Chapter 117: News from Ming Pao and Jin Yong
"Ah, it's Miss Bai, the campus belle! Hello, hello," Yang Wendong naturally recalled the beauty he had seen at the University of Hong Kong.
In truth, after watching countless beautiful women on Douyin in his previous life, Yang Wendong had become more or less immune to such things. But the visual impact of twin sisters was still overwhelming.
From the other end of the phone, Bai Yujie let out a clear, melodic laugh. "Mr. Yang, don't tease me. How could I be considered a campus belle?"
Yang Wendong replied, "I visited your campus last time and looked around quite a bit, but I didn't see anyone prettier than you. If you're not the campus belle, then who is?"
The term "campus belle" had already existed as early as the Republican era and was, of course, used in Hong Kong as well. That said, people usually didn't go around ranking others openly.
Besides, in this era, university students were few and far between. To be recognized as a campus belle generally required more than just beauty—it also meant being intelligent and talented.
Bai Yujie sounded a little pleased as she replied, "That's only because you haven't visited our campus enough times. If you came by more often, I'm sure you'd see plenty of other beautiful students!"
Yang Wendong chuckled and asked, "Is Miss Bai inviting me to visit the university again?"
In this era, the term "Miss" still carried a positive connotation...
Bai Yujie paused for a moment, then said, "Yes, but mainly, I want to ask you about the Rubik's Cube."
"The Rubik's Cube? Don't tell me you've figured out how to solve it?" Yang Wendong teased with a smile.
He knew she was likely calling for a reason, most probably to dig deeper into the Rubik's Cube issue from last time.
Sure, he wasn't bad-looking, but he didn't flatter himself enough to think a beautiful woman would call to ask him out just like that. Even though female university students were a bit more open-minded than the average woman in that era, the broader social background still had a conservative influence.
Besides, what attracted women the most in a man was his capability. Looks were just a bonus. In fact, even for men, while physical appearance might carry slightly more weight when judging women, it wasn't everything. Charisma, intellect, and talents were all critical factors too.
From the other end, Bai Yujie said, "Not quite. But someone managed to solve one face, and has done so multiple times."
"One face?" Yang Wendong asked in surprise, "Can they write out a systematic method for it? One that works regardless of the starting position and can consistently solve one face?"
Solving all six sides of a Rubik's Cube was hellishly difficult—so much so that even in his previous life, many people couldn't do it even after watching tutorials.
But solving just one face was much easier. With some turning and a bit of luck, it could be done.
Still, solving it randomly and discovering a method that guarantees success from any initial state were two entirely different things.
Bai Yujie's voice came through the receiver, tinged with skepticism: "Mr. Yang, are you saying there's really a method that works from any starting position to solve one face—or even all six?"
"Of course there is," Yang Wendong replied with a calm smile.
"You guys really have that kind of method?" Bai Yujie asked, sounding unconvinced.
"What do you think?" Yang Wendong shot back.
"Then if you already know how to solve it, why are you offering a reward?" she asked.
"Trade secret," Yang Wendong replied.
There was a short pause on the other end. Then she said, "I think you're just being mysterious on purpose."
Yang Wendong chuckled and countered, "You don't think there's a way to solve it?"
"In theory, I think it's possible," Bai Yujie answered. "But I don't believe there's a method that guarantees solving it from any configuration."
"If you don't believe me, how about you treat me to a meal, and I'll demonstrate it for you? How's that sound?" Yang Wendong offered.
"Aren't you afraid I'll learn it and claim the reward money?" she shot back.
"If it were that easy to learn, it wouldn't be worth much in the first place," Yang Wendong replied nonchalantly.
Even with detailed formulas, guides, or even video tutorials, learning how to solve a Rubik's Cube still took time and lots of practice.
Besides, he wasn't going to hand out any reference materials. If she wanted to learn by watching alone, she'd be almost in the same boat as trying to figure it out herself.
There was a brief silence before Bai Yujie said, "Alright, I'll treat you to a meal. But I'm just a broke student. I can only afford a meal at the university canteen."
"Sure! I haven't eaten there before," Yang Wendong agreed with a laugh.
The last time he went to HKU, he treated Professor Yang to a meal, but naturally, that was at a restaurant. Asking a professor to eat at the school canteen would've been laughable.
"When are you coming, then?" Bai Yujie asked.
"That's up to you. I'm pretty free these days," Yang Wendong replied truthfully.
Most of the critical matters he was involved in were currently in waiting mode. Qiansheng was handling the adhesive factory and technical matters in the U.S., Wei Zetao was managing the new factory and the bank loan, and Zhou Xianlong was overseeing production.
