Tech startup: I really do make mobile phones!

Chapter 48 Strange New Neighbor
Old Zhang's stall in North China.

Just as Zhao Tiezhu's work boots crossed the street, Lao Zhang's soldering iron was already busy soldering the last capacitor pin onto the motherboard.

"Tiezhu! Are you trying to trick me, Old Zhang, into talking again?" He didn't even look up, but precisely caught a handful of white sand that Zhao Tiezhu threw to him, holding it between his fingers: "This one still has more power!"

Taking advantage of the cleaner spot where the soldering iron was, Old Zhang lit a cigarette.

"Brother Zhang, your eye is even sharper than when you're looking at crabapples!" Zhao Tiezhu grinned, pushing the used capacitors on the counter aside with his finger. "I just wanted to ask Old Wang..."

"puff!"

Hearing Zhao Tiezhu's nonsense, Old Zhang suddenly burst out laughing. The branding iron he was using to light his cigarette accidentally pressed smoke onto the sponge, and he quickly took it off.

"You little brat! Don't talk nonsense!" Old Zhang solemnly unplugged the soldering iron and argued, "I have a wife and daughter, I never look at other women!"

"What are you pretending to be, a gentleman!" Zhao Tiezhu laughed until tears streamed down his face as he slapped the counter. A used capacitor rolled into a crack and got stuck in the crack from the vibration. "That website you gave me last week, I used up 10 yuan's worth of data in one night?"

However, Zhao Tiezhu didn't want to continue joking around with Lao Zhang.

He suddenly lowered his voice: "Seriously, Brother Zhang! What's going on with Old Wang's stall? Why is the signboard gone?"

Old Zhang beckoned mysteriously, and Zhao Tiezhu, sensing the opportunity, leaned closer.

"Old Wang! Let's go in!"

"What?" Zhao Tiezhu was very surprised, his eyes widening: "What did he do wrong?"

Old Zhang glanced at the market management office at the end of the corridor and lowered his voice.

"The day before yesterday, the industry and commerce bureau suddenly came to investigate the smuggling of disassembled parts—do you think those Sanjing disassembled screens that they get every week come from?"

Just when Zhao Tiezhu thought that this was Old Wang's own fault, Old Zhang suddenly lowered his voice again.

"However, all of this is just superficial," Old Zhang said with a mysterious confidence, as if he were the only one who was sober in a world of fools. "In reality, it's just about making room for others!"

"We just took down Old Wang's sign the day before yesterday, and everyone went to the property management office with bags of gifts to smooth things over. They just said they wouldn't rent it out anymore, and the new tenants had already booked it!"

Zhao Tiezhu pursed his lips in surprise. It seemed that Orange Technology's new neighbor was quite something!
It's worth noting that Huabei Qiang is known as the No. 1 electronics street in China and a global IT "barometer." During peak periods, it sees an average daily customer flow of over 500,000 people, and high-quality stalls are in high demand.

It's just a "one-meter cabinet." You get it for 30,000 yuan a month from the property management upstairs, and then someone downstairs offers you 120,000 yuan.

The property management company never has trouble renting out properties; it's always the highest bidder who gets the property.

Especially now in 2010, when North China was at its peak, with an average price of only 3, you simply couldn't afford it.

However, the other party did take over Lao Wang's stall for 3 yuan, but they might just be a relative of the property management company.

"Brother Zhang! Stop joking!" Zhao Tiezhu chuckled. "If he really had some powerful background, would he even bother with this small business?"

"Besides!" Zhao Tiezhu said with a gloating look, "Old Wang brought this on himself. You should see all the despicable things he's done: pressing for debts ahead of time, bullying Brother Chen because he's honest, and spreading rumors behind our backs to disrupt our order transfer!"

If it weren't for Lao Wang spreading rumors, Chen Mo wouldn't have gritted his teeth and bought overpriced goods from him, only to be pressured to pay back the debt in advance.

Zhao Tiezhu deliberately dragged out the last syllable and exhaled a smoke ring.

