Siheyuan, Shazhu: I have both parents in this life

Chapter 400 First, a blow
One evening after dinner, the family was watching TV when an advertisement for motorcycle phones and pagers appeared on the screen, which alerted Xiaoman.

The pagers on the Yellow River were never advertised; they relied entirely on local post offices for promotion. While the coverage was sufficient, it still fell short of the effect of the television advertisement.

"Brother Zhu, shouldn't we also run some ads? And shouldn't we put our phones out there and put them on the spot?"

"What stage has mobile phone research and development reached now?"

"Although we have tried to compress the size of the parts as much as possible, they are still quite large, about one-third the size of that brick. They are much thinner, though, and weigh about 500 grams."

"What about our pager network?" He Yuzhu continued to ask. Although Xiaoman had handed this over to her subordinates, she still kept an eye on it.

"Provincial capitals and major cities in each province have been fully covered."

"Are there enough cell towers to cover all cities in the country?"

"If it's just at the city level, it's enough; at the county level, it's not enough, there are too many."

"Let's go big and cover all the cities. Also, let the design department make a promotional video, and let the sales department contact CCTV. But let's have Yuxin make a call. He's more familiar with the situation. We can also run an ad. I think the later part of the weather forecast is a good time slot."

"Okay, I'll arrange it. Have the phones sent over from Hong Kong, and also talk to Damao about the pager production capacity. Should I talk to Yuxin?"

“Just say it, how could he not listen to his sister-in-law?” He Yuzhu laughed.

Xiaoman's suggestion was quickly implemented.

After receiving Xiaoman's call, He Yuxin immediately contacted CCTV and, leveraging their previous cooperation and the influence of the Yellow River Group, successfully secured the prime-time advertising slot after the weather forecast.

The design team in Hong Kong worked overtime to produce a concise and impactful advertisement featuring a celebrity who is currently very popular in China.

In the advertisement, Huanghe's independently developed pager is small and exquisite, while the latest mobile phone makes a stunning appearance with its sleek metal lines and compact size, forming a stark contrast to the "brick-like" phones commonly found on the market. The tagline is concise and powerful: "Huanghe Communications, Connecting the Future."

At the same time, Xu Damao also coordinated production lines in various regions to fully increase the production capacity of pagers and ensure sufficient market supply after the advertisements were broadcast.

The advertisement immediately generated a strong response when it aired on CCTV.

With its stable performance, more competitive price, and the support of CCTV advertising, the sales of Huanghe pagers have surged.

The phone, which has not yet been widely released, has become the focus of heated discussion.

Its relatively small size and modern design made many people who had previously spent a lot of money to buy "big brother" mobile phones suddenly feel that their devices were bulky and outdated, and they felt very bad.

Motorola Asia Pacific President Brand didn't think much of it at first, because at that time, Chinese people's love for foreign brands far outweighed that for domestic brands.

When the sales data report was placed on his desk on Monday morning, he was a little dumbfounded. Pager sales had plummeted, and not a single mobile phone had been sold. Everyone in the market was waiting for Huanghe's mobile phones to be distributed.

In the conference room of Motorcycle's China headquarters on Jianguomenwai Street in Beijing, Brand convened an emergency meeting.

Brand Young, holding the sales report in his hand, addressed the Chinese vice presidents below him.

"You've all seen the Yellow River's advertisements. Not only are their prices low, but they now dare to compete with us on CCTV. What are your thoughts?"

A vice president handed over a document: "I suggest we immediately request an industry symposium, chaired by the relevant ministries. We can emphasize the necessity of 'regulating market order' and 'ensuring technical standards'."

Another source said, "We can talk to the upstream component suppliers. Huanghe still relies on imports for some chips and display modules."

“Then let’s do it. Not only in China, but also in Hong Kong. Their headquarters should be in Hong Kong, and they’ve been receiving a lot of attention from North America recently.”

"Yes."

Brand then looked at the head of the legal department: "Contact headquarters and initiate a patent examination. Carefully study the technical details of the mobile phones and pagers published by Huanghe, and look for any places that may infringe our patents. Conduct this simultaneously in Hong Kong and the mainland."

