[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-reborn-starting-from-1993":3,"chapter-reborn-starting-from-1993-reborn-starting-from-1993-chapter-10":6},{"origin":4,"title":5},"chinese","Reborn Starting from 1993",{"chapter":7,"nextChapterSlug":19,"prevChapterSlug":20,"totalChapters":21,"novelImage":22},{"id":8,"novel_id":9,"title":10,"slug":11,"index":12,"content":13,"wordcount":14,"created_at":15,"updated_at":15,"volume":16,"translator":17,"content_hash":18},2356994,4611,"Chapter 10","reborn-starting-from-1993-chapter-10",10,"\u003Cp>“Satellite dish?!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Zhang Xiao looked at Li Dongling’s expression and sensed he wasn’t joking; moreover, Li Dongling’s reputation as a graduate of Hanxi Jiaotong University was still highly respected—some might dismiss it, but in society at large, most people held such an academic credential in high regard.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“A satellite TV receiver works just like a regular TV antenna—it provides signals to the television—but it receives satellite channels instead!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Listening to Li Dongling, Zhang Xiao couldn’t help but look upward; even though he was a rough soldier who’d been assigned here as factory director after retirement, hearing about something so advanced as a satellite made him instinctively respectful, his ears straining to catch every word.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“If you don’t install cable TV and rely only on ordinary TV antennas, you can only pick up two or three channels—CCTV, provincial, and municipal stations; in towns and villages, even fewer; on the mountains, you might get no signal at all!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“But with a satellite dish, you can directly receive satellite channels—over fifteen, including CCTV-1, CCTV-2, Yunnan-Guizhou Satellite TV—and more provincial and municipal channels will join the satellite feed in the future; one satellite dish can receive over fifty channels, even more!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Most importantly, you only pay once—for installation and equipment—and never again after that!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Now, nationwide, there are over eighty million Guangcai TV subscribers; in Pingyang alone, TV users are nearing 850,000—how many of them use cable TV? If we launch satellite dishes, how many would buy them…?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Li Dongling fell silent here, and Zhang Xiao’s throat involuntarily moved—he knew exactly what Li Dongling meant, having installed cable TV from the TV station before.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>If you use the TV station’s cable service, you pay two or three hundred yuan every year—keep paying, or the signal cuts off!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But if the satellite dish truly worked as Li Dongling claimed—with one-time payment and access to so many channels—Zhang Xiao could see that satellite dishes would utterly crush the TV station’s cable service.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This was literally stealing the TV station’s bread, and Zhang Xiao quickly grasped that.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Li Dongling didn’t rush Zhang Xiao; the satellite dish was the one project he could think of that best suited the Shangguan Town Yuanqi Factory—low difficulty, fast results, high profit!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>For Li Dongling, if he could revive the Shangguan Town Yuanqi Factory, it would prove his ability; after leaving Wuxian Factory No. 1, no matter what he did, people would surely support him and help raise funds.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This was an era of grassroots heroes—like Boss Mou and Giant Boss Shi—once you proved yourself, even if you went bankrupt, people still followed you; even an empty sheet of paper could attract countless investors, and absurd projects like blowing up Mount Everest still drew crowds cheering and throwing money.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The satellite dish project was borderline—if Li Dongling did it personally, he’d face trouble, maybe even ruin; but if a state-owned factory did it, even if someone complained, it’d mostly just be verbal battles.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Though the satellite dish was officially banned several times in later years, it remained widespread in rural villages across China; even thirty or forty years later, its domestic ownership numbers were staggering—because it was cheap and reliable; even after being phased out domestically, it was exported to Southeast Asia, Africa, and South America, where it was wildly popular.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>With this project, even if it didn’t last long, it would bring the Shangguan Town Yuanqi Factory a huge short-term profit—but it wouldn’t last, since there was no technical barrier, no brand or patent yet; soon enough, knockoffs and fake brands would flood the market.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“You’re Dongling, right? You can really make this satellite dish?!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After a moment, Zhang Xiao finally made up his mind—he didn’t care about borderline legality or stealing the TV station’s bread; he was nearly starving, he’d rather go to jail than face his creditors—why fear offending anyone?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Yes.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Half a month—mainly because buying materials takes time.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Li Dongling gave Zhang Xiao a firm answer; in reality, with the parts available, he could assemble a satellite dish by hand in just a few days.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“But, Director Zhang, I have a condition.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“The technology and brand for the satellite dish belong to me—I can license them to the Shangguan Town Yuanqi Factory.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“But if sales exceed three thousand units, I want 35% of the profits from all subsequent sales as a licensing fee for brand and technology!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Li Dongling told Zhang Xiao; profit-sharing or equity demands were common in private companies, but far harder in state-owned factories.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>If the Shangguan Town Yuanqi Factory were still profitable, Li Dongling would never have made such a demand—but it was on the verge of collapse; if he saved it, was asking for a little compensation unreasonable?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In today’s China, whether state-owned or private, all companies were feeling their way forward, chaos everywhere—absurd things happened constantly; state-owned factories were routinely handed over to private managers; Li Dongling merely asked for a project cut—it wasn’t excessive at all, though Zhang Xiao would still bear the risk.