America 1982

Outside the Supreme Court building in Washington, an NBC news reporter said to the camera:

“We have seen that lawyers representing Microsoft, IBM, Compaq, Bolan and MicroPort, which like Lotus should have challenged Actor’s plagiarism, have appeared on the scene. They have all previously submitted court documents supporting Actor to the company. Friend stated.”

The ABC news reporter introduced the scene in front of the building before the trial from another angle:

“In addition to fellow companies and professionals, we have seen that there are approximately two hundred lawyers representing various non-profit advocacy organizations, serving as amicus curiae, who will enter the scene today to hear the Supreme Court’s ruling on the infringement case of Lotus Company v. Actor Company. In addition, Stanford University, which represents the university as the founder of Actor Company, will also have many students and administrators involved in this trial in different capacities."

"In addition to the lawyers who are entering the building, we can also notice that there are about five to six hundred people gathered at the scene at this moment, most of them women. They hold up the words 'Support Tommy' and 'God Bless the Righteous'. "Let Lotus destroy the American dream!' and other slogans. It is understood that these are some of the people who received Actor's OSS software for free. We randomly interviewed one."

"Hello, ma'am, what's your name?" The reporter walked up to a middle-aged woman in her thirties and handed the microphone to her mouth.

The middle-aged woman looked at the camera, waved her hands curiously, and then said: "I am Emily, from Batesville, Washington, DC."

"Emily, why are you here?" the reporter asked Emily with a smile.

Emily said to the camera with a serious expression: "Support Actor, support Tommy Hawke. I hope to have the opportunity to tell him face to face, don't be afraid, don't panic, we are standing here with him, he is not for Himself, he just wants more people to live with dignity. He is not wrong. If the court rules that Actor loses the case, he should not worry. We may not be able to buy the expensive software of those big companies, but we can afford 49.99 , we will raise money to let him and Actor tide over the difficulties."

"Wow, but Tommy and Actor may be guilty of plagiarism..." The reporter frowned slightly and wanted to change the question to his opinion on this lawsuit, but before he could finish the question, Emily corrected him with some dissatisfaction. What he said:

"He didn't plagiarize! There is no clear law telling this poor kid not to do this. This is a mistake in American justice! But now those rich people and judges obviously want to make money and steal our money." He killed them all! We cannot tolerate the massacre that happened in front of everyone! His mother must be in tears in heaven at this time. Her kind and loving son is about to be framed as a sinner by this country..."

Benjamin Rosen, chairman of Compaq and executive director of EFF, appeared next to the camera at this time, as if he happened to pass by. The reporter quickly shook off Emily and caught up to ask: "Mr. Rosen, as a professional in the computer industry, Can you briefly talk about your views on this lawsuit and why many companies in the computer industry are willing to support Actor's possible infringement?"

"Because a court has ruled in favor of Lotus, it will disrupt the entire computer industry. Practitioners are aware of this potential harm, so as practitioners and professionals, they will naturally make the most conscious decision." Benjamin Rosen spoke gracefully into the microphone and walked towards the Supreme Court building.

"The people from Actor Company are here!" a voice from the crowd shouted loudly.

Two commercial vehicles drove slowly from a distance and parked outside the building. Crowds of people gathered around them. The door opened and Delia Keyes and her team of lawyers, as well as Holly Keener, the co-founder of Actor, walked out. , Jason White, but not the blond boy who once told everyone at the hearing that he was prepared to bear all the responsibility alone.

"Excuse me, Attorney Case, won't Mr. Tommy Hawke attend the court hearing today?" A reporter asked loudly to Delia and others when he saw that there was no one in the car.

People who came to support also asked loudly: "Where is Tommy?"

Facing reporters' questioning, Delia and the lawyers remained expressionless and tried to walk toward the building, but the crowd kept asking questions.

Delia didn't speak, Jason lowered his head and remained silent. Only Holly seemed unable to face those warm gazes. Plus, walking at the end, she was a little overwhelmed facing everyone at the moment, so she forced out an ugly smile. , hesitantly said:

"Tommy has some problems right now and is unable to come with us for the time being, but we believe that his thoughts are with everyone at Actor Company."

"Excuse me, what happened?" Hearing that someone was finally willing to answer, countless topics and flashlights were directed at Holly, and she asked loudly.

