Reborn in 2005, starting with repairing mobile phones

Chen Wei'an nodded.

At 10 a.m. the next day, Chen Wei'an dialed Anderson's office.

The phone rang five times before the other end answered. The voice was a little hoarse; it was Anderson himself.

Chen Wei'an glanced at her watch; it was exactly 10:00 AM.

She dialed the number.

The receiver emitted a regular busy tone, one, two, three... until the fifth tone was about to end when the call was answered.

"Hello?" a male voice came, hoarse as if he had just woken up, with a hint of tension that was barely perceptible.

"Mr. Anderson?" Chen Wei'an said in a calm tone, "I am Chen Wei'an, Mr. Lin Dong's assistant."

There was a moment of silence on the other end of the phone, with only slightly heavier breathing coming through the receiver.

"What is it?" Anderson's voice was very tense.

"Mr. Lin is free at 3 PM this afternoon in the Peninsula Hotel's tea lounge," Chen Wei'an said directly. "He wants to see you to discuss your shipment at the port."

"What should we talk about? Price? Or...?"

"Whether you come or not is up to you," Chen Wei'an interrupted him, her tone as calm as if she were talking about the weather. "Three o'clock. No exceptions."

After she finished speaking, she paused for a second to give the other person time to process what she had said, but did not hang up.

There was an even longer silence on the other end of the phone, with the faint sound of papers turning in the background, followed by the sound of a chair scraping against the floor.

"...The Peninsula Hotel? Three o'clock?" Anderson's voice came through, even hoarser than before.

"right."

"...I will be there."

The phone hangs up.

At 2:55 p.m., Anderson appeared at the entrance of the hotel's tea lounge.

He was dressed fairly decently, but the bloodshot eyes and fatigue on his face were undeniable.

At 3 o'clock sharp, Lin Dong and Chen Wei'an appeared on time.

A brief handshake, then I sat down.

Anderson didn't ask for a drink and looked directly at Lin Dong: "Mr. Lin, what do you mean?"

Lin Dong didn't rush to answer. He waited for Chen Wei'an to finish translating before slowly saying, "Mr. Anderson, don't you find it strange? Wu Ming, the person who wants your goods the most, suddenly said he has urgent business to attend to and can't talk anymore."

Gulf capital, the largest group, has been dragging its feet on making a decision. I've also inquired at the port, but haven't heard of any new moves by customs or quality inspection. So why are they all standing still?

Anderson's lips moved, but he didn't speak. This was precisely the question he had been most afraid to think about these past few days.

There are only a few possibilities.

Lin Dong continued, "First, they conspired in private to lower your price."

Secondly, they heard rumors from other sources about this batch of goods, such as... the country of origin documents were a bit old, or the quality inspection records for a certain batch were not clear enough, and they were worried about potential trouble later.

Third, they found cheaper or safer alternative sources of goods.

Chen Wei'an translated each sentence clearly.

Anderson's face paled a fraction.

"I don't believe it!" Anderson insisted. "My goods have all the necessary paperwork and are guaranteed to be high quality! They're definitely trying to drive down the price!"

"If they're trying to lower the price, why don't they just come to you directly to negotiate?"

Lin Dong countered, "Isn't ignoring you and letting you panic a better way to lower the price?"

But they didn't even bother to haggle over the price anymore.

Mr. Anderson, you've been in this business longer than I have. Have you ever seen a buyer simply disappear without even haggling over the price?

Anderson was speechless.

He had never seen it before.

This isn't right.

"Then... then what do you suggest we do?" Anderson's momentum had already crumbled by half, and his voice carried a plea for help that he himself was unaware of.

"If things continue like this, your warehouse rent and interest will increase every day."

If it's delayed for a month, even if the goods are eventually sold, the profits will be almost completely wiped out.

"If it drags on longer, or if it gets stuck in a customs inspection..." Lin Dong didn't finish his sentence, but his meaning was clear.

Anderson's palms began to sweat.

Of course he had considered this.

"You want to buy it?"

Anderson looked at Lin Dong, a glimmer of hope rekindling in his eyes. "Name your price!"

Lin Dong shook his head: "I can't afford it all. Besides, if I buy it now, what difference does it make to you compared to Wu Ming or Gulf Capital buying it? They probably still won't make a move and will just watch you sell the goods to me. And then what? Do you think they'll just let it go?"

Anderson's nascent hope was extinguished, replaced by even greater confusion and fear: "What should I do?!"

Lin Dong leaned forward slightly and lowered his voice to make sure only the three of them could hear him: "You need to change your selling method. You can't wait for them to choose you anymore; you have to take the initiative and make sure they have no choice but to follow your rules."

"My rules? What rules do I have?" Anderson was completely dumbfounded.

"You can't handle all three of them by yourself."

Lin Dong said, "You need someone who can speak with all three of them and get them to sit down and talk. You need an auctioneer."

But instead of auctioning the goods to the highest bidder, the goods are divided into several portions, arranged so that each person can take the portion they want. The price is fair, the transaction is clean, and no one can try to cheat.

Anderson's eyes widened: "You...you mean you're here to be the 'auctioneer'?"

"You can give me a letter of authorization."

Lin Dong put it bluntly: "I am authorized as your plenipotentiary representative to discuss a package deal with Wu Ming, Gulf Capital, and the Rossi family, who are responsible for ensuring smooth ground operations at the port."

Once the deal is finalized, you sell the goods to the three parties according to the agreed plan and price.

I take a small cut as commission.

If the deal falls through, the authorization letter is void, your goods are still there, I haven't suffered any loss, and neither have you.

But you at least have a chance to break this deadlock.

Anderson's mind raced.

Authorize this young man?

Is the risk high?

It seems... there wasn't any actual loss?

The goods are still in my possession; I'm just letting him negotiate.

Once the deal is done, I can get away with it, take the money and leave.

If negotiations fail, we can simply continue to drag things out.

But if he kept dragging it out... he felt a chill run down his spine when he thought about the daily increase in warehouse rent and interest, and the strange silence of those buyers.

"How...how can you guarantee they'll listen to you? Wu Ming and Gulf Capital are not easy to deal with." Anderson still had one last doubt.

"So they're all standing still now."

Lin Dong pointed at him, "Because they are also wary of each other and afraid that the other will play tricks. I am not biased towards either of them, I only represent you to sell the goods."

For them, a neutral intermediary who can clearly arrange things might be exactly what they need. At least, it's better than the current situation where no one is moving, the cargo owner is on the verge of collapse, and everyone is starving.

Anderson remained silent for a full minute.

The soft music in the tea room seemed to be shut out.

He glanced at Lin Dong's calm face, then at the gloomy San Francisco sky outside the window.

He thought of the heavy pile of aluminum ingots in the warehouse, the bank's calls demanding payment, and the palpable fear that had been weighing on his heart for the past few days.

"How do I write an authorization letter?" he heard his own voice say, dry but with a sense of desperation.

Lin Dong nodded to Chen Wei'an.

Chen Wei'an took out a draft document that she had prepared in advance from her bag and pushed it in front of Anderson.

"This is a preliminary authorization framework; please take a look. We can have our lawyers coordinate on the specific details immediately."

Anderson picked up the document, his hand trembling slightly.

He knew that once he signed, he would be placing his fate on the shoulders of this young man from the East.

But he knew even more that if he didn't sign, he might really end up taking that shipment with him and sinking into the deep waters of the port.