Volume 7 I've Been Here Chapter 0957 I am face blind
"Hello, my name is Nan Yi, Da Qiang, are you studying computer science?"
"Hello, Nan... Ye, I'm from the Department of Sociology at the University of Malaya." Liu Daqiang said stiffly.
“Oh, you taught yourself how to use computers?”
"Yes."
“Can you program?”
“I know both C and Basic.”
“Since you know programming, I’ll give you a job that’s neither too big nor too small. I’m going to install a software on the computers in the store. No matter what software the customers have installed or what files they have stored on their computers, when the computers are restarted, they will be restored to their previous pure state. There will be nothing else except two games.
Of course, I will need to install other software on the computer in the future, so the software I want to write needs to be able to repeatedly add and delete files that need to be protected. Do you understand what I mean?"
"Uncle Nan, this software is not difficult to write. Give me a month and I can definitely finish it." Liu Daqiang agreed readily.
"Oh?" Nan Yi asked, "Tell me about your ideas. For example, how can you ensure that the software you wrote will not be deleted by others?"
"Well……"
Nan Yi's question stumped Liu Daqiang, and he couldn't say anything for a moment.
"It's okay, think about it carefully. When you have thought it through, we'll talk again." Nan Yi patted Liu Daqiang's arm and comforted him.
Just one question made Nan Yi realize that Liu Daqiang's programming level was not that high. He was even less reliable than him, a half-baked programmer. Liu Daqiang was definitely not good enough to write the "restoration software" he wanted.
Nan Yi passed by Liu Daqiang and pushed Huang Saner into the store, leaving Liu Daqiang there regretting his mistake.
After walking around the store, Nan Yi saw that every computer had a floppy drive, so he said to Huang Saner, "Don't let anyone in after nine o'clock tonight. I'll come over at ten to remove the floppy drives. It doesn't have to be on every computer, just five will be enough. I'll take the removed floppy drives to Zhongguancun and sell them."
Huang Saner pointed to the opening of the floppy disk on the computer host and said, "Master Nan, are you saying that we want to dismantle the things here?"
"Um."
"No, I see a lot of students bringing disks to plug in here. If you take them apart, they won't be able to use them."
Nan Yi pondered for a while, "Then let's keep ten. Computers with floppy disks are easy to mess up and break down easily. You just said that business is good. I plan to wait and see. If business continues to be good, I will buy a few more cheap computers to set up a diskless workstation to reduce costs."
“What does diskless workstation mean?”
"Haha, this is too professional. Not everyone working on computers in Zhongguancun understands it. So don't ask."
"Master Nan, you didn't study computer science, so how do you know this?"
"Even if Edison and Einstein were alive, they would call me a genius. Why can't I understand?"
"Nan Ye, you can go on the overpass and sell your mouth now."
"Your uncle, go and check the accounts."
Nan Yi can only brag in front of Huang Saner. If he meets someone who really knows something, he won't dare to brag. He can tell you a little about diskless workstation, but he only understands the principles. If he is asked to try it himself, he can only grope in the dark.
After checking the accounts, I found that Feilong Internet Cafe actually had a turnover of 175,000. It spent 240,000 on buying computers, and 18,000 on tables, chairs, and benches, as well as decorating the store. The building is owned by a state-owned unit, and the rent is 800 a month, which comes to 9,600 a year. With this calculation, if the turnover can continue to maintain the current level, the cost can be recovered in less than a month.
But it shouldn't be easy. Nan Yi saw that there were only three customers left in the store and the other machines were empty. Once the students had their holidays, the business would definitely drop significantly. Huang Saner was just speaking in a positive way.
Closing the account book, Nan Yi said to Huang Saner: "I will send you 140,000 tomorrow, which will be half of your shares."
"become."
Huang Saner answered very straightforwardly, without worrying about the few thousand extra dollars Nan Yi gave him.
Nan Yi explained to Huang Saner that Tang Lai Di and Wu Xiaoxiong were coming over, then he left and went back to his mother-in-law's house to wait for dinner.
That night, Nan Yi removed ten floppy drives from the computer. The next day, he took them to Zhongguancun, but he couldn't get twenty network cards back. In a fit of anger, he paid for the replacements. He also spent money to buy network cables and 10M Ethernet switches, and bought a junk computer for 5,000 yuan from a second-hand computer shop.
Computers these days are so expensive that a piece of junk can cost half a thousand dollars.
Nan Yi waited until night again and connected all the computers in Feilong Internet Cafe to the local area network. Internet cafes that provide Internet access have already appeared abroad. Two years ago, game companies began to focus on LAN online games. It is believed that it will not be long before online games with good playability will appear. Nan Yi set up the local area network for two reasons: one is to wait for online games, and the other is to install billing software.
It is too troublesome to use a notebook to record the time of logging on and off the computer. With billing software, you can directly transition from paying after consumption to paying a deposit before consumption. This can avoid the embarrassment of customers who exceed the time limit and do not have enough money to pay the bill. It also allows customers to devote themselves to entertainment without having to keep worrying and looking at the time in the lower right corner from time to time.
