allonlinenovel Chapter 456 The End
Chapter 456 The End
Fiona called at three in the morning.
Ling Yun sat up in bed, glanced at An Shiyu who was sleeping soundly beside him, picked up his phone and went to the study.
"Mr. Ling, there's been some activity from Star Technology." Fiona's voice sounded a little tired. "Dell and HP both sent emails, wanting to meet with you this week. They heard you're going to sell your shares in Star Technology."
"Did you release the information?"
"I did as you instructed, and I sent word to both sides. They're both in a hurry."
Ling Yun turned on the desk lamp, revealing a pile of documents he hadn't finished reading last night. He rubbed his eyes. "Let's meet tomorrow. Separately, Dell in the morning, HP in the afternoon. You choose the location."
"clear."
After hanging up the phone, Ling Yun leaned back in his chair. It was still dark outside; the night in Jinan was quiet. He picked up his phone and scrolled through it, seeing an unread text message from Zhao Hu: "Grey Sparrow met Liu Chuanzhi today and took a picture."
Lingyun replied: Where's the recording?
Zhao Hu replied instantly: Yes.
Lingyun typed three words: Send it to me.
The next morning at nine o'clock, in the executive lounge of a hotel in Pudong, Shanghai.
Dale arrived ten minutes early. He was wearing a dark blue suit, his tie was undone, and he looked somewhat anxious. The two sat by the window, outside which was the morning mist over the Huangpu River.
"Ling, we're old friends," Dell said bluntly. "I want half of your 12% stake in Starry Sky."
Ling Yun picked up his coffee cup. "Mike, half is six o'clock. What's your price?"
"At market price."
"The market price is currently thirty-one US dollars, but do you know how much Starry Sky's assets are worth?" Ling Yun put down his cup. "Starry Sky also has more than three thousand patents in its operating system, user data in the app store, and over thirty percent of the voting rights in Star Language. Adding all of these together, doubling the value wouldn't be an exaggeration."
Dell paused for a few seconds, then said, "Name your price."
"Forty dollars a share."
"Ling, I need to discuss this price with the board of directors."
"You can give me an answer this afternoon." Ling Yun stood up. "I also have an appointment with HP this afternoon."
Dell's expression changed slightly.
At 2 PM, in the same hotel conference room, HP's Platt arrived with three people, a much larger entourage than Dell's.
Pratt cut to the chase, "Mr. Ling, HP will take all of your Starry Sky shares. Twelve percent, we'll take them for $42 each."
"Kevin, you can't do this." The conference room door opened, and Dale walked in. His face was flushed, and his tie was still undone. "We agreed on this this morning."
"What did we agree on?" Platt leaned back in her chair. "You haven't agreed yet."
"you--"
"Gentlemen," Ling Yun stood up, "Sit down and let's talk."
The three sat down again. The coffee had gone cold, so the waiter came in and replaced it with a new pot.
Ling Yun pulled a document from his briefcase. "Let me explain the plan. 12% of Xingchen's shares, 6% to Dell, 6% to HP. The price is a flat $41. But I have one condition."
"What are the conditions?" Platt asked.
"Your voting rights in Starry Sky cannot be transferred to Goldman Sachs or Morgan Stanley within the next five years. Nor can they be transferred to Fantasy Group."
Dale and Pratt exchanged a glance.
"I can accept this condition," Dell said first.
Platt thought for a moment, "I accept that too. But Mr. Ling, why are you so concerned about Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley?"
Ling Yun smiled. "Kevin, are you pretending to be confused, or do you really not know? Back at the Starry Sky board meeting, who forced me to hand over the CEO position?"
Pratt didn't ask any further questions.
That evening, news of the agreement being signed spread throughout Silicon Valley.
Anderson's office at Goldman Sachs headquarters.
Anderson slammed the phone down on the table. The screen shattered, cracking in a spiderweb pattern.
"Who gave him permission to sell it? Why didn't they notify us beforehand?"
Winston, sitting on the sofa across from me with his legs crossed, asked, "He's asking you, will you agree?"
"StarCraft's shares are held by Dell and HP, and their combined voting rights exceed thirty percent." Anderson stood up and paced back and forth in the room. "How much effort did we put into getting them on the same side? Now it's all over."
"There's another piece of bad news," Winston said. "Imagination Technologies' stock price has fallen again. It closed down nine points today, wiping out nearly five billion in market value."
"Didn't their Liu Chuanzhi say he could handle it?"
"It's hopeless." Winston stood up. "I just heard that China has opened a case against Yi Xiang for commercial espionage. Liu Chuanzhi himself is in deep trouble."
Anderson stopped in his tracks. "Where's the gray sparrow?"
"He's still in Shanghai. He's arranged to meet Liu Chuanzhi tonight."
Is the meeting place safe?
Winston shook his head. "There's no such thing as safety on Chinese soil."
