Return to 88: Starting from Marrying My Sister-in-law

Chapter 608 A Family of Loyal Martyrs
"Lianxiang's path was forged through mud and water. The white marks left on our trouser legs after they dried were the salt of the times... Fortunately, the bitterness has now turned into sweetness. From now on, we, Lianxiang, will carry the banner of national industry."

A middle-aged man, nearing 50, took the microphone from the host and spoke eloquently in front of the audience watching on television.

"Who is this person?"

"He looks very upright, and his tone is quite arrogant. Yangzi, do you know him?"

Meng Wenxian pointed to the middle-aged man talking eloquently on the television screen.

Others heard the words.

Their eyes were also bright, and they all looked at Lu Yang.

Clearly, he harbored curiosity.

Ye Qiuyu even said with some regret, "I told you, Yangzi should have gone to the event. Maybe he could have been interviewed by the host and given a speech, just like the character in the TV series. That would be an amazing thing. Why didn't you go? I'm not blaming you. Look, it doesn't matter where you eat. You can have a good meal at the Spring Festival Gala."

This is clearly jealousy.

Almost every mother thinks her son is the best. Given that Lu Yang is already outstanding, Ye Qiuyu believes that if Lu Yang goes to the Spring Festival Gala, he will definitely get the chance to speak eloquently in front of the whole nation, just like the middle-aged man on TV.

She would be proud of that.

Lu Yang smiled and said, "Mom, I'm still young, and I'll have plenty of opportunities in the future. If you want to see your son on TV, I'll go if I get an invitation to the Spring Festival Gala again, and I'll take you with me."

Ye Qiu immediately beamed with joy: "Good, good, good, Yangzi, you've made something of yourself."

As she laughed, she turned her head away and secretly wiped away her tears, probably recalling the predicament she and her son faced and the years they had to separate so that they could have enough to eat and survive.

Seeing her like this, Lu Yang sighed inwardly, even though he didn't see her wiping away tears.

Some things are over and done with, but others, even if you try to forget them and deliberately avoid thinking about them, will still be like a thorn stuck deep in the throat of the person involved, unable to go down or come up, and every time they are recalled, they will bring pain to both parties.

For example, the experiences of those years will always be a thorn between the mother and son. Even if they don't deliberately recall them, that vague estrangement will probably take a lifetime to resolve.

"Me too, me too, I want some too, brother, next time you take Mom, please take me with you, okay, brother?"

Fortunately, there was still a source of joy at home. Just as Lu Yang sighed inwardly and Ye Qiuyu turned away to secretly wipe away her tears, the situation became clear.

Little sister Meng Tiantian had already stood up, walked past her sister-in-law to Lu Yang's side, her eyes darting around like a thief, and she shook Lu Yang's arm in a charming and obsequious manner.

This is the Spring Festival Gala. If she could go to the live performance, it would be best if she could appear on TV, even for a short time, even just a second. For example, when the camera is moving and scanning the audience, it might just catch her.

Then she'll have something to brag about.

She is 12 years old and just started junior high school. It's the age when girls like to compare themselves and show off to each other. If she could have the experience of going to the Spring Festival Gala, she vowed that she could brag about it from the first year of junior high school until she graduated from junior high school, and then... in high school, college, and continue to brag, making all her new friends and roommates extremely envious of her.

As she thought about it, her mouth watered, her Adam's apple bobbed, and she secretly swallowed.

Oh no, it's making a sound.

Lu Yang glanced at her and disdainfully shook off her hand. "Let's talk this out. Can you wipe the drool from the corner of your mouth first?"

Meng Tiantian was taken aback when she heard this. Seeing that everyone was looking at her, her face turned bright red with embarrassment. She stomped her foot in protest, "You mean, bad brother."

As she spoke, she let go of Lu Yang's arm, covered her face with her two small hands, turned her back, and slowly moved to her own seat.

Lu Yang stared at her back and chuckled, "Oh dear, you're such a naughty brother. Well then, I was thinking of giving you a chance next time to take you to the Spring Festival Gala. But since you've already been such a naughty brother, forget it. I'll take my daughter instead."

"Yes, yes, yes!"

Four-year-old Lu Xin'er jumped up and clapped happily!
She's young and doesn't understand the significance of being on the Spring Festival Gala, but it's fun!

Meng Tiantian looked at her overjoyed sister with a pitiful expression, then at her own brother, and pouted, "Wow... um..."

