Chapter Eighteen Not a single word is allowed to be changed

  After dismissing the sales representatives for more than half an hour, Jester slowly walked into the living room alone.

  Still led by Schiewer Group, the four largest retailers in Southern California, but this time the selection is completely different from last time.

  The four men stood up immediately when they saw Jester come in, with respectful expressions on their faces, completely losing the arrogant air of last time, as if it was a charity.

  "Sorry to keep everyone waiting, I was just discussing sales with a vendor in San Jose. They're looking for a large quantity this time, a full 1,000 units!" Jester's face wore an insincere smile as he spouted nonsense, apologizing but his tone completely unrepentant.

  Upon hearing Jester's words, the elderly man who was leading the group of four had his eyebrows jump violently, a thread of anger flashing in his eyes. His palm clenched tightly, the veins on the back of his hand bulging as he forcibly suppressed this surge of anger.

  Mr. Li.

  The leading old man was a white man in his fifties, with golden hair combed neatly, a thin nose bridge, fair skin, and a spotless suit. He had a thick Ruhr accent, and his blue eyes looked at Jester as he slightly bowed his head and said: "We, the Schwel Group, apologize for what happened last time, and we have followed your instructions. That idiot Kaili has been fired by us, and the other three are also gone."

  The other three dealers also nodded in agreement.

  Then the old man stretched out a hand to Jester, revealing a self-righteous smile, and said: "Let's get reacquainted, Werner Heine, Executive Director of Schwel Group. We came this time with 120% sincerity. All the conditions you proposed last time, we unconditionally..."

  "Haha!"

  Jester ignored the hand stretched out in front of him and let out a few mocking laughs, interrupting the other person.

  The old man named Werner Heine's face changed, and the gloomy color in his eyes flashed away. He withdrew his outstretched palm, and his face still had that kind smile, without revealing any embarrassment.

  This made Jester click his tongue in wonder. This German was humiliated by himself and could still endure it, not simple at all.

  "Excuse me, Mr... I'm sorry, I forgot your name."

  Jester dragged a swivel chair over, plopped himself down, crossed his legs, and gazed at the four sales representatives with a slanted gaze. He cracked his knuckles and said, "The conditions we discussed last time are not applicable to this negotiation. Last time, we made a very sincere offer, which is only reserved for friends. However, you rejected our friendship, so the previous quote is null and void."

  "You!"

  Hearing Jest's words, coupled with such an attitude, a representative of the sales side suddenly took a step forward, his face flushing red with anger, "You agreed last time..."

  "Hey!"

  Jie Si coldly snorted and looked at the sales representative with disdain, saying: "The times have changed."

  The elderly man named Werner Heine coughed, and the sales representative, who was still annoyed by Jester's humiliation, retreated with a sullen expression. Then, the CEO of Schwel Group turned to Jester, his face turning serious.

  "What conditions do you want, then? I must warn you that we at Schwerel Group and the other three sales companies also have our bottom line." Werner Heine's voice was slow and low, with a hint of menace.

  Jie Si listened and still sneered with a smile.

  All show and no go.

  "I'm willing to talk to you only because I value your sales channels. You not only occupy the sales channels in California, but can also quickly lay out goods across the United States, which is why I'm willing to talk. If you really think that I won't be able to play without leaving Schwel Company, then I'll tell you, you're wrong." Jester's tone was extremely tough and confident.

  "And besides, on the entire West Coast, it's not just your few sales companies that can achieve nationwide distribution."

  After hearing Jester's words, although Werner Heine's face didn't change in the slightest, he couldn't help but let out a deep sigh in his heart.

  He knew the other side was right, "American Square" had already swept through half of California, and then swept across the West Coast, and it was only a matter of time before it swept the country. If they didn't make a move now, those small retailers in California who were eyeing their market share would not be able to hold back, and by that time, they wouldn't even have any soup left to drink.

  He now somewhat resents Keli for messing up the deal earlier, even though the price they offered at the time was almost extortionate and no seller would have agreed to it.

  But... Werner Heine looked at Jester with a serious gaze, he was somewhat curious, why this young man was so confident in his own game, just because of a small success in Costa Mesa, could make him so confident? Or should I say, so arrogant?

  "Well, state your terms." Werner Heine felt a bit disheartened as he thought of these things. He knew that the two parties in this negotiation were not on the same level playing field at all, and being cheated was inevitable.

  Because they are in this line, if they can't get the agency sales rights of "Monopoly", it will be taken away by other sales companies, and what they lose is not only the considerable profit brought by this game, but also the market that their sales company values most.

  A certain profit can be given up, but market share is absolutely not to be abandoned.

  After all, they set sail on Atari's big ship back then and have since grown to their current scale.

