Restart life

Chapter 447 0437 [Opening a Fourth Production Line to Stockpile Goods for the Spring Festival!]

Chen Guiliang's college roommate, Min Wenyu, has been teaching in rural areas since his junior year.

After graduation, he chose to take the exam for the education department of Yunnan Province, specifically the education department of a poor county.

Local leaders attach great importance to Min Wenyu, who is a Peking University graduate!
In two years, Min Wenyu was transferred three times. His initial goal was to develop local education, but he found that he could do less and less.

Last year, he volunteered to teach at the front line, refusing to sit in an office any longer.

After repeated attempts to persuade him failed, the local leaders respected his wishes and directly appointed him as the principal of a township school (junior high and primary school).

Min Wenyu did a great job.

Moreover, he was adept at taking advantage of Chen Guiliang, getting Chen Guiliang to donate money to set up a computer classroom. He personally served as the computer teacher for all the students, using the internet to let those children know about the wonderful world outside.

Some impoverished students also received financial assistance from Chen Guiliang.

He even got Chen Guiliang to fund a scholarship at the school.

In addition, the school has focused on improving its academic atmosphere and teaching. Unauthorized personnel are prohibited from freely entering or leaving the school. Teachers with outstanding teaching performance are rewarded and promoted, and teachers are personally visited to persuade dropouts to return to school.

The school dropout rate dropped to below 5%, and the college entrance rate (high school) increased by 11% in one year.

Chen Guiliang has sponsored more than 50 impoverished students. All of them were selected by Min Wenyu, and they come not only from the school where he teaches, but also from other schools in the county.

Chen Guiliang was only responsible for providing the money; he left all the communication with students and teachers to Bian Guanyue.

With the Lunar New Year approaching, Bian Guanyue received the students' final grades and was writing her last letter of the year to the children. As she wrote, she said, "You've been sponsoring impoverished children and even donated money to build six Hope Primary Schools. Why don't you explain this online?"

“Explanations are useless,” Chen Guiliang said. “If I make these things public, they’ll have other things to say. For example, they’ll say that you, Chen Guiliang, are so rich, yet you’ve only donated a few primary schools and sponsored only a few dozen impoverished students. How dare you publicize this?”

Bian Guanyue thought for a moment and said, "That makes sense."

Chen Guiliang said, "The best way to deal with this kind of negative public opinion is to pretend you didn't see it."

Bian Guanyue said, "The children did well overall this semester. Two junior high students have a good chance of getting into the local key high school. One of them is from the same school as Senior Brother Min, and the other is from a school in the town next to Senior Brother Min's."

"That's good," Chen Guiliang said with a smile. "Only one of the students we sponsor has been admitted to a key high school."

For impoverished students in remote areas, if they can only attend a local regular high school, they basically won't continue to university—it's very difficult to get into a top-tier or second-tier university. Third-tier universities are too expensive, so even if they get in, they won't go! And they rarely attend junior colleges either.

Chen Guiliang picked up the children's end-of-term letters and began to read them with great interest.

Most of the entries were just diary entries, recounting interesting things that happened around them and their daily school life. The rest were expressions of gratitude, saying things like they would repay their benefactors and serve their country when they grew up.

These letters are quite interesting to read.

While reading the letter, Wang Chuanfu called: "President Chen, I can allocate another production line for HarmonyOS. Do you still need it?"

"Yes!" Chen Guiliang said quickly.

Wang Chuanfu said, "Okay, I will immediately conduct employee training and strive to be able to operate the HarmonyOS production line during the Spring Festival."

"Thank you very much."

"Haha, happy to cooperate."

Such a trivial matter didn't actually require Wang Chuanfu to personally call and inform him. His initiative in contacting Chen Guiliang was purely to deepen their personal relationship and lay the foundation for long-term cooperation in the future.

BYD not only added a production line for HarmonyOS, but also added one for Meizu.

Both production lines are from Motorola.

Motorola's global sales continue to decline, with some models experiencing significant inventory backlogs, leading to ongoing price reductions and promotions. Motorola's global contract manufacturers are also forced to continuously reduce production capacity.