"Someone...Sorry, I can't say the identity of the other party, but they wanted to take some time to talk to Tommy about this lawsuit. After talking, Tommy felt a little uncomfortable. He told us that his head hurt. Doctor He was allowed to rest, so he couldn't come to the court to attend the trial in person, but he asked me to express my position that no matter what kind of punishment was made, he would accept it calmly. I'm sorry, everyone, I'm a little rude, please let me in..." Huo Li looked pitifully weak and covered her mouth with her hand.

Jim Manzi happened to pass by wearing a baseball bat in a low-key manner. As the former vice president of Lotus, he will attend the trial as a witness for the plaintiff Lotus today. His expression was relaxed at the moment.

Of course it's easy. If I hadn't run fast, I would be the one who was in trouble right now.

Hearing Holly's words, the corners of his mouth turned up unconsciously. This was definitely a trick directed and performed by Tommy Hawke, used to deceive the poor people in the square outside. Wow, look, Tommy the Rogue has touched the interests. Cake, some people don't want him to attend the trial, some people are afraid of him.

As for who Tommy was held back by, it doesn't matter. It was the big shot anyway. Why is it so sure? Of course, in order to defeat Actor, Lotus replaced their hard-working vice president Jim Manz with a guy with Kennedy in his name.

In fact, it's all those people's random thoughts. The real reason is that the Supreme Court's trial will not be made public. At most, you can only read the text. There is no TV broadcast and no reporters to take pictures. That bastard has no room for action. Of course, he must leave this matter to A lawyer who is more professional in dealing with judges.

Otherwise, this bastard would say passionately to a bunch of justices: I am willing to bear all the sins! Those justices are not congressmen without the power to rule. If these justices are moved by Tommy's sincere feelings and decide to help him become an American saint, Tommy will just find a place to hang himself and see if he can survive in three days. Resurrection. If you can be resurrected, you will become Jesus. If you die completely, it will be the funniest joke in the next hundred years.

"God bless the righteous..." Jim walked up the steps towards the building, looking at the slogans that only made him laugh: "I hope others will help him, and then thank him, this kind of bastard can be Called righteous, this is a fucking weird magical country. If it continues like this, maybe Tommy or another person with strong incitement tells them that he is a woman. Maybe they can believe it and invite them. He went to the women's room."

Holly over there seemed to be unable to speak any more. She just hurriedly said sorry, turned around and followed Jason and others, making the others look at each other.

The middle-aged woman named Emily who was interviewed just now took the opportunity to appear in front of the unfocused camera and said loudly:

"America needs young people like Tommy. He has all the virtues. He will make this country a better place. He will definitely win! God bless the righteous!"

…

On the terrace of the river view suite at the Four Seasons Hotel in Washington, he felt the humid breeze blowing from the Potomac River for a moment. Sitting on the sofa, Tommy in his pajamas slowly opened his eyes: "This is the only thing I don't have to wear during this time. Use sleep aids to help you sleep until you wake up naturally.”

Stephen Penn looked at the distant scenery on the river and cast his eyes on Tommy Hawke, right: "I'm honored to be framed by you as the hidden big shot who put pressure on you to prevent you from attending the trial. Tommy, it was obviously you who called me here. , and then you ask your blonde girl to tell the outside world that someone is exerting pressure, but you still dare not refuse."

"You're worth a fucking 600 million, rich guy, how could I say no to you?" Tommy laughed:

"The hearings of the Supreme Court are not open to the public. There is no need for me to waste my words. Let the lawyers handle it."

Sophia, who was in the living room far away, gave a tip to the waiter who rang the doorbell, and then brought coffee and snacks to her.

Stephen said thank you, looked at Sophia's back as she walked back to the living room, and then looked at Tommy with inquiring eyes. Tommy Hawke shrugged: "Secretary, girlfriend, assistant, whatever, I didn't pay her anyway. salary."

"I don't believe that there are women who are willing to deliver coffee to you without paying." Stephen Penn said with certainty.

"I'm charming, okay? The whole United States is fascinated by me~" Tommy heard Stephen's evaluation of himself and stared dissatisfied:

"I didn't pay Sophia a penny. I just relied on my personal charm and love to help her a little."

Stephen pouted: "Love? A stingy poor guy like you can have such a thing as love?"

"I told an organization called EFF that in order to thank Sophia for providing free legal help to disadvantaged groups in the computer software industry, EFF donated a sum of money to Stanford Law School as a scholarship, and Stanford Law School gave it to her. For you, The words may not be much, but they are enough for Sophia to continue to provide me with free legal aid." Tommy said lightly.

