Reborn in 1977

Chapter 587: You Hold On First

America, New York.

Inside a small manor villa, Zhou Zhengdong dismissed the servants and sat with Zhao Wanru in the study, discussing work in hushed tones.

He held a cigarette in his hand, retracting his gaze from the Hudson River illuminated by distant lights, and said softly, "These past few days, I've consulted three computer experts and confirmed that developing a Chinese character card isn't complex. We don't need to seek cooperation from professional computer companies for this matter. We can fund it ourselves and recruit a group of researchers to complete the development work."

Zhao Wanru had been busy these past few days dealing with company affairs that had piled up due to her leave. Only today did she have some free time. Not fully understanding the specific situation, she asked, "Are those three computer experts reliable? Did we sign confidentiality agreements? If we can develop it ourselves, it's not impossible, but Wang An Computers currently dominates the word processor market. We need to consider their reaction after we develop the Chinese character card."

Wang An Computers is hardly known by anyone in later generations, but before the 1980s, Wang An Computers had almost no rivals in digital computers, small commercial computers, word processors, and other office automation equipment.

Wang An himself also saw his net worth soar because of this. In 1983, his net worth was $2 billion, firmly holding the title of the world's richest Chinese person.

It's a pity that when personal computers developed vigorously in the 1980s, even IBM lowered its stance and invested in the personal computer field. Wang An, however, disdained personal computers, ultimately going from an annual income of $3 billion in the late 1980s to filing for bankruptcy in 1992 within just three years, ending in a hasty manner.

But at this point in time, Wang An Computers is an absolute behemoth in the microcomputer market that cannot be bypassed.

Zhou Zhengdong took a puff of his cigarette before answering his wife's question, "The three computer experts are from Stanford University, Carnegie Mellon University, and MIT, respectively. They are senior computer science professors at these schools. Before I communicated with them, I signed confidentiality agreements according to the rules. The high penalty for breach of contract will keep them silent. Besides, their reputation in the industry is also good; they won't break the rules for a patent they're not interested in."

Hearing this, Zhao Wanru felt relieved.

These three universities are currently among the top-ranked computer science schools in the United States, and being senior professors, their expertise is naturally unquestionable.

So she couldn't help but ask, "How did they evaluate the research difficulty of this technology?"

Hearing this, Zhou Zhengdong couldn't help but chuckle, "They said that as long as there's a clear idea, a qualified senior student can complete it in less than a semester."

The so-called Chinese character card is just an expansion card, and expansion card technology is already relatively mature. The difficulty lies in how to edit the loaded program, which is the Chinese character input method and Chinese character display technology that Chen Fan explained.

In this regard, with a mature idea, the difficulty is indeed very low. Otherwise, Chen Fan wouldn't have casually handed it over to Zhou Zhengdong to handle, at least without providing a detailed research and development description document.

As for handing this technology over to a domestic university for research, Chen Fan had also seriously considered it, and then rejected it in two seconds.

First of all, this technology is indeed a hen that can lay golden eggs. If it's just handed over for nothing, then it will have nothing to do with him in the future. Secondly, the research and development difficulty isn't high, unlike the automobile industry, where he can't use the technology even if he has it, so it's better to give it away in exchange for some benefits.

The last, and most crucial point, is that there's no market in China!

Currently, China's computers can even be said to be in their infancy. Even information output is still stuck on punch cards. Yes, it's the kind where a machine spits out a long strip of paper with holes punched in it, which laymen find inexplicable.

Who would use a Chinese character card?

At the very least, we have to wait until the mid-1980s or so, when personal computers have entered China on a large scale, before it's time for the Chinese character card to make a great contribution.

It's still several years away, wouldn't that delay Chen Fan from making money?

After a two-second pause, Zhou Zhengdong continued what he was saying, "It's precisely because of the suggestions of the three experts that I decided to establish a computer company myself, specifically for the research and development of Chinese character cards. After the Chinese character card is successfully developed, these employees can continue to optimize the program. In addition, some current word processing systems can also be localized to make it easier to use computers for office work."

He took a deep breath, exhaled a puff of smoke, frowned slightly, and looked at the shimmering river, saying softly, "I've considered the industry's reaction. Wang An Computers is indeed a behemoth, but we're not without opportunities."

He threw the cigarette butt into the ashtray and said seriously, "Wang An is also Chinese, with ancestral roots in Kunshan, Jiangsu, born in Shanghai. He graduated from Jiaotong University in 1940 and went to the United States to study in 1945. He grew up on the mainland since he was a child, so there's a sense of kinship. He won't be as acquisitive as the local American capital, and will at least give us a chance to negotiate.