Chen Guiliang called Zhou Guangping again, asking him to make sure the supply chain didn't cause any problems.

Fortunately, global smartphone sales surged last year. Although supply couldn't keep up with demand in the first half of the year, companies increased production in the second half. Even Meizu no longer has a shortage of chips.

Full of confidence, Chen Guiliang decided to increase publicity and promotion efforts.

HarmonyOS A1 now has four production lines with a daily output of over 10,000 units, which is enough for him to sell phones at will.

For a brand-new mobile phone brand to dare to open four production lines is quite an aggressive move. It would be ridiculous if they couldn't sell them!
The R&D and production personnel at HarmonyOS Technology were all managed by Zhou Guangping's people. However, the marketing and sales personnel were basically transferred from the parent company, ByteDance.

During a phone conversation, the marketing manager asked, "Mr. Chen, aren't there any discounts for the Spring Festival?"

"No, we'll stabilize prices."

“Other mobile phone brands also have promotional activities. Even Apple does, and they’ve already started early. I know what you’re thinking, Mr. Chen, but holiday discounts really can stimulate consumers’ impulse to buy. Especially those who are still hesitant, who are open to buying or not, are willing to buy once they see the discounts.”

"Hmm... We'll include some accessories. Phone cases, earphones, batteries, etc. But don't lower the price! Especially the free phone case, send us our previous exclusive custom model."

"Okay. Actually, I think we should offer a discount."

"Just do it."

"Yes!"

"Contact more influential figures on websites like HaiNei.com and Weibo, as well as well-known students on Renren.com, and ask them to write advertorials promoting HarmonyOS phones. You can even contact well-known bloggers on Sina Blog."

"clear."

Chen Guiliang called again, inviting Qin Shanshan to his house for dinner after work.

……

Qin Shanshan's current job is quite leisurely.

For a while, we were frequently out of stock, and the number of customers in the store kept decreasing.

Her main job is to chat with consumers and introduce various information about HarmonyOS phones.

My relationship with my colleagues has improved; we chat about the latest celebrity gossip and play match-3 games on our phones together.

Upon receiving Chen Guiliang's message, Qin Shanshan took a taxi over after work. "I thought it was just me being invited," Qin Shanshan said when Xie Yang opened the door.

Xie Yang walked back to the living room and lay down on the sofa, watching cartoons out of boredom: "The two of them are cooking in the kitchen."

Qin Shanshan laughed and said, "You're something else. The boss and his wife are busy cooking, and you, an employee, are just lying on the sofa waiting to be served."

Xie Yang said, "The capable should do more. I can cook, but I can't guarantee the taste."

Qin Shanshan strolled into the kitchen and asked, "Do you need my help?"

Bian Guanyue said, "No need, it'll be finished soon."

Qin Shanshan returned to the living room, sat down next to Xie Yang, and asked, "Are you going home for the New Year?"

"I might go back, but I haven't decided yet." Xie Yang was watching Ultraman.

Qin Shanshan picked up the remote and started changing channels, but she couldn't find anything good to watch.

She had already been to Chen Guiliang's house, and now she went straight into the music room to play the piano to pass the time.

"What piece of music are you playing?" Xie Yang asked, leaning against the doorway.

Qin Shanshan said, "It's an etude that I used to practice a lot when I was taking exams."

Xie Yang laughed and said, "Oh, you even take piano exams. What level are you at?"

"Guess?" Qin Shanshan asked.

"Level 10?" Xie Yang asked.

Qin Shanshan said, "Amateur level 10. Sigh, I practiced so hard in elementary and middle school that I wanted to cry. If I was lazy, I would be punished by standing and having my hands slapped. When I got to high school, once I passed level 10, I never wanted to touch the piano again. I especially hated the piano back then, and I felt disgusted just looking at it. This piano was specially for my parents to practice on, especially my mom. She would tell everyone that her daughter was a level 10 pianist."

Xie Yang said, "It's great to be able to play a musical instrument. I never even dared to dream of it when I was a child."

