The plane landed at the airport in Bonn, Germany, and it was Feng Xiaochen's German cousin Feng Wenru who came to pick it up. She invited everyone into a business car, and then told everyone that her grandmother Yan Leqin had prepared a banquet at a restaurant in downtown Bonn to welcome everyone.

Yan Leqin is 90 years old this year, and has returned to China to settle down since three years ago, but from time to time she returns to Germany to live for a while. She has lived in Germany for sixty or seventy years, and she is more accustomed to life here, and her friends and students are also here. She's still in good health, and there's nothing wrong with running back and forth on both sides. In addition to visiting her youngest son's family and some old friends when she returned to Germany, she also had a very formal thing, which was to guide the work of the European Research Institute of the equipment company.

Eight years ago, when Feng Xiaochen came to Germany to participate in the Munich Construction Machinery Exhibition, he and Bao Chengming jointly planned and began to recruit unemployed engineers and technicians in Europe and set up a European research institute of equipment companies. In order to avoid irritating the sensitive nerves of European governments, the European Research Institute did not hang out the brand of the equipment company at the beginning, but temporarily hung it under the name of Bao Chengming's Chen Yu Business Information Company, which was officially acquired by the equipment company a few years ago and became an overseas department of the equipment company.

Yan Leqin took the initiative to invite Ying to serve as the honorary president at the beginning of the establishment of the institute. According to Feng Xiaochen's idea, letting his grandmother be the honorary dean is just to find something to do for the elderly, so that her life in her later years will be more colorful. But Yan Leqin regards this work as an important matter. She not only used her prestige and connections in the field of engineering and technology in Europe to recruit many talents for the institute, but also personally supervised the research work of the institute. Even when she went back to live in China, her email contact with the institute was uninterrupted, and she was even busier than when she was a professor.

Some people are born to be idle, and they can forget their age when they work, and once they are idle, they will have a problem, Yan Leqin undoubtedly belongs to this kind of person. Her children and grandchildren knew about her temper and did not interfere with her work. The old lady is happy that money is hard to buy, she can find pleasure in these jobs, so why should everyone stop her?

This time, Yan Leqin also routinely returned to Germany to inspect the work of the research institute. Feng Xiaochen brought people to Germany to discuss business, and Yan Leqin asked Feng Hua and his wife to find a restaurant and set up a banquet to entertain Feng Xiaochen and his party, fulfilling the friendship of landlords.

Yan Leqin had already cooperated with the then Heavy Equipment Office as early as the 80s. Feng Xiaochen proposed the establishment of a China Equipment R&D fund, and issued Chinese equipment bonds in the European market through the German Minburg Bank, where Feng Hua worked, while Yan Leqin was hired by the Economic Commission to serve as the chairman of the fund. Since then, Yan Leqin has often visited the Heavy Equipment Office, and after the establishment of the equipment company, she often participated in the work of the equipment company, so she knew many people in the equipment company. Leng Feiyun, Huang Ming, Chen Mo, etc., who followed Feng Xiaochen to Europe this time, are all old acquaintances of Yan Leqin. As for Wang Weilong and Yang Haifan, because of their relationship with Feng Xiaochen, they are also quite familiar with Yan Leqin.

"Hello, grandma!"

"Grandma, you always look so good!"

"Grandma, you're bothered!"

When I walked into the private room of the restaurant and saw Yan Leqin, everyone greeted Yan Leqin humbly. Most of the people in this group are the same age as Feng Xiaochen, and Wang Weilong is a little older, but he is also commensurate with Feng Xiaochen, so it is reasonable to call Yan Leqin "grandma".

Yan Leqin accepted everyone's greetings with a smile, and from time to time held each other's hands, asked about the situation of the other party's family, and said some blessings from the elderly to the younger generation. Feng Hua and Feng Shuyi were also present, they were busy beckoning everyone to the table, and they also said some greetings to everyone.

Seeing that the guests had arrived, Feng Hua instructed the waiter to serve the food, and all kinds of food, beer, and drinks were quickly delivered. Because he was entertaining acquaintances from China, Feng Hua specially arranged authentic German-style meals, but avoided the dark European-style cuisine that was difficult for Chinese people to accept. Since it was a dinner party of acquaintances, everyone had no restraints, they all took knives and forks to eat, and frequently raised their glasses to greet each other, and the atmosphere during the banquet was very lively.

"Xiaochen, how is your business going to the UK this time?"

After three rounds of drinking, Yan Leqin asked Feng Xiaochen about work.

