Scholars in the courtyard.

Chapter 3018 The Great Waves Sifte Out the Gold; What Remains May Not Be Gold

As Gao Mingyuexiang left, a hint of disdain appeared on the young man's face.

Seeing the green light turn on by the door, the young man quickly got up, straightened his clothes, and then strode to the door and pushed it open.

When the old man saw the young man come in, he smiled and waved. The young man turned around and closed the door, then walked awkwardly to the old man and sat in his lap.

The old man then hugged the young man.

"Jiro!"

"grown ups!"

"Well, the profits from these tape recorders shouldn't all go to those white pigs, you know what I mean!"

The young man leaned on the old man's shoulder, a look of joy flashing across his face.

The Yanwu brand tape recorder sells for HK$1,000 in Hong Kong, which is about US$200, but it costs 150,000 yen, or about US$500, to ship it to Japan. That's a 1.5-fold increase in price.

A cassette tape can be bought for just two US dollars in Hong Kong, but it costs five US dollars in Japan.

It also increased by 1.5 times.

This is still a blank cassette tape; if you buy a Red Star album, the price doubles.

After deducting transportation costs, you can definitely make double the money by selling them.

The key issue is that there's demand but no market for it right now.

The young people of this island nation have shown such strong purchasing power, and so many people like this tape recorder that its price is even higher on the black market.

Of course, he liked it too.

He just prefers to listen to his own singing!

"My lord, I understand!"

"If we don't make this money, someone else will benefit!"

The old man nodded, "Yoshi!"

"We need to hurry, we can't let Igarashi get there first!"

"As long as we make the money, that's all that matters!"

The young man nodded with a smile.

Since a group of people died from the disease in the island nation, another group jumped off buildings after failing in investments and gambling, and yet another group collapsed under the impact of the real estate market.

Nowadays, those who can still stand firm in the Japanese business world are just the rocks that have survived the test of time.

These stones don't have that much patriotism or sense of honor.

They also lacked that sense of mission to serve the country and its people.

So as long as they can make money and it benefits them, there's nothing they won't do.

As for what I told Gao Mingyuexiang earlier, that was a two-pronged approach.

It would be even better if it could be completed within a month.

At that time, not only will they be able to thwart China's commercial encroachment, but they will also be able to earn a lot of profits for themselves.

Conversely, if you can't do it, it's simply a matter of cutting your losses in time.

Anyway, we have to make this money, and we can't let others make it.

As for national honor, what's more important than making money?

Anyway, he didn't want to jump off the building.

After the two agreed, the old man tightened his embrace around the young man and then started talking about going on vacation abroad.

Meanwhile, Gao Mingyuexiang returned to the conference room.

His disheveled hair and blood-soaked appearance terrified everyone, leaving them speechless.

Gao Mingyuexiang glanced at everyone with a cold look in her eyes, and a document appeared in her hand at some point.

"This is the housing subsidy that the company has paid to you over the past year."

As soon as Gao Mingyuexiang finished speaking, everyone looked up, a bad feeling creeping into their hearts.

With housing prices so high in China these days, most of them can't even afford half a square meter with their monthly salary.

Even a section chief can only afford a single-story house at most per month.

Moreover, after buying a house, you still need to renovate it and pay property management fees.

You even need to buy a parking space, otherwise you'll easily get fined for parking outside.

In short, buying a house in Edo today requires tremendous courage.

Of course, owning a house makes you superior, and a man will never lack women.

Moreover, judging from the relationship between men and women in Japan, after marriage, women only need to take care of housework, while earning money is the man's job.

So the men present not only had to earn money to pay off their bank loans, but also needed to earn more money to cover their own and their families' expenses.

In this situation, in order to reduce the burden on employees and as a form of incentive, the company established a housing subsidy program. Any employee who has been with the company for more than three years can apply for a subsidy when buying a house.

Each person can receive an extra 10% of their monthly salary to help pay their mortgage.

However, you need to choose a bank provided by the company to apply for a loan, as required by the company.

To put it simply, it's a collaboration between the company and the bank.

Even knowing that the company bank would be profitable, everyone readily accepted it, and it even became an important tool for the company to recruit externally.

After all, this really saves money.

But Gao Mingyuexiang's words made everyone uneasy, with a vague sense of foreboding.

Sure enough, their premonition came true as Gao Mingyuexiang spoke.

"I've already spoken to the bank. If we don't meet the target by the end of next month, the subsidies for this year will have to be taken back."

"You need to make up the difference."

As soon as he finished speaking, everyone was shocked.

