Chapter Summaries

Zhang Ke persuaded Ye Xiaotong to visit Haizhou and consider Haiyu Company for Ericsson’s agency, despite the office’s lack of money and distribution channels. He then corrected Xu Si’s English translation and teased her about tutoring him, leaving their evening lessons undecided.

• Zhang Ke told Ye Xiaotong that Haiyu Company could quickly solve its funding and distribution problems and argued that Ericsson’s coming Chinese-language digital phone made its agency rights valuable.
• Ye Xiaotong agreed to make time to visit Haizhou and meet with Haiyu Company.
• Xu Si questioned how Zhang Ke could secure the agency without money or distribution channels, and Zhang Ke asked her to screen applicants for interviews the following Saturday.
• Zhang Ke showed Xu Si that he could read the English technical materials and corrected her translation.
• Zhang Ke asked Xu Si to come to his home in the evenings to tutor him, and Xu Si said they would discuss it later.

Zhang Ke and Xu Si shared a quiet evening at the office before he went home and learned that he and Tang Jing had been placed in Class Ten. The chapter ended with Zhang Ke reflecting on how different his renewed connection with Tang Jing was from their distant past.

• Xu Si invited Zhang Ke to dinner, but he hurried home after calling and hearing that his mother was unhappy with his absence.
• Zhang Ke pretended that his English tutoring explained where he had been, and Liang Gezhen accepted his story.
• Liang Gezhen told Zhang Ke that Tang Jing had searched for him all day because she wanted to check their class assignments together.
• Zhang Ke called Tang Jing and correctly guessed that she, Du Fei, and he were all assigned to Class Ten.
• Zhang Ke told Tang Jing they could talk the next day and reflected on how little she had acknowledged him in his previous life.

On his first official day at No. 1 High School, Zhang Ke tried to keep his part-time work and dealings with Xu Si secret from Tang Jing while settling into school. He learned that Du Fei had become class monitor and that Zhang Ke himself had gained an unexpected reputation as one of the school’s notorious troublemakers.

• Zhang Ke collected his allowance and tutoring money from Liang Gezhen before leaving for school with Liu Wenbing.
• In the car, Tang Jing questioned Zhang Ke about where he had gone the previous day, and he claimed he was working part-time at Zhitong's mother's company.
• Tang Jing asked when she could visit Zhitong, and Zhang Ke and Tang Jing got out near the school gates.
• Zhang Ke followed Tang Jing to class and learned that Du Fei was class monitor, Tang Jing was Youth League branch secretary, and Zhang Ke had not been chosen for the class committee.
• Du Fei told Zhang Ke that his slap of Zhao Siming had made him one of the Four Young Masters of No. 1 High School, placing him on the school’s Villains List.

Zhang Ke tried to keep a low profile at Haizhou No. 1 Middle School by acting like a troublemaker, but his careless behavior reinforced his bad reputation. After an awkward encounter with Chen Feirong and a bold show of familiarity with the Political Education Office director, he decided to quit smoking.

• Zhang Ke disrupted Li Zhifang’s class meeting with a sarcastic introduction, prompting her to treat him as a troublesome student.
• Zhang Ke visited his former classmates in Class 12, then approached Chen Feirong, who mistook his attention for harassment and hid behind a book.
• Zhang Ke decided he would need to confront Zhao Siming to stop him harassing Chen Feirong, but he could not find him.
• Zhang Ke smoked alone outside and reflected on how his changed circumstances had altered his life since returning to 1994.
• Zhang Ke instinctively offered a cigarette to Cao Guangming, the Political Education Office director, who accepted it despite his disapproval.
• Zhang Ke threw away his nearly full pack of Yunyan and resolved to quit smoking.

Zhang Ke tried to smooth things over with Tang Jing, then reunited with Xu Si and helped her with Haiyu Trading’s expenses. By September 6, he and Xu Si had begun interviewing applicants, leaving Zhang Ke focused on choosing capable employees and wondering whether he looked mature enough.

• Zhang Ke told Tang Jing that offering Cao Guangming a cigarette had been a deliberate psychological test, while Du Fei excitedly signaled that he knew about it.
• After school, Zhang Ke saw Tang Jing onto her bus, called Xu Si, and brought food to Fortune Garden, where he insisted on giving her four hundred yuan for office supplies.
• Zhang Ke and Xu Si reviewed résumés and discussed the steady stream of calls from applicants to Haiyu Trading.
• On September 6, Zhang Ke arrived at Xinhaitong Building to interview nineteen shortlisted applicants with Xu Si.
• Zhang Ke began the interviews and asked Xu Si whether his clothes and sharper expression made him look more mature.

