Chapter 639: If you want the horse to run, you must give the horse grass

The lights were bright, and the stainless steel chair reflected a glaring light.

Three people sat opposite: Lin Sicheng in the middle, Division Chief Zhao Zongmin of the Anti-Smuggling Bureau on the left, and Deputy Team Leader Sun Liancheng of the Criminal Investigation General Team on the right.

After all, Liu Anhua was still in detention; even though today's meeting was specially approved by superiors, to avoid the Procuratorate finding fault, the Anti-Smuggling Bureau and the public security organs had to follow the full set of procedures.

Liu Anhua sat into the iron chair; he was not wearing handcuffs, just locked into the safety bar, with two prison guards standing by his side.

Feeling that something was not quite right, Division Chief Zhao Zongmin waved his hand, and the two prison guards left the interrogation room.

Lin Sicheng stood up, walked to Liu Anhua's side, and took out a cigarette case to offer him one.

After lighting it, Liu Anhua took a deep drag, revealing an expression of intoxication.

What Lin Sicheng bought was Soft Zhonghua; Liu Anhua used to dislike this cigarette for being too mild and never smoked it, but now he treated it like a miraculous herb.

Placing the cigarette case and lighter in front of him, Lin Sicheng sat back down: "General Manager Liu, how is it here?"

"Thanks to you, it's quite good!" Liu Anhua said with a smile, "I eat well, every meal has vegetables and meat, and every day there is

milk and fruit. Although the management is a bit strict, at least there are no prison bullies."

"There are also plenty of recreational activities: listening to lectures, watching TV, playing cards, and getting some fresh air—here, at least my mood is much more relaxed than it was outside."

Lin Sicheng was noncommittal: this section of the detention center was specifically for suspects related to smuggling cases, and even the prison guards and wardens were all appointed by the Anti-Smuggling Bureau.

Bureau Chief Li knew the importance of Liu Anhua and would not let him suffer.

As for the relaxed mood he mentioned: he had nothing left to lose, no need to worry about gains and losses anymore, so naturally, there was no psychological pressure.

Well, no, that was not quite accurate: Liu Anhua was at least still alive, and he did not have to live in fear like he did when he was outside, unable to even sleep at night.

Liu Anhua smiled very sincerely: "So I have to thank you."

Division Chief Zhao widened his eyes; he sent you in, and you still thank him?

But Lin Sicheng could understand; these were Liu Anhua's heartfelt words: it was precisely because he was caught that his life was saved.

Therefore, Liu Anhua might not be grateful to him, but at least he was not hostile.

He smiled: "General Manager Liu, I came here this time to ask for your help. To understand some situations and help me analyze them."

Liu Anhua did not hesitate: "Go ahead!"

"Do you know He Youhan?"

"You asked the right person; this man is very formidable."

Liu Anhua paused: "If he hadn't left back then, and Li Zhenghao hadn't taken over as the Asia-Pacific President, I wouldn't have ended up here."

Lin Sicheng's heart stirred: "You were the one who got him to leave?"

"More or less, but I only contributed half the effort—oh no, at most one-third—

"You should know the cause of the matter: because the Indian-descent executives within the company were colluding with outsiders, He Youhan, in a fit of rage, fired all the Indian-descent employees.

Li Zhenghao was originally sent as a headquarters representative to calm the situation, and because my relationship with him was good, I accompanied him to Hong Kong as a technical assistant.

After arriving, I suddenly discovered that this matter could be manipulated to help Li Zhenghao advance further. After

that, I discussed it with Li Zhenghao, and we made some arrangements.

Anyway, the matter blew up, and the Indian Ministry of Commerce went directly through diplomatic channels to poke the problem to the United States commercial investigation department. In the end, He Youhan was transferred back to headquarters."

"Of course, I just provided the ideas; the main force was the power behind Li Zhenghao—secondly, He Youhan was too stubborn: if he had shown even a little flexibility, Li Zhenghao wouldn't have been able to get rid of him."

Lin Sicheng sighed: sometimes, what is often missing is the person who provides the idea.

"But I don't think he is a person who doesn't know how to adapt?"

"That's just the surface." Liu Anhua shook his head, "He Youhan seems very gentle, suave, and polite. But that is because he hasn't had a conflict with you yet; once there is a conflict, he must win, unless he falls."

