Return to the Capital

Chen Zhi watched Pei Ningxue stuff her phone back into her bag.

"My dad is coming to the capital next week," Pei Ningxue took a deep breath. "He said he wants to drop by and see what I've been busy with."

Chen Zhi reached out and tucked a strand of hair, messed up by the river breeze, behind her ear.

"We'll deal with next week's problems next week," Chen Zhi said in a mild tone. "Let's head back to the hotel first."

1:25 PM.

The sky over Shanghai was overcast.

In a river-view room at the Bulgari Hotel, Pei Ningxue sat on the sofa holding a tablet. The screen was filled with annotations she had circled in red.

"Li Bin's legal team is truly something else," Pei Ningxue sneered.

Chen Zhi picked up the tablet and glanced over it.

NIO had indeed removed the technology iteration lock, but replaced it with something called a priority iteration right.

"On the surface, it looks like a concession, but it's actually much more toxic." Pei Ningxue pointed at the lines of fine print on the screen. "They are demanding to receive every generation of upgrade packages three months ahead of other car manufacturers. A three-month gap is more than enough for them to establish an absolute first-mover advantage in the consumer market."

Pei Ningxue proceeded to point out three hidden traps.

"First, NIO has the right to review the technical document summaries of every iteration. This means they will know our next moves and see our bottom line in advance."

"Second, if we fail to provide the iteration package within the agreed timeframe, they can claim a breach of contract and demand massive technical compensation. This is putting a shackle on our deliveries."

"Third, the priority iteration right automatically extends upon contract renewal. There is absolutely no exit mechanism."

Pei Ningxue leaned back against the sofa and rubbed her temples.

"If we sign this, in the long run, Deep Space Tech will still be tied down by them in disguise."

After hearing this, Chen Zhi wasn't in a hurry to refute.

He put down the tablet and walked to the floor-to-ceiling windows. Outside, a massive cruise ship was slowly passing by, its low whistle penetrating the soundproof glass and echoing into the room.

"We went down the wrong path from the very beginning," Chen Zhi suddenly spoke up.

Pei Ningxue looked up at him.

Chen Zhi turned around, hands stuffed in his pockets.

"Negotiating pre-installation contracts with car companies one by one is essentially fighting battles on their turf." Chen Zhi reviewed the situation logically. "Every car company has its own interests. Even if we fight NIO to the bitter end today, get these clauses deleted, and sign the deal, what about tomorrow? Tomorrow, Li Auto and XPeng will line up to negotiate, and they will use exclusive clauses or priority rights to threaten us just the same."

"Deep Space Tech will be dragged into an endless quagmire."

Pei Ningxue frowned. "Then what do you want to do?"

"A true shovel seller doesn't peddle them one by one." Chen Zhi walked over to the desk, pulled out a chair, and sat down. "It's about building a shovel supermarket where everyone comes to buy from me. Transparent pricing, uniform conditions, and no one gets special treatment."

2:00 PM on the dot.

Chen Zhi checked the time, picked up his phone, and dialed a number.

Pei Ningxue thought he was calling Li Auto. After all, at the negotiation table that morning, Chen Zhi had personally declared he had a video conference with Li Auto at 2:00 PM.

The call connected.

"President Wang, this is Chen Zhi from Deep Space Tech."

Pei Ningxue froze.

Given this title and the current landscape of new energy vehicles, a name instantly flashed through Pei Ningxue's mind: BYD!

"Yes, we are not discussing exclusive pre-installations. Deep Space Tech will not bind itself to any single car manufacturer."

"We want to build an Open AI Driving Platform. All car companies will have equal access, with tiered billing based on API calls and installation volume. Deep Space Tech will strictly act as a technology supplier."

"The first batch of seed clients only needs to do one thing: jointly announce their intention to connect at next month's industry summit, establishing the industry standard."

The person on the other end pondered for a moment.

A steady male voice could be faintly heard asking the most crucial question: "Then what does NIO have to say about this?"

Chen Zhi smiled.

"I haven't replied to NIO's terms yet," Chen Zhi said casually. "If the platform's framework is set, NIO won't be the one negotiating terms with me."

"They will be the ones chasing us to apply for access."

He hung up the phone.

Pei Ningxue leaned against the back of the sofa, staring at Chen Zhi's profile for a long time.

