Rebirth 08: Equipment God

Chapter 243 Three-tiered system: another exploration and practice!

Zhai Da finally put Cheng Mo down after circling the main building six times.

At one point, someone suggested giving him a slight hint about the differences in the car's infotainment system. Cheng Mo was somewhat puzzled by the size of the infotainment screen, which was beyond the current era, but he ultimately dismissed the idea.

He will continue to guide the members of "π", with Cheng Mo being the most important, but they should not focus their attention on this car.

His plan was to unlock the special effects first, and then figure out the basics on his own.

Whether it's the modification of the [Mechanical Core] itself or its integration with other equipment, this vehicle itself...

Once he has gained something, he will use the advanced technology from the vehicle in a more reasonable way to motivate the members of "π" to exert their efforts.

So after Cheng Mo got out of the car, Zhai Da set the car's infotainment screen to "default always off".

In any case, most functions are unusable. The 24-year-old car infotainment system, which in theory can watch short videos, browse the internet, and even play King of Glory with a gamepad, is currently unusable except for controlling itself.

Unable to connect to the internet, unable to download apps, and even navigation is unusable because it cannot connect to satellite positioning.

Furthermore, the offline version of the map contains numerous errors in road planning from more than a decade later.

It can only be said that the system is a complete copy of a car from 24 years ago, perfectly replicating every single detail.
Before they knew it, the car arrived at Zhengxin Building. Zhai Da deliberately parked the car on the side to avoid any impact, so as not to overly influence the students' views on money.

A moment later, Xiao Mutou walked out of the gate carrying his books. After looking around, he walked straight over and opened the door of the black luxury car amidst the stares of countless students who were also leaving the examination hall.

If you're a vain girl, those few minutes are enough to completely defeat her.

But Lu Wei simply sat down calmly and said, "I'm hungry."

Zhai Da smiled slightly and started the car to take Lu Wei out to eat.

This was his demand: if you're hungry, you can't hold it in; you have to say so.

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

After two more days of intense exams, Zhai Da and Lu Wei finally finished the first half.

Next week's schedule will be more relaxed, with only one or two sessions a day, but most of them will be arranged separately.

In the past few days, Zhai Da has dealt with some trivial matters, one of which is the long-awaited Weibo account, which was launched more than half a year earlier than the original trajectory.

It was a few days later than the time Li Tiantian from Beijing had initially informed us, but in the internet industry, it's normal to change plans every few days; it's basically based on the programmers' health conditions.

I felt the programmer was about to die, so I postponed it for a while. After all, he couldn't die at his workstation.

If the programmers seem energetic and lively, it means there's still room for maneuver, and the launch plan can be brought forward.

Zhai Da's short Weibo post, "Hello Weibo, hello 2009," accompanied by a photo of a clown playing card, became the first Weibo post on the entire platform.

Writer Zhai Daye also became the first user of Weibo, with the Weibo ID: 000001. Some of the rituals and ceremonies were all due to Li Tiantian's superstition about "lucky koi".

Most opinion leaders and celebrities haven't paid attention to Weibo, this fledgling platform, so Zhai Da is currently the only "big shot" whose name is familiar to them.

The specific tasks of attracting traffic and encouraging blog users to go to Weibo will be handled by Lu Siwen and Xinglang. Zhai Da even made a special phone call to tell her not to miss her exams, as Peking University is also in exam week.

This is just the beginning, so there's no need to pay special attention to it for now. We'll just wait until around the Spring Festival to serialize "The Time-Traveling Cohabitation Manual" and generate some buzz before its release.

Another thing is to make plans to go home.

First, Zhai Da and Lu Wei themselves will soon embark on their journey home after the holiday. Driving is out of the question; they will fly to Liancheng and then transfer to a car.

Xu Xuejun also set off together; the old man was eager to go back and couldn't wait until before the Spring Festival.

In contrast, Wu Yue will be a few days later. "Yueda Catering" will not take a break during the Spring Festival, and he will try to arrange his work here and return to Dongyang as soon as possible.

In the "Misty Tavern," Zhai Da and Wu Yue didn't drink alcohol, but chatted over a plate of fries.

Are bars and nightclubs still open during the Spring Festival?

Wu Yue shrugged and said, "What do you think? We're the conservative type of people who celebrate the New Year, just following our families' routines. There are plenty of radical types who celebrate the New Year."

"Although the restaurants aren't fully open, the supply can't be interrupted. My cousin might stay; he won't be coming back this year."

Wu Yue glanced at the bustling scene outside the glass window: "You'll be on holiday soon too, so I'll just go over the accounts with you."

