America's No. 1 financial conglomerate

Chapter 275 Return to the United States

A staggering $2100 million ill-gotten gain fell into Ernst's pocket. This enormous sum of money, acquired effortlessly, brought a touch of elation to Ernst's entire being.

As he carried the carefully prepared dinner plate and walked briskly towards the bedroom, his irrepressible good mood transformed into a light melody, slowly overflowing from the corners of his mouth and gently echoing in the room.

However, in Nicole Kidman's eyes, Ernst's leisurely and humming demeanor became a declaration of victory and a silent provocation to her.

Lying in bed, the discomfort in her body made her frown slightly.

The person who started all this, on the contrary, looked gloating, which instantly ignited Nicole Kidman's anger.

With a "whoosh," another pillow flew towards Ernst.

Fortunately, Ernst reacted quickly and nimbly dodged to the side, barely avoiding the pillow attack.

"Are you crazy?" Ernst steadied himself, his face full of confusion. He really couldn't understand why Nicole Kidman was so angry, like a volcano that could erupt at any moment.

"How dare you say that?" Nicole Kidman's teeth were grinding together, and if it weren't for her physical limitations, she would have pounced on him at any moment.

Ernst frowned. He had only heard that women might experience depression or mood swings after childbirth. Could such symptoms also occur before childbirth?

He muttered to himself, shook his head, and thought to himself that he shouldn't argue with a pregnant woman.

Once my daughter is born safely, I'll teach you a lesson and settle the score with you then.

A sheep riding a horse—the scene must be quite spectacular.

He carefully placed the plate on the bedside table, then sat half-upright on the edge of the bed, giving Nicole Kidman no chance to refuse, and pulled her into his arms without saying a word.

Under the other woman's angry glare, he picked up his fork and brought a pre-cut steak to her mouth.

"I don't need you," Nicole Kidman said stubbornly, trying to maintain her last bit of defiance.

Ernst curled his lip in disdain, though he spoke with a stubborn tone, "Then why don't you just not eat it?"

The way he opened his mouth so calmly clearly showed that he was enjoying it and showed no resistance whatsoever.

I don't know if it's because she's pregnant, but she can eat a lot more now than she did in Panama. But strangely, she hasn't gained much weight despite eating so much.

His gaze swept over Nicole Kidman, and when he saw her breasts, which were noticeably larger than before, and the visibly increased amount of flesh on her hips, he realized she had indeed grown a bit.

"What are you doing with your hands?" After eating and drinking her fill, Nicole Kidman was teasing the rascal who had somehow followed her in when she suddenly felt a hand wandering restlessly over her body. She immediately looked up and stared sharply at Ernst.

"Shall I give you a massage?" Ernst said innocently. "You're carrying such a big belly, it must be so hard for you every day. Your back must be so sore, right? I'll massage it for you to relieve your fatigue."

Nicole Kidman, however, was highly skeptical of Ernst's explanation, believing he must be implying something else entirely. "My back aches because of my belly? It's because of what you just did—"

A blush rose to her cheeks, and she didn't finish her sentence.

"Then why are your hands on your butt?"

"There must be a reason for that," Ernst said matter-of-factly, explaining in a serious tone, "Think about it, when you sit all day, what's the most tired part of your body? It's definitely your lower back. And for your lower back to be healthy, it needs a strong bottom for support. A strong bottom can better distribute the pressure on your lower back. So when I massage your bottom, I'm indirectly helping you relieve lower back fatigue."

Nicole Kidman found Ernst's absurd logic both infuriating and laughable. She was initially too lazy to pay him any attention, but the strange sensation in her body compelled her to speak again, "Your hand—"

"An accident, an accident." Ernst chuckled quickly, trying to cover up his little trick.

"Then—then why don't you take it away?" Nicole Kidman's tone became somewhat urgent, even carrying a barely perceptible gasp.

Her hormone levels were already very high after becoming pregnant, and coupled with the lack of physical and mental nourishment for a long time, she was surprised to find that she had no willpower to resist the feeling as Ernst's hands roamed over her body. Her body seemed to be out of her control.

Just then, Ernst's face came close to Nicole Kidman's ear. She could clearly feel Ernst's warm breath brushing against her earlobe. Then Ernst's deep and magnetic voice rang out, "Madam, it's late. We should rest."

Nicole Kidman's mind went blank for a moment, completely immersed in this ambiguous atmosphere, until she felt a sudden touch on her body, which snapped her back to reality.

child.

After spending a week with Nicole Kidman at her estate outside Melbourne, Ernst embarked on his journey home amidst her reluctant farewell.

Looking through the clean car window at the Australian Aries who was standing at the villa entrance, reluctant to go inside, a smug smile unconsciously crept onto his lips.