"Just like when he fired the Indian-descent employees: he didn't intend to fire so many, it was only because an Indian-descent executive called him a bastard."

"Later, he was transferred back to headquarters to serve as the head of the inspection department, and he was removed from his post for a similar reason:

the head of the patent department called him a yellow-skinned monkey."

"Actually, all the management at headquarters knew that the patent department head was a puppet for two shareholders, and He Youhan knew it too. But when he took action, he didn't show the slightest mercy, and he didn't even reveal a hint of wind before the investigation."

"Then, by the time someone knew the news, the sky had already been pierced. And then, he was finished."

"Of course, it doesn't necessarily require a conflict; sometimes, as long as it is something he believes is right, he will do it, even regardless of gains or losses—so, this person is a bit stubborn—"

"Of course, it doesn't necessarily have to lead to conflict; sometimes, as long as he believes something is right, he will do it, even without regard for the gains or losses—so, this person is a bit stubborn—"

Why did this sound so familiar?

Sun Liancheng on the side squinted his eyes: sounds familiar, right? It's right that it sounds familiar; isn't this just a replica of you?

Do you still remember Ma Shan? He sent his men to slash you four times, and you sent four peanuts to his family of four.

Wang Chun didn't provoke Lin Sicheng, but after knowing how many lives that woman had on her hands, Lin Sicheng went head-to-head with her.

Because Lin Sicheng felt that this kind of thing was the right thing to do, and if he ran into it, he had to handle it—

Lin Sicheng sighed: "The United Association sent him over. He has been here for about a month and a half, but he only showed up half a month ago."

"He must have been doing background checks, collecting information on you. At the same time, he was investigating whether the previous supervision team members were

colluding with you. If not, the problem isn't very big—"

Liu Anhua thought for a moment: "Although his personality is strange, he is at least reasonable. So, even if he makes things difficult for you, it will only be within the rules of the game."

"Then what if I have already had a conflict with him?" Lin Sicheng paused: "For example, I cut off his path to wealth."

Liu Anhua was stunned: "General Manager Lin, how big is this path to wealth you are talking about?"

"Hard to say, it might be worthless, or it might be worth tens of millions or even hundreds of millions."

Lin Sicheng roughly explained the Treasure Map incident, and Liu Anhua had a strange expression: "Then it's over; he will probably fight you to the death. The point is not about the money; he doesn't lack money, but rather that he has no hobbies, and he finally found something he was interested in, only for you to ruin it."

Lin Sicheng guessed the same; the two sides were already opposed, and now they had become mortal enemies?

"Is there any way to bribe him?"

"Very difficult! He doesn't lack money, and he doesn't lack social status; besides these two, what else can you give him?"

"It's difficult! He doesn't lack money, and he lacks social status even less. Besides these two things, what else can you give him?"

Lin Sicheng sighed: "Then the only option is to go against them."

It seemed that was the only path left?

Liu Anhua opened a cigarette pack and lit another one: "What stage are you at now?"

"The funds have already passed the audit."

"The entry funds?"

"No, the pre-startup capital."

"That's over five hundred million US dollars?" Liu Anhua was stunned, "No—where did you get so much money?"

Long ago, before he was brought in, Smith had conducted a background check: Lin Sicheng's family background was very ordinary, and his parents were just common civil servants. So his family definitely didn't have that much money; they couldn't even come up with a fraction of a fraction of it.

The key was that the United Association had extremely numerous and strict restrictive clauses. Liu Anhua had always thought that he might not even be able to scrape together those five hundred million; just the thirty million in entry funds alone would be enough to make Lin Sicheng give up.

But now, Lin Sicheng was telling him: the funds were already in place, and had even passed the audit?

"I earned a little, and scraped together a little more." Lin Sicheng paused, "I sold all the collections I had previously acquired!"

Earned a little, and scraped together a little more?

Liu Anhua recognized every single character, but when put together, he suddenly couldn't understand it?

"You mean, it was all earned by you?"

"Yes, clean and clear!"

Liu Anhua didn't know what to say: You earned over three billion by selling antiques?

"It couldn't be buying low and selling high, could it?"

For example: something that was only worth one hundred yuan was bought by someone for ten million?

But the problem was, how did it pass the United Association's audit?

Could the Audit Department of the six foreign firms all be incompetent?

