Chapter 61: High Mountains and Flowing Streams

The West City Wireless Factory No. 1 had completely shut down; its old director Xu Yong had retired, and Liu Jiande, the most promising candidate to become the new director, had been arrested—no one dared touch this hot potato, fearing they’d be dragged into the same mess.

After Xu Yong retired, the West City Wireless Factory No. 1’s leaders with connections all scrambled to transfer to other units or factories.

As for ordinary workers, only a handful could be transferred to other state-owned factories; most had only two choices: either take early retirement and wait uncertainly for their pension, or quit and be laid off—but whichever they chose, they had to find new jobs themselves.

Old Huangniu Song Yajun naturally fell into this group; many workers from West City Wireless Factory No. 1 were recommended to join the newly established Dongling High-Tech Electronics Park, which indeed gave priority to hiring workers from the defunct factory.

But Song Yajun had heard that the Dongling High-Tech Electronics Park belonged to Li Dongling—the very “newcomer” he had mocked during last year’s technical department meeting…

Now Song Yajun truly wanted to slap himself a few times—why had he opened his stupid mouth back then? Who could have guessed that so little time had passed and everything had turned upside down.

His long-cherished hope of having his son replace him as a permanent state-worker was now gone; even if he wanted to join Dongling High-Tech as a menial laborer, he feared they wouldn’t take him—if anyone found out he had once insulted the founder of Dongling High-Tech, the hiring staff would never hire him!

Song Yajun had also tried other state-owned enterprises, but none would take him; like the other old Huangniu Zhou Wenyang, he had spent most of his life at West City Wireless Factory No. 1, slaving away faithfully for over a decade with no outside connections—when the factory collapsed, so did his entire life of the past fifteen years.

He loitered around the factory gate for half a day, until the security personnel at the entrance began watching him closely.

Finally, gritting his teeth, Song Yajun walked inside—he needed this job; he had to feed his family. His son wasn’t married yet, and all of that required money. If he didn’t become a laborer, what would his family eat? Where would the money come from for the TV, motorcycle, and bride price his son needed for marriage?!

“Master Song!”

As he joined the queue, head down, afraid someone might recognize him, a clear voice called out to him: “You’re here too?!”

He looked up and saw it was Wei Hongying; several other familiar faces were nearby—Zhang Ao, Fan Xugang, and others.

Zhang Ao was now Dongling High-Tech’s sales manager; Wei Hongying and other former workers from West City Wireless Factory No. 1 had all joined Dongling High-Tech; the park needed manpower, so they had come to help.

Seeing these familiar faces, Song Yajun felt a flicker of embarrassment; Wei Hongying greeted him warmly, but Zhang Ao wore a knowing smirk—he remembered what had happened at last year’s technical department meeting.

Song Yajun mumbled a few vague words, considering whether to leave, when a Tiger Head Benz pulled up directly in front of the group.

“Director Li!” “Brother Li!”

As Li Dongling stepped out of the car, everyone greeted him; then he spotted Song Yajun standing there, as if trying to retreat.

Li Dongling glanced at Song Yajun, then walked straight toward him.

Seeing Li Dongling approaching, Song Yajun’s back bent even further, his body trembling slightly—he had heard rumors that Liu Jiande’s arrest wasn’t just because of his corruption, but because of his personal grudge with Li Dongling, and that the latter was the real reason—otherwise, why had only Liu Jiande been taken from among so many factory leaders?

Whether the rumor was true or not was uncertain, but the fact that it spread suggested some truth; if even Liu Jiande, the man who had ruled West City Wireless Factory No. 1 with an iron fist, had fallen, how could Song Yajun not fear Li Dongling?

He had already prepared himself for public humiliation and furious scolding, just as he had endured from Technical Department Head Xu Yiqiao and factory leaders like Liu Jiande back at West City Wireless Factory No. 1.

But the expected berating never came. Confused, unsure where to put his hands, Song Yajun felt his hand seized—and heard a voice say: “Master Song, welcome to Dongling High-Tech!”

Hearing those words, Song Yajun’s eyes widened, his throat moved—he hadn’t heard “Master Song” in so long. The expected insults never came; Li Dongling was actually inviting him to join Dongling High-Tech. At forty-something, Song Yajun’s eyes suddenly grew wet.

“Process Master Song’s employment paperwork—he is now one of Dongling High-Tech’s most important engineers in the Technical Department!”

Li Dongling announced to everyone present. Hearing this, the former workers from West City Wireless Factory No. 1 waiting in line began whispering among themselves; many looked at Song Yajun with envy.

“Tsk, Old Song’s about to hit the big time!”

“I heard he once offended Boss Li.”

