Chapter 270

Holding the envelope in his hand, Ye Nan didn't need to think to know what kind of content was inside.

The content was nothing more than words about how much they missed Ye Nan or hoping Ye Nan would serve the country, but these words were bullshit to him.

He himself was not a person of this world, and all the countries in this world were not his hometown.

But he knew very well that once he read this letter, no matter what choice he made, it would affect that country's attitude toward him: win over or suppress.

But now, he hadn't read the letter, maintaining a business-like appearance, ignoring all of Xiao Gang's probes. In this way, it would instead make the people on the mainland feel uncertain and wavering about their attitude toward him.

Wanting to suppress, they were afraid he was leaning toward the mainland; wanting to win over, they were afraid he was a cold-blooded person. In this way, the people on the mainland would fall into a dilemma, and during negotiations, they would also put themselves in the right position.

Xiao Gang saw Ye Nan didn't open the letter and felt very disappointed. He understood that Ye Nan was not an ordinary young man; he was a deep-thinking little fox.

"But he did this, and it harmed me miserably." Xiao Gang revealed a bitter smile in his heart.

This negotiation was related to many aspects and involved many interests, but they couldn't give it up.

The United States was too prosperous. It had been the world hegemon for nearly sixty years, and this hegemonic status was still constantly consolidating. Especially with the promotion of the US dollar globally, many US consortiums had extended their tentacles to many countries, monopolizing some industries related to the national lifeline, making many big shots feel a sense of fear.

If the United States got the spaceship, and they didn't get the spaceship's data, then in the future, they would inevitably fall further behind the United States. This was not something one or two geniuses could make up for.

And the ICQ consortium also saw this point. When they contacted the ICQ consortium, they opened their mouths wide and demanded a lot of things. If he agreed, China might be eroded.

One step into the abyss, one step into hell—this was roughly Xiao Gang's current state.

Looking at the expressionless Ye Nan, Xiao Gang kept cursing in his heart: "Damn consortium, damn consortium."

"I think some of the conditions proposed by your consortium are very unreasonable, and it is impossible for us to agree." Xiao Gang pointed to the contract and said: "You require us to open the Chinese internet market and issue internet operator licenses to you. This is simply impossible. You must know that China currently only has one internet operator, which is Telecom. It is impossible for us to issue another license to you and let you operate."

"And here, you require us to open the financial market. I can understand this point. But you want us to delegate the right to issue currency. This is simply impossible. The issuance of currency is already related to the foundation of a country's founding. It is impossible for us to hand it over to outsiders."

"And here, the three major note-issuing banks in Hong Kong. Selling them all to the ICQ consortium at a low price is simply nonsense. Except for the Bank of China, the other two banks do not belong to our China. What do we have to hand over to you?"

"And here, here, and here, it is simply impossible."

Xiao Gang pointed to the conditions on the contract and refuted them one by one. In the blink of an eye, he had refuted all the conditions above, and his expression was excited.

"Do you mean to let our ICQ consortium take the risk and share the data with you for free?" Ye Nan said coldly, looking at Xiao Gang as if he were looking at a fool.

"Uh!" Xiao Gang, who was excited and spitting, was immediately dumbfounded when he heard Ye Nan say this. He really wanted to say that you'd better share the technology with us for free and also give us your company's intelligent technology, but thinking of Ye Nan's look, he decided not to say such naive words....

"Actually, we also have contributions." Xiao Gang began to stammer, and later he became more fluent. "We can provide your ICQ consortium with tax-free preferential policies, and in other aspects, we will provide convenience."

"Can the United States exempt it?" Ye Nan suddenly interrupted Xiao Gang's words. "The US tax is a bit high, and Congress is arguing about raising taxes. If it can be exempted, it can be considered a good condition."

Hearing this, Xiao Gang almost cursed out loud. This Ye Nan was simply treating him as a fool. If China could exempt US taxes, would he still need to beg Ye Nan?

"Calm down, calm down." Xiao Gang warned himself in his heart, trying to calm his mood. However, Ye Nan's next sentence made him furious.

"Since you can't exempt my taxes, don't make promises you can't keep. The Chinese market has no temptation for me."

If it were before, he might care, but Ye Nan, who was already preparing to flee, didn't care about any market at all. What he cared about was money, a large amount of money.

"You can't say it like that." Xiao Gang sneered. "The Chinese market is expanding rapidly. At most by 2018, the Chinese market will fully surpass the United States and become the largest market in the world. You can see this from the investments of many international companies in China. If you have the help of our Chinese government, it will be much easier for you to open up the market, but if you don't have our help, your investment in China, hehe..."

