The difference between dream and reality was like that between mantou1 and baozi2.
Early the next morning, Huang Xuan learned his second lesson in accumulation of capital—don’t promise easily, especially to somebody stronger than you. Although he had already gathered the base Rolin had been guarding was big, he had never supposed it could be so enormous. The “Great” Mr. Rolin claimed: “I calculated last night. I need around 24.5 million kWh of electricity, and that would be 8.82 multiplied by 1013 J.”
Huang’s school electricity cost 52 cents per kWh. By rough calculation, 24.5 million kWh of electricity would cost 12.74 million yuan, almost all the after-tax income he got from selling the stamps. The worst part was that he couldn’t use the money.
Huang Xuan began to regret. He thought about it and asked: “Rolin, where can I recharge your base?”
“The base is a part of a league,” Rolin corrected him. “You can use the energy chain within a 10-mile range.”
“Energy chain?”
“It is a type of transmitters. I will teleport it to your room.”
Huang Xuan’s real intention wasn’t to ask what the energy chain was. He continued: “It would be unsafe. You know, such a large amount of electricity will definitely catch a lot of attention.”
Apparently, Rolin had already thought it over. He said: “I think you can manage it within 30 days, if we do it through your family connections.”
“What should I tell my family then? I’ve searched it up, and the daily electricity consumption of the entire city is at most only 80 million kWh. With such a huge expenditure of power, even if we divide the usage into 30 days, don’t you think it would go against your first priority?”
The words “first priority” caused Rolin to start thinking about it again, but he still didn’t compromise. “You can use the energy chain in the range of 10 to 100 miles as well, but there will be a 10% loss in transmission. You can think about it.”
Huang Xuan felt a bit speechless. He said: “100 miles would still be within Nanjing city. It’s the same.”
Rolin normally wouldn’t make this kind of mistake, but Huang Xuan didn’t realize it. After a short silence, Rolin said: “I can give you more time to do it, but there must be at least 10 million kWh of electricity within a month. Thermal or optical energy will also do.”
“ ‘Will also do’, ” Huang Xuan mumbled. He made the last attempt and said: “Do you really not worry that I would tell people about you?”
“I believe in you. And I will pay you enough compensation if you succeed.”
Huang Xuan snorted. He didn’t buy Rolin’s empty promise. But as the heir to the Huangs, he thought he was obliged and was able to establish a good relationship with this nonhuman existence. Since he had agreed to Rolin’s request, he came to his bedroom and found the energy chain. It was a black block of the size of a cell phone. He put it into the pocket on the inner side of his shirt, and totally forgetting the fact that he had been grounded by his mom, he ran away through the backyard by climbing over the wall.
He had been familiar with this escape route since he was little. He hailed a cab and came to the construction site of the nearby Fuxin housing estate, which was developed by a real estate agency affiliated to World Group. He knew about it because the person in charge of the construction was his cousin.
The construction started only several months ago. Almost everything on the site was still undone, and the thick, tied-up steel bars stuck out of the ground. Walking through the crude entrance of the rumbling site, Huang Xuan looked around and saw the sole row of completed buildings.
His cousin was not there, and only a man who looked like a clerk was sitting behind a desk. He was wearing a crumpled suit and an old shirt that had a dirty collar, and the top two buttons of his shirt were left undone. He looked better than the constructing workers, yet not by much.
“How can I help you?” The man looked up as he felt that someone in front of him was blocking the sunlight, and there he saw Huang Xuan.
“Hey, I am looking for Zhang Haoji.”
“Manager Zhang is out.” Li Shenggang said as he observed the fashionable teenager in front of him. He didn’t know the brand of Huang Xuan’s clothes, but he figured that the Nike on Huang Xuan’s feet might be worth his one-month salary. Huang Xuan’s fair-looking face had indicated that he couldn’t just be some random rascal from the streets, so he added politely: “He might be at the headquarters. May I have your name, please?”
“I’m his cousin.” Huang Xuan didn’t like the man’s triangular eyes, which in novels were representative of bad guys. He said, “Give him a call. Tell him that Huang Xuan is looking for him.”
“OK. Sure.” Li Shenggang put on a smiley face the moment he heard that it was the general manager’s cousin that was standing in front of him. He subconsciously pulled out a pack of cigarettes from his pocket, but realizing it wasn’t right, put it back into the drawer with a fawning smile. Then he poured some water into an old enamel mug, put it in front of Huang Xuan and said: “I am Li Shenggang. You can call me Li. Please wait a minute. I am making the call right away.”
As the old saying goes, there’s never too much politeness. Although Li Shenggang was talkative and the “please” and “may” sounded awkward when they were said by an adult to a 15-year-old boy, Huang Xuan forced a smile. He put the mug near him and looked out of the window.
