Chapter 5: The Road is Uneven

A Suzuki 100 motorcycle now sells for over six thousand yuan, enough to buy two color televisions. Aside from business owners and those who need one for work, young people like Zhang Ao buy them primarily to show off or to pick up women. This is the main reason young people covet them.

The No. 1 Radio Factory is located in the west of Pingyang City, while the fertilizer plant is in the east. Most domestic cities at this time do not have large populations; Pingyang City has a total of over 3.4 million people, but only four or five hundred thousand live in the urban area, with the rest living in towns and villages.

In this day and age, no one pays much attention to urban planning. Whether it is light industries like electronics, textiles, and clothing, or heavy industries like the fertilizer and steel plants, they are all located within the city proper. These state-owned enterprises essentially provide the vast majority of jobs in Pingyang.

After leaving the No. 1 Radio Factory in the west, Li Dongling entered the city's main thoroughfare. The municipal office building is on this road, and the street behind it is the busiest in the city, housing the Pingyang Department Store, the post office, and the television tower. The buildings on this street—be it the supply and marketing cooperatives, the best hotel in the city (the Cadre Hostel), or the Pingyang Hotel—are all low-rise, bearing the distinct architectural style of the era.

Upon entering the east side of the city, the atmosphere is noticeably rougher and the air dustier. Before heading to the steel plant, Li Dongling bought some cigarettes, alcohol, and meat.

"Find Li Dongshan!"

When he reached the gate of the steel plant, Li Dongling lit a cigarette, then tossed the remaining half-pack to the guard. The guard glanced at the pack, slipped it into his pocket without a word, and headed inside.

"Dongling? Why are you here?!"

Li Dongling was waiting by his bicycle when a deep, resonant voice rang out. Li Dongshan’s tall figure appeared before him, his eyes filled with joy and a hint of surprise.

"Big brother!"

Seeing Li Dongshan, Li Dongling stood up. Looking at his brother, who was still tall and stood with a straight back, his eyes grew moist. It seems that height runs in the Li family; Li Dongling is nearly 1.8 meters tall, Li Dongshan is half a head taller, and their younger sister, Li Dongyue, is nearly 1.7 meters tall.

"Why didn't you let me know you were coming back? I would have picked you up!"

The honest Li Dongshan wiped his calloused hands on his dust-covered trousers. "Have you eaten? Let’s go, I’ll take you out for a meal!"

Li Dongling looked at his brother. When he and Dongyue were in university, their living expenses were earned by Li Dongshan working as a temporary laborer at this very steel plant. But because he worked here for so long, he eventually developed lung disease, his back hunched over, and he suffered from coughing fits all night long, eventually becoming skin and bones.

Li Dongshan tugged at him. Seeing that Li Dongling didn't move, he looked at him with confusion. "Is something the matter, Dongling?"

Upon hearing that Li Dongling had returned to Pingyang, Li Dongshan squatted by the roadside, puffing heavily on a roll-up cigarette. After a moment, he said in a muffled voice, "Dad wanted you to go to the provincial capital, or to big cities like Yanjing!"

"I can go to those places later!" Li Dongling smiled.

"It’s not the same!" Li Dongshan kept his voice low, then sighed. "Well, you're back now, but it won't be easy to explain to Dad!"

"How are things with you and your sister-in-law?" Li Dongling knew that at this time, Li Dongshan had been fond of a girl, but it was delayed; he had given all his earnings to Li Dongling and Dongyue, missing his own chance. The woman he eventually married was not a good match, and they fought constantly.

Mentioning this, the sturdy, honest man lowered his head. After a long pause, he said, "She left. She had relatives in another city who helped her transfer her job there."

"When the time comes, I'll help you bring her back," Li Dongling said after a moment of silence.

Li Dongshan shook his head, lost in thought. The two brothers spoke for a while by the roadside. In the end, Li Dongshan refused to take the cigarettes, alcohol, and meat, returning to the steel plant to finish his shift.