"That's good, now that Old Wang is going in for further studies, it's a good deed for him!"

Zhao Tiezhu showed no mercy when he insulted Lao Wang, even bringing up old accounts.

At this moment, Old Zhang suddenly patted Zhao Tiezhu on the shoulder: "But, speaking of which, Tiezhu! Seriously! You and your Brother Chen have been acting all mysterious lately, could it be that Old Wang..."

"Stop!" Zhao Tiezhu quickly waved his hand, revealing half of his greasy forearm through his sleeve. "This past week, Brother Chen and I have been busy with battery experiments in Longgang. We don't have time to bother with Lao Wang!" "Besides! With Brother Chen's shamelessness, if he could swallow his pride and beg someone to get rid of Lao Wang, he would have already borrowed money to expand the workshop into a big factory!"

Old Zhang stared at him for a moment, then suddenly laughed and said, "That's right. If your Brother Chen really had that kind of skill, he should have shown it when Old Wang was collecting debts back then. Why would he need to gamble with him?"

Zhao Tiezhu threw his cigarette butt on the ground and stomped it out: "That's right! Brother Zhang, you're busy. My stomach hurts, I need to go to the toilet!" He turned and jogged away.

When Zhao Tiezhu arrived at Lao Wang's stall, he saw a middle-aged man directing a young man to hang up the signboard.

"Xiao Zheng! Move a little to the left."

"Okay! Team. Is that right, boss?"

The words "Xin'an Electronic Components Recycling" are prominently displayed on the brand-new red lightbox.

The smaller print below reads "High-price recycling of used batteries, professional processing of electronic waste".

The signboard also prominently displays the words "Officially Registered, Safe and Reliable" in the lower right corner.

But Zhao Tiezhu always felt that something was wrong. Most ordinary stalls that run recycling shops use local materials and do it themselves.

Why would anyone use scratch-resistant and wear-resistant acrylic material for a signboard? The cost would be too high.

Moreover, the middle-aged man who looked like the boss had a very stiff demeanor, and Zhao Tiezhu always felt that something was off about him.

As for the young laborer, he seemed a bit dim-witted, and Zhao Tiezhu had no suspicions about him.

The setting sun slanted in through the narrow window once again, visiting Orange Technology's small workshop twice a day, once in the morning and once in the evening.

When Zhao Tiezhu walked in with his hands behind his back like a little old man, Chen Mo was lying on his "workstation," the faint blue light from the laptop screen making his face look slightly bluish.

"The 3C testing was done so quickly? Brother Chen was back in less than two hours!"

Zhao Tiezhu threw an ice pop next to Chen Mo, which made the screwdriver next to him jump half an inch high.

Chen Mo picked up the popsicle with one hand, tore off the wrapper, and with his other hand, he swiped the pointer across the touchpad.

"Things went incredibly smoothly at the testing institute today. Don't tell me you don't believe it, I don't believe it either!"

This was all thanks to someone helping Chen Mo get a "backdoor" access.

"Wow! What is this being drawn?" Zhao Tiezhu leaned over, tilting his head to look at the screen. "Could this be the logo of our Orange Technology?"

It's obvious that Chen Mo has already used LogoMeker's free public template and free elements to export several versions of Orange Technology and orange-related logos.

Zhao Tiezhu suddenly laughed and offered a suggestion: "Brother Chen! Let's take inspiration from Apple, the company you mentioned that's releasing a new phone in June, and make a bitten orange! It's guaranteed to be a hit!"

Chen Mo stopped the pointer and shook his head seriously: "We're here to ride the wave, not to follow Pingguo around like a shadow!"

He tapped on several sketches on the screen: the main subject was oranges of different shapes, with different elements added to create different styles.

"Technological equality doesn't need fancy tricks. Just like our batteries, practicality is the key."

In the end, Chen Mo gave up on his favorite design, which had a very dynamic and technological feel, and chose a minimalist logo instead.

This is mainly an engineering plastic shell, which cannot support such dynamic processing techniques; a metal shell is more suitable.

(End of this chapter)