On the other hand, Chinese character cards are mainly used for external connection of microcomputers and are not in direct competition with Wang An Computers. Only when we release subsequent localized office systems will we enter the direct competition track.

There's a time difference here. If the Chinese character card market sales are good, we can completely establish cooperative relationships with other personal computer companies, so that we have the confidence to compete with Wang An Computers."

Speaking of this, he suddenly smiled, "Besides, now we're just worrying about things behind closed doors. Maybe they don't even have us in their eyes and directly ignore us. Wouldn't we be worrying for nothing?"

Zhao Wanru exhaled a long breath with a smile, and said softly, "If this were our own business, then everything would be easy to say. Over the years, the Zhou family has been able to gain a foothold in New York and become increasingly stronger by playing all sides. In addition to having a group of people who dare to risk their lives, the most important thing is being willing to 'share' profits.

Every year, more than 40% of the profits are given to other 'shareholders', so that the Zhou family's business can be maintained without being affected. A new business may as well be possible.

But this is not our own, but belongs to Xiao Fan, so it is not good to share with others."

Zhou Zhengdong nodded lightly, "This is also why I plan to start my own company instead of cooperating with other computer companies. Market cooperation is okay, but the patent must be firmly in our own hands, so that we won't fail Xiao Fan's trust."

Zhao Wanru pursed her lips and said, "Then should we still let Xiao Li be the nominal owner of the company, and let her hold all the shares for Xiao Fan?"

Zhou Zhengdong couldn't help but grin, "I didn't expect Xiao Li to like this younger cousin so much."

Zhao Wanru also said with a smile, "It's a pity that Xiao Fan already has someone, otherwise marrying Xiao Li wouldn't be a bad choice."

The idea that cousins can't marry is not something that the older generation of Chinese people consider at all. Many overseas Chinese at that time still continued the idea of marrying relatives to strengthen ties.

For example, in Hong Kong, many elderly people were married to cousins, and at that time Hong Kong was still implementing the Qing Dynasty Law, and it didn't matter if you married several, and some people even married several cousins at the same time.

As for the United States, that's even less of a problem.

The United States does not have a federal marriage law; marriage laws are drafted by each state. Before the 1950s, almost all states did not have laws prohibiting marriage between relatives. It was only after the 1960s that the slogan of improving the quality of the population was raised, calling for the enactment of relevant laws.

However, there were not many states that explicitly prohibited marriage between relatives in the early stages. Even in the new century, there were still about 20 states that did not prohibit it. This number also changes frequently, sometimes a few more, sometimes a few less.

It was against this background that Zhao Wanru said such a thing.

Unfortunately, Chen Fan already has someone in mind, and it seems to be two sisters. Naturally, they will not let their daughter get involved.

The Zhou family's only heir is not so unreliable.

Thinking of this, Zhou Zhengdong's heart moved, and he suddenly thought of the few bottles of wine he had brought back. He immediately coughed and said, "You don't have to get up early tomorrow, do you?"

Zhao Wanru was thinking about the Hank Company when she heard this and couldn't help but raise her head. "Huh?"

Zhou Zhengdong's face became serious. "I want to discuss with you all night about increasing the Zhou family's heir."

Zhao Wanru's eyes rolled slightly, and she looked at him with a half-smile. "All night?"

Zhou Zhengdong immediately glared. "Don't believe me? You wait for me!"

After saying that, he walked towards the wine cellar in the house.

…

Chen Fan walked out of Professor Xu's office and couldn't help but rub his temples.

Even with his energy, he couldn't help but have a headache after attending a class with Professor Xu.

In the end, it was still because of insufficient knowledge reserves. He couldn't handle some questions and still had to read books.

But at this time, he had to go and give lectures to others.

The auditorium of Jiangnan University was not far from here, only a 5-minute walk. He didn't drive and walked over directly.

Soon, he arrived in front of a sloping building.

The auditorium was built on the hillside, just located on a small hill, forming a slope inside the auditorium, which became a natural lecture hall.

Along the slope, there were four doors. The upper, middle, and lower three all led to the inside of the auditorium. The last small door led to the lounge behind the auditorium's podium.

Chen Fan walked along the hillside to the small door and quietly glanced at the open door next to him. Inside, there were nearly a thousand seats, all full of people.