“This guy Song really has luck.”

Amid the murmurs and envious glances, personnel staff led Song Yajun away to process his paperwork. Even though the park hadn’t started production yet, anyone hired by Dongling High-Tech’s Electronics Park could receive partial training subsidies just by attending orientation.

West City Wireless Factory No. 1 had been idle for nearly half a year; many workers’ families hadn’t received salaries for over six months, surviving only on savings—those with heavier burdens were barely keeping food on the table, relying on debt. Dongling High-Tech’s daily subsidy of eight yuan during training was enough to ease many urgent needs—at least they wouldn’t starve.

“How many people have we recruited so far?” Li Dongling asked Zhang Ao, Wei Hongying, and others—they knew West City Wireless Factory No. 1 inside out, so they could screen applicants and avoid letting in deadbeats or time-servers.

“We’ve hired thirteen hundred people,” Wei Hongying asked Li Dongling, “Should we keep recruiting?”

The park hadn’t started production yet, but even just paying daily training subsidies cost over ten thousand yuan per day—over three hundred thousand yuan per month!

“Keep recruiting—not just from West City Wireless Factory No. 1, but from any state-owned factory with skilled technicians. We can raise their salaries a bit.”

Li Dongling said. The electronic pet device project was about to begin and required a large workforce, especially skilled technicians.

Whether on the production line or in other manufacturing departments, all operations required technical skill. Automation levels were still low; even final product inspections relied primarily on human judgment, demanding experience and expertise from technicians—not like the soul-crushing assembly lines of the future, where you just needed meat machines to repeat motions, and anyone could do it as long as they worked fast.

Technicians like Song Yajun weren’t rare, but they were dependable. His education might be low, but his experience was immense. He might not come up with new ideas or invent cutting-edge tech, but his experience was invaluable. As the saying goes, “An elder in the house is like a treasure.” Whether developing new products or solving production issues, he could help resolve them. Having an old Huangniu like him saved countless headaches—how could Li Dongling possibly let him go?

Back at Dongling High-Tech, Hu Zi came to see Li Dongling and complained: “Our expenses are too high now. Building the joint lab and the electronics park has drained our working capital to under sixty million yuan. Launching the electronic pet device will require overseas advertising—and that will cost even more!”

The electronic pet device was definitely meant for overseas markets; we’d need agents, spend heavily on advertising and promotion—and then the money would truly flow like water.

In China’s current health supplement industry, brands like Sanzhu Oral Liquid, Fengtian Feilong, and Taiyangshen spent tens of millions on advertising—flooding TV, newspapers, magazines, and radio stations, even plastering slogans on walls and handing out flyers in towns, using ads to drive revenue.

Why did the Giant’s boss claim to have invested 500 million yuan in health supplements? Actually, developing the product cost almost nothing—the real expense was advertising and ground promotion. The boss planned to mobilize Giant’s thirty-plus subsidiaries to build a sales and promotion team, hiring tens of thousands of salespeople nationwide. Their food, lodging, travel, and wages? The cost was unimaginable.

This was still just domestic advertising. If we went overseas, the cost would be even higher, and the risk greater—who knew how much return we’d get after pouring millions into ads?

“These expenses are necessary,” Li Dongling told Hu Zi. “Dongling High-Tech needs a research center and a production center!”

As Hu Zi left, he said to Li Dongling: “We need to recruit fresh graduates from Pingyang University—bring in more people.” Dongling High-Tech’s operations were expanding, and its manpower needs were growing.

Private companies everywhere were short on talent—no matter where their headquarters were. Even companies headquartered in Yanjing still struggled to find skilled workers.

College graduates, especially from top universities, were extremely valuable. Though a few went to private firms, most still chose government offices, public institutions, or state-owned enterprises. Even those who joined private firms preferred foreign companies first, then large domestic firms with high pay—small companies were out of the question.

Even if we moved Dongling High-Tech’s headquarters to provincial capitals, Yanjing, Shanghai, or Pengcheng, it wouldn’t help: if we hired top graduates and put them in ordinary roles or on the factory floor, would those elite students accept it? Just think about it—they wouldn’t.

This situation would only change in four or five years, after university expansion. Until then, recruiting from Pingyang University or other local universities was far easier.

Years from now, if Dongling High-Tech still hasn’t become that “mountain,” no amount of high salaries or fame will attract top talent—even if we placed our headquarters in Silicon Valley. Like a great mountain or river, people will travel thousands of miles to see it—they won’t expect the mountain to come to them.

In his past life, those giant corporations built R&D centers worldwide—even with headquarters thousands of miles away—and gathered vast talent. If Dongling High-Tech ever has the chance, it too can establish R&D centers across the globe.