The day he was laid off, Zhou Qiming took the severance pay and took over Huaxing Machine Tool Factory, burdened with 300 million in debt and with its orders at zero. In front of everyone, he made a solemn pledge: within three years, every employee's salary would increase tenfold. Xu Zhiyao helped him protect the last of the company's cash, veteran factory director Han Zhenbang kept the workshop in line, and hotheaded technician Chen Ye revamped the production line. But his former employer, Du Chengyue, blocked the supply chain and poached customers, while overseas giants slashed prices. Zhou Qiming had no choice but to fight his way out of a dead end with a domestically made high-end machine tool that no one else dared to take on.
