Siheyuan: Starting from a Truck Driver

Of course, such thoughts could only be hidden secretly. If they were discovered by Yu Li, a fierce argument would probably break out.

When the meal prepared for Li Weidong appeared, Yu Li suddenly asked, "By the way, I have packed your luggage for you. Did your boss tell you when to leave?"

Li Weidong replied: "The Canton Fair is expected to open in the next one or two days. I must go there as soon as possible. Maybe I can get a promotion when I come back this time."

Yu Li's eyes sparkled. Every woman likes men who are ambitious. She asked excitedly, "You mean, you will be the team leader?"

Li Weidong shook his head and explained, "If I get promoted, I might change my position." In his opinion, although the driver profession is acceptable at the beginning, he does not plan to do this job for a long time. In his opinion, the captain is the highest position he can achieve. In another ten years, this position will become very awkward, neither up nor down.

The original purpose of choosing this profession was to open up a path for his own development. Now this path has been opened. He gets along well with his colleagues in the team. In addition, due to his relationship with Niu Meng, Niu Yong also regards him as one of his own. Even if he leaves the team, the personal connections he has established can continue to play a role. After all, he does not accept gifts from others for free. Whenever he provides transportation services, he is always paid.

"Weidong, the leader has discussed this matter with me. Your status on this business trip is a clerk, and your salary will be calculated according to the clerk's standard. Based on your work performance, we will temporarily treat you according to the standard of a level 5 clerk, which is 49.5 yuan per month. The factory will round up your salary to 50 yuan. What do you think?"

"I will completely follow the arrangements of my leader." Li Weidong answered firmly.

Factory Director Yang patted Li Weidong on the shoulder and said with a smile: "Very good, then get in the car quickly. You must ensure the safety of your leaders and also pay attention to your own safety."

"Understood!" Li Weidong replied seriously, and then he added with a smile: "Director, you should also pay attention to your health!"

Director Yang waved his hand to signal Li Weidong to get on the train immediately. Li Weidong said nothing more and quickly boarded the train, waving goodbye to Director Yang. Considering the current frequent aircraft accidents, these senior leaders chose to travel by train from a safety perspective. The people who traveled with them also included the big leader Mr. Bi, the acting secretary Li Weidong, and the other two deputy directors, Deputy Director Chen and Deputy Director Diao, who will go to the Canton Fair together to expand their horizons.

Originally, the experienced General Manager Bi, Director Chen and Director Diao were supposed to take care of the newcomer Li Weidong, but in reality, Li Weidong was patiently taking care of the three of them the whole time, which made the three of them look at him with new eyes. What surprised them even more was that Li Weidong had a wide range of knowledge. When they asked him where he got all this knowledge, he smiled and replied that he got it by listening to the radio and reading newspapers, which made the other three feel that the strength of the younger generation should not be underestimated.

Therefore, Mr. Bi paid more attention to Li Weidong, because the ability shown by this young man even surpassed that of his secretary. Who would not like such a young man who is both talented and knows how to deal with various problems?

After they arrived in Guangzhou, they immediately started working before they had time to rest. Before entering the Canton Fair, Mr. Bi reminded Li Weidong: "Weidong, there are many foreign guests here. You have to pay attention to your image. Our words and deeds are related to the image of the country."

Li Weidong assured solemnly: "Don't worry, leader. I will pay attention and will not cause any trouble to us."

Mr. Bi also said that if they felt that what they did was inappropriate, Li Weidong could put forward his own suggestions, to which Li Weidong agreed without hesitation.

Although the Canton Fair had been held for more than a dozen sessions at this time, it was still a certain distance away from the later scale. This was mainly because there were not many countries that established diplomatic relations with China at that time. Exhibitors from all over the country and buyers of different skin colors gathered together, and the rich language exchanges made the exhibition lively.

Behind Mr. Bi, Li Weidong was patrolling the venue, mainly to observe the situation of the exhibition, so as to help Mr. Bi decide on the products to be exhibited next time according to customer needs. At that time, China was in urgent need of foreign exchange, and the whole country was trying to find ways to obtain foreign exchange. Without foreign exchange, it would be impossible to buy foreign goods, and only limited resources could be used for exchange, which would obviously result in huge losses.

