Huayu: From the Era of Ringtones to Becoming a Legend

Lu Jiuge drove Zheng Lin out of the film and television city, drove east for more than ten minutes, and turned into an old industrial area.

The car was parked in front of a dilapidated five-story factory building with a faded sign that read "Jiuyin Electronics".

"Is this the place?"

Lu Jiuge got out of the car, her mind full of questions.

Before he arrived, he had anticipated that Jiuyin Electronics' factory wouldn't be in good condition.

But he still hadn't expected the dilapidated scene before him.

"This is it, that's it!"

Zheng Lin flipped through the documents:

"The factory was established in 2003. The boss, Wang Daqiang, was originally a technician at Newman, but later he started his own business."

"The factory is small, with only thirty or forty people. It mainly does OEM manufacturing for counterfeit brands. It only started launching its own brand last year!"

Lu Jiuge raised an eyebrow:

"A technician by training? Then it seems today's negotiations should go much more smoothly!"

Lu Jiuge led the way towards the factory gate:

"He's the one!"

The two entered the factory, where the machines were sparsely operating, with only one production line running.

Following the worker's instructions, we went up to the second floor. The office door was open, and a man in his forties, wearing oil-stained work clothes, was hunched over a table debugging a circuit board, his hair disheveled.

"Director Wang."

Zheng Lin knocked on the door.

Wang Daqiang raised his head, his eyes bloodshot, and looked at Lu Jiuge and Zheng Lin:

"Who are you...?"

"My name is Lu Jiuge!"

Lu Jiuge walked into the office and casually pulled over a chair to sit down.

"I've come to discuss a business deal with you."

"Lu Jiuge?"

Wang Daqiang exclaimed in surprise:

"Is that Lu Jiuge, the singer who sang 'There's a kind of love called letting go'?"

"right."

What are you doing here?

Wang Daqiang smiled wryly:

"My small factory can't afford celebrity endorsements! If you want to order any gift machines, just talk to my workshop foreman. I'm busy right now..."

"I'm not ordering the machine!"

Lu Jiuge took the prototype from Zheng Lin and placed it on the table:

"I'll bring you the technology."

Wang Daqiang stopped moving.

He slowly raised his head and stared at the MP3 player.

"What do you mean?"

"Our Lingyun audio algorithm was applied here."

Lu Jiuge handed over the earphones, gesturing for Wang Daqiang to put them on.

Wang Daqiang took the headphones in a daze and put them on, while Lu Jiuge pressed the play button.

The moment the intro started playing in the headphones, Wang Daqiang's screwdriver clattered onto the table.

It was the first snow of 2002, a song by Teacher Dao.

"This, this soundstage..."

"Is this a 128kbps file?"

Wang Daqiang's fingers were trembling:

"I've been making MP3 players for three years, and no, all the brands in China, no, all the world combined, don't have this level of professional sound quality output!"

"The algorithm reconstructed the coding model."

Zheng Lin began to explain:

"Traditional compression discards many details to save space. Our algorithm can predict human ear sensitivity and use the bitrate where it is most needed."

Wang Daqiang listened for a full three minutes, switching between five or six songs, before slowly putting the machine down.

"You want to sell me this technology? I really don't have the money!"

"Not for sale."

Lu Jiuge shook her head:

"We will cooperate."

"How do we cooperate?"

"You provide the factory, production line, and workers. I provide the algorithm, technical guidance, and brand endorsement."

Lu Jiuge leaned forward:

"For the first batch of machines, you can still use the Jiuyin brand, but you have to put on a label: Lingyun Audio Technology Certification."

Wang Daqiang frowned:

"So what's my role? Am I just a contract manufacturer for you?"

"No, it's a joint research and development effort!"

Wang Daqiang's eyes widened.

He's been working in the industry for over a decade and he understands things very quickly.

"You mean, I'm responsible for manufacturing, and you're responsible for technology upgrades and brand enhancement? The machines are still under my brand, but we rely on your technology to build a reputation?"

"right."