Xiao Runlong Er jumped up, his fat belly slamming against the table with a creaking sound, and his big face shouted angrily, "Section Chief Gao Ming, you can't do this!"

"This violates company regulations and is a serious violation of the law."

Everyone else stood up, looking furious, as if they wanted to tear the woman in front of them to pieces.

If we don't give them subsidies, it means they'll have to pay an extra month's salary every year.

How can it be!

The crowd surged, hurling insults at each other.

Gao Mingyuexiang just watched coldly, and then stared at Xiao Runlong, who was making the most noise, and sneered, "Remember, what the company gives you is just a subsidy, an allowance, do you understand? This is not a salary."

"Since we can give it to you, we can naturally take it back."

As he spoke, he pointed at Xiao Runlong Er, "You have to pay back 300,000 yuan in loans every month. If you can't do it this time, you will lose this job with a monthly salary of 450,000 yuan. You won't be able to pay back your loans, and your house will be taken back by the bank. Your beautiful wife will also leave you. In the end, you will only be able to hold your one-and-a-half-year-old son and beg on the street. Then you will die in some corner and become garbage that sanitation workers clean up!"

pat.

Xiao Runlong was so frightened that he sat down in his chair, his mind filled with images of the terrible consequences. Cold sweat poured down his forehead, and he trembled involuntarily.

The others were too frightened to speak by the scene described by Gao Mingyuexiang.

Some people, like Xiao Runlong Er, sat motionless in their chairs, their faces filled with fear.

After everyone had been defeated by reality, Gao Mingyuexiang said softly, "However, you still have a chance."

"As long as you can produce our tape recorder within a month, the company will not only not take back the subsidy, but will also give you six months' salary as a bonus."

"The opportunity is right in front of us; retreating means falling into an abyss. We can only keep moving forward."

Gao Mingyuexiang loudly encouraged everyone, and Xiao Runlong Er was the first to react, jumping up again, "I want a house, I want a woman, I want a bonus, I must make it happen."

"We must make it."

He then looked at everyone present and said, "We must make it happen."

"Hi!"

The crowd shouted in unison, their goal clear.

Seeing that she had achieved her goal, Gao Mingyuexiang nodded and then waved her hand, "Come with me and cheer on!"

"I hope you won't disappoint me."

Upon hearing this, everyone immediately left.

Just then, the pain returned, making her unable to stand, yet she dared not sit down. She could only lean on the table and call out to Xiao Runlong. "How far has the lithium battery project progressed?"

When Xiao Runlong heard Gao Mingyuexiang ask about lithium batteries, he panicked.

For no other reason than that he received a cut from this project, and 80% of the allocated research funds went to the research group.

However, he didn't dare to say more, and immediately replied, "I've been working with Professor Yoshino and we've made some breakthroughs, but the investment is too large, and Professor Yoshino needs more time to study it."

Gao Mingyuexiang frowned. "So, he hasn't finished it yet?"

Xiao Runlong nodded without changing his expression, "Yes, it will take time and money."

“Tell him to produce results within a year, or we will stop funding.”

Xiao Runlong's expression changed. If he stopped funding him, how would he still get his cut?

"okay, I get it."

While Xiao Runlong answered verbally, he was secretly planning how to complete the task within a month and then squeeze more money out of him within a year.

After Xiao Runlong left, Gao Mingyuexiang finally lay down on the table to rest, a ruthless glint in her eyes.

Like the old woman who no longer cared about honor, Gao Mingyuexiang was not a patriot.

But she had an even crazier idea in her mind.

That would mean dragging the entire Sony company down with them.

After leaving and returning to his office, Xiao Runlong thought it over and over again before finally picking up the phone and calling the lithium battery project team.

Research on lithium batteries has not received enough attention in the country.

The reason this project caught the eye of the company's senior management was simply because they wanted to provide a new type of power source for electrical appliances, reduce the size of the appliances, thereby optimizing the structure and gaining market share.

Professor Yoshino, who was in charge of the project, had started his research while he was in university.

However, there has been no progress over the years, and the university's research funding is limited, so there have been no formal results.

It was only after receiving company funding that things got on track.

However, Yoshino's research project did not go smoothly. First, there were several mistakes in the principle aspect.

Moreover, he himself is not good at hands-on work, and he needs help from students in the college for some experimental research.

Finally, this research is not of substantial significance at present, at least not in terms of its advantages over dry cell batteries.

For various reasons, research on lithium batteries is almost entirely in the research and development stage.

A year might not be enough to make it.

I drove to my place in Yoshino.

That's right, Yoshino's residence is also his office area.

He lives downstairs in the two-story building with his wife and daughter, while the second floor is his work area.

