Back to the teenage years

Chapter 584 Showdown
During the Qingming Festival, a light drizzle fell intermittently.

In the mid-90s, the narrow streets, still bearing the scent of antiquity, were slippery and muddy. The air was filled with the cool scent of decaying soil mixed with newly sprouted vegetation. Yet, the pedestrians walked leisurely and relaxed, a far cry from the numbness of the 996 work army who now walk among skyscrapers.

Zhang Yunqi turned his gaze away from the car window.

The group, in two cars, drove through the damp city of Changsha, their destination the Friendship Mall, to visit the VCD anti-counterfeiting and error-correction competition organized by Lu Yuanzhou.

Some time ago, after Fuhai Trading acquired the provincial distributorship for Xinke Electronics, under Lu Yuanzhou's management, they launched a counterfeit-fighting contest against Aihua Electronics VCD players at Youyi Shopping Mall, the largest electronics market in Lijin City, for several consecutive days.

Zhang Yunqi heard from several people that the anti-counterfeiting competition was very popular and had put considerable public pressure on Aihua Electronics.

In its previous life, the famous "error correction function" battle in the Chinese VCD market took place in the fourth quarter of 1996. Due to the rampant piracy of discs, consumers' demand for playback stability surged. Hu Zhibiao, the then chairman of Aido Electronics, in order to consolidate its leading position in technology and seize market share, planned a brilliant error correction competition to directly prove its "super error correction" selling point to the public.

This massive error-correction contest was launched in Xidan Electronics City in the capital, and then swept across major cities across the country. It was also widely publicized through newspapers, with amazing results, directly reducing Aido Electronics' VCD market share from 13.5% to 17.8%.

Now, this industry storm was started by Zhang Yunqi a few months earlier, and Hu Zhibiao continued to take charge. The results were equally amazing. Aiwa Electronics VCD became the sales leader in the Chinese market in March. However, Lu Yuanzhou and his Fuhai Trading were an unexpected opponent.

As Zhang Yunqi was thinking about these things, Wang Guibing, who was also sitting in the Mercedes, glanced at his phone. There was a text message that Li Yufei had just sent him. He glanced at the rearview mirror and said, "Boss, Lao Li is moving to a new house and has arranged a banquet. What do you think?"

Zhang Yunqi's gaze remained fixed on the fleeting rain outside the window: "Old Li has mentioned this to me three times on the phone. But you, when are you planning to invite us to cook at your new villa?"

Wang Guibing chuckled, with a hint of flattery: "I'm still tidying up, I'm still tidying up. The main problem is that you have a lot of important things to do here and can't spare the time. So, whichever day you're free, that will be the auspicious day for me to move into my house."

Zhang Yunqi tapped the back of the driver's seat: "Xiao Wu, isn't this blatant flattery overpowering?"

Xiao Wu gripped the Mercedes steering wheel and mumbled an "uh-huh," not daring to engage with the two big shots.

As they were talking, the car pulled into the Friendship Shopping Mall.

As Zhang Yunqi and his group got out of the car, a light drizzle started again.

Besides Zhang Yunqi, Wang Guibing, and Xiao Wu, the group that came this time also included Ma Shi, Liu Ming, the general manager of Aihua Electronics Company, and three staff members from Aihua Electronics. Liu Ming had just returned from Yanjing with his people yesterday. He originally intended to report to Zhang Yunqi on the progress of the work in Yanjing before going to Jiangchuan, but Zhang Yunqi pulled him along instead.

They squeezed through the crowd and walked only a few steps before they saw a huge temporary stage in the square in front of the mall's main entrance, surrounded by layers of people. The light rain soaked the hair and shoulders of the citizens, but it could not extinguish the fervor ignited by the huge reward of 100,000 yuan. The scene was just like a lottery draw in the 1990s.

As the group walked to the edge of the crowd, Zhang Yunqi saw a glaring bright red banner hanging in the center of the stage: "Fuhai Trading and Xinke Electronics jointly organize a VCD player 'anti-counterfeiting and rights protection' competition, with a reward of 10 yuan to expose inferior products!"

Below the banner, a brand-new ST VCD player was connected to a large-screen TV. On one side of the stage, several technicians sat behind long tables, with soldering irons, oscilloscopes, and other instruments in front of them, and even a computer for scanning serial numbers. They had a somewhat scientific and authoritative air about them. Next to the long tables were piles of VCD players labeled "Aihua Electronics," like prisoners awaiting trial.

