"Why don't you smoke anymore? I saw you smoking last month. Don't be shy here, I'm not some big boss," Director Xue said politely.

"I mainly want to quit," Xing Baohua said. Actually, he doesn't smoke. Before he came here, he often went into the research and development room, which was a truly dust-free environment.

Furthermore, ordinary microelectronic integrated circuits are sometimes fabricated in vacuum chambers, where some fabrication processes must be carried out. The higher the vacuum level, the better the performance of the resulting semiconductor devices.

If you have a smoking habit, that kind of environment is very uncomfortable. Sometimes I work for seven or eight hours straight without a break.

Of course, there was no way to explain this to Director Xue here; I could only say that I wanted to quit smoking.

After chatting casually with Director Xue for half an hour, Director Xue made a phone call and told Xing Baohua to go to the factory director's office with him.

Sitting on the comfortable sofa in the factory manager's office, Xing Baohua was surprised to find that Hou Liwei was serving him tea.

Hou Liwei ignored him, while Xing Baohua glanced at him with a disdainful look.

Sitting to my right is Director Xue, who has a notebook on his lap and is writing and drawing in it with a pen.

Factory Director Li walked over and sat down directly in front of Xing Baohua. He picked up a cigarette and tossed it to Xing Baohua.

Xing Baohua was about to shake his head to indicate that he wouldn't smoke. Unexpectedly, the factory manager took a lighter and lit it for him.

That was unacceptable. He quickly put the cigarette in his mouth, respectfully asked the factory manager to light it, and gently touched the back of his hand twice with his fingers to express his gratitude.

"You've given me a big surprise, kid," Director Li said to Xing Baohua, taking a puff of his cigarette.

He put down the lighter in his hand, saw Hou Liwei still standing there, and waved to him to go out first.

Xing Baohua smiled and said, "I'm sorry to have made you laugh. I was so worried about this mess I made, I don't know what joy it brought to the factory director."

Of course, this guy understood what Factory Director Li meant, so he started to pretend to be confused.

"You little rascal, you're definitely cunning," said Factory Director Li, pointing at Xing Baohua with his cigarette-holding finger. He then asked:

"I want to know if that loudspeaker set is worth 30,000 US dollars? Do you know how much 30,000 US dollars is worth in Chinese currency? Do you have any idea?"

Xing Baohua nodded and said, "According to the average exchange rate of the central bank, it is around 2.2-2.3. The black market price is around 4.5."

After taking a puff of his cigarette and putting it in the ashtray, Xing Baohua said, "I won't talk about the cost price of the audio equipment yet, I'll just talk about whether it's worth it."

Factory Director Li and Director Xue listened attentively.

Xing Baohua continued, "The value of this audio system lies in its quality. I will create another one, and I can't imagine it being better than this one, or even surpassing it."

“For those who love it, it’s worth the price; for those who don’t, it’s an exorbitant price. Even if you lower it to a dollar, they might not buy it,” Xing Baohua said.

Factory Director Li paused briefly, then asked, "Can we guarantee this quality and sell it at this price if we mass-produce these loudspeakers?"

Xing Baohua shook his head slightly and said, "The price was set by Petermont himself. I never quoted a price. Actually, my bottom line was three thousand US dollars. I just held up three fingers, and he mistakenly thought it was thirty thousand US dollars. It was just a lucky coincidence. Why should I explain to him? Is it wrong for me to make more money?"

After saying this, Factory Director Li and Director Xue laughed. Factory Director Li pointed at Xing Baohua again and said, "I knew you were a slippery one."

"I understand what you mean, this is also a one-off deal." Director Li suddenly changed the subject:

"The people from the Foreign Affairs Office are here; this matter needs to be investigated."

"I've heard about it."

“Personal contact with foreigners in private is a violation of discipline. You even engaged in transactions, which could lead to the Foreign Affairs Office and the State Security Department launching an investigation into you,” Director Li said.

Xing Baohua was a little incredulous at this last sentence. He knew the old man had his own ideas, but he didn't have to scare him like that.

"Fortunately, you reported it in time, and the factory agreed to receive foreign guests." Director Li's confident statement almost made Xing Baohua lose track of what was going on.

"The factory was aware of the transactions between you, and the materials were also from the factory, right? I saw that the speakers in the computer room were made of 1Cr18 0.5mm stainless steel plates that came in," Factory Director Li said with a smile, his expression as if he wanted to devour Xing Baohua.

“Yes, I checked, it’s definitely our factory’s material,” Director Xue interjected.

Factory Manager Li continued, "I saw the materials you picked up in the warehouse..."

Before Director Li could finish speaking, Xing Baohua interjected, "I put together the electronic components in the machine myself, and the most expensive digital chip was also purchased for me by Zhang Xuebao from the provincial capital."

Factory Director Li waved his hand and said, "Let's not talk about that now."

That one sentence almost suffocated Xing Baohua. The words she had just prepared were forced back down. Her rhythm was completely disrupted. She had heard before that one should be careful when dealing with leaders, as they liked to use unconventional thinking to control the situation.

Without a sharp mind, you simply can't keep up with their pace.

"If the factory gives you a workshop to produce these loudspeakers, how much can you control the price?" Factory Manager Li asked.

Xing Baohua didn't answer immediately, but instead tried to relax. He leaned back on the sofa, trying to make himself comfortable. He needed to adapt to Director Li's pace; he couldn't let him lead him by the rope.

After pausing for a moment, he said, "Do you want to target the international market or the domestic market?"

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