Carrying a Jurassic on me
Chapter 1600 - 764: Don’t Be Modest_3

Chapter 1600: Chapter 764: Don’t Be Modest_3

"Thanks, brother!" Yan Fei casually picked up the chopsticks and expressed his gratitude to Fat-Headed Brother. "It’s not the first time, I was just pondering something. What do you do for work, brother?"

"Me?" Fat-Headed Brother replied modestly with a smile. "I don’t run much of a business, just a little accessories factory, processing car parts for others. This time I thought since we have foreigners visiting, I’d look into buying some equipment and try my luck."

When Yan Fei heard this display of humility, he immediately burst into laughter. The domestic car industry was still rather underdeveloped, and there were no small factories capable of producing cars. Fat-Headed Brother must have some unique technical capabilities to process parts for others, and certainly, the business’s profit scale was not small.

If Ma Dan heard this, he’d probably say: "You just run a little accessories factory, focus on manufacturing the parts, do you not fear that buying foreign equipment could lead to a loss from an investment too large?"

After thinking for a bit, Yan Fei kindly offered a reminder: "When talking to foreigners, you really can’t be so humble."

"What’s wrong?" Fat-Headed Brother asked, curious.

"We value modesty and prefer to keep a low profile. They’re different; if you tell them you have a small accessories factory, without understanding our local situation, they’ll take it at face value. Those with the technology and equipment might see you as not capable enough and may not want to get involved further."

"Really?" Fat-Headed Brother appeared stunned, deep in thought, and then slapped his thigh. "Oh my, that seems to be true... Ah, my pants..."

He was holding a cigarette in his left hand and chopsticks in his right. Using his left hand to slap his thigh, he almost burned a hole through his pants.

The guy sitting to Fat-Headed Brother’s left burst into laughter: "Old Ma, what’s got you so excited? Your pants are trivial, but if you had burned mine, you’d have to compensate..."

"Boss Niu, your business is so big, surely you wouldn’t make me pay for a pair of pants?" Old Ma jokingly defused the situation and explained after extinguishing his cigarette with his foot. "Just now this young fellow gave me a tip, and it dawned on me. Apologies for the excitement, brother."

"What was the issue?" Boss Niu asked.

"Not to be too modest," Old Ma pondered for a moment and said. "No wonder those foreign guys barely paid attention to me when I handed them my business card, saying I run a little accessories factory and was interested in their equipment! They probably really thought my factory was too small, unworthy of discussion."

"Your factory is small?" Boss Niu looked on with envy. "In our province, you’re the only privately-owned business supplying SAIC with parts. If you’re considered small, then we have no place being here."

"I’m just being modest!" Old Ma said, disheartened. "Just as the young fellow said, when talking to foreigners, you can’t be too modest. You have to exaggerate a bit, or they won’t believe in your capabilities. I’ve just realized it, and all the business cards I handed out this morning were wasted, sigh!"

"There’s such a thing?" Another boss at the table was also drawn to the conversation.

"Seems like it’s true," Old Ma remarked. "Thinking about it now, it really seems to be the case. They don’t know which companies are in our province nor their sizes. If we say we’re small, they might actually take it at that."

"Alright, Old Ma, lest you get carried away with feelings, let’s hear from the young fellow," suggested Boss Niu, turning his gaze toward Yan Fei. "You seem quite unfamiliar, young man. May I ask your surname?"

"No need for formality, surname Yan, Yan Fei," he replied. "I spoke with a fellow from France named Ma Dan this morning. I mentioned I was looking for some business, and he thought I might not find any due to my small scale. Actually, my business is not that small, but I was just being polite, and he took me seriously. Just now when Boss Ma mentioned he runs a small accessories factory, it reminded me to give him a heads-up."

Yan Fei laughed as he said this, adding, "These foreigners also look down on us a bit, so we can’t be too polite with them. We need to beef up our talk, or they’ll believe whatever we say, and speaking too modestly puts us at a disadvantage."

Everyone simply considered the incident Yan Fei had described and couldn’t help laughing along.

In truth, they all understood that none of the businesses here were really small—without being a leading firm, it was impossible to even make the list for the networking event.

"Oh yes, young fellow, what’s the name of your company?" Boss Ma remembered to ask after the laughter subsided.

"Cow Flower Company, just a small cattle farm," Yan Fei continued modestly. "It’s made just for fun."

"Yan Fei? Is your cattle farm in Sancha River? Cow Flower Agro-Pastoral Company?" The conversation had already drawn the attention of the whole table, and a younger boss across asked, "Is that the one mentioned in the advertisement for Will’s Steakhouse? The one that sells beef to Hong Kong?"

"Yes, that’s the one!" affirmed Yan Fei.

"Ha ha!" The young boss immediately laughed. "Boss Yan, aren’t you being a bit too modest?"

He went on to explain to those at the table, "Boss Yan’s cattle farm is not small at all. In our province, it’s second to none."

"Brother Yan, you’re seriously low-key!" Old Ma said at once. "Is it the Cow Flower brand beef jerky frequently advertised that comes from your farm?"

"That must be just another of Boss Yan’s hobbies, right? Relying solely on the profits from beef jerky, how could it be ranked first?" The young man chuckled. "The Cow Flower ranch primarily sells beef, and it’s premium stuff, a hot seller in Hong Kong. I heard a big tycoon down south opened a few fancy restaurants there, all sourcing from him. It’s so expensive, I’d have to live on buns for half a month just to afford a meal..."

"Modesty, keep up the modesty!" Boss Ma playfully pointed at him, roaring with laughter. "If we keep being this modest, I bet when talking business with foreigners, they’ll hear of us poor dirt farmers, near-beggars, and think we want to collaborate with them—dream on!"

"Ha ha ha..." Everyone at the table laughed again.

Then, a young man at the end of the table stood up: "Gentlemen, please continue your meal, I need to report to our leaders about what you’ve just discussed. Many bosses here lack experience dealing with foreigners, and I think it’s necessary to remind everyone."

"Go on, go!" Boss Ma waved his hand. "Hurry and tell them, or if we remain overly modest, we might not land a single collaboration after a few days, and I’m afraid your leaders won’t be able to explain themselves..."

Once again, the group thought about it and burst into laughter...