Chapter 130: Adhesive Hook Prototype and Moving into a New Home
"Mid-to-high-end positioning?" Wei Zetao and Hong Xuefei were momentarily stunned by the term.
After all, Hong Kong's factories had long been synonymous with cheap labor and low-cost exports. No one had seriously considered taking Hong Kong-made goods upmarket to sell at premium prices overseas.
Yang Wendong nodded. "That's right. Since our product is patented—essentially unique—why should we race to the bottom in price? We build factories for profit, not charity. This isn't a livelihood industry; it's not about essential goods. Every transaction is voluntary."
That had always been Yang Wendong's principle: as long as it didn't concern life-or-death essentials, he would treat it as pure business. Of course, when it came to the local population—be it Hongkongers or other Chinese communities his business reached—he still exercised moral consideration. But Europeans, Americans, Japanese? He didn't feel responsible for their wallets.
Wei nodded. "You're absolutely right, Mr. Yang. We never thought of it that way. Take those recently popular plastic flowers, for example—even the best manufacturers are still chasing low-price, high-volume models.
Most factories rely on razor-thin cost control. If prices go up, they'll lose their customers."
"Different businesses need different positioning." Yang smiled. "We could become the first Hong Kong company with its own brand identity. Turn Deli into Asia's version of 3M, and sell our products all over the world."
Wei grinned. "Build a Chinese brand of our own—Mr. Yang, your vision is really something else. I admire it."
"Don't flatter me," Yang waved it off. "It's not that others don't want to do this—it's that they can't. Everyone wants their own brand if they can manage it."
History showed that by the 1980s, some Hong Kong manufacturers did begin to build their own brands.
In apparel, there were Goldlion, Giordano, and Crocodile. In toys, Yone and Kader. Even in electronics, there was VTech, a future billion-dollar global player.
But compared to Hong Kong's dominant real estate industry, these were still minor players.
"True," both Wei and Hong nodded with a laugh.
At first, the whole "mid-to-high-end" brand strategy had seemed like wishful thinking. But the more they studied 3M's model, the more it made sense.
Three days later, the air parcel from the U.S. arrived at the Changxing Industrial factory.
Yang had just arrived at the company too. When he saw the package, he carried it directly into Wei's office, where Hong was already chatting with Wei.
"Mr. Yang," Wei said as he quickly stood and set down a copy of Ming Pao, "is that the package from the States?"
"Yeah." Yang set it down on the meeting table, then glanced at the newspaper. "You were reading Ming Pao? That means you're keeping up with Return of the Condor Heroes?"
Wei looked a little sheepish. "Just during my lunch break…"
"No worries. It is lunchtime." Yang laughed. "Didn't you say you were going to wait for the whole novel to finish before reading it?"
"Well…" Wei chuckled. "It started with my trip to Ming Pao for the Rubik's Cube ad. Shen Baoxin pulled me aside to talk business. During lunch, we couldn't just keep talking work, so we got to chatting about Mr. Jin Yong's new novel. He hyped it up so much I couldn't resist—I started reading."
"Haha, chasing chapters can be fun in its own way." Yang grinned. "A little bit every day keeps life interesting. Honestly, binge-reading the whole thing at once is more exhausting."
"Yeah, but 2,000 characters a day is too slow. And sometimes there's no update at all—it's painful," Wei said with mock despair.
"Where are you in the story?" Yang asked.
"Yang Guo and Xiaolongnü just left the tomb and trapped Li Mochou inside. It was really satisfying," Wei said.
"'Satisfying,' huh…" Yang fell silent. He knew what was coming. In his previous life, that particular storyline would spark controversy, even vandalism at Ming Pao, and even threats against Jin Yong.
Seeing Yang's reaction, Wei asked, "Something wrong, Mr. Yang?"
"Oh, no." Yang smiled faintly. Of course, he couldn't spoil the story. "So, how's the Rubik's Cube doing?"
Wei replied, "We've sent stock to Taiwan, Thailand, and the Philippines. Taiwan's doing okay, but the numbers aren't great. Southeast Asia is even worse.
We used the same model as in Hong Kong—send staff to universities, offer a reward. But it's tough in unfamiliar territory. The cost is high, and it's hard to get students to notice or trust us."
Yang nodded. "Makes sense. Outside of Hong Kong, this model becomes a lot more expensive and time-consuming."
Offering a HKD 10,000 reward was easy, but even in Hong Kong, it had been difficult to get the word out.
This wasn't the age of social media. There was no TikTok, no Instagram. Even television wasn't widespread in much of Asia yet, and ad rates were sky-high.
"Exactly," Wei agreed. "The Rubik's Cube doesn't have the inherent utility of Post-its or adhesive hooks. It's not a necessity. Without serious investment and time, it's hard to promote."
"No rush," Yang said. "The Rubik's Cube isn't about making quick money—it's our tool to build overseas distributor relationships.
If it takes years to do that, so be it. As long as we end up with those connections, it's worth it."
Wei nodded. "Let's wait for the toy expo in the U.S. If we find a distributor there who likes the Rubik's Cube, we might make a breakthrough."
"Yeah. A little spending to meet international partners is worth it," Yang agreed. "Just waiting for the right person to recognize the opportunity."
And he was confident someone eventually would. The Rubik's Cube had explosive potential, but it needed major backing to go viral. And those kinds of partners didn't work for free.
Meanwhile, Hong Xuefei had grabbed a utility knife, sliced open the box, and revealed piles of English documents—and several small bottles of glue.
Yang picked one up. "Old Qian really delivered—he even sent us samples."
Wei counted them. "Four different adhesives. All supposedly suitable for our needs, but we'll need testing to see which is best."
"Alright, set up the tests," Yang instructed.
"Will do," Wei nodded. "I'll have the manuals translated first. The high-low temperature test chambers we ordered aren't here yet. For now, we can only run high-temperature tests with the one unit we have.
Once the translations are done and the equipment arrives, we'll run comprehensive tests."
Yang nodded. "How's the mold coming?"
"About 10 more days," Wei replied. "It's an 8-cavity mold—each press gives us eight adhesive hooks. One cycle takes about 30 seconds. Very efficient."
"That's over 20,000 per day, then?" Yang calculated aloud. "Not bad. Still, hard to predict future demand."
Once the hooks hit the market, demand could very well exceed Post-its.
Wei laughed. "It's definitely going to blow up."
"Yeah, I think so too," Yang said. "Anyway, I'll leave you guys to the R&D. I'm heading to Yee Fu Garden—the renovations are almost done. I'm moving in soon."
"Congratulations on your new home, Mr. Yang!" Wei and Hong said in unison.
"Thanks," Yang smiled. Moving into a newer, more modern home was definitely something to be happy about. "Oh, and tell the canteen to prepare more meat dishes tomorrow—especially meat. I want everyone in the company to have a good meal."
"Will do," Wei said cheerfully. A generous boss always made management easier.
Yang nodded. "Alright then, I'm off."
"Goodbye, Mr. Yang," the two replied.
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