Chapter 311: Zhou Andong's Technology Year One

Hefei, Room 708 of the Liyuan Hotel, Zhou Andong, Gu Bing, Lao Meng, and Lao Sun were drinking tea and chatting around a small table.

Two more people were sitting on the bed next to them. One was the tall and big Song Mao. Because there were no flights from Coconut City to Hefei today, this guy drove all night to Nanning to catch a flight and had just arrived.

The other was not tall, fat with a round face, small eyes, and looked very festive. This guy was Xiao Liuzi, whose real name was Zheng Xiyuan.

"Mr. Meng, General Manager Sun!" Zhou Andong picked up the teapot and refilled Lao Meng's tea. "Since you have already decided, you should name a price."

Lao Sun and Lao Meng looked at each other. Seeing Lao Meng nod, Lao Sun said: "200,000 US dollars!"

Zhou Andong frowned but didn't speak.

When Lao Meng saw this, his heart jumped violently, and he hurriedly said: "The price is based on the official exchange rate."

Gu Bing's expression became a bit unpleasant. The product hadn't been developed yet, and they didn't know how the market would react or if consumers would accept it.

More importantly, they didn't value the patent, but when they wanted to buy it, they dared to quote 200,000 US dollars. Even at the official exchange rate, that wasn't a small amount. Wasn't this treating them like suckers?

Gu Bing was about to speak when he heard Zhou Andong say: "I know you are short of money, so forget about the official exchange rate. I'll give you two million. The extra will be considered my donation to your research funds."

Lao Sun and Lao Meng didn't expect Zhou Andong to be so generous, which was equivalent to giving them over a million for free. They didn't refuse because they were truly short of money, and they thanked him repeatedly with gratitude.

Zhou Andong waved his hand and said softly: "On the flight to Hefei, there were two young people, a man and a woman. They were returnees who had studied abroad, and they looked like they were working for foreign companies."

"They were communicating in English the whole time. The flight attendant couldn't understand what they were saying and asked them to use Chinese. But these two people refused very arrogantly."

"They said our country is backward and poor, and the flight attendant couldn't even speak English, and her quality was very poor. If these words came from the mouths of real foreigners, I wouldn't say anything, because that is a fact."

"But these words came from the mouths of our own people, with yellow skin and black eyes, and the tone was so contemptuous and disdainful. This made me very, very angry, and I retorted a few words to them."

"At the same time, I also felt a sense of sorrow in my heart. My magnificent China, with thousands of years of cultural heritage, is actually so despised by the children it raised. In the final analysis, it is because the gap with the West is too large, both in terms of economy and technology."

"On the flight, I thought about it the whole way. If I can buy the technology from General Manager Sun, even if I have to smash the pots and sell the iron, I will develop the product. Let those so-called sea turtle elites see that I, this poor father, can also develop electronic products that overturn the world."

Lao Meng excitedly picked up his teacup: "General Manager Zhou, I won't say anything else. I'll toast you with tea instead of wine."

Lao Sun also raised his teacup: "I have lived abroad for a long time, and I have deep feelings about the arrogance and prejudice of foreigners. General Manager Zhou's words have spoken to my heart. I also toast you with tea instead of wine."

"The world looks down on me, but I laugh; one day I will make you as surprised as Su Qin." Zhou Andong picked up his teacup and clinked it with the two: "Mr. Meng, General Manager Sun, whether we can hold our heads high depends on you."

Gu Bing looked at Lao Meng and Lao Sun, then at Zhou Andong, and cursed in his heart: "This bastard is really good at bluffing. I was the one who got on this pirate ship in the first place, being enslaved by him with all my heart and soul."

"General Manager Zhou, don't worry, we certainly won't let you down." Lao Meng drank the tea in his cup in one gulp, "Moreover, we have already started contacting D disc production lines and are negotiating with more than a dozen audiovisual publishing houses to purchase copyrights."

"D!" Zhou Andong asked a question he already knew the answer to: "Is it an abbreviation for videoptdi?"

Lao Meng nodded: "Correct!"

Zhou Andong asked: "Did you bring the contract?"

Lao Sun smiled and said: "In such a hurry?"

Zhou Andong also smiled: "Not in a hurry, but there are some things that can only be said after signing the contract."

Lao Sun and Lao Meng looked at each other, and both laughed.

"General Manager Zhou, you really don't let go of the eagle until you see the rabbit." Lao Meng smiled and shook his head, taking a document out of the briefcase beside him, "I brought the contract. Take a look; if there are no problems, we'll sign."

Zhou Andong took it and looked through it carefully. Twenty minutes later, he looked up: "No problems."

Lao Meng asked: "Then, shall we sign now?"

"That's fine!" Zhou Andong said: "Sign it!"

Monday, August 24, 1992!

This day is known to later generations as Zhou Andong's technology year one. With superhuman vision and courage, he spent two million to buy the D patent, allowing the Jiangzhou Electronics Factory, later Yuzhou Technology, to grow rapidly into a large multinational technology information enterprise comparable to Sony, Panasonic, Siemens, Samsung, and others.

After signing and pressing his fingerprint, Lao Meng put away the contract: "General Manager Zhou, you can say what you have to say now. My heart has been itching. If you don't say it, I won't be able to sleep tonight."

Zhou Andong laughed, took out a cigarette, and lit one for the two: "Has the price of D been set?"

Lao Meng said: "I discussed it with Lao Sun. Because the research and development investment is not small, and we also need to invest funds for promotion, each unit should be at least four."

Zhou Andong shook his head: "This is a new product. Ordinary people don't know what D is. If you sell it for one, I dare say that apart from similar electronics companies, no one will be interested. You will die very miserably."

When D was first launched on the market, most people were ignorant and skeptical. Some experts even stated bluntly after research that D technology was only a transitional technology, and investing a large amount of funds to develop it was very stupid and wasteful, and that LD technology was completely sufficient. This is also why the state abandoned the plan to build a D player production and development base in Anhui Province.

By early 1994, when Wan Yan began to fully promote the Laser King video disc player, most people did not have much recognition of it. Only a few people were concerned, but they doubted the standardization and software supply of the product. It can be said that this thing was too advanced and could be called "high-brow and low-popular," which also buried greater hidden dangers for Wan Yan, which was already in crisis.

Lao Sun frowned and said: "Then what is an appropriate price?"

Zhou Andong lowered his head and lit a cigarette for himself: "It's not a question of how much to price it, but that your positioning of the product is wrong."

"Positioning is wrong?" Lao Meng didn't understand either.

"Correct!" Zhou Andong picked up his teacup and took a sip: "Let's not talk about this first. Let's talk about some functions of D."

Lao Sun and Lao Meng almost couldn't catch their breath. What do you mean "let's not talk about this first"? If you don't talk about it, what else are you going to say? The two were so angry. However, hearing Zhou Andong say "let's talk about some functions of D," their curiosity was piqued again.

"What functions?" The two asked in unison. ===== CHAPTER 312 =====