Traveling back to 1977

Chapter 766 Limited Conscience
Back at Xin'an Restaurant, Chen Fan and the others went to their rooms to rest.

As for Wang Jianguo and the others, they don't live here.

It wasn't that Mr. Chen couldn't afford the room fee; it was only after arriving here that he realized Xin'an Restaurant was originally a restaurant that only operated catering and did not currently have a hotel business.

Because this place is located on the Shenzhen-Hong Kong border, leaders or guests from Hong Kong often come here. For convenience, a few rooms have been set up inside the restaurant for special guests to rest.

If Liao Guangzhi hadn't come with a letter of introduction from the province, Chen Fan, on his own... well, he probably could have moved in too.

Putting aside everything else, if you travel all over the country, you could probably count on one hand the number of people who would dare not give face to the writer Chen, who is now at the height of his fame, who goes deep into the jungle to collect material, and incidentally rescues people and fights.

In short, this place wasn't open to just anyone. It wasn't until later, when Xin'an Restaurant underwent reforms and added hotel business, that it developed into a comprehensive quasi-four-star hotel company integrating catering, accommodation, conferences, business, tourism, recreation, and entertainment.

Even if the hotel is willing to give Chen the courtesy, there aren't enough rooms for Wang Jianguo and his group.

Fortunately, Cai Guoqiang, a local strongman, easily rented two houses in town that were not originally rented out to the public, and arranged for Wang Jianguo and his nine companions to live there.

Moreover, the location is not far from Xin'an Restaurant, making it convenient for Boss Chen to call upon the restaurant at any time.

Back in his room, Chen Fan took a shower first.

Back in Guangdong, every time he came back from a trip, he couldn't help but take a shower. The heat wasn't as intense then, but the humidity here was so high that he was constantly damp, and he felt uncomfortable if he didn't shower.

After taking a shower, I turned on the fan for a while... Hmm, it's quite a feature of this era that there's no air conditioning in these luxurious rooms. I wonder if there will be one when they're renovated in a few years.

It doesn't matter whether it's there or not. Once the factory and dormitories are built, a suite will be set aside, and air conditioning will definitely be installed there.

After blowing the fan for a while, there was a knock on the door.

I went over to open the door, and it was Zhou Yali who knocked.

Water droplets still clung to her hair, and she had changed her clothes, so it was clear she had just taken a shower.

He stepped aside to let her in, and Chen Fan looked outside.

Before he could speak, Zhou Yali said as she walked inside, "I just went to their room. Lili hasn't finished washing up yet, and Tiantian is in line."

Chen Fan raised an eyebrow, then simply opened the door and turned around to see someone occupying their spot, staring intently at the electric fan.

He walked over expressionlessly and tilted the electric fan to the side. "Don't let it blow directly on you, you'll catch a cold, especially since your hair is still wet."

Zhou Yali sighed softly, "There's not even an air conditioner, it's so suffocating."

Then, looking at Chen Fan, he asked, "Have you finished your inspection? When are you leaving?"

Chen Fan looked at her speechlessly. "Miss, you were the one who wanted to come for the site inspection, but you haven't said a word since you arrived. Now you're in such a hurry to leave. What, have you forgotten that you have to attend the groundbreaking ceremony the day after tomorrow?"

As for the lack of air conditioning, well, it really doesn't affect him much. As mentioned before, his body temperature can now automatically adapt to the external environment, so icy snow and fiery deserts feel about the same to him.

Even when he sweats, it's only because he sees others sweating that he forces himself to sweat as well.

Look at me now, I feel so clean and refreshed, without a trace of sweat.

It seems like it's not okay to not have it?
Chen Fan glanced at Zhou Yali's flushed face and the fine sweat on her forehead, pursed his lips, and almost in the blink of an eye, a layer of sweat also appeared on his forehead.

Yes, that's fitting for the occasion. I stayed dry the whole time, without sweating.

Zhou Yali vented a few complaints, but it was just venting; she wasn't really fed up with it.

Seeing that Chen Fan was getting impatient, she immediately changed the subject and gestured to him.

Chen Fan immediately understood what he meant and said with a smile in a low voice, "I've checked, there are no listening devices inside, and none in your room either."

