Traveling back to 1977

Chapter 587 You Take the Lead First
New York, USA.

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

With a cigarette between his fingers, he turned his gaze away from the Hudson River illuminated by lights in the distance and said softly, "I've consulted three computer experts these past few days and confirmed that developing the Chinese character card isn't complicated. We don't need to partner with a professional computer company; we can fund it ourselves and recruit a group of researchers to complete the research and development."

Zhao Wanru had been busy dealing with the backlog of work caused by her absence these past few days, and only had a little free time today. Not fully aware of the specifics, she asked, "Are those three computer experts reliable? Did they sign any confidentiality agreements? It's not that we can't develop it ourselves, but Wang Laboratories currently dominates the word processor market. Once we develop the Chinese character card, we can't ignore their reaction."

Wang Laboratories is virtually unknown in later generations, but before the 80s, it had almost no rivals in logarithmic computers, small business computers, word processors, and other office automation equipment.

As a result, Wang An's personal wealth skyrocketed, reaching $83 billion in 20, firmly establishing him as the richest Chinese person in the world.

Unfortunately, while personal computers were booming in the 80s, and even IBM was willing to lower its standards and invest in the field, An Wang disdained personal computers. In just three years, his company went from an annual income of $80 billion in the late 30s to filing for bankruptcy in 92, ending in a dismal failure.

However, at this point in time, Wang Laboratories was an absolute behemoth in the microcomputer market.

Zhou Zhengdong took a drag 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, they all signed confidentiality agreements as required. The hefty penalty for breach of contract will keep them quiet. Besides, they have good reputations in the industry and 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 their professors are highly experienced, so their professionalism is beyond doubt.

So she couldn't help but ask, "How do they assess the difficulty of researching this technology?"

Upon hearing this, Zhou Zhengdong couldn't help but chuckle. "They said that as long as you have a clear idea, even a senior student who is academically competent can complete it in less than a semester."

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

With a well-developed approach, this is indeed quite easy; otherwise, Chen Fan wouldn't have casually entrusted it to Zhou Zhengdong. At the very least, he would have produced a detailed R&D documentation.

As for handing over the technology to domestic universities for research, Chen Fan had given it serious thought, but then rejected it in two seconds.

First, this technology is indeed a golden goose; if he just hands it over for nothing, it will be irrelevant to him in the future. Second, the research and development difficulty is not high, unlike in the automotive industry where he has no use for the technology; it's better to give it away in exchange for some benefits.

Lastly, and most importantly, there's no market for it in China!

Computer technology in China is practically nonexistent right now. Information output is still limited to paper jams. Yes, it's a machine that spits out a long strip of paper with holes punched in it, which is completely incomprehensible to the untrained eye.

Who's going to use this Chinese character card?
It will be at least until the mid-80s, when personal computers have entered the domestic market on a large scale, that's when the Chinese character card will truly make a difference.

There are still several years to go now, wouldn't that stop Chen Fan from making money?

After pausing for two seconds, Zhou Zhengdong continued, "It was because of the advice of these three experts that I decided to establish my own computer company specifically for developing Chinese character cards. Once the Chinese character card is successfully developed, these employees can continue to optimize the programs. In addition, we can also localize some current word processing systems to make it easier to use computers for office work."

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

He threw his cigarette butt into the ashtray and said seriously, "Wang An is also Chinese. His ancestral home is Kunshan, Jiangsu. He was born in Shanghai and graduated from Jiaotong University in 1940. He went to the United States to study in 45. He grew up in the mainland and has some family ties. He won't be like the big American capital that tries to seize things by force. At the very least, he will give us a chance to negotiate."

On the other hand, the Chinese character card is mainly used for external use with microcomputers and is not in direct competition with Wang Laboratories. It will only enter the direct competition track when we release subsequent localized office systems.

There's a time lag involved. If the Chinese character card market performs well, we can certainly establish partnerships with other PC companies, which would give us the confidence to compete with Wang Laboratories.

At this point, he suddenly laughed, "Besides, we're just worrying unnecessarily right now. Maybe they don't even care about us and just ignore us. Wouldn't we be worrying for nothing?"

Zhao Wanru smiled and let out a long breath, saying softly, "If this is our own business, then everything is negotiable. The reason why the Zhou family has been able to establish itself in New York over the years, and to be so successful and powerful, is not only because they have a group of people who are willing to risk their lives, but most importantly because they are willing to 'share' the profits."

More than 40 percent of the profits each year are given to other 'shareholders' in order to keep the Zhou family's business from being affected. A new business is not out of the question.

However, this doesn't belong to us, but to Xiaofan, so it's not appropriate to share it with others.

Zhou Zhengdong nodded slightly, "That's why I plan to start my own company instead of partnering with other computer companies. Market cooperation is fine, but I must firmly hold onto the patents myself, so as not to let Xiaofan down."

Zhao Wanru pursed her lips, then said, "Then should the company boss let Xiaoli be the nominal shareholder, and let her hold all the shares on behalf of Xiaofan?"

Zhou Zhengdong couldn't help but grin, "I never expected that Xiaoli would like this cousin so much."

Zhao Wanru also said with a smile, "It's a pity that Xiaofan already has a partner, otherwise, getting together with Xiaoli would not have been a bad choice."

The idea that cousins ​​cannot marry was simply not in the considerations of the older generation of Chinese. Many overseas Chinese at that time still held the idea of ​​strengthening family ties through marriage.

For example, in Hong Kong, many elderly people married their cousins. At that time, Hong Kong was still under the Qing Dynasty law, so it didn't matter how many cousins ​​one could marry. 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 50s, almost all states did not have laws prohibiting marriage between cousins. It was only after the 60s that the slogan of improving the quality of the population was raised, calling for the enactment of relevant laws.