Stephen's eyes widened: "You have to find ways to avoid taxes when you pay your girl a fucking salary? If this continues, you will have to avoid taxes as much as possible whether you buy Torjan or not!"

Tommy gestured to the other party to shut up, and said seriously: "Stanford University gave her a scholarship, what does it have to do with me?"

"Then why don't I see your girl go deliver coffee to the dean of the law school?"

"Sophia, my friend asked you why you didn't deliver coffee to the dean."

Sophia sighed, raised her head and pushed the glasses on the bridge of her nose: "Because the dean is busy frequently appearing in the public eye because of the opportunities you created. He is helping you to increase his popularity."

"The dean told her that all she needs to do is thank me, the boy from the Order of the Phoenix." Tommy made a deliberately provocative pout kiss to Stephen, and then changed the subject:

"Let's get down to business, rich man. Remember when I said that when the time comes, you can invest your money, and then your Tommy daddy will give you some pocket money? It's time."

"How much money do you need?" Stephen heard Tommy talk about taking money to invest, and took a sip of coffee:

"Give me any reason so that I can have a reason to notify the manager of the financial management company. Even if you say you need money to help you treat AIDS, it's okay. Just any reason."

"Six hundred thousand OSS users are waiting eagerly for me to sell them computers. After the software industry takes its place, of course hardware will also have to get involved. If we don't gain a foothold now, we will give those big companies another chance." The probability is lower than the probability of God appearing." Tommy said to Stephen:

"During this period, EFF and Actor have made initial contact with several companies in the industry and are likely to let their money come in. Do you understand? Actor cannot always be Tommy's company alone, so my shares will be diluted. Some, but it’s not nothing. I’m also going to transfer some shares and get some cash. The company’s valuation is all fake, as long as the banknotes are real.”

Stephen put down the coffee cup, picked up the cigarette case, lit one, and then threw the cigarette case to Tommy: "To get to the point, Tommy, I'm not interested in how much money you make."

"Mr. Benjamin Rosen of Compaq has urged me many times. As long as I nod, he will invest in Actor in the name of Compaq, take off the Compaq logo on the computers they produce, and replace it with the Actor brand. It seems that with 600,000 users, even if only 100,000 are willing to buy computers, the sales volume will be enough to scare everyone." Tommy also took out a cigarette and held it in his mouth:

"I can make the software free, but the hardware cannot be free. Everyone should understand, right? Moreover, we can assemble it ourselves, or we can hand it over to small companies blocked by IBM, Compaq and others to process it on their behalf, and then provide it for free. I am not greedy for the software of other small companies in the EFF alliance that are invested by Actors. I am not interested in the hardware market of more than a thousand yuan. IBM, Apple, and Compaq compete casually, but I want to have the computer market of less than a thousand yuan. Territory.”

Stephen exhaled smoke: "I'm not a computer science major, Tommy, don't say it's too complicated, just tell me how much your Actor company needs."

"My Actor company doesn't need money." Tommy said to Stephen.

When Stephen heard Tommy's words, he was so angry that he choked on the cigarette and coughed twice: "Then you asked me to take out the fucking money. Are you going to join forces with you to open a strip club?"

"I mean, instead of having their wallets emptied out by others, those 600,000 people and possibly more people, it would be better to leave them to me. At least I am willing to change their lives." Tommy looked at Stephen:

“Do you know what a small loan is?”

"Shouldn't loans be a bank's business?" Stephen was stunned for a moment: "If you invest all the 600 million, this bank can only be regarded as a small bank. Tommy, besides, I can't invest all of it to open a bank for you. .”

Tommy motioned to Stephen to listen to what he said: "I am going to open a microfinance bank and lend money to those who trust me without collateral to buy computers, software, or other things that want to change myself. I Will not lend to rich people, I require that the borrowers must live below the poverty line and be willing to accept the bank's suggestions. Create a five-person customer group, they are one, once the group is established, they will be able to obtain a bank account, collect To get a loan, these five people have to hold a group meeting every week under the auspices of bank staff, where they complete the loan repayment, exchange progress or changes during the week, and exchange ideas."

"Every week? This frequency is too high. I heard that family bills are only sent every month." Stephen said in confusion.