A violent test is underway in the center of the stage.

Under the watchful eyes of everyone, a staff member picked up a CD and rubbed its surface with sandpaper a few times, quickly creating obvious scratches. Amidst a commotion, he inserted the damaged CD into a Shinco VCD player. After a brief disc reading sound, the TV screen began playing an image, albeit with some pixelation and stuttering, but it was indeed playing.

The host on stage immediately picked up the microphone, his voice full of fervor: "True gold fears no fire! The superb error correction of the new VCD is truly amazing! Where is everyone's applause!"

Thunderous applause and whistles erupted from the audience.

Immediately afterwards, another staff member picked up a sample machine labeled "Aihua Electronics," then randomly pulled out a pirated disc from a pile of obviously old and scratched discs and inserted it. The disc reading indicator light on the machine flashed a few times, the TV screen turned to static, and a piercing "buzzing" sound was emitted.

The host frowned at the opportune moment, his tone becoming somewhat skeptical: "The performance of Aiwa Electronics VCD is truly unbelievable. Is this really the brand-name VCD that consumers spend thousands of dollars of their hard-earned money to buy? Now, let's have our engineers disassemble the machine and verify its authenticity!"

Liu Ming's face turned ashen. After all, Aiwa Electronics VCD was developed by him, and this was undoubtedly a slap in the face to him in public: "Boss, they deliberately used sandpaper to scratch the new discs. It looks fierce, but the scratches are actually regular. Of course, Shinco's machine, which has adjusted the error correction parameters, can read them. The ones they gave to Aiwa for testing were old and broken discs that they got from who-knows-where. Some of the scratches are clearly in the critical data area!"

As a tech expert, Liu Ming immediately saw through the deception.

A bespectacled, composed young man next to him chimed in, "Mr. Liu is right. This isn't a test; it's a frame-up."

The young man was Liu Ming's capable assistant. Tang Quan, the director of the technical support department of Aihua Electronic Components Company, was proficient in Aihua Electronics' circuit and mechanical design. He analyzed, "As for those machines of our brand on the stage, I highly suspect that they are refurbished machines that Fuhai Trading has tampered with."

Zhang Yunqi smiled and glanced at the audience. He saw some particularly enthusiastic people mixed in with the crowd, constantly leading the commotion, loudly accusing Aihua Electronics of "cheating ordinary people," and encouraging everyone to go home and find Aihua's machines to "exchange for a 10 yuan grand prize."

Wang Guibing said, "It seems that Fuhai Trading has learned all the essence of our error correction competition, and added the gimmick of huge reward for reporting and professional appraisal. It is more targeted and more lethal! Lu Yuanzhou's 100,000 yuan was indeed well spent, but if they continue to do this, it will have a great negative impact on our Aihua in Central China."

Zhang Yunqi nodded. At this moment, he saw the technicians on the stage solemnly disassemble an Aiwa VCD player that had been "judged as faulty." They then carefully examined the chips on the motherboard with a magnifying glass and finally announced loudly into the microphone: "The serial number has been verified and it is indeed a genuine Aiwa Electronics product! Chipset... everyone look here, this solder joint and the materials used clearly show signs of shoddy workmanship, which is causing the playback to be unstable."

A murmur rippled through the audience. Suddenly, a long-haired woman in a blue work uniform pushed through the crowd and rushed to the front of the stage, holding an Aiwa VCD player high in her hand. She shouted excitedly, "Mine, my Aiwa is broken too! It's even choppy when playing my son's cartoons! I'm going to report this on the spot! How much of the prize money can I get? How can I win the 10 yuan grand prize?"

The atmosphere at the scene was instantly ignited!
The crowd pushed and shoved forward.

The host immediately signaled to the security guards to let the woman in blue overalls come on stage, and the reporters' cameras and microphones were immediately pointed at her.

Zhang Yunqi said, "Old Liu, let Tang Quan go up."

Liu Ming understood and immediately whispered a few words to Tang Quan.

Tang Quan nodded, then turned and led a young man in his early twenties to break through the slippery and crowded crowd, quickly walking towards the car parked by the roadside.

The trunk of the car was opened, and Tang Quan took out a tightly packaged cardboard box with the AiHua Electronics logo printed on it. Inside the box was an AiHua Electronics VCD player.