Initially, there were not many states that explicitly prohibited marriage between cousins. Even in the new century, there are still about 20 states that do not prohibit it. This number often changes, sometimes more and sometimes less.

It was against this backdrop that Zhao Wanru made such a statement.

Unfortunately, Chen Fan already has a girlfriend, and they seem to be sisters, so naturally they wouldn't let their daughter get involved.

The sole heir of the Zhou family isn't that unreliable.

Thinking of this, Zhou Zhengdong's heart skipped a beat. He suddenly remembered the bottles of wine he had brought back and immediately coughed, "You don't need to get up early tomorrow, right?"

Zhao Wanru was thinking about the Chinese character card company when she heard this and couldn't help but look up. "Huh?"

Zhou Zhengdong's expression turned serious. "I want to discuss with you all night about increasing the number of heirs in the Zhou family."

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

Zhou Zhengdong's eyes widened immediately. "You don't believe me? Just you wait!"

After saying that, he walked towards the wine cellar at home.

……

As Chen Fan walked out of Professor Xu's office, he couldn't help but rub his temples. Even with his energy, attending just one class with Professor Xu gave him a headache.

Ultimately, it comes down to insufficient knowledge. There are some questions I can't answer, so I still need to read books.

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

The auditorium of Jiangnan University is not far from here, only a 5-minute walk away, so he didn't drive and walked there directly.

Before long, we arrived at a leaning building.

The auditorium is built into the hillside, situated on a small hill, forming a sloping surface inside, which becomes a natural tiered classroom.

There are four doors along the slope. The top, middle and bottom doors lead to the interior of the auditorium, while the last small door leads to the lounge behind the auditorium's podium.

Chen Fan walked up the hillside to the small door and secretly glanced at the open door next to him. There were nearly a thousand seats inside, all packed with people.

In this classroom with so many students, only the teacher's voice echoed. When the teacher paused, the entire classroom fell silent, demonstrating how attentive the students were.

These people were not students of Jiangnan University, but students from afar who came to take the "Correspondence Course in Literary Creation".

Chen Fan let out a soft breath, reached out and grasped the handle of the small door, turned it, and pushed the door open to go inside.

In the large classroom at the front, Wang Zibo wiped his sweat, glanced at the time, walked to the podium, tossed the chalk into the chalk box, leaned on the podium, looked up at the students, and said in a gentle tone, "Students, I just talked about some basic elements of literary creation. These questions are also in the study manuals we gave you. Over the past two days, other teachers and I have also explained these key points. Do you have any questions?"

On the tiered seating, some people were flipping through their notes, some were discussing with the students on either side of them, and some were frowning in thought.

At that moment, someone raised their hand high.

Wang Zibo immediately pointed at him, "Please stand up, student. Is there a question?"

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

He paused for a moment before saying somewhat apologetically, "You explained the techniques of literary creation very well, and I understand them all. I would like to ask a question about something else."

Wang Zibo smiled and said, "It's okay, you can bring it up, and we can discuss it together."

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

Before he finished speaking, many students began whispering among themselves and nodding in agreement.

Clearly, they have the same problem.

Wang Zibo coughed lightly and pressed his hand down, immediately silencing the crowd.

He glanced around the room before speaking seriously, "The question this student asked is actually in the study manual. Everyone can take out their textbooks and turn to page 7."

The sound of turning pages immediately filled the classroom.

After the sound subsided slightly, Wang Zibo continued, "The content of this lesson was edited by Comrade Chen Fan, a young writer we are all familiar with. He focused on some situations that new authors may encounter when creating, including this student's question."

The reason for this situation is actually quite simple: insufficient accumulation of knowledge. In short, it's a lack of inspiration.

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

First and foremost, we must observe and record extensively, reading widely and paying attention to the details of life. This is the most common way to accumulate knowledge in literary creation. Having a wealth of knowledge and experience is essential so that we can draw upon it when needed.

Secondly, you need to learn to imagine. For example, "The third student behind this student, please stand up."

Ning Jingmin was listening intently when he suddenly realized that everyone around him was looking at him. He immediately stood up, his face turning red, and said, "Hello, Teacher Wang."

Unfortunately, her face is too dark to tell.

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

Then he said to the others, "Everyone, try to imagine and guess where this student comes from. Oh, right, if you know this student, don't say anything; that's taking a shortcut, not imagining."

Alternatively, you could disregard your understanding of him and assign him a more believable identity.

As soon as he finished speaking, the classroom erupted in chaos.

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

Then he looked at the student who asked the question at the beginning, "Or, could you please answer?"

The student who asked the question looked conflicted, turning to look at Ning Jingmin every now and then, "Uh, um, uh... he should be a farmer, uh..."

Seeing the troubled look on his face, Wang Zibo couldn't help but grit his teeth.

Their foundation is too weak; they're hard to teach.

But there's no way around it; once you've taken someone's tuition, you have to be responsible for it to the end.

Just then, he glanced at the small door leading to the back lounge, his eyes lit up, and he suddenly raised his voice, saying, "Students, Comrade Chen Fan, an outstanding young writer from the Jiangnan Writers Association, has also come to our event. Let's welcome Chen Fan with warm applause!"

Chen Fan leaned against the doorframe, turned to look at Xu Qizhen, and said with a look of astonishment, "Is Old Wang trying to shift the blame?"

Bian Huifang hid in the corner, shoved her head and shook her shoulders, then simply turned to face the wall, not daring to utter a sound.

Tan Yong clicked his tongue and pointed outside, "That Xiao Wang is really dishonest. I'll talk to him about it later."

Xu Qizhen pushed Chen Fan out, saying, "I'll talk to him too, you take over for now."

Chen Fan, ? ? ?
(End of this chapter)