Chapter 431: The Tech God We

"Communication equipment? Mr. Li, are you talking about telephones? I did market research before—it seems to have no advantage over radios or televisions."

After hearing Li Ye's suggestion, Pei Wencong was clearly surprised, because since Li Ye had asked him to prepare for an electronics factory over a year ago, he had been researching which product to start with, but never once considered communication equipment.

Radios and televisions, on the other hand, offered excellent market prospects and high feasibility.

In 1981, Pengcheng introduced its first joint-venture electronics factory, followed by several others, most of which began by producing radios.

Don't underestimate this half-brick-sized radio—back then, in many parts of the mainland, it was still considered one of the essential household appliances.

In the early 1980s, the mainland economy was far from wealthy enough for every household to own a television! Especially in inland provinces, even a flashlight counted as a household appliance.

Walkmans wouldn't become standard student gear until a decade later; at this point, only the children who had just entered high school or university might have a radio bought for them by their families.

In short, the radio market on the mainland was huge, and sales wouldn't be a problem.

But now that Pei Wencong was wealthy and powerful, he looked down on radios as trivial gadgets; after setting up an electronics factory in Hong Kong and verifying technical feasibility, he was already planning to enter the mainland's color TV market.

Compared to radios, televisions were undoubtedly the hot product of the 1980s.

Decades later, TV turnover rates would drop below 30%, forcing people to cry foul in grand halls—but in the 1980s, this wasn't even a seller's market, because you didn't even need to sell yourself: as long as you had stock, people would line up with cash to pick it up.

At this time, mainland TV production lines were all imported foreign lines, or imported foreign components for local assembly.

For example, Anhui Radio Factory No. 2 was the first to import Sharp's black-and-white TV kits, assembled them into the "Huangshan" brand, and became countless people's memories.

As for Peony, Golden Star, Hitachi, and others—they all imported overseas production lines and enjoyed brief glory on the mainland market.

So Pei Wencong figured if others could do it, why couldn't he?

If he couldn't get world-class imports, couldn't he at least get second-rate ones?

The Hong Kong electronics factory had been ready for a long time; land in Pengcheng had already been purchased; he had consulted Li Ye several times in advance—everything was set, just waiting for the right wind.

But today, why was Li Ye suddenly pushing for communication equipment?

Right now, not a single household among a hundred on the mainland had a telephone; demand for phones was orders of magnitude smaller than for TVs.

And selling telephones required dealing with the mainland's telecommunications department—you couldn't expect them to come knocking on your door with cash in hand.

But Li Ye smiled and said: "I never said we wouldn't produce televisions! But competition for TVs will be fierce later—only a few of the dozens of factories nationwide will survive.

So we should seize early advantages in high-profit industries. Old Pei, trust me—communication equipment has huge potential on the mainland, and overseas too."

"Of course I believe you, Mr. Li! Then let's go into telecommunications equipment—I'll quickly assemble a professional team and draft a development plan for you to review. Should we start with pagers or jump straight to mobile phones?"

When Pei Wencong heard Li Ye say "huge potential," he didn't hesitate—he agreed immediately.

How could he not believe Li Ye?

Forget all the earlier "divine predictions"—just in mid-September, Li Ye had told Pei Wencong and Luo Runbo to position themselves on the Hong Kong stock index; after the joint communiqué was provisionally signed in late September, the Hang Seng Index surged 60 percent in under three months.

Pei Wencong and Luo Runbo had thought themselves "used to big money," but even they were stunned by this money-printing speed, unable to sleep night after night.

This stuff made money fast—but it could lose it just as fast!

But the facts proved Li Ye's training as an economics major at Beijing University wasn't empty boasting; even if Hong Kong's market was too small for endless speculation, and even if settlement wasn't fully complete yet, the profit margin from this round was unlikely to be less than tenfold.

Tenfold! That's ten times the capital of over a hundred million U. S. dollars—if this got out, not just in Hong Kong but across all of Asia, Pei Wencong's name would be whispered in every billionaire's circle.

At that point, Pei Wencong would have three or four hundred million in wealth; Li Ye's fortune would break ten digits; even Luo Runbo, with the smallest stake, might become a billionaire.

So now, in Pei Wencong's eyes, Li Ye was a god of wealth—his word was law, his touch turned stone to gold.

Let me put it this way: if Li Ye pointed at a pile of dog shit on the road and said it had "huge potential," Pei Wencong would immediately hire people to buy every dog in the city, feed them well, and make sure they kept pooping.

"Pagers are doable, but mobile phones have greater future potential. Also, communication equipment isn't just pagers and mobile phones—personal PCs, switches, signal equipment…"

"We need to start preparing now—when market demand explodes, that's when we step onto the stage."

"."

Even though Pei Wencong fully trusted Li Ye, he still couldn't help swallowing hard.

Pei Wencong paid attention to the mainland's development—he knew Shanghai had opened its first paging service in 1983—but since Li Ye wanted high-profit ventures, he had just now suggested mobile phones, the even more profitable option.