All Yang had to do was stay informed and step in to make decisions when needed. Delegating tasks to trusted subordinates was a basic skill for any business leader. If he had to do everything himself, he'd collapse from exhaustion.
As the company's top decision-maker, what he needed to focus on was long-term strategy and planning. And right now, outside of their existing business lines, the Rubik's Cube was the most important venture.
Unless one day he came up with an even better product idea.
"Hmm…" Bai Yujie paused for a bit and then said, "How about the day after tomorrow at noon? Come to our campus. Just give me a call before you come—here's the number: 257…63."
"Got it." Yang Wendong wrote the number down on a Post-it and said, "I'll head over the day after tomorrow."
"Great!" Bai Yujie sounded cheerful. "There are so many students at our university who are really interested in the Rubik's Cube right now. Mr. Yang, you'll need to bring more background info so I can write a proper article for the campus paper!"
Yang Wendong asked, "What kind of information are you looking for?"
Bai Yujie replied, "For example—who invented this thing, how did it come about, what was the purpose of creating it?
Or even better, who is the inventor? Mr. Yang, you must know, right? If you could bring the inventor along for an interview, that would be amazing!"
Yang Wendong paused before saying, "Let's talk more when we meet."
"OK, that works," Bai Yujie replied easily. "Well, I'll hang up now—see you the day after tomorrow!"
"Alright—" Before Yang Wendong could finish, the other side had already hung up.
That was quick.
She was clearly just an inexperienced young girl. Anyone with a bit more social experience would never hang up that abruptly—unless it was a close friend or a subordinate. Otherwise, they'd usually linger a bit and hang up at the right moment.
—
The next day at noon, Yang Wendong was eating lunch in his office while reviewing company documents.
As the boss, he didn't care about distinctions between work and break hours. Besides, entertainment options in this era were minimal. Maybe you could watch a bit of TV, but his office didn't even have one.
Even at home, though he had a TV set, he didn't watch much. The content on television during this time was often hard for him to sit through. And with only one station—Rediffusion Television—there wasn't much to see anyway.
Knock knock knock—
There was a knock at the door.
Yang Wendong looked up and smiled. "Haoyu? Come on in."
Lin Haoyu stepped into the room and saw the food on the desk. "Dong-ge, you're eating cafeteria food too?"
"Yeah, sometimes for convenience, I just eat a bit at the company canteen," Yang Wendong replied with a smile. "And while I'm at it, I can keep an eye on the kitchen staff—make sure they're not cutting corners."
The meals at Changxing Industrial might not be as lavish as those offered by some major companies in his previous life, but by current standards, they were already quite decent. Dishes often came with slices of meat, which wasn't common for most companies at the time.
Yang Wendong occasionally found it troublesome to go out and eat, so he'd just grab a tray of food from the canteen. Of course, as the boss, he got slightly bigger portions, but at least the food itself was the same as what employees were having.
After sitting down across from him, Lin Haoyu said, "Dong-ge, as you know, I'm in charge of our rodent control services, so I've met quite a few factory owners, warehouse managers, and even some folks from office buildings.
From what I've seen, most of them want to distance themselves from their workers as much as possible. It's rare for companies to give employees decent meals. A boss like you, eating the same food as the workers—if word got out, it'd probably be a news story!"
"Haha, the newspapers in Hong Kong don't really have much to report anyway," Yang Wendong chuckled.
There were plenty of newspaper companies in Hong Kong, but the content was ultimately rooted in this small city. There just wasn't that much to write about. In his previous life, he remembered how even a fireman rescuing a cat could make headlines in Hong Kong, and netizens from the mainland used to laugh at that.
Speaking of pest control, Yang Wendong asked, "The weather's warming up again. That should mean the rats are coming back out. Business on your end should be picking up, right?"
Both glue traps and pest control services were affected by the seasons. In winter, business slowed to a crawl.
Glue traps could technically be exported, but the global economy was still largely concentrated in the Northern Hemisphere. Winter in the north hit all temperature-sensitive industries hard—things like fans, short sleeves, refrigerators, and even their glue traps.
Thankfully, they had developed Post-it notes. Without that product, life wouldn't be as relaxed as it was now.
This was also part of why Yang Wendong wanted to branch out into the toy industry. Toys had a massive market and weren't affected by seasonal trends. While Post-it notes shared that advantage, a company couldn't just rest on its laurels after developing one successful product—it had to keep growing.
Lin Haoyu replied, "Business has been good lately. We've established long-term relationships with a lot of warehouses, office buildings, government departments—even hospitals.
An Yongqiang has been a huge help too. He occasionally arranges for us to carry out small-scale rodent control ops at the docks. Our name is getting out there now. We're getting more and more calls from people reaching out to us."
