Back to 1958: Creating a Century-Long Family Empire

Chapter 78: Full-Scale Preparation

In the past half-month, the internal operations of Changxing Industries had become increasingly busy.

Glue board production, once buoyed by a flood of orders from Japan and the UK, had slowed down significantly. Though winter hadn't fully arrived in those countries, distributors already had stockpiles.

The only remaining orders came from a few companies dealing with Southeast Asian trade, but their volume was a mere fraction of what it once was.

Out of 126 workers, only 50 remained on glue board production in a low-output maintenance mode. The rest had shifted to handcrafting sticky notes to meet the growing demand from businesses across Hong Kong.

In the cramped office, Su Yiyi was hunched over an accounting ledger, calculating quickly. Then, raising her head, she looked at Yang Wendong and said seriously, "Dong-ge, we've already invested about 10,000 HKD in the past few weeks. If this continues, we won't be able to hold on much longer."

"Let me take a look." Yang took the ledger and skimmed through it. Then he nodded and said, "Yeah, we've spent a lot. But it's worth it. The glue board inventory may not be turning into cash now, but once spring comes, and it warms up in Japan and Europe, we'll be able to sell it all at once.

And I've also found two U.S. trading companies interested."

Su Yiyi nodded. "Mm… But the cash flow pressure is still real. The Japanese machine should be arriving soon, right?"

"It's almost here — just a few more days," Yang replied. "Once it's installed and running, and we can mass-produce sticky notes, we'll have our cash cow. But yeah, this period is tight."

Su Yiyi smiled. "It's because you're too kind. Even with pressure, you didn't lay off a single person. You didn't even reduce food quality for the workers."

Yang shook his head with a chuckle. "I didn't lay people off because I know this is only a temporary squeeze. It's not threatening the company's survival — yet.

Also, we still need manpower for sticky notes, and glue boards will be profitable again later.

But if it ever comes to a real life-or-death moment for the company, I won't hesitate. Like the old saying goes: 'The benevolent don't command armies.' Business is the same. You've got to learn that."

"The benevolent don't command armies?" Su Yiyi blinked. "That's… surprisingly reasonable."

Yang laughed. "How's your study going with Liming and Haoyu?"

Su Yiyi replied, "We're getting there. We can now read newspapers with a dictionary — at least get the gist of things. But some parts, even when I recognize every word, I still don't understand the meaning."

Yang nodded. "That's normal. Even I don't understand everything. The important thing is, you can now understand basic content. There's plenty of time to learn the rest."

"You're still way ahead of us though," Su Yiyi said. "That time you spoke with Elena in English — I didn't understand a word, but just being able to talk to foreigners like that is impressive."

Yang smiled. "It's just basic communication — enough for now. Once you all finish learning Chinese properly, it'll be time to learn English."

"Eh? English too?" Zhao Liming, who had just entered, looked startled. "I only know the 26 letters…"

Yang nodded. "Yes. It's essential. Once our financial situation improves next year, I'm going to hire professional tutors. You all need to learn, and I'll join you when I can."

"But why? I see those foreign devils — they all speak Chinese."

Yang shook his head. "Sure, they speak Chinese. But they're the ones in charge. If we want to climb higher in Hong Kong, we must speak English.

Our product markets are overseas. I'm not saying you need to learn German or Japanese, but English is non-negotiable — it's the global language."

Even post-1997, and even outside former British colonies, English still dominated. Between the British and the Americans, the language had become the world's most influential — and among Western languages, it was the easiest to learn.

"Oh…" Zhao Liming nodded thoughtfully. "I guess that makes sense."

Yang continued, "We're living better than when we were stuck in the squatter huts, sure. But it's still not enough. You've seen the high-rises and villas on Hong Kong Island — don't you want to live in places like that someday?

If you do, it'll take capability, not luck. Learning language and essential job skills is just the foundation. You might not succeed even with it, but without it, there's zero chance."

Success wasn't guaranteed even for the educated. But for those who didn't try to learn — failure was inevitable.

And that oft-quoted idea that "choice is more important than effort"? Well, you couldn't even make the right choice without vision and ability, and those came from learning.

Zhao chuckled, "I'm good with where I live now — just want to make it a little nicer. Dong-ge, you're the one who should be living over there."

Yang laughed. "Don't worry, you'll all change."

People always changed. In poverty, their greatest wish might just be three meals a day. But once they had that, they'd want more.

As his business grew and captured more opportunities, Yang knew it wouldn't stay a small workshop forever. Bringing in outside talent would become inevitable. Still, he hoped his early brothers-in-arms could come along for the journey — not just by title, but by capability.

And if not, well, they could still enjoy life as retired landlords — not a bad life either.

By month's end, the Japanese-made equipment finally arrived at the port — thanks in no small part to An Yongqiang, who pulled some strings as a senior dockside contact.

That same day, a Japanese engineer stationed in Hong Kong came to supervise the installation and calibration, and provided basic training and after-sales guidance.

That afternoon, as the engineer wrapped up and left, Yang turned to a young man beside him.

"Ah Long, you're the only one who received professional training for this machine. From now on, it's in your hands."

Ah Long nodded. "Got it, Dong-ge. You can count on me."

"Good. Try it out tonight. Tomorrow, we begin full-scale production."

Thank you for the support, friends. If you want to read more chapters in advance, go to my Patreon.

Read 20 Chapters In Advance: patreon.com/johanssen10