Chapter 15

Chapter 16

China's gaming industry more or less got its start in 1993, internet access arrived in 1994, domain-name rules were established in 1993, Microsoft entered Beijing in 1993, institutional and educational reforms took place in 1993, the first controlling-stake controversy arose in 1993, Suzuki entered China in 1993, Wayi was founded in 1993, China's first video game magazine was published in 1993...

In 1993, Sun Electronics became Sanhao Street's largest electronics wholesaler and retailer.

Time slipped slowly by without my noticing. Every day, I joked around with my classmates, then immediately transformed into a steady decision-maker once I left school. With Zhang Xiaotong, I had to become a witty, entertaining friend, while playing with Guo Zhen and Yang Yuanzhe meant being a fun-loving entertainment enthusiast. Each day was divided into several portions, like breaking up a large pastry to eat-far too easy to digest. There wasn't much to do in 1993, so I devoted myself wholeheartedly to consolidating Sun Electronics' existing achievements. Meanwhile, Zhang Xiaotong began playing the good daughter in front of her parents, occasionally offering advice to her eldest uncle's wife and her aunt's husband, who had each taken their red envelopes and started businesses.

During the first half of 1993, Sun Electronics focused primarily on wholesaling complete computers. The custom-PC boom was still a long way off, and demand for wholesale brand-name computers far exceeded that for individually assembled machines. AST offered just about the best value of all the brands. I ran a few promotions using the high-standard, low-performance advertising approach of the so-called home-appliance computers that would appear after 2000, and the results were pretty good. Many companies came to us when they saw comparable performance at prices thirty percent lower. I personally designed a series of print advertisements for Zhang Xiaotong, including one aimed at parents: "Make your name early-computers and your child." Zhang Xiaotong happily let me direct her, posing for plenty of fresh, charming photographs. Somehow, through all this fooling around, we actually put together an independent brand using foreign core technology: Young Dreamer.

Young Dreamer was a decent brand concept, but we had neither manufacturing lines nor technical staff, so we could only rely on outside help for those. After giving it some thought, I put Liu Mingyao in charge of recruitment. Sun Electronics was no longer what it had once been; flush with money, it placed recruitment advertisements directly in the newspapers. Zhang Xiaotong and I took advantage of the May holiday to go over and conduct interviews ourselves. Only then did Liu Mingyao realize that the little boy who seemed to trail after Zhang Xiaotong was also one of the decision-makers. Remembering all Zhang Xiaotong's unexpected performances a year earlier, Liu Mingyao had already learned to take such things in stride.

Recruitment began on May 2. Everyone wondered why Sun Electronics was hiring during the holiday. They probably could never have guessed, however hard they thought, that it was because the two people who called the shots at Sun Electronics only had time during school holidays.

As usual, Zhang Xiaotong and I arrived on the evening of May 1 and went to the company refreshed the next morning. Since the receptionist in the new business department didn't recognize us, she very politely stopped Zhang Xiaotong. "Excuse me, who are you here to see?"

Holding back a laugh, I told Zhang Xiaotong, "Tell her we're here to apply for jobs."

Zhang Xiaotong smiled at the receptionist. "I'm here to apply for a job. Is Manager Liu in?"

The receptionist shook her head. "The interviews haven't started yet. Sorry, I'm not really at liberty to tell you where Mr. Liu is."

Zhang Xiaotong smiled again. "That's all right. May I borrow your phone?"

The receptionist pushed the phone over. "Please keep it under three minutes, and no long-distance calls."

I folded my arms. "Pretty good rules you've got here."

Zhang Xiaotong dialed Liu Mingyao's office and said to me, "What are you so pleased with yourself about? You wrote them, didn't you?"

The receptionist hadn't caught what we were saying, but when she heard Zhang Xiaotong say, "Liu Mingyao, we're here, at the entrance," her expression changed. She looked closely at Zhang Xiaotong, then at the large poster by the company entrance, and stammered, "Are-are you President Zhang?"

Zhang Xiaotong smiled and nodded. "Thank you."

The receptionist nodded dazedly. "It-it's nothing, President Zhang. I was just doing my job..."

