I bought a prison in the United States.

Two people got out of the Buick.

The first one is Carl Morrison.

He was in his forties or fifties, wearing a charcoal gray suit with General Electric's signature red stripes.

His face was that of a professional purchasing manager, with a polite and neutral expression.

His lips always held a smile that seemed ready to turn upwards at any moment, and his eyes held a trained friendliness. Behind that friendliness, however, lay a calculator in operation.

The second person was named Philip Banks, a technical engineer at GE Appliances.

He was a bit younger than Morrison, with dark brown hair, and looked to be about thirty-five years old. He was carrying a black briefcase.

Lingo wondered if he should redecorate the prison gates to make them look less like a steel cage.

Otherwise, it would be easy to turn away nearby guests, although it's a bit strange to use the word "prison".

It wouldn't be like it is now, where everyone who comes in politely stands at the door, waiting for the host to greet them.

Lin Ge changed into a clean light blue shirt, instead of wearing a suit and tie.

This was intentional; he couldn't let himself look like a supplier waiting to be summoned in an office.

When meeting a client for the first time, he needs to make himself look like a factory owner managing production on-site.

The latter has a higher negotiating position than the former.

Lin Ge smiled with just the right amount of joy:

"Mr. Morrison, Mr. Banks, welcome to McLean County Correctional Center."

Morrison extended his hand:

"Mr. Chen, thank you for arranging this meeting so quickly."

"Philip, this is the one who proposed the self-tapping screw solution."

Banks held Ringo's hand, his gaze lingering on Ringo's face for a longer time than the handshake itself:

"Hello Mr. Chen, I don't know if you came up with that plan while you were in prison or outside."

"But I have to tell you that for the past five days, I've spent at least two hours each day in the lab verifying it."

"It's truly the most ingenious avoidance solution I've ever seen."

Banks seemed rather impatient, even on his way there he was pondering the brilliance of the plan:

"Most engineers solve the problem of tapping thin plates in a very direct way, like charging soldiers, using better taps and more precise machine tools to force their way through."

"But you're like a commando squad, bypassing the problem directly from the flank and eliminating the tapping process itself."

"I haven't found any major hidden dangers in this kind of avoidance yet; at least it proves to be feasible, but I'd like to know more details."

Ringo looked at the emotional label that only he could see appearing above Banks' head:

"admire".

There's a lighter label next to it:

"curious".

Curiosity clearly outweighed admiration.

Banks' curiosity wasn't just about the solution itself; as an engineer, he had fully understood and approved of it.

He was even more curious whether Ling Ge really came up with the idea all by himself.

He was probably thinking, how could a Chinese businessman who bought a prison, who wasn't a mechanical engineer, come up with a solution to a technical problem that had stumped GE's chief engineer for two or three weeks?

This curiosity can also be used to build trust.

Once a person's curiosity is aroused, their defense mechanisms will be reduced.

This is a basic principle of negotiation psychology: using natural human reactions to create a more effective environment for information exchange.

Instead of responding to Banks's expectations at the door, Ringo gestured politely:

"Mr. Banks, Mr. Morrison, please come with me."

"Let me show you around the factory first, and then we can sit down and discuss the specific details of the plan."

Lin Ge turned and walked towards the factory. The two men exchanged a glance and followed closely behind.

Banks stopped in his tracks the moment he stepped into the factory.

He is not someone who is easily moved by a scene.

As a technical engineer at GE, he visited dozens of factories.

From giant appliance assembly lines in Louisville to automobile stamping plants in Detroit.

He has also visited the production lines of large foreign companies such as Toyota and Siemens.

But this was the first time he had ever entered a prison workshop.

It wasn't until I entered and saw the prison uniforms the workers were wearing that I realized I was actually in a prison, touring the production line.

Each prisoner was doing a specific job in their assigned position.

The walls have been repainted with cheap white latex paint, but at least there are no peeling or stains.

Craig.

Lin Ge waved for the engineer to come over:

"This is Mr. Banks, a technical engineer at GE, and this is Mr. Morrison, the purchasing manager."

"This is Craig Miller, our factory's technical lead."

Craig stepped forward and shook hands with Banks.

The two engineers shook hands in a similar way, their eyes briefly meeting for a moment before each sizing up the other's reaction.

This is a method of identifying peers.

In the industrial sector, identification between engineers does not take too long.

A few words, a few gestures, the strength of a handshake—you can tell whether someone is the same kind of person as you.

"You're an engineer too? What did you do before?"

Banks didn't want to know how the engineer who worked for the prison got in; he only cared about the man's resume.

"At Lockheed Burbank, I was responsible for designing some parts for the F-117 stealth fighter."

After hearing this, Banks's expression became serious:

"I read an article about that project that said its design was the product of reverse thinking, making it harder for radar to detect."

"right."

Banks turns to Morrison:

"Karl, I think we should sit down and talk."

They took their seats in Ringo's office.

Harmon had prepared a whiteboard in advance, on which a schematic diagram of the self-tapping screw solution was already drawn.

That was drawn by Craig last night; the lines are clean and crisp, and the markings are clear.

Banks nodded slightly when he saw the whiteboard.

Let's get straight to the point.

Morrison sat down and took a document from his briefcase:

"General Electric's Appliances division is developing a next-generation washing machine product line, codenamed 'Project Clearwater.'"

"This project is under great time pressure. The prototype needs to be finalized before January next year, the first batch of trial production needs to be completed before March, and the official market launch needs to be completed before June."

"During this time window, all design modifications must be completed and pass internal testing."

He turned to a page in the document and pushed it in front of Ringo.