In terms of stocks, there was still money to be made from investments back then.
Fang Bai remembered that the old A-shares began trading in December of that year, but even with money, it wasn't guaranteed you could buy them; most stock holders were unwilling to easily trade their shares, leading to a market with demand but no supply.
Additionally, before May 1992, the stock exchange implemented a 0.5% and 1% daily price limit system, so even if prices kept rising, they didn't rise much, making it difficult to earn money this way.
It wasn't until January 1992 that Shanghai first issued "Stock Subscription Certificates," priced at 30 yuan each, with unlimited issuance, but it was said that sales were poor, and the sale was extended; out of a planned five million copies, only over two million were ultimately sold.
However, after four rounds of lottery draws, the success rate exceeded three-quarters, and successful subscription certificates could be used to purchase original shares with extremely low face value; at their peak, each successful subscription certificate could earn one thousand yuan.
Fang Bai remembered these details mainly because many people from Wen City participated and made a lot of money; for example, Chen Jiahui, a private entrepreneur from Jiangnan Province, who made tens of millions of yuan by buying ten thousand subscription certificates, had his story widely circulated in Wen City.
However, Fang Bai did not remember the exact time and specific circumstances.
If he had ample funds, he could invest in some stocks, but he currently didn't; it would be much better to use the money for operations, as the returns would likely be far superior to stock investments.
Overall, within the next two years, the only viable operation would be the 1992 subscription certificates, which still required more than a year's wait.
Of course, if Fang Bai, as an external factor, purchased a large quantity, it would greatly reduce the success rate, but it might also prevent the extended sale; various possibilities existed, and he was an uncertain factor that would not affect the value of the subscription certificates.
In the next year or two, he should try his best to accumulate wealth to prepare for acquiring the subscription certificates, as this was the best opportunity to get rich quickly in the coming years.
Beyond that, he was unaware of the domestic and international stock market conditions in the years that followed.
As for the internet era, that was still far off and not a priority for Fang Bai to consider within the next few years.
Fang Bai didn't know much about some future events, so he would definitely miss some investment opportunities.
Moreover, even if he knew about some investments, he might not necessarily be able to participate in them.
For example, with internet companies like Alibaba, Tencent, and JD.com, if he created them himself, they might develop better, but they might also develop very poorly, not as good as in his previous life; Fang Bai didn't think that just because he was reborn, he would necessarily be superior to the founders of those companies.
Objectively speaking, perhaps it would be better for him to be an investor than to create something himself.
Of course, the prerequisite was that others would be willing to accept his investment; having money but no resources didn't necessarily mean the other party would be happy to accept the investment.
Regardless, Fang Bai was certain that by utilizing his Golden Finger and developing in his areas of expertise, he would definitely achieve great success.
In fact, at a high level, such as having one hundred or two hundred million in wealth, money wasn't particularly important to him; rather, it was about what ideals he wanted to achieve, or what changes he could bring to the country that didn't exist in his previous life.
Fang Bai hoped even more to use his Golden Finger to develop high technology, break foreign technological monopolies, and embark on the path of a technologically strong nation.
This was his biggest dream.
He didn't know if his Golden Finger could help him reach that point, but he had to try; even if it didn't work, it wouldn't matter.
Thinking of this, Fang Bai's thoughts became clearer.
He needed to earn as much money as possible in the early stage, as only with money could he support his dream.
For now, he wouldn't overthink things; having a general direction was enough.
Checking the time, it was only ten in the morning; he planned to visit his father-in-law's workshop.
Fang Bai tidied himself up a bit, carrying a black leather briefcase he bought from a street vendor, making him look like a successful person and appearing a bit more mature.
He took a pedicab to an alley, in front of a row of tiled houses.
The internal walls of this row of tiled houses had all been knocked down, covering an area of over one hundred square meters; the main gate was wide open, a Jialing motorcycle was parked at the entrance, two machine tools were placed inside, and some industrial valve bodies were arranged on the concrete floor.
This was his father-in-law Qin Donghai's machinery processing workshop: Jiayu Processing Factory.
The name was derived from his mother-in-law Chen Jiahui's 'Jia' and Qin Shuyu's 'Yu', showing that his father-in-law was very fond of his family, though he was a bit stubborn about certain things.
In his previous life, Fang Bai and his father-in-law partnered in business, and they had differences of opinion on business direction; Fang Bai wanted to create his own brand products, while his father-in-law was more conservative, feeling that he lacked the technology to make products, that the risk was too great, and after failing once, he didn't dare to try again, yet he still longed to have his own brand products, so his thoughts were quite contradictory.
Fang Bai looked at the processing factory before him, his mind filled with countless thoughts, recalling too many past events.