Liu Mingyao sprinted all the way from his office to the entrance. "Why are you here so early? Didn't we say we'd start at nine thirty?"

Zhang Xiaotong took my hand and walked inside. "Interviewers ought to arrive a little early. Where are we conducting the interviews today?"

"The conference room. I've just sent someone to get chairs ready. There'll be too many people in the lobby later; I doubt we'll be able to accommodate them all."

"All right, let's go over."

The conference room had been arranged, with about five meters between the applicant's chair and the interviewers. Zhang Xiaotong and I had barely sat down when Liu Mingyao handed over a thick stack of résumés. "These are in the same order the applicants will come in."

We nodded. Zhang Xiaotong passed the résumés to me first, and I began skimming through them.

Seeing how practiced I was at reviewing résumés, Liu Mingyao probably realized that I would have the main say in this round of hiring. He said to me, "The students applying these days seem willing to spend quite a bit. We've even received a few personal photo albums."

That startled me. "People are already taking professional photo albums to find jobs? Talk about ahead of their time..."

Neither Zhang Xiaotong nor Liu Mingyao noticed anything wrong with that remark. That was close, I thought, then lowered my head and continued reading, noting down any information I considered worth remembering. Before long, the interviews began.

Our interviews were actually rather challenging. Most people walked in and immediately saw three people seated before them. Liu Mingyao was fine, and Zhang Xiaotong was manageable, but anyone who could maintain a normal expression upon seeing me went into the "formidable" category. Anyone who could accept being questioned by a child who looked only about ten was already out of the ordinary.

Zhang Xiaotong and I handled the questions, while Liu Mingyao essentially sat in. My questions were quite tricky too. For instance, the first applicant was a quiet-looking girl with glasses, and my opening question was, "How long did you spend writing your résumé?" She froze on the spot. I continued, "What do you think is the most appealing part of your résumé?"

My questions left the girl speechless. I went on, "Your personal introduction says you've participated in extensive practical activities outside school. Please give us some specific examples we can verify."

Zhang Xiaotong lowered her head and asked me, "How do you know she didn't write her own résumé?"

I smiled faintly. "You don't know résumé templates already exist."

When the girl couldn't answer, Liu Mingyao casually asked a few standard interview questions, then told her to go home and wait for a call. Anyone could see she had no chance.

After the first applicant left, the second, a very confident-looking young man, came in. I continued playing the role of confidence crusher and asked bluntly, "How many jobs have you had?"

The young man hadn't expected an elementary-school student to question him. He froze in surprise for a moment, then answered, "Six."

"How long did you spend at each job on average?"

Sweat began appearing on his face. "Three months."

I waved a hand. "I have no more questions. Manager Liu, your turn."

Liu Mingyao shook his head. "I have nothing to ask either. Next."

The young man seemed unwilling to accept this. "Aren't you being a little too hasty?"

I shook my head. "In terms of working conditions, all your previous companies were better than Sun Electronics. If you couldn't stay long at those places, I don't think either of us needs to waste the other's time."

The third applicant was a woman. The order seemed to alternate between women and men. This pretty young woman was clearly startled by Zhang Xiaotong and me too, but fortunately, she was merely puzzled and didn't show much other emotion.

I twirled the pen in my hand around and around. "Nervous?"

"A little. It's my first time."

"That's all right. The first time always feels a little uncomfortable." Ignoring the strange expressions of the two beside me, I said, "You'll get used to it. You majored in marketing?"

"Yes."

I stopped twirling the pen. "Give us a suggestion for Sun Electronics' future development. Say whatever you like. Don't be nervous; you're already here."

The young woman thought for a moment. "I think Sun Electronics currently has a lot of underlying risks." She paused and watched our expressions.

I nodded, signaling for her to continue.

"To put it simply, a bottleneck." She had been rather shy, but suddenly became animated when discussing her specialty. "Sun Electronics' business volume is already approaching its limit. Adding more staff and increasing the workload will no longer bring significant improvements in returns. Personally, I think the most important thing now is to contact actual manufacturers as soon as possible and gradually transition from wholesaling to producing our own brand."

I turned to Zhang Xiaotong. "What do you think? Pretty good, right?"

