Hong Kong Storm: The King of Jobs

Chapter 668, Section 258: Deep into the Tiger's Den to Probe the Truth

"Sir, welcome to J.P. Electronic Data Analysis Company."

"Have you contacted sales beforehand? If not, I can arrange a senior salesperson for you."

The receptionist led Xiao Shandong to the rest area of ​​J.P. Electronic Data Analysis Company, helped him sit down, asked her colleague to quickly make him a cup of coffee, and inquired if he knew any sales staff.

In a sales company, performance is king, so the receptionist can't afford to be careless. If any trouble arises, she, a mere receptionist, is guaranteed to pack her things and leave.

"No, I was looking for computer inventory records for the dock. I went back to my hometown last month and found that my old friend's small dock had installed some kind of stupid database, which reduced a lot of office expenses."

“I originally wanted to find a data company in London to do this, but last night when I went to the Du Lao Zhi nightclub, a close friend of mine said that there is also an electronic data company in the Chinese Market. He gave me a business card and told me to come and take a look!”

Xiao Shandong opened his briefcase, took out a business card, and placed it on the coffee table.

This business card is worth a fortune; he went to great lengths to obtain it.

When the receptionist saw the unfamiliar customer pull out a business card, she quickly picked it up with both hands, saw the name on it, and immediately smiled: "So you are Ms. Mia's customer."

"Please wait a moment, I will have Miss Mia come to serve you now."

Xiao Shandong nodded to the server who brought him the coffee to express his gratitude, then waved his hand to let the receptionist go about her business, picked up the coffee cup, and took a big gulp.

The receptionist quickly returned to the front desk, picked up the phone, dialed an internal number, covered her mouth, mumbled a few words into the microphone, put down the phone, and then returned to the lounge area to accompany the person.

Half a minute later, a long series of high heels slammed on the floor.

The receptionist and Xiao Shandong, who was drinking coffee, both looked toward the source of the sound. A tall, beautiful woman who had been in the same room as Xiao Shandong appeared in front of them.

When the tall, mixed-race beauty saw that the person who came was Xiao Shandong, a look of disgust flashed across her face, but she quickly recovered and walked up to Xiao Shandong with a generous air, saying, "Sir, I didn't expect that we would have such a coincidence!"

"If I had known you were here to discuss business, I should have invited you to sit in the coffee shop downstairs. I have some of my private collection there, and I guarantee you'll be satisfied."

"I forgot to introduce myself. My name is Mia. You already have my business card, but I don't have yours yet."

Mia nodded to the receptionist, signaling her to leave, then sat down opposite Xiao Shandong, crossing her long, slender legs and displaying them to this lecherous devil.

Little Shandong certainly couldn't take out the Pinkerton Detective Agency's business card, so he took out his designer business card holder, took out a business card from it, and handed it to Mia.

This business card was obtained by Guan Chimengli beforehand; the person listed on it is General Manager, the General Manager of Xianfeng Wharf Freight Company.

Pioneer Port Freight Company

Uncle Huang

Mia glanced at the address on the business card and saw that it was in the Tsing Yi International Dock District. She smiled happily. The Hong Kong Chief Secretary was currently re-planning the dock district, and the docks of all the major trading companies were planned to be located in Tsing Yi.

She put the business card away and said, "Mr. Huang, you must be the eldest in your family, an uncle or brother. Your younger brother must be called Uncle Huang."

This name was randomly chosen by Xiao Shandong. "Uncle Huang" is a homophone for "Huang Shu" (a homophone for "Huang Shu" in Chinese), which is quite wicked. Plus, being called "Uncle" by others is very enjoyable, and it's a way of getting a verbal advantage over them.

"I am indeed the eldest child in my family!"

"Business at the dock has been very good lately, but the inbound and outbound slips are a bit difficult to process. A close friend told me that I could save the inbound and outbound slips into the computer, but when I went to Fuk Wah Street and asked the computer stalls, I found that what my friend was talking about was not something that the computer stalls could sell."

"So I contacted my best friend again, and he finally gave me a business card."

"It seems that Miss Mia's beauty has made this good-for-nothing infatuated with her. He's afraid I'll ruin his plans, so he won't give me Miss Mia's business card."

Xiao Shandong put down his coffee cup, crossed his legs, took out a Dunhill cigarette, picked one out and put it in his mouth, then lit it with a pure silver Dupont lighter.

Mia nodded and replied with a smile, "Mr. Huang, you're joking with me. I know my own limitations. You don't need to make fun of me."

"Mr. Huang, how many containers does your dock handle per day? I'd like to recommend the appropriate equipment based on the volume of inbound and outbound traffic."

Xiao Shandong adjusted his posture to make himself more comfortable before speaking: "I'm from a small dock, with only a little over a hundred standard containers a day, but the dock has its own cargo ships, so business is alright."

"I did this to reduce the company's operating costs. Just the copies of the order forms cost several thousand yuan every month. Several thousand yuan a month adds up to tens of thousands of yuan a year, and hundreds of thousands of yuan over ten years."

“My dad often taught me to be careful with my money. A few hundred thousand is enough for me to enjoy myself in brothels for half a year.”

"Besides, with computer assistance, I don't need to hire too many people! If I reduce my staff by half, my operating costs will decrease!"

Before Xiao Shandong arrived, he had already put in a lot of effort, constantly talking about cost reduction and efficiency improvement.

Mia had been in Hong Kong for more than half a year and had seen too many clients like this. She let down her guard and asked Xiao Shandong to wait a moment while she went to get the detailed information.

The materials were all in English and came from several well-known data server companies in Europe and America. Mia placed a simple bilingual (Chinese and English) introduction of the materials in front of Xiao Shandong.

