Reborn in the red age

In 1993, the economy of Xi City was quite developed.

The state-owned enterprises include the former 742 Factory, now Huajing Electronics Group, which is an important birthplace of the domestic integrated circuit industry and an important base for the production of color TVs and computer displays.
Computer display screens, in particular, are exported in large quantities due to their high quality and low price, and are a powerful tool for earning foreign exchange in the local area.

Among the private enterprises, there is Wang Weimin's DVD player factory which produces 120,000 DVD players per month and sells well across the country. It has also greatly promoted the development of upstream and downstream enterprises in the DVD player industry in Xi City and provided a large number of jobs for Xi City.

With more people receiving salaries, they naturally need to spend money. Single workers usually don't go home directly after get off work in the evening, but choose to go out with a few good friends for a drink, dancing, etc.

Therefore, the nightlife in Xi'an at this time is so rich and colorful. Although it is not as good as the nearby Shanghai, it is also one of the best in the surrounding urban circles.

In the evening, Wang Weimin, as the landlord, took Li Qingfeng to experience the nightlife of Xi City.

"Brother, after finishing this glass of wine, let's change places, shall we? A new bath center has opened in Xi City, and it has introduced the sauna from Hong Kong. Let's experience it later and find a female technician to give us a massage."

In the nightclub, Wang Weimin, with one arm around a dancing hostess, excitedly talked to Li Qingfeng about the next arrangements.

After glancing at Wang Weimin who was standing next to him, and then looking at the men and women in the dance hall who all looked the same, Li Qingfeng, who seldom came to such places, shook his head.

It’s no wonder that leading cadres become corrupt so quickly. The wind of bourgeois hedonism is blowing so fast, which man can withstand it?
They changed three places at night. Wang Weimin was afraid that Hu Jiabao would know what was happening here, so he didn't dare to arrange a woman to sleep with Li Qingfeng. After having his feet massaged in the bath center, Wang Weimin invited Li Qingfeng to stay at his place.

Considering that Hu Jiabao didn't like Wang Weimin, the new daughter-in-law who was a mistress, Li Qingfeng rejected Wang Weimin's invitation and took Sun Aidang to check into the hotel.

After a simple night's rest, Li Qingfeng made an appointment to meet Li Zheng, who was engaged in chip design at Huajing Central Research Institute, in the hotel's conference room early the next morning.

Li Qingfeng's trip to Xi City to see Wang Weimin was just a coincidence, and he came mainly for Li Zheng.

Speaking of Li Zheng, he is no ordinary person. He has participated in the development of domestic EDA design software led by the state, and has successfully developed it on workstations and PCs.

After the successful development of domestic EDA, he was sent to the United States to learn the use of Western EDA and chip design. After returning to China, he changed his career to become a chip designer and was transferred to Huajing to engage in chip design.

If Li Qingfeng had not appeared, Li Zheng would have been poached from Huajing by Huawei this year, and together with Xu Wenwei who poached him, he would have become the founder of Huawei chips and made great contributions to the development of Huawei.

"Brother, Engineer Li is here"

Li Qingfeng, who was staring out the window in a daze in the hotel conference room, turned around after hearing the sound of the door opening. After seeing the people behind Sun Aidang, he took two quick steps and extended his right hand from a distance.

Li Zheng was a little confused by Li Qingfeng's enthusiasm. After he came to his senses, he quickly walked around Sun Aidang and quickly stepped forward to shake hands with Li Qingfeng.

"Mr. Li, I have heard about your deeds for a long time and have been fascinated by you for a long time. Today I finally see you in person."

"Teacher Li, you are too polite. My problem is nothing. But I am almost tired of hearing your name."

After Sun Ai Dang quietly closed the door, Wang Hu standing nearby complained quietly: "Aidang, why do these intellectuals have to flatter each other when they meet for the first time? Can't they just get down to business?"

"You are a primary school graduate, what do you know? Just stay at your post and don't ask about the affairs of educated people."

Although Sun Aidang didn't understand either, he didn't say it out loud. After reminding Wang Hu, he stood up straight and stared at the wall opposite.

The two people in the room were drinking tea and chatting about everything under the sun.

We talked about everything from America to Shanghai, from socialism to capitalism, and after finishing a pot of tea, we got down to business.

After opening the thermos and re-brewing the tea leaves, Li Qingfeng got down to business: "Engineer Li, I won't hide anything anymore. The main reason I want to meet you this time is to invite you to work at Huaxin, where you can better display your talents than at Huajing."

