Tech startup: I really do make mobile phones!

Chapter 43 Drive them away? Pure White gives
Remote laboratory.

At this moment, the four colleagues who had secretly checked the equipment returned, nodded discreetly to Secretary Zhang, and reported in a low voice.

"The equipment is fine, Secretary Zhang!"

Zhao Tiezhu, being sharp-eyed and close by, overheard their hushed conversation and exchanged a glance with Chen Mo.

"Brother Chen! It seems we don't need Engineer Li to confirm the equipment list for this lab!"

In reality, Engineer Li had already switched jobs to become a founding member of the newly established CATL (Contemporary Amperex Technology Co., Limited), so he didn't have time to confirm with him.

"Yes!" Xiao Zhang said with a forced smile, holding the folder. "You can pack up and leave now. Our company will handle the rest!"

As Chen Mo spoke, he had already put ten prototype batteries into an explosion-proof box that had been labeled.

As he closed the box, Zhao Tiezhu suddenly pointed to the corner of the control panel: "Hey, Brother Chen! Don't forget to grab the mosquito repellent!"

Frugality is a virtue, especially since it was Zhao Tiezhu's own money that was being spent.

Xiao Zhang's colleagues behind him exchanged glances, watching Zhao Tiezhu run off to take the bottle of floral water as if afraid they would snatch it away. This was somewhat of a dig at them.

"Forehead"

Xiao Zhang's Adam's apple bobbed as he wondered if the fairy would even look at his hand-me-down generic stuff.
"Let's go! No need to pack!"

Seeing so many people staring at him, Chen Mo understood why.

This is to prevent myself and Zhao Tiezhu from getting angry and tampering with the equipment!
No, really not. Chen Mo had already finished working on the battery and data and was about to leave when you returned the rental fee. He should be thanking you for it!
How could I possibly have any thoughts of revenge!

Unfortunately! Xiao Zhang and the others naturally didn't believe that Chen Mo was so "generous".

Chen Mo stuffed the brown paper bag containing the rent money into his lab computer bag and slung it over his shoulder. Then he picked up the explosion-proof box containing 10 "premium" prototype batteries for testing.

Now he has the most valuable thing in the entire laboratory—the core data on gaseous batteries, and 10 usable prototype batteries.

Zhao Tiezhu didn't take the small pillow or blanket. He kept a straight face, afraid of laughing out loud. He just grabbed a bottle of floral water, picked up the waste explosion-proof box, and left.

As they exited the elevator, Zhao Tiezhu suddenly nudged Chen Mo with his shoulder and gestured with his chin toward the security room.

"Brother Chen! Old Liu is reading the newspaper, should I go say hello?"

Chen Mo nodded and went to wait for him under the shade of the company's outer wall.

The window of the security room.

Zhao Tiezhu took out a box of Baisha cigarettes and said, "Uncle Liu!" He then handed the cigarettes to him.

Security guard Lao Liu looked him up and down and said, "You're leaving, kid?"

"Yes!" Zhao Tiezhu laughed heartily, his smile infectious. "I'll come back to see you again when I have the chance!"

"Cough cough!" Old Liu coughed from the smoke. Watching the two walk out of the Yuantu Company's gate, he suddenly muttered to himself, "The company hasn't even paid next month's salary yet. You probably won't see me when you come back!"

After walking a while from the company, Chen Mo and Zhao Tiezhu exchanged a glance, and the latter suddenly burst into a muffled laugh.

"Brother Chen! This move by Yuantu Company is like giving us a week of free lab time. The carbon dioxide tanks are all brand new, and even the racks in the incubator are stainless steel."

"Alright!" Chen Mo tapped the explosion-proof box and joked, "Luckily they didn't check too closely, otherwise you wouldn't have been able to hide the fact that you were roasting sweet potatoes in a constant temperature box!"

The main problem is that you should just roast sweet potatoes, but you have to put them on a stainless steel rack. The burnt parts are black and you can't wash them off.

Chen Mo's frozen cola, at most, only retained the residual heat of the freezer's testing chamber, leaving no trace.

The living conditions for researchers in the lab are what they are. As long as it's safe and doesn't affect the experiments, they can try to improve them themselves.
If it were really like that Engineer Li from before, meticulously guiding the two of them to confirm the condition of the laboratory equipment.

Chen Mo might even have to pay for the stainless steel rack in the temperature control machine! However, Zhao Tiezhu is right; the lab this week was essentially wasted.

