I'm back in 1990

Chapter 297: I drink one bowl and throw the other away

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Upon learning the whole story, Yu Wei immediately took Tang Yuan to find Huang Xiaochuan.

Huang Xiaochuan found it strange to see the two of them. Why were they here before Sunday?

He even joked with them: "Hey? What brings you two here? You didn't even let me know beforehand. I didn't prepare dinner for you two tonight."

Yu Wei returned the card directly to Huang Xiaochuan.

Here, take this back.

Huang Xiaochuan, holding the card, asked in confusion, "What's wrong now? Why did you come back? Didn't you say you wanted Tang Yuan to go with your sister to this store to buy some clothes?"

"Tang Yuan and her sister-in-law went to this store today. The clothes there are ridiculously expensive, and with this card, you can buy whatever you want, even empty the store. Why didn't you tell me sooner?"

The so-called "Supreme Card" is actually Huang Xiaochuan's personal account card. It doesn't mean that you can buy clothes for free in the store. Rather, it means that Huang Xiaochuan will pay for any purchases made by the cardholder at any Baijiali store. Because of financial regulations, how could Huang Xiaochuan allow people to take clothes from the store at will?

These cards are for family members only; they are not for outsiders. And it doesn't matter if they are lost, because they are only valid for a specific number of people to use. They are invalid for others.

"Hey! Is that all?"

"Don't be fooled by the high prices of clothes. High-end luxury brands are like that; what they're really selling is the brand and the service. The actual value of the clothes themselves only accounts for a small part. The rest is just the brand premium. Don't take it too seriously."

He then returned the card to Yu Wei.

"Don't worry about the price when you go shopping for clothes. If it's five thousand, just treat it as fifty; if it's ten thousand, just treat it as one hundred. Besides, it's not for you, so why are you making a fuss?"

Yu Weiren avoided the question and refused to answer.

"I don't want to!"

"Tang Yuan, take the card back right away."

Tang Yuan waved his hand dismissively: "Brother-in-law, I don't want it either. The clothes in there are worth two years' salary of mine."

Huang Xiaochuan grabbed Yu Wei and forcibly stuffed the card into Yu Wei's pocket.

"Stop pushing and shoving me. Hurry up and put it away, then get out of here. I really didn't cook for you two tonight, so I won't keep you for dinner. I have to pick up your sister from get off work at the hospital later, and I don't have time to waste on your nonsense."

Then, without any hesitation, he pushed the two of them out the door.

Yu Wei and Tang Yuan stood at the door of Huang Xiaochuan's house.

Tang Yuan looked at Yu Wei with a troubled expression and asked, "What do we do now?"

Yu Wei thought for a moment and then said, "Let's go home first."

In early August, Zhang Gaolei arrived in Shanghai. He was going to take a flight back to the United States the next day.

Now that he was in Shanghai, he was supposed to meet Huang Xiaochuan and Ding Yi, but Ding Yi was still in Hong Kong and hadn't returned yet, so Zhang Gaolei only met Huang Xiaochuan.

After the two hugged in the hotel lobby, Huang Xiaochuan asked, "Where's Lao Wu?"

Zhang Gaolei laughed and said, "He will stay at home until the end of the month before leaving. He will fly directly from Beijing to the United States. I have some things to do here, so I will go a few days earlier."

"What's wrong? You're skipping your vacation and rushing off like this? Are you missing American food?"

"Hehe! The food in America isn't that great, but they have a lot of interesting concepts and technologies. Ogawa, you know about microcomputers, right?"

"Nonsense, in the US it's abbreviated as PC, also called a personal computer, while here it's called a microcomputer, or simply a microcomputer."

Zhang Gaolei stared at Huang Xiaochuan for a long time before saying, "Wow! You know so much!"

Huang Xiaochuan smiled to himself, thinking to himself, "I know a lot more than I need."

Zhang Gaolei continued, "Do you know ARPANET?"

If Huang Xiaochuan, a seasoned internet user from later generations, didn't know this, he might as well find a block of tofu and smash his head against it. ARPANET was actually created in the late 1960s by the US military in conjunction with some well-known American universities and research institutions. It was the predecessor of the Internet.

ARPANET was officially retired in 1990, and the Internet emerged in 1991.

