MWC – Chapter 46 Tutorial Class

I AM DROPPING THIS NOVEL. IF ANYONE WANTS TO CONTINUE THEY CAN. IF POSSIBLE PLEASE SHARE THE LINK SO I CAN BINGE READ TOO.

On the first day of the Western language tutoring, Lu Ming was still late.

Although Zhu Guodong’s press conference was hastily halted, the three-point safety belt became a hot topic. “Daily Imperial News”, the highest-selling newspaper in the East China Sea, obtained internal information, including the safety test report of the three-point safety belt, which was quite sensationalized.

Of course, the relevant editors and reporters also received red envelopes from Pamela.

And this morning, Pamela received a call from the Imperial Capital, from Nix Automotive.

Nix Automotive, one of the Empire’s top automobile manufacturers, is also the brand behind Lu Ming’s Xuelong Phantom.

The call said that they would soon send someone from headquarters to negotiate the transfer of the three-point safety belt patent with Huaxia Technology.

Nix Automotive’s branch in the East China Sea is also significant, but it appears they attach great importance to this issue, hence dispatching someone from the Imperial Capital.

On the phone, they also expressed a strong desire to transfer the patent rights and even proposed a whopping one million yuan.

Clearly, this was not their bottom line but a probing attempt to gauge how much they could secure the patent rights based on the tone of Huaxia Technology’s president who took the call.

Lu Ming prepared several plans to present to Pamela for negotiation. The patent rights were definitely not up for transfer; this was their bottom line.

Shortly after the call, their representative arrived, indicating that Nix Automotive had already begun to act practically from the moment they saw the newspaper.

From a business perspective, such urgency seemed imprudent.

But as a leader in the Empire’s automotive industry, being overtaken in terms of safety by a second-rate automotive company was even more unimaginable.

Not to mention, if Lingwei Motors signed an exclusive patent authorization agreement with this tech company, it would be even worse.

So, time was of the essence to negotiate. It would be even better if the new models were launched earlier than Lingwei Motors’s.

As for gaining a little more profit from a tech company, that was insignificant.

The other party seemed to have brought multiple proposals. After Pamela insisted without yielding, and with the proposal she put forward, a discussion was eventually reached with one of their proposals.

Within less than forty-eight hours of Lingwei Motors’s press conference, Nix Automotive reached an authorization agreement with Huaxia Technology.

This was a perpetual authorization agreement. Although not strongly exclusive, it ensured that Nix Automotive could permanently use the three-point safety belt patent and allowed them to improve, redevelop, and apply for related patents. However, these related patents could be shared with Huaxia Technology.

Starting now until the patent expires in 20 years, Nix Automotive would pay Huaxia Technology 1 yuan per vehicle using the three-point safety belt. Huaxia Technology could not change the authorization price under any pretext.

When Huaxia Technology provided patent authorization to other automakers, the minimum license fee per vehicle had to be fifty percent higher than the authorization price to Nix Automotive, which meant at least 1.5 yuan per vehicle, with 0.2 yuan going to Nix Automotive for further development of the three-point safety belt technology.

Simultaneously, Nix Automotive paid Huaxia Technology a one-time technical support fee of 400,000 yuan, making the agreement effective.

Today, this 400,000 yuan has already been deposited into Huaxia Technology’s account.

Nix Automotive acted swiftly, and the agreement was formally implemented one morning.

In terms of authorization fees, this agreement actually had a certain exclusivity and fully guaranteed that Nix Automotive would profit in the long term from this patent. Hence, Nix was willing to pay a one-time technical support fee of 400,000 yuan.

Lu Ming felt that although it seemed like he was at a disadvantage by reaching this agreement with Nix, having such a behemoth protect and further develop the patent was actually most beneficial for him.

Lu Ming had never appeared in person. Once the money was in hand, he transferred 20,000 yuan to Huaxia Garments, using part of it to pay the relevant fees to the cooperative shoemaking factory. Originally, relying on Liu Laocai’s face and nothing else, the other party had already expressed some dissatisfaction.

“Buyun” children’s shoes were taking the high-end route. The first batch was prepared to produce 10,000 pairs. Considering various costs, including distribution fees, the cost of each pair of shoes was about 40 cents, and they were prepared to be sold for about 5 yuan.

This was also Lu Ming’s decision. Setting such a high price for the new brand surprised Pamela. Would anyone buy it?

Lu Ming had seen countless marketing strategies and knew well that transitioning from luxury to simplicity was challenging. Turning a mass-market brand into a high-end product was even more daunting.

Currently, the quality of these shoes was average. Initially, they would sell based on the fancy nylon buckles and the beautiful shoe designs by Pamela. If they saw potential in the future, they would use various genuine materials and strictly control the quality, which would require a team effort. A fly-by-night operation wouldn’t cut it, and substantial investment would be needed later.

…

In the afternoon, Lu Ming arrived late and entered the classroom for the Western language basic course.

It was already summer vacation, and those who remained at the college were dedicated learners. Several categories of remedial classes were opened, and this charitable school was very responsible for its students. However, the tuition fees for social classes were not high, reflecting its public service nature.