"Ok."

Just as they began their operation, He Yuzhu received a call from the Peninsula Taishan Group.

"Boss, someone is pressuring us to stop supplying goods to Huanghe Communications."

“Just agree. If anyone asks why we’re still producing, just say we have a large stockpile. You’ve got the contracts and shipping documents ready,” He Yuzhu said.

"Understood. Should we take care of them?"

“Just make a little movement, that’s fine. You’re not allowed to do anything strenuous here,” He Yuzhu said.

"it is good."

After hanging up the phone, He Yuzhu asked Xiaoman, "How are our supplies of mobile phone and pager components?"

"It's more than enough. We got enough rare earth last time, so we didn't ship any to others just in case."

"Are you all handling patent registrations?"

"Yes, it was done. It was done piecemeal. The legal department has done a good job in this area in recent years."

"Hehe, this is going to be interesting. I want to see what other tricks the motorcycle has up its sleeve."

"Brother Zhu, aren't we being too conspicuous? The west is still keeping an eye on us."

"It doesn't matter. Our biggest problem right now is that domestic semiconductor components can't keep up. If all else fails, we can just borrow a shell company from Europe. As for pagers, do you think anyone will still use them after mobile phones become widespread?"

"Too."

"Of course, the cost is a big issue, so don't be too optimistic."

"Then I'll pass the word down to the telecommunications companies in Europe to start operations and tell them to look for land or factories."

"No need for that. A laboratory will suffice, and then we can come to an authorized factory to assemble and produce them."

"I understand. At worst, we'll just compete with ourselves. Anyway, we have other models."

"You can handle this as you see fit."

The motorcycle's actions did elicit a response. First, a department of the Special Economic Zone called and casually mentioned that "a foreign-invested enterprise has reported irregular competition in the market" and hoped that Huang He would "pay appropriate attention."

Xu Damao stated that all of Huanghe's operations complied with domestic regulations and invited the other party to visit the factory at any time.

They said they would go, but then nothing more was said.

The postal and telecommunications department is practically in a strategic partnership with Huanghe now, so they wouldn't bother with motorcycles. Naturally, they were very perfunctory, but they still went through the motions.

The legal department of Xiangjiang Huanghe Communications received a letter from a law firm commissioned by Motorola, which listed several patented technologies at length, claiming that Huanghe's mobile phones and pagers may infringe on patents, and requested a meeting and submission of technical details for review.

He Yuzhu received a phone call from Wilson at his home in Beijing.

"Boss, we received the letter. It's very strongly worded and demands that we respond within fourteen working days."

He Yuzhu laughed and said, "Then your patent department should play along with them and tell them: We welcome exchanges based on facts, but we reject unfounded accusations."

"Understood. Also, could we retaliate against them for infringing on some of their copyrights?"

"Sure, but don't get your hopes up too high. The chances of winning a lawsuit in the name of the Yellow River are slim, and don't count on it domestically either, as the laws in this area are still inadequate."

"Okay, we'll consider registering them outside the official channels for the future. Let's teach them a lesson this time, and they'll pay the price later."

"You're more familiar with this than I am, I believe you can do it well."

"Thank you for the compliment, boss!"

"After I'm done with my work, I'll bring my family to China for a trip."

"my pleasure."

A few days later, at Motorola's Asia-Pacific headquarters.

Brand listened to his subordinate's report with a furrowed brow.

"Huanghe has responded, providing a large number of patent documents showing that their technical solution is different from ours. The Ministry of Justice initially judged that direct litigation would be very difficult and risky."

"Upstream component suppliers have stated that they have suspended supplying Huanghe Communications, but Huanghe appears to have extremely ample inventory and production has not been affected."

"We received a message from our European headquarters that we received a patent licensing inquiry from a Luxembourg-based technology company for one of our main base station products. The company holds several key foundational patents. After investigation, we found no connection between this company and the Yellow River Group."

