When a child traveled far from home, a mother worried. Even in modern times, with convenient transportation, that bond of family had not weakened.
For the five years after graduating, Zhou Feiyu had worked from home and rarely gone anywhere else. Even on business trips, he would return within a day or two. Before leaving this time, he had said he might be gone for ten days or half a month. That was a long time, so naturally Zhou's Mother was especially worried.
Zhou Feiyu had originally promised to call them once he got settled that evening, but they could no longer wait.
"Mom, I just came out from the client's place and checked into the hotel. Don't worry."
Zhou Feiyu was moved and quickly answered.
"Oh, good, good. You're all alone in Peng City, so make sure you take good care of yourself."
Zhou's Mother did not forget to remind him.
"I know."
The two chatted about family matters for a while before Zhou's Mother suddenly changed the subject. "Son, I need to tell you something. Your younger uncle's wife introduced someone to you. She's the daughter of her cousin, two years younger than you, and she's also a university graduate from a key university."
"Mom, here you go again."
Zhou Feiyu sobered up at once, not knowing whether to laugh or cry.
Being pressured to get married was probably something every young person had to go through after turning twenty. It was merely a matter of sooner or later.
Over the years, his family had urged him plenty of times. Especially in the past two years, they had taken turns at it and asked matchmakers everywhere. On New Year's Eve, he would go on one blind date in the morning and another in the afternoon.
Of course, compared with the "grand spectacle" on Douyin where people lined up to date the same girl, he was undoubtedly luckier. At least he did not have to queue.
Damn it!
I'm a "top student" from a key university, for crying out loud. How could being forced into blind dates still be something I had to compare downward over?
Zhou Feiyu hurriedly stopped his pathetic train of thought.
Since his younger uncle's wife had made the introduction, he could not refuse the matchmaker's favor. Otherwise, when they visited each other during the holidays, his younger uncle would chew him out for sure.
A university graduate—Zhou Feiyu knew that was one of his mother's proudest points. There were not many young people in the surrounding villages like her son, a university graduate from a key university at that. Female university graduates were even rarer. The average education level for girls in the nearby villages and towns was only middle school.
Hearing his response, Zhou's Mother immediately became unhappy and scolded him, "Don't take this lightly. You need to take it seriously. You're twenty-eight this year. In the blink of an eye, you'll be thirty, and then it'll be even harder to find someone. I'm telling you..."
"Mom, please stop. What's her contact information? I'll get in touch with her."
Zhou Feiyu quickly interrupted, afraid that his mother's nagging would never end. That would be unbearable.
Only then did Zhou's Mother's delighted voice come through the phone. "Write down her number. Your younger uncle's wife said her WeChat is also linked to this number. It seems she also went to Peng City these past few days. Aren't you in Peng City too? Then ask her out. These days, men are supposed to take the initiative and ask girls out. Don't wait for her to ask you, or it'll be too late."
"Got it."
Zhou Feiyu forced himself to write it down, dealt with her for a few more sentences, then urged Zhou's Mother to hang up.
Looking at the number in his notebook, Zhou Feiyu let out a long breath and flopped heavily onto the bed.
Well, I'll take it one step at a time.
Chasing girls was a huge problem that made him want to tear his hair out. It was even harder than materials research and development.
The night passed without incident.
The next morning, Zhou Feiyu got up early and forced himself to watch two hours of instructional videos, starting from scratch with all kinds of subjects to increase his points.
At nine o'clock, after breakfast, Zhou Feiyu first sent Wang Wei several messages, asking him to handle the material verification. Wang Wei and the others had just started work then.
Nine to seven was the working schedule at many companies in Peng City.
Wang Wei did not put on airs. It was precisely the time when they were looking for good materials, so he naturally wanted the verification done as soon as possible. He replied with a "Don't worry" emoji.
Zhou Feiyu trusted his old classmate, but he would not hang himself from the single tree that was Hua Long Technology. He immediately set off for Zhong Wei Technology.
ODM factories were basically concentrated in Peng City. Apart from Hua Long Technology, there was second-ranked Zhong Wei Technology, third-ranked Qian Yin Technology, and other smaller ODM factories.
Besides ODM factories, there were also mobile phone brands in Peng City. The foremost among them was Zhongzheng Mobile, the undisputed leader and trendsetter among domestic mobile phone brands.
If his material could receive Zhongzheng Mobile's certification, then none of his problems would be problems anymore.
Unfortunately, Zhou Feiyu had no connections there. He could not possibly charge in alone and knock on their door.
However, he did have connections at phone ODM factories such as Zhong Wei Technology and Qian Yin Technology. He had dealt with some of their R&D and purchasing staff before.
Before setting out for Peng City, Zhou Feiyu had arranged to meet Peng Fan, Zhong Wei Technology's purchasing manager, through one of his clients.