"It went relatively well. Feng Xiaochen replied, "We have initialed cooperation agreements with more than a dozen enterprises with great technical strength, and they promised to provide us with accessories and other technical services according to our requirements, and the supply price is also relatively favorable, which is generally good." ”

Feng Hua said: "Europe's industry has shrunk very much in recent years, and many companies are not having a good time. ”

Feng Xiaochen said with a smile: "There are those who welcome us, and naturally there are those who hate us." In fact, the orders we send to these supporting enterprises are the orders in the hands of the original European machine manufacturers. We have robbed the business of these machine manufacturers, and these machine manufacturers hate us so much. ”

"Xiaochen, do you know that in recent years, our firm has taken over the most bankruptcy liquidation cases. The industry in Europe has been ruined by you, and just last week, a machine tool company with a history of more than 100 years in Bonn collapsed, and our firm did the bankruptcy liquidation for them. Feng Shuyi interjected.

"Yes? What is the name of this company, what kind of machine tools does it make? If it's appropriate, we can buy it. Feng Xiaochen said with a smile.

Feng Shuyi glanced at Feng Xiaochen and said angrily: "You are too good at taking advantage of the fire." Do the math, in the past seven or eight years, how many bankrupt European companies have I helped you buy up? Now that the European economy is in recession, there are so many such bankrupt and bankrupt enterprises, you don't want to buy them all back, do you?"

Feng Xiaochen said: "If these companies have the technology and the price is not expensive, of course we want to accept it." These companies have only one way to go out of business in Europe, and if they move to China, they will be able to come back to life immediately, which can be regarded as waste utilization. ”

Feng Shuyi smiled: "That's what you said. In fact, it's not just you who think this way, some European entrepreneurs think this way too. Several times I have encountered entrepreneurs who have asked me if I can help them find Chinese investors, saying that their companies are not working, and if Chinese are willing to buy them, these companies may still survive. You say that this is also strange, why can the same enterprise live well if it is handed over to the Chinese, and if it is put into the hands of the Europeans, it can only go bankrupt?"

Yan Leqin sighed: "Alas, Europe has become like this, and it is also to blame. When your grandfather and I first came to Germany to study, Europeans were still very hardworking, and the world's manufacturing centers were in Europe at that time. Almost 20 years after the end of World War II, Europe was also very vibrant, at least the manufacturing industry was still very prosperous. Since the 70s, Europe has been getting worse day by day, everyone is greedy for enjoyment, companies do not want to make progress, and they just rely on eating their old ways to make a living. As a result, the market was first snatched by the Japanese, and later by us Chinese. When I came back this time, I met some old friends and some students, and when they were chatting, they were very pessimistic about European industry, saying that if they didn't work hard to maintain it, they would lose all their original advantages. ”

Feng Xiaochen asked, "Grandma, do you think there is any hope for Europe's industry to be maintained?"

Yan Leqin thought for a while and said: "There is still hope, after all, the emaciated camel is bigger than the horse, and the industrial heritage of Europe is incomparable to our China." ”

"You're talking about can't be compared for the time being, right?" Feng Xiaochen said.

Yan Leqin scolded with a smile: "You are now a general manager, and your tone is getting bigger and bigger." Europe's industry has a history of more than 200 years, and it will take 50 years for China to really start to engage in industry, and if we want to completely surpass Europe, we have to work for at least another 50 years. Not to mention anything else, didn't you just come to Europe to find someone to cooperate with this time, and many of the technologies in the hands of European companies are still beyond your current breakthrough. ”

"Grandma is right!" Feng Xiaochen hurriedly agreed.

Speaking of which, Yan Leqin's feelings for China and Europe are very complicated. She is a staunch patriot and has always stood on the side of China. But after all, she has lived in Europe for most of her life, and Europe is also her second home. When China and Europe are in competition, she hopes that China will win, but on the other hand, she will inevitably feel the decline of Europe.

Speaking of Europe's technological strength, Feng Xiaochen remembered what Steyr said, so he said to Yan Leqin: "By the way, grandma, when it comes to cooperation, I have something I want to ask you." ”

"What's the matter?"

"Have you ever heard anyone talk about a research project named Captain Cook when you came back to Germany?"

"Captain Cook, what is this project?" asked Yan Leqin, suspiciously.

Feng Wenru, who was chatting with her young lady Chen Mo about European fashion topics, turned her head, looked at Feng Xiaochen, and said, "Brother, are you talking about the sixth-generation offshore oil rig project that the EU is working on?"

"What, you know?" Feng Xiaochen and Yan Leqin asked Feng Wenru at the same time.

Feng Wenru nodded and said, "One of my clients is just preparing to participate in this project, more precisely, they are evaluating this project, and I have also participated in their discussions. However, this project is still in the gestation stage, and many companies are waiting and seeing, not sure whether to participate or not. ”

Hearing Feng Wenru say this, Wang Weilong, Leng Feiyun and others were interested, and everyone stopped what they were chatting about, staring at Feng Wenru, waiting for her to continue.

"What, you're also interested in this project?" Feng Wenru asked with some surprise as she looked at everyone's eyes.