When I am reborn, I just want to be a top student

The equity transfer of BYD Battery was completed very quickly.

So fast that even the capital market didn't have time to fully react. From Galaxy Technology's strategic investment department submitting a formal letter of intent to acquire the company, to the two parties signing an equity transfer agreement in Shenzhen, and then to the first payment being transferred to Fudi Battery's designated account, it all took only a month.

This efficiency would be considered astonishing in the M&A process of any large enterprise, but people at Galaxy Technology know that this is just normal speed, or even a bit slow.

Galaxy Technology's first move in acquiring a stake in BYD Battery was in personnel statistics.

Zhou Changming, the executive vice president of BYD Battery, received the formal notification only a few hours before the announcement was released.

The call came personally from the vice president of Galaxy Energy in charge of supply chain. His tone was polite, but the content left no room for negotiation: "President Zhou, the group requires all Fudi bases to complete a full-coverage statistical analysis of all on-duty personnel within three days. This includes full-time employees, outsourced workers, temporary workers, and interns—no one can be missed. The statistical criteria must include length of service, position, contract type, average monthly salary over the past twelve months, and social security contribution base. The first draft of the roster must be sent to the encrypted email address of the group's human resources center before 8:00 AM tomorrow."

"Are there any problems? If so, please raise them. If not, please execute and complete the task immediately!"

Zhou Changming was clearly a little unaccustomed to this style, and after a pause, he said, "No problem!"

After hanging up the phone, Zhou Changming sat at his desk for a long time, still somewhat in a daze.

He has worked in the battery industry for nearly 20 years, from lead-acid batteries to lithium iron phosphate batteries, from technician to deputy general manager, and has seen all kinds of ups and downs.

But this was the first time he had ever encountered such a decisive and efficient new shareholder.

He picked up his teacup, took a sip of the now-cold Tieguanyin tea, then picked up the landline receiver and dialed the HR manager's internal number.

"Old Han, work overtime tonight and compile a new roster of all registered employees in the factory, including permanent staff, outsourced workers, temporary workers, and interns. Fill in any missing items and update any outdated ones. I need the final version on my desk by 7:30 pm tomorrow. Also, notify all workshop directors that there will be a company-wide mobilization meeting at 10:00 am tomorrow in conference room number three."

The situation at the Qinghai base is more complicated than at headquarters.

The Qingdao base is the largest production base of BYD Battery outside of Chongqing. The first phase of the project has more than 5,000 employees, who are distributed in various processes such as positive electrode materials, negative electrode materials, electrolyte preparation, cell packaging, formation and aging, capacity matching and grouping, and finished product testing. The workshops are arranged from area A to area F. The factory area is so large that you need to ride an electric bike to get from one workshop to another.

The construction plan for the second phase of the project passed the environmental impact assessment and public announcement several months ago. It plans to recruit 6,000 people, and the recruitment announcement has been posted on several recruitment websites. Several vocational and technical colleges in Qinghai Province have also received letters of intent for school-enterprise cooperation.

But as soon as the news of Galaxy Technology's takeover came, all the established plans were put on hold, not canceled, but upgraded.

Liu Zhifeng, the manager of the Qingdao base, was among the first batch of managers parachuted in from Galaxy Technology. He had previously served as the deputy factory director of Galaxy Energy's own factory in Shenzhen for two years and was very familiar with Galaxy Technology's management system and corporate culture.

His reaction to the notification was much calmer than Zhou Changming's. He simply opened the DingTalk work platform on his computer, downloaded the personnel statistics template sent by headquarters to his local computer, and then forwarded it to the HR department and the workshop directors, with a brief work instruction attached: "Fill in the form according to the template, fill it in truthfully, and do not omit anything. Make a separate list for outsourced employees, indicating their labor service company and contract expiration date, and submit the summary to me by noon tomorrow."

The atmosphere at the BYD Battery factory was different from usual in the following days.

The regular employees were a bit better off; they attended morning meetings as usual and kept an eye on the production line. But during their breaks, the topic of conversation always turned to the same thing: "Have you heard? Galaxy Technology has become a major shareholder."

"Nonsense, the announcement has already been made, everyone knows that!"

"No, do you know what the benefits are like at Galaxy Technology? I have a fellow villager who works at Galaxy Energy's Shenzhen factory, and he gets a 17th-month salary, a 17th-month salary!"

"I wonder if we employees are considered employees of Galaxy Technology?"