They stayed in three rooms here. Chen Fan and Zhou Yali each had a room, and the two sisters shared a room. Liao Guangzhi also got a small room, but he didn't stay with them.

From the day he checked in, Chen Fan checked the room every day.

Be careful to sail the boat that lasts ten thousand years.

Hearing Chen Fan say this, Zhou Yali asked directly, "Have you thought it through? What kind of factory do you want to set up?"

Chen Fan's face darkened. "Shouldn't this be your decision? Just set up whatever factory you need."

Zhou Yali sighed again, "There's a lot of demand."

As she spoke, she started counting on her fingers, "Let me do the math for you. I've decided to expand Qianfan Publishing House's business and print some of our books ourselves, so we acquired a few printing plants a couple of months ago. Printing plants need paper, so do you think we should set up a paper mill?"

Chen Fan said without hesitation, “Absolutely not. Paper mills are heavily polluting factories. If you want to invest, go directly to Malaysia, which is close to Singapore. There are plenty of trees there, and it’s by the sea, so raw materials and transportation are convenient.”

"If you were to open a shop in Shenzhen, let alone whether the Shekou Industrial Zone has wastewater treatment capacity, even if it did, it probably wouldn't be very large. I wouldn't do something so unethical as to discharge wastewater directly without treatment."

Zhou Yali blinked, "Then in Malaysia..."

Chen Fan glanced at her. "If we're building a sewage treatment system, do we really need to go abroad?"

He has a conscience, but not much; it's only enough for his own country, and he can't share any with the outside world.

Zhou Yali immediately understood, "Then we'll talk about this later."

Then he started counting on his fingers, "Let's not talk about the printing plant. As for Wan Muchun Company, they have now completed the development of the multi-protocol router you mentioned, but according to Dr. Engelbart's prediction, the production volume should not be too large in the short term."

On the one hand, there aren't many computer devices available now, as they are mainly concentrated in research institutes and university campuses, so only a small electronics factory is needed to produce them.

On the other hand, this type of equipment requires advanced manufacturing processes and technological sophistication; besides the United States, only a few countries such as the UK, France, Germany, and Japan can produce it, so it's not suitable for this location.

Chen Fan listened with some skepticism, but did not refute her words. While my country's electronic technology is indeed relatively weak, the technological content of this product isn't that high; otherwise, the original inventor wouldn't have been able to create it in just half a year.

However, as Zhou Yali said, this kind of device has not been widely adopted yet, and the production volume is indeed low. It will take a few more years, especially after IBM opened up the technical standards, personal computers began to rise and enter thousands of households, and then in the 90s, broadband technology began to become popular, and multi-protocol routers will truly have a place to be used.

So, no rush.

Chen Fan blinked, then another question came to mind: "What is Dr. Bartel Engel's current focus of work?"

Zhou Yali shrugged and laughed, "What else could it be but promoting multi-protocol routers? He believed as early as ten years ago that computers should be made more accessible and easier to use, and this router clearly offers the possibility of connecting computers all over the world. It would be strange if he didn't take the lead on this."

She paused for a moment, then looked around. "Where's the water?"

Chen Fan stood up blankly and poured her a glass of water.

Zhou Yali frowned. "Is it hot? Is there anything cold?"

Chen Fan calmly put the hot water aside, took another cup, shared half of the chrysanthemum tea from his travel mug with her, then silently filled it with hot water and left it to cool.

Zhou Yali drank it all in one gulp, "That feels good."

He then coughed twice and continued, "He was originally an expert in this field and knew many computer professors at universities. When I returned to China, he had already successfully sold this equipment at several universities, including Stanford, Boston, and Princeton."

I haven't really been involved in this aspect; you know I don't understand these things, so I just left it to him. Right now, my main focus is on selling the Chinese character card and my research on Chinese computers.

With the Chinese character card, building a Chinese computer becomes very simple. Moreover, with Mr. Zhu Bangfu leading the effort, Taiwan is very interested in this computer. I haven't decided yet whether to cooperate with them.

After saying that, she looked at Chen Fan and asked, "What do you think?"

Chen Fan crossed his legs, tapped his knees lightly with his fingers, pondered for two seconds, and said, "We can cooperate, but first, the patent must be in our hands. That's non-negotiable."

