Chapter 32: Men Die for Wealth, Birds Die for Food

Li Dongling and Gao Peng arrived at the staff dormitory of the Xiyuan Institute of Electronic Engineering—which was, in reality, a typical "tube apartment" building. After asking around along the way, they located the unit where Chen Tao and his wife lived.

Before they could even knock, they heard the sounds of a heated argument inside, followed by a woman’s weeping.

"No salary again! It’s been months! Everyone else gets paid, but you’re the only one who doesn't!"

"If I don’t get paid, the child and I might as well just starve to death!"

"Before, they promised that when the institute finished the new building, we’d get a family unit. And what happened? Everyone else moved in, and then they told you there were no units left!"

Inside, the wife’s crying set the child off as well. The noise left Chen Tao feeling frantic and distressed, yet he had to soothe them. "Tomorrow, I’ll go to the institute leadership and demand our pay. If they don’t pay up, I’m quitting. I’ll go find a job at another company..."

Just as he said this, a knock sounded at the door. Chen Tao opened it, his face etched with irritation, only to see Li Dongling and his companions standing there.

"Professor Liu Youguo recommended us to come see you!"

Upon hearing Liu Youguo’s name, Chen Tao quickly said, "Please, come in, please..."

Li Dongling glanced at the cramped room, which was so packed it was hard to find a place to step, let alone accommodate several people.

"It’s a bit messy; I haven't had a chance to tidy up," Chen Tao said, looking slightly embarrassed.

"Brother Chen, why don’t we go downstairs to talk?"

Hearing the address "Brother," a glimmer of pleasure crossed Chen Tao’s face. "You graduated from Jiaotong University, too?"

Li Dongling nodded. He glanced at Gao Peng behind him, who brought the items they had brought inside. Chen Tao took note of everything.

Once downstairs, Li Dongling and Chen Tao went to a restaurant. Chen Tao grabbed a beer and downed more than half the bottle in one go. Bitterly, he said to Li Dongling, "I’m sorry you had to see that, brother."

Li Dongling clinked his glass against Chen Tao’s. "When I was at Jiaotong, I heard your name all the time. Back then, you were the genius of the university—the idol of every freshman!"

At the mention of this, Chen Tao gave a wry smile. "A hero shouldn't boast of past glory; it’s all in the past now."

Back at Jiaotong, Chen Tao had been showered with adoration. He had been full of ambition, believing he could achieve great things—like the giant Mr. Shi—by developing an epoch-making product and becoming famous overnight.

However, after graduation and joining the Electronic Engineering Institute, he was met with endless cycles of designing and revising. Every time he applied to his supervisors to develop a new product, the response was always that the institute leadership needed to "discuss it," and then there would be no follow-up. The genius from Hanxi Jiaotong was now being worn down until his luster was nearly gone.

"Brother Chen, I’ve come here to invite you to serve as the Technical Director of Dongling High-Tech. We are currently developing two new products, and we need your help."

Chen Tao had finished a bottle of beer, but his mind remained clear. He said with some difficulty, "Brother Li, to be honest, if you had asked me right after I left Jiaotong, I would have helped you in a heartbeat. But now, I’m married with a child, and I’m afraid I can’t move to Pingyang..."

"As long as you are willing to move to Pingyang to lead the R&D, Dongling High-Tech can provide you with a monthly salary of no less than seven thousand yuan, plus bonuses and year-end rewards. Your wife can come with the child, and we are happy to offer her a job as well. In the future, Dongling High-Tech may establish an R&D center in the provincial capital and build staff housing; at that point, you’d be free to return to the capital."

Chen Tao couldn't help but swallow hard. He suspected he might be drunk, yet his mind was perfectly lucid. His current salary was supposedly six hundred yuan, but the institute hadn't paid him in months, citing budget difficulties. Now, Dongling High-Tech was offering him more than ten times his current salary.

"Are you joking?" Chen Tao asked, breathing heavily.

"A gentleman’s word is his bond. Dongling High-Tech can even prepay a month’s salary for you right now."

Faced with the offer and the immediate seven-thousand-yuan advance, Chen Tao didn't hesitate any longer. He went back to the tube apartment and started packing to move to Pingyang with his wife.

It wasn't just Chen Tao; through him, Li Dongling poached seven or eight more veteran technicians from the Xiyuan Institute of Electronic Engineering before heading back to Pingyang.

Another office building next to the Dongling High-Tech company on Changqing Road was leased to serve as the R&D laboratory.

Back in Pingyang, Li Dongling held the first meeting since the company's inception. Attendees included Finance Manager Hu Zixian, Chairman’s Assistant and HR Director Yao Luoying, the new Technical Director Chen Tao, and logistics heads Li Dongshan and Gao Peng.

"For a long time to come, we will all be in the same boat at Dongling High-Tech. I hope this ship sails steadily and that everyone gets what they’re looking for."

Li Dongling looked at the people in the room and then produced two sets of blueprints, handing them out.

"From now on, the most important projects for Dongling High-Tech are to develop a digital cordless phone and a scroll-wheel mouse! All departments and personnel must coordinate to help the Technical Department launch these two products next year, no matter the cost!"

Yao Luoying looked at the blueprints in her hand. She wasn't a professional designer, but she was familiar with mainstream electronic products, and the devices on these blueprints were unlike anything she had ever seen. She didn't know what kind of impact these products would have on the tech industry, but she was amazed by Li Dongling’s design talent. "Chairman, did you design these yourself?"

