Rebirth in 1960, My Industrial Age

Chapter 423 Donate Money
That evening, the whole family, including Aunt Li and Luo Jianye, had dinner together.

Luo Jianye is also a graduate student. He joined the Robotics Research Institute and has received two commendations. He will be promoted to a higher position soon.

Now Aunt Li is also thinking of finding a partner for Luo Jianye. Although it is almost the 1990s, Luo Jianye spends all his time in the research institute and has too few friends and acquaintances.

He'll probably still be single by the time he finds a partner, even at thirty; Aunt Li also wants to have a great-grandchild, so she brought it up with Zhou Yan during dinner.

She didn't know many people in Beijing, and finding a matchmaker was even more unrealistic, as there were far fewer matchmakers these days. So she wanted Zhou Yan to help introduce her to some reliable girls working in government units.

Upon hearing this, Zhou Yan smiled and agreed. Although she wasn't one of the top-ranking cadres in Dongcheng District, she could still pick out a few suitable unmarried girls.

Moreover, Luo Jianye is not bad either. Just the fact that he graduated from Tsinghua University with a master's degree is enough to make many people want to marry him.

Not to mention that his parents are both high-ranking leaders in the military.

Zhou Xianyang added that he would give Luo Jianye a car as a wedding gift when Luo Jianye got married.

Their families have a relationship of over twenty years, and Luo Jianye is a few years older than Zhou Xianyang. However, he started school later, so in terms of their relationship at Tsinghua University, Luo Jianye should call Zhou Xianyang "senior."

After dinner, Zhou Fengnian chatted with Aunt Li for a while, mainly about Luo Jianye, but the chat ended soon after.

Aunt Li is getting old now, and she wants to rest soon after eating.

Then Zhou Xianyang drove them back. The two families lived not far apart, and it only took seven or eight minutes to drive there.

A short while later, while Zhou Fengnian was playing with his granddaughter in the courtyard, Zhou Xianyang pushed open the door and called out, "Dad, I'm back. Grandma Li has already gone home to rest."

Zhou Fengnian nodded and said, "Okay, thank you for your hard work. You should go back and rest if you have nothing else to do. Zeqian and Shuyu can stay here with your mother and me tonight."

"What are you saying? Those are my son and daughter. I'll take them away in a bit."

After pouring himself a glass of water, Zhou Xianyang continued, "Dad, we were talking about building an aircraft carrier a while ago, what do you think about me donating some money?"

Why did you suddenly think that way?

Zhou Fengnian was somewhat surprised upon hearing this and turned to ask, "Did someone say something to you? If it's nothing extra, don't pay attention to it. Just do your business honestly, and no one will cause you trouble."

"Nobody told me this; I figured it out myself."

Zhou Xianyang shook his head and said, "Didn't you say before that when you're successful, you should help others? I've been making money too easily lately, and I don't have that much time and energy to continue opening factories and developing them. So I might as well donate some to make a contribution."

"I think I've done a good job in providing welfare for workers. Now that I've made so much money, I don't think it's a big deal to donate some to the country. Besides, I'm still a people's representative."

These were his honest words, and Fiberhome Mobile and Motorola also signed a big deal.

Two hundred thousand mobile phones were sold in the first two quarters, and if sales are good, even more will be needed; as for the sales situation, Motorola had no doubts. When other telecommunications companies did not have digital mobile phones, Fiberhome Mobile was the dominant player.

The cost was $110, it sold to Motorola for $375, and they would sell it under their own brand for $998.

Although Motorola takes the lion's share of the profits, there's nothing we can do about it. If we didn't let them make that money, Fiberhome's mobile phones wouldn't be able to be sold in the American market.

Now they only need to produce and ship to the port, and Motorola will take care of everything else. This is pure profit for Zhou Xianyang.

Zhou Xianyang predicts that his Fiberhome mobile phone factory should be able to sell 800,000 units or even more within two or three years; after all, they have already seen how popular digital mobile phones produced by wireless communication factories are.

This one factory alone could bring Zhou Xianyang two or three hundred million RMB in revenue next year. The money is being made too quickly and too easily, which is why he has the urge to donate it.

He had wanted to increase benefits for his workers a few days ago, but the benefits at his factories were already quite high; they not only provided subsidized housing and two meals a day, but the wages were also the highest in the area. Other factories that were being squeezed out frequently filed complaints. It was only because his Guangxun Mobile Company was a joint venture and had Bai Yuhao's support that so many people complained; otherwise, someone would have already been reprimanded.

"If you want to donate, then donate. It's a good thing, so I won't stop you."

Zhou Fengnian said, "If someone says something to you, I will definitely offer some advice, but if it's up to you, then do as you please."

Zhou Xianyang asked, "I'm planning to donate 20 million. Is that okay? I don't have much cash left. I'll donate more when I make more money in the future."

Zhou Fengnian said, "Sure, with these 20 million from you, we can get a lot done."

Twenty million is no small sum. Although it doesn't match the funding allocated for building an aircraft carrier, it would be a big problem if all the funding were borne by individuals.

"Okay, that's fine. Should I ask my uncles?"

"Ask away if you want. You don't need to ask me about this. Didn't you have a lot of ideas when you were little? Why are you asking me for advice now that you're older?"

Zhou Fengnian laughed and said, "You can donate whatever you want, but I can't. Your mother and I have to save our meager salaries for your sister later."

Together, the two of them earn eight or nine hundred a month, which is a lot compared to others, but far less than those who run a business.

Even those who sold tea eggs well in Beijing earned more than Zhou Fengnian.

The money he used to start Jishi Biopharmaceutical Company came from his two brothers, who also contributed some of his salary. Now, Zhou Fengnian and his wife only have a little over 60,000 yuan in savings.

Zhou Xianyang scoffed, "When my sister gets married, I, her brother, will prepare her dowry. How could I let them lose face?"

"Okay, I'll be counting on you from now on."

Zhou Fengnian said with a smile, and then went back to playing with his granddaughter.

Two days later, Zhou Xianyang had taken care of the matter.

It was quite simple for him to donate money. His position as a member of the district people's congress was quite useful. He could directly contact the leaders, find out where to donate, and quickly get in touch with the department responsible for building the aircraft carrier.

After Zhou Xianyang expressed his intention to donate 20 million yuan, he was immediately given a warm welcome, especially after the relevant personnel learned that he was Zhou Fengnian's son.

In fact, Zhou Xianyang was quite well-known in Beijing; one could easily find out about his deeds by asking around.

They shouldn't have accepted private donations, but the amount was so large that it would allow them to accomplish many things and alleviate their financial burden.

Building an aircraft carrier is a long-term project, and the funding is allocated in installments. An extra 20 million in the budget is really hard for them to accept.

Finally, the matter was reported up the chain of command, and eventually the person in charge of building the aircraft carrier came to Zhou Fengnian to ask him what was going on.

Zhou Fengnian told the truth directly: this was a small token of his appreciation for building the country.

After considering it, they decided to accept the money. It was indeed too much; they didn't lack small sums, but they were really short of large sums.

We just spent a huge sum of money to buy an aircraft carrier, and now researching and building one will cost another huge sum. Moreover, construction is underway all over the country, so there will never be enough money.

Even though the economy is doing very well now, with foreign exchange earnings increasing every year, we still spend as little money as we have, and there's never enough to go around. Most of the time, we have to find our own solutions.

(End of this chapter)