Chapter 29: Coke with Ice

  Su Cheng looked at Shu Hao's expression and knew she had crossed over.

  He didn't dare to answer immediately, and casually asked: "How does your factory do electroplating?"

  "What can be done, a DC generator, an electroplating tank, first grinding and then polishing, but the stainless steel bar is too difficult to make. I heard before that some stainless steel bars were plated with copper, but many finished products were returned by customers. The factory director was annoyed and changed the electroplating workshop back." Shu Hao now also looks down on state-owned enterprises with disdain.

  Su Cheng asked in surprise: "Why must it be copper-plated?"

  "It's not like they're letting exports go smoothly. Everyone says foreigners love the color of copper, but copper is too expensive, so they just plate it with copper. As a result, it can't be sold and has to be resold domestically, or else returned for a refund."

  "What can be saved by plating copper on stainless steel..."

  "So be it." Shu Hao didn't think much of it. Having worked in the factory for three to five years, he had seen all sorts of weird things and was no longer surprised by them.

  Su Cheng shook his head and said: "I happen to remember the formulas for two electroplating solutions. With this, can you do electroplating?"

  "There is a formula that won't work for electroplating." Shu Hao said, suspiciously asking: "Where did you hear the electroplating solution formula from?"

  Su Cheng smiled but didn't answer, thinking to himself that engineering students should at least remember two electroplating solution formulas. In fact, doing electroplating and preparing Chinese medicine are similar, with tiny differences leading to huge mistakes. Therefore, it's necessary to constantly experiment with different reagents and process conditions, accumulating experience in addition to theoretical knowledge guidance.

  Stainless steel electroplating is a relatively difficult plating method, and modern methods have widely adopted PVD vacuum coating and thermal spraying. These two methods are the widely used copper plating methods.

  However, at the beginning of entrepreneurship, using the oldest DC generator for electroplating is not a big problem.

  Su Cheng thought for a moment, then found a piece of paper and leaned against the refrigerator to write.

  Shu Hao held his breath and stared intently. Having worked in the factory for a period of time, each type of worker would have some understanding, and based on his experience, this was at least an electroplating solution formula that wasn't wrong.

  "70 to 90 ml of hydrochloric acid per liter, temperature between 15 and 30 degrees, current density between 10 and 30 A. How beautiful the plating is depends on your experiment." Sucheng handed the paper over to him.

  Shu Hao was skilled in electroplating, but he hesitated for a moment and said: "If we do experiments in the factory, I'm afraid they'll learn from us. Later..."

  In those days, intellectual property rights were not discussed. Especially between the public and private sectors, it was even more unreasonable, "using your things is a sign of respect for you" may not be said out loud, but at least the expressions and actions were in place.

  Su Cheng said indifferently, "What's there to be afraid of if you learn? Look at the factories on the market now, which township enterprise can survive by relying on advanced technology? With your small-scale operations, you can't even finish the work. When state-owned enterprises are ready to compete, their monopolistic profits will disappear too. So what we're fighting for now is time, not the market."

  Shu Hao didn't quite understand, but he trusted Su Cheng very much, so he said: "Alright, I'll go to the factory tomorrow to discuss it."

  "The penalty for breach of contract should be set a bit higher than the cost of electrolytic cells. This way, even if they learn how to make electrolytes, they won't dare to breach the contract and would rather build one themselves, buying you time, which is all profit."

  Shu Hao nodded repeatedly as he listened to this. He understood the difference in time sequence very well. At first, doing a shower could bring in nearly 100 yuan in profit, but after half a year had passed, the profit from one shower was at most only 20 yuan left. Moreover, there were showers that competed by cutting corners and reducing costs, making life more and more difficult.

  Electroplating is also a simple process and easy to learn.

  With a clear goal in mind, Shu Hao was in high spirits and tentatively smiled: "Su Cheng, I think you have so many ideas, why not just start your own business?"

  This year is a booming year for quitting one's job and starting a business. Any unit that doesn't have someone who has quit to start their own business would be too embarrassed to greet others.

