Chapter 92: A Man

The bright moon hung in the sky, a gentle breeze stirred; by nightfall, the heat had finally subsided. Before him, Gao Peng, Zhang Ao, and the others danced wildly like demons, while Hu Zi and Ren Yuefeng sat eating grilled meat, whispering to each other.

Faint cricket chirps could be heard. Watching the scene, Li Dongling took a slow sip of wine. In a few years, when everyone here had married and established their careers, such a moment would likely never come again—and when they gathered next, it would never feel quite like tonight.

Yao Luoying, slightly damp with sweat, sat beside Li Dongling, whose nose caught the faint, sweet fragrance emanating from her.

“I haven’t been this happy in a long time,” Yao Luoying said, leaning against Li Dongling’s shoulder, lazily watching the crowd still writhing and expending energy. She remembered how stiff their bodies had been while dancing earlier, and couldn’t help laughing. “You never danced like this before, did you?”

“You were the same—you stepped on my feet plenty!” Li Dongling replied, glancing at Yao Luoying, who leaned against his shoulder.

Yao Luoying sniffed, shifting into a more comfortable position. “I studied violin growing up. My mother wanted me to join an orchestra, but she never got her way.”

The courtyard didn’t quiet until midnight, when everyone finally dispersed. Yao Luoying was dragged off by several female colleagues from the residential compound, and Li Dongling had Yang Zhi drive the others home.

Since its founding, Dongling High-Tech has launched two products. The first was the Mechanical Silver Mink mouse, setting a new standard for the mouse industry.

The second product was the global sensation, the electronic pet device, which greatly elevated Dongling High-Tech’s fame—and, most importantly, resolved its financial problems.

Ren Yuefeng acted with caution, but that didn’t mean he moved slowly. On the contrary, his execution was strong. Though he felt the risk was high—spending a huge sum to sign an 18-year-old player as spokesperson—he still carried it out.

A man of Chinese appearance walked the streets of Eindhoven, the fourth-largest city in the Netherlands. Eindhoven was one of Europe’s four major tech hubs, its high-tech park permanently hosting over fifty companies and professionals from around the world—all inextricably linked to Philips.

A single company could truly transform a city. Lu Chao walked down Eindhoven’s streets, seeing Philips billboards everywhere, alongside those of DSM Pharmaceuticals. These two firms held up half the city.

Entering a café, Lu Chao checked the time. Yesterday he had still been in Hong Kong, having just completed his resignation and preparing to join his former boss, Ren Yuefeng. Then a phone call came—and he boarded a plane to the Netherlands.

Lu Chao was Ren Yuefeng’s longtime subordinate, nearly molded and promoted by him alone. When Ren Yuefeng called asking him to come assist, Lu Chao didn’t hesitate—he quit and went without a second thought.

Having followed Ren Yuefeng for so many years, Lu Chao knew his character well—he would never betray him. Though his academic credentials were modest, Ren Yuefeng had spotted him, recruited him, and trained him. After years of trials, Lu Chao had become Ren Yuefeng’s right-hand man, capable of handling matters independently.

Lu Chao’s mission to Europe was to establish a Dongling High-Tech office in London to manage the company’s affairs across the continent.

Only someone as trusted and thoroughly known as Lu Chao could be entrusted by Ren Yuefeng to set up an office in Europe. So he applied to Li Dongling and secured Lu Chao at a premium price.

But the first task Lu Chao faced upon arriving in Europe surprised even himself: finding a spokesperson for Dongling High-Tech’s new product—and spending millions of dollars upfront. Lu Chao couldn’t fathom this as Ren Yuefeng’s style—it was far too reckless. Yet whatever Ren Yuefeng ordered, Lu Chao had to complete.

“Lu, Martins will arrive in ten minutes. You have twenty minutes to negotiate with him. Whether you succeed or not is none of my concern.”

After sitting down, a bald, white man in his thirties or forties approached Lu Chao. This was the intermediary Lu Chao had contacted in advance—politely called a PR firm. Though everyone disliked middlemen, sometimes you simply couldn’t do without them. They were a group both loved and hated: vampires who truly delivered on payment.

“I understand, Feno. We’ll have more chances to work together—I’ll be staying in Europe!” Lu Chao picked up an envelope and slid it across the table to the intermediary, Feno.

Feno felt his wallet and immediately beamed. He opened it—inside was a thousand U.S. dollars. This fee was generous indeed. All he’d done was arrange a meeting with a football agent. Though he’d used up some favors, this was pure profit.