Having saved nearly 5000 yuan in rent, Chen Mo was in a relatively good mood and offered to pay Zhao Tiezhu overtime for the past few days.

"Overtime pay!" Zhao Tiezhu's eyes lit up immediately at the mention of money: "How much?"

"Five hundred yuan for overtime!" Chen Mo laughed and held up five fingers. "That's enough for you to buy two hundred lamb kidneys. Go ahead and flirt all you want!"

"Only five hundred?" Zhao Tiezhu pretended to be heartbroken, acting as if he had done something worthwhile even if he hadn't done anything wrong: "Boss! I roasted sweet potatoes for you three times in the temperature control machine!"

Chen Mo raised an eyebrow upon hearing this. Wasn't it the second time?

"Three times the sweet potatoes?" He realized, "So it was you who roasted the sweet potatoes until they were smoking, which made me think the test data was wrong!"

"I'm innocent, Brother Chen!" Zhao Tiezhu slapped his thigh, the scrap battery box rubbing against his trouser leg. "That time it was definitely the thermostat that acted up on its own. I just put in a sweet potato, who would have thought it would suddenly spike to 120 degrees!"

"You little brat!" Chen Mo kicked him, amused. "What kind of temper would a piece of equipment throw? Do you think I'm a little girl?"

That's because Zhao Tiezhu opened the test chamber midway through, and the temperature probe detected a drop in temperature, which automatically activated the heating function. After that, it wasn't so easy for the temperature to drop again.

After walking for a while, Zhao Tiezhu suddenly grabbed Chen Mo's clothes.

"Brother Chen! Look at that beat-up tricycle behind us!"

He stretched his neck, his Adam's apple bobbing up and down with each swallow: "He's been following us ever since we left the Yuantu Company. Just now, when we drove into the Hardware Alley, he actually parked his car across the alley entrance and waited for us!"

Chen Mo turned around upon hearing this. The afternoon sun slanted across the asphalt road, and a middle-aged man in gray overalls was hiding in the shade of a tree at the intersection, with one foot on the brake.

The tricycle was clearly waiting at a red light.

The man held half a rolled pancake in his left hand, oil dripping from between his fingers, while his right hand casually gripped the handlebars. His gaze occasionally swept over the fruit stalls by the roadside, and he would sometimes look up at the traffic lights, appearing completely relaxed.

"Stop being so paranoid." Chen Mo laughed and kicked Zhao Tiezhu, his own body reeking of a mixture of barbecue skewers and sweat, making Zhao wrinkle his nose. "What does he want from you? Uh..."

Chen Mo suddenly leaned closer. Zhao Tiezhu hadn't showered for almost a week, yet he didn't smell much.

"We agreed to be biological weapons together, but you secretly took a shower by yourself!" he joked with a laugh.

Zhao Tiezhu's ears instantly felt hot, but thanks to his dark skin, it was impossible to tell whether they were red or not.

He swallowed hard and forced a laugh: "Isn't it because Old Liu in the security office is looking after me? There's a small washroom in his break room, and I go there to take a shower every day after I finish work and smoke."

Well! Zhao Tiezhu was impressed with himself; he had covered it up perfectly.

Chen Ge, being an introverted person, would definitely not go to Lao Liu for advice.

Seeing that Chen Mo still wanted to ask more questions, he hurriedly changed the subject and pointed to the intersection in the distance.

"Brother Chen! I'm not kidding you. We'll turn left at the next intersection. If that red tricycle doesn't follow, I'll eat all these scrap batteries!"

However, after the traffic light turned green, the tricycle steadily drove straight through the intersection.
Chen Mo stared at Zhao Tiezhu's flushed face with a half-smile: "No need to eat it. You figure out how to completely dismantle the waste first, and then find a stall to sell it as waste!"

The latter scratched the back of his head and muttered, "That's strange. Could it be that I haven't eaten enough lamb kidneys and my eyes are playing tricks on me?"

Nutrition experts on TV always say that eating organ meats is good for your eyes.

The wind whipped up supermarket flyers from the roadside, brushing past their feet, and the tricycle in the distance gradually shrank into a tiny dot.

A middle-aged woman carrying a plastic bag of apples, who kept stopping to pick and choose from the fruit at the roadside stall, secretly followed the two of them.

In a sense, Zhao Tiezhu was indeed sharp-witted and perceptive. No wonder he went astray in later generations, acted arrogantly for a while, and eventually got lung cancer. It was all his own doing.

(End of this chapter)