Do Not Speak Ill of My Mother!-Chapter 654 - 599: President Qin Comes in Person

A chill surged from his feet to the top of his head in an instant, and Zheng Guodong felt like his blood had frozen for a moment.

Six point eight billion, this was the "sincere price" set after an urgent high-level meeting of the group, filled with a sense of painful sacrifice and awe of the unknown. He had only learned this number from an encrypted phone call last night, and to prevent any leaks, he hadn’t even mentioned it to his assistant.

But now, without even seeing Yan Yueqing in person, he was blocked with a casual "we won’t talk for anything less than seventy billion."

This can’t just be described as "precise foreknowledge"!

This is simply... knowing everything!

It’s as if she herself had been sitting in that heavily-guarded emergency meeting room of Blue Sea Heavy Industry, hearing President Qin make the decision herself!

The enormous absurdity and an indescribable fear seized Zheng Guodong. He returned to his hotel almost in a daze and immediately dialed the secure direct line to President Qin, his voice trembling without him even noticing:

"President Qin... Yan Yueqing... she refused. She even... even before I spoke, she accurately stated the upper limit of our internal final offer — ’we won’t talk for anything less than seventy billion.’"

On the other end of the phone was a long, suffocating silence.

Zheng Guodong could clearly hear the suddenly intensified breathing of President Qin coming through the receiver.

"Are you sure? Her exact words were ’less than seventy billion’?"

"Absolutely! Lei Ran relayed it, not a word off!" Zheng Guodong was adamant, "President Qin, this... this is too bizarre! Did no one really leak our internal price to her? Or... has her information channel already infiltrated our highest decision-making level?"

This terrifying speculation slithered like a viper into the hearts of everyone in the Blue Sea Heavy Industry’s meeting room.

"A leak?! The six point eight billion was verbally finalized among the five of us in a closed-door meeting! Not even a written record exists! How could she possibly know?!"

One of the directors suddenly stood up, his face ashen, his sharp gaze sweeping across the other four as seeds of suspicion grew wildly, "This is too outrageous! Could it be that among us..."

"Enough!" President Qin slammed the table, the loud sound interrupting all the murmurs of doubt and mutual suspicion.

His face was so dark it could drip water, his chest heaving violently, clearly a storm was brewing inside him too.

But as the helmsman, he must maintain his last shred of sanity.

"A leak?" President Qin’s voice was icy cold, with a power that could penetrate the heart, "Of those present, including myself, who has the ability and guts to leak such a core negotiation bottom line, one that could shake the group’s foundation and possibly bring about a disaster, to the boss of a local enterprise? For what? Money? Or are you feeling too secure in your position?!"

He scanned the room, his gaze like a blade, forcing everyone to lower their heads.

Indeed, at their level, interests were already deeply tied to the group, and the cost and risk of leaking were unimaginable.

"It’s not a leak..." the strategic planning director murmured, his face pale, "Then it can only be... she is far more terrifying than we imagined. Her understanding of us may far exceed our awareness of her. The port plan, the core of HZ-07, time pressure, and even... our internal decision-making process and psychological price threshold..."

This realization was more chilling than the existence of a mole.

It implied that behind Yan Yueqing stood an enormous entity that could silently understand the core secrets of national-level projects and precisely predict the decisions of giants, a monstrosity beyond imagination.

The meeting room fell into dead silence, only the faint hum of the air-conditioning pressed down on everyone with a suffocating weight. 𝚏𝕣𝕖𝚎𝚠𝚎𝚋𝚗𝐨𝐯𝕖𝕝.𝕔𝐨𝕞

President Qin took a deep breath, as if making some kind of decision. He slowly stood up, adjusted the impeccable collar of his suit, his voice low yet filled with a do-or-die solemnity:

"Zheng Guodong."

"Here, President Qin!" Zheng Guodong immediately responded on the other end of the line.

"Make arrangements. I will personally go to Haidu to meet Yan Yueqing."

