That night, Fang Bai didn't know his future in-laws were talking about him, and the feeling of not being able to meet or acknowledge them made him feel slightly guilty.
He really wanted to tell them that he would take good care of Qin Shuyu for the rest of her life.
This might be the regret of a reborn person; his secret was his alone to keep.
Rebirth didn't necessarily make up for all regrets, unless Fang Bai's painful memories from before were washed away.
The next day, at nine in the morning, Fang Bai's pager beeped.
This was the second time it had beeped; the first time was the day before yesterday when Qin Shuyu called him.
He checked the message, which told him to find a phone booth nearby to return the call.
"Hello, may I ask who this is? This is Fang Bai."
"Hello, Mr. Fang, this is Huang Xing from Nanjiang Company."
Fang Bai heard the other party's sincere voice, and with him announcing his name, he immediately remembered.
This call surprised him; it seemed someone was looking for him.
Thinking of this, he politely said, "Hello, Mr. Huang, I didn't expect you to call me personally. What a pleasant surprise! I don't have your phone number, so I didn't recognize it. My apologies."
"It's like this: the main reason for my call this time is to thank you for helping us solve the butterfly valve problem last time."
"Mr. Huang, you're too kind. I just happened to stumble upon it by chance. Besides, it was just a small matter, no need to be so polite."
On Huang Xing's end, he was surprised by Fang Bai's humility and still appreciated it, so he directly said, "I have another matter. Last time you mentioned processing gate and globe valves, I said our old contract wasn't finished yet, otherwise we could have done a trial run for you.
Now, the old contract has just ended. Do you still have any interest? Of course, the quality must be guaranteed."
This was the first order delivered to his doorstep, so there was no reason for Fang Bai not to accept it.
If there were no fixtures, he would find a way to design and solve it. If he turned down the order, there wouldn't be a next time.
Even if he didn't do it himself, he could outsource the processing.
"Thank you, Mr. Huang. Of course, I'd like to do it! Not making money when you can is truly foolish."
"Haha, you're quite straightforward. Come over to my place when you have time, and we can discuss it in detail."
"Okay, no problem then."
Fang Bai waited for the other party to hang up before he hung up the phone.
The next steps were much simpler. Fang Bai rode his motorcycle to Nanjiang Valve Company, met Huang Xing, and the two signed a subcontracting agreement.
Huang Xing connected Fang Bai with the management responsible for outsourced processing, and the matter was settled.
When Fang Bai left Nanjiang Company, he checked his network quantity again, and it had indeed increased.
But the increase wasn't by 1, but by 2!
Huang Xing was actually an elite connection!
So, the quantity increased by 2.
Fang Bai's mouth slightly opened, and an undisguised expression of surprise appeared on his face.
It was so difficult to increase his network, and suddenly gaining 2 made him feel really good.
He had finally taken a step forward, even if it was a small one.
For Fang Bai, this was even more exciting than getting an order.
After leaving Nanjiang Company, Fang Bai rode his motorcycle to Jiayu Processing Factory and told Qin Donghai about the new order.
"Another order!"
Now Qin Donghai was both happy and distressed. The order volume from Hengli Company and Boli Company was quite large, finishing batch after batch, and now there was another company.
Working two shifts, they couldn't keep up!
But he didn't have money to add equipment, which made him extremely worried.
"Yes, you look unhappy. Should I take on a little less?" Fang Bai asked teasingly.
Qin Donghai immediately forced out a fawning smile: "Of course I'm happy about such a good thing! I'm just overly surprised."
Fang Bai didn't expect his future father-in-law to have this side. If the two families became related in the future, he might settle scores later.
Never mind, he shouldn't tease him about this.
"Take it slow. First, manage the workshop well. Orders aren't lacking; I'm afraid you'll be too busy to manage everything."
"That makes sense."
"I have something to do, so I'm leaving now."
Seeing Fang Bai leave in a hurry on his motorcycle again, Qin Donghai hesitated, wanting to tell him not to take on any more orders for now.
He was really afraid that Fang Bai would bring in more orders. What if they couldn't finish them? Delayed delivery would ruin their reputation, and it would be difficult to get orders in the future.
Before, he worried about too few orders; now, he worried about too many.
Adding equipment was urgent. A universal lathe and a drilling machine, according to the current market, new equipment would cost at least sixty thousand yuan, and they were hard to buy.
The few thousand yuan he just received, plus his savings, weren't enough!
With limited funds, he should look for used equipment first.
Even if orders decreased, selling the equipment wouldn't result in much loss.
It's just that used equipment carried more risk; if he bought a machine with a high repair rate, it would be a wasted investment.
But what he said was right: he had to manage the workshop well first.
In the evening, Qin Donghai wanted to discuss the investment with his wife.
"Wife, I want to add equipment to expand production, but I don't have enough funds on hand, that's one thing;
On the other hand, I'm a bit afraid that Brother Fang will leave me and go solo. Then, after I add equipment, I won't get any orders, and that would be troublesome."
"Husband, since you're already caught by Fang Bai, why don't you just partner with him? Let him invest, he handles external matters, and you handle internal ones."
Qin Donghai immediately shook his head: "You're thinking too simply. How much investment is appropriate? Is he willing? If he invests too much, I'll become an employee.
I used to earn less, but I was working for myself. Suddenly changing roles feels a bit unaccustomed."
"Then it's up to you. As long as you're happy, it's fine. Anyway, the money we earn is already enough to spend." Chen Jiahui didn't really want to interfere with her husband's decision.
That night, Qin Donghai lost sleep worrying about adding equipment.
Fang Bai didn't know his father-in-law was worried about this; he still wanted to find a suitable opportunity to partner up. He found orders quickly, but his production capacity was insufficient.
For him, who was primary and who was secondary didn't matter; he just wanted to fulfill his father-in-law's wish to build a large company.
Looking at it from another perspective, as long as he married Qin Shuyu, would the amount of shares still matter?
Of course, given his father-in-law's current situation, Fang Bai still had to take the lead until his father-in-law was capable of managing a large-scale company well.
Currently, Fang Bai was just training his father-in-law, observing him a little each day and guiding him when he saw problems.
His father-in-law's management ability hadn't yet met Fang Bai's requirements, and he couldn't bring in too many orders, as forcing his father-in-law to be too tired would make him feel guilty too.
Qin Donghai would never have imagined that he was already working for his future son-in-law and had already fallen into the trap.