Lin Sicheng didn't have time to explain: "General Manager Liu, that's not the point. The point is how to launch the project—I came today to ask you to help me analyze—"

"Let me first state the current situation: the moment the funds arrived, I first registered the main company: per the United Association's requirements, named after me, with pure individual shareholding, one hundred percent ownership—"

"Next, leasing the venue, ordering equipment—the instruments should be able to enter the site by early next month for installation and debugging. During this time, I am building the internal ledger system, and the next step is to assemble the team—"

Lin Sicheng paused: "The difficulty lies here, because there are restrictive clauses."

Liu Anhua didn't speak.

The red lines drawn by the Foreign Capital Association for Lin Sicheng were no longer a matter of how many or how thin they were. It was completely aimed at making him fail, so that in the end, he would have no choice but to breach the contract voluntarily.

Just look at one clause: research team members must have zero research experience in state-owned institutions, and no history of employment, honorary positions, part-time jobs, participation in research topics, or project cooperation with any state-owned institutions.

They couldn't even have any record of participation in research assistantships for master's or doctoral students at public universities, laboratory employment, or school-enterprise cooperation projects.

To put it bluntly, talent could only be recruited from the purely private market.

But to be honest, if talent from the purely private market were useful, Lin Sicheng wouldn't need to rack his brains to extort so many patent authorizations from the foreign firms; private institutions would have already made the breakthrough.

"What are you planning to do?" Liu Anhua thought for a moment, "General Manager Lin, let me be blunt: do you want to participate in depth, or do you just want to hang your name on it?"

Lin Sicheng sighed: "What do you think?"

Over three billion has been invested, how could he just hang his name on it?

Even if it were for the sake of contributing to the country, that's not how it's done.

"Then let me be even blunter." Liu Anhua organized his phrasing, "How much support do you have behind you?"

"A lot!" Lin Sicheng paused, "But the problem is, how can I bypass the United Association's supervision?"

Liu Anhua racked his brain: "Transporting technology to you now is definitely not realistic, because you haven't even built the venue, and there isn't a soul under your command; even if they wanted to transport it, there's no way to do so.

But General Manager Lin, haven't you tried from other aspects: is the so-called supervision actually loose or strict?"

From the signing of the Technology Authorization Agreement until now, it had been over two months; how could he not have tried?

Lin Sicheng sighed: "The second week after the contract was signed, the United Association sent a supervisory group: including a Financial Officer, a legal officer, and a technical officer—you should know all three of these: Guo Yongxin, Chen Jiashan, Liang Shiya—"

Liu Anhua was stunned for a moment, sucking his teeth as if he had a toothache.

He finally believed that Lin Sicheng's three billion-plus was earned, not obtained through trickery or deception.

Immediately, he gasped: "No—did you kill someone or set a fire?"

Guo Yongxin is in charge of finance, Chen Jiashan is in charge of legal affairs, Liang Shiya is in charge of technology, and He Youhan is at the helm in charge of the general direction.

It can be said: with this configuration, it is two or three times higher than the configuration of the Seis Asia-Pacific Executive Committee.

Now, it's being used just to deal with Lin Sicheng?

Lin Sicheng thought for a moment: "Put yourself in their shoes; if you have to compare, it doesn't seem that different, does it?"

Liu Anhua suddenly realized: from the standpoint of the six foreign firms, Lin Sicheng's actions were far more detestable than murder or arson—

This is trouble.

Because none of these four are easy to deal with.

If following the clauses in the Technology Authorization Agreement: to ensure Lin Sicheng does not cross the authorization boundaries and does not commit prohibited acts, the United Association will appoint a supervisory group to supervise the entire process.

【Line 112 merged into 111/113 context】

Including verification of research personnel and cooperative relationships, verification of funding sources, verification of the scope of patent use, verification of the research process and project execution, as well as data and Information Detachment control.

Regardless of which item it is, they will appoint personnel to be stationed there. Including the laboratory, finance office, and data room, and they will conduct periodic surprise audits, reviewing all research data, archives, and research documentation.

And even if it is the same verification and the same work content, sending different people will result in vastly different outcomes.

Not to mention the others, just take Liang Shiya. As long as she is there, no matter how much support Lin Sicheng has behind him, no matter how high the level of the institution is, no matter how high the professional level of the team is, and no matter how strong the research capability is, it is all useless.

