Mocked by the Crowd

When a child travels far, a mother worries. Even in modern times with convenient transportation, this familial bond hasn't weakened.

For five years after graduation, Zhou Feiyu worked locally, rarely traveling far. Even business trips only lasted a day or two. This time, before leaving, he directly said he might be gone for ten days to half a month, which was a long time. Zhou's Mother was naturally extra worried.

Zhou Feiyu had promised to call them back after settling in that evening, but they couldn't wait any longer.

"Mom, I just got out of the client's place and checked into the hotel. Don't worry," Zhou Feiyu replied, touched.

"Oh, oh, that's good, that's good. Take care of yourself in Peng City," Zhou's Mother didn't forget to remind him.

Zhou Feiyu said, "I know."

They chatted about everyday things for a while. Zhou's Mother suddenly changed the subject and said, "Son, let me tell you something. Your aunt on your mother's side introduced you to someone. It's her cousin's daughter. She's two years younger than you and also a graduate from a key university."

"Mom, here we go again," Zhou Feiyu instantly sobered up, not knowing whether to laugh or cry.

Being urged to marry is probably something all young people experience after the age of 20, it's just a matter of time.

Over the years, he had been urged by his family constantly, especially in the past two years. They took turns and used various matchmakers, to the point where on New Year's Eve, he had one blind date in the morning and another in the afternoon.

Of course, compared to the "grand occasion" on Douyin where people queue up for blind dates with one girl, he was undoubtedly a bit luckier, at least he didn't have to queue.

Damn it!

I'm a "top student" who graduated from a key university, how can I still compare downwards when forced into blind dates?

Zhou Feiyu quickly stopped his unproductive thoughts.

The introduction came from his aunt on his mother's side. He couldn't ignore the matchmaker's face, otherwise, his uncle on his mother's side would scold him during holiday visits.

A university student, Zhou Feiyu knew, was one of his mother's proudest achievements. There weren't many young people in the surrounding villages and towns who were university students like her son, let alone from a key university. Girls who were university students were even rarer. The average education level for girls in nearby villages and towns was only junior high.

Hearing his reply, Zhou's Mother immediately became unhappy and said to him, "Don't take this lightly. You need to take this seriously. You're twenty-eight this year, and in a blink of an eye, you'll be thirty. It will be even harder to find a partner then. Let me tell you..."

"Mom, please stop. What's the contact information? I'll contact her," Zhou Feiyu quickly interrupted, afraid that his mother's nagging would be endless, which was not just uncomfortable.

On the phone, Zhou's Mother's happy voice finally came through: "Write down the phone number. Your aunt on your mother's side said her WeChat ID is also this phone number. It seems she also just went to Peng City these past few days. Aren't you just in Peng City? Then ask her out. In this day and age, it's the man who takes the initiative to ask the girl out. Don't wait for her to ask you, by then the day lilies will be cold."

"Got it," Zhou Feiyu forced himself to write it down, responded a few more times, and then urged Zhou's Mother to hang up.

Looking at the number on the notebook, Zhou Feiyu let out a long sigh, flopped heavily onto the bed, and thought to himself, Sigh, let's take it one step at a time.

Chasing girls, this was a major problem that made him want to tear his hair out, even harder than material research and development.

The night passed without a word.

The next day, Zhou Feiyu woke up early, forced himself to watch two hours of instructional videos, and started learning various subjects from scratch to increase his points.

At nine o'clock, after eating breakfast, Zhou Feiyu first sent a few messages to Wang Wei, asking for help with material verification. At this time, Wang Wei and the others had just started work.

Nine to five is the typical work schedule for many companies in Peng City.

Wang Wei didn't put on airs. This was a time when he was actively seeking good materials, so he naturally wanted to verify them quickly. He replied with a "don't worry" emoji.

Zhou Feiyu trusted his old classmate, but he wasn't going to put all his eggs in the Hua Long Technology basket. He immediately set off for Zhong Wei Technology.

ODM factories are mainly concentrated in Peng City. Besides Hua Long Technology, there is the second-ranked Zhong Wei Technology, the third-ranked Qian Yin Technology, and other smaller ODM factories.

In addition to ODM factories, there are also mobile phone brand manufacturers in Peng City. The top one is Zhong Zheng Mobile Company, which is the dominant force in the domestic mobile phone brand market and an absolute leader.

If his material could get certified by Zhong Zheng Mobile Company, all problems would cease to be problems.

Unfortunately, Zhou Feiyu had no connections, and he couldn't just show up there alone.

He did have connections with Zhong Wei Technology and Qian Yin Technology, these mobile phone ODM factories, having dealt with some of their R&D and procurement personnel.

Before Zhou Feiyu came to Peng City, he had arranged a meeting with Peng Fan, the procurement manager of Zhong Wei Technology, through a client's connection.

