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Chapter 2645 Invitation

In a film crew of Huayu Film and Television, Su Ning's scandal has been the hottest topic lately.

During breaks, a few actors and support staff from the props team who weren't filming gathered together to chat, and the conversation would inevitably circle back to the front pages of those Hong Kong gossip newspapers.

Cao Ye, now an art director, squatted next to the prop box, flipping through the newspaper in his hand, making clicking noises.

Cao Ye pointed to the candid photo on the front page of the newspaper and said to Tao Liangliang next to him, "Liangliang, look at this. All the female celebrities in the photo with President Su have worked with our Huayu Film and Television. The reporter from this newspaper really put in the effort. They even made a list of who filmed what movie and when, with all the details. It's practically an annual review. Honestly, this workload is even more detailed than our art department's prop list."

Tao Liangliang leaned over for a look, chuckled twice, and said, "President Su is really having a tough time. This isn't some kind of harem; it's clearly a group photo from the company's annual party that's being used as dirt. I remember this photo was taken at the celebration banquet at the end of last year. The entire crew was there, and our props team was at the next table. How come we weren't in the picture? Oh right, we guys don't deserve to be in the photo."

At this moment, Guo Zongbao was also squatting to the side repairing a prop gun. The hammer of the antique-style musket in his hand was stuck, and he was carefully prying the spring with a screwdriver.

Hearing this, Guo Zongbao stuck the screwdriver back into the toolbox and chimed in, "What do you know! That's how Hong Kong gossip magazines are. They write about wealthy bosses' scandals like they're writing palace dramas, anything to grab attention, they practically give every female celebrity a title—'Empress,' 'Imperial Concubine,' 'Newly Appointed Noble Lady,' making it like a Qing Dynasty drama. If President Su were really as absurd as they portray, how could China's automobile production have broken through a million units so quickly? How could Tencent QQ have over a hundred million users? Do you think President Su really has three heads and six arms, flipping through the palace every day?"

Cao Ye flipped through two more pages, then suddenly clicked his tongue and pointed to a name on the newspaper, saying, "Ranran is in there too. This is outrageous! It says Ranran always brought her own investment to Huayu Film and Television, and that she 'occupies top resources in the company for a long time due to her special status.' Bah! Ranran had just escaped from Chu Caiyuan back then, and she didn't even have a penny in her pocket. What investment could she bring? She'd be more likely to bring instant noodles to the set."

"These people are really talking nonsense," Tao Liangliang blurted out.

You should know that Tao Liangliang has always admired Shen Ranran and has always regarded Shen Ranran as his ideal woman.

However, while he was interested in her, she was not. Shen Ranran focused on her acting career and didn't care about Tao Liangliang's persistent pursuit.

“We all know best how Ranran got where she is. She was forced to drink with that guy surnamed Chu and was almost sold off. If it weren't for President Su introducing her to President Zhou, she would still be dancing for those bosses in private rooms right now. Ranran earned every role by going to auditions herself, and she would practice her lines in front of the mirror in her dorm after finishing work late at night. President Su never gave her any special treatment. Don't you know her personality? If anyone told her that she didn't need to audition, she would probably be the first to refuse, after all, she suffered that kind of grievance in the beginning.”

"Yes! People who have been caught in the rain always want to hold an umbrella for others."

Guo Zongbao placed the repaired prop gun aside, looked around, and lowered his voice, saying, "But seriously, how could a man like President Su not have a lot of women around him? Let's not even talk about his net worth, just look at those subsidiaries of Tianchao Group: Tianchao Auto, Tencent, Alibaba, Mingju Real Estate, Huayu Film & Television, Kunyu Shipping... Aren't they all industry leaders? Tianchao Auto sold a million cars in three years, Tencent's users are almost 100 million, and Alibaba just received a $30 million investment from SoftBank. A man of that caliber would be a feudal lord with his own territory in ancient times, and it's perfectly normal for a feudal lord to have several wives. Don't be fooled by the harsh words in the Hong Kong newspapers; President Su doesn't care at all. Even the lawyer's letter was sent by President Zhou's side; President Su himself has never responded to a single word."