"That probably doesn't count, since the company wasn't fully acquired; Galaxy Technology is just the major shareholder."

These discussions spread like ripples on water from the circle of formal employees to the circle of outsourced employees, and then from the circle of outsourced employees to the group of temporary workers providing supporting services on the periphery of the factory.

The outsourced employees were the most anxious. Although they wore Fudi Battery's uniforms and did the same work in Fudi's workshop every day, they were not nominally under Fudi's management.

Their labor contracts are with an external labor service company, their wages are paid by the labor service company, their social security is paid by the labor service company at the minimum standard, and the welfare gift boxes that Fudi gives out during holidays have nothing to do with them.

No matter how much money Galaxy Technology has or how good its benefits are, what does that have to do with them?

They didn't realize they were wrong until the notification came down.

That afternoon around 3 p.m., Lao Fang, an outsourced employee of Workshop No. 3 at the Qinghai base, had just finished processing a batch of abnormal battery cells and was squatting at the workshop entrance, lost in thought.

He was thirty-five years old and had been working in the factory for ten years, so he was considered a seasoned veteran.

The cold wind from Qinghai Province blew over from the barren slope north of the factory area, passing through the gaps in the barbed wire fence and bringing a chill.

As was my habit, I shrank back and was about to return to the workshop when the workshop foreman came running from the direction of the gatehouse, carrying a stack of A4 papers. As he ran, he waved to the other subcontractors standing by the wall: "Come here, come here! Sign here!"

Old Fang stood up and went to greet him: "Director Zhang, what do you need to sign?"

"The contract, the employment contract for a full-time employee!"

As Director Zhang handed them A4 sheets of paper one by one, which rustled in the north wind, he said with a happy and excited tone, "The unified policy issued by Galaxy Technology is that Fudi Battery has canceled labor dispatch and outsourcing throughout the entire system. All outsourced employees on duty, as long as they do not have a serious record of misconduct, will be directly transferred to formal contracts with the company."

The other outsourced workers were stunned at the same time.

Old Fang took the paper and looked it over. Even though he was poorly educated and didn't know many characters, he still recognized the words "Party A: Fudi Battery Co., Ltd." and "Labor Contract".

He flipped to the next few pages and saw the figures printed in the salary and benefits section: basic salary, position allowance, full attendance bonus, and overtime pay calculation base. Each item was significantly more than what was on his current payslip.

He looked at the numbers, felt his fingers trembling slightly, and quickly gripped the edge of the paper tightly.

"Director Zhang..."

Old Liu next to him flipped the contract to the last page and then back again, as if afraid he had misread it, and asked somewhat stammeringly, "This... is it real or fake? You're not joking, are you?"

"joke?"

Director Zhang took off his safety helmet and placed it against the wall, then pointed to the new sign that had just been hung up a few days ago at the workshop entrance, which read "Galaxy Technology · Fudi Battery Division · Qingdao Base Manufacturing Center".
"This is Galaxy Technology, and this is the first thing the new shareholders will do after taking over. You're saying it's fake? Are you going to sign it or not? If not, give the contract back to me!"

Upon hearing this, Lao Fang signed his name without hesitation.

Two copies were made quickly, as if afraid that Director Zhang might change his mind.

Seeing that Lao Fang had signed, several people nearby rushed over, eager not to be left out.

After signing the contract, Lao Fang thought for a moment, then took out his phone, secretly took a picture of the contract, and casually posted it on Douyin (TikTok). That evening, a Douyin video located at the Qingdao base topped the trending list of the BYD Battery topic. The accompanying picture was of a labor contract, with the contract number blurred, but the salary figures were clearly visible. Next to it was an old contract from the labor service company, with the base salary and various subsidies circled in red and drawn with a comparison line.

The copy is just one sentence: "On the left, the outsourcing company. On the right, the new contract signed today. Same position, same working hours, the new contract just shows a fixed income increase of over 10,000 yuan, not including overtime pay and year-end bonus. Thank you Galaxy Technology, this is the first time I've encountered such a generous company in all my years of working."

This video was quickly pushed into a wider audience by Douyin's algorithm.

The comment section was quickly flooded with tens of thousands of messages, with IDs from all over the country. The tone of the messages ranged from envy to sourness to complete emotional breakdown, and the content was arranged in a neat and orderly manner.