What he never expected was that when he arrived, Peng Fan had not only arranged to meet him, but had also invited two other domestic manufacturers specializing in optical materials—Hejia and Di Guang Optics—for a four-way meeting.
Peng Fan arrived late, followed by four or five people, including purchasing engineers and R&D engineers.
The moment he entered the conference room, Peng Fan got straight to the point. "Oupai Mobile has a major project going up for bid the day after tomorrow. We've heard it may be awarded to us, and we urgently need a high-brightness optical material. Each of you can give us a brief introduction to your strongest optical material, then quote an approximate price. We'll make a comprehensive assessment and select one."
Hejia Optics and Di Guang Optics were two of the top optical material manufacturers in the country. For the optical materials used in the name-brand phones on the market, they were either made by Hejia Optics or Di Guang Optics.
Only knockoff phones and feature phones used optical materials from other brands.
The people from Hejia Optics and Di Guang Optics seemed to have come prepared. One after another, they sent representatives to open their PPT presentations and introduce their materials to Zhong Wei Technology's staff.
Zhou Feiyu's heart immediately sank.
I was careless.
When a major client chose a good material, it was not merely about the quality of that material. They also had to consider whether the supplier was stable, including its finances, manufacturing technology, production capacity, and more.
Zhou Feiyu was now a one-man operation running a newly established company. Compared with Hejia and Di Guang, he was far behind.
In terms of cost, Zhou Feiyu was confident he could compete with Hejia and Di Guang, but there was no need to. His material was meant to compete with overseas King Material. At most, he could sell it a little cheaper at the start to open the market, but its price absolutely had to stand alongside overseas King Material's.
On the market, if Hejia and Di Guang's materials sold for one yuan per sheet, overseas King Material's would sell for at least five yuan per sheet—a fivefold difference.
It could be said that Hejia and Di Guang's materials were dirt cheap.
Therefore, if he wanted to win Zhong Wei Technology and secure a high price, he had to defeat Hejia and Di Guang with superior performance.
When it was his turn to present, Zhou Feiyu showed no stage fright. He projected the material presentation PPT he had already saved on his phone and began his introduction. "This is FY-01, the first product launched by Fei Yang Technology. It is our founding work, and it will be a product that shocks the world!
"I can also state responsibly that, whether in performance or reliability, it surpasses overseas King Material and stands far ahead of its peers..."
"Hahaha..."
"Pfft..."
The room immediately burst into laughter.
Whether they were from Hejia Optics, Di Guang Optics, or Zhong Wei Technology, they could not help laughing out loud. They were not laughing at the way he spoke, but mocking his wild claims.
Many people were unfamiliar with the brand "King." Some even only knew it as a game rank, as if it merely meant someone was good at gaming. But to people who worked with optical materials, King Material was the king of the materials industry, an unsurpassable existence. From the nineteenth century to the twenty-first century, it had always been the object of imitation for materials manufacturers around the world, never surpassed.
Now, some unknown young punk had started a small company, named it "Fei Yang," and dared to boast that he was far ahead of King Material. Did he really think he could fly just because he named it that?
Peng Fan could not help speaking up. "President Zhou, how about this? Did you bring your material with you? If so, give me some. After the meeting, I'll have our technical staff test it. If there's an opportunity later, it's not impossible for us to use your material."
The underlying meaning was that he should stop talking before he made everyone laugh their teeth out.
Zhou Feiyu frowned, but soon relaxed and smiled. "President Peng, my material needs to be kept confidential. Let's sign a nondisclosure agreement. Once it's signed, I'll provide the material."
He had not expected Zhong Wei Technology's team to behave this way. It was truly beyond his expectations.
But he did not give up either.
"Then forget it."
Someone from Zhong Wei Technology's team immediately said in a mocking tone, "We can't afford your company's material."
Peng Fan looked displeased. "If that's the case, then we'll talk next time if there's an opportunity."
Zhou Feiyu shrugged, expressing his regret. "I understand, but FY-01 truly stands far ahead of its peers. It would be such a pity if Zhong Wei Technology chose not to use it."
Peng Fan laughed in exasperation. "Just because there's no butcher named Zhang, does that mean we have to eat pigs with hair on them? Zhong Wei Technology is state-owned."
Thus, Zhong Wei Technology's recommendation meeting ended on bad terms.
When Zhou Feiyu returned to the hotel, it was still early, only a little after two in the afternoon. But there was no longer enough time to visit other clients.
Peng City might not look large, and its subway system might be well developed, but commuting by subway actually took a great deal of time. Going anywhere casually took about an hour, so one could not visit many clients in a day.
After thinking it over, Zhou Feiyu simply found the phone number of the girl his younger uncle's wife had introduced yesterday and added her on WeChat.
Ding-dong!
To Zhou Feiyu's great surprise, before he could even put down his phone, his friend request was accepted. A chat window with the WeChat name "Candy" appeared on his phone.
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