Carrying a Jurassic on me
Chapter 1707 - 809: Yan Fei’s Losing Business_2
CHAPTER 1707: CHAPTER 809: YAN FEI’S LOSING BUSINESS_2
"So... how should we go about selling this?" Director Su hesitated for a moment before asking. It was obvious that, as an old-school intellectual, he felt a bit uncomfortable with Yan Fei’s practice of treating knowledge as a commodity for sale.
"Well, that depends on how much you need!" Yan Fei replied. "My initial estimate is that it’d fetch at least eighty to a hundred thousand dollars, but since this also contributes to society, I’m willing to settle for sixty thousand dollars. That’s the package price. If you want to buy them separately, we can negotiate that slowly."
Offering sixty thousand dollars was an outrageous starting price, waiting for them to negotiate it down.
But it was clear that Director Su wasn’t very skilled with pricing; he didn’t even consider bargaining. He just calculated in his mind how much sixty thousand dollars would convert to in local currency, and was immediately startled. Although the institute received substantial funding annually, there were even more projects, and the funds were always stretched thin. Taking out that much money at once was a bit frightening.
After contemplating—or rather, agonizing—for quite some time, Director Su said, "How about I come and look again later?"
Was he planning to purchase in batches? Yan Fei didn’t mind. With so much material, he figured once Director Su finished reviewing it, he’d realize that buying separately wouldn’t be as cost-effective as purchasing the entire package.
After finishing their meal and reaching the cafeteria entrance, Director Su stopped: "Comrade Xiao Fei, could I call a few colleagues over to help me select? Honestly, my knowledge in some areas is still quite lacking, not to mention that I’m getting older..."
Yan Fei understood his intentions but responded decisively: "Director Su, I think you’ve guessed already—this stuff isn’t exactly suitable for public disclosure. So, even if I provide it to you, it can only be used for research purposes. Further results can be published later. In this regard, I think you have far more experience than me. You probably understand this better, don’t you?"
Director Su was old but far from senile, and as someone who operated at a higher level, he didn’t need specific details to grasp the situation; he understood it naturally. Otherwise, his earlier suggestion to call more people to review the materials wouldn’t have been made with such careful consideration of Yan Fei’s opinion.
Seeing Yan Fei’s refusal, Director Su only hesitated slightly before nodding: "Alright, this old bag of bones will just have to work harder then. Let’s see if my years in administration have caused my expertise to deteriorate too much!"
However, when he started reviewing the materials later, just as Yan Fei had expected, he fell into a dilemma: "This one deals with a core cellular issue—must keep it... This one pertains to genetics—not negotiable... This is about cell physiology—definitely keeping it..."
After a long time reviewing, he had eliminated only one item so far. The only one he discarded was related to anti-cancer medications, reasoning that numerous pharmaceutical companies’ research departments were already working on it—and most of the items he selected were, ironically, things that couldn’t immediately generate results or benefits.
This attitude was both admirable and amusing. To put it bluntly, he chose the "dirty and difficult" tasks, while the ones that could yield quick profits and achievements were eliminated, simply because others would tackle them for the sake of profit.
Was he foolish?
The old man arguably had an even sharper understanding than anyone else of which tasks would attract interest and which wouldn’t. If he didn’t understand this, he wouldn’t have made such a selective decision.
But if he wasn’t foolish, then look at what he picked—wouldn’t "wise people" call this foolish?
From Boss Yan’s perspective as someone who prided himself on being a stickler, this behavior wasn’t foolishness—it was principle.
Watching this process, Boss Yan himself started to feel a little embarrassed: "How about this, Director Su? I’ll drop the price to fifty thousand dollars for the package, is that acceptable?"
This price was absolutely fair. If he sold the practical pharmaceutical research to major corporations, they’d surely offer this amount without hesitation. In other words, upon flipping the deal, this transaction would be pure profit for them.
The problem was...
Director Su shook his head: "If you sell this somewhere else, you could fetch a much higher price..."
Yan Fei was immediately thrown off-balance. Director Su, you don’t need to be *this* principled, do you?
From the beginning, Yan Fei expected this gentleman to be principled, but he never imagined it would reach such an extreme. Yan Fei had always thought of himself as someone who adhered to principles, but upon encountering someone even more principled than him, he suddenly felt like he’d put himself through unnecessary trouble.