Tommy looked at the cigarette in his hand and said: "High-frequency contact such as weekly loans can effectively guarantee the repayment rate, because it will make people always tighten their minds, and the lender also needs frequent encouragement or guidance. , this is a benign contact, and if the contact is only once a month, and it is just a cold debt collection call, believe me, bad debts will definitely give you a headache."

Stephen frowned. Although he didn't care about money, he didn't want to lend it to a group of poor people. He asked with some worry: "What if the other party doesn't repay the loan after a week?"

"He will not be able to get the next small loan and will have to wait for someone to come and confiscate computers and software. In this way, the bank's losses will be relatively smaller, and if other people in his group feel that there is a reason for his incident, they can replace him." He pays the loan to ensure that he can continue to stay in this group. If no one is willing to help him, he needs to leave. There is no possibility of 100% bad debts. He just uses this method to urge those people to change their life status as much as possible. Otherwise, how will the bank Earning a good reputation, if you and I decide to be the president and finance minister of this country, is not a summer camp game, these are precious reputations." Tommy explained his thinking.

Stephen shook his head: "This will definitely lose money. If you and I can't run for president, the most profitable thing is probably your computer company, because this bank needs real money to buy computers and software for those poor people. If they refuse to pay back Loans are bad debts, tell me how to make a profit?”

"Don't be like this, be tolerant and generous to the poor. After all, they are the majority in this country." Tommy smiled and said to Stephen:

"However, in addition to providing low-interest loans to people who are determined to change their destiny, in order to ensure the bank's income, I plan to use SSD's contacts to launch another business called payday small consumer loans, mainly for people in the United States. For brave soldiers, the interest and penalty interest will be much higher. Anyway, we don’t have to worry about these American soldiers not being able to repay their loans. We only need to use the postdated checks issued by the national finance for these soldiers to deduct our loans and interest on time on their payday. In this way, their accounts are managed by us, and they only need to pay off the debt every month, then continue to borrow money from us, and issue a postdated check for the next month.”

Stephen was dumbfounded when he heard this. Although he was a rich man and had never been short of money, he was very sure that none of the soldiers could resist Tommy's temptation. Where did this grandson come up with the idea of ​​​​exterminating his descendants:

"What happens after retirement? There is no national finance to pay salary, and I have not found a job for the time being..."

"If the U.S. government is unwilling to pay, then the bank will have to take away his house and car with the bills and make him bankrupt, or introduce them to become mercenaries and make more money, but that is not what the bank should consider. Understand? I help the poor because I am kind, but I will not help the U.S. government. It is the government of this country that has done the evil and caused these heroic soldiers to go bankrupt. It is obvious that the salary of these soldiers is too low, so they need to borrow money. The country Just increase their salary and benefits. What does it have to do with me, the bank that lends them money?" Tommy looked at Stephen innocently:

"I never make poor people's money."

"It's true that you didn't make any fucking poor people's money, but you are robbing the wallets of American soldiers..." Stephen could no longer find the right expression to express his inner reaction at this moment.

Tommy shrugged: "We started small, for example, starting from the California military base, and gradually expanded to neighboring Texas and New Mexico. Finally, we have our business locations near all military bases in the United States. SSD has been working closely with veterans. We have cooperated with the association and done good deeds for so long, and it’s time to pay back some of our money.”

“And I have always believed that loans can eliminate poverty more than pure charity. Loans will increase the initiative of the poor. We will encourage them to change from lenders to savers, and then use their savings to lend to more people in need. People, or invest in more companies that need help, you don’t know, there are many great companies in the United States that are worth investing in and worth helping, but I don’t have the money, so I can only use everyone’s money to accomplish this.”

Stephen covered his forehead: "But you won't share the money earned from investment with everyone."

"The money I earned from hard-earned investment is mine. Those people didn't do anything, so why did they take my money?" Tommy said confidently.

"They can't do anything. Not only can't they take away your money, but they also have to take on a fucking loan." Stephen rubbed his forehead: "I have Jewish ancestry, but now I feel that you are more Jewish than me."

At this time, Sophia turned on the TV in the living room, and a middle-aged woman happened to appear on the live news screen. She yelled at the camera with her loudest voice:

"America needs young people like Tommy. He has all the virtues. He will make this country a better place. He will definitely win! God bless the righteous!"

Stephen closed his eyes, leaned back on the sofa, and whispered: "Tommy Hawke, with all the virtues, is definitely the most sarcastic black humor I have ever heard."

Six thousand words~