However, Shen Huadong couldn’t bear to see Liu Jun jumping around frantically like a flea, so he privately lent Liu Jun 500,000 yuan for emergency use. When Qian Hongming learned of this, he also wired 500,000 yuan to Liu Jun for emergency relief. Liu Jun finally weathered this small crisis. But Qian Hongming was quite puzzled by this—how could 200 tons of steel materials stump a factory? He dealt in copper materials and knew other metal raw material prices, but didn’t understand why the steel Liu Jun was purchasing was so expensive.

Liu Jun explained: “There’s no choice. This batch of materials is for high-end molds. Domestic steel has this grade number, but it can’t be used. I’d like to support domestic products too, but state enterprises’ quality isn’t reliable, and private enterprises don’t make this—they’re all making crude steel at different levels. Damn it, they’re all big but useless.”

“You stubborn fool, if the customer didn’t explicitly require it, why are you making trouble for yourself? Perhaps the customer doesn’t need the precision you’re providing either. This is called excessive precision, which is also a waste.”

“No, these are molds that need to withstand impact forces during processing, so there are strict requirements for mold materials. Otherwise, precision drops drastically after just a few uses. However, in recent years, more domestic enterprises have become particular about quality. Many have developed good habits from doing OEM work and can now accept good quality at high prices. The customers who specifically ask us to make high-end molds are long-term clients we’ve cultivated over many years, with high requirements, good prices. I’m willing to work for them. Now, Tengfei is positioned as mid-to-high end, and Tengda as medium level. If they want a higher grade, they have to import. Thinking about it is still discouraging.”

“Perhaps as society develops this way, you’ll have more and more opportunities to use your skills,” Qian Hongming said with unusual sincerity. “I thought of a case, a business case, haha. One of my clients who buys copper materials from me happened to face cash flow problems, so he simply pledged his entire warehouse of raw materials to the bank in exchange for working capital loans to maintain daily expenses. You could have A’San help you try this.”

“How exactly does it work?”

“I’m not sure. Let me ask around for you. I just heard about it and was also confused. Previously, banks in the south had docks to supervise goods, but directly entering company warehouses to supervise goods was the first time I’d heard of it. Now that bank loan market competition is fierce and it’s no longer dominated by the Big Four banks, I estimate such flexible measures will become more common. Someone like you with huge fixed assets should think more about flexible loans.”

“Right, A’San studies how to push boundaries every day. You mentioned this method to me before. This approach has special characteristics, mainly targeting capital-intensive enterprises that purchase large quantities of relatively uniform varieties, unlike here, where I import all kinds of raw materials. Even if banks could appraise them, it would be difficult, let alone supervise them. This time, purchasing 200 tons at once is quite rare.”

Qian Hongming laughed: “True, you have an insider right beside you, so you must have thoroughly understood the banks’ operations. I really couldn’t imagine that enterprises like yours would have such difficulty getting loans. If you need it, I can introduce some relatively reliable sources.”

“You… aren’t you doing the same? What are the general interest rates now?”

“Interest rates follow market conditions—short-term lending is higher, long-term, large amounts are slightly lower, but none can compare with banks. Call me when you’re negotiating. But now people prefer lending to individuals or enterprises related to real estate, not factories with little profit. I won’t do business with you, otherwise, we couldn’t remain close brothers. You borrowed when you first started business and should have experienced it—it’s about the same, though now there’s more money in society and more lending methods.”

“Have you encountered those who borrow and don’t repay? You need to be careful.”

“Don’t worry, I only deal with those with good reputations. I’d rather earn less.”

However, Liu Jun was somewhat worried for Qian Hongming. That industry walked the edge of legality after all—what if something went wrong? But he trusted Qian Hongming’s abilities. As long as he identified the right people, it meant reduced risk. Just like banks have bad debt rates, as long as Qian Hongming kept bad debts within a certain range, there shouldn’t be problems.

