Chapter 1030: A Guest from Japan

The next morning, Fan Baobao got up early to go to work, while Zhao Fusheng slept in until late morning, planning to go check on Dong Guoxiang.

But before he could leave, he received a call from Dong Chenxi.

"There's something. You'd better come to the company," Dong Chenxi said over the phone, her tone quite serious.

Zhao Fusheng frowned. His intuition told him something must have happened.

Otherwise, Dong Chenxi wouldn't be so eager to call him. After all, given her personality, she would handle minor matters on her own.

This had been true whether she was at Future Advertising back then or later at Future Film and Television.

He called Zhang Qian to drive him, and soon arrived at the Future Investment office building.

Entering Dong Chenxi's office, he immediately noticed a middle-aged man in a suit sitting on the sofa, with two men in black suits standing behind him.

Across from them sat Dong Chenxi.

"You're here."

Dong Chenxi stood up quickly when she saw Zhao Fusheng.

"And this is?" Zhao Fusheng glanced at the man and asked curiously.

"Hello, Mr. Zhao. I'm Ono Masao, President of SoftBank Asia." The middle-aged man stood up, smiled slightly at Zhao Fusheng, and extended his hand politely.

Zhao Fusheng was startled, looking at him in surprise as he also extended his hand: "Hello, Mr. Ono. You know me?"

"Haha, you jest, Mr. Zhao. Since both our companies are shareholders of Shengda Technology, how could I not know you?" Ono Masao spoke Chinese very well, but his words surprised Zhao Fusheng even more.

Still, Ono's words made Zhao Fusheng understand why the other party was so familiar with his background.

He grew more cautious inwardly but remained expressionless. Looking at Ono, he said, "Mr. Ono's visit brings great honor to Future Investment. Shall we talk somewhere else?"

"That sounds good." Ono Masao chuckled and nodded.

Clearly, the man's purpose today was not simple; he had come with a mission.

For Zhao Fusheng, since the other party had bypassed Dong Chenxi to approach him directly, it was obvious they had something important to discuss.

"Senior, please have someone escort Mr. Ono to the conference room," Zhao Fusheng instructed Dong Chenxi.

Since they already knew he was the big boss, there was no need to hide it.

Dong Chenxi nodded, went out to call someone in, and led Ono and his team to the conference room.

After they left, Zhao Fusheng turned to Dong Chenxi, frowning. "What's going on?"

Dong Chenxi smiled wryly and explained, "They came this morning and directly asked me to contact you."

"Huh?" Zhao Fusheng was taken aback, not expecting such an attitude from them.

"SoftBank Asia has been acquiring quite a few internet companies in China recently," Dong Chenxi said after a moment's thought.

As the head of Future Investment, she naturally kept an eye on domestic venture capital news, and was especially attentive to the moves of a well-known firm like SoftBank Asia.

"Is that so?" Zhao Fusheng's expression changed slightly upon hearing this. He was worried they might be eyeing his shares in Shengda Technology.

"I suspect they might be after Xiaonei.com," Dong Chenxi offered a different opinion.

In her view, with Shengda Technology about to go public, SoftBank Asia surely knew the company's prospects and understood that acquiring Zhao Fusheng's shares would come at a high cost. While not unbearable for a large firm like theirs, the question was whether the investment would be profitable.

Knowing that Future Investment would likely demand a high price, Dong Chenxi didn't think SoftBank Asia would target Shengda Technology.

So there was only one answer: they were interested in Xiaonei.com.

Zhao Fusheng made no comment on her words.

To be honest, he didn't quite agree with Dong Chenxi. After all, Xiaonei.com had just completed its second round of financing, and given SoftBank Asia's style, they rarely showed interest in such companies.

Series A was their preferred stage to get involved.

Sun Zhengyi was fiercely aggressive, a trait that permeated all his businesses. Every senior executive at SoftBank Group knew that failing on a project or investment was not terrible, but failing to seize a good opportunity would mean packing up and leaving.