Li Shenggang kept smiling while he was dialing, and didn’t stop talking to Huang Xuan. “The construction has just started. In half a year, there will be at least two times more people. In at most one year, one-third of the houses will be completed. If you are considering buying a house, now would be the perfect timing.”
It seemed that Li Shenggang had seen him as someone seeking preference from Zhang Haoji. But Huang Xuan didn’t want to explain and continued looking out of the window.
“Hello, Secretary Liu. We have Manager Zhang’s cousin here, looking for him, right on the site. Yes. Yes. Oh, hello, Manager Zhang! Yes. His name is Huang Xuan. Oh-” Before Li Shenggang had finished speaking, Huang Xuan grabbed the phone and said, “Hello, cousin. This is Huang Xuan. Are you in the city?”
Over the phone, Zhang Haoji laughed and said: “Yes, I have a dinner party tonight. How come you are on the site? If you wanted to find me, you could have called me. The site is messy and dirty. I bet you are not having fun there.”
“I didn’t come for fun,” Huang Xuan said with a bitter smile. “I came for your help, and incidentally, to check out your construction site. Here it is. One of my classmates wants to rent some generators but doesn’t know where to put them. He asked me for help, and it reminded me of you.”
“Generators?” Zhang Haoji was a little confused and asked. “He can use the construction site. But what for?”
Huang Xuan knew that he couldn’t say it was for recharging something the size of a cell phone. Luckily, he had come prepared. He answered: “His family has built a factory nearby which consumes a lot of electricity. Their initial estimation for electricity usage was inaccurate, and now their generator is overloaded. The factory is near a residential area, so it would be very inconvenient to put a generator there. I am thinking perhaps you can help them out.”
This kind of problem was common for small factories. Although industrial development zones were often well-equipped, the more mature the area was, the higher the price of each additional land and auxiliary service went, making it harder for small factories to enter such zones. Even the factories that had settled in development zones for a long time would have to move out to reduce the expenditure, if they had been in long-term ineffective operation. In this case, the preferential terms some townships had offered would attract them. However, fundamental project─like connections of water, electricity, and communication─and the construction of road could become bottlenecks at the beginning. Also, the noise of a large-scale generator could disturb the entire township. In a smaller town, people even might not be able to work just because of the noise.
Even though Huang Xuan was young and inexperienced, he had heard a lot about this kind of topic from his family and friends. Hearing what Huang Xuan had said, Zhang Haoji understood that this must be another young man who couldn’t wait to prove himself. He thought about it and told Huang Xuan: “All right, there will be vacant space on the site within the next three months. Use as much as you want. Give the phone to the assistant, and I will tell him about it.”
“Awesome.” Successfully fulfilling part of his promise, Huang Xuan was relieved. Thinking about the 10 million consumption of electricity, he added, “Can he borrow the surplus of electricity from the site, too? He will pay for it.”
“OK.” Hearing this, Huang Xuan finally gave the phone to Li Shenggang.
Li Shenggang kept saying yes on the phone. After putting the phone down with two hands, he touched his forehead and said with a smile, “Young Manager Huang, Manager Zhang said I must follow your orders in the following days. When do you need the generators? What kind of place do you want? I will fulfill your orders right away.”
Huang Xuan trembled when he heard that he was being called young manager. He waved his hand and said: “Call me Huang Xuan and stop that young manager thing. You are familiar with the site. As long as the place is big enough to put the generators, the rest is up to you.”
“OK, young manager Huang.”
Huang Xuan shook his head and ignored him.
Li Shenggang asked again, “How about the electric cords? Where should I connect them?”
Huang Xuan had never planned to transmit the electricity anywhere, so he said impatiently: “First things first. Do what I told you to do. My cousin lent you to me, right?”
“Yes. Manager Zhang told me to listen to you.”
“OK. Then rent some generators for me first in the cheapest way. But make sure the power is high enough when we add them together.” Saying this, Huang Xuan took out all the cash in his pocket, which was around 13 thousand yuan. Afraid that it might be far from enough, he said: “This is the deposit. Tell me when you are done.”
“Will do. Will do.” Li Shenggang promised repeatedly. He took the note with Huang Xuan’s cell phone number on and gave his card to Huang Xuan respectfully. Huang Xuan accepted it. Thinking a mercenary merchant of Li Shenggang, he was unwilling to stay any longer and said before he left: “I will come again this afternoon. Calculate how much electricity the site needs and I will transfer the extra somewhere else. Don’t forget to rent the generators as soon as possible.”
“Don’t worry, young manager Huang.” Li Shenggang narrowed his triangular eyes, gave a smile, and walked Huang Xuan out of the door.
Notes:
1. mantou: staple food in China, made from flour combined with leavening agent, and kneaded, shaped into usually round pieces and steamed, with no stuffing
2. baozi: steamed stuffed bun, usually with pleats