A mere million yuan solved Liu Jun’s urgent need, and Qian Hongming’s unexpected 500,000 even made Tengda’s days slightly more comfortable—otherwise, he wouldn’t have dared go to Germany. Soon, Liu Jun received another small sum. Song Yunhui had been busy with work and had no time to participate in pre-trip discussions, expressing full support for Liu Jun’s arrangements. He just needed the itinerary and would meet everyone at the airport when departing. Unexpectedly, Liang Sishen happened to have some free time these days, so she came to the research center after work to give Liu Jun the money for plane tickets and other expenses he had already advanced.

Cui Bingbing happened to have social obligations, and Liu Jun wasn’t in a hurry to go home, so he worked with colleagues in the laboratory. When he went out to see Liang Sishen’s car, he couldn’t help but painfully turn his face away. Liang Sishen had changed cars to the Porsche 911 GT3 he had been dreaming of. “Sister Liang, you should ship your car to Germany and run a few good laps on the Nürburgring.”

“Now there’s finally Shanghai Tianma Circuit to stretch its legs. Have you been to Tianma? I made an appointment with Dongdong once.”

“No, I’m now properly driving an Audi A6—company funds are tight. Sister Liang, want to see our laboratory, or go to my house for tea?”

Liang Sishen checked her phone, “Of course, the laboratory. I heard your research capabilities are very strong. I can look for half an hour—I’m meeting my husband for dinner.”

“Could you let me drive your car to drop you off? I’ll take a taxi back.”

“Sure. You like it so much, why don’t you buy one? And you drive very well.”

“Money’s tight. Since starting the factory, I seem to always be in financial straits. Thinking that one Porsche 911’s price could buy a processing center I’ve been dreaming of, I’m content with the Audi. My colleagues are still voluntarily working overtime. Please come this way, let me show you our instruments.”

Liang Sishen laughed: “You’re good at careful budgeting.” Liang Sishen thought: claiming money’s tight while having such a luxurious research center, and reluctant to replace the Audi—this sounds like Grandet. “Your investment in the research institute is quite substantial.”

“Indeed. If you were an industry insider, you should also see our factory—insiders don’t want to leave once they enter.”

“Many people are willing to invest in factories, but few invest in research institutes like this. This scale isn’t inferior to Donghai Group, is it?”

“Still a bit short, but we’re small and refined, focusing on one direction, and have achieved some success. However, I’m a technical person doing management—I had no market awareness before. Our R&D couldn’t be properly converted into benefits. After a friend came to assist with marketing, we started forming core products and building brand recognition. Now the economic benefits from each research project are advancing by leaps and bounds, and research directions are no longer very random, haha. Look at this machine—only one in the country. My alma mater has to come to me for experiments. The reason it’s the only one is that we chose the top level, not restricted by European, American, and Japanese export control lists, then our engineers thoroughly modified it, basically reaching European, American, and Japanese export control levels. This machine only needs materials at the feeding port, and it will automatically measure all needed data, record it, and send the records to our data center for archiving. Most importantly, it’s precise—uniquely precise in China. Error values can be reduced to several decimal places. What concept is this?” Liu Jun suddenly paused here, realizing he was being bored talking to a layperson about these things. “Am I being boring?”

Liang Sishen laughed: “Ha, I roughly understand. It’s like Donghai has equipment whose mirrors can be processed domestically, but mirrors for another set of higher-grade processing equipment have to be custom-made in Italy. This is the benefit that your experimental error reduction to infinitesimal can bring.”

“Hehe, being close to President Song has influenced you. That’s the idea. That domestic processing can already achieve mirror surfaces is very good progress. This requires coordination with high-precision advanced machine tools. But high-precision advanced machine tools have extremely strict requirements for parts. If I want it to move one micrometer, it can’t move 1.1 micrometers. If part tolerances are large, our cutting requirements can’t be met. This involves many technological challenges, and this instrument can solve part of them. But we still have many problems to face. Like the servo motors in the Donghai No. 1 segment development, which we can’t handle well yet. We’ve asked mathematics professors from my alma mater to assist with massive calculations, and it seems we need to continue step by step patiently—we’re very close to the target.”

