“Have Luo Yaozong watch closely. Once this is done, he’ll become the security team leader with a raise!”

Xia Xiaolan made the decision.

She could ignore Zhou Yi’s fate, but wouldn’t that waste all her previous efforts?

When Ge Jian spoke to Luo Yaozong, he naturally didn’t mention Xia Xiaolan.

Regardless of whether Luo Yaozong would betray them, Ge Jian was extremely cautious. He would never let anyone get leverage over Xia Xiaolan – any questionable matters would be attributed to Ge Jian himself, with no connection to Director Xia.

Back in Pengcheng, Xia Xiaolan finally had time to meet Xu Jing and Ma Hai.

These two had taken Xia Xiaolan’s investment and returned to China. Over the past six months, they’d stumbled along, learning through trial and error, slowly transforming from tech geeks into entrepreneurs.

Working in isolation wasn’t conducive to success.

One had to interact with different people to make rapid progress.

So although Xia Xiaolan had invested one million US dollars, she hadn’t given them any special privileges in Pengcheng. Whether it was finding people, factories, or starting production, the two had to figure everything out themselves.

In 1986 China, who could start a business with one million US dollars in initial capital, except for rich second-generation heirs like Tang Yuanyue and Du Zhaohui?

Even Huo Chenzhou, Elder Song’s grandson, couldn’t do it. Although he could decide how to spend some of Dongfeng Holdings’ funds, that wasn’t his capital.

Xu Jing and Ma Hai naturally weren’t born with silver spoons like Tang and Du. But fate works in mysterious ways – Xu Jing had sold his inherited property and gone to America for his girlfriend, only to lose both the girlfriend and spend all his money. While it seemed like every step had been wrong… he had gained real skills.

Xu Jing and Ma Hai had faced countless setbacks.

They discovered that having money and technology didn’t necessarily guarantee smooth sailing. Dealing with various departments and agencies, outsourcing component production to other factories, negotiating at every step – countless times, Ma Hai had sworn to the heavens that they must take control of all production processes and not rely on others!

That was impossible, of course.

How much investment would it take to handle all production processes?

Take the simplest example – if they wanted to handle their packaging, wouldn’t they need to set up a printing factory?

With electronic products, one should control the core technology while outsourcing other components – that’s how most electronic products worldwide are made, whether phones or computer brands.

Xia Xiaolan only wanted the finished product!

Her investment needed to show returns. Just before Du Zhaohui’s Chengrong Plaza was set to open, Xu Jing and Ma Hai finally delivered results – completed products assembled and stored in the warehouse.

“Have you rented a space in Chengrong Plaza?”

“The most prominent location on the first floor, 60 square meters – is that enough?”

This space hadn’t even been publicly available. Even when Chen Xiliang brought his friends to pull strings, it was useless – Xu Jing and Ma Hai had secured it before January 1st… Although Du Zhaohui thought these two had been as destitute as vagrants in America, they had Xia Xiaolan’s backing, which counted for something with Du Zhaohui.

The consulting fee Du Zhaohui paid, Xia Xiaolan had immediately invested in Xu Jing and Ma Hai. Du Zhaohui wanted to see what these two could accomplish. Though Du Zhaohui appeared to be an uneducated playboy, he was secretly learning from Xia Xiaolan.

How Xia Xiaolan made money, and her investment insight – were what made her formidable.

“That’s enough. You can ride Chengrong Plaza’s momentum and save on promotional costs.”

The most prominent location meant no one entering Chengrong Plaza could miss it. Once the plaza officially opened, individual merchants from all over would come to stock goods, and they’d immediately see the “Wenquxing” electronic dictionary.

Yes, Xu Jing and Ma Hai had registered the “Wenquxing” brand… As for what the electronic dictionary was called in her previous life, Xia Xiaolan didn’t know.

Was this what being reborn meant – taking someone else’s path and leaving them nowhere to go?

No, she hadn’t even named it – Xu Jing and Ma Hai had come up with it.

If not Wenquxing, it would have been “Bubugao,” “Nuoyazhou,” “Kuaiyitong,” and “Haojixing”… one name would have overlapped anyway.

After all, the electronic dictionary market had been fiercely competitive in her previous life. Finding a good, fitting name that no one had used wasn’t easy.

Wenquxing was fine – better than Bubugao.

Hearing Bubugao reminded Xia Xiaolan of that reading pen advertisement: “Point to what you don’t understand, Mom will never worry about my studies again” – it was toxic!

Thinking of that toxic advertisement, Xia Xiaolan had an idea:

“Senior Ma, how much money do you have left? Should we advertise?”

Ma Hai thought Xia Xiaolan wanted to check the accounts. She waved her hand:

“No need to look. I know the million dollars is long gone, and any remaining money must be bank loans. I want consumers to understand what an electronic dictionary is more quickly.”

“Director Xia, you mean hire actors for an advertisement? Someone from Hong Kong, or overseas?”

Ma Hai hesitated.

Hong Kong stars weren’t cheap, foreign ones were even more expensive. Mainland actors were affordable, but would they be effective?

Xia Xiaolan glared at him: “Are you stupid? Electronic dictionaries are for helping studies and helping people learn English. Why hire celebrities for advertisements? Here’s what we’ll do – I’ll get some information, and you can contact them yourself, see which college entrance exam top scholar would be suitable.”

Hire a top scholar?

Have a top scholar film an advertisement?!

It seemed strange at first.

But the more you thought about it, the more it made sense.

“Brilliant! Isn’t a top scholar like Wenquxing descending to earth? A top scholar paired with the Wenquxing electronic dictionary – perfect, hahaha!”

Knowledge is knowing what you know and what you don’t know. Ma Hai wanted more details: “Should we invite the national top scholar, or…”

There were many top scholars, and selecting the most suitable one for advertising an electronic dictionary would need criteria. Ma Hai wanted to understand the standards.

Xu Jing, who had been quiet, suddenly spoke:

“Not necessarily the national top scholar. Provincial top scholars would work too – we should consider their English test scores.”

Ma Hai’s eyes lit up:

“Director Xia, why look elsewhere? Top scholar, perfect English score – don’t we have someone right here?”

Xu Jing also realized.

Indeed, they had someone who met the requirements right here – a provincial top scholar, good-looking, perfect for television.

They just didn’t know if Director Xia would agree.

Xu Jing and Ma Hai looked at her hopefully, but Xia Xiaolan calmly shook her head: “I know what you two are thinking. Do you want me to film this advertisement? Not possible.”

Why not?

“Director Xia, you don’t like being too high-profile…”

That must be the reason, Ma Hai thought disappointedly.

Not liking high publicity was one reason.

As Xia Xiaolan had once told Du Zhaohui – if she could make money with her brain, why rely on her face?

If she wanted to rely on her looks, she wouldn’t have rejected Director Wang’s “Dream of the Red Chamber” invitation.

Appearing on TV for the National College English Competition was fine.

But personally advertising electronic dictionaries… Xia Xiaolan remembered that toxic reading pen advertisement and couldn’t bring herself to do it. Why should a boss handle everything personally? If she didn’t like doing something, she could pay others to do it.

Of course, there was another reason:

“Senior Xu is right – a top scholar with excellent English scores is one promotional angle. Another point is that they should have proper features, looking like a good student at first glance, someone viewers can relate to – and I’m not suitable for that second point.”