Lu Jiuge nodded:

"I don't want patent fees. For every Lingyun-certified device you sell, I'll take one dollar as a technical service fee!"

"One dollar?"

Wang Daqiang's face was filled with disbelief:

"What are you trying to achieve? At this rate, if I sell an MP3 player, you only make one dollar?"

Lu Jiuge liked Wang Daqiang's straightforward personality, so she didn't hide it and smiled:

"So, I have one more condition!"

"Mr. Wang, you must grant me access to the underlying code for all devices using the Lingyun sound quality enhancement algorithm at Jiuyin!"

He paused, then continued explaining:

"To put it bluntly, I want superuser privileges! Every device sold must use my company's proprietary audio format to play music!"

Upon hearing this, Wang Daqiang instantly understood its meaning and exclaimed in realization:

"So this is what President Lu was planning!"

"However, once the music playback format is locked in, how many songs can you release to users if other record companies don't follow suit?"

Lu Jiuge held up two fingers:

"Mr. Wang, I don't have any copyrighted songs, but I can guarantee that within two months I can produce twenty songs with a popularity no less than 'There's a Kind of Love Called Letting Go' and 'Walking In The Sun'!"

He stared at Wang Daqiang:

"Mr. Wang, although I'm being targeted by the record industry right now, you should have heard about my standing among ordinary music fans!"

"With my millions of fans, your sales will increase at least a hundredfold! You'll also be able to shed the labels of 'knock-off' and 'makeshift'!"

The office fell silent.

The sounds of workers adjusting machines came from downstairs, clanging and banging.

Wang Daqiang kept rubbing his hands together, and after a minute or so, he suddenly looked up:

"Can anyone else copy your algorithm?"

Zheng Lin continued:

"We have applied for 130 patents and copyrights! The probability of being copied is zero!"

Wang Daqiang took a deep breath and then slowly exhaled.

"President Lu!"

His voice was a little hoarse as he smiled wryly:

"Right now, my factory only has a little over 100,000 yuan left in the account, and the workers' wages are already half a month behind. Although the patent fee you asked for is small, it is still unaffordable for Jiuyin Electronics at its current level."

Can I settle the payment after the first batch of goods is sold and I receive the payment?

"Can!"

Lu Jiuge readily agreed:

"For the first batch, I'll give you three months' payment. But there's a condition!"

"you say!"

"I will send people to the factory to ensure the technology is implemented effectively and that regulatory rights are fulfilled!"

Wang Daqiang readily agreed:

"That's perfectly fine, that's exactly what I meant!"

"In that case, I'll arrange for the workshop to overhaul the production line immediately, and we'll put it into production as soon as the technical optimization is complete!"

As soon as he finished speaking, Wang Daqiang stood up abruptly, his eyes filled with excitement:

"I'll go arrange for the production line to be inspected right away! Please wait a moment, I'll be right back!"

……

Seeing Wang Daqiang excitedly directing the workers in the workshop, Lu Jiuge and Zheng Lin did not linger.

After greeting him at the workshop and agreeing to send someone to the factory the next day, I turned and returned to the company.

Lu Jiuge had just sat back in her office chair, sorting out the follow-up plans, when the system in her mind suddenly reacted.

The system, which had not appeared on its own before, suddenly triggered a notification at this moment:

[Host detected deviating from the entertainment main theme, venturing into the real economy sector; character setting weight abnormal; initiating calibration...]

[Calibration complete: Negative Faith Point harvesting efficiency -30%, current 100 million Negative Faith Points cleared]

[Limited-time task: Acquire ≥10 Negative Faith Points within 30 days. No recovery of efficiency after the deadline, and no refunds will be given if the limit is cleared.]

Upon seeing this notification, Lu Jiuge jumped to her feet in fright:

"There's even this kind of restriction? I was planning to use that million faith points to exchange for a new song, now that's all ruined!"

"We must replenish our faith points as soon as possible, otherwise, once the media player is deployed, there will be no songs to play, and the entire system will collapse!"