Philip walked up to Xia Lei, looking rather embarrassed. “All right, Mr Xia. The XL2500 sniper rifle technology, plus the Gust assault rifle, and this composite intelligent lathe in exchange for the Eurofighter Typhoon engine technology. You win.”

Ling Han struggled to hold his excitement back. He was about to respond when Xia Lei stepped in front of him, blocking him off.

Xia Lei stopped Ling Han, but he was in no rush to confirm the deal either. He put a smile on his face and said, “Mr Philip, let’s talk in the meeting room. Look, there’s not even a place to sit here, and I can’t treat my honoured guests so poorly. Please, this way, to the meeting room.”

“Didn’t you say that we would negotiate here?” Philip was anxious to have this deal signed immediately.

“Come, come, Mr Philip. Even if we have agreed on something, we’d still need a table to sign.” Xia Lei took Philip by the hand and seemed very friendly.

Ling Han and the negotiators with him exchanged looks. Wry smiles were on all their faces.

This negotiation had been conducted in secret, but it was very important to both parties. Xia Lei’s approach to the matter made it not seem like an international negotiation. First, the buyer had pretended to have little interest in the product, then the seller spoke of the greatness of the product. One wanted to lower the price, and the other increase it… This was like some sort of roadside haggling at market stalls.

But whether it was an international negotiation, or roadside haggling, Xia Lei had gotten the upper hand over the German party, and the Eurofighter Typhoon engine technology was almost in the bag.

Xia Lei brought the German party to a meeting room, and both parties seated themselves to get ready to start the final negotiations.

“Mr Xia, let’s not waste time. Your side wants our Eurofighter Typhoon technology, and we want your XL2500 sniper rifle, Gust assault rifle, and of course, the composite intelligent lathe technology. Since we both want something from each other, then our negotiations are much simpler, is it not?” Philip went straight to the heart of the matter.

“Mr Philip, you mentioned three technologies, but your side is only offering up one. The numbers don’t add up — we’re the ones making a loss,” said Xia Lei.

“Mr Xia…” Philip was so mad his eyebrow twitched. “We have already showed you our sincerity, so you should do likewise. Numbers-wise, you do lose out, but are these technologies the same? This is the Eurofighter Typhoon technology!”

Xia Lei spoke mildly, “But with our lathes, you can make better engine, can’t you?”

“Mr Xia!”

Xia Lei took no notice of the angry Philip, and he said leisurely, “Plus, the XL2500 sniper rifle and the Gust assault rifle are the best of their kind in the world. We have not target the European and American markets yet. Once you get them, you can supply your troops. Think about it — wouldn’t it boost your combat power in the war against terrorism if your soldiers are using XL2500 sniper rifles and Gust assault rifles? Your soldiers will be able to kill enemies at a distance of 2,500 metres with the XL2500. The Gust assault rifle has a greater range than regular assault rifles too, and its 1,000 metre shooting range is no joke. Are such excellent technologies inferior to your Eurofighter Typhoon engine technology?”

“Mr Xia, the XL2500 and Gust rifles are indeed the best in the world, but they are just guns. What we are putting on the table is the most advanced fighter plane engine technology!”

Xia Lei was calm and composed. “The most advanced? I don’t think so. I know that the most advanced should be the F35 fighter plane engine. Russia’s T50 is not bad either, and France’s Dassault Rafale too. If I were so willing, I could just exchange my technologies for theirs. What I’m trying to say here is that the Russians would like our XL2500 and Gust rifles very much, and our lathe technology even more.”

Philip was silent for a bit, then he said, “If you do not want to make the exchange, then why have you invited me here?”

Xia Lei glanced at Annina. “I am doing it for Annina, and because our two countries have good relations.”

“What other conditions do you have? State them.”

“I have two conditions,” said Xia Lei. “First, Annina has been a victim from the beginning. I hope your authorities will withdraw all charges against her, and give her her freedom. Additionally, you must guarantee that the Americans won’t capture her, nor interrogate her.”

“This is no problem. Miss Annina is a citizen of our country, and the Americans won’t be able to harm her if we don’t let them,” said Philip.

“Good, then I’ll state my second condition,” said Xia Lei. “Our exchange will be based on fairness. I want an exchange of physical items, not technologies on paper.”

Philip paused. “What do you mean?”

“What I mean is simple. Your workers come to China and build the production workshop for the manufacturing of the Eurofighter Typhoon engine. We will send workers to Germany to build the production line for the XL2500 and Gust rifles. Of course, the most important is the composite intelligent lathe,” said Xia Lei.

“Build a workshop? Are you kidding me, Mr Xia? If we do that, we will be under great pressure from the European nations and America, while you would have no pressure on your side! This is not fair!”