Zhai Da nodded: "Okay, go ahead."

Wu Yue pulled out a small notebook from his chest and hired an accountant, which made the accounts much clearer. However, the accountant was a bit strange. Although she was a 30-year-old woman, she would stand up and say "Here" as soon as her name was called. She was also not very good at using a mobile phone and ate faster than a young man.

“You’ve never been involved in the accounts, so be prepared this time.”

Zhai Da was taken aback: "Could it be that we lost money? That can't be, right?"

They're so busy here every day that they don't even touch the ground, yet they still lose money.

Wu Yue smiled and shook his head, saying, "No, because the amount is very large."

Han Qi, who was frying popcorn chicken in the kitchen, secretly rolled her eyes, feeling quite speechless, but still closed the door to avoid suspicion.

Wu Yue said to the notes in the small notebook:

“We started supplying alcohol on October 20th, and it has been 83 days so far. In the early days, the daily supply was only about 1000 liters, but it increased rapidly. Now the daily supply has reached about 20,000 liters, which is much better than expected. However, the production capacity is gradually reaching its limit, and the highest it can reach is 24,000 liters.”

"To put it simply, I spent an entire night studying those financial statements before I understood them. The selling price per liter of wine is 16, and the gross profit so far is 10.3%. This is mainly because we develop, produce, and repair our own equipment, and the raw materials are not expensive."

“Our payment terms are short, only seven days, and our bad debt rate is very low. As of today, if we include the sold but not yet collected portions, the sales revenue of 97.134 liters of wine supplied over 83 days is 1554.14, and the gross profit is 1000.4. I won't say the units, you understand.” Zhai Da raised an eyebrow.
It can only be said that alcohol has always been as valuable as gold, especially craft beer, which currently enjoys both "niche monopoly" and "huge market" advantages, meaning that once it's made, it's guaranteed to sell.

All that flows through those machines, and all that the delivery teams move in and out of, is money.

Of course, by analogy, the classrooms in Utopia were filled with money.
During the summer vacation, if a child takes all the courses at Utopia and doesn't miss any, it can cost 10,000 to 20,000 yuan for the whole summer.

“On the surface, we are a restaurant, but the accountant said that the tax rate in this industry is extremely low, and falsifying accounts is commonplace and no one cares. But our amount is too large, so I told her to plan according to the principle of legal tax avoidance plus tax payment.”

The larger the amount, the higher the tax rate, that's for sure. The principle is simple: the more wealth you take from society, the greater your obligation to society, and this applies universally.

Greed can arise in an instant. Some companies make money by evading taxes, such as the case of "Yueda Catering". If you are ambitious, you can make two or three million.

But this was clearly not in line with Wu Yue's style of doing things. He knew without asking that it was also not in line with Zhai Da's style. Utopia also paid taxes back then, and when they closed down and distributed the money, they reported the pre-tax amount. It was just that the nouveau riche, Mr. Yu, rounded it down to the post-tax amount. For him, it might just be the price of a car.

That night, after Wu Yue said he didn't intend to evade taxes, the accountant clearly breathed a sigh of relief.

Wu Yue continued, "By legally minimizing taxes as much as possible and paying all taxes, and then excluding employee salaries, social security contributions, rent, and the purchase of vehicles for the delivery team—which are actually minor expenses—we have about 700 million yuan available in the accounts at the end of the year."

Zhai Da, holding a French fry, pointed at Wu Yue and said, "Tell me your thoughts."

“We said from the beginning that we wanted to continue the utopian spirit, but ‘Yueda Catering’ is more complicated. One reason is that it’s not like Utopia that we’re closing down and disbanding. We need to use the money in a planned way.”

"Another issue is that among the current nearly fifty people, there are a few individuals who are indeed unsuitable. As we expand beyond Nangang District and establish new bases, more and more new people from the community will join us. Therefore, my initial idea is to divide the company's employees into three levels in the future."

Zhai Da's eyes lit up. Could it be that Brother Yi, Er, and San have another masterpiece?
Wu Yue held up a finger, about to speak, when he saw Zhai Da's gaze.

Then it was taken back.
I don't want to be laughed at anymore, so I'll try a different approach.

"Not counting the two of us, the first tier of employees is A-level, which currently consists of three people: Song Wu, Wang Xiaolong, and Uncle Xu. More will be added in the future. They are all indispensable management or technical personnel. The second tier is B-level, which consists of stable, reliable, and loyal employees who are qualified to participate in profit distribution."

