Age of Legends

Chapter 239 Shame
"Dad, what's going on today?" Zhang Chen asked Zhang Zhonghua.

“Zhou Ping called me to his office, and he and Ding Shenghua took turns having a heart-to-heart talk. Actually, it was about the technology of that FD29. The idea was that the foreign company would provide some of the technology, and we would provide the shadow mask technology, and then the two sides would form a joint venture…” Zhang Zhonghua said.

Actually, when Ding Shenghua came to offer cigarettes today, Zhou Ping pulled him to sit down, and Zhang Zhonghua realized that something was wrong.

Zhou Ping said, "Old Zhang, you used to be in charge of the FD29 technology line and created the shadow mask, right? Now foreign capital has approached us to cooperate and want to jointly build a production line to develop 29-inch flat-screen monitor technology. You can come and take charge of this line. Don't worry, your salary will be no less than before!"

After a moment of silence, Zhang Zhonghua slowly said, "President Zhou, the group does not possess the FD29 shadow mask technology..."

This time, Zhou Ping and Ding Shenghua were stunned. Zhou Ping glanced at Ding Shenghua, who smoothed out the Rolex he had bought in Hong Kong before saying, "That thing you went out to work on before, didn't you apply for a patent? The group still saw your patent and that's how they found out we developed this technology. You even came to see President Zhou last time, wasn't that about this?"

Ding Shenghua, worried that Zhang Zhonghua might not remember, said rather anxiously, "We didn't have dinner together that day; you hosted a banquet!"

Zhang Zhonghua thought to himself, "You know I've hosted a banquet, huh?" He said, "Yes, what I meant was that President Zhou misspoke... This technology doesn't belong to the group, it belongs to me personally. My mentor in college studied this area, and I have a lot of experience in it. Originally, the FD29 line was supposed to be a key project, but the group withdrew from the project, so it was cancelled before it was even officially launched."

Zhou Ping and Ding Shenghua's faces both darkened.

Who doesn't understand Zhang Zhonghua's underlying meaning now?
Zhou Ping said earnestly, "Old Zhang, the group's downsizing is another matter, but FD29 was a project initiated by the group. You were just the leader, you can't steal the company's invention for yourself. This is a work-related invention, it belongs to the company, you can't make a mistake! You said the group withdrew the line, do you have any evidence? There was no statement at the time, right? Show us the statement."

Zhang Zhonghua said, "Although the group has not made an official statement, the internal meetings have determined the technical progress and withdrawal process of the FD line. The internal meetings clearly stated that FD29 was a project in which the company did not invest resources. I have these meeting records. Even if the company did not sign a statement, this is the fact. It is enough to prove that the shadow mask technology I applied for was my personal invention that was not on the company's technical roadmap."

"Where did you get the meeting minutes? How could there possibly be meeting minutes?" Ding Shenghua said, his mouth twisting in anger.

Zhang Zhonghua said, "Of course no one kept a copy at the time, but I happened to keep one."

"Did you do this on purpose? Were you planning to start your own business back then?" Ding Shenghua asked aggressively, but Zhou Ping pulled him back. He hadn't expected that Zhang Zhonghua would plant a time bomb for him.

Zhang Zhonghua said, "You can withdraw from the technology line as you please, but I think we should protect our technology. Over the years, I have been using my spare time to design the blueprints of the FD29. It is purely a personal hobby and I have not used any of the company's resources for my own research and development."

Ding Shenghua was furious. If this was the case, and Zhang Zhonghua insisted that he had not used the company's resources, and the company had a record of cutting this line and not actually accumulating any technology, then they still had no way to deal with Zhang Zhonghua.

Zhou Ping stopped Ding Shenghua's aggressive advances, and finally sighed to Zhang Zhonghua, "Old Zhang, you've been a long-time employee of the company. The company has treated you well. Think of the bigger picture..."

……

"Prioritizing the overall situation?" In the living room that evening, Zhang Zhonghua recounted the situation to Zhang Chen and his mother. "Didn't I say I prioritized the overall situation enough? For the company's needs, I even changed positions and took unpaid leave. I didn't hold the company back, did I?"