Although it looks simple, owning such a detached house in Edo was something that ordinary people could not afford.

After parking the car, Ryuji quickly walked into the small building. Yoshino's daughter was arranging flowers at that moment, and when she saw Ryuji, she showed an impatient expression.

Clearly, he didn't have a good impression of Runlong Er.

Xiao Runlong didn't mind, he just glanced at Yoshino's daughter, then licked his lips and went upstairs.

"Yoshino-kun, it's me, Jun Ryuji!"

I called out from the doorway, and I heard the sound of a chair being moved inside the house.

A moment later, the door opened and a little old man came out, wearing glasses and smiling.

"Little Runjun, you've arrived."

Xiao Runlong nodded twice, and then the two went into the house.

I saw that the room contained not only various books and research materials, but also some scattered parts on the lab table.

However, this component doesn't look like a lithium battery.

When Yoshino saw Ryuji staring at the lab table, he knew what the other had figured out and quickly explained, "Ryuji-kun, this is an academic report arranged by the academy."

"Don't worry, I will definitely keep my promise to you."

Yoshino patted his chest and assured him, but Jun Ryuji sighed and said, "Yoshino-kun, things have changed, you should be prepared."

Yoshino was taken aback, fearing that the project funding given to him would be gone, and hurriedly asked, "Jun-kun, what happened?"

"Ugh!"

Xiao Runlong sighed first, expressing his indignation.

Then, seeing Yoshino's uneasy expression, she tactfully explained the situation.

"If we can't make a tape recorder in a month, we'll have to leave the company and find another way out."

"Similarly, if you haven't produced a finished lithium battery by the end of the year, the funding may be cut off and the support may be discontinued."

After Xiaorunlong Er finished speaking, Yoshino sat in the chair and felt cold sweat pouring down his back, unable to straighten up.

He was certain that he had indeed intended to research lithium batteries at the time.

Furthermore, he also did some work at the college and achieved some results.

However, the college was later affected by the epidemic, and the research was forced to stop.

Adding to the fact that the domestic economy subsequently faced a downturn, factories closed down one after another, prices soared, and life became difficult, so who had the energy to do any research?

In other words, the real estate projects began to rise, which led to a gradual economic recovery, and then Sony's funding provided him with the funds to continue his research.

Even so, he used the money to improve his family's living conditions.

There wasn't that strong a sense of urgency.

But now, Xiao Runlong Er is telling him to produce research results within a year. Isn't that making things difficult for him?
If they can't come up with the money, they won't have any funds for the future. How will their family survive?

Thinking this, Yoshino looked at Jun Ryuji and said, "Jun-kun, you have to help me."

Anyone who can get into a university and become a professor is definitely not stupid.

He was well aware that Xiao Runlong had tampered with the funds, but that didn't matter, since he was also earning money to support his family.
On the other hand, they are both in the same boat; without funding, neither of them will get any money.

Conversely, as long as Xiao Runlong Er keeps his lithium battery project, even if Xiao Runlong Er fails to complete the task and is forced to leave, he can still receive a continuous income from him.

And this is the unspoken secret between the two of them at this moment.

"Yoshino-kun, right now there's only one way besides you completing your breakthrough as soon as possible."

"any solution?"

Yoshino asked anxiously.

“Buy lithium batteries from the United States and present them as your research findings.”

"What? This is..."

Yoshino was about to stand up, but seeing Jun Ryuji's expression, he immediately swallowed the rest of his words.

After calming down, he realized that although Xiao Runlong's method was wrong, it was the most useful to him at that moment.

His achievement was developing a battery in the laboratory.

They will continue to receive investment.

As for mass production, we can simply move the United States' production line here.

Anyway, with Xiao Runlong's help, I just need to follow the steps.

This is truly a last resort.

"it is good!"

Yoshino gritted his teeth and agreed, while Junji breathed a sigh of relief.

If it can be completed within a year, that would be great. But the real fear is that it won't be completed, resulting in the loss of both time and money.

"You keep studying it. If you can't figure it out, we'll think of something else."

After Ryuji Kojun finished speaking, Yoshino nodded, and then Ryuji Kojun left.

Yoshino stood by the window watching the departing figure, then sat back down in his chair, took out the lithium battery project proposal from the drawer, stared at it for a long time, and then put it back in the drawer.

The next moment, Yoshino picked up a miscellaneous book from the table next to him and began to read it with great interest, occasionally letting out a lewd laugh.

What he didn't know was that in another timeline, he won the Nobel Prize for his outstanding contributions to the future development of lithium batteries.

But judging from the current situation, he is getting further and further away from that award.