In the blink of an eye, half a month had passed.
During that time, Xu Yifan, the newly hired legal staff, and researcher Qiu Haowei had taken care of registering the technical patents for the new lithium iron phosphate batteries.
Although it would still be some time before the patent certificates were issued, they could begin building the factory and manufacturing the products.
Just two days ago, the bank had released the first loan for Jiuzhou Automobile Factory: a full hundred million yuan.
On top of that, all the procedures for the government's policy support had been completed, and the support was now officially in effect.
Everything at Jiuzhou Automobile Factory was progressing rapidly in the right direction.
A huge plot of land beside the factory had been allocated for its use—a full thousand mu!
They wouldn't need that much space for now, but it would give them room to expand in the future.
Under the direction of the company's newly established construction department, work on the two new factories was proceeding in an orderly fashion.
From the window of Xu Yifan's office, he could clearly see the construction site beside the factory change dramatically from day to day.
The land provided with government support had already been leveled by excavators, which had also cleared away the weeds that had overgrown it after years of neglect.
The foundations had been dug, too, and concrete was being poured. That work would likely be finished in another two or three days.
After that, they would build the factory buildings out of brick and stone. There was no need for them to look beautiful or refined.
They only needed to be simple, practical, sturdy, and an ordinary few meters tall.
By partnering with a local construction company, they had secured the work at a fair price and were pushing ahead with the fastest possible schedule.
The construction department estimated that, with the full complement of workers on site, the factory buildings would be finished in about half a month.
After the equipment was installed, the trained employees could begin operating it and start production.
[Buildings: Production Workshop Level 1, Research and Development Center Level 1, Battery Research and Development Center Level 1, Employee Dormitory Level 1, Cafeteria Level 1, Warehouse Level 1, Office Building Level 2.] [Phase One of the Lithium Iron Phosphate Battery Factory is under construction, progress: 26%.] [Phase One of the Two-Wheeled Electric Vehicle Factory is under construction, progress: 22%.]
According to the system's construction progress, which advanced by about two percent a day, the factories would be ready to operate and begin producing goods in a little under a month and a half.
The factory construction and development process had largely fallen into place. Although things were busy, there wasn't too much to handle.
That meant Xu Yifan could focus on preparing for what came next.
That day, Xu Yifan brought his secretary, Lin Wanxia, along and drove his Mercedes out to negotiate contract manufacturing deals with other factories.
His first destination was the Chuanqi Yema Automobile Production Base in Longquanyi District, which was still called Xichuan Automobile Industry Group at the time.
The Mercedes raced down the highway. After a four-hour drive, they arrived at their first stop, Longquanyi.
Following Lin Wanxia's directions from the passenger seat, Xu Yifan used the map he had prepared and soon found Xichuan Automobile Industry Group in the industrial park.
The factory occupied several times as much land as Jiuzhou Automobile Factory, but its fate was much like that of Jiuzhou in the past: it had no product of its own worth boasting about.
Even after several twists and turns in the years to come, it would still fail to escape being sold off.
Its eventual buyer was rather unexpected: Leiding, a leading manufacturer of Old Man Happy vehicles from Dongshan.
The black G-Class had barely come to a stop at the gate when the entrance opened automatically, before he even had time to send his secretary to register their details.
A little surprised, and a little helpless, Xu Yifan figured out what was going on and shook his head with a smile.
A luxury car could save you a lot of trouble sometimes.
People treated you with respect wherever you went. It was a symbol of status and wealth!
Even the security guard, who clearly wasn't very experienced at his job, thought that anyone driving a big Mercedes must be there to discuss serious business, and waved them straight through!
Besides, this was just as the economy was taking off. There weren't many luxury cars yet, and people hadn't started showing off all the cases of buying them on credit.
By comparison, his own retired special forces veterans were much more reliable!
If only vehicles made by Jiuzhou Automobile Factory could have the same effect someday!
With that faint thought, Xu Yifan pressed the gas and drove the G-Class into the factory grounds.
As they passed the guard booth, they saw the elderly guard, who looked to be in his sixties or seventies, give them an awkward salute.
After a quick drive around the factory grounds, Xu Yifan found a parking area that looked rather empty.
He parked and went straight into the office building beside it.
The whole building seemed deserted. There wasn't a soul in the lobby or the corridors!
Well, looks like I'll have to go door to door looking for the factory director's office!
It was completely different from Jiuzhou Automobile Factory, where everyone was busy with one thing or another. This place had more in common with Jiuzhou back in the day.
People came to work just to wait for the day to end. If the pay hadn't been so poor—and sometimes late—it might not have been a bad place to work!
"You take the left side, and I'll take the right. Check the signs on the doors."
"Sure thing, boss!"
They split up, with Xu Yifan and his secretary heading down opposite sides of the corridor to look for the factory director's office.
Xu Yifan didn't find what he was looking for.
But Lin Wanxia finally managed to find someone!
"Boss, it's the third office on the left on the second floor!" The pretty secretary, dressed in a smart uniform and high heels, hurried over, looking excited as she reported back to Xu Yifan.
When she passed the Human Resources Department office just now, she had noticed some employees inside and asked them for directions.
They hadn't asked any questions. They had simply pointed the pretty secretary in the right direction before going back to slacking off at work.
"Then let's go."
They took the stairs and soon reached the third office on the left on the second floor.
The secretary stepped forward and politely knocked on the door.
Knock, knock, knock—
But after waiting for quite a while, they heard no response from inside.
The secretary furrowed her pretty brows and knocked again, a little harder this time.
Knock, knock, knock—
They waited again, but still heard no response.
"Boss, do we really have an appointment?"
Xu Yifan pulled out his Nokia and checked the time. "We definitely do, and we're right on time!"
Lin Wanxia said helplessly, "Maybe the factory director had something urgent come up and isn't in his office."
"If I'd known he was this unreliable, I would've gotten his personal number..."
"Mm. Let's wait a while. We're already here," Xu Yifan said with a nod.
Lin Wanxia pointed at a row of chairs outside the office next door. "Mm-hmm. There are chairs over there for people to wait. Why don't you go sit down for a bit, boss?"
Xu Yifan smiled. "Let's sit together. The factory director will see us when he gets back."
"Sure!" A happy smile spread across the secretary's face.
Xu Yifan led the way, and the two of them sat down on the chairs to wait.
As they kept an eye out for anyone who might appear in the corridor, the secretary occasionally snuck a glance at the man beside her.
In the few months since she started working for Xu Yifan, the pretty secretary had become his devoted admirer.
He was rich, handsome, and capable—the perfect domineering CEO from a romance novel!
The only problem was that this wealthy young factory director, who was around her age, didn't seem interested in her.
She had hinted at it several times, but he had ignored every one of them. It was starting to make her doubt herself.
Plenty of people chased after me at school.
And from what I've observed, the boss isn't averse to women. He seems to like uniforms and fishnet stockings!
So what am I doing wrong?
Xu Yifan couldn't be bothered with the secretary's little thoughts.
He was wondering when the factory director would come back!
What's going on? Where did the factory director go?
Am I going to have to wait here for hours?
Maybe I should ask my secretary to go look for him in a bit?
While Xu Yifan wondered where the factory director was, the man was in the factory's automotive research lab, working alongside several automotive researchers.
Beside them were two cars Xu Yifan knew very well: Jiuzhou Minis made by Jiuzhou Automobile Factory!
As an automaker in the same province, how could they not have noticed the low-speed electric car that was so popular in Jiangzhou City?
And what kind of automaker didn't have the ability to copy and produce other people's designs?!
Before you continue