeing a lot more of each other. Try not to get sick of me,” Chen Yansen joked.

“Of course not. You’re the God of Wealth for our Huian Province. How could we ever turn away the God of Wealth?”

Smiling, Tao Jingwen led Chen Yansen inside.

The two walked down a long hallway and stopped before a door. Tao Jingwen raised his hand and knocked gently.

“Come in!” A deep, steady voice came from behind the door.

Tao Jingwen pushed the door open and gestured for Chen Yansen to enter.

He then stepped back, pulling the door closed behind him.

“Mr. Meng.”

Chen Yansen wasn’t the least bit intimidated. This was his second time in Meng Yuanzhi’s office, and he confidently pulled out the chair opposite the desk and sat down.

“My bet paid off! It wasn’t for nothing that I pushed against all opposition to transfer Jingdongfang’s equity to you. You asked for land, I gave you land. You asked for funds, I gave you funds. Don’t you think it’s time for Mr. Chen to show some gratitude?”

Meng Yuanzhi looked up, adjusting the glasses on his nose, and spoke in a slow, deliberate tone.

“Then how about I treat you to dinner, Mr. Meng?” Chen Yansen asked with a smile, deliberately feigning ignorance.

“What do *you* think?” Meng Yuanzhi replied with a humorless laugh, his tone exasperated.

“Luzhou Factory Four and Factory Five are my token of gratitude,” Chen Yansen said, his smile vanishing as his expression turned serious.

“And what about Deep Blue Battery? I heard that because of insufficient production capacity, you outsourced the Middle East energy storage order to BYD and Ningde Era? Luzhou’s infrastructure is quite good. Why not build another battery factory here?”

Meng Yuanzhi asked, getting straight to the point.

Then, before Chen Yansen could even respond, he added, “Land, funding, personnel, mineral resources… I’ll take care of it for you.”

Chen Yansen chuckled, momentarily speechless. ‘Meng Yuanzhi really wants a piece of every pie.’

In truth, just as Meng Yuanzhi said, Deep Blue Technology’s current production capacity was indeed insufficient to fulfill all its purchase orders.

That was why Chen Yansen had raised the threshold for procurement contracts, weeding out weaker brands and retaining only a dozen or so key account clients.

Adding a new production base in Luzhou would be a political achievement for Meng Yuanzhi. For Chen Yansen, it would break his production bottleneck and prepare him for the next battle for market share.

The more mines and factories he had, the higher his production capacity would be. This created stronger economies of scale and drove down production costs.

He was going to make sure the battery manufacturers from Little Days and Korea would all starve.

Even before coming to see Meng Yuanzhi, he had guessed what the man was scheming.

“If anyone else had asked, I would have refused, as it doesn’t align with our company’s development plan. But since you’re the one asking, Mr. Meng, then a branch factory in Luzhou is a must.”

Chen Yansen agreed without hesitation.

Meng Yuanzhi chuckled. ‘I haven’t seen this kid in two years,’ he thought to himself, ‘and he’s gotten even more shameless.’

‘Luzhou is providing the money and the manpower, so what reason does Chen Yansen have to refuse?’

“What kind of tea would you like?” Meng Yuanzhi asked, making a move to stand up and prepare it for Chen Yansen himself.

“Where’s the tea cabinet? I’ll get it,” Chen Yansen said, resisting the urge to roll his eyes. He couldn’t possibly let a man of Meng Yuanzhi’s stature serve him tea.

“In the cabinet to your left, second shelf,” Meng Yuanzhi said, sitting back down and pointing.

As they drank their tea, they casually circled a plot of land on a map, designating it for the new Deep Blue Battery branch factory.

Meng Yuanzhi raised his teacup in satisfaction and took a slow sip. In that moment, he could have sworn the tea tasted a little sweeter.

Once some of Senlian Capital’s divisions moved to Luzhou next year, the city could very well become a hub for the internet or e-commerce, just like Hang City.

With the industry influence of Orange Technology and Pinbei Mall, they could probably attract numerous upstream and downstream companies, which would in turn boost Luzhou’s industrial output, tax revenue, and job creation.

They talked for a full hour and a half before Tao Jingwen returned to remind Meng Yuanzhi of an important meeting at eleven.

Seeing this, Chen Yansen took it as his cue to leave.

Tao Jingwen escorted him to the main gate of the Central Bureau before saying with a broad smile, “President Xu has booked a banquet hall at Luzhou Prefecture. We’ll see you at six p.m.”

‘A banquet hall?’

‘How many people did Xu Minggang invite?’

Chen Yansen frowned slightly.

Tao Jingwen explained with a smile, “Senlian Capital is coming to Luzhou next year, so the local entrepreneurs ought to meet you, don’t you think? Chairman Shi of the Huian Chamber of Commerce even rushed back from Dongyue just for this.”

‘Chairman Shi?’

‘Don’t tell me it’s the one who sells that health tonic?’

The realization dawned on Chen Yansen almost instantly.