Chapter 337: A Way Out

When the car drove out of Xiangjiang Garden, Yang Jun and several sales department supervisors were still waving from afar. A big gold master like Li Dongling and Dongling High-Tech might not be encountered in a few years. This order basically completed their annual performance.

And in the car driving toward a golf course in Yanjing, Li Dongling said to Guo Jingyun, "Dongling High-Tech needs to hoard enough land in Yanjing!"

Guo Jingyun was now the supervisor with the highest authority for Dongling High-Tech in Yanjing. Not only did he need to handle Tianya Net's affairs, but some of Dongling High-Tech's affairs in Yanjing naturally fell on him.

"Still hoarding land?"

Guo Jingyun couldn't help but ask in surprise, "Currently, Dongling High-Tech is already the tech company that hoards the most land in Yanjing, buying more land than Sitong, Lenovo, Founder, and other companies combined!"

"Tianya Net has already acquired two buildings in Zhongguancun and hoarded quite a bit of undeveloped land. If we keep buying, we'll almost buy out Zhongguancun!"

Buying out Zhongguancun was of course impossible, but Tianya Net, which represented Dongling High-Tech's internet department, had indeed bought quite a bit of land in Zhongguancun at cabbage prices.

Now the internet hadn't risen yet. Although companies like Founder and Lenovo were all in Zhongguancun, they hadn't completely brought Zhongguancun to fly yet. It would have to wait until the arrival of the internet era, the appearance of companies like Baidu, Sohu, and NetEase, for Zhongguancun to completely take off.

In later generations, Zhongguancun gave birth to dozens of new companies, big and small, every day. Of course, more collapsed, but the entire Zhongguancun gathered over 30,000 tech companies, with over 400 listed companies, and a quarter of Yanjing's GDP was related to here.

Now domestic companies didn't have the habit of hoarding land and buying buildings, so Tianya Net appeared a bit special. In the tech industry, it was still "unknown," but in buying land and buildings, it was quite active.

A large part of the funding Dongling High-Tech allocated to Tianya Net was used for buying land. This led to people in Zhongguancun, when mentioning Tianya Net, having the first impression that Tianya Net was a landlord, and quite a few small companies were now renting in Tianya Net's office buildings.

Guo Jingyun was a bit hesitant. If they kept buying, he felt that Tianya Net would almost become a real estate developer in Yanjing!

Li Dongling glanced at Guo Jingyun. "It's not enough. Not only do we need to buy in Zhongguancun, but we also need to buy land in other areas of Yanjing for projects like Oriental Garden's employee community residences in Yanjing and Oriental Era Malls!"

Looking at Guo Jingyun's distressed expression, Li Dongling shook his head. When the internet era arrived, and other companies were crying and howling because they lost money, and Tianya Net could survive by collecting rent, and could recruit top talent with a house and a Yanjing household registration, Guo Jingyun would understand why Li Dongling bought so many buildings and so much land.

Boss Zhang of Sohu, who sang "Dear, That's Not Love," even if Sohu had declined, could still survive by relying on several buildings worth 7 billion, without worrying about going bankrupt suddenly one day.

This was also the reason why Boss Zhang, who appeared exhausted every time he appeared on camera, looking like he would fall asleep the next second, still stubbornly promoted his four-hour sleep theory, had the confidence. He taught physics to the whole internet every day, which was really what he liked. Other live-streaming hosts might be after your wallet, but Boss Zhang, he really just wanted to teach you physics...

The early internet era was very money-burning. Not only the domestic internet, but the global internet in the early stages didn't make money. Only in the smartphone era did the internet end the money-burning era and start making a profit. There was a period of about ten years in between.

With hoarded land and buildings, Tianya Net didn't need to look at investors' faces, and Dongling High-Tech headquarters didn't need to spend money regardless of cost to support Tianya Net. It could survive by collecting rent from buildings and land!

When competing with other opponents, Tianya Net naturally had confidence. At worst, it could just sell a few more pieces of land in Yanjing's Third Ring Road and collect rent from a few more buildings. Perhaps the opponents were even renting Tianya Net's office building...

Li Dongling certainly didn't intend to turn Dongling High-Tech into a real estate developer, but besides leaving a way out for Tianya Net, Li Dongling also needed to consider the employees working for Dongling High-Tech. They also needed to eat and have a place to live for their families.

As for other companies, Li Dongling didn't comment, but whether it was employees in Pingyang, Yanjing, Pengcheng, Shanghai, or other places, Li Dongling didn't hope they spent four or five hours every day on the road commuting, and then most of their monthly salary went to working for the landlord.

"I understand!"

Guo Jingyun nodded and said, biting the bullet. The era of real estate frenzy hadn't arrived yet, and Yanjing land wasn't expensive. What he needed to consider was how to get more land, and how to develop it later, etc.

"Bang!"

On a golf course in Yanjing, a golf ball flew high. A man in his mid-thirties with an arrogant look on his face hit the golf ball hard, then said to Duan Yongji to the side with some annoyance, "Now the planes are too unpunctual!"