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Zhang Xiao stared fixedly at Li Dongling; having been on the battlefield, he now radiated a palpable aura of menace—if this were a fraud, the man would already be sweating and trembling—but Li Dongling showed no fear whatsoever.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Though Zhang Xiao didn’t know how many satellite dishes could actually sell, or whether three thousand was even possible, he remained cautious, unwilling to rashly agree to too much.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“10%!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“25%.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After several rounds of bargaining, Li Dongling conceded—he knew the profit margin on satellite dishes could exceed 40% or even 50% in the early stages, but as competition intensified, profits would shrink.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Deal!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Zhang Xiao extended his large hand and gripped Li Dongling’s; a soldier at heart, he acted decisively—once decided, he never hesitated; on the battlefield, the first to die were the indecisive, the bullets seemed to target them—now with no retreat left, Zhang Xiao could only fight to the death.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After reaching an agreement with Zhang Xiao, Li Dongling prepared to draft a contract—he didn’t sign directly with Zhang Xiao, but planned to establish a company, even a shell company, to sign the contract under its name.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It was a precaution; his current status was still a worker at Xicheng Wuxian Factory No. 1—if he didn’t avoid exposure, someone might find a loophole, and he’d face endless trouble; in this era, countless grassroots entrepreneurs had fallen on trivial details, their earnings seized, others profiting while they ended up in prison.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“What raw materials do you need? I’ll send people to buy them now. As for the money,” Zhang Xiao gritted his teeth, “I’m done with my pride—I’ll borrow more from the town. The town mayor is an old comrade—I saved his life when we fought in Jiaozhi; now it’s his turn to pay up!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Li Dongling handed Zhang Xiao a list, then began drafting the design schematics.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Zhou Wenyang, with nothing else to do, came over and saw Li Dongling’s schematics—his eyes lit up; Li Dongling’s years at the Provincial Mechanical Design Bureau hadn’t been wasted; Zhou Wenyang glanced at the drawings and instantly understood Li Dongling’s skill level.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He recalled how, at that technical department meeting, Li Dongling had proposed his personal miniature radio project—he couldn’t help wondering: if they’d followed Li Dongling’s suggestion, what would Wuxian Factory No. 1 be like now?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The satellite dish wasn’t technically complex to begin with, and with Li Dongling’s schematics, anyone with even basic technical knowledge could understand it—let alone Old Yellow Ox Zhou Wenyang.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Receiving antenna, high-frequency head, feed line, satellite receiver, motherboard, main control chip, memory chip…”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Looking it over, Zhou Wenyang realized the most expensive components were probably the motherboard and the two chips.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Looking at the drawings, then at Li Dongling, Zhou Wenyang felt that if he had the parts, he could assemble a satellite dish by hand—so he asked Li Dongling, “Will this actually work?!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Li Dongling glanced at him; most consumer electronics today, aside from computers and phones, weren’t technically difficult—they were all just assembled from parts, with creativity being the real key—“Wait until it’s built, and you’ll see.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Li Dongling handed Zhou Wenyang several sets of schematics, instructing him to first fabricate the antenna dish, high-frequency head, and some other components.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Fifteen ten thousand!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Zhang Xiao returned from Shangguan Town and dumped fifteen ten thousand yuan on the table before Li Dongling—he’d worn out his voice begging.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“If this money runs out and the Yuanqi Factory still isn’t saved, I’ll jump off the building to answer to my creditors!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Li Dongling stared at the pile of cash—enormous for this era; he calculated: with current costs, materials, production, R&D, procurement, and sales, producing the first batch of satellite dishes was feasible.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>For the next few days, Zhang Xiao mostly loitered by the factory gate, anxiously waiting for the motherboards, chips, and equipment to arrive—or hovered around Li Dongling.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Li Dongling wasn’t in a hurry; after finishing his morning work, he went fishing by the river near Shangguan Town—this was one of the few hobbies he’d developed after arriving in the provincial capital in his past life; now he had no proper gear, only a homemade fishing rod and little bait—he decided he’d open a fishing rod factory someday to relieve the suffering of all fishermen.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>To a fisherman, if he catches nothing, there are only two reasons: either the rod is bad, or the bait is too little and didn’t attract fish—never, ever, the technique’s fault.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After fishing for two or three days, Li Dongling caught only a few small fish—he didn’t mind; he believed the big one would bite eventually, though several times he’d seen large fish swim right under his rod…\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Dongling! The materials are here!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Just as another big fish slipped beneath his rod, Li Dongling sighed—it wasn’t his fault, not his skill; the fish had been scared off by Zhang Xiao’s loud voice.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“The chips, motherboards, tools, and materials you asked for—they’ve all arrived!” Zhang Xiao called out from afar.\u003C\u002Fp>",1662,"2026-06-21T04:42:08.057Z",1,"Qwen3-Next 80B","20dd095484cc19692c6beca5c7c9a068b410d9d199e867c57de309f4cf5eea30","reborn-starting-from-1993-chapter-11","reborn-starting-from-1993-chapter-9",989,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Freborn-starting-from-1993-cover.jpg"]