In his previous life, Nan Yi met an elementary school student in an Internet cafe who used his breakfast money to surf the Internet. He only had one or two dollars in his pocket. When playing games, he had to keep one eye on the time and the other eye on the door of the Internet cafe, for fear of exceeding the time limit or that an adult he was familiar with would suddenly show up.
Putting himself in the role of the primary school student, Nan Yi probably felt both excited and nervous. That feeling must be uncomfortable.
Moreover, things like running away from paying will happen sooner or later, and using billing software can reduce the expected losses. In addition, Nan Yi also has the idea of selling a few copies of the billing software to make some money.
Once Feilong Internet Cafe becomes popular, there will definitely be followers. Nan Yi will tell Huang Saner that if someone comes to learn from him, he must not be secretive and must teach them all the tricks - they must buy Huayi brand computers, must set up a local area network, and must use Yizai billing software.
If no one comes to ask, Nan Yi will publish soft articles in the computer newspaper to actively spread knowledge. If there are people from other places who come to learn from it, they will also provide free pick-up service from the train station to the store, and they will be served with good tea and cigarettes.
No matter it is computers, switches or software, as long as someone buys it, Nan Yi can share in the profits.
Compared with the restoration software, the difficulty of developing billing software can be said to be not worth mentioning. Nan Yi can write it in less than three days, but he did not plan to do it himself.
On the twelfth day of the twelfth lunar month, while there was not much business in the store, I pulled a socket to the door of the store, plugged in the induction cooker, put ten pounds of lamb ribs, five pounds of lamb rolls, and two bags of Mama’s dumplings, and five people in the store ate mutton hotpot and dumplings together.
Nan Yi put a piece of lamb ribs into his bowl and waved his chopsticks, saying, "Don't be restrained, eat freely. Lai Di, eat with big mouthfuls, you look so thin."
Nan Yi hadn't seen nutritional deficiencies for several years, but he didn't expect to see them again in Tang Lai Di. Although she was not as thin as Liu Zhen, her complexion, skin, and hands showed that she had been hungry when she was a child and had not eaten anything good when she grew up.
Born into a poor family that favors boys over girls, and being the fourth child in the family, one can imagine how much hardship Tang Lai Di went through to get admitted to Peking University. Moreover, if we reason more deeply, at least one of her three older sisters was extremely great. Without her sister's sacrifice, Tang Lai Di would never have had the opportunity to study.
Nan Yi has already imagined in his mind what kind of inhuman life Tang Lai Di is leading at the buyer's (husband's) house. What fucked up parents! If they can't afford to raise children, they shouldn't have had any. The couple will work themselves to death to find wives for their two sons, and they will probably still take care of their daughters, especially the most promising one, Tang Lai Di.
After a while, Nan Yi saw that Liu Daqiang and Wu Xiaoxiong had relaxed, but Tang Lai Di was still a little reserved, so he persuaded her again. After two requests, Tang Lai Di finally relaxed and ate.
They all relaxed and ate faster. They ate all the lamb ribs first, then the lamb rolls. When the dumplings were still floating in the air, Nan Yi spoke again, "Da Qiang, from your accent, you must be from northern Jiangsu, right?"
"I am from Suyu."
"Oh, what a great place. Suyu has produced many famous people. You chose sociology when you were studying at UM. Are you planning to go into politics?"
Liu Daqiang was stunned for a while and said, "That's what I thought before the college entrance examination. My high school class teacher once told us that if one of you can become a mayor, you can lead more people to live a good life.
Because of what my class teacher said, I chose the University of Malaya as my first choice. When I was choosing my major, I thought sociology would be helpful for my future career as an official, so I chose this major. Now my thoughts have changed. I would rather be a businessman than an official.
"Why?"
Liu Daqiang's face turned gloomy, and he hesitated for a long time before saying, "Compared to my classmates, I started too late."
Seeing Liu Daqiang's expression and hearing his somewhat reluctant and cryptic answer, Nan Yi quickly changed the subject, "Why do you learn programming? Is it to make money?"
"Yes and no. When I was a sophomore, I heard from my senior that it was difficult to find a job with a sociology major and it would be best to learn a second major. I thought computer science would have a good future, so I learned programming."
Nan Yi nodded, then looked at Tang Lai Di and Wu Xiaoxiong, "Why do you two study computer science?"
Wu Xiaoxiong said: "My high school teacher said that computer science is a popular high-tech major and that employers will be eager to hire you after you graduate."
"Laidi, what about you?"
"My teacher also helped me choose it. She told me that I often read in newspapers about the country's emphasis on computer education."
Most parents of students in poor mountain villages have little education and little understanding of the outside world. Don't expect them to make constructive suggestions on their children's choice of majors. At most, they will hear from others about which majors are good, or that former college students in the surrounding area have returned home with wealth, and then want to copy others' footsteps on their own children.
It is rare for a family to have a powerful relative who can provide advice. In their world, the easiest, most reliable and most suitable person to ask is the child's teacher. Therefore, behind most of the rural college students who escaped from farming in the 1980s and 1990s, there is a good teacher who plays a significant role in the students' life path.
"Haha, you three are all good students, otherwise your teacher would suggest you take the normal school exam."