Lu Yang stood up and quickly covered her mouth, "Okay, okay, I was just teasing you, don't cry."

Meng Tiantian's mouth was covered.

She stared at him with wide eyes.

Seeing Lu Yang nod emphatically again, she blinked as well, indicating that she could let go.

Lu Yang released his hand from hers.

Meng Tiantian then turned away, spat, wiped her mouth with her sleeve, and turned back to say defiantly, "I didn't cry, brother, I didn't cry just now."

She is an elder, already a young adult, and there are her younger relatives at this table. How could she act like a crying, snotty little thing in front of her little niece?
"Little Auntie is so shy, she's crying. Mom, Xin'er isn't crying anymore, right?"

Sure enough, before Lu Yang could even say anything, Lu Xin'er had already secretly tugged at her mother Yin Mingyue's sleeve, stood on tiptoe, and whispered something in her mother's ear.

But a young girl is too young to understand, and her whispered words were almost like reading an imperial edict aloud in public.

Everyone at the table listened.

This provoked some laughter and Meng Tiantian's protests. The little girl stomped her foot, compared her height to her niece's (who only reached her waist), and thought, "Fine, I'm a little adult now, I won't argue with a child."

Thinking of this, she simply stopped watching TV, covered her face, and ran back to her room.

"I'm going back to my room to do my winter break homework."

She left with a single sentence, not turning her head back, as if afraid that her parents or brother and sister-in-law would call her back.

Ye Qiuyu reached out and tapped Lu Yang's forehead, laughing as she said, "Look at you, you're such a grown man, and you're still bullying your sister."

Yin Mingyue chimed in, "That's right, that's right, Mother-in-law, you have to keep an eye on him. He's never grown up. He not only bullies children, he even bullies my Xin'er. He's fought with Xin'er over the TV several times already. Every time, the two of them argue endlessly over what channel to watch..."

That's outrageous! Ye Qiuyu immediately stood up and grabbed Lu Yang's ear.

I was just joking.

But this time she was serious. She laughed and scolded, "You child, don't you care about your own daughter? I'm warning you, you're not allowed to bully my granddaughter."

While dodging, Lu Yang pleaded, "Mom, nothing like that. I'm a grown man, how could I possibly fight with a kid over the TV? You forgot, we have several TVs at home." Lu Yang wasn't wrong; his family did indeed have several TVs, not only in their old villa in their hometown, the Republican-era manor in Baoqing city, their new home in Pengcheng, but also in this newly acquired courtyard house in Beijing. The living room, bedrooms... even the house where the cleaning lady and the front yard security team lived all had TVs.

However, this really had nothing to do with him and Lu Xin'er fighting over the TV. There was no other reason; he was just trying to amuse his daughter.

After another round of laughter, banter, and lively chatter, the commotion subsided.

Lu Yang then got down to business.

I recalled the appearance of the middle-aged man who was talking so eloquently on TV.

The corners of her mouth turned up slightly.

With a sly, sly, and knowing look on his face, he said to Meng Wenxian, who was still waiting for his reply, "I do know this person. His family is full of loyal martyrs. If I have the chance, I'll ask him to donate some computers to your school, Uncle Meng."

Meng Wenxian exclaimed in surprise, "So he sells computers? But I heard computers are very expensive, costing tens of thousands of yuan each. Xiao Lu, you can't cheat your friend. He must be a state-owned enterprise cadre, right? That would be a mistake."

He took it seriously.

Lu Yang waved his hand and said, "It's alright. The company he manages is no longer a state-owned enterprise. After the restructuring, it became a joint-stock company."

"what!?"

Meng Wenxian's face was filled with incomprehension.

He couldn't understand why a perfectly good state-owned enterprise would be transformed into a joint-stock company through restructuring.

Isn't this taking advantage of public resources?
Lu Yang shook his head, unable to explain to him that there have been many cases of state-owned enterprise reform these days, but they usually involve internal mergers, shedding non-performing assets and concentrating excellent assets. After several rounds of this process, some enterprises have indeed been revived. However, the non-performing assets that are shed usually place a heavy burden on local governments.

In another scenario, the company is already insolvent and trapped in an endless shutdown, with workers on leave and the local government acting as their sole source of income to provide subsidies...

To alleviate the burden, at this time, it is still permissible to sell factories that are already insolvent and in an endless cycle of shutdowns to conscientious businessmen who are willing to take them over, and it is not considered taking advantage of the public.