  If Suzhou didn't have that $30,000 as a bottom line, maybe he would have been tempted, but now he flatly refused.

  Shu Hao didn't say much more and hastily bid farewell to go experiment. Whether he himself could start an electroplating business was still uncertain, and his confidence wasn't very sufficient either.

  Su Cheng smiled lightly and continued studying the ice maker on the refrigerator.

  At that time, domestic refrigerators were mainly used for basic needs. It was already not easy to work normally for a long time, and noise, power consumption, humanization, etc. were not considered. Like making ice, cooling, etc., foreigners' habits, many people even scolded them as flashy.

  The feeling of Suzhou is naturally different.

  He's a man from the 21st century, so it's perfectly normal for him to throw an ice cube into his cola and drink fresh beer. It was also because of its convenient quick-freezing function that Su Cheng decided to spend three years' worth of salary to buy it.

  Think about it, people living in 1987 didn't have to pay a down payment or mortgage, but they still couldn't save money, and instead had to be frugal to buy electrical appliances. The pressure on young men to get married was also not small at all.

  After waiting for about 2 hours, a piece of ice finally formed.

  Su Cheng poured it into a glass of water, added some cola, and made a cup of cola slushy worth one-tenth of his salary.

  Holding up a glass against the window, you can see the strange colors of sunlight.

  Su Cheng looked back and forth, suddenly extremely missing steak and sugar vinegar ribs.

  In this era, beef is in high demand and often reserved for leaders with families. Thinking back to what Director Liu said when he was recruiting people, the Petroleum Department had a big pork leg and a big carp for everyone during Chinese New Year. This shows that even pork legs were scarce, let alone beef. As for steaks, it's like searching for cows everywhere, but not knowing where they've been cut.

  Braised pork ribs are not hard to make, 2 yuan can buy a catty of fatty meat or a catty of small ribs, if you choose the latter, the boss may even give you a pair of waist bones. But Su Cheng won't do it, and restaurants in Dongying don't necessarily have it on the menu. In the years when everyone eats braised pork belly and twice-cooked pork, ordering ribs that aren't on the menu is basically asking for trouble...

  "Ah!" Su Cheng muttered to himself: Endure for three more years, if there still isn't anyone selling beef, I'll raise cattle myself...

  Outside the window, there was a sudden burst of soft giggles.

  Outside the glass door, Shulan's tender and delicate face appeared and disappeared.

  "How did you get here?"

  "I heard that you're good at electroplating, so I thought maybe you'd know something else too, and I came to ask for your guidance." Shu Lan pouted her mouth, her red lips looking like they were coated with oil, and placed a long design diagram on the table.

  "Try my homemade ice Coke." Su Cheng confidently placed the glass in front of Shu Lan. To say it was homemade wasn't a big lie, after all, the ice cubes inside were made by him personally boiling water, pouring water, and quickly freezing them into shape, and he had even added them to the glass with his own hands.

  Shulan had been curious for some time, and lightly picked up the Coke, taking a small sip. But under Su Cheng's expectant gaze, she asked in confusion: "Is it iced red sugar water?"

  "It's even more expensive than three catties of red sugar."

  "Really common." Shu Lan said with a smile, still slowly savoring. Girls all like sour and sweet flavors, but she also finds it quite enjoyable with its unique flavor.

  Su Cheng picked up the large roll of design drawings brought by Shu Lan, took a look at them, and then asked: "Is this a single-flow valve for an oil extraction machine? Are you guys designing an oil extraction machine?"

  "Hmm. Master said that the tasks assigned from above must be completed this year, to develop more than 5 new types of oil extraction machines, which must have long stroke, energy-saving and stable operation."

  Long stroke, energy saving and stable operation, the three requirements flashed in Su Cheng's mind, and immediately a word jumped out: Twin-screw pump.

  This is a kind of oil extractor that will be widely used in the future, and it was also the one he came into contact with the most and studied the most when he was in school. It wasn't until around 2000 or so that it began to spread rapidly and became unstoppable.

  "I'm so stupid." Su Cheng slapped himself hard and turned around to find his drawings and pencils.

  ……