<h4>Chapter 275: Financially Free Without Knowing It</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions


    Actually, this was not a matter of who wins or loses. Lu Zhou’s proposal was a win-win situation.


    Otherwise, Grynberg would not have agreed so easily.


    Still, it was $400 million USD.


    Even for a giantpany like Umicore, this was by no means a small number. Especially because Lu Zhou asked for full payment before the end of the year.


    After signing the letter of intent, Grynberg did not even eat dinner. He had to persuade the board of directors as soon as possible. He opened a bottle of champagne with Lu Zhou before he left the hotel to make a phone call.


    He promised Lu Zhou that he would fly back to his headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, to persuade the board to sign the patent cooperation agreement before the end of the year.


    Grynberg said he would try his best.


    After all, for a publicpany, a hundred million dor deal was a big deal.


    Regardless of whether the contract was ultimately signed, the moment the letter of intent was signed, the relevant information must be disclosed to the securities market.


    The phone call Grynberg made was to the secretary of the board of directors.


    Lu Zhou quietly finished his dinner and left the hotel lobby. He then went to the elevator and went straight to his room.


    His footsteps were light as he was in a good mood.


    After Lu Zhou went into his room, it was like he had been awakened from a dream. He had just only just realized what he had done.


    “$400 million USD...”


    As Lu Zhou sat on the bed and looked at the cooperation letter of intent, he could not calm down.


    He had never expected that within one night, he could jump from the middle ss to financial freedom.


    When he was a child, even though he had dreamed of winning a five-million-dor lottery, he did not even dare to dream of hundreds of millions...


    <i>What should I buy?</i>


    <i>Another assistant?</i>


    <i>A smallputer for Xiao Ai?</i>


    <i>Ask my dad to buy a few houses in Beijing?</i>


    <i>Or...</i>


    <i>Post it on Weibo first?</i>


    Thankfully his intelligence prevailed.


    Lu Zhou took out his phone but in the end, he resisted the urge to share his joy with his fans.


    It was better to be humble when it came to money.


    Lu Zhou took a deep breath and calmed himself down. He then went to take a shower to cool off his hot brain.


    As for what to spend the money on, he would decide when the contract was signed...


    After his shower, heid in bed.


    He thought he would be able to fall asleep easily after the busy day. However, as he rolled around in bed, he realized that he was not tired at all.


    Without him knowing it, the sky started to light up.


    Lu Zhou’s rm went off, and he just realized that he did not sleep all night.


    Actually, Lu Zhou did not know that he was not the only one who stayed up all night.


    Many people were like him.


    The reason had to be traced back a few hours ago.


    In the early hours of Washington time, the head office of Umicore in Brussels, Belgium, suddenly disclosed a $400 million USD patent cooperation n on its official website.


    This news disturbed the dreams of many investors.


    Although the media had repeatedly reported on “major research results” in the field of lithium anode material, not a single chemicalpany had begun industrializing lithium anode materials yet.


    This time, Umicore suddenly took the lead to obtain the anode material patent license.


    The sensitive stock market reacted immediately.


    This day finally came.


    ...


    MRS was still going on the next day. Lu Zhou was still sleeping in bed, but the conference continued.


    However, a few hundred miles away from Boston, Wall Street was going crazy over the lithium battery sector.


    Almost all of thepanies involved in lithium batteries had a few points increased on their stocks.


    This situation was not only contained in the lithium battery industry. It even affected the futures market of lithium materials.


    Lu Zhou underestimated the market’s enthusiasm for lithium batteries and the influence of Umicore.


    When it came to market value and fame, Umicore could notpare to the likes of BYD, Sony, and Panasonic. Much rather less the $100 billion USD techpanies like Samsung and Apple.


    However, in terms of influence, these chemical giants with hundreds of years of history were not inferior to them.


    The reason was simple.


    Te was created in five years. Apple or Microsoft was created in 20. However, if their technology fell behind, they could easily be reced by a new high-techpany.


    However, for those enterprises upstream of the industrial chain, even though their prospects were rtively small, their risks were also rtively small.


    After all, no matter what kind of technologies were invented, there would always be a demand for chemical raw materials.


    However, Lu Zhou had nothing to do with the capital markets.


    At least for now, he did not have the energy to pay attention to it.


    Lu Zhou slept until the afternoon. When he woke up and looked at his phone, he saw numerous missed calls.


    There were calls from Professor Chirik, from China, and some unknown callers.


    Just as Lu Zhou was contemting which he should call back first, another phone call came through.


    Lu Zhou picked up and ced his phone next to his ear.


    “Hello?”


    “It’s me.”


    Lu Zhou instantly recognized the familiar voice, but he asked in an uncertain tone, “Professor Li?”


    Laughter traveled through the phone.


    “Haha, it seems that you haven’t forgotten me yet.”


    Lu Zhou smiled and said, “How could I forget? Did you change your phone number?”


    Lu Zhou could never forget Professor Li. If it was not for him, he would not have finished his system mission back then. It was an unknown number so he did not know what was going on.


    Professor Li smiled and said, “I didn’t change numbers. I’m on a business trip so I’m using a temporary number.”


    “Business trip?” said Lu Zhou. He had a weird expression on as he asked, “You’re not in Boston, right?”


    “Of course I’m in Boston, I even listened to your report yesterday. It was quite wonderful,” said Professor Li. He then teased, “How was it? Partying all nightst night? Did you rest well?”


    Lu Zhou coughed and said, “What do you mean partying? I went to bedst night... I just can’t fall asleep. Oh yeah, where are you now?”


    Professor Li smiled and said, “I’m downstairs sitting in the hotel lobby. It’s almost dinner time. If you’re free, let’s grab dinner together. If you’re still tired, we can meet up tomorrow.”


    Lu Zhou smiled and said, “Of course I’m free, I’lle down right now.”