"Mr. Huang, this is the IBM System/370 server launched in 1970. Don't be fooled by the fact that it's a nine-year-old machine; it's still the mainstream machine for data storage."

"This series uses silicon memory chips, which are faster and take up less space. IBM has 16 32-bit general-purpose registers, 4 64-bit floating-point registers, a 24-bit address space, and can support up to 16MB of memory."

“If Mr. Huang has any needs, I can also have the engineers expand it to a 31-bit address space.”

Mia explained the data from IBM's mainstream data servers: there were only a little over a hundred standard containers per day, and even if the business volume exploded in the future, it would be more than enough.

"The company currently has the 3033 MP in stock. It takes up very little space, and the server only requires 767 feet of storage space. For stability, the power supply will also need to be modified, but you don't need to worry about that. We will contact CLP Power and install a small transformer."

"For the database management system, we use Oracle 2 from Oracle Corporation. The CIA also uses this software, so its stability is guaranteed." "As for other equipment, I've also considered that. Since the data server is from IBM, we can also use IBM computers. There's already Chinese input software available, so the computer can input and output both Chinese and English simultaneously."

"Both software programs are included in the documentation, ensuring they are properly configured for you."

"The IBM 5120 PC is the mainstream configuration, with 64KB of main memory and two built-in 8-inch 1.2MB floppy disk drives. Two to four PCs are very suitable, and each PC is equipped with two monitors for the convenience of customers."

"Setting up a local area network allows for real-time transmission to the company's data server for real-time storage. It has 6MB of main memory and can be expanded with 16MB of virtual memory. We will also pair it with an IBM 3350 disk storage device, which has 317MB of memory space."

"To prevent data loss, floppy disks can also be used for backup. An 8-inch floppy disk with 1.2MB of storage can store a whole year's worth of data. A 1.2MB floppy disk can store 126 million English characters and 63 traditional Chinese characters."

Mia took out a floppy disk, placed it in front of Xiao Shandong, and began to explain.

The Pinkerton Detective Agency has the world's most advanced computer equipment, distributing thirty floppy disks every month, and even explicitly requiring all agents to save paper intelligence onto floppy disks.

Pinkerton even found the most advanced software company in the world and commissioned a custom-designed image software that could save images to floppy disks.

But Xiao Shandong had to be amazed at this moment: this thin floppy disk could actually hold an entire book of The Deer and the Cauldron.

How much money will this equipment cost?

Xiao Shandong pretended to be very interested and asked how much money the equipment would cost.

"Because we use mainstream equipment, we can use obsolete second-hand equipment. Our equipment was discarded by Standard Chartered Bank, which just updated its customer data server."

"So all I need is HK$3.5 million to get everything I said sorted out."

Mia gave her offer, looking at Xiao Shandong with a smile.

Upon hearing Mia's price, Xiao Shandong's heart skipped a beat. He hadn't expected these electronic devices to be so expensive, but he remained calm and tried to negotiate, saying, "Are you trying to take advantage of me?"

"A set of second-hand equipment, and it's actually this expensive? I never expected it!"

"I thought it was a small business worth a few hundred thousand, but I never expected it to be so expensive!"

"All right!"

"I'll go back and think about it, see if it's worth it! Can I take these documents?" Little Shandong stood up in fright and said to Mia.

"Mr. Huang, of course you can!"

“Mr. Huang, it’s no exaggeration to say that digitalization is the future. Actually, your dock’s business volume isn’t that large. You can reduce the number of computers to two. Customers aren’t all rushing in at once, and even if they are, you can wait.”

"All you need are two typists, two printers, and one organizer, and everything will be OK!"

"Having a dozen or so people at the front desk is a complete waste, and the software has a copy function. A few keystrokes and a few mouse clicks and everything is done."

"The reduction in labor costs and paper costs is tangible!"

Mia also stood up, ready to see the potential client downstairs.

"Let me think about it some more!"

Xiao Shandong took the documents in his hand, carefully flipped through them a few times, and said goodbye: "I'll just take this much for now. Miss Mia's phone number is on the business card. I'll call you if I have any questions."

"Okay! I'll see you downstairs!"

Mia accompanied Xiao Shandong into the elevator and asked where his car was parked. When she learned that Xiao Shandong's car was parked outside the Chinese Building, she pressed the button for the first floor.

"Miss Mia, business is business, and life is life!"

"If you're free tonight, would you like to have a drink at the Poker Bar at the Peninsula Hotel?"

"Excuse me! Miss Mia, could you please carry this for me?"

"By North!"

Xiao Shandong shoved the documents in his hand into Mia's hands, then, supporting himself on one leg, took off his leather shoes, bent down to pick them up, banged them a few times, and then put them on while grumbling.

Despite the potential client's rude behavior, Mia maintained her smile, handed over the documents, and didn't respond at all.

There's plenty of time in the future, so Xiao Shandong didn't intensify his offensive. He just smiled awkwardly and quickly walked out when the elevator doors opened.

The force of the kick was considerable, and Mia didn't want to stay in the elevator. She quickly stepped out of the elevator before daring to breathe normally.

"Mr. Huang, I won't see you off. Goodbye!"

"For any business inquiries, feel free to call me; I'm available 24/7."

Mia saw Xiao Shandong off as he walked out of the Chinese-owned store and waved goodbye.

For this investigation, Xiao Shandong specially got a Jaguar XJ-S convertible sports car. He deliberately showed the car key to Mia, then crossed the road, got into the car, fastened his seatbelt, started the sports car, and left the vicinity of the Chinese-owned shopping mall.

When Mia saw Xiao Shandong leave, she turned around and went back to the elevator. Instead of choosing the elevator that smelled bad, she chose another one and returned to the company.

(End of this chapter)