"Mm, looks like you're starting to break through to the public," Yang Wendong smiled. "Since An Yongqiang's helping us out, we should make sure he's properly thanked. That kind of etiquette is still important."
"I understand. We're definitely taking care of him," Lin Haoyu assured him. "Even with the larger office buildings that come through our contacts, we make sure they get something in return too."
"That's good," Yang Wendong nodded.
Lin Haoyu continued, "There's something else. I've been thinking about expanding more aggressively into Hong Kong Island's office buildings. You know how there aren't many big properties here in Kowloon."
Yang Wendong nodded. "Makes sense. Any issues?"
"Well, I wanted to run some ads in the papers, but most of them won't give us space," Lin Haoyu said awkwardly.
"They won't take your money?" Yang Wendong asked curiously. "Do they think it's too low-class because it's rat-related?"
"Exactly. A lot of papers say that even if they do give us space, it'd be in some back-corner position," Lin Haoyu explained. "Probably because real estate is hot right now, and all the prime ad space is going to property companies."
"Hmm, let me see," Yang Wendong stood up, walked over to a nearby bookshelf, and pulled out a recent newspaper.
He had a habit of reading the paper daily. The articles often contained useful information, especially in this era of the 50s and 60s when countless factors could influence Hong Kong's future.
After flipping through a few pages and focusing on the ad sections he'd never really paid attention to before, he said, "You're right. These ad slots are all taken by real estate, cars, shopping centers, cosmetics—even plastic flowers."
Lin Haoyu added, "Unless we offer a higher price, they're not budging. But our profit margins aren't that great to begin with. Spending too much on advertising would really hurt us.
I did find one paper willing to give us good placement, though. It's a newly established publication called Ming Pao."
"Ming Pao?" Yang Wendong's expression shifted. He asked quickly, "When did this paper launch?"
"Just earlier this year," Lin Haoyu said.
"Interesting…" Yang Wendong nodded, then said, "Alright, go ahead and work with them. Also, talk to them and see if we can buy more ad space. We're going to need it for the Rubik's Cube too."
"That shouldn't be a problem. They don't have much business right now," Lin Haoyu replied, but then hesitated. "Thing is, Dong-ge, this paper doesn't sell that well…
Glue traps are fine, but for your Rubik's Cube—shouldn't you be advertising in a bigger paper?"
Most of the staff at Changxing Industrial knew their boss placed a lot of importance on the Rubik's Cube. The 10,000-dollar reward applied to everyone, including internal employees.
That's why many of them, having easier access to the cubes, took them home to study. But so far, they'd only ended up scratching their heads, unable to make progress.
Yang Wendong asked instead, "Have you ever met Ming Pao's owner?"
"You mean Mr. Jin Yong?" Lin Haoyu replied. "No, I haven't met him. But the guy I've been dealing with keeps name-dropping him—otherwise I wouldn't have bothered with such a small paper."
Yang Wendong nodded. "Exactly. It's because of Jin Yong. If his novels are serialized in the paper, the circulation will definitely pick up."
Lin Haoyu scratched his head and said, "I've heard of his name. I even read a bit of his work before, but… some parts were hard to understand, so I didn't keep going."
"Well, his writing is very refined. He chooses his words carefully. It can be a bit challenging," Yang Wendong said thoughtfully. "But it's worth trying again. If you can finish one of his books, it'll be a good test of your reading level."
After all, just over a year ago, Lin Haoyu and Zhao Liming had basically been illiterate. Even after a year of study, they still couldn't fully grasp all the idioms and phrases formed from Chinese characters.
In this era, because of space limitations in newspapers, serialized novels had to be extremely concise. The number of newspapers was also limited, so only the best writers got published. Jin Yong was one of the best of the best.
Some of the characters and phrases in his novels were unfamiliar even to Yang Wendong, despite his literacy. It was a whole different world from the web novels of his past life.
"Alright, I'll find time to read The Legend of the Condor Heroes again," Lin Haoyu said with a grin.
Yang Wendong nodded. "Good. Let's start by partnering with Ming Pao. Have Liming place ads for the glue traps too, and Wei can advertise the Post-it notes there as well."
"Dong-ge, you really like Jin Yong's novels, huh?" Lin Haoyu asked.
"Yeah, I do…" Yang Wendong nodded.
Well, except for the part where Xiaolongnü was… You know.
When he was a kid watching the TV dramas, he didn't understand it. But when he grew up, just thinking about that storyline made him uncomfortable. No wonder Ming Pao got paint thrown on its doors back in the day...
Of course, as a savvy businessman, he had commercial motives too. Building a good relationship now could pay off big in the future—either through Jin Yong's personal influence or Ming Pao's future rise in circulation. Either way, it was a connection worth making.
Who knew? Other opportunities might follow.
It was all about timing.
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