"Zhou Ping was speechless for a moment, and then said, 'We had to give up FD29 back then because of the circumstances. Now the company needs your contribution...' I said, 'President Zhou, Chairman Wang, who made the decision to give up the FD29 line, was just arrested last year for embezzlement. Do you want to talk to him about making a contribution?'" "Great job!" Zhang Chen clapped his hands and applauded Zhang Zhonghua. "Dad, it's different when you become the boss yourself. You speak with much more confidence now."

Zhang Zhonghua used to be a poor engineer. He was always nice and smiling to everyone, but he was quite rigid and strict with Zhang Chen. Generally speaking, children raised in such families are either as rigid as Zhang Zhonghua or rebellious like Zhang Chen. If their grades are not good, they will do the opposite of their fathers.

Unexpectedly, the dramatic changes in his hometown in such a short time made Zhang Zhonghua seem to have come to his senses, and he underwent a transformation just like Huang Huifen.

Huang Huifen also looked at Zhang Zhonghua, "You really said that?"

Zhang Zhonghua said, "What, you think your man doesn't have this spirit?"

Zhang Zhonghua sat up straight on the bamboo sofa, took a sip of tea, and said, "Zhou Ping has always been like this. After Wang Gui was arrested for embezzlement, he steadily rose to the position of general manager of the new company, but his behavior remains the same: deceiving and cheating, shirking responsibility, never taking initiative, and never putting himself in a passive position. I haven't made any demands on the company over the years, and he even offered me a transfer, but he kept saying he supported me. Last time, when he asked me to sign a statement declaring the company's waiver of FD29, we were having a good meal and drinks, but he turned around and criticized me for being unreasonable. He said if I had acted like this earlier, the new company wouldn't have refused to give me a position. Ha... And regarding signing the statement, he kept delaying and passing the buck... I held back and didn't throw the wine in their faces!"

"Now they've somehow found out about my patent and are trying to force me to hand over the technology using this method. How could I possibly agree to that!" Zhang Zhonghua said. "People like Ding Shenghua and Zhou Ping are completely unreliable!"

Huang Huifen understood Zhang Zhonghua's thought process, so she stopped pressuring him to agree to the company's conditions. She said, "Sigh, whatever you want... Why didn't you tell me about what happened when you went to see them last time? If you had told me earlier, I wouldn't have tried to persuade you! Luckily, your secretary Chen Yu provided you with the meeting minutes, otherwise it would be troublesome now! I hope it won't implicate Chen Yu..."

Zhang Zhonghua sighed, "It's hard to say."

Zhang Chen suddenly asked, "Dad, do you think the foreign investors are really approaching us to establish a joint venture with Nam Kwong Company? Do you know which company it is now?"

Zhang Zhonghua glanced at Zhang Chen. "It's said that the company that came to us is a Korean company, probably LG. But I've dealt with them before. Korean companies are very arrogant. To be specific, all foreign companies are arrogant. It's unlikely that they will cooperate with us on technology. They generally think that we are just OEM manufacturers. They want to have complete control over the technology. Without their signature, they won't allow even a single change to a screw."

Zhang Chen nodded. "I also tend to think that it was the Korean side that approached us to have Namkwang Company do the OEM work, but Zhou Ping and his team had a new idea. They wanted to use your technology in exchange for a say in the joint venture, but they didn't expect to get stuck with you."

Zhang Zhonghua nodded, "I've dealt with South Korea before. In 97, during the production line acceptance test, the South Korean supervisor refused to sign off because the flatness of the glass substrate was out of tolerance by 0.02mm, which really worried us."

We looked for problems in every step, and finally remembered that I led the team to disassemble their calibration instruments. It turned out that their sensors had systematic errors, and the other party even said that South Korea's precision technology would not tolerate our country bumpkins questioning and insulting us.

It was eventually discovered that their capacitors were from a domestic manufacturer, a company in Jiangsu, while the internal procurement list listed Murata from Japan. But does this make us look good? Even if there was internal procurement fraud on the Korean side, it's still a slap in the face for us. Ultimately, it's because Chinese products are inferior!

Zhang Zhonghua clenched his fist, seemingly recalling the humiliation of the past, and felt somewhat resentful.

(End of this chapter)