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

Yan Leqin is already 90 years old this year. She has returned to China to settle down since three years ago, but she has returned to Germany from time to time to live. She has lived in Germany for sixty or seventy years and is more accustomed to life here. Her friends and students are also here. The reason why she chose to settle back to China is just because of the traditional thinking of Ye Luo returning to her roots. She is still in good health and there is no problem running back and forth between the two sides. In addition to visiting her youngest son and family here and some old friends, she also has a very formal thing, which is to guide the work of the European Research Institute of the equipment company.

Eight years ago, when Feng Xiaochen came to Germany to attend the Munich Engineering Machinery Exhibition, he planned with Bao Chengming and began to recruit unemployed engineering and technical personnel in Europe to establish the European Research Institute of Equipment Company. In order to avoid stimulating the sensitive nerves of European governments, the European Research Institute did not initially place the brand of the equipment company, but was temporarily placed under Bao Chengming's Chenyu Commercial Information Company. It was officially acquired by the equipment company a few years ago and became an overseas department of the equipment company.

Yan Leqin volunteered to serve as honorary dean at the beginning of the institute. According to Feng Xiaochen's idea, letting her grandmother be honorary dean was just to find something for the elderly to make her life more colorful in her later years. But Yan Leqin regarded this work as an important thing. Not only did she use her reputation and connections in the European engineering and technology field to recruit a lot of talents for the institute, but she also personally guided the research work of the institute. Even when she returned to China to live, her email contact with the institute was never interrupted, which was even busier than when she was a professor.

Some people are born to be idle and can forget their age when they work. Once they are idle, they will have problems. Yan Leqin undoubtedly belongs to this type of person. Her children and grandchildren know her temper, so they will not interfere in her work. It is hard to make the old lady happy. She can find fun in these jobs. Why should everyone stop her?

This time, Yan Leqin also returned to Germany to inspect the work of the research institute. Feng Xiaochen brought people to Germany to discuss business, so Yan Leqin asked Feng Hua and his wife to find a restaurant to host a banquet to entertain Feng Xiaochen and his party, and to fulfill their friendship with the landlords.

Yan Leqin had already cooperated with the Redevelopment Office at that time in the 1980s. When the Redevelopment Office was facing the difficulties of lack of equipment research and development funds, Feng Xiaochen proposed to establish the China Equipment R&D Fund and issue Chinese equipment bonds in the European market through the Mingbao Bank where Feng Hua is located. Yan Leqin was hired by the Economic Commission and served as the chairman of the fund. Since then, Yan Leqin has often visited the Redevelopment Office. 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 and others who followed Feng Xiaochen to Europe this time were all old acquaintances of Yan Leqin. As for Wang Weilong and Yang Haifan, because of their relationship with Feng Xiaochen, they were also quite familiar with Yan Leqin.

"Hello, grandma!"

"Grandma, you always look really good!"

"Grandma, you're worried!"

When I walked into the private room of the restaurant and saw Yan Leqin, everyone humbly greeted Yan Leqin. Most of the people in this group were the same age as Feng Xiaochen. Wang Weilong was a little older, but he was also a brother to 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 he held the other party's hand, asked about the other party's family's situation, and said some blessings from the elderly to the younger generation. Feng Hua and Feng Shuyi were also present. They were busy greeting everyone and also said some greetings to everyone.

Seeing that the guests were all here, Feng Hua ordered the waiter to serve the dishes, and all kinds of food, beer, drinks, etc. were delivered soon. Because they were entertaining acquaintances from China, Feng Hua specially arranged authentic German-style meals, but avoided those European dark dishes that were difficult for the Chinese people to accept. Since it was a dinner party with acquaintances, everyone was not restrained. They feasted with knives and forks, and frequently raised their glasses to greet each other. The atmosphere was very lively.

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

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

"It's relatively smooth." Feng Xiaochen replied, "We have signed cooperation agreements with more than a dozen companies with great technical strength. They promised to serve our accessories and other technical services in accordance with our requirements, and the supply prices are relatively favorable, which is generally good."