Brand felt a chill run down his spine. When did Chinese businessmen become so forward-thinking, doing all the work ahead of time?

The enemy not only anticipated their actions but also built a solid defense in advance, and was even able to launch precise counterattacks overseas.

He could only turn to the North American headquarters for help, but he was not satisfied with the reply he received. They told him to give up on selling the first-generation mobile phone, since there weren't many anyway, and to wait for the next generation model to come out before launching a counterattack against Huanghe.

As for pagers, they were told to expedite the development of Chinese character display technology by their partner companies. Brand was quite speechless about this; the market had already been almost completely taken over, so what was the point of expediting the process?

He had previously urged the technical department to do this, but firstly, they couldn't find a suitable partner, and secondly, their English-language machines were selling reasonably well, leading people to mistakenly believe that domestic consumers preferred North American products. In reality, their machines were expensive and had high profit margins, so the sales staff at the counters naturally pushed them, and many people fell for it.

This battle without gunfire ended just like that, with both sides secretly preparing to deliver a major blow to their opponent.

One month later, Yellow River mobile phones were officially launched in the domestic market.

Prior to this, Huanghe supplied base station equipment at low prices, enabling the postal and telecommunications companies to quickly deploy base stations in various provincial capitals.

After the phones were distributed, thanks to their half-generation-leading product design, more competitive prices, and the huge brand awareness brought by CCTV advertising, the first batch of goods quickly sold out in several major cities.

At the same time, the Yellow River Communications and Postal System also discussed the base station issue in other cities, and are preparing to build exclusive stores and after-sales service outlets on a large scale in city-level cities.

A series of combined moves left the motorcycle company dazzled. Wasn't this what they did in other countries' markets? However, Huanghe did it even more aggressively, faster, and more effectively, mainly because of the strong postal and telecommunications services. After all, they could reach every town and village.

After obtaining the mobile phone sales data, He Yuzhu said to Xiaoman, "This small business battle has shown us the various problems we will encounter later. The telecommunications company is making good progress, but I always feel that we should plan ahead."

"What's the research and development direction?"

He Yuzhu took a sip of tea: "Split the R&D department into two groups. One group will continue to optimize existing products, and the other group will begin developing digital signal technology. Let Yushui be in charge of the new department."

"Her skills are not outstanding."

"She's only good at managing things; her skills are only good enough to be an assistant."

"Let me talk to her."

"Well, if she's unwilling, there's no need to force her. Everyone has their own aspirations."

"I know. Also, analog cell phones have only just been released. Could we perhaps have some more flexibility with our project schedule?"

"No, Motorola won't accept defeat. Next time they'll definitely bring digital products, and we need to get ahead of them. There are also some unseen competitors who are probably secretly making moves as well." He Yuzhu's mind flashed back to the classic Nokia 1011.

The following day, Xiaoman held a conference call with the R&D department of Huanghe Communications, during which she assigned tasks.

The lab's technical director raised concerns: "Mr. Qiao, digital technology standards aren't even standardized yet. Aren't we moving too early?"

"It is precisely because the standards are not yet defined that we have the opportunity to participate in their development. We have already accumulated a considerable number of patents in our laboratories in Europe. Now it is time to integrate these technologies."

"understood."

After the meeting, Xiaoman called He Yushui separately.

He Yushui accepted her sister-in-law's suggestion without even hesitating.

“Sister-in-law, I’ll listen to you. I’ve been spending all these years in the lab, and I’m starting to feel a bit overwhelmed. This is a good opportunity to make a transition. I’ll do my best in the management role.”

"Oh, why was it so easy this time?"

"Sister-in-law, I'm pregnant again."

"You had it? When did that happen?"

"Two months."

"Congratulations! You can hand over your work and head to your new position. There will probably be a lot of miscellaneous tasks there at first, so just assign the work well and consult with your lab supervisor."

"Well, I will."

Xiaoman then told Chen Lanxiang about He Yushui's pregnancy. Chen Lanxiang then called her daughter and told her to be careful, as getting pregnant at this age is no joke.

The phone call was from He Yaozu in Hong Kong.