"Today's flight is delayed again. I don't know when it will be able to take off. If this delays that 5 million US dollar order I have in America, I'll fight the airline to the end!"

"Calm down!"

"Aren't flights all like this now? If you want to be punctual, you can only take your own private jet. Brother Zhang, since you're here, hit a few balls to relax. Today I'm introducing a friend to you!"

Upon hearing Duan Yongji mention private jets, the man clearly fell into deep thought. Seeing this, Duan Yongji couldn't help but be surprised. "Brother Zhang, you aren't really planning to buy a private jet, are you?"

"Why not!"

Zhang Yue's face carried arrogance. "Now that flights are so unpunctual, if I have a private jet, then I won't have to suffer the airline's attitude when traveling. I'll buy one when I go to America this time!"

Duan Yongji knew that Zhang Yue before him always did what he said, but he still couldn't help but advise, "There's no one in the country who has bought a private jet yet. Brother Zhang should consider it more. It might be too high-profile, and the media will probably have quite a bit of public opinion!"

"Since no one in the country has, I'll be the one to eat this first crab!" Zhang Yue had a posture of "if not me, who?"

Duan Yongji looked at Zhang Yue, knowing he had already made up his mind. He knew that whatever he said would probably be useless, so he could only shake his head helplessly.

"Duan Zong, who are we meeting today?"

Zhang Yue looked at the grand Duan Yongji and couldn't help but ask. He rarely saw Duan Yongji make such a big splash.

"I think Brother Zhang will definitely be able to talk to him. You are both earning foreigners' money!"

Saying this, Duan Yongji handed a newspaper in his hand to Zhang Yue. After Zhang Yue picked it up, he saw it was the Yanjing Business Daily, and today, the headline on the front page was, "Founder Group will complete its Hong Kong IPO in December this year!"

Zhang Yue looked up at Duan Yongji and continued reading. The first half of the report was basically an official announcement, telling the outside world that Founder was going public this year. But one sentence in the second half of the report made Zhang Yue's eyes shrink.

"Our newspaper learned from Founder Group that Dongling High-Tech Hong Kong Company will subscribe to 17.8 million issued shares of Founder at Founder's issue price. At that time, Dongling High-Tech Hong Kong Company will become Founder's third-largest shareholder."

"Founder Group claims that it has reached a comprehensive cooperative relationship with Dongling High-Tech. Manager Song Zhiliang of Founder Group's parent company, Yan University Asset Management Company, also confirmed to our newspaper that Yan University has confirmed to join the Hanxi Joint Laboratory established by Dongling High-Tech, becoming the fifth university to join the laboratory."

"Some people in the domestic academic circle have already called the Hanxi Joint Laboratory the Bell Laboratory of the East!"

When he saw Dongling High-Tech, the arrogant look on Zhang Yue's face changed slightly. He looked up and asked Duan Yongji, "The person coming today is... the founder of Dongling High-Tech, Li Dongling?"

Duan Yongji nodded heavily. Just as he was speaking, Duan Yongji saw two golf carts coming over. Seeing this, Duan Yongji also stood up.

When he saw Li Dongling on the first golf cart, Duan Yongji showed a smile, but when he saw the person on the second cart, Duan Yongji's smile became a bit stiff.

But as an old fox in Zhongguancun who played office politics with ease, Duan Yongji, who was famous for being able to bend and stretch, quickly readjusted his mindset.

"Li Zong, welcome!"

Duan Yongji reached out to Li Dongling. Looking at Li Dongling before him, Duan Yongji couldn't help but feel a bit of emotion in his heart. If Sitong had incorporated Dongling High-Tech back then, what would Sitong become today?

"This is Zhang Yue, Zhang Zong of Yuanda Air Conditioning. He also happens to be here today. Just like you, Li Zong, Yuanda's electricity-free air conditioning has been sold to America, old Europe, and other places!"

Duan Yongji introduced Li Dongling and Zhang Yue. Li Dongling and Zhang Yue also sized each other up. Zhang Yue, who was always arrogant and acted high-profile or even a bit crazy in the eyes of outsiders, was actually quite friendly when facing Li Dongling.

Li Dongling looked at Zhang Yue before him. The Zhang Yue of later generations was very low-key and hadn't appeared in the media for many years, so much so that after leaving Xiangnan Province, not many people had heard of this brand.

But at this time, Zhang Yue acted very high-profile, said quite a few crazy words, and did quite a few crazy things, buying seven private jets in a row.

"This one, Duan Zong must be more familiar with than me, so I don't need to introduce him. We just happened to run into each other, let's hit a few balls together!"

Li Dongling also pointed to one of the people who came with him and said to Duan Yongji.

"Old Duan, long time no see!"

Wang Jizhi took the lead and spoke to Duan Yongji. Wang Jizhi was the former chief engineer of Sitong Group. The 2401 printer that Sitong sold well back then was developed under his leadership. He was an out-and-out technical old cannon in the domestic tech industry.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 338 =====