According to Fang Bai, this tiled house had already been bought by his father-in-law, but the family did not live here; instead, they lived in the city.
At this moment, two workers inside were busy operating machine tools.
One of them, with a square face, a buzz cut, slightly dark skin, neither fat nor thin, and about 1.7 meters tall, was Qin Donghai.
Fang Bai walked to the entrance, and the people inside noticed him but didn't pay much attention.
Only when he walked into the workshop did Qin Donghai stop what he was doing, wipe his hands, and before he could speak, Fang Bai smiled and said, "Boss, business is booming."
When Fang Bai offered a cigarette and Qin Donghai then looked at Fang Bai's attire, he felt that this young man was unusual; he looked to be in his twenties, but his every move exuded the demeanor of an experienced socialite.
It was common for young people to enter society early in the local area, and some even became bosses, so Fang Bai's youth did not cause Qin Donghai much doubt.
Qin Donghai wiped his hands with a rag, took the cigarette, and said with a chuckle, "It's alright, just not making much money. What's your surname, Boss?"
The order volume was decent, but most orders had passed through multiple hands, significantly reducing the profit margin, and some payments were simply unrecoverable.
He had also tried to find orders himself, but it wasn't that easy, so most of the orders he did were walk-in orders.
Large factories commissioning outsourced work required factory inspections to see if you had the processing capability; they wouldn't just agree because you asked, unless there was a strong connection.
Outsourcing was tough; if a company's order volume increased, they'd add equipment and workers themselves; if the order volume was small, they wouldn't outsource; all the work was urgent, or things they couldn't do themselves, with deadlines that were killers, high delivery pressure, and countless demands, and often, after one order, there was no next one.
For some products, the material cost was a few tens of yuan, processing fees only a dozen yuan, but the selling price was several hundred yuan, making one envious.
Only with one's own products could one have a say, but that required projects and technology; he had failed before, and he knew his own limitations, knowing he wasn't cut out for it.
"No need for formalities, my name is Fang Bai."
Fang Bai offered cigarettes but didn't smoke himself; he casually glanced at the workpieces on the ground and immediately knew what products his father-in-law was currently outsourcing.
Large factory valve bodies had their company LOGO cast on them, and insiders could tell which manufacturer they belonged to.
"Fangzheng's 2-inch gate valves, Jiangnan's 4-inch globe valves, both are quite good."
Qin Donghai heard that Fang Bai recognized the manufacturer at a glance, indicating he was in the same industry, and asked curiously, "Is Boss Fang also in contract manufacturing?"
Fang Bai shook his head and smiled, "No, I'm a salesperson looking for a machining factory to process valves."
"Yes, I can process both gate and globe valves here, the quality is fine, as long as payment is on time, I can deliver on schedule." Qin Donghai became even more enthusiastic, his face beaming with smiles.
However, he was also a bit worried; typically, salespeople drove prices down too much, and as long as the quality was acceptable, they would give the work to whoever was cheapest, without regard for personal relationships.
Fang Bai chatted with his father-in-law: "I see your factory doesn't have a large volume of outsourced work, but it's for big factories, so I'm guessing it's been passed through several hands."
"Alas, yes, others can't finish it, so they pass it to me; I can only get a little bit of profit." Qin Donghai smiled bitterly.
Fang Bai nodded; he was clear about his father-in-law's outsourcing prices and saw no need to shake hands to gauge them.
In fact, machining outsourcing prices were quite transparent; for example, drilling a hole of a certain size, the material, precision requirements, plate thickness, workpiece weight, ease of clamping, and then what kind of drilling machine was needed, how many could be processed per hour, all allowed for an estimation of the processing price.
Fang Bai was confident in getting orders, mainly because he had an information advantage; he understood the situation of the larger valve factories in Wen City.
For some larger valve factories, the workshop director or even supervisor could decide where to outsource, and company executives didn't pay much attention to these details, only the results.
For smaller companies, generally, company executives or the boss handled outsourced processing, so approaching workshop leaders was not very useful.
To find orders, one had to find the right person, otherwise, it would be a wasted effort.
Fang Bai sought his father-in-law for contract manufacturing, partly to help him, partly to earn money himself, and also to strengthen his relationship with his father-in-law; it was a win-win situation, so why not?
After gaining his father-in-law's trust, he would then help him escape the difficult cycle of contract manufacturing.
Fang Bai chatted with his father-in-law for a few minutes, finally mentioning that he might bring a client to inspect the factory and that he would say he was a partner.
His father-in-law was also a sensible person; salespeople without their own factories liked to tell clients, "I'm familiar with this factory, and I'm also a partner."
The contract manufacturing price wasn't discussed; they would talk about it once there was an intention.
Having settled things with his father-in-law, Fang Bai went to find orders.