My Wife is Actually a top-tier Soldier King?!
Chapter 445 - 445 445 The situation is bizarre!

445: Chapter 445: The situation is bizarre!

Better to sleep!

445: Chapter 445: The situation is bizarre!

Better to sleep!

Outside the meeting room.

Cai Xu paced back and forth restlessly.

The ashtray on the trash can was already full of cigarette butts.

Cao Guanxu leaned against the wall, squinting slightly and frowning deeply.

“Manager Cai, would you stop pacing?

You’re making me dizzy just watching!”

Cai Xu stopped walking and sighed,

“Brother!

I’m nervous!”

Cao Guanxu snorted lightly and said dismissively,

“What’s the use of being nervous?

If you really want to put in the effort, then figure out a way to learn their three quotes!”

Cai Xu pointed at his own nose and scoffed,

“Do you think I have some special ability?”

“The hotels contracted by the three giants are completely sealed off!”

“Not to mention journalists from the news media, even hotel staff can’t go above the second floor!”

“All kinds of anti-eavesdropping and anti-leakage devices must be in place!”

“And with something as important as the bid price, they’re definitely discussing it within a small group of senior management!”

“How do you expect me to get in there?

How can I get hold of the intelligence?”

Cao Guanxu laughed and said, “So what’s the point?

Since you can’t get their quotes, what good does it do you to be anxious here?”

“I…”

Cai Xu sighed and said,

“I can’t accept it!

This project I’ve been working on for so many years, I’ve spent more time abroad than at home these past three years!”

“All the relationships have been nicely managed, all the necessary tipping has been done, but there’s no way around it!

The three giants are too damn dominant, they change the evaluation process whenever they want, adding technical competition steps on a whim!”

“The whole world saw today, they faced a terrible defeat, but what’s the outcome?

They still managed to score thirty points.

If it were us, after being defeated, let alone thirty, we’d probably not even get ten points!”

Cao Guanxu blew a smoke ring and sneered,

“No choice!

That’s what happens when Western countries always dominate!”

“The project financiers are international banks, and naturally the shareholders behind the scenes have a lot of say!”

“We created a miracle, won the technical contest, got a perfect score, and made it to a relatively fair final showdown—it’s already quite an achievement!”

Cai Xu crouched down and lit another cigarette.

“Actually, I couldn’t care less about whether we win the bid or I get the commission from this project!”

“I just can’t stand those three giants acting like bloody hooligans!”

“Bullying, unrestrained, arrogant, and dismissive of everyone else!”

“Today’s technical showdown, the whole world knows, they ganged up three against one, attacking us with their sheer strength.

But what happened in the end?”

“The evaluation agency blatantly turned a blind eye as if they saw nothing.

If it weren’t for the president’s direct order, they might even have given Ai Xin TLM a chance to revive!”

Cao Guanxu chuckled.

“That’s why!

We won beautifully this time!”

“We didn’t give the competition or the judges any chance to cheat or play tricks!”

Cai Xu looked up, his eyes narrowed with a smile,

“To fight and win such a glorious battle, even if we don’t get the project, our loss is still honorable!”

“But I am curious, who made the move?”

Cao Guanxu shrugged and replied,

“It wasn’t one of our own engineers, that’s for sure.

It must have been an expert from the Electronic Warfare Troops!”

“After a nine-hour intense battle, they must have found a vulnerability and then struck a deadly blow!”

“I wanted to confirm it, but they have their secrecy protocols and have already flown back home—there’s no way to check!”

Cai Xu chuckled, “Why bother checking?

It’s good enough that we won the battle!”

As they were talking.

The door opened.

“You two come in!”

The voice of Tang Xiao suddenly called out.

The two men looked at each other, quickly stubbed out their cigarettes, and hurried into the meeting room.

The meeting room had already been set up for a simple remote meeting.

All board members were urgently connected for a meeting, as if they were just having a chat.

So looking around, the liquid crystal displays in front of Wu Jie and Tang Xiao almost formed a wall.

“Good evening, members of the board!”

Cao Guanxu and Cai Xu greeted in unison and immediately sat down to the side.

There were cameras and microphones set up opposite them to transmit images and sound in real time.

All the directors nodded slightly, each with a very serious expression.

Tang Long immediately asked Cai Xu,

“Cai, is there any latest news from the project owner’s side?”

Cai Xu shook his head, “This project has attracted global attention, the scrutiny is too high, even if someone wished to cheat, they can’t do it anymore.

So there’s a unified opinion inside the project owner’s circle—to look forward to tomorrow’s bidding war!”

“The last part will be very fair and open, and at least a hundred media outlets are expected to cover the final showdown on-site, so price becomes the ultimate deciding factor!”

Tang Long nodded slightly, “Media supervision, complete transparency, that’s of course the best way!”

After a brief pause, Tang Long asked Cao Guanxu,

“Old Cao, speaking of this project itself, to what extent can we reduce the costs?”

Cao Guanxu’s brows furrowed tightly, he gritted his teeth.

Tang Xiao and Wu Jie stared at him without a smile.

The cost was crucial!

If they could reduce the cost a bit, it would give them more flexibility in their bid.

It’s like selling goods, haggling with someone.

