PDLP Chapter 474 Director Liu
Chapter 474 Director Liu
The internal meeting at Tencent was held earlier than expected.
Director Liu originally thought it could at least be delayed until the end of the month, but as soon as he arrived at the office on Monday morning, his secretary handed him a meeting notice.
The email subject was concise and clear—"Report on the Progress of the League of Legends Cooperation Terms Adjustment Project"—and the CC list was a long string of names, from the board representative to the head of the strategic investment department to the legal director.
He stared at the email for a few seconds, picked up his coffee, took a sip, and then straightened his suit and tie.
The meeting room is located on the seventeenth floor of Tencent's headquarters in Shenzhen. Pushing open a dark brown wooden door leads to a long table that can seat twenty people. The tabletop is covered with a dark gray velvet cloth, and in front of each seat is a printed document and a microphone.
When Director Liu walked in, there were already seven or eight people sitting in their seats.
Sitting at the end of the long table was Vice President Liu, the board representative with gray hair. He had a document spread out in front of him and a pen in his hand, but he wasn't writing anything; he was just holding it.
When he saw Director Liu come in, he raised his eyelids slightly as a greeting.
The deputy director of the strategic investment department sat to the left of the deputy general manager, still wearing those thin-rimmed glasses, and his shirt cuffs were buttoned up meticulously.
The notebook in front of him was half-open, and the screen displayed a line graph, which, judging from the trend, seemed to be showing the recent user data and revenue curve of "League of Legends".
Director Liu sat down in his seat, placed the materials he had brought on the table, and looked around.
Everyone in the room was watching him. Some held their teacups in deep thought, some looked down at the printouts in front of them, and some leaned back in their chairs waiting for him to speak.
Vice President Liu broke the silence first, his voice not loud, but everyone in the room could hear him clearly: "President Liu, the negotiations in Shanghai have been going on for three weeks. The board of directors wants to know the latest developments."
Director Liu cleared his throat and gave a brief report on the progress of the several rounds of talks in Shanghai.
He said that TUTU has "some understanding" of the revenue sharing adjustment, but has also raised corresponding requests for additional resources, and the specific figures are still under negotiation.
He deliberately kept his tone even, so as not to make the other party feel that the progress was too slow, nor to make the board of directors feel that he had made any substantial concessions.
After he finished speaking, the deputy director was the first to speak.
He adjusted his glasses, his tone not harsh but his question direct: "Mr. Liu, what do you mean by 'a certain degree of understanding'? Forty percent? Fifty percent? Or sixty percent? We need to know a specific figure; we can't keep hearing 'still under negotiation' at every meeting."
Director Liu picked up his water glass and took a sip, using the action to slow down his pace. Then he quoted a price, which was 20% lower than Tencent's initial asking price, but much higher than TUTU's initial counter-offer.
He stated that this number is not final, but it is close to a threshold acceptable to both sides.
After hearing the number, the deputy director leaned back in his chair without responding immediately, his expression somewhere between dissatisfaction and acceptance.
The legal representative next to him spoke first, his tone more urgent than the deputy director's: "Three weeks to reach this result is too time-consuming. We don't have much time left to approve this project; if it's not signed by the end of the month, all subsequent schedules will have to be postponed."
Vice President Liu tapped his pen lightly twice on the table. Only after everyone's attention had returned to him did he speak: "President Liu, I understand the situation you've described. I just have one question—do you think the contract can be signed before the end of the month?"
The question was asked very calmly, without any pressure in its tone, but everyone present knew that the way it was asked was itself a statement.
Director Liu hesitated for two seconds before answering, "I can't guarantee 100%, but I will try my best to move forward. The remaining points of contention mainly focus on the quantification method of additional resources and the payment cycle. The differences in our positions are not too great, and there is hope that we can bridge them before the end of the month."
He added, "Furthermore, TUTU's recent focus has been on subsequent products in the European market, while we are controlling the pace of negotiations in China."
This was clearly a statement the other party wanted to hear, and the expressions of the people in the room relaxed somewhat.
Vice President Liu nodded and didn't ask any further questions. Although the deputy director seemed to want to say something, he ultimately didn't speak.
The meeting ended after forty minutes.
As Director Liu was packing up his materials, he felt his phone vibrate in his pocket. He didn't check it immediately, but took it out and glanced at it after leaving the conference room and entering the elevator.
The message was from Chen Mo, consisting of only one short line: "Mr. Liu, are you free tonight? I'd like to take you somewhere comfortable to relax."
He stared at the line of text for a few seconds, then put his phone away without replying immediately.
That evening, Director Liu sat in his hotel room for more than half an hour before finally sending Chen Mo a message asking for the time and place.
Chen Mo's place was a private club in the western suburbs of Shanghai. On the surface, it looked like an ordinary three-story building with no sign outside.
Once inside, the decor is noticeably different. The hallway has dark solid wood floors, the lighting is very soft, and several exquisitely framed landscape paintings hang on the walls. The soundproofing is excellent; once you step inside, the street noise completely disappears.
Chen Mo was already waiting inside. When he saw Director Liu come in, he stood up and took a few steps to greet him, shaking his hand with a smile and saying that today was just for relaxation and no business.
He led Director Liu through a corridor and into a private room. The room had a private foot bath with a few herbs and flower petals floating on the surface. The rising steam raised the temperature of the entire space by several degrees.
