Xing Baohua hung up Su Ya's call and continued to report to Xu Si on the work he had been in charge of recently.

According to Xu Si, the motherboard replication work has been completed very quickly.

Once Xing Baohua's chips and programs are soldered, the testing phase can begin.

Of all the tasks, replicating the circuit board is the easiest; there's no need for research and development, just copying it. A skilled worker can complete it in a day or two.

In addition, Xing Baohua also redrawn part of the circuit diagrams and the catalog of electrical components.

This further accelerated the progress of the circuit board.

This project is now highly valued by the higher authorities; they are providing funding and manpower as needed. Although many large, expensive projects have been halted, the '85' precision engineering project will not cost much.

Xu Si took Xing Baohua to visit several factories in Beijing that were involved in the project allocation, to see how their progress was going.

The mechanical frame was handled by Liaoning No. 1 Machinery, and the motor was handled by G National Electromechanical Institute.

Liaoning First Machinery Plant is too far away. I did go and take a look at the Electromechanical Institute, though. It's not a factory, but rather a laboratory or something similar.

Thanks to the efforts of all participating units, Project 85 is progressing rapidly. It's like a major campaign, with everyone demonstrating their spirit.

If Xing Baohua were to develop everything himself, except for the core data, he would have no choice but to collaborate with Ludong Machinery Factory. As for the motors, he has connections there!

Xu Shuai's mentor was an expert in electric motors, and several experts from the Jinan Tape Recorder Factory also worked with electric motors. Although the sizes were different, theoretically, with the help of experienced workers, Xing Baohua was confident that he could complete the task.

His thinking was quite simple: it was a problem of overall coordination, and there were many spare parts that Xing Baohua couldn't handle.

Many large-scale projects are jointly developed by multiple departments within the company, with a central department taking the lead and coordinating the overall work.

Xu Si spent the day with Xing Baohua. In the evening, Xing Baohua invited Xu Si to have dinner together, but Xu Si politely declined, saying that she was indeed very busy.

Back at the hotel, Xing Baohua called Su Ya to ask her out for dinner, but to his surprise, the phone was switched off.

Xing Baohua fell silent, feeling a little awkward. His first thought was that Su Ya's phone battery was dead.

Who can Suya call? Even without making calls, the phone's standby time can last for more than a day. Although it's a stylish version, the battery isn't supposed to last long, so it shouldn't drain the battery so quickly.

The sampled batteries undergo multiple tests. Only after they are put on the production line will they undergo simple testing, be packaged, and shipped out.

It's normal for some phone batteries to have issues. There will always be a few that slip through the cracks.

Xing Baohua remembered bringing a spare battery for Su Ya. Was it useless? Or were the batteries all dead?

This is a bit awkward; I'll have to mail a few more batteries over later.

After dialing several more times, the phone was still switched off, so Xing Baohua had no choice but to get up and go over to see what was going on.

Suya's phone battery was fine, but it ran out of power after making a dozen or so calls.

The only person who could make so many phone calls was Su Ya's roommate, Tang Shuo. Tang Shuo had given her the phone numbers of every relative and friend he could remember! He called her all the time, whether it was for something or not.

Not only did the phone run out of battery from all the calls, but it also got a little hot.

Finally, he reluctantly returned the phone to Suya.

Su Ya immediately got out of bed, found her notebook, tore off a piece of paper, and replaced the battery with a spare.

After powering on, the call duration is calculated.

When Xing Baohua accompanied her to get her number copied, they inquired about the rates at the post office. Calls were a flat rate of 60 cents per minute, with any call less than a minute rounded up to a full minute. Even 0.01 seconds was charged as a full minute.

More than a dozen phone calls, some lasting more than ten minutes, others as short as five or six minutes.

Su Ya made a list for Tang Shuo and was busy writing it down. Tang Shuo looked at it curiously, thinking that Su Ya was going to copy down the phone numbers of her relatives and friends.

Seeing that the time was written on it, he asked, puzzled, "What are you doing?"

The people in the dormitory all craned their necks to watch the spectacle. Especially what Su Ya brought out, which overturned their usual understanding.

“I’m calculating the cost of all these phone calls you made! I can’t possibly pay for them for you! You seem to be doing quite well, you should be able to afford this phone bill!” Su Ya said.

"You seem to be doing quite well! Who would have thought you'd be so stingy? It's only a few dollars for a phone call! Just tell me! I'll pay you back in a bit. Honestly, I never pay for phone calls from home!"

“You’ve really spent money this time.” Su Ya was still calculating, and after the total was tallied, it was 76 minutes, which she then multiplied by 0.6 yuan.

The total telephone bill was 45.6 yuan.

When the number was announced, Tang Shuo was stunned and immediately accused Su Ya of extortion.

Fearing that Tang Shuo would call again, Su Ya removed the spare battery as well.

He told Tang Shuo, "You can check the phone bill at the post office! It's all clearly marked, I didn't set the price for you. The price for making and receiving calls is a uniform six cents per minute nationwide, and even if it's less than a minute, it's charged as a full minute."

"Why didn't you tell me sooner that the phone call would cost so much?! Aren't you deliberately trying to rip me off?"

"Did I cheat you? You just took the phone number and made a call without even asking any questions, just like it's your home phone. Ask the other people in the dorm if you've asked them even once. I'll pay for the call myself."

"I...I don't have that much money?"

"I'll give you an IOU, and you'll pay it back by the end of the month at the latest. I need to pay my phone bill at the beginning of the month. If you don't pay me back, I'll have to tell the school to notify your family."

After all, Su Ya had a year of experience working in the machinery factory. Dealing with a young girl was a piece of cake for her.

However, her actions made Xing Baohua fall into deep thought, constantly thinking about the battery problem. It wasn't until they were almost at school that he remembered that Su Ya had a pager!

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