Zhang Ke took charge of the recruitment interviews, impressed the applicants with his skill, and selected four candidates for the office. To secure working capital, he asked them to pay a 5,000-yuan work security deposit, and all four paid it the next day.

• Zhang Ke began conducting interviews and gave the first applicant practical advice on her interview manner.
• Zhang Ke used subtle handshake tests and group discussions to assess candidates, narrowing the applicants to four.
• Zhang Ke introduced the office to the final four candidates and told them the job required a 5,000-yuan work security deposit.
• Xu Si questioned Zhang Ke about the deposit, and he explained that the office needed working capital.
• All four candidates paid their deposits the next day after being impressed by Zhang Ke and the professional interview process.

Zhang Ke gathered his four new sales recruits and laid out an ambitious plan to become Ericsson’s Haizhou distributor, concealing how much remained uncertain. The team prepared to build a retail network through newspaper advertising, and Jiang Wei offered to use her husband’s connections to secure the ad space.

• Zhang Ke introduced Xu Si as the office manager and told the four recruits they would begin work immediately, with him attending their marketing meetings.
• Zhang Ke claimed the company was about to become Ericsson’s Haizhou distribution agent and explained the need to build a citywide retail network.
• Xu Si asked for an engineer to explain digital communications, and Zhang Ke said an engineer from Haiyu Company would arrive that evening for two days.
• Zhang Ke asked the recruits to secure half a page of Haizhou Daily advertising for three consecutive days at the lowest possible cost.
• Jiang Wei volunteered to seek help from her husband in the Municipal Party Committee Propaganda Department to arrange the newspaper advertising.

Zhang Ke and Haiyu Trading launched a three-day teaser campaign in the Haizhou Daily to promote digital mobile phones, drawing intense public attention and potential business partners. On the third day, the advertisements revealed the Ericsson GH388 as the new darling of modern communications.

• Zhang Ke arranged business cards and a large newspaper advertisement declaring that brick phones were about to become obsolete.
• Liang Gezhen asked Zhang Ke about Haiyu Company, while Zhang Zhixing doubted that his costly brick phone would soon be replaced.
• A second advertisement asked what would replace brick phones, and Jiang Wei arranged a radio phone-in contest to amplify public curiosity.
• Residents flooded Haiyu's office with calls and visits, so Xu Si hired six temporary workers; Zhang Ke and Xu Si reviewed inquiries and identified pager businesses as priority partners.
• Xu Si worried that the campaign might mislead people into thinking Haiyu was Ericsson's distributor, but Zhang Ke dismissed her concern.
• The third advertisement revealed the Ericsson GH388 digital mobile phone and included information about digital communications.

Zhang Ke left school to join the busy Xinhaitong office, where an advertisement had drawn potential retailers and customers interested in digital mobile phones. He explained to Shengxin representative Ye Xiaotong why the office had advertised before securing Ericsson’s agency rights, and the chapter left Ye impressed by his pitch to build a network of partners.

• Zhang Ke obtained sick leave from Li Zhifang’s Chinese class and took a taxi to the Xinhaitong Building.
• Zhang Ke learned from Liu Minghui that Shengxin representative Ye Xiaotong was meeting with Xu Si.
• Ye Xiaotong challenged Xu Si over the office’s advertisement, questioning its authority to imply that it represented Ericsson in Haizhou.
• Zhang Ke introduced himself to Ye Xiaotong and argued that the advertisement promoted digital communications technology rather than committing fraud.
• Zhang Ke explained that the office was seeking partners to pool funds for stock and build a sales network, and Ye Xiaotong was impressed by his presentation.

Zhang Ke’s advertisement drew merchants and funding prospects to Haiyu Company’s Haizhou office, impressing Ye Xiaotong with its market planning. Ye Jianbin agreed to appoint Haiyu as Shengxin’s specially appointed Ericsson agent, and Zhang Ke left the meeting exploring whether Haiyu could also supply dealers in Xintai City.

• Ye Xiaotong watched Zhang Ke and Liu Minghui attract prospective partners, whose proposed funding reached six hundred thousand yuan.
• Ye Xiaotong reported her observations to Shengxin Trading’s marketing director and recommended Haiyu as a partner; Ye Jianbin heard her account.
• Ye Jianbin decided to make Haiyu Company a specially appointed Ericsson agent, bypassing Donghai Province’s provincial-agent tier.
• Ye Xiaotong told Zhang Ke that Shengxin would relax its initial-stock funding requirements and proposed discussing cooperation the next morning.
• Jiang Wei, Yang Yun, and the others learned Haiyu had not previously contacted Shengxin, and Jiang Wei recognized Zhang Ke’s influence.
• Zhang Ke asked whether Haiyu could supply dealers in Xintai City, and Ye Xiaotong’s silence signaled tacit agreement.