King of Technology: A Fresh Start in 1983

Zhang Wei rubbed his knee, smiled wryly, and waved his hand: "Let's not waste time in this private room, let's find somewhere to eat first!"

"Then go to a photo printing shop and get a lot of photos printed."

...

The next morning, Zhang Wei stood outside the Economic Commission's office building.

Holding his mobile phone against the wind, he dialed a number into the building: "Section Chief Liu, this is Zhang Wei from Tiangong. I'd like to talk to you."

"Get lost! You son of a bitch... what right do you have to talk to me?!"

Zhang Wei said with a smile, "Section Chief Liu, I came here today specifically to kowtow to you and calm you down."

Section Chief Liu let out a sinister laugh: "Kowtowing? You've really gotten addicted to it?"

"Let me tell you, even if you want to kowtow, I'm not giving you another chance."

"Section Chief Liu, I have something that I think you'll be interested in..."

"How about it? I'll take it up to you anyway."

...

Upon entering Section Chief Liu's office, Zhang Wei closed the door and stood in front of the desk.

Section Chief Liu glanced sideways and asked, "What is it?"

Zhang Wei placed the two pieces of paper on the table and pushed them in front of Section Chief Liu.

This is a cooperation agreement. Party A is the Qingcheng City Economic Commission, and Party B is Tiangong Group.

Zhang Wei pointed to the agreement: "The night before last, at the dinner table, we agreed to sign this agreement to finalize the cooperation between the two parties and its specific details."

"I've drafted a preliminary version of the text. Could you please take a look and see if there are any problems?"

When Section Chief Liu saw what was supposed to be something, it turned out to be just these two pieces of paper.

He immediately flew into a rage: "You, surnamed Zhang, are you out of your mind?!"

"Did you jump straight from the night before last to this morning?"

"Did you think what happened yesterday was a dream? Take it and get out!"

Zhang Wei smiled faintly and said, "If you're not interested in this, I have some other things here that you might be interested in."

As he spoke, he reached into the inner pocket on the upper left side of his suit jacket, rummaged around for a bit, and pulled out a few photos, spreading them out on the table.

Section Chief Liu leaned forward, glanced at the photo, and then held it up to his eyes, examining it closely.

His expression grew increasingly tense as he looked at the wound, and he demanded in a low voice, "Who did this?"

"Oh! I forgot to tell you, one of the people traveling with us is a senior female reporter from the Economic Daily; she took these photos on site."

"How was it, Section Chief Liu? Her skills are alright, aren't they?"

Section Chief Liu held the photos in his hand, as if weighing their significance.

Gradually, his initial panic disappeared.

He smiled slightly and said, "Hey Zhang, what's the meaning of giving me the photo of you kneeling and kowtowing? Are you giving it to me as a souvenir?"

"Section Chief Liu, this photo proves that because of a small misunderstanding, you threatened to ban Tiangong from entering the Qingcheng Market and forced me to kneel and kowtow to you."

"Is this the behavior expected of a respectable government employee?"

"That's your version of events; I could have a completely different version."

Section Chief Liu continued, "Wait, let me think about it. How can I make it sound more convincing..."

"By the way, I can put it this way: it was your Tiangong who tried to bribe me to help your products enter the Qingcheng market."

"I hereby sternly refuse and hereby formally inform you that, given your actions which violate business ethics and even break the law, I, on behalf of the Municipal Economic Commission, hereby revoke your eligibility to work in the city's affiliated systems."

"You, a dignified president's assistant, shamelessly knelt down and begged me to let you go, but I remained completely unmoved."

"Look at me in these photos, don't I look dignified and upright?"

"Doesn't it sound like someone is saying these words to you with absolute conviction? Hahaha."

Section Chief Liu was clearly enjoying the thrill of playing cat and mouse. "You, surnamed Zhang, think you can intimidate me with these few photos? How naive you are."

"Haha...you don't mind if I send these photos to the disciplinary committee, do you?"

"You can print a few more sheets; I can use them to my advantage. Maybe the disciplinary committee will even use me as a model for promoting clean governance, haha..."

Zhang Wei then countered, "Section Chief Liu, are you saying I offered bribes? Are you implying something?"

"Is this an implication that if we want you to let us off the hook, we'll have to give Section Chief Liu a bribe?"

"You, surnamed Zhang, do you think I'll accept any favors offered to me by anyone?"

"To tell you the truth, if it weren't for what happened yesterday, we could be sitting down and having a proper discussion right now."

"That's right, I was originally going to ask you, is it a one-time payment, or do I take a cut based on the number of units you sell?"

"But now I, Liu, have come up with a better plan. Why come up here and immediately try to kill myself?"

Overjoyed, Section Chief Liu continued, beaming, "I'll send out invitations everywhere; any company that wants to come is welcome!"

"But they all have to pay me, Liu, an entry fee first, say 30,000."

"You only have the right to hold seminars and presentations if you pay. If a deal is made later, we'll split the profits based on the amount—five to ten percent. That's not much, is it?"

"Hey Zhang, I didn't make you pay for yesterday's seminar, and I even let you be the first ones in. I'm kicking myself for it!"

"To tell you the truth, even if you kowtowed yesterday and continued to act like a coward and not challenge me, those three kowtows were for nothing."

"I, Liu, have finally seized this opportunity to make a fortune, and I will never let you guys get away with it so easily."

"I'm determined to bring in other companies no matter what, and collect money from each one!"

"How about that? Are you convinced now? Want to mess with me? Hmph! You're still too green!"

"Great! That was fantastic!" Zhang Wei exclaimed upon hearing this, then turned and walked towards the door.

As he opened the door, he turned back and said, "Section Chief Liu, all I want to say is thank you for your honesty!"

"Today's trip has truly been worthwhile for me, Zhang Wei."

Before the stunned Section Chief Liu could react, Zhang Wei had already left.

As I walked out of the Municipal Economic Commission building, a taxi silently drove up to me from outside the courtyard.

Zhang Wei signaled the car to follow him and drive a little further away.

As soon as he stopped, Lin Yidan and Wei Chen hurriedly climbed out of the car and asked anxiously in unison, "How is it?"

Zhang Wei pulled a small interview recorder from the upper left inner pocket of his suit jacket and handed it to Lin Yidan: "I don't know if the recording was clear..."

Lin Yidan took the tape recorder, skillfully rewound and played it again, and said happily, "Not bad, it's quite clear! You're great, you got all the things he shouldn't have said out of him!"

Wei Chen exclaimed excitedly, "Let's use this last part to sue him to death!"

Zhang Wei immediately instructed Lin Yidan to rewind the tape to the beginning of the last long section of dialogue…

Then, holding his mobile phone, he dialed Section Chief Liu's landline again...