“You’ve never been forced by your parents,” Qin Shanshan said. “I hated studying in high school because my parents were too hard on me. The more they pressured me, the less I wanted to study.”

Xie Yang asked, "How are you feeling about work now?"

Qin Shanshan said, "It's a bit boring."

"time to eat!"

Bian Guanyue called out from the living room.

Qin Shanshan went to wash her hands, and when she sat down at the table, the rice was already served. She didn't know who had served her the rice.

At first, they chatted casually, but gradually, Chen Guiliang began to ask her about the store's situation.

"After the phone shortage, although the number of customers decreased, quite a few people still came to the store to try out the phones. Especially young people who come to Sanlitun; they saw that the HarmonyOS store had a high-end decor, so they came in to browse..."

"I explained to them the various functions and applications of the phone, as well as the corporate culture of HarmonyOS. They were most interested in the application software, finding it very cutting-edge and fashionable..."

"Over the past two or three months, I've found that for consumers, the basic functions of a smartphone aren't the selling point. What truly motivates customers to buy is the phone's appearance, the swipe controls, and the apps..."

Qin Shanshan wasn't the most diligent employee at the HarmonyOS mobile phone experience store in Beijing; in fact, she could be considered the laziest.

But she is the best at observing, thinking, and summarizing.

Chen Guiliang asked, "If you were given a different job, what do you think you would be best suited for?"

Qin Shanshan had always wanted to change jobs; she thought being a shop assistant was too boring. But when Chen Guiliang asked her this, Qin Shanshan was at a loss; she didn't know what else she could do.

"Um...you should arrange one for me. I studied Chinese Language and Literature, but after graduation I realized I didn't know anything. I just want to learn something now," Qin Shanshan said.

Chen Guiliang asked, "Are you familiar with Manager Pang's job?"

Qin Shanshan nodded: "It looks familiar."

Chen Guiliang said, "Summarize your work over this period, including your various thoughts. Write a report for me. If I'm satisfied, I'll let you go to Rongcheng to be the store manager of the new store."

"It's still a mobile phone store?" Qin Shanshan found it very boring.

Chen Guiliang said, "Once you are able to manage a store with ease, I will transfer you to another department."

Qin Shanshan wanted to say something, but then she saw Xie Yang winking at her frantically. She immediately changed her mind: "Okay, I'll do as you say."

After finishing their meal, the group chatted for a while before Xie Yang and Qin Shanshan said their goodbyes and left.

After getting off the elevator and going downstairs, Qin Shanshan asked, "What do you want to say during dinner?"

Xie Yang reminded him, "Master Chen is intentionally grooming you."

"How come I didn't notice?" Qin Shanshan was clearly inexperienced.

Xie Yang explained in detail: "The reason I first made you a sales clerk, and then a store manager, is to let you become familiar with and master the offline sales of HarmonyOS phones. The fact that I said I would transfer you to other departments later means that I won't let you do sales forever. Once you are familiar with all aspects of HarmonyOS phones, then I will give you a real promotion."

Qin Shanshan thought about it for a moment and it seemed to make sense. She looked at Xie Yang with new respect: "Wow, Lao Xie, no wonder you can be a senior executive. You're much smarter than me."

Xie Yang advised, "Observe more, do more, think more, summarize more, and report more. Understand?"

"I think I understand." Qin Shanshan wasn't stupid.

Xie Yang continued, "When I first came to Beijing, I knew nothing. I was practically an idiot back then. Whatever Master Chen asked me to do, I would ask my colleagues and learn from them. After get off work, I would even buy relevant books to read. Later, when I was made a leader, I learned on the job as well. As long as you are willing to learn and summarize, you can keep improving yourself..."

Qin Shanshan listened attentively, then suddenly said, "You're not thinking of pursuing me, are you? Let me make it clear beforehand, I have absolutely no feelings for you."

Xie Yang rolled his eyes: "A rabbit doesn't eat the grass near its burrow. We're too familiar with each other, I couldn't bring myself to do it."

"That's good." Qin Shanshan said with a smile.

(End of this chapter)