The dusk was dim.
However, the Huairong Industrial factory grounds were brightly lit.
Hundreds of mechanical workers were working overtime with all their might.
Cheng Hua, an elder who had weathered storms with the factory for over twenty years, wore a look of relief on his face.
Ever since the old factory was sold to a new owner, the entire plant had been revitalized.
Gazing at the familiar faces engrossed in their work.
Cheng Hua felt an illusion, as if time had reversed, and he was back to the days twenty years ago when he first graduated and joined the factory.
Yet.
Many familiar faces were gone.
More young faces, now in their thirties, with families, wives, children, and elders to support, had become the backbone of the factory.
The new owner was a good person.
Not only had everyone's wages increased by 10%-30%, but he had even announced that overtime pay for the next ten-plus days of work would be calculated at three times the usual hourly rate.
In fact, even if Meng Hao hadn't offered extra overtime pay, wouldn't everyone have worked their hardest for such a conscientious boss?
Filled with emotion, Cheng Hua looked at the hundreds of employees working with fervor, and smiled with immense satisfaction.
Hundreds of factory employees.
Behind them were hundreds of families waiting to be fed.
Although Cheng Hua couldn't figure out what on earth his new owner, the new boss, was producing.
But, based on his interactions with Meng Hao these past few days, he was certain.
Meng Hao would never mistreat these old employees; he would surely give them a glorious future.
Gazing at the scattered stars in the dark night sky.
Cheng Hua's long-lost passion reignited.
However.
Looking at the F35 fighter jet fuselages being assembled; the fully metallic mechs, over ten meters tall, taking shape; and countless components of all sorts he had never seen before.
Cheng Hua couldn't help but feel a little puzzled.
When the new owner changed the business registration information, he renamed the revitalized factory Huairong Industrial, positioning it as a manufacturer of "toy research, development, production, and manufacturing."
Cheng Hua was already a grandfather.
He had plenty of toys at home.
But he had never heard of a ten-meter-tall full-metal mech or an F35 filled with various components.
Watching the workers diligently work, referencing the blueprints issued by the new owner.
Cheng Hua's doubts deepened day by day—
Were these things really toys?
But.
Then he thought again.
Cheng Hua, who had seen much in his life, let go of his worries.
No matter what they were.
As long as the new owner could provide them with a decent livelihood and keep their lives above the average line.
As long as it didn't violate national laws and regulations, even if the new owner was building atomic bombs by hand, everyone would give their all and do their best.
Besides.
Didn't his own grandson constantly play with that "Lego toy," assembling plastic parts?
The mechs and fighter jets produced by the new owner were also assembled from different components!
It was just that the material of the assembled components had changed from acrylic plastic to an unprecedented composite metal; the assemblers had changed from his three-year-old grandson to hundreds of burly men operating forklifts, gantry cranes, and hoists; and the size of the assembled modules had changed from a few centimeters to dozens of centimeters or even meters!
Perhaps.
The owner was producing large toys that were exported overseas and sold to wealthy buyers in other countries!
Yes.
They were definitely toys!
Completely convinced by his own reasoning, Cheng Hua, with his hands behind his back, hummed a popular song from when he first joined the factory over twenty years ago, as he patrolled the various assembly workshops.
Such a conscientious, kind, and responsible owner, having promoted him to Administrative Vice President with almost full authority over all factory operations, meant that he must be responsible to that young owner.
In terms of position, the owner was the highest authority.
In terms of capability, the owner, who provided extremely generous compensation to all the old employees, including himself, was far superior to him.
However—
In terms of age, the new owner was about the same age as his son, and he was certainly not as experienced as himself in administrative management and supervising employees.
He, Cheng Hua, definitely needed to take more care and provide more support.
Treating Meng Hao as a nephew and viewing the reborn Huairong Industrial factory as his own, Cheng Hua once again mustered twelve points of enthusiasm, meticulously and seriously inspecting the workshops and supervising the work.
The new owner, Mr. Meng Hao, had given instructions.
All assembly work must be completed and shipped to the buyer within half a month!
...
Just as Cheng Hua was contentedly and responsibly exercising his authority as Administrative Vice President, striving to perfectly complete all tasks within Meng Hao's specified timeline.
Meng Hao, lounging in his office with his legs crossed, drinking "happy water" and eating fried chicken nuggets, was experiencing a headache.
According to the requirements of the mysterious Taobao buyer.
The ten lithium battery mechs, equipped with modified F35s as long-range assault modules, could definitely be fully assembled and shipped within half a month.
After all.
Nearly all the core components were semi-finished parts developed, manufactured, and transported from the desert base to the Shilin Huairong Industrial factory.
What the factory employees needed to do.
Was to "assemble" these components, like toys, according to Meng Hao's blueprints, seamlessly and meticulously.
Cheng Hua had guaranteed with his chest puffed out.
The employees he had recalled were all former veteran technical masters of the factory.
There would be absolutely no problem in reassembling these "large mech toys" according to the blueprint dimensions and parts.
And the reason for Meng Hao's headache was precisely these over two hundred highly skilled, experienced, and well-regarded veteran technical masters.
Meng Hao's salary for them was not low, being one to three tenths higher than the best factory wages they could find.
This way.
Meng Hao's fixed monthly labor cost would be as high as two million.
That's over twenty million a year.
Adding other expenses such as equipment wear and tear, business taxes, and miscellaneous expenses, the annual cost would not be less than thirty million Daxia coins.
Although there was still ninety million US dollars in the account, equivalent to 600 million Daxia coins, enough to maintain the factory for twenty years.
But Meng Hao was not a philanthropist.
He couldn't afford to keep idle personnel.
And dismissing these employees was not in line with Meng Hao's wishes.
From an emotional standpoint, if Meng Hao dismissed these employees whom he had brought back to the old factory, Cheng Hua and the remaining veteran technical masters would surely be disheartened.
From a practical standpoint, these highly skilled veteran technical masters, any one of them was a treasure in the industry, and it would be extremely difficult to recruit and re-employ such a large number of veteran technical masters.
One must know, for these hundreds of veteran technical masters.
Let alone assembling "toy mechs," even with national authorization, manufacturing aircraft and tanks, building missiles and nuclear bombs, and constructing rockets and aircraft carriers would not be a problem.
The desert base and the multi-functional composite robots in the base could not be exposed.
Therefore, the existence of these veteran technical masters served as the best cover to explain to the outside world that he could build black technology products.
"It seems I need to expand production capacity and open more sales channels..."
"But who would buy these 'toy mechs' priced at millions or tens of millions each..."
"Sigh, this is really a headache..."