"Mom, the advertising effect in China has spread overseas! Many distributors in Southeast Asia and Europe and America have been asking when our phones will be available for export! Especially in Europe, several companies that originally distributed Motorola products have contacted us to inquire about potential cooperation!"

Xiaoman smiled knowingly: "Tell them that we will prioritize the domestic market. We'll talk about overseas markets when our production capacity reaches a higher level."

"Don't we distribute the goods?"

"Then let me ask you how much inventory you have?"

"Most of these are still in production."

"Then let's wait until the production meets domestic demand. You can accept some orders based on the components we have in stock. For the subsequent components, you can contact Chen Sheng and Bai Yifeng and ask them to think of a solution."

"it is good."

"Anything else?"

"Oh, right, Mom, Huizhen is pregnant."

"What a coincidence?"

"What a coincidence?"

"Your aunt is here too, and our He family is becoming more and more prosperous."

“Oh, my aunt’s surname is Yang,” He Yaozu said.

"What her surname is doesn't matter, Huizhen, why are you still letting her run around outside?"

"No, I quit my job at the newspaper and now I'm your secretary."

"You sure know how to use your power."

"Mom, I didn't show favoritism. You can't say that to Dad, I'm afraid I'll get a beating. Besides, Huizhen is much better than my previous secretary."

"Okay, okay, my daughter-in-law is amazing, alright?" Xiaoman said with a smile.

The news that the Ho family was going to have a fourth generation made Ho Tai-ching and Chan Lan-heung extremely happy. Chan Lan-heung, in particular, wanted to call Hong Kong three times a day to repeatedly remind Lok Wai-chun to take care of her health. Finally, she asked Ho Yiu-chung to send Lok Wai-chun back to Beijing to rest during her pregnancy.

He Yaozu couldn't withstand his grandmother's onslaught, but in the end, it was Le Huizhen who managed to block the attack herself.

"Grandma, don't worry. I'm in great health right now, and the doctor said it's okay to work in moderation during the early stages. Once I'm past the first trimester and my belly is more noticeable, I'll definitely come back to Beijing to be with you, okay?"

"Then you'd better be careful. If Yaozu gives you too much work or bullies you, just tell me and Grandma will go to Hong Kong to deal with him."

“He won’t, he’s very good to me,” Le Huizhen said.

After hanging up the phone, Chen Lanxiang scolded Xiaoman again, saying that she, as a mother-in-law, did not care about her daughter-in-law, and so on.

Xiaoman was helpless. She was almost full term pregnant when she finally took leave, and back then she was still riding her bicycle to work every day.

Chen Lanxiang realized she had spoken too harshly after she finished speaking, and turned to Xiaoman to say that she was getting old and sometimes spoke without thinking.

"Mom, I know you're just trying to help them. They're not that delicate. Look at your third and fourth daughters-in-law, they've both gained weight from staying at home all the time. And they're actresses." Actually, this was her two sisters-in-law complaining to her.

"What's wrong with being a little chubby? Some people want to be chubby but can't." Chen Lanxiang didn't care.

"Mom, you're getting old, please take good care of yourself. We can all take care of ourselves."

"Why do you dislike me?"

"How dare I."

"Old woman, just shut up. If you're unhappy with Xiaoman, go find Zhuzi. How can you be like this?"

“My daughter-in-law is wonderful, I’m very satisfied with her, what business is it of yours, old man?” Chen Lanxiang said.

"Well, I didn't say that."

"Xiaoman, you go back. Don't take what your mother said to heart. I'll deal with this old man."

"No, what does it have to do with me?" He Daqing strode out.

"He Daqing, you stop right there."

"I'm going to find Old Zhao and the others to play chess." He Daqing quickened his pace.

Xiaoman followed along, a smile on her face. Now the old man and woman do this every two days. The old man either hides or asks He Yuzhu for help each time.

Only she knew in her heart that Chen Lanxiang was no longer able to work, so she was restless and always wanted to find something to do.

The younger generation was fine, but her father-in-law was really in trouble.

(End of this chapter)