Unable to hold back, the corners of Pei Ningxue's mouth curled up into a smile.

But she quickly put away her smile, instantly switching back to her CFO battle mode. She walked over to the desk, pulled out another chair, sat down, and grabbed a blank sheet of paper and a pen.

"It's a great idea." Pei Ningxue drew three circles on the paper. "But there are three practical problems with executing it."

"First, building a platform requires credibility. We need at least three to five top-tier car companies announcing their integration simultaneously. Right now, you've only contacted BYD."

"Second, NIO's deadline was 1:30 PM, and it's already 2:10 PM. If we don't reply, it will be seen as a breakdown in negotiations. We need a graceful way to stall them."

"Third, building an open platform of this scale requires an astronomical initial investment in servers and bandwidth. Given our current pace of development, you need to make some trade-offs."

Chen Zhi looked at the three circles on the paper and provided a solution for each one.

"For the first problem, we'll reach out to the executives of three or four Chinese car companies with overseas operations and play the global expansion card. The overseas market's demand for Chinese AI technology is far more urgent than the domestic one."

"For the second problem, you can reply to NIO with an email right now. Keep the wording official. Just say that Deep Space Tech is currently evaluating a broader cooperation framework and will provide a formal proposal within a week. Don't reject them, but don't accept either. Just kick the ball back into their court."

Chen Zhi placed his finger on the third circle and tapped it twice.

"As for the third problem."

Chen Zhi looked up, meeting Pei Ningxue's eyes.

"We'll leverage Jingtou's policy support to apply to the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology for the pilot qualifications of a National-Level Open Platform for Intelligent Driving."

Evening fell.

The intense, afternoon-long strategic planning session finally came to an end. Pei Ningxue slumped over the desk and sighed.

Chen Zhi walked around behind her, rested his hands on her shoulders, and pressed his thumbs against the acupressure points on either side of her cervical spine, kneading them with a bit of force.

"Hiss—" Pei Ningxue groaned. "Lighter."

"This is the Chen family's ancestral secret massage technique. Just endure it," Chen Zhi said, though the pressure from his hands lightened considerably.

The phone on the desk buzzed.

A WeChat message from Dai Damai popped up.

[Dai Damai: Boss, NIO's Zhou Mingyuan just added me privately on WeChat through the alumni network. He said he wants to find some time for a technical exchange on a personal level.]

Chen Zhi glanced at the screen.

NIO's Vice President of Technology privately contacting Deep Space Tech's CTO. The underlying meaning couldn't be more obvious: Zhou Mingyuan had been completely won over by Moss. Even though the business negotiations were still a tug-of-war, technical recognition was already in the bag.

Chen Zhi typed a reply with one hand.

[Chen Zhi: Keep the window for technical exchange open, but do not leak a single word regarding any key information about Moss.]

Pei Ningxue tilted her head, caught a glimpse of the message on his phone screen, and nodded in profound satisfaction.

9:30 PM.

On the highway heading to Hongqiao Airport, the partition in the back seat of the Alphard was raised, leaving only the faint hum of the road echoing in the cabin.

Pei Ningxue leaned against Chen Zhi's shoulder, resting with her eyes closed.

Chen Zhi lowered the brightness of his phone screen.

An unread voice message popped up on WeChat; it was from Lin Wanwan.

Chen Zhi tapped on the message and converted the audio to text.

[Lin Wanwan: Chen Zhi, when exactly are you coming back?! The new song is finished, and I want you to be the first to hear it! Sister Su Man said you're on a business trip. You didn't... take someone else with you, did you? (Crying) (Wronged)]

Looking at the words on the screen, Chen Zhi's fingers flew across the keyboard.

[Chen Zhi: What do you mean someone else? My head is full of financial reports and contracts. I'll be back in Beijing tomorrow and I'll take you out for Haidilao.]

After sending the message, Chen Zhi glanced to his side from the corner of his eye.

Pei Ningxue's eyelashes fluttered slightly.

The rhythm of her breathing remained unchanged.

Not knowing whether she was truly asleep or just pretending, Chen Zhi quietly locked his phone, slipped it back into his pocket, and shifted his posture to let Pei Ningxue lean against him more comfortably.

Two hours later.

The plane landed smoothly at Beijing Daxing Airport.