Boss Yan had always been determined to win; if you were principled, he’d be principled too. In another scenario or setting, he might have compromised rather than competed in principle-setting. But here, asking him to "compromise" and not adhere to his own principles was genuinely difficult for him.
So, in the next moment, he opened his mouth again: "How about this—Director Su, would forty thousand for the bundle work?"
Director Su froze at this point. Though he had never done business deals before, he at least knew that negotiating wasn’t supposed to go like this. Since when does the seller keep lowering the price while the buyer hasn’t even made an offer? If he hadn’t known about Yan Fei’s previous financial sacrifices for fossils, was introduced by Yang Xing, and had personally reviewed the materials, he’d suspect Yan Fei was just trying to scam some cash before making a run for it...
Unexpectedly, this hesitation seemed to irritate Boss Yan, who decided to cut to the chase: "Fine! Thirty thousand is my absolute bottom line—I won’t go any lower!"
Being principled comes with its price.
Truthfully, he wanted to ask for twenty-five thousand, but that would seem a little... too inconsiderate.
The main concern with asking for twenty-five thousand was how obvious the intent would be—it would practically scream: "You’ve already fronted us twenty-five thousand on our behalf because the funds haven’t been approved yet, so now I’m selling materials for exactly twenty-five thousand to recoup that amount?"
That would feel too inappropriate. In practice, thirty thousand wasn’t much different from this reasoning. But the five-thousand-dollar difference still created an opportunity for everyone to feign ignorance.
All things considered, people in this institute were a different breed. Elsewhere, those talking about "contribution" often spoke hollow words. But here, they didn’t talk—they simply acted. And they’d act for their entire lifetimes. People like Director Pi and many others were all cut from the same cloth—they worked silently without seeking acknowledgment or applause.
Sometimes sitting quietly and reflecting, one realized how deeply indebted society was to these people. When we’re busy venting our frustrations online, we ought to wonder—if not for them, would we even have the stability to waste time griping?
Yan Fei’s relentless price cuts finally made Director Su understand.
This young man wasn’t here for money—he just wanted some inner assurance. He needed to feel that the materials he’d worked so hard to acquire weren’t devoid of value.
At this point, Director Su couldn’t bring himself to nitpick further. His heart was filled with thoughts: who said young people lacked a sense of righteousness? Wasn’t this young man the very embodiment of such values?
With this sentiment, he straightforwardly stood up: "Alright, let’s settle it then. Just wait here for a bit—I’ll call an immediate meeting and ensure you get the money promptly. Rest assured, if you prefer to remain an anonymous hero, your confidentiality will be maintained. Only a handful of us old folks will know about this."
"Though, mind you, being an anonymous hero will only last for a while. Eventually, people will find out. Here in this place, we don’t keep actions anonymous forever."
Whatever happened downstream wasn’t Yan Fei’s concern. He’d done what he felt was right, with a clear conscience. Truthfully, any accolades right now would make him feel uncomfortable. As for the future, once everything had settled, it wouldn’t matter to him anyhow.
The meeting was quick. They ushered Yan Fei out first, and Director Su summoned a few similarly-aged colleagues to conduct a rapid on-the-spot discussion in a small room.
Soon, the old men emerged, each heading into the adjacent room to take a closer look at Yan Fei, almost as if examining a panda at the zoo. Just a glance seemed to bring them a great sense of satisfaction.
Finally, Director Su approached, shaking Yan Fei’s hand: "It’s settled—along with the pending twenty-five thousand already under review, the total comes to over forty-five thousand. Give me your account details, and we’ll transfer everything to you. Normally, this amount would require formal approval, but this time, we old folks made an executive decision. We’ll deal with the red tape afterward."
Yan Fei didn’t hesitate: "Thank you, Director Su. Oh, by the way, I have some business tomorrow and plan to drop by again. Will you still be here?"
"Yes, this old man has nowhere else to go. Aside from attending occasional meetings outside, I’m always here." Director Su chuckled warmly.
"That works." Yan Fei didn’t waste time, quickly left his account details, informed Yang Xing, and took his leave.