In this classroom with so many people, only the teacher's voice was echoing. When the teacher paused, the entire classroom was silent, which showed how serious these students were.

These people were not students of Jiangnan University, but students of the "Literary Creation Correspondence Class" who had come from afar to attend face-to-face classes.

Chen Fan gently exhaled, reached out and grabbed the handle of the small door, opened it, and pushed it in.

In the large classroom in front, Wang Zibo wiped his sweat, raised his hand to check the time, walked to the podium, threw the chalk into the chalk box, supported the podium with his hand, and looked up at the many students with a kind smile. "Students, I have just explained the basic elements of literary creation to everyone. These questions are also in the learning manual that was distributed to everyone. In the past two days, I and other teachers have also explained these key points. Does everyone have any questions?"

On the stepped seats, some people were flipping through the recorded notes, some were discussing with the students on the left and right, and some were frowning and thinking.

At this time, a person raised his hand high.

Wang Zibo immediately pointed to him, "Please stand up, this student. What questions do you have?"

The man stood up, greeted him first, "Hello, Teacher Wang."

After a pause, he said embarrassedly, "You explained the techniques of literary creation very well. I understand them all. I want to ask a question about other aspects."

Wang Zibo smiled and said, "It doesn't matter, you can ask it, and we can discuss it together."

The man pursed his lips, smiled awkwardly twice, and then said, "It's like this, whenever I want to create, I can only think of a very small fragment, and then I don't know how to write it. So I want to ask you, what should I do when I encounter this problem?"

Before he finished speaking, many students whispered to each other and nodded repeatedly at the same time.

Obviously, they also had the same problem.

Wang Zibo coughed and pressed down with his hand, and the scene immediately quieted down.

He glanced at the audience before saying seriously, "The question asked by this student is actually in the learning manual. Everyone can take out the textbook and turn to page 7."

The sound of flipping books immediately rang out in the classroom.

After the sound subsided slightly, Wang Zibo continued, "The content of this lesson was edited by a young writer who we are all very familiar with, Comrade Chen Fan. He focuses on elaborating on some of the situations that new authors will encounter when facing creation, including this student's problem.

In fact, the reason for this situation is very simple, that is, insufficient accumulation. In summary, it is a lack of inspiration.

So how do we solve this problem? The textbook also gives the answer.

First of all, we must observe more, record more, read widely, and observe the details of life. This is the most common way of accumulation in our literary creation. We must have accumulation, have something in our stomachs, so that we can take it out when needed.

Secondly, we must learn to imagine. For example, the third student behind this student, please stand up."

Ning Jingmin was listening attentively when he suddenly found that the people around him were looking at him. He immediately reacted and stood up, his face turning red. "Hello, Teacher Wang."

Unfortunately, his face was too dark to see it.

Wang Zibo smiled at him and said, "Hello, student. I would like to ask you to be a model. You stand there and don't speak."

Then he said to the others, "Everyone, imagine and guess the origin of this student. Oh, by the way, those who know this student should not speak, that is taking shortcuts, not imagining.

Or you can put aside your understanding of him and re-arrange a reasonable identity for him."

After he finished speaking, the classroom was immediately noisy.

After a while, Wang Zibo asked, "Can anyone stand up and say something?"

Then he looked at the student who asked the question at the beginning, "Or, can you say something, this student?"

The student who asked the question couldn't help but look tangled, and turned to look at Ning Jingmin from time to time, "Uh, um, uh…, he should be a farmer, uh…"

Wang Zibo couldn't help but grit his teeth when he saw his embarrassed face.

The foundation is too poor, it is not easy to teach.

But there is no way, if you have collected other people's tuition fees, you have to be responsible to the end.

Just then, he glanced at the small door leading to the lounge behind, and his eyes lit up. He suddenly raised his voice and said, "Students, Chen Fan, a very outstanding young writer from our Jiangnan Writers Association, has also come to our scene. Let us welcome Chen Fan with warm applause."

Chen Fan leaned against the door frame, turned to look at Xu Qizhen, and said with a stunned expression, "Is Lao Wang trying to pass the buck?"

Bian Huifang hid in the corner, poked her head and shook her shoulders, and then simply turned around to face the wall, not daring to say a word.

Tan Yong smacked his lips and pointed outside, "This Xiao Wang is too unkind. I will talk to him later."

Xu Qizhen pushed Chen Fan out, "I will also talk to him. You go first."

Chen Fan, ? ? ?