Courtyard House: Drunk and tipsy, the whole courtyard exposed at the start.

One evening, Banggeng stood in the yard, tilting his head and staring intently at Yi Zhonghai.

He didn't speak, didn't move, just stared.

Very sinister.

Yi Zhonghai was chatting idly with Liu Haizhong when he suddenly felt a chill on the back of his neck. He turned around and met Bang Geng's gaze.

And that's how the two of them met.

Normally, adults would dismiss a child in this situation by simply saying "Go play, go play," but Yi Zhonghai didn't say anything.

Those eyes are not right.

A seven or eight-year-old child staring at someone, no matter how fierce, is just bluffing and will disperse at the slightest provocation. But there was nothing like that in Banggeng's eyes—no fear, no hesitation, just a straight, unwavering stare.

Banggeng took two steps and got closer.

He stuck his neck out and didn't flinch.

Yi Zhonghai looked away, turned to talk to Liu Haizhong about something else, and his heart beat a beat faster than before.

What's wrong with this child?

They used to follow me around like glue, occasionally calling me "Grandpa" for candy, but now look at them like this...

And you still treat me like your grandson?

If he behaves properly and performs rituals for me after I die, I'll be thanking my lucky stars. Maybe the moment I close my eyes, he'll scatter my ashes and kick the urn a couple of times.

I really wouldn't dare to have a godson like that.

He glanced towards the west wing.

If Qin Huairu's baby is a boy—

If they are properly taught and guided from a young age, it should be enough time.

Probably.

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The department was pressing for more tasks, so Zhang Dabiao's three assistant cadres blocked the door on the same day.

Since the three assistants belong to three different departments, no one wants to be left out of this task.

The moment Zhang Dabiao opened the door, he saw Huang Yan, Chen Puqing, and Wang Fushan standing side by side at the entrance of the small courtyard. His expression changed, and he immediately closed the door.

Why the hell are you blocking the door in broad daylight?

Are you trying to kill us?

Do you really think I'm some kind of beast of burden?

Huang Yan's voice came from through the crack in the door: "Da Biao, we just came to talk..."

"You guys think you can just chat? Who would believe that? It's Sunday, for crying out loud! Come see me on a weekday, okay?"

[Will there be overtime pay if we discuss work on Sunday?]

Yan Bugui was the first in the courtyard to notice the commotion. He peeked out, then withdrew. Peeking again, he saw the three men were still there. Watching the three young cadres from the ministry fawning over Zhang Dabiao, he felt a surge of envy, jealousy, and resentment!

When will I, Yan Bugui, be respected like this?

Sha Zhu passed by and saw the three people still standing at the door. He paused for a moment, then moved a small stool out, cracked some sunflower seeds, and sat down to watch. He wasn't jealous; he was simply there to watch the show.

What new gadget will Da Biao come up with this time?

Chen Puqing was not bad-looking. Xu Damao strolled by and slowed down automatically. He walked back and forth, and when he came back for the second time, Lou Xiao'e had already reached out and grabbed him by the ear, dragging him all the way into the backyard. "You're a married man, and you still go out and flirt with other women, are you incorrigible?"

Xu Damao could only helplessly groan, "It hurts, it hurts, Moth! I just wanted to watch the show, just watch the show..."

Sha Zhu sneered as he watched Xu Damao being dragged away, and then ignored him.

Half an hour later, Zhang Dabiao finally opened the door connecting the side room to the small courtyard a crack. Damn it, the person was still there—there was no escaping it.

Alright, come in, everyone.

The three of them filed in with smiles on their faces.

After finishing the last handful of sunflower seeds, Sha Zhu sighed. It seemed Zhang Dabiao had compromised and wouldn't turn against these three. There was no more drama to watch, so he carried the stool back.

------------

After entering, Zhang Dabiao poured himself a cup of tea and drank it, without pouring any for them.

Because just looking at them annoys me.

Huang Yan started by saying that the ministry wanted to continue following up, and Chen Puqing chimed in, saying that the unit leaders had expressed their hope—Wang Fushan chimed in, saying that his side had new ideas about the cooperation terms—

The three of them talked at their own pace, sometimes speaking at the same time, sometimes pausing at the same time, and none of them were willing to let the other finish first.

Previous products included hand-cranked egg beaters, push-button fans, pressure mixers, pressure-swish mops, nail clipper sets, and multi-tools...

However, it allowed several factories in China to earn a considerable amount of foreign exchange.

Lighters are out of the question; China doesn't have the production capacity for them.

But these things are easy to imitate. They can still make money now, but the ministry has also studied them. In about six months, various imitations from abroad will appear. At that time, they can only take the route of low price and high volume. So now they have come to Zhang Dabiao again to ask him to come up with some new inventions.

We need to prepare in advance, right? We can't repeat the mistakes we made before.

The export-oriented small consumer goods manufacturers made this mistake before. They hired people to set up production lines in large quantities, but six months later, there were counterfeit products abroad with lower costs than in China. All that equipment was left there and they didn't know what to do with it. They even tried to transform their business but didn't know what to do next.

Since the "Export Consumer Goods Manufacturing Plant" was completely merged into the "Red Star Daily Necessities Manufacturing Plant", the higher-ups have begun to pay attention to "design", or more precisely, Zhang Dabiao's design.

It's not that they lack design talent, but either foreigners don't appreciate their aesthetics, or their products are completely impractical. When it comes to earning foreign exchange with their products, you still have to look to Zhang Dabiao.

So this time, they sent three more young assistant cadres to block the door.

Zhang Dabiao put down his teacup and showed them a few gadgets and documents.

It contains omnidirectional wheels, several design drawings, patents, and patent authorization certificates.

This wasn't intentional. About half a year ago, when Zhang Dabiao was tidying up his things in his "little nest," he found a suitcase in the corner. It was one of those wheeled airline suitcases with casters on the bottom. When he was moving it, he casually touched the wheels a couple of times, and it paused for a moment.

Later, he spread out the blueprints and spent most of the day drawing them while hunched over the table.

Disassembly of the swivel caster structure, folding stroller, overall diagram of a suitcase, side view of a baby stroller, folding shopping box—several sheets of paper were spread out densely covered with drawings. My wrist ached from drawing, so I shook it off and felt that it was about time. I put a few spare swivel casters into a cloth bag and placed it aside before I could stop.

Then, naturally, the patent was registered in Hong Kong, with "Roy Cheung" acting as the registration agent.

As for Lou Yufan, he still owes me hundreds of thousands of US dollars and is frantically processing and producing disposable cups to work for me and pay off his debts.

It's impossible to get him to be an agent; that would be insane.

So I registered it under the name "Zhang Yaoyang". The patent application was just approved recently, and it will take some time before it is officially approved.

Zhang Dabiao and "Zhang Yaoyang" hold patents in Hong Kong, England, and registered with Da Piao Liang Da Piao Liang and Xiao Ri Zi through the Paris Convention.

The current trump card is the 12-month priority right and national treatment under the Paris Convention. Anyone in the world that produces this product will have to pay Zhang Dabiao.

The licensing fee isn't expensive either, just $1 per wheel.

But Zhang Dabiao didn't know how many of these things the world produced in a year.

Conservative estimate—more than a million US dollars per year!