Time, February 28, 1987.

Location, in an inconspicuous office building in Longgang District, Shenzhen.

"Come on, it's time for the meeting."

A middle-aged man who was not good-looking gathered his colleagues together. There were seven or eight people in total, and the small room was filled with them: "Old Wang, close the door and don't let the ashes in the stairwell blow in."

"Okay."

Another unsightly man walked towards the door. Because the office building was close to the construction site, wind and sand would blow from the windows into the stairwell from time to time. If the door was not closed properly, it would not take long before they would have to clean the room again.

When the door was closed, the middle-aged man sat on a table and faced his partners surrounded by his peers, he smiled with emotion: "Lao Wang, Lao Sun, Lao Li, and all the brothers, we can gather here today, I, Lao Ren, have to thank you very much."

Everyone was smiling, and some looked at the ceiling, just not knowing what they were thinking. Ren Zhengfei touched the table he was sitting with emotion and continued, "This company was not easy to establish, 21,000 yuan is not a small amount of money. You are not working well with Nanhai Petroleum, and are willing to play with me, Lao Ren, or any switch business... To be honest, we can't say anything big now, but I, Lao Ren, can definitely guarantee everyone that as long as I Lao Ren eat meat for one day, I will never let you down the guys!"

"Okay! OK! Well said!"

"Anyway, I'm following Brother Ren, who is trustworthy in his character!"

"I will definitely work hard and work hard, Brother Ren, don't worry!"

Seeing his companions supporting him, Ren Zhengfei sighed with relief.

"Actually, I just want to do more for our motherland."

With a Guizhou accent, he said, "After all, since 1974, I have been recruiting into the army and becoming an engineer, for the purpose of the chemical fiber factory I just introduced. So now, since we are not doing well in the oil field and now the policies allow it, how to serve the motherland is a way, so why not play with this new thing?"

Everyone burst into laughter again, and Lao Wang, who had just closed the door, gave a thumbs up: "This is also called applying what he has learned. Brother Ren is a college student, electronic computer, digital technology, and automatic control. These are all amazing technologies. When he was working on chemical fibers, he was a well-known technician, engineer, and even deputy director in the organization. Now he went to work on things by himself, his level is absolutely not bad!"

Ren Zhengfei shook his head modestly and said, "It's all the past, what do you think of it? No matter how awesome we are in this regard, switches are all new things. Before we can develop and manufacture them ourselves, we have to go to Hong Kong to sell them. It's still a long time, so who knows what will happen."

"Oh, speaking of it, that switch is really a treasure."

Lao Wang sighed again: "And I also heard that the company called Lucent is a top communication equipment company in the United States. At the level of switches, it can rank among the top three. It's amazing."

Looking for large American companies from Hong Kong to sell their switch products on behalf of others. This is the result of Ren Zhengfei's discussion with his good friends who started his business together after he absolutely started his business.

As a person who learned three foreign languages ​​as early as college, Ren Zhengfei's understanding of international forms is naturally much deeper than others.

The Internet hardware industry is an emerging industry that just appeared just two years ago. Currently, there are only a dozen international peers. However, in this industry, which is only two years old, several giants have emerged, led by Cisco Systems, and have emerged.

The most eye-catching thing about this is of course Cisco, the pioneer and leader of the industry. Although it is not the only one, it is definitely far from Lucent Technology. When Ren Zhengfei was inquiring about the news about these things, he could understand them clearly.

Unfortunately, with his ability, he can only sell products from Lucent Technology's Hong Kong branch to products. For Cisco's super giant, he has no such channel.

Of course, what he knew more was that no matter which American company's switch was, it was very precious to himself and even the domestic industry.

It won't take too long to finish the meeting, but Ren Zhengfei knew very well how heavy the burden was on him. His brothers were all peers of about 40 years old, with old and young people, and gave up his good job in a state-owned oil enterprise and went to work hard with him. If he was sorry to everyone, his guilt alone would have to torture himself to death.

Wearing a simple trousers and long gown, after walking out of the currently rented brick and tile office building of the company, Ren Zhengfei looked around and decided to have lunch first.

Shenzhen has been developing for several years. When Longgang District was just starting to build a large-scale construction project, it was full of construction sites and noisy noises during work, which is the most typical environment here today. Although it is a bit bad, it is so bad that Ren Zhengfei must always close the doors and windows to prevent dust from entering, low rent is more important than anything else.

