Chapter 72: A New Opportunity and Preparations Begin
The rat-catching industry, while currently booming, had its natural ceiling. Even if Yang Wendong managed to crack open parts of the U.S. and European markets, it still couldn't compare in value to other consumer goods.
Take Li Ka-shing's plastic flowers, for example, or even simple toys — and of course, that elusive Rubik's Cube idea Yang had been working on. Each had the potential for far greater output and revenue.
It had been nearly nine months since Yang had transmigrated to 1950s Hong Kong. During that time, he had come up with countless post-modern product ideas, but most were limited by one of two things: either technology, or his available resources.
Some inventions just weren't feasible yet. Others were viable, but he hadn't thought of them until a personal need revealed the gap — just like the sticky note. A simple, ingenious invention that had proved itself in later decades to be not only useful but incredibly profitable.
"Sticky what?" Su Yiyi blinked, confused by Yang's sudden pause and strange expression.
"Haha!" Yang laughed out loud and grabbed her hand. "I just thought of something good — let's go, we're heading out!"
"Ah—!" Su Yiyi yelped, still blushing from the hand-hold, as she was pulled along.
At the intersection, she asked, "Dong-ge, where are we going?"
"To the hardware market," Yang replied with a grin. "I need to take another look at glue."
"Glue? Don't we already have a ton of glue in the factory?"
Yang shook his head. "What we have is strong adhesive — the kind that traps rats. I need weak glue — something that barely sticks."
"Weak glue?" Su Yiyi still didn't quite get it, but she didn't ask further.
The hardware market was about two kilometers away, so they walked and chatted along the way, reaching it in under twenty minutes.
"Old Shen!" Yang shouted as he entered a larger storefront.
"Eh? Coming!" A bespectacled man emerged from the back. When he saw Yang, he grinned. "Ah, Mr. Yang! What a guest of honor. What brings you here yourself?"
Yang smiled. "Old Shen, if your shop's small, then Hong Kong has no glue shops."
"Haha, I'm just an old man getting by. Not like you, Mr. Yang — factory owner, property holder. I've been doing this for thirty years, and you're the first young guy I've seen build something from scratch and buy property."
"Just a fringe location," Yang shrugged. Tsim Sha Tsui land might be worth a fortune in twenty years, but for now, it wasn't much. He had bought the Hongxing Plastic Factory mostly for immediate business needs, with the land value as a secondary benefit.
Old Shen handed them each a bottle of water. "Here, you lovebirds — one each."
"Ah—" Su Yiyi's face, already a bit flushed from walking, turned bright red.
"Old Shen," Yang chuckled, taking a sip, "do you have any low-adhesion glue?"
Old Shen frowned. "Low-adhesion glue? What would you use that for?"
"That's a secret," Yang replied. No way he'd reveal that this was potentially a billion-dollar idea, possibly even more lucrative than his glue boards.
Old Shen laughed. "Well, most people want stronger glue. I import from Japan — adhesives for plastic, paper, metal, wood... all meant to stick."
"Are there any cases where people want weak glue?" Yang asked.
He was genuinely worried he wouldn't be able to source the kind of glue he needed. In recorded history, Post-it Notes were invented accidentally by a 3M scientist working on a failed adhesive formula. But that didn't mean no similar glue existed before the 1970s.
Glue had been around for centuries, and the chemical industry had exploded in the past few decades. Somewhere out there, there had to be something close enough. The first version didn't need to be perfect — it just had to work.
Old Shen rubbed his chin. "Actually... there's one case — medical use. Like the tape on hospital bandages. It has to stick, but not too much."
"That's it!" Yang's eyes lit up. "Bandage adhesives — like the kind on band-aids. That's exactly the type of stickiness I need."
People often overlooked everyday items. Industrial products used in daily life could be incredibly complex — and commercially valuable.
Old Shen added, "Right. Poor-quality band-aids use strong glue and hurt when peeled off. Good ones use just the right amount of adhesion — they stay put but don't tear skin when removed."
"Do you have that kind of glue?" Yang asked, hopeful.
"Nope," Old Shen replied. "No one really stocks that. I've been in this business for decades, and you're the first person to ask for it."
Yang smiled. "Then do me a favor. Contact your Japanese suppliers and ask if they have anything like it. If you find the right glue, I'll be a big customer."
"Sure thing. You're one of my top clients already — I'll get back to you as soon as I find something," Old Shen promised.
Yang had bought large quantities of glue from him for the glue boards, and Old Shen valued the relationship.
"Thanks," Yang nodded. "I'll wait for your news."
After some small talk, Yang and Su Yiyi headed back to the factory.
Back at the office—
"Yiyi, cut about a hundred sheets to this size." Yang drew a 7cm x 7cm square on a piece of paper.
"100 pieces? Alright." Su Yiyi looked puzzled but didn't question it.
Together, they started working — Yang drew, Su Yiyi cut. In about ten minutes, they had a stack of 100 little square papers.
"Not very uniform..." Yang said, holding up the sheets and comparing them. "Definitely can't do this by hand. Mass production is out of the question without proper machinery."
"I think I saw a paper cutter at the stationery shop," Su Yiyi offered. "Want me to go buy one?"
"You mean a manual one, right? Probably won't work either," Yang shook his head. "We might need custom-made machinery for this."
Glue boards were a crude product. Once plastic boards, stickers, and glue were mass-produced, workers could do the rest by hand. That was fine for current-day Hong Kong — low labor costs meant human labor was often the best option. It also helped boost employment.
But some products — like beverages, or sticky notes — simply couldn't be made efficiently by hand. The alignment, layering, and glue application all required machine precision.
This wasn't just about mass production — it was about quality and scalability.
And Yang knew: if he could solve the glue problem, and get a machine built, he might just be looking at the next big thing.
Thank you for the support, friends. If you want to read more chapters in advance, go to my Patreon.
Read 20 Chapters In Advance: patreon.com/johanssen10