Tao Liangliang snorted and said, "You can't just write whatever you want! Writing about President Su is one thing, but dragging Ranran into it is another. Don't we know what kind of person Ranran is? If she were the kind of person who climbed the social ladder by relying on men, she would have been living a life of luxury with Chu Caiyuan back then. Why would she be forced to dance in a private room?"

Cao Ye folded the newspaper and threw it into the prop basket next to him. "Forget it! I'm not reading it anymore! The more I read, the angrier I get. I'll just burn this newspaper as prop paper later."

Of all those present, only Xu Shengli did not participate in their discussion. He sat alone in a corner with his half-revised storyboard spread out in front of him.

The ballpoint pen slowly spun between my fingers, stopped after a few swirls, then swished a few more times.

This job was Xu Shengli's dream...

The official screenwriters of Huayu Film and Television Screenwriting Team have their own credited works.

The previous drama received very good reviews from the industry, and it was ranked among the top ten domestic dramas of the year on the blog platform Open Diary. Last week, President Zhou even told Xu Shengli that he would be the co-writer for the next drama.

Xu Shengli just didn't know why he always felt uncomfortable, as if he had unknowingly lost a lot of things.

Zhuangzhuang is now Suning's personal assistant at the Tianchao Group headquarters. She follows Suning in and out of the Guomao office building every day, and her schedule is filled with various high-end meetings and business negotiations.

Shen Ranran has become a top-tier actress in China. She received a Best Actress nomination for her previous film. At the awards ceremony, she walked the red carpet in an evening gown, and reporters kept following her with their cameras.

Xu Shengli sat in front of the TV, watching, and felt that he was getting further and further away from them.

Xiao Dongbei was specifically assigned by Suning to the Winter to Spring Hotel Management Company, where he is currently preparing for the expansion of the Beijing flagship store. Every day, he is dressed in a suit and tie and meets with investors and design companies.

Cao Ye was doing very well in the art department of Huayu Film and Television. His scene concept drawings were framed and hung in the director's office.

Tao Liangliang became the head of the music composition team in the music department, and he composed the ending theme song for the previous drama.

Guo Zongbao became the head of the equipment group in the logistics department, overseeing several people.

Everyone has something to look forward to, and everyone is striving to improve themselves.

From a group of migrant workers crammed into a run-down hotel during the winter and spring, to now having established themselves with decent jobs and stable incomes, this kind of change was something he never dared to dream of before.

However, all of this was given by Suning, and everyone was genuinely grateful to Suning, including Xu Shengli himself.

Xu Shengli was grateful to Suning for giving him the position of screenwriter, grateful to Huayu Film & Television for investing in his script, and grateful to President Zhou for his recognition in front of everyone at the script review meeting.

This gratitude was genuine and weighed heavily on his heart, so Xu Shengli couldn't harbor any resentment towards Suning.

Seeing that Xu Shengli had been silent for a long time, Cao Ye looked up and called out to him, "Old Xu, what are you spacing out for? Come and take a look at this. This reporter's writing is so good that he could write a martial arts novel. Look at this passage... 'The spring colors of the Celestial Empire cannot be contained within the garden, and the beauties of the Su family are vying for attention.' Hahahaha."

Xu Shengli looked up and blinked. "I wasn't spacing out. I was just thinking about how to change the lines for the next scene. The line 'Go, I won't stop you' didn't feel powerful enough. I was thinking about changing it to 'Go, and don't come back,' but that felt too cliché."

Cao Ye said, "Stop writing, take a break and come look at this. Why are you writing a script during your break? You workaholic."

Xu Shengli shook his head and said, "My script isn't finished yet. You two have finished talking."

