The next morning, Lin Baicheng brought his older sister, Lin Shufang, to the factory.
Once they arrived at the office reserved for the boss, Lin Baicheng called Liu Yihui in and introduced them.
"Old Liu, from now on my sister will be in charge of managing the company's finances. You'll need to cooperate with her on this."
"Don't worry, Mr. Lin. I'll make sure to work well with Manager Lin," Liu Yihui replied, nodding. As for how to address her, he decided on "Manager Lin." Calling her "Little Lin" would be far too inappropriate.
"Sorry to trouble you, Factory Director Liu," Lin Shufang said politely.
Lin Baicheng continued, "Old Liu, hire a cashier to assist my sister."
The reason he wanted to hire someone was that his sister didn't have any prior accounting experience—she needed to learn and build her skills.
"Alright, Mr. Lin," Liu Yihui agreed, then asked, "What about the head of procurement?"
"Take a look and see whether it's better to promote someone internally or hire from outside. I only have one requirement for procurement—honesty. The company absolutely can't afford someone who takes kickbacks and ends up buying low-quality materials."
Originally, Lin Baicheng had wanted to find a trusted acquaintance for the role, but after talking with his parents the night before, he realized none of their relatives or friends were qualified. So he had to drop the idea.
In truth, his sister wasn't particularly qualified for finance either, but that position was too critical—it had to be handled by someone he completely trusted. If he handed company finances to a stranger who later ran off overseas with the money, it'd be a disaster.
"There's an older worker in the factory who's familiar with procurement work and very honest," Liu Yihui said. "He could take charge of purchasing."
"Handle it as you see fit," Lin Baicheng replied. "You're the factory director—if anything goes wrong, you'll be held responsible too."
He nodded slightly to remind Liu, then added, "Yesterday, I asked Captain Wu to recruit six more security guards for the factory. When they arrive, screen them first. I'll meet them later myself. The recruits must have families, clean records, and the ability to fight when necessary."
"Understood, Mr. Lin."
Liu hesitated, then decided to mention, "Mr. Lin, Captain Wu and his men are actually from the north. The people he recruits will likely also come from there."
By "the north," he meant the mainland.
"From the mainland?" Lin Shufang asked. She and Lin Baicheng's mother were originally from there.
"Yes," Liu confirmed, glancing toward Lin Baicheng—uncertain whether this new boss might have any prejudice against mainlanders.
"It doesn't matter," Lin Baicheng said with a nod. "As long as they can fight and have no issues, I don't care where they come from."
He didn't say it outright, but the fact that he was willing to hire Wu Jianjun and the others—despite knowing they were from the mainland—already made his stance clear. Some things were better done than said, especially in Hong Kong during these times.
Since Lin Baicheng didn't mind, Liu Yihui didn't press the issue. He had only mentioned it out of professional responsibility, not prejudice. If he had a problem with mainlanders, he wouldn't have worked with Wu Jianjun and his men for so long.
"Oh, right," Lin Baicheng suddenly remembered as he was about to dismiss Liu. "About the two foreign employees—make sure to inform them their job duties have changed. They no longer need to scout for popular arcade games on the market. Instead, I want them to research their home countries' arcade markets—figure out how we can break into the U.S. and Japanese markets once our own game is ready."
"This…" Liu hesitated. "Mr. Lin, they're not full-time employees—more like part-time contractors. Normally, their job is just to spot hit arcade titles, report them to us, and help contact the developers. That's all. Their pay isn't very high either. If you ask them to take on these new tasks, they might not agree."
"I see."
Lin Baicheng frowned slightly. He had underestimated the situation—he'd been hoping to use those two to break into the American and Japanese markets.
"Alright, then. Explain the company's new direction to them. Tell them we're developing our own games and planning to enter the U.S. and Japanese markets—maybe even set up branch offices there one day. Ask if they'd be interested in joining full-time. If they can really help us open those markets, they'll become senior executives of those branches."
"I'll talk to them," Liu said with a wry smile. To him, Lin Baicheng's plan sounded like pie in the sky—too ambitious, maybe even unrealistic. Forget overseas branches; he just hoped the factory wouldn't go bankrupt. Otherwise, he'd be the one job-hunting again.
"If they refuse or can't manage it," Lin added firmly, "start recruiting suitable people in those two countries. I will break into those markets."
Hong Kong was too small a base of operations. Without tapping into the U.S. and Japan, Europe would be even harder to reach—and he'd lose out on enormous profits.
Liu could only nod. He might think the plan was wasteful, but the boss's word was final.
After giving his instructions, Lin Baicheng dismissed Liu and continued talking with his sister for a while.
Even though they hadn't hired professional accountants or cashiers yet, he still asked her to manage the company's account. From his remaining HK$800,000, he transferred HK$700,000 into the company's account. With her handling the money, he felt at ease.
HK$700,000 wasn't much, but it was enough to make their first game. Lin would handle the game development himself; only the music, voice work, and hardware for the arcade cabinets would require significant spending.
If the first game didn't sell well, he'd have to wait until he earned more from his novels or new book deals before making another.
After that, Lin didn't stay long at the factory. He returned home to continue writing while using his spare time to develop the game.
Balancing both the novel's dictation and the game's design was tiring—but since the novel was nearing completion, and he only developed during breaks, it was still manageable.
Of course, he needed to rest too. Talking nonstop would dry his throat eventually.