Rebirth in 1960, My Industrial Age

Chapter 393 The Two Brothers Arrive in Shanghai

"Vice Dean Zhou, welcome."

Not only Vice Principal Song came to pick up Zhou Fengnian, but also the Vice Mayor in charge of health, whose rank was only one level lower than Zhou Fengnian's.

"The arrival of Vice President Zhou is truly an honor for Shanghai. SAIC Motor's vehicle manufacturing plant has learned a great deal from Vice President Zhou before."

Vice Mayor Qi said with a smile, showing a very good attitude. After all, the person who came was the full-time vice president of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, which is quite remarkable in Shanghai in terms of rank alone.

Zhou Fengnian smiled and said, "Thank you for your help, Comrade Qi. We may have to stay here for a while this time."

"Don't mention it. We're more than happy to welcome Vice President Zhou. You're working for the benefit of the people; it's an honor for us to be able to help."

After exchanging a few polite words outside the train station, Vice Mayor Qi told Zhou Fengnian to go back first, as arrangements had been made for his welcome dinner and accommodation.

It's located near the research lab, and security is very good.

Although Zhou Fengnian brought two security personnel with him on his trip, the Zhonghai General Office also notified the Shanghai authorities to pay close attention to his security.

Therefore, the arrangements made for Zhou Fengnian by the Shanghai authorities were very thorough. Not only were two extra patrols arranged at his residence, but two extra shifts of guards were also assigned to the interior.

Safety measures are absolutely in place.

After a simple welcome dinner, Zhou Fengnian was taken to his lodgings to rest. It was a guesthouse affiliated with the government and also received outsiders.

However, starting today, apart from those with letters of introduction, no one else will be entertained. The place is full of researchers from various provinces who have come to participate in biomedical project teams.

Zhou Fengnian initially selected only the elite, so those who came were the darlings of their respective provinces; if any one of them had an accident, the Shanghai Stock Exchange would be held accountable, let alone someone like Zhou Fengnian.

There are only three companies in Shanghai at the same level as him. If Zhou Fengnian gets into trouble, it will be like an earthquake.

Therefore, the guesthouses here do not accept strangers. Even cadres are given priority to be assigned to other places, and they will only be assigned here as a last resort.

The next day.

Zhou Fengnian quickly threw himself into the research and development work.

With his family not here, he can devote all his energy to his research without any worries. Besides, Zhou Fengnian is already among the top in the field of biomedicine.

If his skills reach level ten, he might be able to develop a gene-modifying drug.

Level 8 skills are now sufficient, and the simulation attempts allow Zhou Fengnian to save a significant amount of time during the most time-consuming drug discovery phase.

At this stage, a typical research project team would spend several years just on product screening, drug improvement, and adjusting chemical structures.

However, Zhou Fengnian can quickly produce results in the simulation space, and even shorten the time for the clinical stage.

It can take more than a decade for a new drug to go from research and development to market launch, but Zhou Fengnian is confident that he can shorten that time by five or even ten times.
When supercomputers were first developed, it took about ten years for foreign countries to do so, and even copying their supercomputers took five or six years.

However, Zhou Fengnian led his research and development team to develop and manufacture it in less than three years, which can be described as "speed is of the essence" in the history of scientific research.

Moreover, when it comes to clinical trials, Zhou Fengnian doesn't need to keep a close eye on things; he can just hand it over to others.

He'll just need to check the data results to make sure there are no errors.

Based on this calculation, Zhou Fengnian will need to be busy for less than a year, and he will only need to be busy for about twenty days each month during that year.

At the pre-research meeting, Zhou Fengnian changed his previous amiable attitude and said to everyone: "Comrades, you all know the time wasted in developing a new drug."

Therefore, I hope that you will listen to my opinions as much as possible when screening and optimizing compounds. If you do not clearly find any errors in my work, then proceed with the task as instructed.

Upon hearing this, everyone was somewhat stunned, including Vice Principal Song; however, he did not say anything. Zhou Fengnian's unusual behavior must have its reasons.

As for seizing power, don't be ridiculous. What power could a small project team possibly have? They don't even have as much power as Zhou Fengnian, the vice president of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

Moreover, the project team values ​​results. Without results, there is nothing, not even a reputation. What's the use of power if Zhou Fengnian is very confident in developing the technology but doesn't want others to sabotage him?

Deputy Team Leader Song felt that he had guessed correctly, but he couldn't be sure yet. He would wait and see after they started working on the research and development.

Since there is plenty of time, the screening and discovery phase is meant to involve continuous experimentation and testing before effective drug compounds can be identified.
Soon after announcing a few simple regulations, Zhou Fengnian got to work on research and development.

