Chapter 5

Now a Suzuki 100 sold for over 6,000 yuan, enough to buy two color TVs. Besides those bosses and people buying it for work purposes, young people like Zhang Ao buying it was basically just to show off, and to pick up girls. This was the main reason young people bought it.

The Wireless Factory No. 1 was in the west of Pingyang City, while the fertilizer plant was in the east. Now, the urban population of most cities in the country wasn't large. Like Pingyang City, it had a total of over 3.4 million people, but only 400,000 or 500,000 lived in the urban area, and the rest mostly lived in towns and villages.

No one cared about urban planning in this era. Whether it was light industries like electronics, textiles, clothing, etc., or heavy industries like fertilizer plants, steel plants, etc., they were all in the urban area. These state-owned factories basically shouldered most of the positions in Pingyang City.

Li Dongling left Xicheng Wireless Factory No. 1 and entered the largest main road in the urban area. The municipal office building was on this road, and the street behind this road was also the busiest street in Pingyang City. The Pingyang Department Store, post office, TV tower, etc., were all on this road.

The buildings on this street, whether it was the supply and marketing cooperative, the cadre reception center which was the best hotel in Pingyang now, or the Pingyang Hotel, etc., were not high and had a distinct era style.

After entering the east of the city, the style here was clearly much rougher than other areas, and there was a lot more dust on the ground. Li Dongling bought some cigarettes, alcohol, and meat before going to the steel plant.

"Looking for Li Dongshan!"

Li Dongling arrived at the entrance of the steel plant, scattered a cigarette, and threw the remaining half pack of cigarettes over. The gatekeeper took a look at the cigarette pack, put it in his pocket without a word, and walked toward the inside of the factory.

"Dongling, why are you here?!"

Li Dongling sat by the bicycle and waited for a while. A thick voice came out, and Li Dongshan's tall figure appeared before Li Dongling's eyes, his eyes full of happiness and carrying a hint of joy.

"Big brother!"

Seeing Li Dongshan, Li Dongling stood up. Looking at Li Dongshan, who was still tall and whose back hadn't hunched yet, his eye sockets couldn't help but turn red.

I don't know if it was because of genetics, but the height of the Li family wasn't low. Li Dongling was about 1.8 meters tall, Li Dongshan was half a head taller than him, and the younger sister Li Dongyue was nearly 1.7 meters tall.

"Why didn't you tell me in advance when you came back? I would have gone to pick 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 to a restaurant!"

Li Dongling looked at Li Dongshan. When he and the younger sister Li Dongyue were in university, their living expenses were basically earned by Li Dongshan working as a temporary worker at this steel plant. But precisely because he worked here for too long, he eventually suffered from lung disease, his back hunched, and he coughed all night long. By the end, he was already skin and bones.

Li Dongshan pulled him, and seeing that Li Dongling didn't move, he couldn't help but look at him suspiciously, "Dongling, is there something wrong?"

Hearing that Li Dongling had returned to Pingyang, Li Dongshan squatted by the side of the road, smoking a cigarette heavily. After a while, he said in a muffled voice, "Dad wanted you to go to the provincial capital, to big cities like Yanjing!"

"You can go to these places in the future!" Li Dongling laughed.

"It's different!"

Li Dongshan still said in a muffled voice, and finally sighed, "Since you're back, you're back. It's not easy for you to explain to Dad!"

"How are you and your sister-in-law?!" Li Dongling knew that at this time, Li Dongshan had his eye on a girl, but it was delayed. The money he earned was all given to him and Li Dongyue, and in the end, he delayed himself. The woman he married later didn't live very well together, and they quarreled constantly.

Mentioning this, this honest and tall man lowered his head between his legs, and after a while, he said, "She left. She had relatives in her family who helped her transfer her work to the neighboring city!"

"When the time comes, just find her and bring her back!" Li Dongling said to Li Dongshan after a moment of silence.

Li Dongshan shook his head, not knowing what he was thinking. Li Dongling and the two of them talked by the roadside for a while. In the end, Li Dongshan still didn't want the cigarettes, alcohol, and meat he brought, and returned to the steel plant to work.

Until he couldn't see Li Dongshan's figure, Li Dongling rode his bicycle back to Xicheng Wireless Factory No. 1.

The next morning, everyone in the Technical Department arrived early. Li Dongling looked at the 60 or 70 people in the office. Everyone didn't speak much today, clearly having heard some wind.