Secondly, besides Taiwan, you should also find partners in places like Hong Kong and Singapore to mitigate the impact from other areas.

Zhou Yali raised an eyebrow slightly. "Hey, that's a good idea."

She paused for a moment, then laughed and said, "You have no idea, this is what's bothering me. Although it's business, we can't ignore the political situation. Having more partners can help to downplay this issue."

After saying that, he shook his head and said, "As expected, my younger brother is the smartest."

As soon as she finished speaking, she turned to look at Chen Fan and whispered, "What do you think, should we sign a cooperation agreement with the mainland as well?"

Chen Fan clicked his tongue, thought for a moment, and said, "No need."

Seeing Zhou Yali's surprised expression, he smiled and explained, "On the one hand, the leaders nowadays have a broad perspective. They won't mind such baseless trivial matters; they just hope to make more friends."

On the other hand, Jiangnan University and Shanghai Jiaotong University in mainland China are conducting research on personal computers. As far as I know, they have already built a first-generation machine that imitates Apple computers. However, due to the difficulty in obtaining the same chips as Apple, they have to settle for second best, resulting in a slight disadvantage in performance.

Now, based on their first-generation computer, they are also conducting research on Chinese-language computers…

At this point, he shrugged helplessly and spread his hands, saying, "But there are no patent laws in China, and we haven't joined any international intellectual property organizations, so I guess we won't be able to collect patent fees."

Last year, Zhou Yali gave him one computer, which was sent to Jiangnan University, and another was taken by Shanghai Jiao Tong University. Both universities have strong research foundations, and they almost replicated the new personal computer one after the other.

Yes, we've never lost when it comes to copying.

Simply copying isn't enough. According to Professor Huang from Jiangnan University, he hopes to solidify the Chinese character card and create a Chinese computer system. Shanghai Jiao Tong University happens to have the same idea, and a year has passed with both sides still locked in a struggle, unsure when it will end or who will emerge victorious.

Actually, Chinese-language computers aren't that unusual. Almost all the computers sold in stores in later generations can be called Chinese-language computers; they're just computers that can use Chinese characters.

But for computer professionals in China today, being able to run Chinese on a computer is a groundbreaking achievement.

Professor Huang and his colleagues preferred to run Chinese characters directly on the computer, rather than through an extended Chinese character card. ...Although there isn't much difference between the two.

Chen Fan sat and watched slowly, waiting to see what kind of computer they could finally produce.

Zhou Yali's focus was clearly not on that.

She widened her eyes and said, "Then aren't we going to lose a lot of money?"

The domestic market is so big! Not only was their technology used for nothing, but by the time others successfully develop their own technology, will they still have a share in the Chinese market?
Chen Fan waved his hand calmly and laughed, "Don't worry, even if they can develop it, it won't affect our products entering the domestic market."

Zhou Yali was very puzzled, "Why?"

Chen Fan spread his hands and said, "The reason is very simple. Because of the restrictions imposed by COCOM, our country cannot procure enough high-end chips. Without this, we cannot build a computer factory and produce enough personal computers."

He also seemed somewhat disappointed as he spoke, wondering why some high-end scientific research projects were abandoned in the 1980s. On the one hand, there was a genuine lack of funds; on the other hand, the technological gap between us and the United States, which had launched the Star Wars project, was widening, and we lacked procurement channels for high-end components, so many projects had to be temporarily shelved.

Only a very small number of projects included in the "863" Program can receive funding support.

The basic principle of this plan was to follow the projects of the US and the Soviet Union; whatever they researched, we would research too, a strategy commonly known as the "follower strategy".

It wasn't until around 2010 that many of the research projects from that time were restarted. One reason was that there was more money available, and another was that even if the most advanced chips couldn't be procured, using second-rate ones wouldn't affect the research and development progress.

Every little bit helps.

We should still be grateful for this persistent spirit of catching up. I remember during the War on Terror, our experts pessimistically predicted that if we wanted to catch up with the United States' military technology, the United States would have to stand still and wait for us for twenty years.

Then we caught up for twenty years, and they really did wait in the same place for so long, which is truly touching.

Although there are still some gaps in certain cutting-edge fields, most of the gaps have been closed.

If only they could stay put for another twenty years!
(End of this chapter)