Then he lowered his head again to continue looking at his storyboard.

At this moment, the dull ache in Xu Shengli's heart resurfaced.

He couldn't quite describe the feeling; it wasn't jealousy, resentment, or regret.

Mingming is also in this upwardly mobile group. He has his own script being filmed, a director has praised his lines, and President Zhou has promised him that he will be a co-writer for the next film.

But Xu Shengli always felt empty inside, as if he had lost something.

Something very important, but he just couldn't remember it.

That thing was hidden in some corner he couldn't reach, and it was there every time he bent down to write his script.

But as soon as he looked up, it shrank back, and he couldn't even see a shadow of it.

Xu Shengli felt as if he had lost someone very important to him, someone who was very important to him, but he couldn't remember who that person was, what they looked like, or where they had gone.

The idea was so absurd that even he himself couldn't bring himself to say it.

Xu Shengli felt that he was probably out of his mind because he had been revising the script too late last night.

He squeezed his eyes shut, trying to banish the jumbled thoughts from his mind. Then he opened them again and wrote a line in the blank space of the storyboard: "Go, and don't come back. I'm afraid that if you turn back, I won't be able to let you go."

After finishing writing, Xu Shengli stared at the line of text for a while, feeling as if it wasn't written by him, but by someone else using his hand.

……

A Japanese automaker suddenly invited Suning to visit Japan.

The invitation was delivered to the public relations department of Tianchao Group through formal diplomatic channels.

The invitation came from the Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association, and the letter was stamped with the joint signatures of the chairmen of the three giants: Toyota, Nissan, and Honda. The three red seals were neatly placed side by side in the lower right corner of the letter.

The invitation was very polite, using many honorifics such as "sincere invitation," "please take the time to attend," and "it would be an honor."

The gist of the message is that the Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association sincerely invites Mr. Su Ning, Chairman of Tianchao Automobile Technology Co., Ltd., to visit Japan and exchange views with Japanese automobile companies on technological cooperation and industry development trends.

When the public relations department delivered the invitation to Suning's desk, Xiao Zhao couldn't help but say, "Mr. Su, could this be a trap?"

Su Ning chuckled as he flipped through the invitation, then placed the thick paper with a cherry blossom pattern on the table. "It's not quite a trap, but it's definitely a test. They've been dismantling our cars for two or three years, but when they finished, they found they couldn't get around our patents. Now they've simply changed their approach and want to see for themselves what kind of people we really are."

Xiao Zhao asked, "So, are we going or not?"

Su Ning said, "Of course we'll go. They've already handed out invitations to our door. If we don't go, it'll make us seem scared. The less you go, the more mysterious they'll think you are, and the more mysterious they'll think you are, the more they'll try to find out about you. It's better to go openly and let them see enough. After they've seen enough, they'll feel even more uncertain."

"President Su is wise."

Next, Su Ning asked Zhuang Zhuang to arrange the itinerary, including bringing along the vice president of the Tianchao Automotive Research Institute, in addition to the translator and accompanying secretary.

The vice president is purely a technical person; he has the data on the engine and chassis in his head. If the Japanese side really asks any professional questions, he can answer them.

Moreover, visits allow us to learn from mature experiences, as working in isolation is not advisable.

……

Finally, when Suning's plane landed at Tokyo Narita Airport, the reception team sent by the Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association was already waiting at the arrival gate. Leading the team was an executive director of the association, with gray hair but in good spirits, wearing a dark suit.

The board member stood at the front of the arrival gate, with several young people behind him holding up a sign that read "Celestial Empire Automobile" in both Chinese and Japanese.

Upon seeing Su Ning and his entourage emerge, the director immediately stepped forward, bowed slightly, and said in fluent Chinese, "Mr. Su, welcome to Japan. You must be tired from your journey."

Su Ning shook hands with him, saying, "The Executive Director's Chinese is very good."