Xu Yiqiao called everyone from the Technical Department into a large conference room. He first took roll call. Hearing that everyone had arrived, his sagging face looked a bit better.

"The factory leadership is very dissatisfied with our Technical Department. Now the sales of Feiyan radios and Feiyan TVs have declined seriously. Last month, fewer than 600 radios were sold, and TV sales were even lower. The warehouse is almost full!

If this continues, even the money for the raw materials company will be owed. Don't even think about everyone's salary. The Sales Department says our products are too old and no one buys them. It's our Technical Department that didn't do a good job!"

As soon as Xu Yiqiao said this, the people below immediately exploded.

"Which bastard in the Sales Department said that? I'll tear his mouth apart. If next month's salary and bonus are short by a cent, I'll fight him to the death!"

"How can this be blamed on our Technical Department? The factory doesn't invest money to buy a color TV production line. Can our Technical Department hand-craft a production line?"

"If it can't be sold, it's the Sales Department's incompetence. If you're not capable, don't blame the road for being uneven. If you can't give birth to a child, don't blame the wife. Shouldn't you look at yourself?"

There was cursing everywhere below. Xu Yiqiao also had a headache. Especially the group of women, hearing that money was to be deducted, were even more indignant and wanted to go to the Sales Department to reason with them.

Xu Yiqiao had a headache for a long time before he finally let the people below quiet down, "The factory leadership still has vision and didn't blame the problem of poor sales entirely on our Technical Department. However..."

"The factory has decided to upgrade the products. After all, we are the Technical Department, so the factory wants to hear our Technical Department's opinion on what the factory's next new product should be!"

Hearing this, everyone in the Technical Department breathed a sigh of relief, but then they started arguing again, starting to dispute one after another.

"It must be color TVs. How hot are color TV sales now? If we had spent money to buy a color TV production line two years ago, maybe we wouldn't be worse than Changhong, Haier, Hisense, Yellow River, Golden Star, Peony, etc., now!"

"I think it's refrigerators and air conditioners. These are hard currency now. As long as they are produced, they will be snatched up. You all know Chunlan. It earned over 5 billion last year. I heard they are going to produce motorcycles now!"

"Producing air conditioners, can you beat Chunlan? Changling is only two streets away from us!"

The person who said to buy a refrigerator or air conditioner production line was speechless. Not only Xicheng Wireless Factory No. 1, but even the Wireless Electronics Factory in the provincial capital actually had the intention to avoid Changling, the local giant, and wasn't very willing to enter the fields of air conditioners and refrigerators.

"Wenyang, what's your opinion?!"

At the critical moment, Xu Yiqiao still asked Zhou Wenyang. For any benefits or treatment on weekdays, there was no share for Zhou Wenyang. Xu Yiqiao also "didn't see" the bitter work Zhou Wenyang did, but at the critical moment, he still knew who the truly useful person in the Technical Department was.

"I also think it's better to make color TV products. We have experience in TV production. If we rashly enter other products, the risk is too great. Everything has to start from scratch.

Actually, I've been researching the color TV field recently and have read quite a few materials on color TV production lines from Japan, Italy, and Germany. I think from the perspective of technology and cost, we should start from..."

"Enough, enough," Xu Yiqiao interrupted Zhou Wenyang, "The factory leadership is asking for our Technical Department's opinion out of respect, not for you to decide for the factory which production line to buy or where to buy it from. That's decided by the factory leadership. You don't need to worry about it. I will pass your opinion to the leadership."

Zhou Wenyang shut his mouth in embarrassment, a look of awkwardness appearing on his face. Seeing Zhou Wenyang being reprimanded, many people in the Technical Department showed a look of watching the excitement. The Technical Department knew that Zhou Wenyang had always wanted to perform.

Seeing the opinions of most people in the Technical Department, they were all to buy a color TV production line. Xu Yiqiao also had a decision in his heart. However, thinking of Li Dongling, who had just come to the Technical Department recently, Xu Yiqiao still asked one more question.

"Li Dongling, what do you think? You graduated from Hanxi Jiaotong University and are also a top student in our department. What do you think our factory's new product should be?!"

Xu Yiqiao was just asking casually and didn't expect to hear any answer. But Li Dongling's words made him pause.

"I think we should continue to make radios, transitioning from home radios to personal portable radios, and also..."

Before Li Dongling finished speaking, there was a burst of laughter in the conference room that couldn't be held back. Li Dongling wasn't angry either, just swallowing the words "car radio" back into his stomach.