Chapter 44: A Slip of the Tongue

As usual, three requests! Votes, recommendations, and bookmarks!!

“How about it? Challenge me, the fourth round!” Fang Yuhua’s face was stubborn.

Yang Tang shook his head and smiled. “You’re not my match, Jiani. Let’s go!” With that, he turned and walked away.

Seeing this, Fang Yuhua’s anger instantly surged to the maximum. “You coward! Since you won’t let me have my way, I won’t let you off easily, either!” Unfortunately, Yang Tang was walking too fast; before she finished speaking, he had already disappeared from sight.

He Jiani didn’t follow Yang Tang. Instead, she stayed by Fang Yuhua’s side, advising, “Yuhua, you shouldn’t treat Tang Tang like this, he—”

Fang Yuhua interrupted, “He’s just an arrogant guy! I’ll make him pay!”

He Jiani fell silent.

Meanwhile, Chen Jin, nearby, was secretly laughing. To be honest, in Shenhai, he’d never seen any young man who could tame the Fang family’s little demoness, but today, he finally witnessed Yang Tang’s temperament—worse and fiercer than Fang Yuhua’s. Clearly in control, he simply declared he wouldn’t play anymore, leaving the loser with a sense of grievance, unable to accept defeat, frustrated and unable to vent!

Seizing an opportunity, Chen Jin discreetly called the club to arrange a car for Yang Tang, sending him back to the city. Such an interesting fellow—regardless of whether he’d be useful in the future, best to draw him in first.

Just as Yang Tang got into the car Chen Jin had arranged and left the club, Fang Yuhua, still walking back from the valley, was fantasizing, “That jerk came in my car. Later, I’ll make him crawl back home, hmph hmph!”

He Jiani pouted. “Yuhua, do you really have to be so petty?”

“I am petty, so what? You feel sorry for him?”

He Jiani fell silent again.

When the two women reached the front hall, there was no sign of Yang Tang. At the parking lot, he was nowhere to be seen either.

“Chen Jin!”

“Here! Miss Fang, what can I do for you?”

“Where’s Yang Tang?”

Chen Jin pulled a bitter face. “He’s a grown man; how should I know?”

Fang Yuhua glared. “This is your turf! How can you not know?”

“Really, I don’t know!” Chen Jin protested, “I just had Xiao Wang drive him back to the city. He should be halfway there by now!”

“Who told you to send him?” Fang Yuhua was furious, stamping her foot.

“But Miss Fang, you didn’t say not to send him!” Chen Jin replied.

Fang Yuhua gave Chen Jin a fierce glare. “Now I say not to. Is that enough? Call Xiao Wang right now, tell him to drop Yang Tang halfway—or no, tell him to bring Yang Tang back to me!”

Chen Jin shook his head. “I can’t make that call.”

“You can’t?!”

“That’s right, I can’t!” Chen Jin explained, “The car Xiao Wang’s driving, the license plate is well-known. Dropping a passenger or turning back on the road would damage Tianyu Company’s reputation. Only the big boss can authorize that.”

Hearing Chen Jin mention the club’s parent company boss, Fang Yuhua immediately felt a bit guilty. “Does this really need Uncle Duan’s approval? Can’t we just mention it afterward?”

Chen Jin waved his hand. “I wouldn’t dare.”

After getting out of Xiao Wang’s car, Yang Tang checked his direction, circled half a block, and finally found the appointed place.

It was a coffee shop with a touch of bourgeois charm; in the corner, a glass wall partitioned off a temporary office for meetings. Inside, two men in suits were already seated.

Seeing Yang Tang approach, both men stood and came out to meet him. One, smiling and seemingly more authoritative, extended his hand. “Hi, Yang Tang, Mr. Yang, right?”

Yang Tang found their enthusiasm puzzling, but shook the man’s hand. “That’s me. You two are from Chenxun Company, aren’t you?”

Chenxun Company had started with chat software in the early nineties, and after nearly a decade of development, was now branching into various industries, with deep pockets and big ambitions.

Before coming to Shenhai, as Yang Tang planned to sell his Power Saver software, he had asked He Jiani to seek a middleman, Fang Yuhua, while also contacting several buyers himself, determined not to put all his eggs in one basket. Unfortunately, only Chenxun and the domestic search engine giant Qiandu responded, arranging times to meet.

“I’m He Ming, deputy leader of the third group in Chenxun’s Venture Capital Department. This is my colleague, Feng Guangliang.” He Ming produced his business card and handed it to Yang Tang with both hands.