"Whatever happens, we'll deal with it. It's no big deal." Zhao Fusheng thought for a moment, then said to Dong Chenxi through gritted teeth, "We'll play it by ear and see what SoftBank Asia is really up to."

By now, he had made up his mind: no matter what they wanted, he would stay vigilant and not give Sun Zhengyi any opening.

After all, every investment SoftBank Group had made in China yielded extremely high returns. If they were eyeing any project under Future Investment, it meant his direction was correct.

Zhao Fusheng was convinced of this.

……

……

When Zhao Fusheng and Dong Chenxi walked into the conference room, Ono Masao and his two assistants were already seated. The assistants were whispering to each other, while Ono, as the chief negotiator, looked calm, as if nothing around him concerned him.

Even Zhao Fusheng had to admire the man's composure; it was far superior to his own.

Even with decades of life experience from his past life as a foundation, it didn't help much.

For example, a farmer might desperately imagine how an emperor lived, thinking the emperor ate with golden chopsticks and plowed with a golden hoe. It sounds ridiculous, but that's the reality—because to ordinary people, the emperor's life is too distant.

In his previous life, the gap between Zhao Fusheng and Ono was probably as wide as a hundred Tan Kaixuans.

There was simply no comparison.

Even now, Zhao Fusheng could only manage to sit calmly before him.

He once read a book about a child from the countryside who struggled for a decade in a big city just to sit at the same table and drink coffee with his wealthy classmate.

Back then, Zhao Fusheng didn't quite understand that sentence. Now he did.

In his previous life, he would never have had the chance to sit and negotiate with a business magnate like Ono Masao, who held power over a region. But now, they could sit at the same table and talk.

Perhaps that was one of the meanings of struggle.

It didn't matter if the starting point was different; as long as he was given a chance, he could catch up to anyone.

At that moment, Ono Masao looked at Zhao Fusheng and said with a smile, "Mr. Zhao, shall we begin formal negotiations?"

Zhao Fusheng chuckled. "Mr. Ono, to be frank, I don't understand what you want to discuss with me here at Future Investment."

There were too many tricks in business negotiations. Zhao Fusheng knew he couldn't gain an advantage over a sly old fox like Ono, so he decided to be direct and lay his cards on the table.

Ono was taken aback, apparently not expecting Zhao Fusheng to be so straightforward. Shouldn't they first probe each other's limits before revealing their true intentions?

How could this young man cut straight to the core issue?

With that thought, Ono took a deep breath, steadied himself, and looked at Zhao Fusheng, speaking calmly: "Mr. Zhao, here's the thing: SoftBank Asia is interested in the social networking site Xiaonei.com under your company. Would you be willing to sell it?"

Exactly!

Dong Chenxi was overjoyed. She had guessed correctly.

She had made that judgment based on her analysis and intuition, but she hadn't expected events to unfold exactly as she predicted.

As she had thought, SoftBank Asia's real target was not the booming Shengda Technology, but Xiaonei.com, which no one had considered except for Han Bin's earlier investment.

Zhao Fusheng, on the other hand, was quite surprised.

If Dong Chenxi hadn't guessed this earlier, he might have been flustered. But since she had, he remained calm.

Looking at Dong Chenxi, Zhao Fusheng smiled. "Mr. Ono, to be honest, if that's your only purpose, shouldn't you be negotiating with Miss Dong instead of me?"

This was true. Since Zhao Fusheng had handed Future Investment over to Dong Chenxi, she should be the one to negotiate with Ono.

Unless Ono had other intentions.

As it turned out, Zhao Fusheng's words made sense.

Ono Masao was puzzled. Why weren't Zhao Fusheng and Dong Chenxi reacting as strongly as he had expected? Could it be they hadn't realized?

After all, when SoftBank Asia made this decision, many inside the company were shocked. Why ignore the hot Shengda Technology, which was about to list on the US stock market, and instead acquire an obscure social networking site?

If the decision hadn't been made by Ono Masao, whom Sun Zhengyi had long relied on as his pillar, no one would have agreed.

But it was precisely Ono Masao's decision that received approval from headquarters.

Successful people have their reasons for success.

But that's something ordinary people don't know.