Only after Li Dongshan was out of sight did Li Dongling ride his bicycle back toward the No. 1 Radio Factory.

The next morning, the technical department staff arrived early. Li Dongling looked at the sixty or seventy people in the office; they were unusually quiet, clearly having heard rumors.

Xu Yiqiao gathered the department in a large conference room. He called the roll, and seeing everyone present, his sagging face relaxed slightly.

"The factory leadership is very dissatisfied with our technical department. Sales of Feiyan radios and televisions have plummeted. Last month, we sold fewer than six hundred radios, and television sales were even lower; the warehouse is almost full! If this continues, we won't even be able to pay the raw material suppliers, let alone your salaries. The sales department claims our products are outdated and unsellable—that it’s our fault."

As soon as Xu Yiqiao finished, the room erupted.

"Which bastard in sales said that? I’ll tear their mouth off! If they dare to deduct a single cent from next month’s wages or bonuses, I’ll fight them to the death!"

"How can they blame us? The factory won't invest in a color TV production line. Are we supposed to conjure one up by hand?"

"If they can't sell, it's the sales department's incompetence! Don't blame the road if you can't drive, or the wife if you can't have children—why don't they look at themselves?"

The cursing was incessant. Xu Yiqiao was overwhelmed, especially by the women, who were infuriated by the threat of pay cuts and threatened to storm the sales department. It took a long time for Xu Yiqiao to restore order. "The leadership is reasonable; they haven't blamed the technical department entirely, but… the factory has decided to upgrade our products. As the technical department, they want our input on what our next new product should be."

The staff breathed a sigh of relief, though they soon began arguing excitedly.

"It has to be color TVs. They’re selling like hotcakes. If we had bought a production line two years ago, we wouldn't be any worse than Changhong, Haier, Hisense, Huanghe, Jinxing, or Mudan!"

"I think it should be refrigerators or air conditioners. Those are hard currency right now; whatever we produce will be snapped up. You all know about Chunlan—they made over five billion last year, and I hear they're even starting to produce motorcycles now!"

"Produce air conditioners? Can you compete with Chunlan? Changling is only two streets away from us!"

The person who suggested refrigerators and air conditioners was silenced. It wasn't just the No. 1 Radio Factory; even the radio electronics factories in the provincial capital were wary of competing with the local giant, Changling, and were reluctant to enter the appliance market.

"Wenyuan, what is your opinion?"

At this critical moment, Xu Yiqiao turned to Zhou Wenyuan. Usually, Xu Yiqiao "ignored" Zhou Wenyuan when it came to benefits and perks, even though he relied on him for the hard work. But in a pinch, he knew who the truly capable person in the department was.

"I also believe we should focus on color TVs. We have experience in television production. Entering other fields now would be too risky, as we’d be starting from scratch. Actually, I’ve been researching the color TV sector, looking at production line data from Japan, Italy, and Germany. From a technical and cost perspective, I think we should…"

"Enough, that’s enough," Xu Yiqiao interrupted. "The leadership is asking for our opinion out of respect, not for you to decide which production line to buy or where to get it from. That is for the leadership to decide; you don't need to worry about that. I will relay your opinion to them."

Zhou Wenyuan shut his mouth, looking embarrassed. Seeing him reprimanded, many in the department gloated, knowing he had been trying to show off.

Seeing that the consensus was to buy a color TV production line, Xu Yiqiao reached a decision, but remembering Li Dongling, who had recently joined the department, he decided to ask him as well.

"Li Dongling, what do you think? You’re a top graduate from Hanxi Jiaotong University. What do you think our new product should be?"

Xu Yiqiao asked as a formality, not expecting much, but Li Dongling's response left him stunned.

"I believe we should continue to produce radios, but transition from home radios to personal portable radios, and also…"

Before Li Dongling could finish, the room burst into stifled laughter. Li Dongling remained calm, simply swallowing the words "car radios" that were on the tip of his tongue.