Chapter 41: I found the nearly bankrupt Oriental Screens; I need to invest.

The flight landed in Shenzhen.

The humid, sweltering air rushed to meet them, feeling like a giant steamer.

A paint-chipped Jetta taxi zigzagged along a potholed dirt road in the suburbs.

Finally, with a screech, it stopped at the entrance of a desolate factory area.

Lu Jingming pushed open the car door, his leather shoes stepping onto the muddy ground.

He looked up.

Of the four large characters for "Oriental Screen" on the gate, only "Oriental" and "Screen" remained.

The iron gate was half-rusted shut, and the weeds in the courtyard grew taller than knee-height.

Shen Qingqiu stepped out of the car in her high heels, disdainfully avoiding a small puddle.

"Are you sure this is the place? It looks like a scrap recycling station."

She adjusted her gold-rimmed glasses, her delicate brows knitted together.

"This is called treasure hunting; I specialize in picking up the gold nuggets that others don't want."

Lu Jingming grinned and casually pulled a plastic lighter from his pocket to light a cigarette.

The factory area was rowdy, noisy like a wet market.

The two followed the sound inside, arriving at a drab, three-story office building.

Downstairs, a swarm of thirty or forty people blocked the way, holding various iron rods and wrenches.

Two banners with black characters on a white background were pulled taut.

"Pay your debts, it's only right and proper!"

"Factory Manager Wang Jingdong is a liar, give us back our hard-earned money!"

In the middle of the crowd, a fat man with a shaved head and a thick gold chain around his neck was screaming at the top of his lungs.

"Factory Manager Wang Jingdong! You coward!"

"If you can't come up with the money today, I'll find a forklift and haul away all the dust-free equipment in your workshop to settle the debt!"

Lu Jingming, with his cigarette in his mouth, looked up in the direction the bald fat man was pointing.

On the edge of the third-floor rooftop stood a middle-aged man.

He was wearing a yellowed white shirt, his hair was as messy as a bird's nest, and he was unshaven.

He clutched a semiconductor radio tightly, with half his foot already dangling in the air.

This was the factory manager of Oriental Screen, Factory Manager Wang Jingdong.

"Just try touching my production line!"

Factory Manager Wang Jingdong's voice was hoarse, his eyes bloodshot like a lone wolf driven to a dead end.

"That equipment was bought with every cent I had to pursue independent research and development!"

He gasped heavily, his chest heaving like a bellows.

"Whoever dares to take the equipment, I'll jump off right now! I'll die to show you!"

The people downstairs didn't buy it at all.

The bald fat man spat and sneered.

"Jump then! Who the hell are you trying to scare? Your crappy factory has been doing R&D for three years; have you even produced a single usable screen?"

"You owe us five million in material costs, and you want to settle it all by dying? No way!"

The bald fat man waved his hand.

"Brothers, go smash the workshop doors! Move the machines!"

The crowd surged toward the factory building in the back.

Factory Manager Wang Jingdong closed his eyes, two streams of murky tears flowing from the corners of his eyes, his body leaning forward, about to jump.

"Wait."

A lazy but penetrating voice suddenly exploded in the noisy courtyard.

The bald fat man froze and turned to look.

A young man wearing a black T-shirt, one hand in his pocket, leisurely pushed through the crowd and walked in.

Behind him followed an ice-cold beauty with a terrifying aura.

"Who are you? Stop meddling in other people's business!"

The bald fat man glared with his triangular eyes and slammed the iron rod in his hand onto the ground.

Lu Jingming didn't pay him any mind; instead, he looked up and blew a smoke ring toward the third-floor rooftop.

"Factory Manager Wang Jingdong, a life is only worth five million? Your value is too cheap."

He flicked the ash from his cigarette; his voice wasn't loud, but it clearly reached Factory Manager Wang Jingdong's ears.

"Come down. Don't dirty my new factory. I'll pay your debts for you."

As soon as these words were spoken, the whole place fell silent.

Factory Manager Wang Jingdong on the rooftop stiffened, opening his eyes in disbelief.

The bald fat man laughed loudly, as if he had heard the biggest joke in the world.