They say they don't want to, but their actions speak louder than their words.

If you don't want to, you find all sorts of excuses every day to keep me from getting out of bed?

If you don't want to, you always strike poses that are clearly hinting at something to me?

If you don't want to, why do your little hands always accidentally touch that precious thing that drives you crazy?

Looking back on the past week, the two spent almost all of their time in the bedroom, but this frequent intimate contact also brought a somewhat awkward side effect.

Ernst noticed that Nicole Kidman is now completely silent, not even when she farts.

Normal women make a sound when they fart, but most female celebrities and beauties don't.

The car drove smoothly all the way and finally arrived at the Sydney airport.

Ernst didn't sit idle; he took out the detailed report about GenTech that Craig had faxed over and began to carefully read it.

The report shows that the company's hard drive has completed all tests and all indicators have met the standards. The next key task is to obtain the relevant licenses from the US and European authorities. Only with these licenses can the product enter these markets smoothly.

In Ernst's view, these were just formalities.

Before the plane took off, Ernst dialed Rodrigo's number.

"How's the setup of your contract manufacturing facilities in Asia going?"

Ernst didn't waste any time on pleasantries and went straight to inquiring about the construction progress of the contract factory, since it was related to the production plan for subsequent products and could not be delayed in the slightest.

There was a moment of silence on the other end of the phone before the reply came: "The contract manufacturer is basically ready. Based on the production requirements you described earlier, we have made a preliminary estimate that assembling 100 million MP3 players a year should not be a problem. This production capacity should be able to meet the initial market demand."

"So fast?" Ernst looked surprised when he heard Rodrigo's answer.

He wasn't surprised by the production capacity of assembling 100 million MP3 players a year; what truly surprised him was the time it took for the contract manufacturer to be set up, much faster than he had anticipated.

Rodrigo seemed to have anticipated Ernst's reaction, explaining with a smile, "In China, we didn't choose to buy land and rebuild the factory, as that would be time-consuming and costly. Instead, we acquired an old, bankrupt factory, renovated and upgraded it, which saved a lot of time in terms of construction and also reduced some costs."

After listening to Rodrigo's explanation, Ernst nodded silently, his doubts instantly dispelled.

But he immediately added, "It's not enough; this production capacity is still insufficient."

"Isn't that enough?" Rodrigo asked in disbelief, his voice filled with surprise upon hearing Ernst's words.

Although Rodrigo was very optimistic about the market prospects of the MP3 player described by Ernst and thought it was a product with great potential, it was still a new product that had not been tested by the market. With the market response still unclear, a production capacity of 100 million units per year was already a considerable scale. He really couldn't understand why Ernst would think it wasn't enough.

This one million production capacity is not just a numerical figure; if needed, these skilled workers can become mentors at any time.

If production capacity is pushed to its limit, it could reach two to three million units a year.

"This production capacity needs to be at least doubled, which means reaching a production capacity of 200 million units per year," Ernst said firmly, leaving no room for negotiation. Derigo didn't know the true market potential of MP3 players in the future, but Ernst was very clear about the powerful impact of the iPod.

The iPod sold 60 units in its first year, and sales quickly rose to 200 million units in its second year. In its third year, sales surged to 1000 million units, and at its peak, annual sales even exceeded 2.75 million units.

Ernst's MP3 player currently holds a first-mover advantage, as there is no such product on the market yet. With its leading technology and unique design, it is likely to attract a large number of consumers, and sales may double, or even more than double.

In addition, there are subsequent expansion plans.

If we don't have enough production experience and skilled workers now, we will face many difficulties when we need to increase production capacity later, and production efficiency will be hard to guarantee.

Although he knew that Rodrigo and Nathan's contract manufacturing plant couldn't possibly handle the entire huge order on their own, he still hoped that the two of them could take on as much production work as possible, so as to accumulate rich production experience and resources for launching other products in the future.

"Will this product really be as popular as you say?" Rodrigo was filled with hesitation as Ernst asked, unable to resist confirming with Ernst again.

He and Nathan have staked their entire fortune on this contract manufacturing project, and have even taken out substantial loans for it. If the product's final market performance falls short of expectations, they will face huge losses, and may even go bankrupt.

So even though he believed in Ernst, he couldn't help but feel uneasy and anxious under such immense pressure.

Ernst sensed the hesitation and worry in Rodrigo's tone. He knew he had to give Rodrigo enough confidence, so he reassured him firmly, "Don't worry, I will place an order for 200 million units in the company's name. With this order as a guarantee, you can go all out and do it without any worries."

Since Ernst had already put it that way, Rodrigo couldn't hesitate any longer. The two then discussed in detail some issues regarding the production process at the contract manufacturer over the phone until Ernst hung up just before the plane was about to take off.