Shanghai Municipal Government.

The deputy squad leader, Wang Hongmo, called over Qi Yunfeng, whom he had received the day before, after arriving at the office the next day.

"Comrade Yunfeng, have things been arranged with Vice President Zhou?"

Qi Yunfeng nodded and said, "It's all arranged, sir. Two extra shifts of security personnel have been added to their accommodations, and they've been prohibited from entertaining outsiders. Their food has also been arranged from here."

They can't get involved in research and development, but they can definitely excel in security and logistics.

"Okay, that's all arranged. If Vice Dean Zhou has any requests, please do your best to fulfill them. If you encounter any problems coordinating things, just let me know and I'll handle it."

Wang Hongmo said, "We absolutely cannot let anything happen to him. I don't even want Vice President Zhou to be hospitalized now that I'm in the hospital."

Although the last sentence was somewhat redundant, it still let Qi Yunfeng know the extent of their protection of Zhou Fengnian.

Even unexpected illnesses are best avoided.

Zhou Fengnian is only in his forties, yet he is at the same level as him, and holds far more positions than him. It's hard to say who is more important between the two.

However, from a developmental perspective, probably no one can surpass Zhou Fengnian.

"Don't worry, boss. I've already set up a special team to liaise with them. Even if there's a problem, we can communicate and resolve it anytime."

"understood."

After discussing the project team for a while, Qi Yunfeng left.

It's no wonder they're so cautious; if the project leader were another academician or professor, they wouldn't be so nervous.

But upon hearing that it was Zhou Fengnian, the level of tension immediately increased significantly. Among the less than two hundred full-time employees nationwide, Zhou Fengnian's importance was estimated to rank in the top twenty.

------

Spring goes and autumn comes, and as National Day approaches, the country's development has seen significant progress during this period.

After the reform and opening up, almost every industry sprang up like mushrooms after rain, as if they had been infused with a lot of vitality, and their development prospects were very promising.

The Zhou brothers, Weitian and Jia'an, both planned to come to Shanghai to investigate and wanted to reserve a spot here in advance.

This is also a strong economic city with many wealthy people, so it's normal for Zhou Weitian to think about opening the Imperial Kitchen here.

However, Zhou Jia'an, the second brother, didn't want to continue running the garment factory. He wanted to come to Shanghai to do something else. He hadn't decided what to do yet, but since he was already here, he wanted to find a place to stay first, and then he could think about it later; there would always be opportunities.

They came together, so Zhou Fengnian took a day off and asked a security guard to drive them to the train station to pick them up.

Research in biomedicine is progressing rapidly. In six months, Zhou Fengnian used five simulations to quickly identify the relevant compounds and chemical structures of the drug in the project. He has now conducted a calculation at the supercomputing center in Suzhou and Hangzhou.

The next step is simply to continue experimental calculations, and then we can move on to clinical trials.

Then Zhou Fengnian will be out of the picture, but it will still take some time. It should be resolved before the end of the year.

"Big brother, second brother, over here!"

Upon seeing the two brothers appear at the station entrance, Zhou Fengnian shouted to them, then led them outside.

After picking up Zhou Weitian and Zhou Jia'an at the train station, Zhou Fengnian took them to the guesthouse.

After getting into the car, Zhou Fengnian turned to him and asked, "Shall we stay at the guesthouse I'm staying at? The environment is quite nice, and there are plenty of empty rooms."

Having stayed there for so long, he knew that the guesthouse didn't accept outsiders; however, his older brothers shouldn't be considered outsiders, but rather relatives, so staying a few nights wouldn't be a problem.

"Alright, Third Brother, you can arrange it. But Shanghai is developing really fast, not much slower than our old Beijing."

Zhou Weitian said with a smile, glancing at the city view outside the car window, which seemed even more prosperous than Beijing.

Zhou Fengnian laughed and said, "Shanghai has always been a good city. If you opened a restaurant here, it would probably be even more popular than Beijing. But have you found a chef yet?"

He knew that his elder brother's restaurant relied entirely on the chefs' skills; in the past, it relied on imperial chefs, but now his elder brother was also training chef apprentices on a large scale, using the recipes that he had left for his eldest brother.

He later revised and added to that recipe, making it an absolute "bible" for crash courses. By learning from the recipe, one could very likely become a qualified chef within three years.

Zhou Weitian said, "We've already made preparations. We'll be transferring four head chefs and ten assistant chefs from Beijing. We can also transfer some more people next year, enough to open three restaurants."
However, I need to first find out what Shanghai's specialty dishes are, and what they like to eat.

"Where's the second brother?"