It's lunch break now, Ren Zhengfei walked into a small restaurant, surrounded by construction workers who were eating. When Chief No. 1 drew a circle on the city along the South China Sea, thousands of farmers left their hometowns and gathered towards these cities along the coast. He ordered a bowl of noodles and looked at the work of everyone, Ren Zhengfei thought to himself that this phenomenon would probably be inevitable in many years in the future.

Suddenly, his pager vibrated.

Those who know their phone number must be familiar, and those who know that they have new things like pagers must be even less. When they felt the vibration, Ren Zhengfei immediately stopped eating and quickly took the pager down from his waist.

I saw it read: I am a Chinese American businessman, I am interested in seeking cooperation with you. Please call me after receiving it—”

Then there was a string of phone numbers. Through the area code, I seriously realized that it was the address in the center of Shenzhen, which was obviously broadcast via a landline.

"Brother Guo, check out and get a bag for me."

The restaurant owner walked up from behind the front desk: "Oh, Boss Ren, it was a bit early to leave at noon this day. Is there a big business coming?"

Ren Zhengfei quickly put away the pager and smiled modestly: "Nothing, nothing, it's just someone calls me."

He quickly settled the bill, picked up the plastic bag containing the convenient lunch box, and Ren Zhengfei walked out of the restaurant quickly, and then immediately walked towards the nearest public telephone booth.

What is the situation when Chinese American businessmen want to find themselves to cooperate?

Ren Zhengfei was completely confused by this situation. Logically speaking, he was just a demobilized soldier who was just about to start a business. People like him in China are like Zhujiang Zhiqing. They are not a big shot who has achieved success and fame. So how could such a Chinese American businessman suddenly contact him?

Ren Zhengfei thought about it and said that the way outsiders can get their phone calls is nothing more than from their past colleagues, comrades-in-arms, or the leaders of the South China Sea Petroleum Logistics Service Base. Considering the social circle between those colleagues and comrades-in-arms, it seems that the answer...is already clear.

I couldn't think about it so much. With a heart full of doubts, he first found a public telephone booth and dialed the number on the pager.

Obviously, he was waiting for his reply when he sent it, but in a moment, a mature middle-aged man's voice rang from the opposite side of the phone.

"Hello, who are you looking for?"

In his skillful Chinese language, Ren Zhengfei suppressed his curiosity and asked, "Is it Mr. Wang? James-Wang?"

"Ah, that's right, I guess you are Mr. Ren Zhengfei?"

"Yes, did you just send a message to my pager? Where did you get my contact information?"

"It was obtained from the oil company that you transferred to the army. I know you must have a lot of doubts in your heart, so I'll explain it briefly."

The other party paused for a moment. In this short period of time, Ren Zhengfei was standing in front of the phone, his whole body feeling uncomfortable as if he had lice. Fortunately, for only a moment of pause, the James King spoke.

"I am an investor and have already had some industries in mainland China two years ago. After coming to Shenzhen this year, I visited Nanhai Petroleum Company and was invited to visit the logistics base you used to work in. There, I heard that there was a very amazing engineer who is now planning to start a business with a few like-minded friends. Is it necessary to do...switch business?"

The cause and effect are reasonable, which made Ren Zhengfei sigh deeply when he suddenly realized it and said, "Mr. Wang, please ask me first, how do old colleagues talk about this behind their backs?"

The other party also became silent, but still only for a moment: "How could I hear any comments? In short, I am very interested in your plan to engage in the switch business, but I don't know if Mr. Ren is interested in accepting investment from angels."

"God, angel people invest?"

This novel noun really made Ren Zhengfei stunned, but he knew that it was not the time to ask all the questions thoroughly: "Thank you very much, Mr. Wang. Otherwise, you can make an appointment at will, how about we find a place to meet? I have time to go, what about you?"

The other party was silent for a moment, giving Ren Zhengfei the feeling that he was looking at the time: "If you really have time at any time, then have a meal together tonight. I'll give you an address and meet on time at 6 o'clock tonight. What do you think?"

Ren Zhengfei slowly let out a long breath, feeling that most of the burden on his body seemed to be removed instantly.

"That couldn't be better."
Chapter completed!