Although Xiao Gang's words were not complete, anyone could hear the threat in them.

Originally, Xiao Gang didn't intend to threaten Ye Nan. After all, he understood the principle of leaving a way out for others to meet again in the future. But Ye Nan was really impervious to reason and was also provocatively seeking death, which made him very unhappy.

As soon as his threatening words were spoken, Ye Nan didn't have much of an expression, but the others started yelling first.

"Mr. Xiao Gang, aren't you afraid that we will fully expose your scandals by doing this?" Philip also threatened.

The ICQ company possessed huge internet user resources. If he was determined to smear a government, that government, even if it were white, would turn black.

"Do we care?" Xiao Gang said disdainfully.

China is not a democratic government and doesn't care about the support rate of the public at all. They are not like the United States, which needs to consider the interests of the majority of the public. Once they don't do it right and attract the resentment of the public, they will collapse.

Philip's face turned black immediately after hearing Xiao Gang's words. He finally understood that it was not a happy event for the people of the Chinese government to find him. He immediately looked at Ye Nan, hoping Ye Nan would make a decision.

To be honest, Ye Nan was still very surprised by Xiao Gang's threat. In his memory, the only time the Chinese government used threats was probably Google, and the facts proved that the Chinese government's threat made Google suffer a big loss. The entire Google China was driven out.

Google won the face but lost the substance. Although they flattered the Chinese government in every way afterward and made various compromises, they still didn't enter the mainland market, so much so that in the end, Google China had to consider selling its assets in China.

"But ICQ is different." Ye Nan thought to himself and made up his mind. "Since everyone can't talk it out, that's it. If you want to block it, then block it."

"Philip, notify the people below. Starting from tomorrow, the ICQ consortium will fully withdraw from the Chinese mainland market and shift the focus of Asia to the Japanese market."

Ye Nan's words were very flat, as if he didn't care at all about the ICQ consortium withdrawing from the Chinese market. In other words, the ICQ consortium didn't value the Chinese market at all....

"Uh! Okay, I'll go do it right away." Philip was stunned, then nodded.

The Chinese market is very large, but in terms of the internet, the current Chinese market still has a considerable gap compared to the Japanese market, plus the ICQ consortium simply cut off its own tentacles.

If it were before, Philip would naturally think his boss's brain was broken, but now, he should give a thumbs up to praise his boss.

The current situation is that the Chinese government is begging the ICQ consortium, and this "begging" is very urgent.

"Mr. Xiao Gang, take care of yourself." Philip looked at Xiao Gang with deep meaning, a trace of mockery pulling at the corner of his mouth.

Although he was not Chinese, when he served as the head of Citibank, he had dealt with many Chinese bankers. He knew very well that in China, the interests of officialdom are greater than commercial interests, and any commercial interest must give way when encountering the interests of officialdom.

Xiao Gang messed up such a thing. After going back, he would definitely be punished. Making his future bleak for the sake of commercial interests—how could it be an unwise choice?

"Wait, Mr. Philip, please wait." Xiao Gang saw Philip was about to leave and hurriedly called Philip back.

When Ye Nan said he wanted to abandon the mainland market, he finally couldn't help but panic.

Just as Ye Nan and Philip were convinced, he actually didn't have many cards to play. The family affection and righteousness cards didn't work at all, and the card called threat had the opposite effect, making him have bitterness he couldn't speak of.

"Don't be so decisive. We can continue to talk."

"Talk about what? Talk about how our ICQ consortium is withdrawing from the mainland? If you want to talk like this, then there is no need. We will sell all our assets. I believe many of you will like it."

A consortium is forced to leave a market. The blank market it leaves behind will attract countless big crocodiles, and these big crocodiles will digest the entire blank market without missing a single bit.

"Nothing of the sort, absolutely nothing of the sort. I was just making a joke." Xiao Gang turned his head and asked the assistant he brought: "Was my joke just now funny?"

His assistant was stunned first, then laughed out loud. "Haha... this joke is really too funny."

"Look, my joke is very funny, so don't mind it." Xiao Gang found a step down for himself, then continued, "Since the joke is finished, let's officially negotiate."

Philip tried hard to hold back his laughter and looked at Ye Nan. After seeing Ye Nan nod, he immediately sat down.

"Your joke is not funny, so I hope you won't tell jokes anymore." Ye Nan sat back in his seat and looked at Xiao Gang unhappily.

"Naturally, naturally." Xiao Gang silently wiped sweat in his heart and started negotiating with Ye Nan again. (... Your support is my greatest motivation.)