Reborn in 2005, starting with repairing mobile phones

For the next two weeks, Lin Dong and Ahao did only one thing: repair mobile phones.

They've gone mad with repairs.

Lin Dong set a strict rule: work as soon as you open your eyes every day, and your hands can't stop except for eating and going to the toilet.

He was in charge of the most crucial flying wires, while Ah-hao took care of all the other miscellaneous tasks: disassembling the machine, handing over the boards, assembling, and testing.

The speed is getting faster and faster.

At first, I could repair four or five units per hour.

Three days later, the number stabilized at seven or eight units per hour.

Lin Dong's hands were as steady as a machine; the soldering iron touched the surface and it was done. Ah Hao had also mastered it, his movements as swift as a robot on an assembly line.

They work more than twelve hours a day.

Let's do the math: if you repair 7 machines per hour, and work 12 hours a day, that's 84 machines.

Earning 600 yuan per unit, the gross profit per day is more than 50,000 yuan.

The money flowed in like water.

Lin Dong personally delivers the repaired phones every day.

He didn't look for small stalls, but went straight to that big wholesaler called Gao Lao.

At first, they produced twenty or thirty units a day, but later they could produce seventy or eighty units a day. Gao Lao went from being surprised to becoming numb, and eventually, every time he saw Lin Donglai, he would just open the safe and count the money.

With so much cash, Lin Dong bought the largest possible travel bag, a canvas, army green one. Every day, the bag was stuffed full of cash, to the point that the zipper was difficult to open.

Ah-hao had never seen so much money in his life.

For the first few days, he would stare blankly at the bag, but later he became numb to it, and all he could see were the motherboard and the soldering iron.

Every few days, Lin Dong would throw him a wad of cash, a thick stack, and say, "It's yours." Ah Hao never counted it; he would take it, stuff it under his pillow, and turn back to continue disassembling the machine.

Uncle Cai became the busiest deliveryman.

Every day, he would pedal his tricycle, carrying sacks of V3 "corpses" collected from all corners of the market to the basement, and then carefully hide the cash that Lin Dong had given him.

His smile never stopped, and he bowed and scraped to everyone he met, because he had earned more in the past two weeks than he had in the previous two years just by running errands for Lin Dong to collect "garbage".

The scene in the basement was magical:

On one side were mountains of broken, mangled cell phones.

On one side were stacks of cash, simply wrapped in newspaper, piling up higher and higher.

In the middle are two people who hardly speak and just bury themselves in their work.

On the afternoon of the fifteenth day, Lin Dong finished welding the last V3.

He put down the soldering iron, his hand trembling slightly from holding the same position for so long.

Ah-hao finally stopped too. He stared blankly at the suddenly quiet room, feeling a little uneasy.

Lin Dong walked to the corner and picked up the military green travel bag.

The bag was shockingly heavy.

He opened a broken cabinet next to him and took out several passbooks and bank cards—the result of his depositing money at different banks every two or three days.

Adding to the cash he hadn't yet deposited in his travel bag, he already had a pretty good idea of ​​the situation.

"Ah Hao,"

Lin Dong spoke, his voice a little hoarse, "In the past two weeks, we've repaired over a thousand mobile phones."

Ah-hao nodded blankly; he only knew that he was repairing things every day, but he had no idea how many there were.

"Guess how much you made."

Lin Dong rarely wanted him to say something.

Ah Hao opened his mouth, his mind racing through the phones and cash he handled every day, before hesitatingly uttering a number: "Three...three hundred thousand?"

Lin Dong laughed and slammed his travel bag onto the table.

"Six hundred and fifty thousand."

Ah-hao's legs went weak, and he sat down on the ground.

His ears were ringing, and he heard the words "650,000" explode in his mind.

He couldn't imagine how high a stack of 650,000 yuan in cash would be. He only knew that the few stacks of money under his pillow were a huge sum of money he had never dared to dream of before.

Lin Dong ignored his reaction.

The target was exceeded. The debts weighing on the family are nothing compared to this bag of money.

But he still had to pull one last job to completely wrap things up.

"I'm going out to get the last batch of goods from Uncle Cai. You pack your things, we'll move to another place tonight."

After Lin Dong finished speaking, he picked up the heavy travel bag and went out the door.

When Lin Dong arrived at Uncle Cai's stall, he realized something was wrong.

The V3 "corpses" that used to be piled up in the corner are gone.

The shelves were mostly empty.

When Uncle Cai saw him, he quickly pulled him into the inner room. He looked a little flustered, but his eyes were shining.

"Boss Lin!"

Uncle Cai lowered his voice, his tone excited, "We...we're almost out of stock!"

Lin Dong said calmly, "Explain yourself."

"In the last couple of days, several groups of people have suddenly appeared, all scrambling to buy broken V3 phones, and the prices are all over three hundred!"

Uncle Cai spoke quickly, "They may not know how to fix it yet, but they've definitely smelled the odor! We've shipped too many goods in the last two weeks; it's too conspicuous!"

Lin Dong nodded; this was within his expectations.

There are no secrets in Huaqiangbei, especially not the secret to its exorbitant profits.

"How many companies in the market are following our lead and collecting 'corpses' right now?" Lin Dong asked.

"There are at least seven or eight companies, all of which are quite powerful."

Uncle Cai said, "Boss Lin, shouldn't we...?"

"Shouldn't we stop now?"

Lin Dong picked up the conversation, a smile playing on his lips. "No, quite the opposite. Uncle Cai, we need to add fuel to the fire."

Uncle Cai was stunned: "Add more fire?"

Lin Dong didn't explain immediately, but instead took out two bundles of money from his travel bag and pushed them to Uncle Cai.

"This is for you, twenty thousand. It's a token of your appreciation for your hard work."

Uncle Cai looked at the money but didn't take it immediately: "Boss Lin, what are you doing...?"

"Let me finish."

Lin Dong leaned forward, his voice low yet carrying a convincing, penetrating power, "Uncle Cai, wouldn't you like to make another big sum of money? Something even faster and more lucrative than all the money you've made in the last two weeks combined?"

Uncle Cai's breathing became heavy: "Boss Lin, do you have a solution?"

"The solution is simple."

Lin Dong said, "Don't they want to learn? Don't they want to know how to dig the gold out of this 'corpse'? Let's just teach them openly."

Uncle Cai's eyes widened: "Teach? This technique is..."

"Technology will soon become worthless."

Lin Dong interrupted him, his gaze sharp, "The official repair plan will be announced in ten to fifteen days at most. By then, this technology will be worthless. What we need to do is turn this 'technology' into a 'product' in these last ten days and sell it for an astronomical price."

"product?"

Uncle Cai was completely dumbfounded.

"Yes, the product."

Lin Dong said, word by word, "A product called 'V3 Quick Repair Tool'. Inside, there is a specially made ribbon cable, a set of foolproof tools, and an instruction manual that you can understand just by looking at the pictures."

With this, anyone can fix a V3 that's "dead on its feet" in fifteen minutes.

Uncle Cai's mouth dropped open as he rapidly calculated in his mind: If such a thing really existed... then all the mobile phone repair shops and secondhand phone sellers in Huaqiangbei would go crazy for it!

"But...where would this thing come from? We don't have the time..."

Lin Dong didn't answer, but instead picked up his travel bag and said, "Lead the way."

"what?"

Uncle Cai was taken aback.

"Go to a factory you know that can make precision connectors."

Lin Dong's tone left no room for argument: "Now."