Chapter 340: Exposition Opening

Translator: Dragon Boat Translation Editor: Dragon Boat Translation

In the blink of an eye, they arrived on the day of the opening of the exposition.

“Brother Chao, you’re still in bed. Aren’t you going to the exposition?” Jiang Li, now awake, asked.

“Why the rush? The exposition will last for three days, and today is just the opening. We’ll only be listening to the leaders’ speeches if we go now. It’s better to go in the afternoon, so there’s no need to hurry!”

“Oh, you could have told me earlier. You had me worried that you wouldn’t wake up!” Jiang Li scolded Zhou Chao as she regained her composure.

“Well, I just remembered it now!”

“I don’t trust you, you old rascal. You’re quite the troublemaker!”

“I may be old, but I’m still a handsome troublemaker!” Zhou Chao assessed himself in the mirror. Even though he had aged, he remained the most dashing among the crowd.

“Hurry up. Aunt Wang called us for lunch!” Jiang Li walked in from outside.

I’ll freshen up and come down. You go ahead and eat!” Zhou Chao said as he leaped out of bed and headed for the bathroom.

Five minutes later, Zhou Chao changed into a casual short-sleeved shirt and shorts and leisurely descended from upstairs.

“What delicious meal did Aunt Wang make?”

“She prepared small dumplings and porridge. It’s quite tasty. Eat while it’s hot!”

“Wifey, could you please save some for me? There are only two small buns left on the plate!” Zhou Chao looked pitifully at the two small buns that could easily fit in his mouth, a look of misery on his face.

“Don’t be silly; there’s more in the kitchen!”

At that moment, Aunt Wang came out with a bowl of porridge and a plate of dumplings.

“Mr. Zhou, this is for you!

“Thank you!” Zhou Chao said before digging in.

The dumplings Aunt Wang made were small, bite-sized ones. They were just the right size. After finishing a bowl of porridge, Zhou Chao felt much more energetic.

“Brother Chao, it’s getting late. Let’s go to the venue soon!”

Checking the time, Zhou Chao saw that it was almost noon.

“Sure, let’s get ready to go. Aunt Wang, you don’t need to cook lunch for us; we won’t be coming back!”

“Alright, Mr. Zhou.”

They both went back to their rooms to change into different outfits and then headed straight to the International Exhibition Center in Chaoyang District.

“There are so many people here!” Looking at the sea of people outside the exhibition center, both Zhou Chao and Jiang Li felt overwhelmed.

“Fortunately, there’s parking available here; otherwise, we wouldn’t know where to park!”

Perhaps it was nearing noon, and many people were leaving. The farther they walked inside, the fewer people they encountered.

They navigated through the crowd and finally arrived at the indoor exhibition area. Zhou Chao led Jiang Li directly to the booth of Canghai Technology.

When they arrived at the booth again, they found only a few people looking at the machining components on display.

Zhou Jilong, Lin Wu, and others were sitting with their heads down.

Lao Zhou, what’s going on here?” Zhou Chao asked directly, seeing the disheartened group of people.

Hearing Zhou Chao’s voice, they raised their heads and quickly stood up.

“Boss, we’ve let you down. Nobody has come to inquire all morning. At most, a few tourists came to look at the mechanical parts we’ve processed, and the most common question was about how this combination spherical part was machined.”

Zhou Chao looked at the machine tools displayed on the booth and the finished mechanical components on the table, a puzzled expression in his eyes.

“What’s going on? How come no one is coming to see? These mechanical parts are something anyone with knowledge would recognize as not being produced by ordinary machine tools. How can there be no one?”

“Brother Chao, maybe the people coming to see are all laymen who don’t understand, just here to join in the excitement. Plus, Canghai Technology is a newly established small company, and many people who have some knowledge might not bother to come and see,” Jiang Li explained, waking him up to the reality.

“You’re right. 1 haven’t even heard of your name, so what charm do you have to make me come here!” Zhou Chao contemplated several approaches in his mind.

He then took out his phone and called Xu Yu.

“Hello, boss!” Xu Yu was having lunch in the company cafeteria at that moment.

“Activate the previous promotional campaign immediately, release some relevant materials, and also post information about Canghai Technology and our specific booth at the international exposition. I want to see it trending on social media by this afternoon!”

“Yes, boss. I’ll get right on it.” As soon as Zhou Chao hung up the phone, Xu Yu hurriedly left his half-eaten meal and returned to his office. He contacted the people he had worked with previously, sent out materials, and patiently waited for the information to spread.

Thanks to the previous buzz, there was still some pre-existing interest online. With the release of follow-up photos and videos, the excitement quickly grew. As time passed, news about the top domestic machine tools exploded online once again.

“Does anyone know what Canghai Technology is all about?”

“This can’t be a publicity stunt, right? Is this fake? Maybe they’ve gone abroad!”

“It shouldn’t be impossible. It’s already been reported online, and they’re participating in the expo. Is anyone on the scene?”

For a moment, the internet was abuzz with discussions, and someone even tagged the official account of the International Machine Tool Expo in a comment, which immediately caught the attention of the expo’s organizers.

