The driver kept asking about exactly how miraculous East Sea No. 1 was. Liu Jun, just wanting to escape the shadow cast by Qian Hongying, took it very seriously and explained the advanced features of East Sea No. 1 to the driver in simple terms – where the difficulties lay, why it could lead domestically, what the current cost of similar equipment was, and what the actual selling price of foreign products was. Having worked in this industry for so many years, the driver was able to engage with Liu Jun quite knowledgeably.
Liu Jun finally couldn’t help asking: “Master, since your monthly salary at work is less than a thousand yuan, why don’t you come out and drive a taxi? Your driving skills are so good.”
The driver laughed: “Driving a taxi is so tiring – at least twelve hours a day, constantly on the road. You earn two or three thousand a month, but it’s so laborious you don’t even have time to drink. My money is a little now, that’s true, but I’m managed by the state. Money is little, but life is peaceful. Mr. Liu, you look like you’re in your thirties?”
“Yes, and you’re in your early forties, Master?”
“I’m fifty! You see, I don’t worry. My daughter can only find one white hair on my scalp in a month. Hehe, in a few more years, I’ll retire and get Social Security. You tell me, those people from our factory who job-hopped early and went south to work so hard – they just earn some hard-earned money, and they won’t have social security later. How can they live as comfortably as we? We’re all ordinary people. Don’t have unrealistic ambitions – life is good as long as it’s peaceful.”
Liu Jun listened in amazement. He didn’t know what to say about this attitude of being content with poverty and finding joy in one’s lot. Thinking again about Mr. An commanding such a group of people – if you wanted to push for progress, you definitely couldn’t push them; these people couldn’t be motivated with bonuses. If you wanted to push for quality, you definitely couldn’t either – if they did something wrong, you couldn’t deduct their meager salary of less than a thousand yuan completely. And you couldn’t fire them either. According to this driver, if a leader went too far, he would gather a whole string of relatives – seventh aunts and eighth great-aunts from the company – to make trouble at the leader’s home. The company was almost as old as the Republic, and behind every worker was a large group of relatives and coworkers, with connections above every worker’s head. Liu Jun couldn’t imagine how he would manage such a factory if it were handed to him. But the biggest problem was: could he still get the second and third research payments from such an outwardly strong but inwardly weak company? If not, he would be very passive next.
With an anxious heart, Liu Jun was directly taken to the company and given a welcoming banquet at the lunch table. Liu Jun didn’t know what to say about this – he was here to work, and needed to do the first phase technical briefing in the afternoon. How could he drink alcohol? Others might not know, but the two people from the technical department at the table couldn’t possibly not know, yet they kept urging him to drink and drinking themselves. When Liu Jun refused to drink, saying he had to work in the afternoon, they were quite unhappy, saying he wasn’t being friendly enough. Moreover, although he was a guest, he would have been fine with a working lunch. Even if they wanted to treat him, one person accompanying him would have been enough. He didn’t understand how a table of ten people could be filled – besides technical department personnel, there were completely unrelated sanitation and administrative departments. The bill was reportedly to be signed by Mr. An. Fortunately, they weren’t slaughtering him this time – Mr. An had probably given instructions.
Because Mr. An was participating in the 1:30 PM technical briefing meeting, everyone had some restraint. So at 1:10, they finally left the table with its stacked plates and dishes that were barely half-eaten, signed the bill, and left. Liu Jun felt heartbroken watching this – after thinking about it, only one phrase came to mind: “eating from the big pot.” The driver who had picked up Liu Jun at the airport also ate at the same table, drank two bottles of beer, then drove Liu Jun and two technicians like he was playing a racing game, threading the 1:30 timeline to deliver the three men to the conference room. His driving was so good that even Liu Jun was sweating nervously. Fortunately, everyone was late-after 1:30, people gradually entered the conference room. Around 1:40, Mr. An came in, and the meeting began. Perfect timing – Liu Jun’s heart, which had been raised by the extreme racing, happened to relax just then. It seemed everyone was very good at calculating time.
However, the briefing meeting went quite well. The technical personnel had solid foundations, and their level exceeded that of Shi Yiji. When he had originally recommended four companies to Song Yunhui, he indeed hadn’t recommended wrongly – otherwise, he would have let Song Yunhui down. After Liu Jun’s nearly half-hour presentation, everyone chattered with questions. But Liu Jun noticed that the two engineers who had welcomed him didn’t ask questions and even looked drowsy and absent-minded. Liu Jun had to be grateful that he hadn’t drunk a drop – otherwise, how could he have stood on stage talking eloquently for half an hour? Mr. An only glanced at those two engineers a few times but didn’t say anything.