The other party smiled and said, "Mr. Su, you don't know this! I worked in China for several years and have always paid close attention to the Chinese car market."

"I see! It seems the council member is quite knowledgeable about China."

"I dare not accept such praise!"

……

The remaining itinerary was packed, lasting a total of three days.

The first day was Toyota, the second day was Nissan, and the third day was Honda, with interspersed meetings with Japanese auto parts suppliers.

When Su Ning and his delegation arrived at Toyota's Motomachi plant in Aichi Prefecture, the level of reception they received from Toyota was unexpectedly high.

A vice president personally greeted them at the factory gate, followed by a group of engineers and managers dressed in uniform gray-blue overalls. Everyone stood in a row and bowed at the same time, the scene as orderly as a military parade.

The Motomachi Plant is one of Toyota's most advanced final assembly plants, and its lean management model on the production line is regarded as a textbook example in the global automotive industry.

The parts on the conveyor belt are delivered to the workstations every minute. The Andon system above each workstation monitors the production status in real time. When a worker pulls the rope, the entire line stops to check for problems.

The factory grounds were indeed so clean that you could see your reflection in them. Each passageway was marked with different colored lines, and material carts glided silently along fixed routes.

Suning followed the vice president along the visitor corridor and stopped for a while at the end of the final assembly line.

He watched a Toyota sedan, fresh off the production line, slowly drive past the inspection platform, and suddenly said, "Vice President, Toyota's lean production is indeed impressive. You won't find another company in the world with such a high on-time parts delivery rate. But the core of your system is that the supply chain must obey the production rhythm. Suppliers must deliver parts to the workstations minute by minute, which means that the supplier's production rhythm is completely locked by the OEM. China's automotive industry takes a different approach. We use flexible production lines and modular platforms. The supply chain and the OEM are not in a hierarchical relationship, but rather a parallel collaborative relationship. Suppliers can iterate their products on our open platform without waiting for instructions from the OEM."

After hearing this, the vice president maintained a polite smile, but the curve of his lips froze for a moment.

After the translator translated the passage into Japanese, the Toyota engineers exchanged glances.

One of them whispered something to the person next to him, who shook his head slightly.

……

After the tour of the production line, Toyota arranged a small-scale technical exchange meeting.

The conference room was large and impressive.

Seven or eight people from each side of the long table sat on either side, and the whiteboard was quickly filled with various technical parameters and flowcharts.

Toyota has shown great interest in China's self-developed engine technology.

During the Q&A session, an executive from the engine department tactfully raised a question: "Mr. Su, the combustion chamber design of Chinese automobile engines is very unique. We noticed in the technical documents that your compression ratio and fuel injection strategy are quite different from the current mainstream European and Japanese solutions. What is the inspiration for this design approach?"

Su Ning glanced at the vice president, who understood immediately and flipped open the technical manual in his hand, replying slowly, "This combustion chamber was independently developed by our country. The design concept comes from the fundamental research on the movement of airflow in the cylinder, and it was not borrowed from any existing solution."

The Japanese executive nodded and didn't ask any further questions, but quickly jotted down a few notes in his notebook.

Similar probing attempts occurred repeatedly during the visits to Nissan and Honda.

The engine production line at Nissan's Yokohama plant captivated the vice president of the China Automotive Research Institute.

The cylinder honing process on that line is extremely precise, with each abrasive grain on the honing head operating under real-time monitoring.

The vice president stood beside the production line for a long time, then turned to Su Ning and whispered, "President Su, we can't achieve this honing precision yet. Even the best equipment in China is a level below."

Suning said, "Make a note of this and have the purchasing department check if this equipment supplier is a viable partner."

"clear."

……

The robotic welding workshop at Honda's Saitama plant left a deep impression on Suning...

There are almost no people on the entire welding line; hundreds of robots are working simultaneously, with welding sparks rising and falling.