Because Liang Shiya will not give them any opportunity to transport technology to Lin Sicheng.

It will even be counterproductive: the greater the support behind him, the more dangerous Lin Sicheng is.

Because the more professional they are, the faster the research speed will be. But they cannot stay in place forever, and they certainly cannot watch the deadline set by the United Association arrive while Lin Sicheng does nothing.

They will inevitably urge Lin Sicheng to replicate the process as soon as possible, publish results, and let the United Association conduct the acceptance check.

But He Youhan and Liang Shiya are not fools: could that bunch of guerrillas you recruited from the outside possibly have this level of skill?

Naturally, the intensity of the audit by the Executive Committee would be stricter and greater, and Lin Sicheng's plan to swap the beams for pillars would sooner or later be exposed.

By then, it wouldn't just be a matter of stopping authorization, but Lin Sicheng would have to face breach-of-contract claims from six companies totaling up to one hundred billion—

"I originally planned to set up two groups, an inner group and an outer group. Both groups would research simultaneously, with highly consistent progress.

But the outer group would only research technical aspects that aren't very difficult, leaving the main difficult hurdles to the group behind them. Once they break through, we would urgently train the outer group and have them replicate the research process of the back group—"

Before he could finish speaking, Liu Anhua gave a scoff: "General Manager Lin, are you really trying to fool a fool?"

Never mind He Youhan; you wouldn't even be able to get past Liang Shiya.

Lin Sicheng nodded: at the time, he had indeed been a bit presumptuous.

Only after meeting Liang Shiya did he realize how naive his plan was?

Lin Sicheng nodded: "Therefore, this outer group can no longer be used just to put on a show and go through the motions; they must produce real results. At least they must make General Manager He and Director Liang believe: they truly have the ability to overcome difficulties and solve problems—"

"Of course, they will certainly be suspicious when they should be, and they will certainly audit and review. But these people at

least understand, at least they won't panic when lying, and they can smooth things over—"

Liu Anhua understood: "So, General Manager Lin, you are planning to form your own research team, the kind that truly understands technology?"

"Yes, a research team that truly possesses a certain level of professional skill and ability, not some showy goods meant to fool people."

Liu Anhua suddenly understood: "So, you want me to help you introduce a few suitable candidates?"

"Yes, General Manager Liu!"

Not allowing any professional personnel who hold positions in state-owned institutions, hold concurrent posts, or have participated in projects or school-enterprise research to participate in the research—this one rule alone tied Lin Sicheng up tight.

And while it's not that there are no scientific research talents in the domestic private market, those who aren't retired from state-owned institutions are retired from major universities. As for the rest, they are all shell-company operators who sell dog meat under the guise of a sheep's head, and their level is not even as good as graduate students in a proper university.

Therefore, only one path remains: recruiting researchers or senior engineers with relevant experience from abroad.

These people are familiar with the homologous technical system and can quickly implement and transform it. If lucky, one might even be able to recruit professional talents with higher technical levels than the experts supporting Lin Sicheng behind the scenes.

"So I thought: General Manager Liu has been deeply involved in this industry for more than ten years and must have experts and scholars you are familiar with. Could you act as a reference for me?"

"Another thing, once the case comes to an end, I will also need General Manager Liu's in-depth guidance, and it will be more tacit to cooperate with people you are familiar with."

Liu Anhua was stunned for a moment and looked at the two police officers beside him.

This was not his first time sitting in an interrogation room, nor was it his first time chatting for so long with people who were not interrogating him.

Lin Sicheng was not the first, either; for instance, that Director Su had already come no fewer than ten times.

It was not as if Liu Anhua had never dreamed of it: after the case was sentenced, would there be a day when he would be allowed to participate in research?

But he did not expect that Lin Sicheng could actually say it openly in front of two police officers.

Thinking of this, Liu Anhua's eyes brightened.

As long as Lin Sicheng persists, this matter is not impossible. He wouldn't even need to go out; letting him participate remotely from prison would work; at least he would eat well, live well, and not have to do manual labor.

He thought for a moment: "General Manager Lin wants to recruit those partners who have worked with me before."

Lin Sicheng nodded: "Yes!"