Li Dongling nodded noncommittally. He had a background in design; wasn't it only natural for him to design these products? It was just a matter of having the hands to do it.

Compared to Yao Luoying, Chen Tao studied the blueprints repeatedly, his shock growing. These designs were highly complete; at the very least, Chen Tao couldn't find any obvious flaws. With these documents, he didn't need to grope in the dark; he only needed to manufacture parts that met the performance specifications, perform debugging, and assemble them.

Whether the digital cordless phone and scroll-wheel mouse designed by Li Dongling would actually work and what their performance would be, Chen Tao couldn't say without seeing the prototypes. But based on the design capability alone, he felt that even among the professors at Jiaotong, there were few who could surpass Li Dongling.

"If we develop both products simultaneously, the Technical Department is short-handed. We need to hire more people and purchase professional experimental equipment."

Hearing this, Li Dongling said, "For manpower, HR will help you recruit. If there aren't enough people in Pingyang, go poach them from the provincial capital! For equipment, make a list. Finance will allocate the budget, and the Logistics Department’s procurement office will handle the purchases. If it’s not available domestically, buy it from abroad!"

Li Dongling’s stance was clear: spare no cost to ensure these two products were launched next year.

As constant streams of manpower, resources, and capital were poured in, Dongling High-Tech roared to life like a fueled war machine. Various R&D equipment was continuously moved into the lab, and the technical team swelled to over seventy people, with numbers still rising.

Li Dongling spent his time shuttling between the component factory and Dongling High-Tech. The satellite dish business was currently providing cash flow, so he couldn't abandon that project either. Four months had passed since he returned to Pingyang, and there was only a little over a month left until the New Year.

Today was the day for dividends from the satellite dish project and payday for the component factory staff. When Li Dongling arrived, he could feel the jubilant atmosphere permeating the entire factory.

"This is the sales report for the component factory. This month, we sold a total of 210,000 satellite dishes, including 70,000 pre-orders, for a total sales volume of 63 million yuan..."

In the conference room, Zhang Ao, representing the Sales Department, reported the figures. Currently, the Guanxing brand satellite dishes were selling faster than they could be produced, leading to scenarios where they were pre-sold and shipped the following month.

"Finance Department, make sure the payroll and bonuses are audited today. They must be distributed by the end of the workday!"

Zhang Xiaocheng said to the head of the Finance Department. He seemed to be in a good mood, but once everyone else had left and only he and Li Dongling remained, his expression changed abruptly.

Slamming his cup down on the table, Zhang Xiaocheng said angrily, "Someone from the municipal government came to tell me today that other companies in Pingyang will be launching satellite dishes next month. I didn't expect that before outsiders could come to smash our rice bowl, our own people would be the ones grabbing it!"

Li Dongling was stunned for a moment, but he wasn't particularly surprised, and he certainly wasn't angry. The Guanxing satellite dishes had been on the market for three months; it was no surprise that competitors had emerged—even if the first wave of competitors was backed by the Pingyang municipal government.

"Now, the most important thing is to increase capacity. Let Zhang Ao and the others go to the southern provinces to open up new markets and sell the dishes there," Li Dongling said. He felt there was one last wave of craziness left for the satellite dish market—perhaps another three months of strong sales—before the industry would change completely.

"I suppose that’s the only way," Zhang Xiaocheng said, clearly unwilling, but he could only sigh.

Li Dongling stayed at the component factory until the evening. There were accounts and dividends for Dongling High-Tech and the factory to reconcile, all requiring his signature.

After finishing, Li Dongling got into his car, driven by Yang Zhigao, and returned to his residence. The courtyards behind Dongling High-Tech had been renovated, and that was where he lived.

Entering the four-room courtyard, it looked no different from any other residential home in Pingyang from the outside. Inside, however, it was much tidier. In the middle of the courtyard stood a ginkgo tree that had been there for years, and in the corner was a pomegranate tree. The rest of the space was filled with simple, antique-style tables, chairs, and ornaments—old items Gao Peng had bought. Li Dongling hadn't bothered to research if they were genuine antiques.

The courtyard had a master bedroom and a guest room, along with a full kitchen and bathroom. What Li Dongling appreciated most was the water heater they had bought from out of town, allowing him to take hot showers in the winter.

Commercial housing wasn't widespread yet, and taking a hot shower in winter wasn't an easy feat.

Inside, Li Dongling put down his jacket. The house was fully equipped with a telephone, air conditioner, TV, refrigerator, washing machine, radio, and an Aiwa desktop stereo system.

Li Dongling sat down and fiddled with his computer. It wasn't connected to the internet yet, so he couldn't browse or chat. Even in this day and age, there were few websites, forums, or chat rooms to visit, and many people simply went to overseas forums to post.

As he toyed with the computer, he suddenly thought about creating a website—a place for internet pioneers to hang out and blow off steam. He could join in the fun, too; otherwise, the life of the domestic internet would be far too dull.

Of course, he couldn't expect to make much money from such a site right now. On the other side of the Pacific, the concept of the "Information Superhighway" had only just been proposed. The winds of the internet hadn't even blown from the west yet, so they certainly hadn't reached the east.

Knowing that the satellite dish market would undergo a drastic change and that the super-profits of the past would soon be impossible, Li Dongling shifted more of his attention to the new projects at Dongling High-Tech.