You're Planning to Open a Little Workshop?

"Old Yang, were you pulling my leg? I looked it up, and you can start a small Glass Factory for just over a million yuan." Shen Bing gave Old Yang a look that said he wasn't buying it.

Old Yang shot him a disdainful look. "You're not planning to open some little workshop, are you?"

"Then a workshop it is!" Shen Bing gritted his teeth.

A great man once said, "Give me a place to stand, and I can move the Earth."

Shen Bing's motto was: Give me a workshop, and I'll turn it into an industry giant.

His confidence wasn't unfounded. The Over-the-Horizon Telescope Manufacturing Technology pushed the use of Glass to its limits.

After spending all day in the library, Shen Bing had also gained a deeper understanding of the current Glass industry, and what he'd learned had stunned him.

Compared with the Glass-making techniques he now possessed, the major Glass companies weren't working with Glass at all. They might as well have been playing with mud...

For now, Shen Bing had little chance of producing a complete Over-the-Horizon Telescope. He couldn't obtain the equipment and raw materials it required anytime soon.

But taking one or two techniques from it and putting them to use first, building up his capital in the process, would be easy enough.

Sun Li gritted his teeth. "Shen Bing, are you really going into Glass-making?"

"Of course. Do I look like I'm joking?"

"There used to be a small Glass Factory near my hometown—the kind of workshop Old Yang was talking about. It closed down two years ago because the competition was too fierce. No one's been willing to take it over, so the equipment's just been sitting there. I even stopped by during summer vacation," Sun Li said.

Sun Li was from Rongcheng, though he lived on the edge of the city in a place called Shiqiao Town. Little workshops like that were everywhere there.

"Get in touch with them for me. If the equipment still works and the price is reasonable, I'll take it over." Shen Bing looked utterly serious.

Perhaps it was that expression that convinced Old Yang and the other two that Shen Bing really did intend to open a Glass Factory.

They knew a fair bit about Shen Bing's family. If his father was backing him, opening a Glass Factory wasn't impossible.

Sun Li called home and soon got the Glass Factory owner's phone number.

Shen Bing called him immediately. From his voice, the man sounded to be in his forties or fifties, and he spoke briskly and to the point.

Shen Bing asked a few basic questions. Once he learned that the factory had a complete set of equipment, including a small crucible Furnace and a forming machine, he decided on the spot to go and see it for himself.

After all, there was only so much they could settle over the phone.

Most importantly, Shen Bing needed to determine whether he could modify the equipment.

Early the next morning, he got up and checked the Gate to the Immortal Realm. Finding no suitable tasks, he went straight to the dormitory and dragged a bewildered Sun Li outside.

"Sun Li, you've got to talk some more sense into Shen Bing! Opening a Glass Factory really isn't worth it!" Wang Bo's howl reached them even after they had walked far away.

None of these guys had any faith in his brilliant plan.

To be fair, his old self wouldn't have thought it was a good idea either.

The University of Electronic Science and Technology was only twenty or thirty kilometers from Shiqiao Town, so they took a Taxi straight there.

They chatted on and off along the way. Sun Li tried every angle he could think of to dissuade Shen Bing, but Shen Bing wouldn't budge.

By the time they arrived, Sun Li had given up.

He figured that if even Shen Bing's father supported the idea, there was no point trying to stop him. And if his father didn't support it, the plan would fall through without Sun Li saying a word.

Shen Bing had called the Glass Factory owner on the way, and the man was waiting at the entrance to town when they arrived.

"You're Boss... Shen?" The expectant look in the middle-aged man's eyes dimmed. He had thought he might finally get the Glass Factory off his hands, but how could this youngster, who was plainly still a student, take it over?

Was this some kind of joke?

Even so, he held on to a sliver of hope.

Shen Bing smiled. "My name's Shen Bing. No need to call me boss; Shen Bing is fine. Boss Wu, could you take us to see your factory now?"

"All right." Boss Wu's enthusiasm was clearly not very Gao.

Sun Li didn't know Boss Wu, but once Boss Wu learned that Sun Li was a local, his attitude warmed considerably.

The corners of Shen Bing's mouth lifted. That was exactly the effect he wanted.

Boss Wu also ran a flower nursery in Shiqiao Town. It was still small, but as people's quality of life grew increasingly Gao, business was booming.

With a nursery like that, failing to stay on good terms with the locals would only invite trouble.

The three soon reached a small factory building. Calling it that was generous: it was a single-story brick structure of two or three hundred square meters, with a few machines inside.

All right, it really was a little workshop.

"Shen Bing, my factory may be small, but it has everything it needs. There's the Glass furnace, forming machine, annealing kiln, polishing machine, and cutting machine. I'd barely used this equipment when I had to shut down because money was tight. It's been idle for two years, but I've kept up with maintenance. The machines are still eighty or ninety percent as good as new..."

Shen Bing kept nodding as Boss Wu talked, but barely listened. He was assessing the equipment in his own way to see whether it met his needs.

After a full day of study, Shen Bing had gained a thorough understanding of modern Glass production, from the construction and calibration of various machines to the selection and proportions of raw materials.

Of course, what mattered most were the Glass-making and processing methods contained in the Over-the-Horizon Telescope Manufacturing Technology. That was the real source of his confidence.

A moment later, Shen Bing looked up. "Boss Wu, name your price."

"What?" Boss Wu had been in the middle of his pitch. He stared blankly, not quite grasping what Shen Bing meant.

"I'm saying I want to take over this place. Tell me how much you want." Shen Bing's expression gave nothing away.

Now Boss Wu understood. Life really was full of surprises. "I spent more than nine hundred thousand yuan setting all this up. The equipment's seen some wear, but you couldn't buy a new set for that price today. I won't ask for anything outrageous. Give me eight hundred thousand, and everything here is yours, including a year's rent on the land."

Shen Bing frowned slightly. "Boss Wu, I'm serious about making this deal. You know as well as I do that even if the equipment is still seventy or eighty percent as good as new, the technology was already outdated when you bought it. Nobody wants to take this stuff over now, so it isn't worth much. As for the rent, this is the outskirts of town. It can't be that expensive. I'll give you six hundred thousand. If that works, we'll settle it now and go handle the paperwork. If not, I'll walk away."

Boss Wu hesitated. Shen Bing knew the market well. It seemed he genuinely wanted the factory.

"All right. Since you're being so straightforward, I will be too. If you can pay the full amount upfront, we have a deal."

"Deal."

And just like that, they settled on a six-hundred-thousand-yuan transaction.

Boss Wu wanted to treat Shen Bing to a meal, but Shen Bing declined. His time was precious; he couldn't waste it sitting around a dinner table.

At Shen Bing's request, Boss Wu introduced him to several workers. They were honest local farmers who had worked at the factory before. When it closed, they had gone off to find other jobs.

Rolling around and begging for votes...