King of Technology: A Fresh Start in 1983

The two pale gold cards left behind by Lin Jianye lay quietly on Chen Jianghe's lab table.

It gleams out of place amidst the cold circuit boards and electronic components.

Chen Jianghe picked up the invitation, his fingertip tracing the gold-embossed words "Tomorrow's Technology, Creating the Future Together," and sneered inwardly.

This Lin Jianye is even more hypocritical and has unfathomable power than Zhong Chaohui…

What will the goal be?

Is it the technology of the gods?

Or is it that faint line at the Eagle's Nest?

"Brother Jianghe, are you really going to take this?"

Zhao Xiaobo poked his head in, looking at the VIP card for the Great Wall Hotel and the invitation, his face full of distrust.

"That Lin fellow is a wolf in sheep's clothing! Chung Chiu-fai is ruthless enough, but this guy is even more like a cunning old fox! I think this 'exchange meeting' is a trap!"

"Connect? How do I connect?"

Chen Jianghe casually tossed the card into a drawer. "Mass production of the Pangu Card is urgent, and the Red Star factory could drop the ball at any moment! How can we have time to 'create the future' with them?"

"And this too."

He grabbed the latest issue of Computerworld from the table, and the headline on the front page prominently featured the word "Zhongka" (a fictional character) in a large "GG" (meaning "GG").

"【Clock Card】Sales have exceeded 5,000 units! A true industry benchmark!"

The photo next to it was of Manager Qian from Lianwei, looking very pleased with himself.

"Pah! What a load of bull!"

Zhao Xiaobo was indignant.

He then remembered something, and a look of excitement appeared on his face.

"By the way, Jianghe! I have some good news! The review editors from both *Electronic News* and *Computerworld* have called!"

"The test data for the batch of 'Xuanyuan Collector's Edition' items we sent over is extremely solid!"

"They were particularly interested in the technical briefing on the Pangu Card and the comparison charts from actual tests that you attached! They all indicated that they would arrange a test report soon!"

Chen Jianghe's eyes were calm, but a spark ignited in them.

Let technology give you a voice!

The first step is done!

"Excellent! This report is a slap in the face to [Longcard]'s dumping of goods at low prices!"

"Let them understand the true weight of technology!"

"Xiao Bo, keep an eye on production! The second batch of 500 [Pangu Card] motherboards from Hongxing Factory must be delivered today!"

In the afternoon, when Zhao Xiaobo rode his tricycle back from the Hongxing factory, carrying three large boxes of Pangu card motherboards that smelled of rosin and still smelled of solder…

Chen Jianghe's heart sank to the bottom of his stomach!

Ten pieces were randomly sampled!

Upon closer inspection under a microscope, the edge burr problem is slightly better than the previous batch.

However, the problems of cold welding and poor welding of solder joints have broken out on a large scale!

Due to poor soldering processes, some surface mount resistors and capacitors may have insufficient solder or form spherical cold solder joints at their leads!

This means a significant increase in the risk of system crashes and malfunctions upon power-on!

"Son of a bitch!"

The usually honest Zhao Xiaobo was so angry that he cursed, "That bastard Director Liu patted his chest and guaranteed it, but after taking the express fee, he still messed it up like this!"

Chen Jianghe's face was grim!

In order to rush production and make more money, Hongxing Factory used unskilled laborers to fill in for shifts!

They even skimped on the flux!

"Pick out all the defects that are visible to the naked eye!"

He gritted his teeth, "The rest... we'll weld them back together piece by piece by hand!"

Chen Jianghe, along with Zhao Xiaobo, two quality inspectors who graduated from technical schools, and three skilled temporary workers…

Under the dim light, one person with a constant-temperature soldering iron and a bottle of imported rosin-core solder wire painstakingly "cured" the Pangu Card.

The air was filled with the metallic smell of solder and the burnt smell of rosin.

After two days of continuous hard work, the manual restoration of 500 cards is finally nearing completion.

Everyone was so tired that their arms were trembling and their eyes were red and swollen.

Just then, there was a gentle knock on the laboratory's wooden door.

"Tap, tap tap..."

Chen Jianghe didn't even bother to lift his eyelids: "Xiao Bo, go take a look. If they're just trying to sell you parts, send them away."

The door was pushed open!

He was a middle-aged man dressed in a simple blue polyester Zhongshan suit, wearing black-rimmed glasses, and carrying a faded canvas tool bag.

He has a calm and composed demeanor.

His gaze swept over the messy circuit boards, soldering tools, and the exhausted crowd...

Finally, it landed on Chen Jianghe and the Pangu Card in his hand, which had just been placed down with the branding iron and was still emitting blue smoke.

"You're Chen Jianghe?"

The middle-aged man spoke, his voice not loud, but carrying a penetrating power born from a long-standing technical expertise.

Chen Jianghe then raised his eyes, saw who it was, and his heart skipped a beat!

He'd seen this person before!

I saw it in Computerworld's annual special issue last year!

This is a feature interview on the back cover – Zhou Yuguang!

He is hailed as one of the top tier of computer hardware architects in China!

Technical consultant for several major companies including Sitong, Xintong, Jinghai, and Kehai!

Absolute industry authority!

"Zhou... Engineer Zhou?! It's you..."

Chen Jianghe quickly stood up, momentarily at a loss for what to do.

Why would such a big shot suddenly visit his tin shed?

Zhou Yuguang didn't exchange pleasantries and went straight to the table.

Picking up a Pangu card that Chen Jianghe had just repaired, he skillfully used a multimeter to measure the resistance at several key points…

I examined it again closely, and saw the exquisite and full weld point that Chen Jianghe had just repaired.

"The craftsmanship is quite good."

He nodded slightly, then picked up a crumpled electronic newspaper proofreading sheet next to him.

A small area, about the size of a tofu block, is circled in red: "Tiangong [Xuanyuan] Collector's Edition Real-world Test: Solid performance, stable driver, but craftsmanship is questionable..."

Obviously, the report has not been officially published yet, but the proof has already been leaked!

Zhou Yuguang put down the proof and looked at Chen Jianghe: "I came here because of the technical specifications for the Pangu Card that you gave to *Computer World*..."

"The driver design optimization ideas and bus jitter suppression methods mentioned above are very interesting."

"Especially the simple method of using the 74HCT244 buffer for signal shaping and delay compensation... it's inexpensive yet quite effective."

He paused, his eyes becoming extremely serious: "In the [Pangu Card] project, I saw something that's rare in China..."

"The 'engineer's mindset' of 'improving the stability of basic components through the best craftsmanship and reasonable design'."

He then changed the subject, "Judging from the current situation, is it a technological bottleneck that's holding the [Pangu Card] back?"

Zhou Yuguang pointed to the pile of rough raw boards on the table.

Chen Jianghe was deeply shaken!

Zhou Yuguang's words succinctly revealed the core value of [Tiangong] and its biggest current predicament!

This isn't a condescending critique, but rather a resonance among tech professionals!

Zhou Yuguang shook his head slightly, his tone carrying a deeper meaning, "Relying on a workshop like the Red Star Factory won't work!"

"To create products that can truly withstand market scrutiny and build a reputation, a stable and reliable hardware platform is fundamental."

Chen Jianghe said with a wry smile, "Mr. Zhou, you are wise. But the current technology of domestic contract manufacturers... is really..."