Director Liu sat down by the pool, took off his leather shoes and socks, rolled up his trouser legs, and put his feet into the hot water.
The water temperature was a little higher than expected. He took a deep breath of cool air and then slowly got used to it.
Chen Mo also put his feet in and leaned against the opposite seat, holding a cup of tea in his hand, looking very relaxed.
On the small table next to it was a pot of freshly brewed Wuyi rock tea, two dishes of nuts, and a few pieces of pastry, all neatly arranged on white porcelain plates.
The two of them soaked their feet and drank a few cups of tea, chatting casually about industry news and recent weather changes in Shanghai.
During the tea break, Chen Mo refilled Director Liu's tea twice more, and each time he did so, he would casually push the saucer towards him.
When the tea was being brewed for the third time, Chen Mo put down his cup and spoke slowly, saying that President Liu had worked hard these past few days, running back and forth between the two sides and coordinating so many rounds of negotiations, which must have been quite exhausting.
He paused for a moment and then added that the company highly recognized Mr. Liu's efforts and asked me to convey their gratitude.
His tone was natural, as if he were talking about something perfectly ordinary. But Director Liu understood.
He didn't respond immediately, but instead picked up his teacup, took another sip, and said, "Mr. Lu, you're too kind."
Chen Mo smiled and didn't continue the topic, instead starting to talk about another unimportant matter.
He mentioned that a new Cantonese restaurant had recently opened in Shanghai, and their claypot rice was quite authentic. He suggested that he could take Mr. Liu to try it next time he had the chance.
Director Liu nodded and said, "Okay, then it's settled."
The two of them soaked for another ten minutes or so.
The water was getting cold. Chen Mo got up, dried his feet, and put on his shoes. He said, "Then I'll arrange a car to take you back to the hotel."
Director Liu nodded, stood up, took the towel handed to him, dried his feet, put on his shoes and socks, and the two of them walked out of the private room one after the other.
The corridor lights were still a soft, warm yellow, and the landscape paintings on the walls had a faint matte sheen under the crystal spotlights. A half-open window nearby let in the cold night air of Shanghai.
Director Liu paused at the door, glanced back at Chen Mo, then opened the glass door and stepped into the November night breeze.
Chen Mo stood behind the door watching his figure disappear around the street corner before turning around and walking back into the clubhouse.
The pace of the negotiations changed noticeably in the following days.
During the formal talks, Director Liu maintained his previous stance and attitude, asking the same questions and pushing for the same price. However, after each meeting, he would leave TUTU some room for maneuver in private communications.
For example, one day when the two sides were deadlocked on the specific terms of additional resources, he sent a message to Chen Mo after the formal meeting, saying that the wording of that clause could actually be changed, and his tone was somewhat more relaxed.
For example, once the legal department drafted a rather restrictive clause. After reviewing it internally, he proactively deleted one of the more sensitive clauses and then told the person in charge at TUTU, "I've crossed that out for you. There's no need to discuss it anymore."
These actions are all very subtle, and each one alone may not seem like a big deal, but when they are accumulated together, the effect is obvious.
The several points of contention that had been deadlocked for two weeks began to loosen one by one, and the differences between the two sides narrowed from more than a dozen points to four or five points, and from four or five points to two or three points.
During an internal debriefing, Zhou Mingzhe once remarked, "This Director Liu is a real actor at the negotiating table. Every time he puts on a stern face and tries to lower the price, I think he's going to fight us to the bitter end."
Lu Ran chuckled after hearing this but didn't reply.
He knew this matter could be accomplished when he had Chen Mo contact Director Liu privately.
Anyone who is at odds with you at the negotiating table will hold back a bit when they make any advances in a formal setting if they have already accepted your gifts, eaten your meals, soaked your feet, and remembered your favors.
It's not that he's disloyal to Tencent; it's just that people have a natural instinct for balance—if your left hand is holding onto your benefits, your right hand can't possibly use all its strength to smash you.
This balancing process is gradually pushing time toward TUTU.
Meanwhile, Zhao Yiming's technical progress was a week ahead of schedule.
The core code for the pre-binding function has been successfully tested. Testers ran three rounds of full-scale simulations in the internal environment, and the success rate of data migration remained above 99%.
The TUTU number selection feature was also launched in beta. Several employees who participated in the test selected their own birthdays and anniversaries and felt that the experience was pretty good, with no obvious lag or errors.
Chen Mo shared this news with Director Liu.
After receiving the message, Director Liu remained silent for a moment before replying, "I understand."
He didn't ask TUTU why it was launching the independent account system at this time, nor did he report it to Tencent headquarters.
He knew that once this information was reported, Tencent's attitude would immediately tighten, and the little room for maneuver and flexibility he had now would be wiped out overnight.
So he chose to hold the door shut, letting the cards lie quietly in his pocket.
Lu Ran learned the next morning that the account system had been successfully implemented.
He was in his office reviewing the test report Zhao Yiming had sent when a message from Chen Mo popped up on his WeChat: "It's all set over there."
He stared at those three words for two seconds, then closed the dialog box and continued flipping through the test report, as if he were looking at a weather forecast.
The office was quiet for a moment. Lu Ran finished reading the test report, then opened a new document and typed a line at the beginning: "TUTU Pocket Money - User-Side Product Solution."
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