  Moreover, with the collapse of Atari and the slump in the game market, especially the home console market, the entertainment equipment market has shrunk by at least half over the past year. As a high-ranking executive, Werner Hauner knew that if this continued, the company would likely go bankrupt prematurely.

  He himself knew this point, and Jester also knew it, so Jester could be fearless in negotiations.

  Let the other side have their way for now! After passing this difficult pass, there will naturally be an opportunity to avenge, thought Werner Heine.

  Seeing each other so soon and already showing signs of weakness, Jester was somewhat unhappy, his revenge had not been fully avenged yet.

  But as the saying goes, a hero doesn't hit someone who's smiling at him, so Jester didn't bother anymore.

  Jester pulled out a stack of printed documents from the folder he was carrying and casually threw them in front of Werner Heine and his three companions, saying lightly: "Not a single word is allowed to be changed, sign it."

  These were the words of Kerry Thomas of the Schwel Group during their first negotiation, which Jest had felt deeply humiliated by at the time, and now he was paying them back in kind.

  Unexpectedly, Werner Heine, who had originally intended to compromise, suddenly turned bright red in the face when he heard Jester's words, and his two eyes seemed to be able to shoot out fierce flames, staring at Jester.

  His teeth chattered with a rattling sound, and his fists were clenched so tightly that the veins on his hands bulged.

  Jie Si Te was also taken aback by this sudden turn of events. Previously, he could smile and tolerate the other person's cold jokes and hot ridicule, but this time, he simply returned a sentence without changing it, and yet it made the other person so unbearable?

  Werner Heine stared at Jester for three seconds, his lips moving as if to say something, then his face seemed to pale twenty years in an instant, and he let out a deep sigh.

  "Let me take a look at the contract first..."

  After finishing speaking, he took over the agreement that Jester threw over like an old man who was about to die, and looked at it with a dead air.

  Jester was somewhat perplexed by this and couldn't figure out why that German had just been so intense.

  It wasn't until later when he mentioned it to a friend that he finally understood what had happened.

  It's because Werner Heisenberg was a German.

  Moreover, his ancestors had participated in World War I, and several of his direct relatives died on the battlefield during that war.

  At the end of World War I, Germany surrendered and when signing the Treaty of Versailles, German representatives did not even have the right to participate in the discussion of its contents.

  After the discussion between England and France was over, Georges Clemenceau, who was then Prime Minister of France and is considered to be one of the greatest statesmen of the Third Republic, threw the treaty in front of the German representatives and left behind that famous saying.

  "Every single one of them cannot be changed, sign it!"

  For the Germans, this is a contract of utmost humiliation. Any German with even a little bit of blood would absolutely not accept this seemingly charitable yet extremely insulting and almost stripping Germany of its right to exist in daylight contract.

  So almost every German was bitter about the Treaty of Versailles, about those who had signed it and especially about Georges Clemenceau.

  It can even be bluntly said that to a certain extent, it was this harsh contract that led to the outbreak of World War II twenty years later.

  Here is the translation:

  "To give a not very fitting example, if you say this famous phrase of Clemenceau to a German, it's like a Japanese person contemptuously saying to a Chinese person: 'Hey, Chink pig, come and eat shit.'"

  This hatred is deep-seated.

  After knowing the allusion inside, Jester sighed for a long time, and unexpectedly that German guy could also tolerate this.

  But by then, Shweiler Company had already ceased to exist.

  Werner Heisenberg read through the contract that Jester had drafted, a document that left no room for either party to maneuver, every word and even every punctuation mark reeking of Jester's greed, as if he wanted to squeeze out every last bit of profit.

  He not only raised the selling price of each unit to $6,000, but also required Schwel Group's sales agents to share 20% of their sales profits. Moreover, it was specifically stipulated that if they failed to sell a certain quantity within six months, Mars Entertainment had the right to reclaim the exclusive agency rights granted to Schwel's four sales companies.

  They even asked the four companies to take orders of 5,000 units for the first batch. This blood-sucking devil doesn't know that 5,000 units, at $6,000 each, is a total of $30 million!

  This is an intolerable contract for any sales party.

  But Werner Heine signed his name without saying a word, and the other three originally wanted to argue with Jester because this agreement was really too harsh.

  But they saw Werner Heine sign without hesitation and also signed their names reluctantly with a bitter face.

  They were originally all led by Werner Heisenberg, and even their leader agreed that there was no other way for this side.

  "The decision is not ours," Werner Heisenberg said in a low tone to the other three representatives.

  After signing, the four of them left without looking back.

  As he was leaving, Werner Heine couldn't help but mock Jester with a sentence: "Young man, do business and leave some leeway, don't be too proud."

  Jie Si Te just laughed and retorted with disdain: "If you're not arrogant, can you still be called a young person?"