Courtyard House: From Deputy Division Commander to Civilian, Progressing All the Way

Upon hearing the words "that's good enough," Lin Jianguo's anger flared up instantly.

"Almost? It's precisely because of those three words that our country's core home appliance technologies are being strangled by foreigners!"

Lin Jianguo grabbed the casing of the German-made compressor from the table.

"This is the latest silent compressor from the Hans Bavarian Group!"

"They use core components machined by a five-axis CNC machine tool, and the noise level is only 35 decibels when it's running!"

What kind of devices are currently used in China?

"It's all outdated Soviet technology from the 1960s; it sounds like a tractor when it's turned on!"

Lin Jianguo, panting heavily, stared intently at Director Zhao.

"Director Zhao, I'm putting my words out there today."

"I'm not taking this batch of goods, and you can forget about the final payment."

"Also, I was thinking of offering 500,000 to buy your idle motor production line in Factory No. 3, but it seems there's no need to discuss it further."

"Your outdated methods mean that even if you gave me the equipment, I still couldn't build what I want!"

When Director Zhao heard that the acquisition deal for 500,000 yuan had fallen through, he became anxious, but he couldn't bring himself to refuse.

"You...you're just a small-time reseller, and you really think you're something special!"

Factory Director Zhao pointed at Lin Jianguo in a fit of rage.

"Even if our state-owned factory's products rot in the warehouse and are sold as scrap metal, we'd rather not sell them to capitalists like you!"

After saying that, Director Zhao, along with his two attendants, turned and left angrily.

Just as she reached the warehouse entrance, she bumped into Lin Yang, who had just walked in.

Factory Director Zhao did not recognize Lin Yang and only regarded him as Lin Jianguo's assistant.

He glared at her fiercely, snorted coldly, and walked out, brushing his shoulder.

Lin Jianguo was irritably wiping sweat from his neck with the towel when he looked up and froze instantly.

He rubbed his eyes hard to make sure he wasn't seeing things.

"Second...Second Uncle?"

Lin Jianguo's voice was distorted.

In the entire Lin family, Lin Jianguo was not most afraid of his own father, Lin Fan, who used a carrying pole to beat people.

It was his usually stern and powerful second uncle.

Because he knew that his father's beatings were only physical.

My second uncle's methods were terrifying; he could make a regional governor kneel and beg for mercy with just a few words.

Lin Yang walked slowly toward the messy fitter's table with his hands behind his back.

Chen Feng silently moved the only relatively clean folding chair over and placed it behind Lin Yang.

Lin Yang didn't sit down, but instead lowered his head and looked at the scattered parts on the table.

"What happened? Did you run into a snag in Beiping?" Lin Yang asked casually.

Like a child who had done something wrong, Lin Jianguo quickly wiped his oily hands on his apron and stood up straight.

"Second Uncle, what brings you here? Did Dad tell you?"

"Your dad was afraid you'd suffer a loss, but he couldn't bring himself to ask me for help, so I had to go to his place for a bowl of braised pork and listen to him pour out his troubles."

Lin Yang picked up the stator component that Factory Director Zhao had given him from the table and weighed it in his hand.

Then I picked up the original German part and compared it with the other one.

Indeed, the roughness of the visible processing marks varies.

"I heard what you said to that factory manager Zhao just now." Lin Yang put down the parts and looked at Lin Jianguo.

"You seemed to enjoy your scolding, didn't you?"

Lin Jianguo swallowed hard, lowered his head, and said, "Second Uncle, I'm not targeting the state-owned factory; I'm just really driven crazy by them."

"I received an overseas order for 30,000 silent refrigerators in the Southern Special Economic Zone. The customer specifically requested noise control."

"But all the domestic factories that can make such high-precision compressor motors are excluded from the COCOM agreement's embargo list, so the technology can't be brought in."

Lin Jianguo became more and more excited as he spoke.

"I can only buy original German parts, disassemble them, and try to reverse engineer them."

"After searching around, we found that the precision of basic machine tools in our country is not enough."

"The large state-owned factories with even a little technical strength are too disdainful to take orders from a private owner like me."

Lin Jianguo sighed and grabbed his messy hair.

"I originally wanted to pay a high price to buy the abandoned production line in Factory No. 3 and upgrade it myself."

"As a result, that old antique preferred to rot rather than sell it."

Lin Yang listened quietly without getting angry or offering a solution immediately.

He pulled over the folding chair, sat down, and pointed to a wooden box opposite him.

"sit."

Lin Jianguo sat nervously on the wooden box.

"Jianguo, you are a smart businessman, and you also have the ruthlessness to work in technology."

Lin Yang's gaze was calm and profound, revealing a sharp insight that seemed to penetrate the times.

"But you made a fatal mistake."

Lin Jianguo was taken aback: "Second Uncle, what mistake?"

"You're using a businessman's logic to challenge the barriers of the system," Lin Yang pointed out incisively.

"In 1985, the power of a state-owned factory director was derived from an appointment by a higher authority."

"Their political achievements are not measured by how much money they made, but by whether they made any political mistakes."

Lin Yang lit a Daqianmen cigarette, and the bluish smoke slowly rose into the warehouse.

"Selling state-owned assets to a private owner doesn't bring him any political gain."

"On the contrary, we will have to bear the huge risk of losing state-owned assets."

"Don't even mention offering 500,000, even if you offer 5 million, he still won't sell it to you."

Lin Jianguo felt as if he had fallen into an ice cave, and suddenly realized what was going on.

He always believed that money could solve all problems.

However, they overlooked the most fundamental operating principles of this era.

"Then... what should we do? I'm about to default on this order of 30,000 units, and the reputation of Lin's Electric Appliances will be ruined!" Lin Jianguo was so anxious that he kept rubbing his hands.

"Technological barriers can never be overcome by simply buying a few broken pieces of equipment on the market."

Lin Yang flicked his cigarette ash, his voice turning cold and hard.

"Back when I was in Lop Nur, the Soviets withdrew their experts and burned the blueprints."

"How did we calculate the theoretical data for the atomic bomb using an abacus on the Gobi Desert?"

Lin Yang stared at Lin Jianguo: "It's all about people! Top talent!"

Lin Jianguo was stunned.

"If you can't buy high-precision machine tools, then go find an eighth-grade fitter who can hand-make high-precision parts!"

Lin Yang's voice echoed in the empty warehouse, resounding with conviction.

"The old factory manager of the Third Factory is afraid to sell you the equipment, so you should avoid him."

"Isn't the Southern Special Economic Zone currently implementing a talent recruitment program?"

"You have money, why don't you use the residency quota, high salary, and even shares granted to you by the special economic zone to poach the key technical personnel from the Third Factory?"

A shrewd glint flashed in Lin Yang's eyes.

"Those old technicians in their factory who only earn a fixed salary of sixty yuan a month, who have a lot of skills but no way to serve their country."

"Don't you want to go to the Special Economic Zone to make big money and live in a big house?"

"They'll poach the people, brains and all, then build their own factory and import parts from Hong Kong to assemble machine tools!"

"Using capital to dismantle their rigid system—that's what you, a capitalist, should be doing!"

These words were like a thunderclap, directly cleaving through the fog in Lin Jianguo's mind.