“This exchange will not be made public. The workshop you shall build will also be hidden deep in the mountains, and no one would know. If one day, it gets discovered by your allied countries and America, you can push responsibility to us, saying that our spies stole your technology. There will definitely be pressure, but it’s not all that serious. So, Mr Philip, you don’t have to take it so seriously. I don’t understand politics, but I know what arguing and acting dumb is like.”

America and the European countries would accuse China’s spies of stealing secrets annually, and even some totally legal businessmen were subjected to surveillance and accusations by the CIA. These were all because of the technology blockage Europe and America had on China. Their aim was to stop the rise of the China and keep their monopoly on the world. *

But now, Xia Lei was like a nail, hammering hard into this blockade and opening a gap in it.

Ling Han could not help a small smile. He had been afraid of Xia Lei messing things up earlier, but Xia Lei was unexpectedly level-headed and had things so well thought out. Ling Han had only been hoping for one Eurofighter Typhoon engine, and its relevant design plans before the negotiations started. After they got their hands on these, the Chinese scientists would still have to study this technology and model their work after the physical engine. However, Xia Lei had very surprisingly managed to get a larger piece of the pie, and get the Germans to come over to build the workshop!

The German party lowered their voices in discussion. Most were not in favour.

Philip was silent for a bit. “This won’t work. I cannot make this decision.”

Xia Lei spoke evenly, “Mr Philip, this is your second visit here. I believe your higher-ups have given you enough authority. If you cannot make the decision, then please return to your government and ask them to send someone who does have the authority. If you give up on this deal, we will contact the Russians and make an exchange with them for their T50 engine technology.”

“You are making things very difficult for me, Mr Xia!” Philip was fairly conflicted and he felt like punching Xia Lei.

Xia Lei smiled. “I’ll be honest with you, Mr Philip. Even if we just exchange design plans for the technologies, you won’t be able to manufacture XL2500 and Gust rifles which will be up to standard, and you won’t be able to build my intelligent lathe either. I believe that your German military has long since acquired XL2500 and Gust rifles from your own special channels. Were they able to reproduce them? If they could, then I don’t think you’d be here right now, would you?”

“I’ll make a call first. Please hold on.” Philip’s tone had softened.

“Please, go ahead.” Xia Lei was in no hurry at all.

The German party were still talking in low voices as Philip left the meeting room to make his call.

Ling Han whispered to Xia Lei, “Will they agree?”

“They will. The Eurofighter Typhoon was jointly researched by the UK, Germany, Italy and Spain, with the German holding the largest stake. They are essentially coming to bargain with us with the money of a few people, but they own the rights. Would they refuse something so beneficial like this? They should actually be more worried about us going to the Spaniards or the Italians, not about facing pressure from them,” said Xia Lei.

“You know the situation very well, you punk. I thought you were just good at fighting and making guns, but your negotiation skills are impressive too. Huh. No wonder a woman like Shentu Tianyin was willing to marry you. You’re a treasure,” said Ling Han with a smile.

“Brother Ling, it’s not good to talk about my personal matters here. Also, when are you going to give me that 100?” Xia Lei stretched out a hand to Ling Han again.

Ling Han looked wordlessly at Xia Lei, but he still took his wallet out and pulled out a 100-yuan note. He slapped it a little roughly onto Xia Lei’s palm as he grumbled, “You have a net worth of billions, Boy, and you’re being calculative over 100-yuan bet with me, a salaried worker? Hah!”

“Haha!” Xia Lei laughed. “I’ll save this 100 yuan. I won’t use it up and treat it like a lucky charm.”

Ling Han was speechless.

This punk could actually say something like that!

Annina just watched Xia Lei quietly, and her gaze was tender. Xia Lei had got her her freedom, and she could go back to Germany to realise her dream. Just thinking about it made her excited, and wet. There was only one man on Earth who could make her hormones go into overdrive without doing a thing. He just had to appear before her to make her all hot. This man was Xia Lei, her angel, her Lukas.

Philip returned to the meeting room after a few minutes. “We agree to your request, Mr Xia. Let’s talk about the details now.”

“I won’t be talking about the details since I am not familiar with the process. I just want one line added to the agreement — you have to guarantee my safety when I am in Germany. I do not want any CIA agents appearing before me,” said Xia Lei with a smile.

“No problem.” Philip agreed right away.

“All right then, go ahead and talk, gentlemen. I’ll excuse myself.” Xia Lei stood to leave.

It was a smart move to withdraw in such a timely manner. Ling Han had brought so many people with him, and these people were all representatives who could negotiate with the Germans, so they were no ordinary people. They were all bigwigs! Would these bigwigs be happy if Xia Lei did everything, and took all the glory? It was not a smart thing to do to make these important people unhappy.

Sure enough, a majority of the people next to Ling Han smiled as Xia Lei stood to leave. They rolled their figurative sleeves up in preparation for the negotiation with the German party.

Annina stood to leave too, before Xia Lei stepped out of the meeting room. Her pale face was flushed, and her eyes teary. It looked like she wanted to relieve her body of a problem when she followed him out.