"To be honest, I have been thinking about leaving Huajing recently, but I have already found a new employer and all the terms have been agreed upon. I was planning to resign at the end of this month and start working in Pengcheng." After hearing Li Qingfeng's invitation, Li Zheng was very tempted, but still said hesitantly.

Li Qingfeng remained calm on the surface, but he was secretly glad in his heart that his buddy came, otherwise, the talent he liked would have been poached by Hua Wei.

"Oh? Someone got there before me? Which company is it?"

"A small company engaged in independent research and development, mainly engaged in the switch business"

"Small business? How can a business that can convince Mr. Li to join be the small business you are talking about? Even if it is a small business now, it will become a giant company in the country in the future."

Li Qingfeng smiled and shook his head, giving face to Li Zheng and also to Hua Wei.

"It is indeed a small company. They did make some money as the agent of Hong Kong switches before, but after they switched to their own research and development, their first generation of self-developed products fell behind the market not long after they came out. They then started to develop their own second generation of digital switches. Currently, the company's funding chain has been broken."

"The boss of their company borrowed a loan shark and invested all the money in the research and development of digital program-controlled switches. The new digital program-controlled switches need to design their own chips, so they invited me to help them speed up the research and development of chips."

Li Zheng was very honest and told his truth. He had no intention of hiding anything from Li Qingfeng and told him all about his next employer.

After hearing from Li Zheng about the difficulties Huawei encountered, Li Qingfeng could not help but shook his head. Huawei was in a bit of danger now. It could be said that Huawei was at the critical juncture of life and death.

After learning about Huawei's situation, Qingfeng Li felt reluctant to compete with Ren for talent.

In the end, because I poached Li Zheng, the R&D work there was delayed in producing results, and eventually the capital chain was broken, causing Warwick to go bankrupt.

There are not many large companies in China that can engage in research and development in a down-to-earth manner. We cannot ruin this excellent enterprise because of this little butterfly.

Li Qingfeng fell into deep thought and began to re-examine his decision.

"Teacher Li?" Seeing Li Qingfeng staring at the teapot without saying anything, Li Zheng reminded Li Qingfeng softly.

"Oh, oh, sorry, I think I was distracted by something." Li Qingfeng, who was awakened, came back to his senses, smiled slightly, and apologized to Li Zheng.

"It's okay, Mr. Li. I just said so much because I want to tell you that compared to Huaxin, which is full of talented people, the company in Pengcheng that is facing life and death needs me more, so I may disappoint you."

From what Li Zheng said just now, Qingfeng Li had already heard Li Zheng's appreciation for Hua Wei. Qingfeng Li was not surprised to hear what Li Zheng said.

"It is understandable that most of the private enterprises in China are now engaged in trade and agency. There are not many companies that are willing to invest all their assets in self-research. Such companies are worthy of respect."

"Let's leave it at that for today. I still have work to do at the company, so I won't bother you any more."

After finishing his talk, Li Zheng was about to get up and say goodbye, but was stopped by Li Qingfeng.

Facing Li Zheng's puzzled gaze, Li Qingfeng smiled brilliantly: "I am very interested in the company you mentioned. I wonder if you can introduce it to me?"

Although Li Qingfeng has not been active in China and has not dealt with domestic companies much, Li Qingfeng still has a high reputation in China and is recognized as a business leader by all private entrepreneurs.

When Li Zheng spread the news that Li Qingfeng was going to meet the boss of Warwick, Comrade Lao Ren, who was far away in Pengcheng and was worrying about where to get more money, immediately bought a ticket to Shanghai that afternoon with great reluctance.

After learning that Lao Ren had arrived at Hongqiao Airport, Li Qingfeng called Wang Weimin and arrived at the agreed hotel in advance to wait for Lao Ren's arrival.

In the lobby of an ordinary restaurant in Xi City, Wang Weimin asked in confusion, "No, brother, who are you? Who are he? We are lucky enough not to have him wait for us, why are we still waiting for him?"

"What's the difference between us? We are all revolutionary comrades on the same path. He rushed over from Pengcheng as soon as he received the news that I wanted to see him. What's wrong with waiting for him in advance when you have nothing to do?" Li Qingfeng said calmly while drinking the free tea provided by the hotel.

"I just think we're giving him too much face. I asked around about that guy called Huawei, and I found out that the company only has about 100 people, and they don't have any outstanding products. The boss even borrowed some money from a loan shark some time ago to run the company. It's a small company that's about to go bankrupt."