Liu Anhua's technical level is certainly high, but he only has one brain and two hands; it is impossible for him to personally dismantle and personally decrypt the software of every Refurbished Machine.

Those partners were indeed trained by him personally, but even if the teacher teaches well, if the brain is not flexible and the aptitude is not high, how could they learn it?

If their technical level were not up to par, it would be even more impossible for these people to have refurbished thousands or tens of thousands of second-hand machines under Liu Anhua's leadership, stirring up a case value of over ten billion. From this, it is clear that their professional level is certainly sufficient.

But there is one point: how to make Liu Anhua believe, or even make these people believe, that he truly wants to recruit them with high salaries to participate in research, rather than tricking them from abroad into China to be convicted and sentenced.

"General Manager Liu, I presume you also know: the current situation of these partners of yours is actually very dangerous."

Lin Sicheng explained patiently: "Because the foreign companies cannot see you, they have no way to retaliate against you, or perhaps they are afraid that you will leak the core technology, so they temporarily dare not threaten your family."

So at this stage, they can only investigate your accomplices to find out as soon as possible what secrets you have mastered, so as to make precautions as soon as possible and eliminate future troubles."

"And the day these people are found is the day they will suffer."

Liu Anhua certainly understands this logic.

In fact, when Lin Sicheng mentioned that the United Association had sent He Youhan and Liang Shiya to supervise, and then said he was preparing to form his own research team, Liu Anhua had already thought of the purpose of Lin Sicheng's trip: Lin Sicheng wanted to recruit them all.

Liu Anhua did not doubt whether Lin Sicheng had ulterior motives or was setting a trap for him; the problem was: did Lin Sicheng have this authority?

After being silent for a long while, Liu Anhua raised his head: "General Manager Lin, have you ever thought: recruit researchers from overseas research institutions or engineers from technology companies. If you could recruit a few professors from famous universities, wouldn't that be even better?"

Lin Sicheng shook his head: "No, I have thought about it. But the problem is, what do I use to recruit them?"

When all is said and done, this company Lin Sicheng just established can at most be considered a private technology enterprise; it has no fame, no research qualifications, and no academic achievements.

Even Lin Sicheng, the boss, has no relevant work experience and is a pure layman.

In other industries, three billion is a lot; but in the field of scientific research, perhaps a project has just started, and it could burn through those three billion.

So, what kind of mentality would it take for overseas senior researchers, senior engineers, or university professors to give up their high salaries and run to China to accompany Lin Sicheng to start from scratch?

They are not Lin Sicheng's fathers.

Looking at it from another angle, the support behind Lin Sicheng is indeed very strong, and the strength is also very solid. But the problem is, when recruiting these people, do you dare to say: "You can come with peace of mind, I have the country behind me."

Do you believe the Foreign Capital Association will sentence you for breach of contract in minutes?

Lin Sicheng sighed: "General Manager Liu, besides this, I have even more thought: why did the United Association leave me such a big opening, as if they deliberately left a pocket waiting for me to drill into."

Retired experts cannot be recruited, retired professors cannot be recruited, and researchers from state-owned enterprise research centers cannot be poached either. But why, then, is there no restriction on recruiting from abroad?

No matter how Lin Sicheng thinks about it, he feels there is a pit in this.

Liu Anhua was stunned for a moment and laughed: who can he blame for this? He can only blame Lin Sicheng for doing things too ruthlessly.

If you rank all the instrument companies in the world, the six that were cheated by Lin Sicheng all rank in the global top ten, spanning Europe, America, and Japan.

As long as they are engaged in instrument research, which country's scientific research institution has not cooperated with these companies? Which famous university's laboratory has not jointly established projects with these companies?

As long as they are top students from famous schools studying related majors, who doesn't want to enter these six companies?

Liu Anhua even dares to guarantee: as long as they are recruited by Lin Sicheng through public channels, no matter which country they come from, no matter which company they worked for or which university they taught at before, they will 100% become spies for the Foreign Capital Association.

Because they are foreigners, and their purpose in coming to China is only to make money. Lin Sicheng can only recruit these people by promising very generous high salaries. But since they can earn double the money, why wouldn't they?

Therefore, even if there are fish that slip through the net, they will be bought off by the Foreign Capital Association. Even if they weren't spies before, they would become spies after arriving.

Expecting these people to help you with Artifact Research is nothing but a pipe dream, and it will only give others leverage against you.