A cost of twenty, selling at thirty is profitable, selling at twenty-five still earns money.

If they could reduce the cost to fifteen, they could even sell at twenty and crush the competition.

Cao Guanxu obviously knew that his statement would play a crucial role.

Everyone’s eyes were focused on him.

Actually, Wu Jie had repeatedly calculated the costs on his way back to the city.

Fiber optic cable, servers, Ethernet switches, data centers, base stations…

The hardware equipment, the tender documents had specified the parameters and quantities.

Global procurement of products meeting the requirements, the prices that suppliers could offer, all had a bottom line.

So, the hardware costs were very clear.

And for software…

there was room for creativity.

In today’s technology competition, all of our system software had withstood the test.

Therefore, we could make minimal modifications, and they could be used directly in the East African SAM project—it was almost like picking up something ready-made.

“Two billion Gold Coin!” Cao Guanxu replied resoundingly.

Huh???

Tang Xiao exclaimed in surprise.

“No…

no way?

You just said that the cost would be at least three and a half billion Gold Coin!”

The other directors, too, were somewhat shocked.

Cao Guanxu immediately explained:

“In today’s technical showdown, all our system software has proven to be stable and secure!”

“So, if we really win the bid, we won’t need to spend much manpower, and we can complete it quickly!”

“Two billion Gold Coin will be enough to cover hardware, installation, debugging, taxes, and more!”

“In comparison, the three giants have problems with their software, and since we’ve breached them, they necessarily need to develop anew!”

“Considering that labor costs in Western countries are always high, I estimate their total costs will definitely not be less than forty billion Gold Coin!”

Upon hearing this, Cai Xu immediately laughed.

“Since our cost is only twenty billion, why not bid forty billion!”

“That way, we have a profit margin, and they won’t dare go below their cost price!”

Wu Jie scoffed at once:

“You’re thinking too simply!

They are all rich and powerful, and to take down this project, they have deployed so many personnel and equipment in the technological competition—just those expenses are considerable!”

“Not to mention the costs of running the project and greasing palms.

They’ve already incurred significant costs and will be determined to win the project at any cost!”

Tang Xiao also added, “This project may seem to have a budget of only seven billion Gold Coin, but in reality, the subsequent phase two of the project will be worth at least tens of billions of Gold Coin, and with the market effect driven by the project, it’s tapping into a market worth trillions of Gold Coin!”

“With such a big pie, it’s well worth a fierce competition!

Therefore, I believe they will definitely ignore costs, prefer to take a substantial loss, and compete with us to the end.

If we bid forty billion, they might go even lower.”

Cai Xu and Cao Guanxu looked at each other and were unable to refute.

The current situation was indeed too complex.

The three giants were sure to collude behind the scenes and would spare no cost.

And their bids were entirely unpredictable.

Perhaps they would go below cost, submitting an ultra-low bid of twenty or thirty billion, making Tang Xiao’s price seem too high relative to the average.

But on the other hand, they might all bid over sixty billion, instantly rendering Tang Xiao’s offer invalidly low.

So, with the enemy’s situation unclear and the circumstances complex,

it felt like essentially a high-stakes gamble!

Knock, knock, knock…

Tang Xiao tapped her fingertips on the table repeatedly.

Her brow was furrowed, her thoughts in turmoil.

After a while, Tang Xiao looked toward Cai Xu and Cao Guanxu.

“You two go back and rest first, you’ve worked hard today!”

After seeing the two off and as soon as the door closed, Tang Xiao turned her gaze to Wu Jie.

The man who had silently created miracles for her, instilling in Tang Xiao an inexplicable trust.

“With the situation being so complex, what do you think we should bid?”

“Let’s not rush!”

Wu Jie said with a light smile.

He lit a cigarette and swept his gaze across the screens showing the directors.

Then his eyes finally rested on his father-in-law, Tang Long.

“Dad, what does the old man think about this?”

Tang Long said gravely:

“Of course, he’s all for supporting it!

The higher-ups feel the same way, telling us to make our own decisions without any interference!”

“After all this time in the international bidding, our name is known far and wide; when it comes to benefits…

they’re really optional at this point!”

“There are plenty of projects around the world to work on; no need to be overly concerned about the gains and losses of this one project!”

Wu Jie nodded slightly: “So, in a nutshell, we can mess around as we like, right?”

Tang Long chuckled, confirming it.

Wu Jie took a deep drag on his cigarette, his brow furrowed tightly.

Tang Xiao looked at him eagerly, waiting for Wu Jie’s answer.

Everyone else’s gaze also converged on him.

Phew!

Blowing out a smoke ring, Wu Jie suddenly said with a smile:

“Can we stop having meetings and just break up to sleep!”

What??

Tang Xiao was stunned.

This crucial meeting, asking for your input, was an opportunity for you to shine.

To casually suggest a price was fine, but proposing to sleep at such a critical moment?

Tang Long was both annoyed and amused in an instant.

The other directors burst into laughter.

“Hey, you rascal, it’s only eight in the evening where you are, but it’s three in the morning for us here in China!”

“We old fellows aren’t even tired yet, and you’re wanting to sleep?”

“What’s the rush, when are you planning to have a baby?”

“Have a baby?

I think it’s the young couple wanting to spend some time in their own world!”

…