Chapter 136: Yu Pengfei Arrives in Shenzhen

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Mobile phones held an almost complete monopoly in the market.

How could Chai Jin possibly have failed to notice Motorola?

Yet he also knew that trying to assemble a technology research and development team in China, where there was virtually no technological foundation, was almost impossible.

The emergence of the mobile phone was itself the story of a fearless young man who had dared to raise his sword against a giant.

After being rejected by AT&T, Martin Cooper swallowed his pride and joined Motorola.

Only after leading a team for decades and overcoming countless technical obstacles did Motorola finally succeed—and that success had taken place in America, a country with an immense pool of wireless communications talent.

China had been opening up and reforming for little more than a decade. In this field, its technical talent was virtually nonexistent.

The only solution Chai Jin could think of was to poach people.

He knew who was in charge of the third technical team.

His name was Cai Dazhi. His father had been one of the Chinese laborers who had gone to America in search of gold.

But Cai Dazhi himself possessed extraordinary talent in radio technology.

Back then, Cooper had been looked down upon and refused entry into Bell Telephone Laboratories. In a fit of anger, he had resigned, then proudly pointed at Bell of Bell Laboratories and declared, “You’ll regret this.”

That was how the revolutionary mobile phone had come into being.

Because of his own background, Cooper treasured talent and never discriminated against anyone on the basis of skin color.

And so Cai Dazhi became one of the fortunate ones and entered Motorola’s central research laboratory.

But he was still Chinese. Even if Cooper did not care, his other colleagues still ostracized him and the others.

It was not until the Tianjing manufacturing base was established in February of this year that he and the team he led were pushed out there.

Chai Jin had obtained this information from Cai Weiqiang.

Cai Dazhi was a clansman of Cai Weiqiang’s.

When their clan had recently gathered to worship their ancestors, Cai Dazhi had returned and spoken about the matter.

However, Cai Weiqiang had never exchanged words with him, so Chai Jin had sought out Chen Ni instead.

As Chai Jin explained everything in detail, the restless air surrounding Chen Ni, stirred up by He Kai, gradually settled.

Seeing that Chai Jin did not appear to be joking, she felt her heart pounding and asked, “You want to carry out the research and development yourself? Do you have any idea how much that will cost?”

Chai Jin smiled. “I understand. It’s fine. My boss has money—enough to support it. And if we succeed, we’ll have completely overturned the industry, won’t we?”

Chen Ni struggled to clear her head and asked, “Who exactly is your boss? And how much does he plan to invest?”

Chai Jin answered casually, “Surely a hundred million yuan is enough to make this thing happen?”

“A hundred million…” Chen Ni’s mind failed to process it for a moment.

Anyone in Shenzhen who could produce a hundred million yuan in cash without blinking was no ordinary person.

And he intended to spend it on research and development.

At present, there were hardly any people in the entire southern region willing to take that path.

Whatever the industry, people imported raw materials from abroad, assembled and packaged them at home, and then sold the finished products for profit.

At worst, they simply copied foreign electronic products.

The most popular Little霸王 game console of the moment, for instance, was merely a knockoff.

That was the fastest way to see results and the surest way to make money. Only a fool would pour capital into research and development.

Chen Ni asked again, “Chai Jin, who exactly is your boss? Is he from Hong Kong City?”

Chai Jin merely smiled and shook his head.

By then, the dishes had all been served. Chai Jin picked up his chopsticks. “It’s not convenient to say who he is. Let’s eat first.”

“Do you remember that parcel of land I told you about last time? My boss has received word as well. We should be able to secure it very soon.”

“After that, it will be time to invest.”

From the way Chai Jin spoke, Chen Ni knew that he clearly had no intention of telling her the truth.

She began eating with her head full of questions.

After the meal, Chai Jin took her to Nanzha District.

Just like Feng Haodong, Chai Jin raised his hand with great authority and swept it across the surrounding area. “There are more than two thousand mu of land here in total.”

“Over there are more than a thousand mu belonging to a friend of my boss. He’ll build a massive trade distribution center here, operating directly with Hong Kong City.”

“The more than six hundred mu over there will become a winery. And the more than four hundred mu here will be the mobile phone factory my boss is planning.”

“If you’re interested, come over when the time comes.”

Chen Ni was the daughter of a wealthy family, but even she was stirred into a state of excitement by Chai Jin’s grand gestures and breathtaking plans.

The two of them reached an understanding on that stretch of land.

If Chen Ni continued to remain at Hongchang Electronics, there could only be one outcome.

Either the internal struggle would continue until the factory eventually suffered a major disaster,

or she would marry He Kai—a possibility she would never even consider.

Just as Chai Jin had said, her only choice was to establish herself independently.

Perhaps the transformer business represented an opportunity.

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…

The establishment of the winery and the electronics factory, together with the recruitment of Cai Dazhi’s team and several other expenses, would require a tremendous amount of money.

To put it bluntly, the two hundred million yuan in Chai Jin’s hands might not be enough to keep everything running.

That was why he was desperate to bring aircraft in from the Soviet Union and make money through the trade.

Then, on this day, Yu Pengfei finally returned from the northeast.

He hurried to Chai Jin’s small courtyard and could not resist looking around for quite some time.

At last, speaking in a strongly northeastern accent, he said, “Brother, what were you thinking? Didn’t you make plenty of money? How come you’re living in a place this chaotic?”

Chai Jin brought out a power-strip cord from inside the house, fetched an oscillating fan, and switched it on.

Then he sat beside the gongfu tea set and brewed tea as he said, “There may be countless grand mansions in the world, but when it comes time to sleep, a person needs no more than a three-foot bed. I think this place is pretty good. It has a human touch.”

Yu Pengfei drew a deep breath.

Then he looked toward the canopy fluttering in the wind outside the room and asked, “Got yourself a girlfriend?”

Chai Jin gave a bitter smile. “That belongs to Liu Qingwen’s girlfriend. Come on, Brother Peng, let’s talk business. Tell me how things are in the northeast.”

Yu Pengfei shook his head, sat down at the table, and picked up his teacup for a sip. After letting out an extremely comfortable sigh, he said, “Manzhouli has gone completely mad.”

“Because transportation capacity is inadequate, the goods can’t get out. The backlog is extremely serious.”

“There are far too many smugglers now. Especially after Mou Qizhong succeeded in importing aircraft, the number of traders in Manzhouli has multiplied several times over!”

Yu Pengfei was himself a major trader, hauling container after container from the interior to Manzhouli.

From there, he sent the goods through the border crossing into the Soviet Union.

But now that so many people had entered the trade, freight capacity could no longer keep up, and it had greatly affected him.

All across China, people were still feverishly discussing the story of exchanging canned goods for aircraft. Mou Qizhong had practically been elevated into a deity.

He was the man who had created the phenomenon of an entire nation becoming smugglers.

Chai Jin took a sip of tea and said, “I heard Mou Qizhong is planning a major development project over there?”

“Major development? That’s putting it mildly!” Yu Pengfei practically shrieked. “I heard he even established a satellite division in cooperation with the Russians.”

“He’s really planning to launch satellites into outer space! How can that guy’s mind be so enormous? He must have some connection to Martians!”

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