The world has officially entered the internet age.

But now Huang Xiaochuan has to pretend he doesn't know, otherwise he'll have to come up with a whole bunch of reasons to explain how he knows so much.

Huang Xiaochuan shook his head, indicating he didn't know.

Then, as expected, Zhang Gaolei explained to Huang Xiaochuan what ARPANET was and how it relates to the current Internet.

Zhang Gaolei said, "There is a big problem with web browsing now, which is that it is not convenient and quick to find relevant online content. It takes a lot of effort to find a useful file on the Internet. So my roommate and another alumnus came up with a concept, which is to design and write a program to simplify the complicated operation and make it easy for us to find anything we want on the Internet."

Zhang Gaolei spoke excitedly, spitting everywhere, while Huang Xiaochuan, upon hearing his words, felt his blood rush to his head and nearly suffered a brain hemorrhage on the spot.

While others might not understand, Huang Xiaochuan understood perfectly. What Zhang Gaolei was talking about was the web browser that would become common in later generations. By clicking on it and entering a URL, one could view websites or web pages. With the development of internet technology, search engines began to emerge, and Yahoo and Google both relied on these search engines to grow and thrive.

In other words, what Zhang Gaolei and his team are trying to create now is the prototype of a future search engine.

After Zhang Gaolei spent a long time explaining to Huang Xiaochuan, Huang Xiaochuan finally understood why he was in such a hurry to return to the United States. It was because the other two members of their team had made some technological breakthroughs, but they had run out of money, so they urged Zhang Gaolei to go back quickly.

Because Zhang Gaolei invested the initial research and development funds, he now needs to continue investing.

Huang Xiaochuan had to admire the courage of this family-trained traditional Chinese medicine doctor. He was willing to invest his tuition and living expenses for the next few years in a single concept. If it went down the drain, this guy would either have to wash dishes or go back to China. He was gambling with his future!

Faced with such a situation, how could Huang Xiaochuan let it go? Even if he failed, it was worth a try, since he wasn't short of money anyway.

Huang Xiaochuan revealed a wolf-like smile.

"Old Zhang, are you short of money?"

"I'm really short of money! What's up, are you planning to lend me some?" Zhang Gaolei, unaware of Huang Xiaochuan's ulterior motives, assumed Huang Xiaochuan wanted to borrow money from him.

"Borrow my ass! Why would we, brothers, talk about borrowing?" Huang Xiaochuan said in a particularly righteous manner.

Zhang Gaolei was confused by Huang Xiaochuan's words. Was he going to give up for nothing?

Huang Xiaochuan affectionately hugged Zhang Gaolei's neck.

"Old Zhang, I think the concept you mentioned is quite interesting. How about this, I'll invest some money in you. If you end up with nothing, I'll consider it a loss and I definitely won't ask you for the money back. But if you manage to develop the technology, then I should get a share of it. As for how much I get, we can discuss it."

Zhang Gaolei was immediately tempted. In his opinion, what Huang Xiaochuan was doing was no different from giving away money, and this would greatly reduce the pressure on him. He knew that Huang Xiaochuan was much richer than him.

"How much money can you offer?"

"That depends on how much you need and how much of a share you're willing to let me have. I can't possibly put up the most money and have the least share, can I? Wouldn't that make me look like a fool?"

After thinking for a long time, Zhang Gaolei said, "This is not something I can decide alone. I only have one-third of the decision-making power. I need to go back and discuss it with those two people."

Huang Xiaochuan patted Zhang Gaolei on the shoulder, looking understanding.

"No problem. Call me anytime when we've agreed on something, and we'll talk about it then. It's just money! Money is worthless; once it's gone, we can earn more."

After separating from Zhang Gaolei, Huang Xiaochuan walked with a bouncy gait, humming a little tune.

"When I have money, I'll buy two bowls of soy milk, drink one and throw the other away. When I have money, I'll rent three rooms, live in one and leave the other two empty."

He was so excited that he couldn't sleep that night, so Yu Xiang asked him, "What did you eat today? You're like you've taken some kind of stimulant!"

Huang Xiaochuan chuckled and said, "It's nothing, it's nothing. Go to sleep, have sweet dreams!"