“Deanjiang, take a look at this. Is it real?” In a private dining room, eight or nine people were having a meal. One of the expo’s leaders approached an elderly man, holding a mobile phone.

If Zhou Chao or Jiang Li were here, they would be surprised to learn that the dean mentioned by the expo leader was none other than Jiang Li’s grandfather.

“What is it? Let me see!” Jiang Lao took the phone and examined it carefully.

After reading it several times, he looked up with a serious expression and said to the people around him, “Perhaps we won’t be able to finish this meal. I can’t be certain about this, but just from a visual inspection, 1 sense something unusual!”

Among those present were leaders from various departments who had come to attend the Machine Tool Expo. When they heard Jiang Lao’s words, their faces displayed various expressions of surprise.

“Canghai Technology!” Jiang Lao kept muttering.

“How about we go and take a look!” It was unclear who suggested it, but everyone nodded in agreement. They immediately left the private dining room and headed back to the exhibition hall to investigate.

Meanwhile, some of the tech companies that had previously shown interest sent their representatives to the event, and even Fulin Corporation dispatched one of its executives to the scene.

At 1:00 PM, the event venue, which should have been relatively quiet at this time, was now filled with a continuous stream of people heading towards the inner area through the main entrance.

“Canghai Technology, Canghai Technology! Where are you?” Staff members were checking the area map.

“I found it! Canghai Technology is at booth C108!”

Immediately, Jiang Lao and his group hurried towards booth C108.

When the leaders arrived at the Canghai Technology booth, they saw the company’s staff members chatting while enjoying some milk tea.

The milk tea was Zhou Chao’s creation. Seeing that everyone couldn’t eat their lunch, he ordered a variety of milk teas and fruit teas for everyone.

“Grandfather, what brings you here?” Jiang Li was surprised to see her grandfather among the crowd.

“Xiao Li, why are you here? Do you know the people from Canghai Technology?”

“Grandfather, not only am I here, but Brother Chao is also here. Canghai Technology is a business under Brother Chao’s ownership!”

“Where is that rascal? Why haven’t I seen him anywhere?” Jiang Lao looked around but couldn’t spot Zhou Chao.

“Um, he’s in the back playing games!” Jiang Li said somewhat embarrassedly.

“Go and call him out. I need to talk to him!

Jiang Li quickly headed towards the back of the booth.

At this moment, a middle-aged man who appeared to be a leader asked, “Jiang Lao, do you know the owner of Canghai Technology?”

“If the owner is really that rascal, then yes, I know him!”

I’m not sure who you mean by that rascal!”

“He’s my granddaughter’s husband!” All the leaders present were stunned!

Meanwhile, Zhou Chao was engrossed in playing a game with Lin Wu, and nearby, Zhou Jilong and Chai Lao were taking a break.

“Brother Chao, Grandfather is here! Come out quickly!”

“Grandfather is here? How did he end up here?” Zhou Chao was also taken aback. Could it be that his father-in-law had informed Jiang Lao about the machine tool project?

“I don’t know. He’s outside with a group of people who look like leaders!”

“Leaders?” Zhou Chao instantly thought of what Xu Yu had arranged. He hadn’t expected the officials to arrive so quickly.

“Lao Zhou, Chai Lao, let’s go outside!” Zhou Jilong and Chai Lao had already woken up when Jiang Li entered the room.

“Grandfather, why are you here?”

“You rascal, don’t you know there’s a big commotion online? You still have the leisure to play games here!”

“Hehe, as the landlord, I have backup. I’m not worried at all!” Seeing Zhou Chao’s confident expression, Jiang Lao’s worried heart eased.

Afterward, Jiang Lao introduced the several high-ranking leaders around him to Zhou Chao. Zhou Chao was surprised to find that they were officials from various departments, including Industry, Industrial and Information Technology, Science and Technology, Commerce, and State-owned Enterprises.

It’s nice meeting all the leaders here, but forgive me for having nothing to welcome you.”

“Alright, don’t beat around the bush. Let me ask you, did you release the information circulating online? Is what’s mentioned in the video about the super-precision machine tool true? Has it really reached world-class technology?” Jiang Lao looked at Zhou Chao with hopeful eyes, wishing for his firm affirmation.

“Well… Grandfather, didn’t Dad tell you? I thought he had informed you. A few days ago, when I returned home, I talked to him about the machine tool project. I assumed he had already told you!”

“What did he tell me? That brat didn’t say anything to me!”

“Oh, the information online is all true. We did indeed develop a machine tool that has achieved world-class nanometer precision!”

The scene erupted into a commotion, and all the leaders were left in awe, their mouths wide open, as if they could fit an apple inside.

At the same time, representatives from domestic and foreign machine tool companies also arrived and overheard Zhou Chao’s statement.

“It’s impossible, absolutely impossible. Given the current level of technology in Huaxia, it’s entirely implausible to manufacture nanometer-level super-precision machine tools!” At this moment, a foreign man stepped forward, looking arrogant as he addressed everyone in the room.

He’s Professor Edward, a technical executive from Fulin Machine Tools in Country D.. I heard that the most advanced machine tools in their company were developed under his leadership!”