"You'll pay for him? Who the hell do you think you are? Five million in cash—do you think it's five hundred in ghost money?"

Lu Jingming didn't even look at him, slightly turning his head.

"Shen Qingqiu, settle the bill. Make him get lost."

Shen Qingqiu stepped forward in her high heels and expressionlessly opened that expensive Hermes bag.

She didn't take out cash, but instead directly pulled out a checkbook stamped with the bright red seal of Xinghai Technology.

"Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, Donghai City branch, cash check, can be cashed at any branch at any time."

She pulled out a custom fountain pen and wrote a string of numbers with fluid motion.

She tore off the slip and threw it directly onto the bald fat man's chest.

"Take your people and get out of this courtyard. If I hear you shout one more word, I'll have our legal department sue your company into bankruptcy."

Shen Qingqiu spoke quickly, her aura fully unleashed.

The sense of oppression honed from top Wall Street investment banks instantly suppressed this group of thugs.

The bald fat man scrambled to catch the check and looked down.

It was truly five million, with the official seal and financial stamp completely in order.

He swallowed hard, and his attitude immediately did a 180-degree turn.

"Oh, so it's a big boss! Offense taken, offense taken!"

The fat man waved his hand.

"Brothers, retreat!"

The dozens of people came quickly and ran even faster, dispersing in the blink of an eye.

On the third-floor rooftop.

Factory Manager Wang Jingdong's legs went weak, and he slumped against the wall, gasping for breath.

Ten minutes later, he stumbled downstairs and rushed into the dusty reception room on the first floor.

Lu Jingming was sitting on a dilapidated sofa, examining the leaking wall plaster around him.

Shen Qingqiu took out a tissue and carefully wiped the dust off a chair.

Factory Manager Wang Jingdong stood at the doorway, staring fixedly at Lu Jingming.

His bloodshot eyes held no gratitude, only grief and indignation.

"Which big factory sent you to buy up scrap?"

Factory Manager Wang Jingdong gritted his teeth, his voice hoarse.

"Spending five million to help me pay off debts, you've got your eyes on those three second-hand chip placement lines in my workshop, right?"

He punched the door frame, breaking the skin on his knuckles.

"Let me tell you! That is my life's work, for which I emptied my family fortune! It's worth at least eight million! You are robbing me while I'm down!"

In Factory Manager Wang Jingdong's eyes, capitalists these days were all man-eating wolves.

Paying off his debts was nothing more than wanting to forcibly swallow his assets at a low price and dismantle the equipment for resale.

Lu Jingming didn't refute this; he threw the cigarette butt in his hand onto the ground and crushed it.

Then, he pulled a paint-chipped metal USB drive from his pocket and placed it on the dust-covered coffee table.

"Those three ancient, crappy production lines—even if you gave them to me for free, I'd think they were just taking up space."

Lu Jingming leaned back on the broken sofa, his eyes sharp.

"What I want is for you, Oriental Screen, to crush the high-and-mighty Samsung and become the leader of domestic panels."

Factory Manager Wang Jingdong was stunned, looking at him like he was a lunatic.

"Crush Samsung? Do you know how many years Samsung is ahead of us in panel technology?"

He clutched his hair in pain.

"Domestic factories can only make low-resolution, eye-straining screens. I spent three years of money on R&D, and I didn't even hear a peep!"

Lu Jingming pointed to the USB drive on the table.

"Is there a computer in this room? Plug it in and take a look."

Factory Manager Wang Jingdong walked over skeptically, picked up the USB drive, and plugged it into a yellowed, bulky computer tower nearby.

The machine emitted a roar like a tractor.

The folder opened.

On the screen popped up a file named "Retina-Grade LCD Panel Mass Production Core Algorithm."

Factory Manager Wang Jingdong dragged the mouse and clicked on the first structural diagram of the backlight module.

He only took one look.

His hand holding the mouse trembled violently, and he froze in front of the computer.

"This... this pixel arrangement logic..."

Factory Manager Wang Jingdong was almost lying on the monitor, his eyes glued to the screen.

He scrolled the wheel, looking at those lines of unconventional underlying code.