Zhang Xiaotong nodded. "What do you think, Manager Liu?"

Liu Mingyao remained neutral. "Anyone can make things sound convincing. We'll have to see how she does in practice."

I studied the young woman's pretty face for a while, then asked, "Your name is Lu Wei, right?"

She nodded.

I asked her, "If the company gave you an opportunity to prove yourself, what sort of opportunity would you want?"

Lu Wei seemed to be getting into her stride. No longer shy, she answered clearly, "Opportunities choose me. I won't be picky about them."

I nodded. "All right, you've passed. Report to the company tomorrow."

Naturally, neither of the other two objected to that. After making a show of consulting my fellow interviewers, I told Lu Wei, "We'll discuss compensation tomorrow. We need to give the others a chance too, so that's all for now."

The moment Lu Wei left, Zhang Xiaotong pinched me. "Did you take one look at that pretty older girl and let lust take over?"

Liu Mingyao watched from the side with a mischievous grin, showing no intention of rescuing me. He probably regarded me as one of those precocious kids.

Grimacing in pain, I explained, "Come on, you really know how to make things up! Don't you understand? Whoever it is, I can tell at a glance how capable they are. Don't think I'm bragging; I mean it. A person's everyday temperament and traits form their habits, and those habits aren't usually easy to change. Anyone who can disguise themselves is formidable. Would I dare come help you recruit if I couldn't see through people at a glance...?"

There was some truth to what I said, of course. Zhang Xiaotong let go and gestured to Liu Mingyao. "Next."

Liu Mingyao hadn't expected that speech from me and looked somewhat surprised. He glanced at me, then called toward the door, "Next."

By lunchtime at noon, we had interviewed over forty people. Some interviews were long, others short. Generally, after taking a couple of looks, I decided whether to keep asking questions or simply send them away. It proved reasonably efficient.

I told most of the qualified applicants to attend a second interview the following morning, which would be Liu Mingyao's responsibility. We had made final decisions to hire only two people that day, both students from Dongda. One was Lu Wei; the other was Yang Feng, an information management graduate. I told Liu Mingyao, "We're practically becoming Dongda's designated employer. Ask Teacher Wan to put in a word with the other contacts at the university. Neusoft can make its software and electronic templates; that doesn't conflict with us. Nobody should object."

To wait for the final recruitment results, Zhang Xiaotong and I had to stay another day. On the afternoon of May 3, Liu Mingyao showed us the second-round results. With a sweep of her pen, Zhang Xiaotong decided the work assignments and compensation. Lu Wei would contact several major manufacturers, while Yang Feng would take over the campus network work entirely. Zhang Xiaotong's supreme directive was, "Expand on every front, with hardware as the main focus."

Lu Wei moved quickly, contacting Intel directly. Intel had entered China in 1985 and wouldn't build its Shanghai factory until 1995; before that, it merely had a "representative office." I didn't know much about its attitude toward working with Chinese partners. I gave Lu Wei a rough outline of the plan, and she nodded so vigorously her head nearly fell off, then promptly carried it out.

Zhang Xiaotong and I left Shenyang that evening. On the third day, I received a call from Lu Wei. "We've basically reached an agreement."

Suppressing my excitement, I asked her, "Have you found someone to design the case? Should I send you a few designs?"

There was a little excitement in Lu Wei's voice too. "Of course. We were just worrying that the designs here didn't quite meet your standards."

"I'll send them over before the end of the workday tomorrow evening," I said. "Finalize the other details as soon as possible. Keep the first batch fairly small and see how it goes. Although the whole company's hopes are riding on you right now, there's no need to feel pressured. Just concentrate on doing things the way you think is right. Give me a detailed cost-accounting report tomorrow."

Lu Wei said "OK" and went off to work. I also instructed Liu Mingyao not to lower prices on the other brands for now; everything had to wait until the cooperation arrangements were settled. If any major decisions needed making, he was to contact Zhang Xiaotong and me immediately. Following my suggestion, Zhang Xiaotong bought a Motorola 8900 in case it was needed. Accustomed to color-screen phones, I genuinely found the sight of that thing a little too much to bear, so I didn't get one.