“Dear Lu, best of luck! Feno is always ready to serve you!”

After Feno left, a few minutes passed before an elderly man in his fifties entered the café and approached Lu Chao.

Seeing Lu Chao’s face, Martins raised an eyebrow, clearly surprised. He spoke bluntly: “Sorry, I don’t know which Asian football club you’re from, but Ronaldo won’t leave Europe anytime soon—this is the center of world football!”

“I’m not from any football club.”

Hearing this, Martins lost all interest and turned to leave.

Seeing Martins’ move, Lu Chao cursed inwardly—the old man wouldn’t even listen to the whole pitch.

“We’re here to sign Ronaldo as a spokesperson!”

Martins paused, but didn’t turn back. In his eyes, Ronaldo was a football genius, destined to become a superstar. Signing with an unknown company now would be bad for Ronaldo’s future—and besides, if the fee was low, Martins wouldn’t earn much commission.

“Eight million U.S. dollars!”

Lu Chao’s shout drew attention from several patrons in the café—and stopped Martins in his tracks.

“Are you serious?!”

Seeing Martins staring at him, breathing heavily, Lu Chao now relaxed completely. “What did you think I came here for?”

“My apologies—I was rude just now. But in the past, hardly any… Asian companies ever came to Europe to hire spokespersons for advertising!”

Martins was adaptable. He managed over a hundred players, each with wildly different personalities—including many troublemakers and stars. To keep them in line, he clearly had his own methods.

But what Martins said was true: Chinese companies hadn’t yet gone overseas. No one had ever hired a European footballer as a spokesperson or sponsored football events.

Unlike the future, where China’s national team performed poorly in global tournaments but poured massive sponsorship money into everything—from Europe’s top five leagues to the Champions League to the World Cup—advertisements from mainland firms dominated every stadium.

“May I ask which company you’re from?” Martins asked cautiously, wary of a scam.

“Dongling High-Tech!”

Seeing Martins’ confused expression, Lu Chao added: “We developed the Silver Mink mouse that won the lawsuit against Microsoft—and the electronic pet device.”

Hearing they’d won the lawsuit against Microsoft, Martins’ expression turned respectful. When he learned they were the makers of the electronic pet device, his face lit up with delight.

“Oh, incredible! You developed the electronic pet device?”

“You don’t know how much my players love it—they’ve even skipped training sessions to play with it!”

“And my daughter—she spent 650 pounds on the black market for a limited-edition unit! That thing sold for 650 pounds on the black market!”

Talking about it made Martins both delighted and furious. Delighted because the company making the electronic pet device wanted his players’ endorsement. Furious because that one device had been resold for 650 pounds—making him feel the black market was even more ruthless than his own agent business.

“So your company wants Ronaldo to endorse the electronic pet device?” Martins frowned. It wasn’t impossible—but Ronaldo’s playing style and image seemed mismatched with such a product.

“No!”

“It’s a new product from Dongling High-Tech: the Shenzhou Digital Cordless Phone—the world’s first digital cordless phone. We’ll announce it soon. We need Ronaldo to endorse it.”

Lu Chao explained to Martins what Dongling High-Tech’s headquarters had instructed him to do: “We’ve designed a goal celebration gesture. Every time Ronaldo scores, he makes the gesture—and we pay him two thousand dollars per goal.”

Lu Chao demonstrated to Martins: thumb and pinky extended, the other three fingers curled back, hand held to the face as if making a phone call. This was the exact gesture Dongling High-Tech required Ronaldo to perform after scoring.

Even the most prolific striker might score only a few hundred goals in his career. Paying two thousand dollars per goal celebration would total tens of thousands of dollars—but consider this: for tens of thousands, you sponsor every high point of a player’s career. Was that expensive?

Martins nodded. A simple celebration gesture? Getting paid for celebrating a goal? Not a big deal.

“So Dongling High-Tech really will pay eight million U.S. dollars for the endorsement?”

This was what Martins cared about most. Ronaldo had talent—Brazil’s national team saw it, Europe’s top clubs saw it too. But could that talent be realized? No one could guarantee it.

What did eight million U.S. dollars mean? Even if Ronaldo had already become a star, this endorsement fee would shock the entire European football world. Just a few years ago, Michael Jackson’s endorsement deal with Pepsi, which had global impact, was only three million dollars. Imagine the shock when Ronaldo’s eight million was announced.

“Eight million U.S. dollars—for a ten-year endorsement of the Shenzhou Digital Cordless Phone!”

(End of Chapter)