What he never expected was that when he arrived, Peng Fan had not only scheduled a meeting with him but also with two other domestic optical material manufacturers: He Jia and Di Guang, planning a four-way meeting.

Peng Fan arrived late, followed by four or five people, including procurement engineers and R&D engineers.

As soon as he entered the conference room, Peng Fan got straight to the point: "Oppo Mobile has a big project bidding the day after tomorrow, and there's talk of it coming to us. We urgently need a high-brightness optical material. Each of you can give us a brief introduction to your company's advantageous optical materials and provide a rough price. We will evaluate and select based on a comprehensive assessment."

He Jia Optics and Di Guang Optics are among the top optical material manufacturers in China. The optical materials used in well-known mobile phones on the market are either produced by He Jia Optics or Di Guang Optics.

Only counterfeit phones and feature phones would use optical materials from other brands.

The people from He Jia Optics and Di Guang Optics seemed well-prepared. One after another, they had dedicated personnel open their PPTs and introduce their materials to the people from Zhong Wei Technology.

Zhou Feiyu's heart sank immediately. He thought, I was careless.

For a good material, a large client's selection doesn't just depend on the quality of the material itself, but also on the stability of the material supplier, including finances, production technology, production capacity, and so on.

Zhou Feiyu was currently a one-man show with a newly established company. Compared to He Jia and Di Guang, he was far behind in this regard.

In terms of cost, Zhou Feiyu was confident he could compete with He Jia and Di Guang, but there was no need. His material was competing with the top foreign material. At most, he would sell it cheaper in the early stages for market promotion, but the price would definitely be comparable to the top foreign material.

On the market, if He Jia and Di Guang's materials sold for one yuan per sheet, the top foreign material would sell for at least five yuan per sheet, five times the price.

It could be said that He Jia and Di Guang's materials were dirt cheap.

Therefore, to win over Zhong Wei Technology and get a high price, he had to defeat He Jia and Di Guang with high performance.

When it was his turn to speak, Zhou Feiyu showed no stage fright. He projected the material description PPT he had already saved on his phone and began his introduction: "This is Fei Yang Technology's first product, FY-01. It is a groundbreaking work and will be a world-shaking product!

I can also responsibly say that in terms of both performance and reliability, it surpasses the top foreign material and is far ahead of its peers..."

"Haha..."

"Pfft..."

Below, there was a burst of laughter.

Whether it was the people from He Jia Optics, Di Guang Optics, or Zhong Wei Technology, they couldn't help but laugh out loud, not at what he said, but at his boastful claims.

Many people were not familiar with the "Top" brand, or only knew it as a "level," meaning someone who played games well. But for those involved in optical materials, Top was the king of the material world, an insurmountable existence. From the nineteenth century to the twenty-first century, it had always been the object of imitation by material manufacturers around the world, and had never been surpassed.

Now, some young kid from who knows where, who started a small company named "Fei Yang" (meaning "soaring"), dared to boast that he was far ahead of the king. Did he really think he could fly?

Peng Fan couldn't help but speak up, "Mr. Zhou, how about this? Did you bring your materials? If you did, give me some. After the meeting, I'll have our technical staff test them. If there's an opportunity in the future, it's not impossible to use your company's materials."

The implication was that he should stop talking and making a fool of himself.

Zhou Feiyu frowned, but then his brows relaxed, and he said with a smile, "Mr. Peng, my materials need to be kept confidential. Let's sign a confidentiality agreement. Once it's signed, I'll provide my materials."

He hadn't expected the Zhong Wei Technology team to act this way; it was truly beyond his expectations.

But he didn't give up.

"Then let's forget it."

Immediately, someone from the Zhong Wei Technology team said mockingly, "We can't afford your company's materials."

Peng Fan's expression was displeased. "Since that's the case, let's talk about it if there's another opportunity."

Zhou Feiyu shrugged, expressing regret. "I understand, but the FY-01 material is truly far ahead of its peers. It's a real shame that Zhong Wei Technology won't use it."

Peng Fan was so angry he laughed. He said, "Without Butcher Zhang, are we going to eat hairy pigs? Our Zhong Wei Technology is state-owned."

Thus, this recommendation session with Zhong Wei Technology ended unhappily.

Back at the hotel, it was still early, just past two in the afternoon, but there was no time left to visit other clients.

Although Peng City isn't large and has a developed subway system, commuting by subway is actually very time-consuming. It takes about an hour to get to any place, so he couldn't visit many clients in a day.

After thinking for a moment, Zhou Feiyu simply found the phone number of the girl his aunt had introduced yesterday and added her as a WeChat friend.

Ding dong!

To Zhou Feiyu's surprise, before he could even put down his phone, the WeChat friend request was accepted. A chat window with the WeChat name "candy" appeared on his phone.