"The third tier is C-level employees: new employees, employees on probation, or B-level employees who have been demoted for making mistakes. C-level employees do not participate in profit distribution, but their salary, bonuses, social security, and overtime pay are not affected."

Zhai Da: "Are there any Level D personnel?"

"Uh, no, but we can add it later. It's just a matter of further subdivision. Yueda is much more complicated than Utopia. Looking back, you did a bit too roughly back then."

Zhai Da rolled his eyes: "You can return it if you're not satisfied, I don't mind."

"Haha, no, actually you did nothing wrong. We're all classmates, it's not good to be divided into different classes. Besides, Utopia just closed down, there's not much follow-up."

"This time we can't distribute it equally anymore. Even B-level members have to have their contributions calculated, otherwise it will really become a free-for-all. Moreover, it's not easy to announce the specific ratio. We are in a period of rapid expansion. If we have a ratio in mind, we will be reluctant to let new people in, and even dissatisfied with the adjustment of the ratio."

From classmates to a formal company.

From closing down and disbanding to long-term operation.

This is actually another challenge, or rather, a new exploration of a "social experiment".

The company is progressing, and so are Zhai Da and Wu Yue. The spirit of utopia must continue, but the rules cannot be copied. This is something the two agreed on from the beginning.

Whether to pursue a "company-owned/company-profit" model, or simply adjust salaries, or even revert to the old state-owned factory model of reinvesting profits in employees and acting as a patriarch who takes care of everything, all require exploration.

Of course, talking about doing charity and public welfare is nonsense. The boss isn't even rich himself, yet he uses the company's name to do charity and gain fame. It's just being a scoundrel.

Zhai Da held up one finger: "I can accept any amount, big or small. After all, we only invested 100 million in this project, so we'll make a profit eventually. But I suggest you call someone first."

"Who?"

"Mr. Yu, you were in charge of the accounts at Utopia, so you must have his contact information. Go and learn from his experience. Although his scale is larger, it's good to hear other people's ideas."

Yueda Catering's 15 million yuan revenue in three months seems impressive, but without considering future expansion, it would only amount to 80 to 90 million yuan a year. While it would make it a top entrepreneur among its peers, it would be just average in the general public, not even reaching 100 million yuan a year.

It is necessary to learn from large enterprises, after all, Mr. Yu has probably already fallen into many of the pitfalls.

Furthermore, Mr. Yu's existence fully proves that even without betraying the working class, by distributing profits to the most ordinary employees, the boss himself can be rich enough, and he still doesn't lack money.

This is why he is constantly attacked; because as long as he is "alive," it makes people who think "it is only right for the boss to take all the remaining value" think all sorts of things.

Zhai Da held up his second finger: "Second, I suggest you call another person, Professor Shen Rui. He has studied more companies, from early state-owned factories to modern enterprises, and even President Yu's company is one of his research targets."

Wu Yue nodded. Zhai Da's words made sense, but was this way of speaking unnecessary?
Zhai Da extended his third finger: "Three. I'm saying this only to express my disappointment that you withdrew your finger. Please digest these three points."

Wu Yue: ? ? ?
　Whenever money and its distribution are involved, there are many discussions. Here are some answers to questions.

　　First, the protagonist was just a lucky person in his previous life, not an entrepreneur. Like Wu Yue and other utopian people in the future, he will grow through continuous exploration. This is not something that can be achieved overnight; it is a process and will not simply copy existing models.

　　Second, many readers felt that the turnover at the end of Utopia was too high. In fact, I have written the specific calculations and sources, but they are scattered in different chapters. This is for the sake of the quality of the novel. I can't expect everyone to look at financial statements on Qidian, can I? The numbers are of course idealized, but they are by no means made up.

　　Third, some people question why money is given to students who supposedly "did nothing". I don't think that teenagers who hand out flyers under the scorching summer sun, overcome their fears to do sales, learn new knowledge and skills, and work more than ten hours a day with all their might are "doing nothing".

　　The reason for this is that, subconsciously, "labor" has been excluded from the distribution system, especially "general labor." Some people feel that only those who "own shares" or are "indispensable" are qualified to talk about distribution, namely "capital," "resources," and "technology."

　　So I always use the phrase "distribution according to work," which is actually not very popular. I get criticized every time I use it. I know this phrase is complicated, but I really can't find a substitute. Maybe you can give me some suggestions.

　　Novels are bound to be idealized, but at least they allow us to imagine, right?
　　Is it impossible to even think about it?

　　Finally, thank you all for your support and for your understanding.

　　Thank you to Brother Yi Er San for supporting this writer's talk.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)