After closing the trunk, Tang Quan and the young man holding the verification machine parted from the crowd and walked straight towards the staff passage on the side of the stage.

When the two security guards saw the two people who suddenly appeared and tried to rush onto the stage, they immediately reached out to stop them. Tang Quan directly pulled out his business card. He didn't seem to intend to hide his identity and shouted to the host on stage, "I am Tang Quan, the director of the technical support department of Aihua Electronics. Isn't your competition offering a reward for exposing counterfeit Aihua VCDs? I've personally brought one over so you can test and disassemble it in public and see if it really has a problem, or if your methods are flawed."

The host on stage was stunned for a moment. He had obviously not expected the person in question to show up at the scene so suddenly, and he was speechless for a moment.

A manager-looking man from Fuhai Trading, who was in charge at the scene, strode over and said with a dark face, "Mr. Tang? What do you mean by this? This is a fair and open consumer rights protection activity!"

Tang Quan smiled, his gaze sweeping over the Aiwa machines and sandpaper on the stage. He then grabbed the microphone from a reporter who had approached him for an interview and said loudly, "That's even better! I'll test this machine right here in public! I work in VCD player technology development; I understand it. You can use your most professional methods to test it. If it really has a problem, Aiwa Electronics will compensate you 200,000 yuan on the spot! Double! If there's no problem..."

He paused, then turned his gaze to the manager and the technicians on stage: "Then please explain to the consumers here whether your scientific and authoritative appraisal process targeting Aihua Electronics is actually exposing fraud or fabricating it?!"

The noisy crowd fell silent for a moment, followed by a commotion as the host, technicians, and audience all focused their attention on the aggressive young man.

The reporters, like sharks smelling blood, pointed their cameras and microphones at Tang Quan and the manager of Fuhai Trading. Zhang Yunqi, however, noticed the woman on stage who had made the report; her hand holding the Aihua Electronics VCD player was trembling involuntarily.

Zhang Yunqi turned to Ma Shi and said, "Send someone to keep a close eye on this woman in blue overalls who came on stage to expose counterfeits and defend her rights. Get me a complete picture of her motives, who instigated her, the money she received, and all the evidence."

Ma Shi immediately nodded: "Understood, boss."

Zhang Yunqi then said to Wang Guibing, "Contact Hu Zhibiao and have him fly back from Shanghai as soon as possible. We need to intensify the publicity and promotion of Aihua Electronics and bring out all his ingenious ideas. If we don't occupy the position of public opinion, the enemy will occupy it."

He paused for a moment, then added, "Our error-correction competition will also be held at Friendship Mall, right across from Fuhai Trade Center. The bigger the better. Tomorrow."

Wang Guibing nodded: "Understood."

Zhang Yunqi took out a cigarette, looked up at the stage where the drizzle was falling, and at Tang Quan, who was standing on it holding an Aihua Electronics VCD player and confronting the people from Fuhai Trading.

The VCD player in Tang Quan's hand was actually a specially made engineering verification machine by the R&D center of Aihua Electronic Components Company. The core components of this verification machine had undergone special reinforcement treatment, and its error correction capability and resistance to physical damage far exceeded those of mass-produced machines, enabling it to cope with various extreme tests.

Lu Yuanzhou's various tricks and attempts to undermine his competitors and fool consumers seem to have no effect on him, but this machine is enough to slap him in the face in public!
Zhang Yunqi glanced at his watch, then turned and left the damp, sweltering crowd. A light rain fell on his shoulders, bringing a touch of coolness typical of the Qingming Festival: "Has Xiangtai's situation been clarified?"

Wang Guibing chimed in, "Boss, your judgment is absolutely correct! I've already put the relevant documents on your desk."

Zhang Yunqi asked, "Where is the trader?"

Wang Guibing said, "It's all arranged."

Zhang Yunqi said, "I want to see him tonight..."

He paused for a moment, as if remembering something, and turned to ask Wang Guibing, "You know, Li Jilin is hosting this housewarming party, and his younger brother Xie Yun from his wife's side will definitely be there. But whether he's sincere or not, Xie Yun is already tied to Lu Yuanzhou's side. So, will he invite Lu Yuanzhou along?"

"This one……"

"Drive me to Li Jilin's house."

******