The briefing meeting continued uninterrupted until closing time. There were many questions, some ideas that Liu Jun immediately recorded – very creative indeed, truly a high-quality team. But as soon as the end-of-work bell rang outside, questions immediately stopped, and everyone very consciously stopped asking. So Mr. An announced the meeting’s end. Liu Jun felt curious again – if this pre-closing meeting atmosphere were at his Tengfei, this meeting would probably have extended at least two hours. But everyone present was very disciplined and considerate of him, each leaving work punctually. Quite peaceful and calm.
After the meeting, Liu Jun followed Mr. An into his office. Mr. An closed the door and asked Liu Jun whether the research and development process was going smoothly – it seemed quite smooth, so would it be ahead of schedule? Mr. An asked several questions in one breath. Liu Jun was confused by the questions, unclear about what Mr. An meant behind these questions. He decided to answer truthfully.
“The first phase involves separate cooperation with two universities. One university’s results haven’t come out yet and are still being explored. We’re searching for reasons together, though we also knew beforehand that results couldn’t be obtained so quickly. The other university has half the results, and we can see the dawn for the second half. My company’s research center is progressing slightly faster than expected, related to the engineers’ increased cherishing of the project after losing and regaining it. From the current project progress, I estimate it will ultimately succeed. Time probably can’t be advanced – the workload is there, and most work can’t take shortcuts. We have very strict data control – every piece of data generated must have a cause and effect, can’t come from nowhere.”
“So, early 2007? That timeframe?”
“Yes. From my contact with everyone at the lunch table, it seems everyone very much hopes to produce East Sea No. 1 quickly. I will work hard to compress time while ensuring quality.”
“No, don’t let your work be interfered with by my colleagues here. Our country has been waiting for this product for so many years – we’re not in a hurry for a month or quarter, but we must, absolutely must achieve top-level quality and top-level processing precision. I’d rather you delay a few days. The scientific attitude is rigorous, not Great Leap Forward style.”
Liu Jun hadn’t expected Mr. An to be so understanding. Mr. An, who could say such things, was not due to his bribes taking effect, but because Mr. An truly understood the subtle spirit of scientific research and development, and his support was based on that understanding. “Mr. An, with your words, I’m confident.”
What made Liu Jun even more confident was that Mr. An honestly told him that, due to various reasons, more than two million yuan of the second phase funding couldn’t be gathered until the day after tomorrow. Liu Jun could either wait two days and leave after getting the bank draft the day after tomorrow, or return tomorrow and receive the money by wire transfer after it is deposited. Liu Jun unhesitatingly chose to stay – where did he dare to leave? He had to watch the financial supervisor give him the money at the first opportunity. In the evening, he wanted to treat Mr. An to dinner, but Mr. An happened to have important social obligations and declined. Liu Jun was happy to find a hotel to stay in and properly tour the city by himself. Last time he came, he was drunk and dreaming every day. When he returned, Cui Bingbing asked him what the city was like, and he only remembered dining tables and foot baths, plus the road from the hotel to Mr. An’s company.
But on the second day, he sprang into action, grabbing the financial supervisor for eating, drinking, singing, massage, plus giving red envelopes. The effect was immediate – Mr. An said the money would arrive the day after tomorrow, and the money indeed arrived the day after tomorrow. As soon as the money arrived, the financial supervisor had Liu Jun go to the bank with the cashier, depositing the check with one hand and getting the bank draft with the other. Liu Jun immediately rushed to Beijing with the money, then transferred flights home. Not just him – all businesspeople cherished time like this, except for some state enterprise red-hat merchants. Getting the second payment, Liu Jun’s heart was unburdened. Even if Mr. An’s side couldn’t come up with the final payment, it didn’t matter – he could handle this amount with his strength. But of course, external support would be better.
The next day, as soon as Liu Jun arrived at work, he found Luo Qing and told him he could consider starting to plan the market for East Sea No. 1. Through this contact with the grassroots personnel at Mr. An’s company, Liu Jun realized that even if Mr. An had great ambitions, given the mental state of his subordinates, could they process with the precision required for East Sea No. 1? He was very doubtful. But if Mr. An’s people couldn’t do it, that was precisely Tengfei’s opportunity. The market for East Sea No. 1 in China wasn’t huge, but it wasn’t small either. Even if Tengfei only cut a small slice of the cake, it could already profit very comfortably.