Feng Hua said, "Europe's industry has shrunk a lot in recent years, and many companies have not had a good time. If you go to send them business, they will definitely be very welcome."

Feng Xiaochen smiled and said, "If you welcome us, there will naturally be those who hate us. In fact, the orders we send to these supporting companies are all the orders from the hands of European whole-machine manufacturers. We snatched the business of these whole-machine manufacturers, and these whole-machine manufacturers hate us so much."

"Xiaochen, do you know that the most we took over in recent years was the bankruptcy liquidation case. The European industry was destroyed by you. Just last week, a machine tool company with a history of more than 100 years went bankrupt. It was our firm doing bankruptcy liquidation for them." Feng Shuyi interrupted.

"Is that true? What is the name of this company? Which machine tool does it make? If it is appropriate, we can buy it." Feng Xiaochen said with a smile.

Feng Shuyi gave Feng Xiaochen a blank look and said angrily, "You can take advantage of the situation. Do you think, in the past seven or eight years, I have helped you acquire many bankrupt companies in Europe through my hands? Now the European economy is in a downturn, and there are many such bankrupt companies. You won't all want to buy them back, right?"

Feng Xiaochen said, "If these companies have the technology and are not expensive, we certainly want to buy them. These companies have only one way to go bankrupt in Europe. If they move to China, they will be able to revive immediately. This can be regarded as waste utilization."

Feng Shuyi smiled and said, "You are talking about it. In fact, not only do you think so, but some European entrepreneurs also think so. I have encountered several times. Some entrepreneurs specifically asked me if I could help them find Chinese investors, saying that their companies are not good. If some Chinese are willing to acquire them, these companies might survive. You are also strange. Why can a company be able to live well if it is handed over to Chinese people? If it is put into the hands of Europeans, it will only go bankrupt?"

Yan Leqin sighed, "Oh, Europe has become like this, and it is his own fault. When your grandfather and I first came to study in Germany, Europeans were still very diligent. At that time, the manufacturing centers of the world were in Europe. After almost 20 years after the end of World War II, Europe also seemed full of vitality, at least the manufacturing industry was still very prosperous. But since the 1970s, Europe has been getting worse day by day. Everyone is greedy for enjoyment, and the companies are not enterprising, and they just rely on their old capital 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. When everyone was chatting, they were very pessimistic about European industry. If they didn't work hard to maintain, all their original advantages would be lost."

Feng Xiaochen asked, "Grandma, do you think there is still hope for European industry to continue?"

Yan Leqin thought for a while and said, "There is still hope. After all, a lean camel is bigger than a horse. The industrial heritage of Europe is something that we in China cannot compare with."

"What you said is that there is no comparison for the time being, right?" Feng Xiaochen said.

Yan Leqin smiled and scolded, "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. It only took us 50 years to truly start industrial development in China. If we want to completely surpass Europe, we have to work for at least another 50 years. Not to mention anything else, aren't you just coming to Europe to find someone to cooperate with? Many of the technologies that European companies have mastered are still something you cannot currently break through."

"Grandma is right!" Feng Xiaochen quickly agreed.

Speaking of which, Yan Leqin's relationship with China and Europe is very complicated. She is a firm patriot and her position is always on the side of China. But after all, she has lived in Europe for most of her life, and Europe is her second hometown. When there is a competitive relationship between China and Europe, on the one hand, she hopes China will win, and on the other hand, she will inevitably feel regretful about the recession of Europe.

Speaking of Europe's technical strength, Feng Xiaochen remembered what Steel said, and said to Yan Leqin, "By the way, grandma, when it comes to cooperation, I want to ask you one thing."

"What's up?"

"You came back to Germany this time. Have you ever heard of a research project called Captain Cook?"

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

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

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

Feng Wenru nodded and said, "One of my clients is about to participate in this project. To be more precise, they are evaluating this project, and I have participated in their discussions. However, this project is still in the brewing stage, and many companies are waiting and watching, not sure whether to participate."

When Wang Weilong, Leng Feiyun and others were interested, and everyone stopped talking about the topics they were talking about, stared at Feng Wenru, waiting for her to continue talking.
Chapter completed!