The basic remedial class that Lu Ming attended was like this. The classroom of over a hundred people was full. Fernard Academy is widely recognized for its high-quality education and reasonable fees, attracting many social learners. In contrast, there were only about twenty to thirty students wearing Fernard school uniforms and badges, accounting for less than one-third, because what could be learned in remedial classes could already be learned in regular classes; the rest were social learners.

The basic remedial class started with the basics of letters, which suited Lu Ming’s taste.

Summer in the East China Sea wasn’t particularly hot, with a climate somewhat similar to the Mediterranean, warm like spring all year round.

The ceiling fans above were slowly turning, blowing a cool breeze.

Lu Ming was a bit late, sitting in the last row, and quickly got into the groove, taking notes, flipping through textbooks. It didn’t feel too strenuous; the grammar was straightforward, mainly requiring more vocabulary memorization.

Once the basic grammatical logic was understood, Lu Ming felt that after strengthening his vocabulary and speaking more with Pamela, attending these remedial classes would yield better results in terms of everyday application.

So, enrolling in a basic class was a good choice. In two months, he would mainly clarify the basic logic of the language, and then rely on himself.

“Uncle…” A familiar child’s voice suddenly came from behind.

Lu Ming turned around in surprise. Bess was standing behind him. She was wearing a yellow plaid uniform with a white shirt, a beautiful bow tie, a dark red plaid skirt, snow-white knee-length socks, and red little leather shoes. Her soft blonde hair was styled into several small braids with colored beads on them, looking as cute as ever.

Now Lu Ming understood. This was the uniform of Windsor College, a prestigious school.

Windsor College was a prestigious girls’ school that offered education from elementary school to college. Bess attended school there.

Lu Ming was somewhat helpless. Although Bess came in through the back door and kept her voice down, many people still noticed.

After all, such a cute and beautiful Western girl was rare.

Lu Ming quickly got up, pulled Bess out of the classroom through the back door to avoid becoming the center of attention.

Then, in the corridor behind the back door, there were three or four pretty girls also wearing Windsor College uniforms, a little older than Bess.

“Why are you here?” Lu Ming asked in surprise.

“Hehe, Uncle, please treat us to something delicious!” Bess stuck out her tongue.

Faintly, Lu Ming heard two little girls gossiping, “What’s so great? He’s not even handsome?”

Lu Ming was speechless. Did Bess boast to her friends about how handsome he was?

“Alright, alright, I’ll treat you!” Lu Ming quickly pulled up his collar and walked out, avoiding attracting too much attention with these pretty little girls, especially with Bess looking so cute and lovable like a foreign doll.

Near Fernard College, there was a coffee shop with private rooms. Lu Ming almost walked in covering his face, ordered a private room, and ordered all kinds of desserts from the menu. Soon, the table was piled high with mountains of desserts, and the waiters served them as if serving a lord and lady.

Originally looking down on Lu Ming, several pretty girls started chattering, and one of them began calling Lu Ming “Uncle.”

After all, looking at his behavior, he didn’t have the aura of a young dandy who had been spoiled for twenty years and had no concept of money.

Dandies and problem girls often got along well.

“Why are you here?” Lu Ming asked Bess somewhat helplessly.

“Oh, Jin Meiyan said she was visiting her sister, and I heard it was here, so knowing you were in class, I wanted to come too. I wanted you to treat me to something delicious…” Bess stuck out her tongue again.

Bess mentioned Jin Meiyan, the oldest among the girls, around thirteen or fourteen. She was also the most beautiful among the Central girls besides Bess, but her behavior was like that of a little rebellious girl. Despite wearing the same yellow plaid school uniform with a red skirt and red shoes as the others, her hair was dyed red, giving her a captivating look. She had a nose ring and seemed nonchalant, chewing gum with an air of indifference, and you could clearly see a silver tongue stud in her mouth as well.

Despite her rebellious appearance, she was indeed very beautiful, deserving of the name “Meiyan” (Beautiful Face), as if she had been blessed with exceptional beauty from a previous life. She had a particularly narrow and fair oval face, akin to what some might call a “snake-faced beauty,” with extremely delicate features. Combined with her nose and tongue piercings, her rebellious and lazy demeanor typical of a thirteen or fourteen-year-old girl exuded a unique charm.

Except for Bess as a special case, Jin Meiyan should also be considered a campus beauty at Windsor College.

Lu Ming didn’t want to interfere too much in Bess’s friendships, but he couldn’t help but feel that Jin Meiyan didn’t seem like a positive influence. He resolved to talk to Bess about her when they returned home.

“Yeah, yeah, eat whatever you want. Just order what you like,” Lu Ming said, showing little interest in chatting with these young girls, behaving more like an elder.

Gradually, Lu Ming sensed that these girls, whether due to Bess’s Western background or her lovable personality, treated Bess exceptionally well. Despite all of them being problem girls to some extent, it was precisely because of this shared experience of being ostracized that they had become good friends with Bess.