"FYD Battery? I also work in a battery factory. When will our company be acquired by Galaxy Technology? I do more work than you every day, but my salary is less than half of yours."

"Do you know what more than 10,000 yuan means? In some places, a factory worker's annual take-home pay is only 50,000 to 60,000 yuan. A 10,000 yuan increase is equivalent to a direct increase of more than 20% in income. It's not a monthly salary increase, it's an annual salary increase."

"My classmate works in the coating workshop at the Fudi Battery headquarters in Chongqing. He just posted a screenshot of his new payslip in the group chat, and his take-home pay is significantly more than last month. He said that no one in the entire coating workshop complained of being tired tonight, and some people even stayed to clean the equipment after get off work. Before, no one wanted to clean the equipment because they thought the overtime pay wasn't enough. Now, the base amount for overtime pay has been increased, so for the same number of overtime hours, the overtime pay is much more than before. Is the level of enthusiasm the same?"

"I always thought that the good benefits at Galaxy Technology were only for the R&D staff and engineers at headquarters. I never expected that even the factory workers could enjoy such good treatment."

“Friend, you have no idea about the treatment of ordinary workers at Galaxy Energy’s Shenzhen factory. They really put ‘common prosperity’ on their pay slips.”

"If I remember correctly, Fudi Battery only introduced Galaxy Technology as a major shareholder, right? It's not a wholly-owned subsidiary. They're being so generous. This is so enviable."

The speed at which public opinion has escalated far exceeded everyone's expectations.

The next morning, the hashtag "#FredeBestBatteryEmployeesGetPromotionAndSalaryRaise" surged into the top five trending topics on Weibo, quickly garnering over 100 million views.

Several financial bloggers rushed to produce analytical videos overnight, each with a more sensational title than the last.

"Galaxy Technology's first move to dominate the battery industry: slashing at outsourcing workers."

"Fodi Battery has completely eliminated outsourcing, and wages will increase by at least 20%!"

"With a starting salary increase of 10,000 yuan and full payment of social insurance and housing fund, migrant workers in the battery industry can finally have a decent life."

A financial blogger in a video made a comparison chart of the employee benefits of Galaxy Technology over the years on a PPT, from Galaxy Energy's 17-month salary to Galaxy Aerospace's project bonus of 500,000 yuan per person, from Galaxy Agriculture's scientific research allowance to Xinghuo Express and Pinhaofan's employee benefits, and finally the screen froze on the comparison chart of the old and new contracts of Fudi Battery.

"Friends..."

At the end of the video, the blogger took off his glasses, wiped them, and put them back on, saying in a tone that was both envious and complicated: "You guys do the math. Each person gets an extra 10,000 yuan. How many people does Fudi Battery have across all its bases? The first phase of the Qingdao base had 5,000 people, the headquarters in Chongqing had more than 20,000, and then there are the Changsha-Zhuzhou-Xiangtan base and the Xiangyang base, conservatively estimated at 50,000 to 60,000 people. That means that just by taking over Fudi Battery, Galaxy Technology is spending an extra 500 to 600 million yuan, or even more, on employees every year. And that doesn't even include the additional hiring needed for future expansion."

"Think about it again. If a company spends an extra 500 to 600 million yuan every year to raise the wages of its grassroots workers, what will its management and shareholders think? What will the capital market think? How much money must a company be making to justify doing this?"

"This is the kind of company we should support the most!"

Meanwhile, on the recruitment pages of BYD Battery on major recruitment websites, the back-end systems for submitting resumes experienced occasional server lag due to the sudden surge in traffic.

The second phase of the Qinghai base originally planned to recruit only 6,000 people, but when Liu Zhifeng received the latest planning document from headquarters, he found that the plan had been quietly updated and the recruitment target had been increased from 6,000 to 8,000.

The positions cover almost all production line positions, including cathode material synthesis engineer, electrolyte formulator, coating machine operator, winding operator, formation and capacity technician, and quality system specialist. The salary range is clearly stated, and every number is much higher than that of the same industry in the same region.

Liu Zhifeng flipped through the document from beginning to end, then dialed Zhou Changming's internal number on the landline: "President Zhou, I've looked at the second phase of the recruitment plan. The budget for recruiting 8,000 people is much larger than originally planned. Did the group approve it so quickly?"