“Donghai No. 1. Someone has been talking about it for who knows how many years. Now I even have a son and daughter… Working in manufacturing requires patience, fighting for a goal for so many years. Someone says yours is the most worry-free project. He just needs to call and ask about progress, and progress is even better than expected. For some others, he wishes he could take over directly.”

“I have many things here too, but I solve what I can myself. The other cooperating party suddenly had problems and cut off funding midway, so my funds immediately couldn’t keep up. Recently, I’ve been thinking of introducing VC to solve this. Regarding VC procedures, I’d like to consult Sister Liang on the way to Germany—is that okay?”

“Domestic venture capital has been mixed in recent years, and its character is increasingly approaching private equity. You can ask me any questions—I can help you review contracts. If convenient, you’d better give me a company introduction in advance, one with numbers.”

“I’ll give you the materials I prepared for the VC. I’ll have someone deliver them to your home tomorrow. Thank you, that’s great. I’m undecided about whether to introduce VC investment.”

“Borrowing chickens to lay eggs is a good method, but I’ve seen many cases that aren’t about expanding advantages through capital introduction but about forcing growth. Some enterprises’ cooperation with VCs doesn’t ultimately aim to improve the enterprise but to quickly enter and exit through listing to make money. Some originally well-developed enterprises get on the wrong boat and can’t get off, bound by contracts, involuntarily dragged along. Others are dazzled by quick money and end up plagued with problems after listing. So, before a very distinctive manufacturing enterprise like yours contacts VCs, you must write a banner and hang it across from your desk, look at it daily, and reflect daily. It should say: unwaveringly follow the established path beneficial to normal company development, don’t force growth for listing. Of course, if you also want to grab money and run, that’s another matter. But I don’t think you’re a short-term effect person—you seem able to give up your love of cars for beloved research.” Because of Song Yunhui, Liang Sishen had always had a good impression of Liu Jun, so she spoke quite directly. “Eh, you need these calculations? Collaborating with mathematics professors is for this?” She followed to another room, pointing in amazement at a whiteboard covered with messy calculations.

“Yes, we just argued about calculation methods this afternoon and forgot to clean up the battlefield. Our team also has mathematics masters—these are self-calculated.”

“Very advanced indeed. So this is how it is.” Liang Sishen came from a mathematics background. Regarding the unique technologies Liu Jun had introduced to her, she didn’t feel much. But these calculations that seemed like a mess to outsiders allowed her to appreciate the high level of Donghai No. 1 segment research and finally gain a visceral understanding of the research center before her. She stood in front of the whiteboard for a long time until Liu Jun reminded her that half an hour was up, then reluctantly left. Mathematics—originally her great love, suddenly encountered here, stirred deep love in her heart.

From getting in the car to the restaurant, Liu Jun deeply experienced the Porsche’s handling while Liang Sishen kept reminiscing about the tangled calculations on the whiteboard—they traveled the whole way without conversation. Afterward, Liu Jun simply went to his mother-in-law’s to pick up Dandan. Dandan had just fallen asleep and, seeing that the person holding her was safe, closed her eyes and continued sleeping. Liu Jun sat quietly in the taxi home, recalling what Liang Sishen had said about VCs. When Liang Sishen was speaking, he didn’t feel much, but now every sentence was startling. The worries he had always been unwilling to think deeply about were happening to other enterprises—that was called forcing growth. He was a complete outsider to capital operations, but Liang Sishen was different. Seeing her speak fluently without hesitation showed that forcing growth wasn’t an isolated phenomenon in that industry. Liang Sishen even advised him to write a banner and hang it opposite—such seemingly absurd behavior, but since she said it so seriously, it showed the problem existed and was serious. He wasn’t an isolated case.