Chapter 1510: The Art of Persuasion

Now that the goal was set, the next steps were straightforward—just work toward the established target.

Zhao Fusheng and Tan Kaixuan were both that kind of person: once they decided on something, they would keep striving toward it until they were certain it couldn't succeed.

Over the following days, both of them began contacting Mercedes-Benz headquarters through their own channels.

Tan Kaixuan's side was fine, but on Zhao Fusheng's end, Zheng Yao was genuinely shocked when she learned of his idea.

Zheng Yao hurried over to Zhao Fusheng's home, using the excuse of visiting Fan Baobao to meet with him.

After chatting with Fan Baobao for a while, she directly confronted Zhao Fusheng: "Didn't you say we should play it safe and not expand for now?"

Zhao Fusheng laughed: "I was talking about the company, not myself."

"What do you mean?"

Chuckling softly, he gently stroked Fan Baobao's belly and said, "My child is about to be born—I have to give the kid a gift, don't I?"

Even Fan Baobao was a bit surprised this time. Like Zheng Yao, she looked at Zhao Fusheng in confusion, waiting for his explanation.

Zhao Fusheng shrugged and said casually, "Future Group is Future Group—that's my career. Who knows what will happen later? But this car sales company is something Old Tan and I are preparing for the next generation. The profits from this company belong to his and my offspring. Get it?"

"Uh..."

Zheng Yao and Fan Baobao exchanged glances, suddenly feeling their brains couldn't keep up.

After a long pause, Zheng Yao said hoarsely, "You mean this Mercedes-Benz dealership is a company set up by you and Tan Kaixuan personally, with no connection to Future Group or Tan Kaixuan's Brother Capital? Is that what you're saying?"

"Bingo!"

Zhao Fusheng smiled: "As expected of someone who used to be a teacher—sharp logical thinking!"

Fan Baobao reached out and patted him on the shoulder.

This guy was always up to mischief!

But Zheng Yao was in no mood for Zhao Fusheng's teasing. Frowning slightly, she said, "Does this even make sense?"

In her view, what Zhao Fusheng was doing was utterly pointless. Future Group was such a huge enterprise—wasn't that enough for him to focus on? And now he had his eye on the domestic dealership rights for Mercedes-Benz.

Zhao Fusheng laughed heartily: "You know, living is essentially a process of comparison. As a little tadpole, you have to swim faster and be stronger than the others to have a chance of becoming a human.

After birth, you have to be smarter than other kids.

Growing up, you have to be more handsome, get better grades, and even have a job that's not worse than others.

As an adult, you compare whose husband is more capable, whose wife is prettier, whose child is smarter.

In old age, you compare whose children are more filial and successful.

A person's whole life is lived in constant comparison. If you don't have a sense of superiority and can't console yourself, you'll often feel that life is utterly meaningless."

Fan Baobao looked at Zhao Fusheng tenderly, beaming. Her husband was so talented—even his words were full of philosophy.

But Zheng Yao couldn't be bothered with their lovey-dovey nonsense. Helplessly, she said, "So, what exactly are you trying to say?"

"Haha..."

Zhao Fusheng laughed and waved his hand: "Nothing much. Don't worry too much. This is my personal move, nothing to do with the company. Even though I used the company's information channels, neither the funds nor anything else will involve Future Group."

Zheng Yao nodded: "If you need the group's cooperation, I mean, let me know in advance so we're not caught off guard."

She wasn't actually opposed to Zhao Fusheng and Tan Kaixuan doing this project. In fact, Zheng Yao understood better than Zhao Fusheng how huge the profits were.

But as CEO of Future Group, Zheng Yao thought more comprehensively, hoping Zhao Fusheng wouldn't make decisions on a whim.

Zhao Fusheng understood what Zheng Yao meant, so he didn't hide things from her, which also gave her some peace of mind.

After seeing Zheng Yao off, Fan Baobao asked Zhao Fusheng in confusion, "Were you really planning that?"

"Nonsense."

Zhao Fusheng shook his head: "Buying a car was Old Tan's spur-of-the-moment idea. Do you think before that, we could have been thinking about becoming a domestic Mercedes-Benz dealer?"

"Then just now..." Fan Baobao asked, puzzled.

"Ahem, I was just comforting her a bit," Zhao Fusheng said, slightly embarrassed, lowering his voice.

Fan Baobao rolled her eyes: "So what do you really mean?"

"Nothing much."

Zhao Fusheng shook his head: "I just think this project is pretty good. Old Tan and I are both interested, and we still have money, so let's invest and give it a shot."

"Alright..." Fan Baobao was speechless.

Many decisions in this world are actually full of chance. When we look back and analyze history, we often wonder what was going through the minds of those involved at those great moments.

Saying they were overwhelmed with emotion is pure nonsense, because in that split second, no one has time to think that much.

It's like Jack Ma and Liu Qiangdong—when they look back on starting their businesses, they love to dish out a bunch of chicken soup. Actually, they're just whitewashing things. After all, one started by hustling, the other by selling pirated CDs. Such dark histories can't exactly be spoken of openly.

"Alright, you don't need to worry about me," Zhao Fusheng said gently, smiling at Fan Baobao. "Your job now is to take care of yourself and the baby. After the child is born, you can stay with the kid. In a couple of years, if you want to act, go ahead; if not, you can join the company."

"Me?"

Fan Baobao hesitated at Zhao Fusheng's words, but eventually nodded.

Actually, there was something she didn't say.

If it was just about raising the child and acting, she didn't think she couldn't do it. But joining the company to do business—Fan Baobao really felt the pressure.

Although she had been a nominal independent director at Alibaba, Fan Baobao knew very well that she had never once gone to a meeting there; Dong Chenxi had arranged for someone else to handle things.

Talent, sometimes, really determines a person's ceiling.

Fan Baobao felt she had decent talent for acting, but as for business talent...

Well, on that front, she'd better just be a good wife and mother.

Zhao Fusheng, of course, didn't know what Fan Baobao was thinking. Right now, he was focused on how to secure the Mercedes-Benz sales dealership.

"Zhuang Yan should have been fired by his boss by now."

Zhao Fusheng sat on the sofa, calculating silently.

He had deliberately let slip a hint in front of Zhuang Yan that day. Zhuang Yan definitely couldn't resist and would go report it to his boss. As for what happened next, Zhao Fusheng could guess without thinking.

No boss would allow someone like Bi Ying to exist under their watch.

Or rather, maybe they'd turn a blind eye for Zhuang Yan's sake normally, but now, with this incident, even if Zhuang Yan wanted to protect Bi Ying, it was impossible.

Plus, in the past few days, he and Tan Kaixuan had been contacting Mercedes-Benz headquarters. This news was bound to leak, and Zhuang Yan would likely lose even more points with his boss.

Thinking of this, Zhao Fusheng couldn't help touching his nose and laughing.

The feeling of scheming against others was really interesting.

Especially scheming against an old hand like Zhuang Yan—that feeling gave Zhao Fusheng a great sense of accomplishment.

He just hoped Zhuang Yan wouldn't hold a grudge when the time came.

After all, according to the information he had seen about this Mr. Zhuang, aside from being a bit of a womanizer, he was truly an outstanding sales talent in other respects.