"I haven't decided yet, let's see. I haven't decided yet, how about the third brother, what do you think about me building a house?"

Zhou Fengnian was taken aback upon hearing this, then asked, "Hmm? Second Brother, why did you suddenly think of this?"

Although there were private real estate companies two years ago, they were more like contractors; private real estate companies couldn't acquire land and could only help build houses at most.

If they want to acquire land, it might have to wait until next year, but now is indeed a good opportunity to set up a factory. But why did his second brother suddenly decide to build a house?

Building houses is still considered a low-paying industry.

"There are more and more tenement buildings in Beijing, and they are getting taller and taller. There may be many more in the future. Third brother, just the Shenzhou Computer Factory where you used to work has expanded to four residential communities."

Zhou Jia'an said, "And there's already a lot of construction going on, so there might be even more opportunities in the future; but that's also what I'm thinking, I definitely won't give up the garment factory."

His garment factory now has more than 2,000 employees and dozens of production lines. The clothes it produces are sold throughout five or six provinces in northern China. He estimates he can earn more than 60 million yuan this year.

However, the clothing business in the south is not easy. Most of the trendy clothes here come from Guangdong. If Zhou Jia'an wants to sell clothes in the south, he will have to put in some effort.

That's why he wanted to change careers.

Soon, the driver arrived at the guesthouse. After the two brothers put down their belongings, the three brothers prepared to go out and get something to eat.

After driving around the bustling streets of Shanghai for a while, I found a local restaurant to try some local specialties.

Zhou Fengnian has been here for half a year, and he has hardly eaten out except for the cafeteria.

During this period, he went home four or five times, but Zhou Yan didn't have much time to bring her daughter to Shanghai to see him.

A round trip takes almost two days, and with Zhou Xianyang's department store nearing completion, Zhou Yan, the director of the subdistrict office, has had a lot more work to do.

While waiting for the food to be served, Zhou Weitian asked, "Third brother, how long are you going to stay here? Don't stay here until the end of the year. By the way, your eldest nephew is probably going to be born after the New Year."

Haha, my second son and I should be grandfathers soon.

Now, the three brothers, the youngest Zhou Fengnian, is 46 years old, and the eldest Zhou Weitian is 51 years old. If it weren't for the fact that Zhou Xianzhe and Zhou Xianrui insisted on pursuing their careers a few years ago, they would probably have settled down and started families long ago.

However, their business has also become very successful. Their food factory, now renamed Shuangzhou Food Company, can earn ten to twenty million a year.

"I estimate I'll be busy until the end of the year, but I'll definitely be back before then, and then I won't need to keep an eye on things as much."

Zhou Fengnian thought for a moment and said, "But brother, how long do you plan to stay in Shanghai?"

"I'll buy a few properties first, and then let them renovate them; I'll stay for two months and then leave. I should be able to open the Imperial Kitchen in Shanghai before the new year, and your sister-in-law will come over then."

Before Zhou Fengnian could ask, Zhou Jia'an said, "I'm not sure. I might go back before the eldest brother. But your sister-in-law is keeping an eye on things in Beijing, so I don't need to take her with me all the time."

He had told his wife before he went out to look for new business opportunities, and he came to see his third brother with his eldest brother, so his wife had nothing to worry about.

Zhou Fengnian laughed and said, "If my progress is faster, we can go back together at the end of the year. If you encounter any trouble in Shanghai, just let me know."

Although he didn't know anyone, his rank was high enough that even without saying a word, his mere presence could exert immense pressure on the local officials.

Zhou Weitian laughed and said, "Of course, I'll be the first to mention your name then, haha..."

The three brothers then talked about family matters, but it was mostly Zhou Weitian and Zhou Jia'an who did the talking, while Zhou Fengnian, who hadn't been home for a long time, listened.

Now the Zhou family's business is growing bigger and bigger, and the combined annual income of several families exceeds 200 million.

At that time, a family with 100,000 yuan was a well-known wealthy family, but the Zhou family could earn more than 200 million yuan a year.

The most successful one was Zhou Fengnian's son, Zhou Xianyang.

He previously secured export orders worth over 50 million US dollars at the Canton Fair. This year, even after accounting for his investment spending, he still has over 100 million US dollars left over.

Moreover, Zhou Xianyang was even in the newspapers; he's now a well-known tycoon in Beijing.

At first glance, it sounded impressive, but the more Zhou Fengnian listened, the more something seemed off.

It sounds like the same old thing again.

However, all the money Zhou Xianyang earned was too clean to withstand any investigation.

He received every penny of the workers' welfare, taxes, and share of the contract, and Zhou Xianyang wasn't without connections; his connections were incredibly powerful.

(End of this chapter)