"You're giving him too much face?" Li Qingfeng looked at Wang Weimin unhappily. "When the domestic communications market is completely occupied by foreign capital and you have no technology, no funds, and no talent, you dare to invest your entire fortune and even borrow high-interest loans to conduct self-research. This alone deserves your respect."

"He has nothing and is in debt, but he still wants to do self-research. He is a fool," Wang Weimin muttered in a low voice.

Hearing Wang Weimin's mumbling, Li Qingfeng threw the teacup in his hand heavily on the table, and scolded him angrily: "You idiot, you idiot, are you the only one who is smart? I think you are the biggest idiot."

"Tell me, after you made a lot of money over the years, you changed women more frequently than clothes. You had such a good wife, but you didn't cherish her and insisted on marrying other women home. You lived a life of luxury. In addition to building a few factory buildings, have you invested a dime in research and development?"

After scolding Wang Weimin harshly, Li Qingfeng, who was extremely disappointed with Wang Weimin, was too lazy to scold him any further. He waved his hand and sent him away, asking him to go back and reflect on himself so as to avoid embarrassing himself in front of outsiders.

Looking at Wang Weimin's figure disappearing at the door, Li Qingfeng shook his head.

Not everyone can do business. Wang Weimin is just an ordinary person, not a brilliant person.

With the support of Qingfeng Li, being able to reach this point is already his limit. Wang Weimin's personality and ability doomed him to not be the helmsman of a large enterprise.

Rubbing his brows, Li Qingfeng couldn't help but wonder whether he should give Wang Weimin a chance.

In Wang Weimin's case, after the VCD project was completed, he closed the company and became a rich man, which seemed to be a good thing.

Just as Li Qingfeng was thinking, the door of the private restaurant was opened and Li Zheng led two men in.

The real owner has arrived. Li Qingfeng put aside the distracting thoughts in his mind and carefully looked at Old Ren, who just turned fifty this year.

What attracted Li Qingfeng's attention the most was the belt around Lao Ren's waist. It was not a famous brand belt, but a low-end belt that could be bought on the roadside for ten yuan. It was hard to tell whether it was leather or not, and it was severely worn. It was obvious that it was quite old.

Old Ren recognized Li Qingfeng the moment he saw him. He took two quick steps, his square face smiled like a chrysanthemum, and stretched out his right hand from a distance.

"Oh, Mr. Li, I'm so sorry to have kept you waiting. I must drink three cups of wine as a punishment to express my apology."

"Mr. Ren, you are too polite. What's there to apologize for? I just had nothing to do so I arrived early."

Li Qingfeng didn't put on airs. He stood up enthusiastically and shook hands with the other party. He still admired Old Ren very much.

Apart from anything else, the fact that all shares are distributed to employees is worthy of admiration.

Although Nintendo may have been forced to do this, it is still worthy of admiration.

You have to know that with Warwick's size at that time, it was entirely possible to sell the company to foreign capital and go abroad for retirement with astronomical amounts of money.

After a few simple greetings, as soon as the food was served, Lao Ren began to deceive Li Qingfeng: "Our company's self-developed chips have achieved certain preliminary results. They will be successfully designed soon. The chip performance is not inferior to that of foreign companies."

"After calculation, once our chip design is successful, the cost per chip can be basically controlled below US$15. If we directly purchase chipsets from foreign manufacturers, the cost will exceed US$100 or even US$200."

"If we use our self-developed chips, the cost of our own digital program-controlled switches can be greatly reduced. The cost of a single machine is only 50% of similar foreign products."

"Teacher Li, your company Huaxin developed the first communication chip in China at the beginning of the year. You should know something about the communication industry, right?"

"In the domestic communications market, the switch segment alone is worth billions of dollars a year. I believe that within the next ten years, it will be worth tens of billions of dollars."

"Once our products are on the market, their quality is comparable to that of foreign products, but the price is only 70% of that of imported products. Everyone will know whose products to choose."

"I am confident that the sales of the product will reach 1 billion in the first year after it is developed, and will double in the second year. Within ten years, the total sales will exceed 50 billion, making it the world's best-selling switch."

"Ten years later, Huawei will be on a par with AT&T and Alcatel and become one of the top three communication equipment manufacturers in the world."

Li Qingfeng looked at Old Ren who was talking nonstop. He didn't know why he felt full in his stomach even though he hadn't eaten a single bite of food.

It's like having just had a big meal.

How strange. (End of chapter)