Chapter Nineteen: The Art of Negotiation

At this moment, Li Sen and Chen Yuxuan noticed that Li Fengyu’s forehead was beaded with sweat. Li Fengyu took out his handkerchief to wipe his face and replied calmly, "Haha, you are too kind."

Gu Yumin spread her hands across the table and said, "Then let us continue our discussion, Vice President Li." Compared to before, Gu Yumin no longer dared to underestimate this eighteen-year-old youth. Though she was only a year older than him, she could no longer afford to be careless and had to bring her true skills to bear. After her earlier probes, Gu Yumin had found no flaws in him. Since taking over Huayu Group, she had encountered many situations far trickier than this, yet her intellect had allowed her to turn danger into safety every time. This was due not only to her style of conduct and intelligence but, more importantly, to her keen perception of people. Gu Yumin possessed a set of criteria for reading others; she could accurately discern a person’s psychology through their every expression and word, effectively revealing their cards from the start. This was essentially the application of behavioral psychology and micro-expression analysis—yet when it came to Li Fengyu, she found him inscrutable.

Gu Yumin prepared to probe Li Fengyu’s bottom line further. Changing the subject, she remarked, "Vice President Li, while it is true that what we did was not entirely honorable, as the saying goes, the marketplace is a battlefield. It is a place of deceit and the survival of the fittest. Surely you can understand that?"

Gu Yumin was right. The world is forever filled with deception. Compassion does not lead an army, and righteousness does not manage wealth. However, while a gentleman may love wealth, he must acquire it through proper means. If one relies solely on sinister tactics, they will not last; once one’s reputation is ruined, no one will cooperate, and everyone will be on guard against you. Business is about the constant generation of ideas; it is about creating mutually beneficial relationships, and earning money should come as a natural result of success. No one’s path is always smooth, and one will eventually need friends when difficulties arise. Only by fostering goodwill can one succeed. Starting a business is difficult, but maintaining one is even harder.

Li Fengyu was growing impatient. Seeing Gu Yumin continuously probing him, he began to wonder, "We have reached this point, and I came here specifically to negotiate, yet she keeps delaying the main issue. What is she waiting for? Is there some hidden agenda?"

Seeing that Gu Yumin still refused to get to the point, Li Fengyu grew anxious. Time was precious, and dragging things out was not a viable strategy. They only had the weekend in Shanghai; if they could not drive the price up before the market opened on Monday, things would become dire.

Li Fengyu said with a hint of irritation, "President Gu, there is no need for us to beat around the bush. Let us get straight to the point. I want to hear exactly what your stance is and how we are going to resolve this."

Gu Yumin merely took a sip of her coffee, remaining silent. She was in no hurry; she intended to stretch Li Fengyu out. Gu Yumin had pegged him from the start. A graduate of Oxford University with extensive experience, she was certain that since Li Fengyu had come, he was committed to resolving the issue. As time ticked by, the pressure on him would only mount, for the advantage lay firmly on Gu Yumin’s side. This was the art of negotiation.

Take, for example, buying something in a shop: the marked price is invariably inflated, higher than the maximum you are willing to pay. You know the shopkeeper has a minimum acceptable price. Through bargaining, you want to bring the price close to your budget while pushing the shopkeeper toward their minimum. The closer you get, the more you gain. The shopkeeper wants the opposite—to push the price toward your maximum to increase their profit. You know this, and you know that they know you know this, but neither of you knows the other’s true limit. And so, the game begins.

In this process, both parties hide their true bottom line, throwing out false ones and trying to convince the other that they are real. If, in the end, neither can convince the other, the worst-case scenario occurs: the negotiation collapses, you don't buy the item, and the shopkeeper makes no profit. It is a lose-lose situation. This is the most critical moment—when the shopkeeper’s price is acceptable to you, and they are debating whether a smaller profit is better than none. It is the ultimate test of nerves.

Li Fengyu had to resolve the matter, but he did not know Gu Yumin’s bottom line, nor did he know her true objective. Gu Yumin, however, had Li Fengyu figured out. She knew he had to reach a resolution because Li Sen had let it slip earlier. This was why Gu Yumin dared to stall. The longer she waited, the greater the pressure on Li Fengyu would become, until, at the very last moment, she would present her terms. No matter how harsh they were, Li Fengyu would have no choice but to accept.