But all of this is different from what the middle-aged man on TV said. Moreover, according to the middle-aged man's eloquent explanation, his company has always been very profitable over the years, far exceeding its domestic counterparts, and has never been insolvent. So why is this happening?

Lu Yang couldn't answer, so he simply changed the subject.

I chatted with Uncle Meng about having children.

……

As the clock struck twelve, the beautiful melody of "Hand in Hand," a duet by Mao Amin and Andy Lau, filled the air. Dressed in their finest attire, the two walked hand in hand off the stage to face the audience watching on television…

It's New Year's Eve again.

Unfortunately, "Unforgettable Tonight," which used to be performed on time every year, was not selected this year to be the closing song.

Lu Yang still remembers that soon audiences from all over the country wrote to the Spring Festival Gala production team to protest why the song "Unforgettable Tonight" was not included this year, which caused widespread and strong dissatisfaction.

So much so that later, a newspaper commentator wrote: "Unforgettable Tonight is the Spring Festival Gala's lullaby, and in 1993, the Chinese people collectively suffered from insomnia."

From now on, whenever the clock strikes midnight during the Spring Festival Gala, the song "Unforgettable Tonight" will be played at the closing ceremony, becoming an irreplaceable and timeless melody on the Gala.

And tonight.

Lu Yang also suffered from insomnia.

Of course, the reason is not just because I didn't hear the song "Unforgettable Tonight".

He was still thinking about the middle-aged man on the television, whose family was full of loyal martyrs.

This man has many labels: founder of Lianxiang Group, godfather of China's IT industry, leader of the first generation of entrepreneurs in China's reform and opening up, and a respected elder brother in the entrepreneurial circle.

However, in later generations, he was jokingly referred to by netizens as "a family of loyal martyrs".

This is not a compliment.

This is also related to the path that Lianxiang is going to take. Within Lianxiang, some people think that it is better to make than to buy, while others think that it is better to buy than to make. Some people insist on taking the path of independent innovation, while others insist that it is unnecessary to spend a lot of money on research and development. Let alone whether the research and development will produce results or not, even if it does produce results, what then?
To be straightforward, just spend the money to buy it; it's more cost-effective that way.

This year also happens to be the year that Lianxiang goes public in Hong Kong, becoming the first domestic technology company to be approved to list in Hong Kong.

It has a very special significance, and it can even be said that this specialness is enough to affect the scale and scope of reform and opening up.

Meanwhile, the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, for reasons unknown, suddenly encountered some strange issues.

Amidst the covert battle of capital, local investment banks in Hong Kong collectively demanded that Lianxiang divest its "technology assets" and retain only its trading business in order to be allowed to list on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. This coincided with the route that some people within Lianxiang wanted to take, and the two parties reached an agreement immediately.

This dealt a heavy blow to a group of employees within the company who insisted on pursuing independent innovation.

In particular, He Guangnan, the leader, was the inventor of the Lenovo Chinese character card. He joined Lianxiang Company with Chinese character card technology worth 50 yuan. He was the leader of Lianxiang Company to insist on the "technology-industry-trade" route, which was in opposition to the "trade-industry-technology" route that Liu Sheng believed was correct and led within the company.

Just before the company went public, he even submitted a chip plan, hoping that after the company went public, it could use the funds raised to invest 5000 million yuan to let him take charge of the independent research and development of computer CPU chips.

Despite harboring lofty dreams, he was unable to withstand the resistance of capital, was dismissed, and eventually left in silence.

This tech mogul was incredibly talented, but also a tragic hero.

When the chip project was shelved and he was surrounded by enemies at the board meeting with no one standing up to support him, he angrily said: "If the technology route is wrong, it is a sin for Lianxiang to make a lot of money."

When he was ostracized and left Lianxiang, he said this: "My life is like a Chinese character card - it's used and then taken down, but someone always has to be the stepping stone."

In his later years, when he was down on his luck and very old, he said: "They say I'm paranoid, but only paranoiacs can survive? No, only paranoiacs are willing to die."

Lu Yang was wondering if he could poach Dr. He Guangnan and invite him to lead the research and development of VCD decoding chips. Although it was not as precise as computer chips and the difficulty level was much lower, it was precisely because of this that it was more suitable for Dr. Liu. Perhaps with the addition of Dr. He's team, it was really possible to develop this technology that was holding him back in the short term.

but……

How can I impress Dr. Liu?
It seems like none of this has happened yet. Lenovo has only just submitted its IPO application to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. I have to wait until they finish arguing...

(End of this chapter)