Anderson sat back down in his chair. He picked up a new phone—the previous one had a smashed screen—and dialed Gordon's number.
The call was connected.
Where are you now?
"Shanghai. I've arranged to meet Liu tonight at a private restaurant in Pudong." Gu Gedeng's voice was very low.
"Don't go."
Why?
"I have a bad feeling," Anderson said. "The news leaked too fast. Dell and HP suddenly want to buy Lingyun's shares, and now Yixiang is under investigation. The timing is too coincidental. You need to leave Shanghai immediately and go through Hong Kong."
"Tonight's meeting has been planned for a long time—"
I said, don't go.
There was a few seconds of silence on the other end of the phone, then a "Okay."
After hanging up the phone, Anderson leaned back in his chair. The New York cityscape outside the window was dazzling, but he wasn't really interested in looking at it.
Winston walked to the door, turned back, and said, "Anderson, do you think Ling Yun planned this from the very beginning?"
Anderson did not answer.
At the same time, in a private room of a private restaurant in Pudong, Shanghai.
Liu Chuanzhi sat at the table, his teacup refilled three times. The door to the private room opened, and his secretary, Xiao Zhou, entered.
"Mr. Liu, Mr. Gu just called and said he can't come tonight."
Liu Chuanzhi looked up. "What happened?"
"I didn't say anything, I just said I had an urgent matter to attend to and needed to rush back to Hong Kong."
Liu Chuanzhi placed the teacup on the table, his fingers slowly circling the rim. The celadon glaze reflected the light overhead.
"Let's go." He stood up.
The two walked out of the restaurant. Shanghai was brightly lit at night, with the Oriental Pearl Tower in the distance glowing pink and blue. Liu Chuanzhi stood by the roadside waiting for a car; a gust of wind blew, and he turned up his coat collar.
When Xiao Zhou went to the parking lot to get his car, Liu Chuanzhi's phone rang. It was an unknown number.
"Feed".
"Mr. Liu, it's me."
Liu Chuanzhi recognized the voice—it was that mole who relayed intelligence from Xinghuo, named something like Jun.
"What is it?"
"I think I've been found out."
Liu Chuanzhi tightened his grip on his phone. "What do you mean by 'seems like'?"
"Lingyun's bodyguard contacted me last week. We just chatted for a bit, he asked about my work at Xinghuo and stuff. But the way he looked at me...it was wrong." The voice on the phone started trembling. "Mr. Liu, I'm scared. I don't want to do this anymore."
Where are you now?
"Jinan. I took sick leave and don't dare go to the company."
Liu Chuanzhi took a deep breath. "Go find someone tomorrow, and he'll help you make the arrangements."
"Who?"
"I'll send you the address in a bit," Liu Chuanzhi said. "Remember, don't go to the company these next few days, and don't contact anyone."
After hanging up the phone, Xiao Zhou drove over. Liu Chuanzhi climbed into the back seat, leaned back, and closed his eyes.
He opened his eyes as the car drove out of Pudong.
"Xiao Zhou, could you check for me what time the next flight to Hong Kong is?"
The next morning, in Jinan.
Zhao Hu placed a recording on Ling Yun's desk. "Their entire conversation last night was recorded."
Ling Yun picked up the document. "Is it clear?"
"It's very clear. Gordon himself admitted that Anderson gave him the order to stop Spark's mobile phone project. He also mentioned the specific timeline of how Fantasy Group cooperated with them to steal trade secrets."
After listening, Lingyun put the recorder in the drawer.
"Transcribe it into a written document and send it to my uncle along with the original document."
Zhao Hu nodded. "Do I need any accompanying explanation?"
"No need. Uncle knows who to show it to."
Zhao Hu turned to leave, but Ling Yun called him back.
"Where is that mole?"
"I'm still in Jinan. I took sick leave yesterday. Liu Chuanzhi told me to find someone today, saying he'd make arrangements for me."
"What arrangements?"
"He didn't go into details. He probably wanted him to hide somewhere for a while."
Ling Yun stood up and walked to the window. The sky over Jinan was hazy and gray, and in the distance, a construction crane was slowly turning.
"Don't let him leave."
"clear."
"And one more thing," Ling Yun turned around, "Gordon's entry records, who he met during this time, and where he went—compile them all. Give these materials to Uncle."
After Zhao Hu left, Ling Yun was the only one left in the office.
He picked up his phone and saw a message from An Shiyu: "My daughter drew a picture of you at kindergarten today. Come back and see it."
Ling Yun smiled and replied: Okay.
Then he dialed Li Ziyu's number.
"Ziyu, find me a place in Hong Kong."
"Where?"
"A safe place. We might need it in a few days."
Li Ziyu didn't ask any further questions. "Okay, I'll arrange it."
Lingyun hung up the phone. The tower crane outside the window was still turning, slowly lifting steel bars and cement, then lowering them again.