Chapter 22

Upon hearing Xu Yongjin’s words, the meeting room of Wireless Factory One erupted in chaos—they were drowning in debt, unable to even pay salaries, yet the Yuanqi Factory had made so much money last month; it was simply unbearable to accept.

In Liu Jiande’s mind, only a few phrases kept echoing back and forth: Wireless Factory One had provided technical support to the Guanzhen Yuanqi Factory, and last month, the Yuanqi Factory made nine million yuan in profit!

Liu Jiande wasn’t yet sure whether this had anything to do with Li Dongling, Zhou Wenyang, and the others, but his scalp was prickling with dread—he vaguely felt he had just made a colossal mistake.

“Being able to help the Guanzhen Yuanqi Factory through its crisis proves our technology is flawless—we must resume production as soon as possible, so as not to disappoint Mayor Luo and city leadership. Jiande, your responsibilities are immense—you oversee both Production and Technical Departments…”

Xu Yongjin remained optimistic about Wireless Factory One; after all, just sending a few technicians had revived the Yuanqi Factory, earning nine million yuan in a single month. If they could save others so effectively, surely saving themselves would be effortless—just a slight effort, and they could easily earn tens of millions in a month!

So just now, although Xu Yongjin had harbored some doubts about Liu Jiande, he hadn’t thought much of it—after all, which company would give away its top-tier technicians for free, with no payment?

Who in their right mind could comprehend a company that would fire its core technical staff, then deliberately crash its servers, rendering its programs inoperable, losing millions of orders and billions in turnover within hours? Was that even something a normal carbon-based lifeform could do?!

Xu Yongjin felt that if he could guide Wireless Factory One through this crisis, he himself could retire peacefully, respected and honored, with glory to spare.

Liu Jiande wandered back to his office in a daze, not remembering how he got there or what Xu Yongjin had just said.

Regaining his composure, Liu Jiande immediately summoned people to begin arranging things—he had to shift all blame onto Xu Yiqiao. It was Xu Yiqiao who fired Li Dongling, Zhou Wenyang, and the other technicians; it was Xu Yiqiao who missed the satellite dish project; it was Xu Yiqiao who delayed the color TV production line—none of it had anything to do with Liu Jiande.

Before the truth came out, Liu Jiande had to expose Xu Yiqiao’s countless crimes with righteous indignation—he would declare Xu Yiqiao the true culprit behind Wireless Factory One’s downfall, while he himself was merely deceived.

Xu Yiqiao, frantically tinkering with the newly delivered equipment in the workshop alongside technicians, suddenly sneezed—he’d been working day and night to debug the machinery, yet problems kept piling up; they’d barely managed to start trial production on one unit, but the output was completely unsatisfactory.

The equipment supplier had indeed sent technicians to assist, but these men showed no urgency—they clocked out on time, since their trip counted as a business assignment with subsidies paid by Xicheng Wireless Factory One. Why rush? They’d rather prolong repairs for weeks—if they couldn’t fix it, they’d just walk away.

As for the technicians Wireless Factory One had previously sent for training, hardly any were from the Technical Department—most were from other offices who’d come just for the trip and the subsidies, and now they’d vanished entirely.

At this moment, Xu Yiqiao began to miss the good old Huangniu, Zhou Wenyang. When Zhou Wenyang was around, Xu Yiqiao didn’t need to worry about technical issues—he’d simply hand the burden over, and Huangniu would plow the field without needing a whip, never requiring his attention, yet the credit still went to Xu Yiqiao!

But now, Zhou Wenyang had been fired, and Xu Yiqiao had to handle all the grueling work himself. Looking at his oil-stained body, he grew furious, glancing toward the other old Huangniu—Song Yajun, who had once dismissed Li Dongling as too young and inexperienced when Li proposed the mini personal radio.

“Old Song, I don’t care what method you use—fix the production line by tomorrow. If production is delayed, you take full responsibility. No bonus this year, and forget about your son replacing you in the factory—you’ll be fired yourself!”

Song Yajun, crouched beneath the production line, inspecting wiring, his body filthy beyond recognition, heard Xu Yiqiao’s words and his face grew even more grim.

