Chapter 124: The initiative must be firmly in our own hands

However, Suoniya did not get angry. After joining the company, she started from the bottom and worked her way up; she was no longer a naive newcomer, and she knew exactly how to handle various situations.

"Of course we brought them, but… we still need to hear your design proposal first. If it truly can boost engine power, we'll then take out the data and study it together with everyone. If…"

She smiled: "Our company's work is also very busy…"

"Then forget it, you guys go!"

That sentence left everyone present bewildered—what's wrong with Qin Miao today? He's heading straight for blowing up the meeting!

Zhang Zhiqiang glanced curiously at Qin Miao, not understanding what he was up to.

Of course, he's rushing home to tutor his wife! Right now, his wife's matters come first!

Suoniya-Meitong's brows slightly furrowed: "Mr. Zhang, may I ask who this speaker is?"

Zhang Zhiqiang felt sweat trickling down his back.

"This person, this person is…"

"Mr. Qin, this cooperation was his idea." Auguste introduced: "He is currently a student at Ha Gong Da."

"What?" Suoniya-Meitong's brows tightened further: "A student, coming to attend such an important meeting of ours, and with such an… arrogant tone—is this how your East 122 Factory approaches cooperation?"

"Ms. Suoniya, you probably got it wrong—122 Factory is an assembly plant; they don't produce engines. The engine improvement's partner is our Ha Gong Da!" Qin Miao said: "From the start, I made it clear to Mr. Auguste that the precondition for cooperation is you handing over the original design data. Now you're being overbearing—is this how your Toubomeika Company approaches cooperation?"

We're holding this meeting here only because French Aerospace engineers are also present; it's just easier to talk face-to-face.

After Qin Miao finished, he turned to Auguste: "Mr. Auguste, didn't you explain this clearly to them? I, Qin Miao, am the initiator of this cooperation project!"

Suoniya was stunned.

In the workplace, seniority rules; normally, those with experience aren't too young. At my age, leading a team out already counts as riding on my father's coattails—but the person opposite is just a college student, yet he's leading the project; his background must be extraordinary!

Auguste's face showed embarrassment; he hesitated a moment, then quickly introduced her in French.

This guy is impressive—he got his hands on advanced blades; now even French Aerospace plans to procure carbon‑fiber blades from the East. Ha Gong Da, a renowned Eastern institution in military technology, has unique strengths there, and its developed truck cannons have launched large‑scale exports.

"Sorry, Mr. Qin, I apologize for my attitude just now." Suoniya finally spoke: "But I'm apologizing only for my attitude. If you want us to hand over the original design data, you'll have to prove to us that you have the capability to modify engines."

Qin Miao glanced at them: "You don't believe in our ability, huh? If you'd said so earlier, it'd be fine—this is actually simple, why make it complicated? Teacher Zhou, did you bring the stuff?"

"Hmm."

"Show them!"

A small wooden box was placed on the table; opposite, Toubomeika Company engineer Ge Beir put on white gloves and carefully opened the box.

Inside was a shiny, elongated object; its cross‑section resembled an orange segment when viewed from the side, the surface dotted with many tiny holes, and alongside were fixtures such as clamps for fixing it.

This is…

"A hollow‑cooled turbine blade?"

Toubomeika Company sounds prestigious, but in reality it's just a mid‑tier firm in Europe, far behind the United States; they couldn't possibly master the production technology for these hollow turbine blades!

"I saw in the newspaper that the East had developed a nickel‑base high‑temperature alloy hollow‑air‑cooled turbine blade, and we didn't believe it—until now…" Ge Beir took a deep breath: "Ms. Suoniya, we think we can cooperate with the East; just using this blade would boost our engine power by ten percent!"

Everyone present exhaled, inexplicably feeling a sense of superiority.

Our technology isn't backward; in certain fields we're still ahead!

"All right, you can have the data! Shouldn't you also tell us about the other improvement plans?"

"Hand over the data first!"

Consequently, stack after stack of documents was moved into the meeting room, quickly piling up into a small mountain. Zhou Bing and the others checked them against the catalogue, confirming they had everything; two hours had already passed.

"Now can we present the specific improvement plans?" Suoniya-Meitong kept her last vestiges of elegance; if the Easterners pulled any tricks, she'd be furious.

"Of course, Teacher Zhou, go ahead and introduce them!"

At that moment, Zhang Zhiqiang finally realized Qin Miao's move: he was seizing the initiative—make the Frenchies obey, grab the data first; then even if they regret it, they won't be able to walk away with it!

"We believe the Ahye engine's technology is too backward; besides the high‑temperature turbine blade, the compressor pressure ratio is too low—we think we need to add a compressor stage."

"What kind of solution is that? We could do it ourselves! We just think it'd only add weight and complexity to the engine!" Ge Beir stood up, dissatisfied: "If we knew it was this technology, we wouldn't have chosen to cooperate at all—it's utterly pointless!"

"Brother, stay calm, don't get so worked up—if you're dissatisfied, fine, let's end today's meeting here. How about it? Factory Director Zhao, have someone move these materials to our Ha Gong Da!"

"Got the data, we can leave!"

"Wait!" Suoniya-Meitong stood up: "What do you mean? You took our original design data and now you want to leave?"

"Yeah, this data wasn't yours to give? Since you gave it, you don't intend to take it back, right?"

"Business is about equivalence! You took our data—what did we get in return? What you're doing is basically……"

Suoniya's gaze fell on the wooden box on the table; the hollow blade inside still gleamed with metallic luster—we'd just gotten a blade like that, with no production technology—what good is it?

Her mind searched for the exact word, but couldn't find it.

If you want to say language and culture are profound and extensive, it's still the East! Qin Miao thought to himself, this is basically getting something for nothing—like catching a white wolf with empty hands.