————————————————

In the simple yet seemingly pressured meeting room of Sea Star Company, the atmosphere was entirely different from any previous negotiation.

President Qin, the true powerhouse of Blue Sea Heavy Industry, now sat opposite Yan Yueqing.

Behind him was only a personal assistant and a still pale-faced Zheng Guodong.

No crowd, no deliberately created sense of oppression, President Qin had put away all the sharpness of a superior, replaced by a rare, exploratory, and heavy scrutiny filled with calm.

"President Yan, I’ve heard a lot about you." President Qin’s voice was steady, with no detectable emotion, "There may have been some misunderstandings in our previous communication through Guodong, and we may not have fully understood your ’reasonable’ demands. I have come personally this time, with Blue Sea Heavy Industry’s utmost sincerity, hoping to have an open and honest discussion with you about the compensation for the HZ-07 plot and... our potential future cooperation."

He deliberately emphasized the words "potential cooperation," his gaze locked onto Yan Yueqing, trying to catch any hint of a reaction from her face.

Yan Yueqing smiled slightly, her smile still calm as water, as if the person sitting across from her was not a giant capable of influencing the industry landscape, but just an ordinary visitor.

"President Qin is too kind. I understand your company’s difficulties. Time is the lifeline for a national strategic project." She picked up her teacup, took a light sip, and said smoothly, "The ’one hundred billion’ I proposed to Mr. Zheng last time was not an arbitrary demand, but a comprehensive assessment based on the strategic value of the plot, the time cost to your company, and our Sea Star’s actual losses."

President Qin nodded, not immediately refuting, but following her words, "One hundred billion does indeed exceed the group’s capacity. But to show our sincerity and to allow the project to proceed smoothly, we are willing to make significant adjustments based on the previous offer. How about seventy-five billion, President Yan? This is the utmost I can decide on the spot."

He stated this number, his eyes unwaveringly fixed on Yan Yueqing, as this was his actual "bottom line," significantly higher than the sixty-eight billion offered to Zheng Guodong.

Yan Yueqing put down the teacup, her fingertips lightly tapping the smooth table surface twice, producing crisp sounds. She didn’t look at President Qin, instead, her gaze fell on the busy farm outside the window, her tone carrying a peculiar vagueness, "President Qin, money is indeed important. But sometimes, the value of certain things is far beyond monetary measures. For instance... time. And then... technological bottlenecks."

The words "technological bottlenecks" struck like a bullet, instantly hitting the tense string in President Qin’s heart!

Blue Sea Heavy Industry had indeed recently been choked by a critical core technology! It was the high-precision deep-sea special alloy welding technology used for processing key components of ultra-large offshore new energy equipment! Strictly blocked abroad, the domestic research had made slow progress for years, and it was about to affect the manufacturing schedule of the No. 1 base’s core equipment! This was one of the group’s highest secrets at present, even more so than the awareness range of the port plan!

President Qin’s heart contracted sharply, his pupils dilated suddenly! His hand, resting on his knee, clenched instantly, turning his knuckles white from the force. He suppressed the storm in his heart, his voice inevitably carrying a hint of strained hoarseness, "President Yan... What technology are you referring to?"

Yan Yueqing finally turned her head, her eyes depthless as an abyss staring directly at President Qin, as if piercing through his forced calm. She didn’t answer directly but slightly nodded to Jun Jiu at her side.

Jun Jiu understood, and from a secure briefcase carried with him, he took out a thin, unmarked white folder and placed it respectfully on the table before Yan Yueqing.

Yan Yueqing’s pale fingers gently pressed on the folder, then slowly pushed it toward President Qin.

"President Qin might as well take a look at this. After seeing it, perhaps we can discuss from a different angle."

President Qin’s gaze fixed on the seemingly ordinary folder as if looking at a Pandora’s box. He took a deep breath, with a gravity almost tragic, slowly reached out, and opened the folder.