Rebirth 04: Starting from Taking an Unconventional Approach

At 2:20 PM, Han Fei and Zhang Ruiyi drove to Xinhua Printing Branch Factory No. 2. At noon, Han Fei had Lu Hai deliver the typed documents. Half an hour earlier, he had received a call from Chen Jianguo saying that the sample copies were almost ready to be printed.

This printing factory stands alone in an old industrial area on the edge of the Z North District, surrounded by red brick warehouses and rusty railway tracks left over from the 1980s.

The printing factory's iron gate was closed, and there was no sign above it. A piece of sheet metal was nailed to the gatepost, with the factory's name written in a crooked, handwritten manner, as if a worker had brushed it on with a paintbrush.

An old man was fast asleep on a chair in the guardhouse, while a radio on the table played Suzhou storytelling, the volume just enough to drown out the roar of machinery in the distance.

Zhang Ruiyi leaned over from the passenger seat and honked the horn twice.

The old man woke up with a start, squinted at the red Alfa Romeo, and hesitated for a few seconds before pressing the button. The iron door creaked open to both sides.

Han Fei stepped on the gas and drove the car into the yard.

"This place..." Zhang Ruiyi looked out the window at the low factory buildings, "is not quite what I imagined."

"What do you imagine a printing factory to be like?" Han Fei asked. "Clean and tidy? Bright and spotless?"

"It shouldn't feel like this... ruins."

"It's a bit run-down now," Han Fei said with a smile, carefully driving the car around the piles of paper rolls in the yard. "But this printing factory used to be incredibly prosperous."

"Really?"

"Hmm, do you know why it's called that?"

Why?

"In the early 1950s, the state merged several private printing shops to form Xinhua Printing Plant. The plant had several branch plants. Branch Plant 1 printed textbooks, and Branch Plant 2 printed literary journals and art books. At that time, half of the well-known magazines in the country were printed on the machines of Branch Plant 2."

"That amazing?"

"Of course. With print media in such a bad state right now, any printing plant that survives must have some skill." Han Fei found a place to park in the yard, turned off the engine, and got out of the car.

Chen Jianguo was already waiting at the entrance of the office building. Beside him was a short, stocky middle-aged man in work clothes, with a smile on his face. Han Fei recognized him as the factory director, Jin Hongfa.

"Long time no see, President Han." Jin Hongfa extended a hand, which was blackened from long-term contact with ink. "Teacher Chen has been watching here all morning. As soon as I saw this setup, I knew you guys were serious."

Han Fei shook hands with him: "Director Jin, you've worked hard."

Jin Hongfa grinned, revealing a missing front tooth: "You're too kind. Uh, and this is..." He looked at Zhang Ruiyi.

Zhang Ruiyi looked at Han Fei.

"Cover design," Han Fei said.

"Wow!" Jin Hongfa said, leading them into the office building. "To be honest, as soon as I saw your cover file, I knew it was something special. The color scheme and the composition would definitely stand out among all the magazines on the market."

Jin Hongfa opened a large iron gate and led them through a corridor covered with safety slogans and past honors and awards, past a CTP plate-making machine, and into the printing workshop.

Inside, a massive printing press was running, emitting a soothing rumble. Workers stood before the machines, their eyes fixed on the paper passing between the rollers, occasionally reaching out to adjust the ink levels. The air was thick with the mixed smells of ink and dampening solution.

Han Fei felt that the temperature here was at least five degrees higher than outside.

Jin Hongfa walked to a machine that had just stopped running, picked up a large sheet of paper from the paper collection table, and handed it to Han Fei: "This is freshly made, it's still warm. Take a look."

Han Fei wiped the sweat from his brow, took the paper, and saw that it was the cover. Folding the whole sheet in half, it would become the front and back covers of the magazine. The paper was very solid, not the cheap glossy paper. The front was covered with a matte film, and it had a slightly grainy feel to the touch.

"Let me see," Zhang Ruiyi said. Because Han Fei held the cover too high, she had to stand on tiptoe and crane her neck to see it clearly.

"Sorry." Han Fei smiled and handed her the cover. "What do you think?"

Zhang Ruiyi examined it carefully under the light: "Hmm, the color is quite accurate, and the texture is also good."

I think so too.

Jin Hongfa laughed heartily: "I also think this cover is presentable!"

"What about the inner pages?" Han Fei asked Jin Hongfa.

"Printing is in progress, almost done." Jin Hongfa pointed to the proofing machine. "All four colors have passed, and the colors are fine."

Three minutes later, the prototyping machine stopped.

A worker took several thick stacks of printed paper off the machine and handed them to Jin Hongfa.

"President Han," Jin Hongfa said, "the binding workshop is also empty. Let's go over there and bind a few books for you now. You can watch it turn from loose pages into a book with your own eyes, flip through it yourself, and feel the texture of the paper and the tightness of the binding. That way, you'll have more confidence when you take it back."

"Okay," Han Fei said.

They arrived at the binding workshop. Han Fei stood at the door and saw dust dancing in the sunlight streaming in through the high windows.

Jin Hongfa distributed the large sheets of paper to the four workers, keeping a stack for himself.

"We use 80-gram lightweight paper," Jin Hongfa explained, folding the paper one sheet at a time. "President Han knows that this weight is ideal for reading; it doesn't reflect light, feels good to the touch, and is inexpensive."

Han Fei nodded.

Jin Hongfa took the folded paper to the binding machine and, with two quick clicks, attached two saddle stitches. Then he placed the magazine under the large paper cutter blade to trim the edges.

After the four workers finished binding, Jin Hongfa handed five sample copies to Han Fei.

Han Fei took out three of the books and placed them on the table to examine them. He first randomly flipped to the same page to compare whether the page numbers were in the same position, and then checked the ink color against the light to see if it was even. Finally, he looked at the end of each novel and found the gray text that read "End of this serialization," confirming that the text was not blurred and that the background was not obscuring the text.

Zhang Ruiyi and Chen Jianguo stood beside him, their eyes following the movement of his fingers.

"Have you noticed any problems?" Han Fei asked.

Zhang Ruiyi shook her head.

"I didn't see it either," Chen Jianguo said.

"Alright then." Han Fei turned to Jin Hongfa. "That's fine, Factory Director Jin. Your quality remains consistently high. Print according to this standard. When can you deliver?"

Jin Hongfa glanced at the clock on the wall: "It's three o'clock in the afternoon now. By this time tomorrow, the first batch of five thousand copies will be delivered to your publishing house. The rest will all arrive the day after tomorrow."

"Okay." Han Fei took out a ballpoint pen from his pocket, signed the sample copy, and asked, "How much is the deposit?"

Kim Hong-fa smiled broadly: "President Han, 50% is the industry standard. But we've been cooperating for a long time, so you can pay 30% upfront, and settle the rest upon delivery."