Chapter 140: Microsoft's Threat

Having finally seen off the chairman of the last visiting company at the entrance, Lin Feng barely had time to catch his breath before his cell phone rang again.

Already exhausted, Lin Feng did not even bother to check the caller ID before pressing the answer button.

"Lin Feng, is that you? It's Grandpa Zhu." The moment he placed the phone to his ear, a familiar voice came through the receiver.

"It's me, Lin Feng! Grandpa Zhu, why are you calling me?" Lin Feng instantly recognized who it was and asked with a puzzled tone.

"Heh heh, what's wrong? Are you blaming me for calling you?" Premier Zhu offered him a rare piece of light teasing.

Hearing this, Lin Feng's expression darkened. To be honest, he did harbor some thoughts of that sort. The frequency of Old Master Zhu's calls had indeed been quite high lately, and whenever Lin Feng spoke with him, it was never for anything good.

"Grandpa Zhu, what are you saying? Having a senior like you frequently pointing me, a junior, in the right direction is something I should be thrilled about!" Lin Feng replied insincerely.

"Hmph, I know very well what you're thinking, boy, no need to explain! I'm calling you today for official business. First, to commend you for doing a fantastic job this time. People in the domestic computer manufacturing industry hold you in very high regard—you've done remarkably well. However, there's a request they didn't dare bring up to you in person yesterday, and now they've all brought it to me, hoping I could talk with you. They want to know if you can delay shipping your computer accessories to foreign computer companies and stall for as much time as possible. Those domestic enterprises want to use that initial window to quickly launch their new products and capture a larger share of the foreign markets!" Premier Zhu did not dwell on Lin Feng's earlier polite deflection, instead getting straight to the primary purpose of his call.

Lin Feng could agree to this request without hesitation, as he had already mentioned potential production capacity issues to the foreign agents who had come seeking partnerships, informing them all that deliveries would be delayed.

"Grandpa Zhu, I can agree to this right now. I will push back shipments to foreign computer companies by another half a year. As for the domestic computer firms, how much of the market they manage to seize will be up to them," Lin Feng replied affirmatively.

"Good! Excellent! I certainly didn't misjudge you, boy," Premier Zhu praised happily upon hearing Lin Feng's prompt and decisive agreement.

"Grandpa Zhu, let's skip the polite remarks. You should probably tell me about the other matter!" Since this was just a minor favor, hearing Premier Zhu continue to shower him with praise made Lin Feng feel rather awkward, so he quickly changed the subject, though this question instantly made his heart skip a beat.

Premier Zhu sighed over the phone, causing Lin Feng's heart to sink as a bad premonition arose within him.

"Grandpa Zhu, has something gone wrong?" Lin Feng probed cautiously.

Aside from that initial sigh, no sound came from Premier Zhu for a long time. Just as Lin Feng began to think the call had disconnected, Premier Zhu finally spoke again, though his voice lacked its previous vigor, sounding instead heavy and helpless.

"Some unpleasant events have occurred, and they are related to your company," Premier Zhu's deep voice came through the phone.

"Ah! What is it, Grandpa Zhu? My company hasn't broken any laws; I've always stayed strictly within the rules." Startled and fearing he might have gotten into trouble with the law, Lin Feng asked anxiously.

"Don't worry, I know you're a sensible lad who hasn't broken any laws, and this isn't a domestic issue," Premier Zhu explained, easing Lin Feng's worries.

Hearing that the state wasn't coming after him for any wrongdoing, Lin Feng let out a slight breath of relief. Yet, his confusion remained, and he asked once more, "If it's not a domestic matter, why did you say my company is in trouble? Please, could you just tell me the whole story?"

"Do you know Microsoft? Our country relies heavily on this company's technology in many areas of computer systems. Originally, we planned to gradually transition to your company's products this year, but we didn't expect them to threaten us at this critical juncture. They demand that we make your company's newly developed high-definition monitor and hard drive technologies available as a trade-off, or else they will cut off the services they sell to us," Premier Zhu told Lin Feng helplessly over the line.

"What? That old foreign rascal Bill actually dares to pull a stunt like that, daring to threaten an entire nation?" Lin Feng exclaimed in utter shock, his voice carrying through the receiver.

"That is the tragedy of being at the mercy of others. Who told us to use someone else's technology in the first place? After all, they are a private enterprise. If they cut off services to our country, the most we can do is sue them in court, and there's no telling how long that would drag out. The crucial point is that halting their services would have a massive impact on us—so many of our operations currently rely on their technology to function." Premier Zhu was equally frustrated; he understood Lin Feng's astonishment, but what could be done?

Lin Feng remained silent for a long time after hearing this. After a while, he continued, "And what about the United States government? Do they just sit back and let their company run amok like this?"

"Hmph, their government is probably sitting back hoping for a good show, dismissing it as a mere commercial matter in which the state has no right to interfere. They're just laughing at us!" Premier Zhu spoke of the United States with evident contempt.