Zhou Changming's voice on the other end of the phone sounded like he was flipping through several documents at the same time, with the papers rustling: "The group's investment committee approved it that day. The production capacity plan will be determined according to market demand. This year, the shipment of power batteries for new energy vehicles is expected to increase significantly year-on-year. Even if Fudi's current production capacity is operating at full capacity, it can only meet a portion of the order demand."

"We definitely need to expand production. If we don't, the lost orders will be pure profit!"

Liu Zhifeng hung up the phone, turned to the last page of the latest recruitment plan in front of him, looked at the red stamp that read "Approved by Galaxy Technology Strategic Investment Department," and remained silent for a moment.

Then he picked up a pen and added a note next to the last job posting in the proposal: This round of recruitment covers all production line positions in the second phase of the Qingdao base, including cathode material synthesis engineers, coating machine operators, winding operators, formation and capacity technicians, and quality system specialists. Salaries are higher than the average for the same region and industry; specific figures will be provided in the interview notification.

After finishing writing, he faxed the document to the human resources department, leaned back in his chair, took a sip of tea, and looked out the window at the brightly lit factory area of ​​the Qinghai base.

On the other end of the internet, netizens have taken their envy of Galaxy Technology to a whole new level.

Previously, when Xuanwu Battery supplied global automakers, they envied Galaxy Technology's profitability; when Pinyidao went public, they envied Galaxy Technology's industrial structure and strategic planning; when the yield data of super rice per mu was released, they envied Galaxy Technology's scientific research strength.

But those things are ultimately too far removed from the daily lives of ordinary people. Can ordinary people afford a Mercedes-Benz S-Class equipped with Xuanwu batteries? Can they go to Galaxy Aerospace's lunar base? Can they understand the genome sequencing report of super rice?
But everyone understands, can calculate, and knows what a salary increase of more than 10,000 yuan means.

A factory worker who works year-round only earns fifty to sixty thousand yuan a year.

An increase of more than 10,000 yuan means that his family can use the extra money each year to buy some new furniture and appliances, or increase their savings by 10,000 yuan.

This kind of thing doesn't require any professional knowledge to grasp its significance.

This surge in activity directly translated into a massive, dense, and emotionally charged explosion of UGC content. Job seekers searched for "Galaxy Technology + positions" on recruitment websites with a sharp increase, and the number of times Fudi Battery's recruitment page was bookmarked multiplied several times over.

Some people even started compiling a list of companies that Galaxy Technology might acquire or invest in on various content platforms. From power battery cathode material suppliers to second-tier motor and electronic control manufacturers, from solid-state battery R&D startups to intelligent driving sensor contract manufacturers, each listed company was scored and evaluated by netizens to assess the probability of being "targeted by Galaxy Technology".

The emotions in the comments section gradually evolved from simple envy into a narrative with a stronger sense of collective appeal.

"I suggest Galaxy Technology directly acquire our company. Our boss is extremely stingy. He only gave out 200 yuan red envelopes for the Chinese New Year and made the employees stand in a row for a photo to post on the official WeChat account. We don't need a price increase of more than 10,000 yuan, 3,000 yuan will suffice."

"I was completely taken aback when I saw that video of that outsourced guy from Freddie. I'm also an outsourced worker in a similar factory, and I've been doing it for almost ten years. My social security is paid at the minimum base, and my holiday benefits are completely different from those of regular employees. We do the exact same work on the production line, but he gets double pay at the end of the year while I only get a box of apples. Could we ask Galaxy Technology to open a branch factory here? Even if we don't open a branch factory, we can still get shares. If we do get shares, maybe we can become regular employees too."

"Does anyone know how to get a job at BYD Battery? I'm currently in the same industry, have two years of coating experience, an electrician's license, and can work shifts. Please add me to the referral group, thank you."

Just as this wave of public opinion reached its peak, a sharp-eyed user noticed a minor change on Galaxy Technology's official website.

Galaxy Technologies' official website has always been very simple in its layout, with six main sections: Group Overview, Business Segments, News Center, Investor Relations, Social Responsibility, and Join Us, which are easy to understand at a glance.

The business segment displays the logos of several subsidiaries, including Galaxy Energy, Galaxy Aerospace, Galaxy Agriculture, Galaxy Entertainment, and Galaxy Semiconductor. Each logo leads to a separate page when clicked.

However, late that night, when a user was browsing the official website to check the recruitment information of BYD Battery, they suddenly discovered a new name that they had never seen before in the list of subsidiaries in the business segment.

"Galaxy Sanitation Workers." (End of Chapter)