However, by chance, Li Weidong noticed something unusual at the exhibition. He realized that this was no small matter and would soon become a serious problem if not resolved soon. When no one was around, he quietly pulled on Mr. Bi's clothes.

When President Bi turned around and looked at him with a puzzled look, Li Weidong leaned close to President Bi's ear and whispered, "Director Bi, I have something to report to you." Seeing Li Weidong's serious expression, President Bi's face also became solemn.

"What happened?" Mr. Bi asked in confusion. Li Weidong pointed to the salesmen who were talking to foreign businessmen and explained, "Those foreigners are not simple. They seem to ask questions casually, but they are actually trying to find out the technical details. But our salesmen don't seem to realize this and are still trying their best to answer their questions."

Mr. Bi asked doubtfully, "Is there any problem?" Li Weidong replied with a wry smile, "Director, these foreigners are very interested in our technology! If they master our technology and apply for patents in their own countries, we will no longer be able to export related products. Even if we want to sell them, we can only sell them at a high price. What's worse is that they may use our technology to develop more advanced products. By then, we will be behind. It will take an immeasurable amount of time to catch up."

Li Weidong is not exaggerating. Foreign companies have come to mainland China to collect technology and then registered patents abroad, which has resulted in many technologies that should have belonged to us becoming ones that we have to pay for.

After listening to Li Weidong's analysis, Mr. Bi finally realized the seriousness of the problem. As a senior leader, he often reads some foreign journals and has some understanding of international patent law. The reason why my country does not have clear laws and regulations on patents is that we lag behind advanced countries so much that we have to take special measures to narrow the gap.

If we wait until the specific law is issued before producing products such as TV dramas or tape recorders, we may have to pay a lot of fees. "No, we can't go on like this. Let's go and talk to the person in charge here." Given Mr. Bi's status, it is not difficult to negotiate with the management of the Canton Fair.

After Mr. Bi explained the situation to the management, the management realized the seriousness of the problem. Although making money and earning foreign exchange is very important, if the core technology is stolen, how can we do business in the future? Once others master the technology, they may produce it themselves. So they held an emergency meeting during lunch time and issued strict confidentiality instructions to the sales staff of the exhibitors: only necessary parameter information is allowed, and any disclosure of manufacturing technology is strictly prohibited.

Some sales staff did not take this rule seriously, believing that foreigners from developed countries would not be interested in our technology. Some even questioned it. However, those questioners were quickly taken back to the hotel by their employer and criticized and educated. It should be pointed out that if such remarks had occurred in the past, they might have been punished more severely.

Li Weidong was praised for discovering the problem, and Lao Bi, Lao Chen and Lao Diao also felt proud. The businessmen in Beijing invited Li Weidong to return to Beijing to visit their departments to show their recognition of them. If he accepted the invitation, Li Weidong would probably be immediately assigned to the post and receive very generous treatment. However, he declined politely because his leader was right next to him and personnel transfers needed approval from the original unit. If the leader disagreed, there would be trouble.

Li Weidong's reminder effectively prevented the recurrence of leaks and confused those foreigners with ill intentions. They originally thought that they could easily obtain key technologies, but now it seems that the Chinese have become smarter in a short period of time.

Faced with this situation, the foreigners racked their brains but could not find the reason, so they could only concentrate on doing business. While accompanying Lao Bi, Li Weidong discovered another problem: people of this era lack confidence in their products. Many salespeople were too worried about not being able to sell their products during negotiations, and would rather take some losses to sell them. But in fact, the foreigners were very interested in these products, but they would deliberately lower the prices in order to make more profits.

Although Li Weidong discovered this problem and told Lao Bi, they could not change the situation. Because at the trade fair, it was often a competition among Chinese people. Some factories were willing to make some concessions in order to achieve performance. You can't say they don't understand. In fact, they know better than anyone that being able to earn foreign exchange is the greatest success.

For a long time, due to the war before liberation, national self-confidence had not been fully restored, and it was not until the era when Li Weidong lived that it gradually strengthened. It can be said that many people born before the 9s still think that foreign things are better. Looking at the lively scene of the Canton Fair, Li Weidong was also somewhat tempted. He knew that some simple and easy-to-make products were exactly what foreigners needed, but because private transactions were prohibited and factory production was dispatched by superiors, no one dared to do private OEM without permission. Therefore, he could only be patient temporarily and wait for the right time to make a plan.