Chapter Sixty: Dreams of the Factory

Rebuilding Civilization

Meng Nan arrived swiftly; in about ten minutes, his car was already parked beneath Xie Han’s apartment building. Xie Han descended the stairs, glanced briefly at Meng Nan’s vehicle, pulled open the door, and settled into the passenger seat, sighing, “You know, we grew up in the same era, only with different specialties, but how has the gap between us grown so wide? Tsk tsk, I'm still scraping by every month, while you’ve joined the ranks of car owners. This Volkswagen must have cost at least two or three hundred thousand, right?”

Meng Nan chuckled as he started the engine, driving out of the complex. “Are you teasing me, or praising me?” he replied. “Indeed, now I see the difference between us is quite vast. You’ve become the owner of an electronics factory worth millions, while I’m still working for others.” He shot Xie Han a sidelong glance and shrugged. “The worst part is, I’m about to work for you. Isn’t that a huge disparity?”

Xie Han and Meng Nan exchanged a look, then burst into laughter. Xie Han, catching his breath, said, “Damn, after all this time, you still haven’t changed…” Meng Nan, feigning seriousness, replied, “I haven’t changed, but you certainly have. Well then, boss, where are we headed now?”

Xie Han gave him the finger. He had originally wanted to find a place to eat with Meng Nan, but realizing he had no time to spare, he said, “Let’s go to Anhu Electronics Factory on the eastern outskirts!”

Meng Nan was familiar with the place. “Han, I really didn’t expect it. Just over half a month ago, you were still working at your old job. When I heard you’d left, I was shocked, thought you’d lost your mind. Now it seems you had a plan all along?”

Meng Nan had indeed called him at the time, but Xie Han had no clue then, so he’d brushed it off with some excuse. Thinking back, he realized there were many people concerned about him. He smiled, “Mai, I haven’t even told my parents about the factory yet. You must keep this a secret for now. Let me achieve something first, then I’ll tell them—it won’t be too late.”

Meng Nan was startled. “What? They don’t know about something this big? The money…”

Xie Han knew Meng Nan was asking about the funds to buy the factory. “The money’s source is absolutely legitimate.” He winked mysteriously. “A month ago, didn’t someone in Chaoyang City win two big lottery prizes? Tsk tsk… surely you’ve heard about that?”

“Damn…” Meng Nan exclaimed. “You’re not saying you’re that lucky winner, are you?”

Xie Han nodded. Since lottery winners’ information wasn’t public, he saw no harm in using this coincidence to conceal the origin of his funds. “I was almost delirious with excitement at the time. After pondering for half a month, I finally decided how to use the money. Mai, you really have to keep this secret. If word gets out, you can imagine the consequences.”

Meng Nan could easily imagine it—relatives and friends would probably wear out the threshold of Xie Han’s house, and from then on, peace would be a distant dream. “Looks like being rich isn’t so easy after all.”

Xie Han laughed, “What rich? Buying this factory cost me seven million. You know after taxes, I only got eight million, so there’s just a million left. But you know the factory’s in shambles; a million will disappear without a trace.”

Meng Nan couldn’t understand how Xie Han dared take such a risk. “A million is nowhere near enough.”

Now past rush hour, Meng Nan drove swiftly, and soon they arrived at Anhu Electronics Factory on the eastern outskirts. The factory, apart from a dozen security guards, had lost most of its workers half a year ago; those with options had left, and only those with nowhere to go remained, scraping by on a monthly minimum wage of three hundred. News of the factory’s acquisition had reached the workers only two days prior. For the sake of restructuring, Xie Han had generously granted them a week of paid leave, so the factory was eerily quiet.

The security guards naturally recognized Xie Han as the new boss. Meng Nan’s car was waved straight through. As one of Chaoyang City’s old suburban sites, its greatest feature was the abundance of greenery—whether on the streets or within the complex. The twenty-acre Anhu Electronics Factory was almost like a botanical garden. Apart from the main thoroughfare, the paths were shaded by trees, and the factory buildings and dormitories, built in the 1990s, were no more than five stories tall. From above, the whole compound was blanketed in green.

“How do you like the environment here?” Once the car stopped, the two ascended to the rooftop of the five-story office building, the tallest in the complex. Xie Han pointed to the sprawling green factory grounds, asking Meng Nan with a hint of pride in his voice. After all, from now on, everything here was his. To own his own business was an affirmation of his life. Though this was only the beginning for Xie Han, it was often the beginning that was most memorable and worthy of pride.

To Meng Nan, Anhu Electronics Factory was nothing more than an old enterprise that lost money every year; he had no other impression of it. But standing atop the office building, viewing the entire factory as a manager, he felt something he’d never experienced before. “Working here, breathing this air, you could live ten years longer.”

The factory site was, for its time, an excellent choice. The city’s development plan had focused on the eastern suburbs. Had things gone according to plan, the twenty acres would now be worth billions. But in the economic reforms of 1995, the city’s core began shifting westward to build up Chaoyang’s geographic advantage. Because of this, the eastern suburbs hadn’t changed much in over a decade, still dominated by old residential buildings.

And Anhu Electronics Factory lay even further from the city’s eastern edge, making its location even more remote. Anyone could see its prospects were bleak. So, apart from a few real estate developers who built residential complexes for the greenery, there was hardly any sign of progress here.

But was that really the case? Xie Han, who could traverse between worlds and possessed a nationwide satellite map of the apocalypse, didn’t believe so. Who would have thought that in May 2012, Chaoyang’s government would begin drafting a strategic development plan for the inner and outer eastern suburbs, igniting a frenzy and branding this area as a future concept district? Once the plan was drafted, land prices soared, skyscrapers rose, and it became the most prosperous part of Chaoyang City.

The countdown to the release of this plan was only three years away.

Xie Han, of course, said nothing about this. He pointed to the dormitory area. “In the near future, we’ll build the most modern concept dormitory district right where the old dorms stand. See that large vacant lot behind? Perhaps a football field would be a good idea. As for the factory area, it’ll be designed by you, our professional general manager. So, in this environment, don’t you have any dreams for the factory?”

Meng Nan laughed heartily. “To say I have no dreams would be a lie. In my mind, I’d turn this place into the biggest electronics factory in Chaoyang, with its own core brand.” He chuckled again, “But that’s a tough dream. The largest factory covers two hundred and fifty acres, while we have only twenty. We can’t even compare! Looks like I can only dream of having our own branded electronics.”

Xie Han also laughed, pointing to the lush area before them, declaring boldly, “Two hundred and fifty acres? We’ll buy up all the land around us, make it two thousand five hundred acres if we like. The biggest electronics factory in Chaoyang will be a piece of cake!”

“You’re just blowing smoke…” Meng Nan teased, “Is the land here as cheap as cabbage?”