Chapter 6: An Invitation from Technology

"Uncle, are you free right now? My graduate supervisor and I have arrived in Jingchu City. My supervisor has a project he plans to establish here, and we need to meet with investors and local government officials to discuss cooperation. We are not very familiar with these matters, so I recommended you to him. We were hoping you could come over and offer us some advice." Long Wuyang extended the invitation earnestly over the phone.

Old Jia felt a sense of relief and asked casually, "I'm free. What kind of project is it?"

"Oh, you might not understand the technicalities. It’s a drone project—specifically, a tilt-rotor vertical take-off and landing UAV. We want to build a production base in Jingchu City, and while many investors have approached us, we are purely researchers and don't know how to handle the business side. That’s why we want to ask you to serve as a consultant and help us figure out how to get this project off the ground."

"What’s the take-off weight? What are the flight endurance and speed?" Old Jia sprang up from his chair and asked urgently.

"Huh? Uncle, you actually know about this?" Long asked, surprised, before continuing with a boastful tone: "Take-off weight is six tons, max payload two tons, maximum endurance seven hours, service ceiling 7,000 meters, maximum range 4,000 kilometers, and cruising speed 550 kilometers per hour."

"An Osprey!" Old Jia exclaimed. He immediately added, "Wait there, I’m coming right now!" He hung up the phone with a snap, grabbed his car keys, and headed out the door. His nephew was a graduate student at the School of Aerospace Engineering at Yuyuan University, and they rarely saw each other.

As Old Jia hurried along, he suddenly remembered something and dialed Long Wuyang back. "Little Long, have you been trading stocks lately?" he asked anxiously.

"Don't even mention it!" Long replied, sounding aggrieved. "I spent the entire National Day holiday at the factory with my supervisor, debugging the aircraft. All my classmates have jumped into the market, but I haven't even opened an account yet. Did I miss out on countless opportunities to get rich?"

"No, no," Old Jia said, relieved, and quickly comforted him. "You’ve actually earned much more than your classmates. At the very least, you’ve earned a clean credit record."

"What credit record?" Long asked, bewildered. "What is that for, and how much is it worth?"

"Let's put it this way: if your supervisor's company hits it big and you don't have a clean credit record, you won't be able to serve as an executive; you'll be stuck on the assembly line tightening bolts." Old Jia panted as he walked, offering his guidance. "And another thing—without a clean credit record, you’ll be stuck riding the slow trains back to Jingchu City for the rest of your life."

"Isn't that what I'm doing now? My supervisor and I both took the slow train here. What's the difference?" Long replied dismissively.

"In two months, the high-speed rail will reach Jingchu. If you don't have a clean credit record, you won't be able to ride it!" Old Jia said earnestly.

"Really? They've been talking about that for ages," Long said, half-believing.

"Oh, by the way, Uncle, my mom said that Changfeng Securities, the company you work for, has been soaring. She called it some kind of 'bull market' thing. Your company must have made a fortune, right? Your bonus should be pretty substantial this time?" Long hadn't forgotten his small goal regarding the stock market.

"Anything that blows in like a gale, leaving no trace, is a speculative bubble. Don't worry about that. How high the stock price goes has nothing to do with your uncle. I'm not a shareholder—just a wage earner!" Old Jia interrupted him sternly. "Focus on building planes with your supervisor and stop dreaming of getting rich overnight. You '00-after' kids don't have that kind of luck. Anyway, enough talk—I'll be there soon!"

Old Jia drove swiftly to the Jiupaitong Hotel, a garden-style retreat located next to the Jingchu City Garden Expo Park. With its winding paths and secluded atmosphere, it was a favorite haunt for scholars, poets, and high-profile business elites.

Long Wuyang met Old Jia at the entrance and escorted him inside. Professionally, Old Jia asked, "What's your supervisor's background? How old is he?"

"He's a leading national expert born in the 80s," Long said proudly. "He studied and worked at the California Institute of Technology's aerospace lab early in his career and is an AIAA Associate Fellow. He returned to China to work on aero-engines at Yuyuan University and currently serves as the director of the Institute of Unmanned Equipment."

As they spoke, they reached a tea room in the hotel. Inside sat a lean, bald man wearing thick-rimmed black glasses. His hair was somewhat disheveled, and he looked both exhausted and untidy.

"This is an 80s-born expert? Why does he look even older and more weary than me?" Old Jia thought, surprised. "This is completely different from the PhDs at my firm. The financial world is crawling with PhDs—all dressed to the nines, talking a mile a minute as if they were Napoleons on the battlefield, with as many scandals as movie stars. This little old man actually looks like a real researcher."