"So when you called me, you wanted me to hand over the technical data for those two products?" At a loss for what to say, Lin Feng finally asked bluntly.

Realizing that Lin Feng had misunderstood his intentions, Premier Zhu hurriedly clarified, "Lin Feng, don't get me wrong. I only called to inform you because this concerns your company, and to see if you might have a good solution. I would never ask you for any technical data—you can rest assured of that. Besides, Huaxia will never bow to any form of coercion; that has always been our consistent style of handling matters."

Hearing that Grandpa Zhu was not after his intellectual property, Lin Feng finally felt entirely at ease. However, since this whole mess originated because of him, he felt quite apologetic toward Premier Zhu. Thinking it over, since the United States claimed this was standard commercial behavior, it provided Lin Feng with a convenient pretext. Having already resolved to lock horns with Microsoft, he told the waiting Premier Zhu, "Grandpa Zhu, let me handle this matter first and see how it goes. Doesn't Microsoft want to play? Then I'll gladly play along with them." A cold smirk tugged at the corner of Lin Feng's lips as he spoke.

"Ah! Lin Feng, don't do anything rash. You aren't thinking of flying over to the United States to deal with them, are you?" Recalling Lin Feng's past exploits in the island nation, Premier Zhu quickly cautioned him.

"Grandpa Zhu, you're overthinking it. I just meant I'll meet Microsoft on the commercial battlefield. Didn't they say this is business? Then we'll fight business with business!" Lin Feng explained with a helpless expression to the anxious Premier Zhu.

"Fine, as long as you don't leave Huaxia, you can stir up whatever trouble you like!" Given Lin Feng's track record, Premier Zhu could not resist reiterating this condition just before hanging up.

Once the call ended, Lin Feng tightly gripped his phone, his lips still moving slightly as he murmured. If one listened closely, the words "Microsoft... Bill" could be caught falling from his mouth.

With that, Lin Feng strode quickly out of his spot and headed toward Xia Ruoxi's office.

"What's wrong? What happened? Weren't everything fine just a moment ago?" Seeing Lin Feng push the door open with a gloomy face, Xia Ruoxi asked in bewilderment. Anyone familiar with Lin Feng knew this was the precursor to his volcanic temper.

"Microsoft's Bill has made his move. Targeting our company's newly developed computer accessories, he's been pressuring our government the moment he left Huaxia, demanding the technical data for our new components. If I don't hand it over, they'll cut off all cooperation with our country." With an icy countenance, Lin Feng quickly relayed the news he had just learned from Premier Zhu to Xia Ruoxi.

"What? How dare they pull something like that!" Xia Ruoxi slammed her hand on the desk, stood up, and stared at Lin Feng in sheer disbelief, shouting aloud.

Lin Feng did not reply further, but Xia Ruoxi seemed to understand.

"Then what do you plan to do?" Xia Ruoxi asked again.

The icy expression on Lin Feng's face slowly gave way to a hint of murderous intent as he looked grimly at Xia Ruoxi and answered, "Since they want to play, we'll play big! Microsoft is a publicly traded company—you know what to do!"

"The stock market!!!" Xia Ruoxi's eyes lit up, the words slipping out instantly.

"Exactly, the stock market! I'm going to give Microsoft a thorough run for their money right there in the stock market! Help me prepare a few accounts; I will openly and legitimately fight them in the stock market under the banner of Future Technology. When it comes to pure cash, I truly am not afraid of Microsoft!" Seeing that Xia Ruoxi caught on, Lin Feng continued.

"Alright, I'll get the funds ready for you immediately. Our sales figures over the past few days have been exceptional, and combined with the profits from the first-generation computers, I can scrape together ten billion in cash for you." Xia Ruoxi was no pushover either; she was equally incensed by Microsoft's bullying tactics and immediately threw her weight behind Lin Feng's plan.

After finalizing the details with Xia Ruoxi, Lin Feng left her office and returned to his own, while Xia Ruoxi headed off to the company's finance department to arrange the funds.

Sitting quietly in his office, Lin Feng pondered the situation with Microsoft, while Mo Tian within the jade pendant suddenly manifested before him.

"Why did you come out?" Lin Feng asked, staring at Mo Tian in astonishment.

Ignoring Lin Feng's look of surprise, Mo Tian asked straight out, "You haven't looked like this in days. Did something happen?"

"As if! I was just marveling at how far our company's scale has grown, sighing over the past, can't I do that?" Lin Feng retorted stubbornly, trying to save face.

However, this earned him nothing more than a look of utter disdain from Mo Tian. After rolling his eyes at Lin Feng a few times, Mo Tian continued, "Still playing dumb? Did you really think I couldn't see what was happening outside from inside the jade pendant?"

Realizing that Mo Tian was already fully aware of the situation, Lin Feng gave up the charade and confessed with a helpless shrug, "Alright, something happened. I'm being threatened!"