What Liu Anhua finds curious is that Lin Sicheng was actually able to foresee this step in advance, rather than suddenly waking up to it only after suffering a loss.

"General Manager Lin, you can peer into the human heart and even better discern its treachery. You are calculating, and even better at plotting every move and planning every step—I have experienced all of this. But I believe that this time, you are not plotting against me."

Liu Anhua smiled slightly, "General Manager Lin, you might not believe it, but although I don't know where they are hiding, I..."

"... have a way to contact them. I also have great confidence that I can persuade them, but there is one prerequisite: I must see them."

Lin Sicheng remained silent: The news of Liu Anhua being arrested had long since ceased to be a secret. Six companies had been played for fools, suffering immeasurable losses; there were many people who knew about this matter as well.

From the moment Liu Anhua was arrested, the six companies notified all their business partners to temporarily suspend technology licensing, and when this arrangement was announced, those partners of Liu Anhua already knew that the incident had occurred.

No one would be foolish enough to just wait there for the Police to come and arrest them; those who needed to run had run long ago.

Under these circumstances, do you expect Liu Anhua to give them a call and say that someone wants to hire them at a high salary, and that would make them willingly run to China?

Those who do research are just homebodies, not idiots.

Unless you can let them see Liu Anhua, and let Liu Anhua personally guarantee to them: I have been recruited by the authorities.

"General Manager Liu, you want to go abroad?"

"Yes!" Liu Anhua smiled, "This is the only way."

Lin Sicheng fell silent again: He believes that Liu Anhua will not set him up.

But his belief alone is useless; the Police won't believe it, and the Court will believe it even less.

First, they don't believe Liu Anhua won't run, and second, there is no way to guarantee whether Liu Anhua will be in danger once he goes abroad.

Of course, it is not as if such situations have never happened, nor is it without precedent. But one must follow the procedures, and more importantly, have someone of sufficient weight to provide a guarantee.

At the very least, Lin Sicheng's weight is certainly not enough.

He thought and thought, but didn't know who would be suitable to approach.

Because if anything were to happen to Liu Anhua, or if he ran away, or even died, that person's career would be over.

Lin Sicheng let out a breath: "General Manager Liu, I will think of a way. Regardless of whether it works or not, at least we must try."

Liu Anhua was stunned for a moment, as if he hadn't expected Lin Sicheng to agree so readily.

"General Manager Lin, aren't you afraid that I will run away?"

Lin Sicheng shook his head: "Besides China, what other place do you have to go?"

Liu Anhua was speechless: As long as he left China, no matter where he went, the outcome would be the same: disappearing without a trace, never to be seen again.

"Good, General Manager Lin, I will await the good news."

Lin Sicheng stood up: "If there is any news, I will come to find you again. If you, General Manager Liu, think of anything you need to pass on to me in the meantime, you can apply to the prison guards."

Liu Anhua nodded solemnly: "I will!"

Lin Sicheng walked around the interrogation table, and the two shook hands. As they let go, Lin Sicheng suddenly remembered one more thing: "General Manager Liu, I bought a small detached building in the southern suburbs that is currently being renovated; it will be ready to move into in a month at most."

"You can start thinking in advance about what daily necessities and equipment you need to prepare, as well as what instruments are required. If you have decided, make a list for me."

"Additionally, regarding your family, General Manager Liu, I am also having people look into it. They are all doing well; at least their lives have not been disturbed."

"Perhaps one day, a suitable opportunity will arise, and it is not impossible for you and your family to be reunited, General Manager Liu."

After a slight pause, Lin Sicheng smiled: "Of course, everything I have said is still in the stage of being strived for, and it may not necessarily succeed. It is even harder to say whether you, General Manager Liu, will even be able to walk out the door of the detention center."

As for going abroad, that is even more impossible.

But Liu Anhua's pupils began to brighten bit by bit.

He could tell that Lin Sicheng was not comforting him, but was truly trying and truly working hard. Liu Anhua moved his lips: "Thank you, General Manager Lin!"

"General Manager Liu, no need to thank me." Lin Sicheng shook his head, "There is a saying that goes well: if you want the horse to run, you must give the horse grass—"

He is a criminal, that is true, but no one has stipulated that a criminal cannot make amends for their crimes—