In the past, the top Huangniu of the Technical Department had stood in front of Song Yajun; now that Zhou Wenyang was gone, Song Yajun truly realized Xu Yiqiao was a bastard.

But he dared not curse—Song Yajun still hoped his son could replace him in the factory; cursing Xu Yiqiao would ruin everything.

“Hongying, thank you!”

In the dormitory building, Qin Fang, pale and exhausted, accepted the five hundred yuan from Wei Hongying and thanked her.

“Qin Jie, why are you being so formal with me?”

Wei Hongying said casually, taking a bite of a large apple—this apple, too, had been distributed by the Yuanqi Factory; with rising profits, benefits had improved—fruits, autumn-winter uniforms, labor protection gear, all now being issued. She’d even heard that next month, Yuanqi Factory workers could buy satellite dishes at a 40% discount for family use.

It was practically a gift—current factory prices for satellite dishes were over three hundred yuan; buying at 40% off meant no loss whether used at home or resold immediately outside the factory gate.

Crunching loudly on the apple, Wei Hongying noticed Qin Fang’s pale face. “Qin Jie, how’s things at your place?”

“It’s fine.”

Watching Qin Fang force a smile, Wei Hongying sighed inwardly—she knew Qin Fang was struggling. Wei Hongying and Wei Qiang were relatives, from the same town, distantly related; after Wei Qiang’s accident, she’d helped Qin Fang considerably.

Though related, Wei Hongying couldn’t speak well of Wei Qiang—he loved drinking and gambling, frequently quarreling with Qin Fang; this accident happened because he was drunk while delivering goods.

After Wei Qiang’s death, he left behind a mess—his younger siblings’ living expenses and tuition now depended entirely on Qin Fang.

Meanwhile, Qin Fang’s parents’ side: her mother was bedridden and required constant medical care, needing Qin Fang’s financial support; her brother was a wastrel who never helped—everything fell on Qin Fang’s shoulders.

“Qin Jie,” Wei Hongying finished the apple in a few bites and said, “We don’t know how long Wireless Factory One will remain idle, and whether you’ll even get Wei Qiang’s position. Why not go to the Guanzhen Yuanqi Factory? If you do well there, you can earn five or six hundred yuan a month!”

Qin Fang’s heart stirred at this, then she heard Wei Hongying whisper mysteriously, “Qin Jie, I’ll tell you—over at the Yuanqi Factory, Brother Li has absolute authority. I heard the satellite dish project was his idea—he’s even a shareholder. If you go, ask Brother Li to arrange a good position for you…”

“Li Dongling?!”

Hearing Wei Hongying’s last words, Qin Fang’s face turned instantly pale.

Wei Hongying glanced at Qin Fang curiously, then suddenly understood. “You’re still worried about that day? I think if you just explain things clearly, Brother Li won’t hold a grudge.”

“I’ll think about it,” Qin Fang said, shaking her head. She wanted to work at the Yuanqi Factory, yet she worried—even though she’d changed her mind at the last moment, facing Li Dongling still made her feel guilty.

“Another pile of requests—how many people have come asking for favors these days?!”

“Even the Water Authority has someone asking for favors!”

Inside the Yuanqi Factory, Zhang Xiao held a stack of requests and slammed them on the table—these were issued either by the Guanzhen Town Government Office or various departments of Pingyang City.

Li Dongling picked up a few requests and read them—each one read, “Please coordinate the allocation of X number of satellite receivers, kindly grant to Company X or Person X,” with official seals beneath.

These requests came from well-connected individuals who’d gotten approvals from the Commerce and Industry Bureau, municipal tax, finance, justice, fire, and power departments. Each request only asked for five or six hundred satellite dishes, but with so many piled together, the total reached five or six thousand—reselling them at a markup could net twenty or thirty thousand yuan.

Li Dongling looked at the pile and chuckled—the people doing this were clearly shrewd, just trying to make a quick side profit, exploiting the shortage of satellite dish production and dealers’ eagerness to secure early delivery; by using these requests to get priority access, they could resell and make a fortune.

And to quarrel with departments or units that directly managed or influenced the Yuanqi Factory over just a few satellite dishes would be utterly foolish—Zhang Xiao would ultimately have no choice but to release the goods.