Reborn in 2005, starting with repairing mobile phones

"It is difficult." Lin Dong nodded.

He paused, glanced at the coffee table, and said to Uncle Cai, "Uncle Cai, get two sheets of paper and two pens."

Uncle Cai immediately took out his sketchbook and drawing pen from his bag.

Lin Dong pushed the paper and pen to the center of the table, one for himself and one for Su Xiaowen.

"Since we're on the topic of 'coming up with something better,'" he looked up at Su Xiaowen, his gaze calm yet carrying a subtle hint of provocation, "armchair theorizing is pointless. Let's draw. Ten minutes, draw what you envision the next generation of mobile phones should look like."

"Rules?" Su Xiaowen straightened her back and her eyes sharpened.

She has absolute confidence in her hand-drawing skills and design concepts.

"There are no rules. Just draw the exterior; three-view drawings or perspective drawings are up to you."

Lin Dong picked up his pen. "Look at this in ten minutes."

Su Xiaowen took a deep breath and picked up her pen.

You want to compete with me in hand-drawing?

Comparing designs?

Her competitive spirit was completely ignited.

She wanted to see what kind of outrageous things this arrogant young man could produce.

The pen tip landed on the paper.

She drew with great focus, quickly and neatly, demonstrating solid professional skills.

However, just as she had sketched out the basic outline and begun to draw the details—

"Smack."

With a soft sound, Lin Dong put down his pen.

Su Xiaowen subconsciously looked up at the opposite side.

Less than two minutes had passed.

Lin Dong had put down his pen, leaned back, and was calmly looking at her, his eyes seeming to say: Take your time drawing, there's no rush.

To play tricks or deceive.

Su Xiaowen snorted inwardly, withdrew her gaze, and refocused her attention on her drawing paper.

What can you draw in two minutes?

He probably just sketched an outline randomly and then gave up.

She was no longer distracted; the pen moved faster, and the lines became more confident and fluid.

What she wanted to design was a "revolutionary" mobile phone that could break the existing pattern but also conform to current engineering and aesthetic standards.

The unibody metal design features meticulously calculated continuous curvature at the edges, ensuring a perfect grip.

On the front, she boldly elongated the screen ratio, almost filling the upper half, leaving only a very narrow area at the bottom that integrates touch function keys. This is the boldest rejection of the physical keyboard that she could imagine.

On the back, the camera module was designed as an exquisite metal ring, seamlessly integrated with the body.

She meticulously considered every detail and every dividing line, striving to achieve ultimate visual simplicity and sophistication within the limits of technological feasibility.

Eight minutes passed.

Su Xiaowen finished the last stroke and let out a soft sigh of relief.

She examined her work.

Tall, elegant, and refined, it exudes a cool, futuristic aura.

This is bolder and purer than any of her previous commercial works.

This is what design should be called.

I'd like to see how you judge this based on two minutes of doodles.

She put down her pen, looked up, and her face regained that unique, distant confidence.

She even slightly raised her chin, turning her drawing paper towards Lin Dong.

"Mr. Lin, I've finished drawing." Her tone was calm, her eyes fixed on Lin Dong, her gaze clearly saying—'Look, this is what a good thing looks like.'

"This is my answer."

Lin Dong nodded, but did not immediately comment on her painting.

Instead, he turned the drawing paper in front of him, which he had completed in just two minutes, around and pushed it to the center of the table.

The two pictures were placed side by side.

Su Xiaowen's gaze lingered on her own work for a second, filled with appreciation.

Then, I moved to the picture next to it.

I only glanced at it.

The confidence on her face suddenly froze, as if shattered by a slap.

Her designs are exquisite, complex, and full of thoughtful "design sense".

And Lin Dong's paintings...

It was an extremely simple yet extremely complete design.

Front: Almost a completely flat panel, with only a prominent circular Home button at the bottom center. Other than that, there is nothing else.

Side view: A thin, continuous, subtly curved metal frame elegantly envelops both the front and back glass panels.

Back: A simple camera and flash module in the upper left corner, a clean blank space in the center, and the "Orient Tech" logo in small print below.

There is no keyboard.

There are no seams.

There are no unnecessary decorations.

Every proportion, every chamfer, exudes a cool, precise, and naturally sophisticated feel. It doesn't feel like a "designed" product, but rather like a natural creation that "should be".

She looked at the picture, and her mind went blank.

so perfect.

It was so perfect that it didn't seem like a "design" at all; it was more like... a blueprint that already existed in his mind and was 100% complete.

Moreover, this design...

She stared intently at the screen that occupied most of the front of her face and the lone round button.

An indescribable shock, mixed with a suffocating feeling of being completely crushed, swept over her.

It was so simple that it made her painstakingly crafted work next to it seem verbose, outdated, and like a relic from a previous era.

The screen that takes up almost the entire front, the incredibly smooth and continuous bezel, the lonely yet seemingly secret-containing round button...

There isn’t a single superfluous line.

There is no design that exists for the sake of "design".

Its sole purpose seems to be to serve as a pure window for carrying content and interacting with people's fingertips.

A chilling sensation, like a blow from a lower dimension, shot up from Su Xiaowen's tailbone to the back of her neck.

She suddenly realized that all her agonizing, deliberating, and pursuit of "sophistication" during those eight minutes seemed so... ridiculous in the face of this extremely simple "answer."

It's like a top-notch carriage craftsman meticulously carving out the ornate decorations of a carriage, only to have someone directly present him with the design blueprints of a streamlined sports car.

The era was brutally divided.

The person who drew this line was sitting opposite her, looking at her with calm, expressionless eyes.

Su Xiaowen opened her mouth, wanting to nitpick from a professional perspective: Craftsmanship? Structure? Antenna? Battery?

But all the words were stuck in my throat.

As she gazed at the picture, a terrible intuition told her that the person who drew it must have already figured out the answers to all the questions.

"What...what is this?" Her voice was hoarse, her gaze unable to leave the picture.

Lin Dong's finger tapped the only circular button on the picture.

"The future." His voice wasn't loud, but it struck Su Xiaowen's heart like a hammer blow. "A future for which countless people are willing to pay the price."

He paused, looking at Su Xiaowen's distraught expression, yet her gaze was completely captivated by the picture.

I know that even the hardest shell of arrogance has shattered.

Now, we need to give her a reason she can't refuse.