Yang Tang took the card, feeling even more puzzled by their warmth.

Unbeknownst to him, He Ming preferred to operate in three-person teams—one subordinate acted as information support, never showing up, but instead observing the discussion from a vantage point across the street with binoculars, adjusting their negotiation strategy accordingly.

Today, as luck would have it, Yang Tang got out of a luxury car from the shooting club, immediately catching the attention of He Ming’s “information support” colleague. He quickly checked online with his laptop, and relayed the startling news to He Ming via his micro earpiece.

Had Yang Tang noticed this remote observation, he’d have recognized it instantly—any other veteran, especially one with combat experience, would have spotted the observer right away.

As for the shooting club Fang Yuhua took Yang Tang to—it was famous not only in Shenhai but also among elite circles in all major cities nationwide. Just recently, Chenxun’s largest shareholder and CEO, Feng Gu, finally obtained a much-coveted Tianyu Shooting Club membership card after half a year’s application, boasting to department heads about it. Thus, Yang Tang’s identity was open to wild speculation by He Ming and his seasoned colleagues. The longer one survives in the professional world, the more one appreciates the deep meaning of “If the deal fails, keep the friendship.” Their extra politeness toward Yang Tang was hardly surprising.

After introductions, both sides sat at the table, closed the glass door, and He Ming spoke first. “Mr. Yang, you truly are young and accomplished. The Power Saver software you sent us has already been evaluated by our technical department, and it’s excellent. May I ask, do you hold the full code for this software?”

“Of course,” Yang Tang replied directly. “May I ask what plans your company has for cooperation? Or is it a buyout?”

“First, if the full code is your sole work, I sincerely admire you and, on behalf of the company, extend an invitation!” Even before discussing price, He Ming was already recruiting him, but Yang Tang wasn’t interested. “Secondly, per our department head’s instructions, if possible, we hope to buy out all rights to the Power Saver software.”

Yang Tang wasn’t surprised at all. If the software were successfully marketed, monthly usage fees could easily exceed ten million, with further development potential and vast hidden value. Faced with such profits, no company would want Yang Tang to share in the proceeds, so “buyout” was Chenxun’s preferred choice.

“So what is your company’s offer?” Yang Tang inquired.

He Ming chuckled awkwardly, recalling his colleague’s report about the luxury car Yang Tang arrived in, and braced himself. “The highest authorization I’ve received from the department head is this figure. If you agree, we can sign at the lawyer’s office immediately.” He shyly held up three fingers.

Yang Tang understood the gesture meant price, but feigned confusion. “Three million?”

He Ming smiled helplessly. “Mr. Yang, it’s three hundred thousand!” As he spoke, he imagined the hot-tempered Yang Tang storming out.

But Yang Tang sat unmoved.

Indeed, judged by software size, a five-person team with a twenty-thousand budget could code as much, or more. Yang Tang, experienced in development, knew this well. But all software is not alike; the logic structure determines its true value, so buyouts shouldn’t be based solely on code volume, or developers would forever be laborers earning peanuts.

“Three hundred thousand? That’s well below my expectations!” Yang Tang said bluntly. “If that’s your final offer, I don’t think we have anything to discuss.”

At that point, Feng Guangliang spoke. “But based on the software’s scale, Mr. Yang, yours should fetch no more than one hundred fifty thousand. Our company is already offering double—a buyout is more than generous!”

“More than generous?” Under less strained circumstances, even Yang Tang, who understood “ask for the sky, settle for the ground,” would have cursed “nonsense,” but now, aiming for a higher price, he had to argue, “Equals squared, equals squared.”

“Mr. Yang, what are you saying?” He Ming and Feng Guangliang were baffled, not understanding at all.

“Equals squared expresses the relationship between energy, mass, and light. It was Einstein—” Yang Tang meant to say this formula could be shown in a single line of code; does it only deserve the price of one line? But he suddenly stalled.

Albert Einstein, the greatest physicist of the twentieth century in his past life, but in the “current” Yang Tang’s memory, there was no trace of this person—not a single bit. Even after so much time since reincarnation, and despite browsing plenty online, it seemed as if Einstein simply didn’t exist!

Not only was Einstein missing—even “nuclear explosions” didn’t exist in the memories passed down to the “current” Yang Tang.

Damn, he had always overlooked this issue—he’d just let slip. Thoughts raced, and Yang Tang’s gaze toward He Ming and Feng Guangliang became distinctly hostile.

.

.