But producing mobile phones was no small challenge—Li Ye was also talking about producing personal computers?

Was this something an ordinary company could even make? Do you know what parts go into a phone or a computer?

Pei Wencong doubted whether, with the mainland's current industrial base, they could even hand-craft a single phone or computer.

Even if miracles happened and they somehow built phones and personal computers, people who could afford them back then wouldn't care about "cost-performance"—they'd prioritize brand and quality.

If you claimed the mainland could now produce phones and computers matching the quality of major international companies…

If Li Ye hadn't said it, Pei Wencong would've thought he was daydreaming.

But orders from the boss had to be taken seriously.

Pei Wencong straightened his posture and said earnestly: "I have some understanding of switches—there are manufacturers in Hong Kong. I'll notify the company today to negotiate patent licensing."

"For pagers and mobile phones, I'll also quickly contact relevant factories to secure authorized production rights."

But Li Ye shook his head and said: "You misunderstood, Old Pei. I mean we develop it ourselves—develop our own technology and products entirely."

Pei Wencong stared blankly for several seconds before asking: "Develop it ourselves? Who would we find to develop it? Are there any professionals on the mainland who research mobile phones or personal PCs?"

It wasn't his fault for doubting—in his view, the mainland might still have some mechanical expertise, but in high-end electronics, it was far behind.

And Pei Wencong himself was already one of the Hong Kong businessmen most optimistic about the mainland's industrial potential; others would imagine it as even more backward.

But few realized that in electronics, the mainland wasn't entirely without merit.

Li Ye looked at his watch, stood up, and said: "Let's go. Today we'll test our luck—see if we can find a top-tier researcher."

"Huh?"

Pei Wencong was finally baffled—could someone who researched mobile phones and personal PCs really be found by chance?

…………………………

Li Ye and Pei Wencong first drove around Zhongguancun's streets for a while without finding their target, so they turned back toward the street basketball court where they'd previously played with Hao Jian and others.

Though it was winter, boys who had finished work and were bored still ran up and down the rough court, burning off excess hormones and energy from their monotonous entertainment lives.

"Hey, look! A foreign girl!"

As soon as Li Ye and Pei Wencong approached, the boys playing basketball spotted them—but they didn't recognize Li Ye, the man who'd once bought them a case of Red Bull; instead, they were all utterly captivated by Veronica, Pei Wencong's secretary behind him.

Since hiring Veronica as his secretary, Pei Wencong had experienced some hidden advantages.

So whenever he came to the mainland, he almost always brought Veronica along—she was excellent for preventing theft, robbery, and extortion.

Of course, Veronica's blonde hair, blue eyes, and 1.8-meter height made her stand out anywhere, drawing hot glances from young men—that was another matter entirely.

"Hehehe~"

Li Ye waved at the young men, drawing their attention.

"Guys, just take a look—it's making her shy! That's rude."

"Hey, who are you? You… wait, aren't you the guy who bought us Red Bull? We didn't recognize you!"

The young men frowned at Li Ye, then suddenly recognized him.

"Bro, you here to play ball? Why only three of you? You're not gonna make this lady join, are you? She's pretty tall."

"Don't joke around—look at this guy's outfit. Is he here to play ball? Look at that girl's high heels—can she even play?"

"You're right—bro, your trench coat's awesome! If you didn't say anything, we'd think you were from Japan!"

Li Ye feigned annoyance: "What kind of eyes do you have? Do Japanese guys get this tall?"

"Hahahahaha~"

At 1.8 meters tall, Li Ye was definitely tall for this era—he could easily brag about it.

"Alright, I'm here today to ask about a few people—those guys who sold roller skates on the street up ahead. Do you know where they are?"

The boys looked at Li Ye and said: "What's up, bro? Did you buy fake roller skates? Tough luck—they've quit that business. Heard they lost their pants trading color TVs and can't even pay you back."

"Lost their pants trading color TVs? That was months ago!"

Li Ye carefully recalled his memories—he was certain Liu Lianxiang had been scammed out of 140,000 yuan months ago by false rumors about color TV quotas, but later actually got a batch of TVs and recovered.

Then, by the end of this year, realizing that speculation had no future, they finally recruited a top-tier tech genius—Ni Guangnan—and made him the 12th employee of Lenovo.

Ni Guangnan's technical skill and character were unquestionable—he was exactly the kind of person anyone aware of history would want to befriend.

But when Li Ye arrived in this world, Ni Guangnan had already gone to Canada; after returning last year, he'd been assigned his own research team, and Li Ye found it hard to connect with him.

Don't think being a time-traveler means you can wave your hand and summon all the greats—these are geniuses; why would they follow some kid?

Li Ye thought it was already good enough just to make friends with him now.

And this friendship couldn't be forged casually—Liu Lianxiang had just been swindled out of over a hundred thousand yuan; now you show up saying, "Hey, bro, I'll take you flying"?

He'd kick you in the face!

That's why Li Ye had kept Pei Wencong preparing, waiting until now.

Everything was ready except the wind—the wind that was invisible, intangible, and hardest to catch.

(End of Chapter)