"Stripping the thickness of the traditional polarizer? Reshaping the sub-pixel array of the three primary colors, red, green, and blue?"

His breathing became more and more rapid, and a sound like a broken bellows emitted from his throat.

"326ppi? The density of the human retina?"

"My God... is this fucking alien technology?!"

Factory Manager Wang Jingdong turned his head abruptly, kicking over the chair behind him.

He rushed in front of Lu Jingming, too excited, his lips trembling violently.

"Where did these drawings come from? With this technology, as long as we adjust the equipment parameters slightly, we can start trial production immediately!"

Tears streamed out of his eye sockets.

Having spent his whole life in screen R&D, he knew exactly how valuable these drawings were.

This was simply like the sun hanging in the sky; it could crush Samsung's current screens into coal ash!

Lu Jingming patted an investment and holding contract next to him.

"This is the investment agreement from Xinghai Technology."

He looked at Factory Manager Wang Jingdong, his tone unquestionable.

"I provide the technology, and I'll buy up all your production capacity. You give me your all, and within a month, I want to see the finished product."

Factory Manager Wang Jingdong lunged to the coffee table without hesitation.

He didn't even look at the contract, grabbing the signature pen on the table.

The pen tip might not have been used for a long time; it didn't write after two strokes.

Factory Manager Wang Jingdong got anxious and threw the pen away.

He opened his mouth and bit down hard on his right index finger, fresh blood instantly oozing out.

"Slap!"

With his blood-stained finger, he pressed a heavy bloody fingerprint on the last page of the contract.

"President Lu! From today on, the life of Oriental Screen belongs to Xinghai!"

Factory Manager Wang Jingdong wiped his tears, his eyes as fanatical as a gambler's.

"If the goods aren't out in a month, I, Factory Manager Wang Jingdong, will bring you my head!"

After the contract was signed, Shen Qingqiu efficiently put the documents into her bag.

The crisis at the factory was resolved; with this technology, it was only a matter of time before Oriental Screen was brought back to life.

Factory Manager Wang Jingdong rubbed his hands, pacing back and forth in the room excitedly.

"President Lu, once our first batch is produced, should we quietly transport it back to Donghai City for assembly?"

Just as Lu Jingming was about to speak, the phone in his pocket suddenly vibrated.

He took out the xinghai gen 2 and pressed the answer button.

On the other end of the phone, Chu Xuan's voice was as anxious as an ant on a hot pan.

"President Lu! Bad news!"

Chu Xuan roared at the top of his lungs.

"That Korean woman named Park Min-young hired tens of thousands of internet trolls to stir up trouble online!"

Lu Jingming raised an eyebrow and sneered.

"What kind of trouble is she stirring up?"

"She says we've been cut off by Samsung and, having no other options, went to find a near-bankrupt trash factory for OEM!"

Chu Xuan was so angry he kept slapping the table.

"Now the whole internet is spreading rumors, saying our next batch of xinghai gen 2 will all use low-end, pixelated screens that hurt the eyes!"

A few keyboard tapping sounds came from the phone.

"Many users who paid in full are panicking, and the refund applications in the customer service backend have exploded!"

Chu Xuan swallowed hard.

"President Lu, let's issue a clarification statement immediately!"

Lu Jingming didn't hang up the phone; he stood up and walked to the dust-covered window.

The sunlight outside pierced through the clouds, shining on his profile.

Not only was he not worried, but a chilling excitement burned in his eyes.

"Clarify? Why should I clarify?"

Lu Jingming said into the phone, his voice filled with arrogance.

"Chu Xuan, go do two things for me."

"First, book the most luxurious venue at the largest technology exhibition center in Shenzhen for me."

He paused, and the smile at the corner of his mouth grew deeper.

"Second, send a gold-stamped VIP invitation to our high-and-mighty President Park."

Lu Jingming turned around, looking at Factory Manager Wang Jingdong and Shen Qingqiu, enunciating every word.

"Three days from now, I want to, in front of the entire internet and that Korean woman..."

"Tear that proud face of Samsung Group to shreds with my own hands."