The Honda representative was a young engineer who introduced Honda's latest breakthrough in welding automation in English, speaking with obvious pride when mentioning a particular figure.

After listening, Suning did not comment, but only asked one question: "Are your welding robots independently developed or purchased from outside?"

The young engineer was taken aback for a moment. "It's mostly outsourced, but the control system was developed in-house."

Suning nodded and said, "The core is the ability to independently develop control systems."

"..."

……

On the third evening, the Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association hosted a formal dinner in the banquet hall of a high-end hotel in Tokyo.

The banquet hall had crystal chandeliers, and the tables were set with a menu that combined Japanese kaiseki cuisine and Western dishes. Each person had a place card written in calligraphy in front of their seat.

The heads of the three giants, Toyota, Nissan, and Honda, were all present, a rare sight in the Japanese automotive industry.

There are very few places in the world where these three old rivals can sit at the same table to welcome the same person.

The dishes were exquisitely presented, but few people at the table were actually there to eat.

One of the chairmen raised his sake and spoke first: "Mr. Su, the development speed of China's automotive industry in recent years has been astonishing. We in the Japanese automotive industry have always believed that the Chinese market will be the world's largest automobile consumer market in the future. As a representative of China's private car companies, China Automotive Industry is willing to exchange and discuss with you in an open and cooperative manner. After your visit, what are your thoughts on the manufacturing capabilities and technological level of our Japanese car companies?"

Suning also raised his glass, saying, "The lean manufacturing, quality management, and supply chain collaboration systems of Japanese automakers are role models for us. Tianchao Auto has prioritized quality management since its inception, but we still have room for improvement in many areas. This visit has been very fruitful, and I thank you all for your candid exchanges."

"Hi! Thank you, Mr. Su, for your recognition of Japanese cars."

"We hope that both sides can strengthen cooperation, and we welcome Japanese automakers to increase their investment in Shenzhou."

"Hi!"

The atmosphere at the dinner was more harmonious than expected.

Several presidents took turns offering toasts, their conversations subtly probing the future global strategic layout of Tianchao Auto, eager to know which markets this Chinese private car company would focus on next and in which technologies it would prioritize investment.

Suning responded to each point, saying everything that needed to be said and nothing that shouldn't have been said.

As the banquet drew to a close, the association's executive director suddenly stood up and made an informal motion, "Mr. Su, today we are all representatives of core companies in the Japanese automotive industry. I would like to make a suggestion... Is it possible to establish a Sino-Japanese automotive technology exchange mechanism, with regular annual exchanges of engineers and technicians? Japanese automakers have decades of experience in lean manufacturing and quality management, while Chinese automakers have unique experience in independent research and development and modular platforms. The two sides are highly complementary. If a regular technology exchange platform can be established, it will promote the development of the entire Asian automotive industry."

Suning put down his glass and took up the topic almost without hesitation: "I fully support the Executive Director's proposal. Technical exchanges should not be hindered by commercial competition. Tianchao Auto is willing to take the lead as the Chinese company in promoting this. When the time is right, we can hold the first China-Japan Automotive Technology Forum in Beijing or Tokyo. The specific plan will be coordinated and implemented by the associations and foreign affairs departments of both sides."

The presidents exchanged glances and nodded in agreement, indicating that the proposal was worth serious consideration.

As the Toyota vice president nodded, he turned to the side and whispered to the Nissan president next to him, "This Mr. Su probably meant more than just an exchange. Did you notice that he said 'Chinese automakers as the leading Chinese companies,' not 'participating,' but 'leading'?"

The Nissan president, holding his wine glass, didn't immediately respond. Instead, he considered for a moment before softly replying, "What he wants is clearly the standard. They dismantle our cars, we dismantle theirs, and now he's sitting at this table drinking with us. The next step is for him to sit at the table that sets the rules."

"Can he really do it?"

Whether he can do it or not is not important! What's important is that he dares to do it.

"..."

...(End of this chapter)