In 1989, universities began to charge tuition fees. The amount was not much, just a symbolic 200 yuan per academic year, but with living expenses and tuition fees, it would cost about 600 yuan a year even if one was frugal. This was an astronomical figure for families in mountainous areas. If a family had a college student, the family would surely go hungry, and it was not uncommon for them to borrow money from everyone in the village.
Therefore, the still free normal university has become the first choice for many poor students.
After Nan Yi finished laughing, he continued, "You three can all be considered as students of computers. The day before yesterday, I just set up a local area network in the store and prepared to install a billing software. As you can see, there is a second-hand computer in the store. I plan to use this computer as the host to control other computers.
The billing software is intended to realize three functions. One is billing and timing. For example, a customer comes and gives a deposit of 50 yuan. The computer number and amount are entered into the software. After calculation, it is calculated that the customer can play for 200 minutes, and then the countdown starts immediately.
The second function is the reminder and automatic shutdown function. When the customer plays for 195 minutes, a pop-up window will appear on the top of the screen of the computer he is playing on, reminding him that his balance will be gone in 5 minutes and he should renew the account in time.
If the guest does not renew the subscription, a pop-up reminder will appear again after 200 minutes, and the computer will automatically shut down after one minute.
The third function is the lock screen function. If the guest does not register at the counter and directly opens the computer, he will see a protection screen requiring a password. The guest must go to the counter to pay a deposit before he can play.
Of course, there are many college students here, and there are computer experts among them, so it is not difficult to crack a lock screen password. This is why I want to remove some floppy drives. Without floppy drives, floppy disks cannot be inserted, which can stop some mediocre people and make them give up the idea of cracking.
But this is not enough. I hope that as soon as the computer is turned on, it will send a verification string to the host. Different strings will be sent in different states, and this string cannot be a simple 1 or 0. It must automatically generate random characters and add the current time to confuse it, and then use the Md5 algorithm to encrypt it. Once the string sent is incorrect, the host will alarm.
You three should think about it and see if you can write this software. If you can, I will give it to you three to write. You should think about it now. If you are sure you can write it, we can discuss the compensation later. "
After Nan Yi finished speaking, he took a dumpling out of the pot and said to Huang Saner while eating, "Is bowling very popular now?"
"It's so popular now. People love to go to bowling alleys. They flirt with their wives and talk business in bowling alleys. Master Nan, I'm a little jealous. I was thinking about opening one a few days ago."
“Is there anyone reliable?”
Huang Saner's face straightened and he said, "Glasses and Miangua are still following me."
"Go out and spend a month at a bowling alley. Find out how many people go there every day, who they are, how much turnover they can make, and how many times they check the bowling alleys on average. You will know if this business is viable once you have investigated thoroughly."
"Okay, I'll arrange someone tomorrow."
"Well, Glasses and the other two are still fooling around?"
"I'll give them a thousand or eight hundred a month for running errands for me."
“Can’t save any money?”
"If you can't save, make as much money as you can."
Nan Yi smacked his lips and said, "You still have to find a way to make a living. You are not a child anymore. You should buy some belongings and start planning to get married."
"There is no shortage of fruit around them."
"Guo'er would only hang out with them when she was young and ignorant. After two years, her family urged her to get married, but she still found another honest and wealthy man to marry. It's all in vain. After another two years of fooling around, it will be difficult for her to find a suitable local girl. She can only target country girls from other places who want to stay in the city.
While the other person didn't realize that life in the alleys of Beijing was not much better, he used both trickery and deception to get their marriage certificate taken away. By the time the other person realized what was happening, it was too late. Her belly was big, and they had a small quarrel every day and a big quarrel every three days. Their life became boring.
You, don't think that giving them a few thousand a month is enough. You spend money lavishly, and they spend money lavishly. In the end, there is nothing left. If the bowling thing can be successful this time, think of them. "
Huang Saner took a sip of wine, thought for a while and said, "Should I give them some money?"
"Think about it yourself."
Nan Yi said this while looking in one direction. Liu Zhen was walking towards him with a lunch box in her hand. Nan Yi saw this and went to meet her. "Why are you here?"
Liu Zhen handed the lunch box in her hand to Nan Yi and said, "I'll bring you some food. I mean, why did you think of opening a store like this?"
Nan Yi took the lunch box and put it on the folding table. "I treat this place as a place to play, just for my own fun."
"Yours, your son's, there are so many computers at home, aren't they enough for you to play with?"
"The atmosphere at home is different from here. It's cold. You go back first. I'll go back later." Nan Yi raised his hand and straightened Liu Zhen's scarf.
"Let me stay here for a while. It's boring to be alone at home."
"Okay, you sit down and have a drink too." Nan Yi hugged Liu Zhen and came to the table, gave her his seat, and asked Huang Saner to go into the store and get another stool. After sitting down, he poured some wine for Liu Zhen, "Waiter, are you used to it?"
"Didn't I drink with you at home?"
"That was before you started working. Later, you only drank red wine at home. I thought it was impossible for you to drink so much at a dinner party outside, and I was afraid that you might have become picky." Nan Yi picked up the glass and clinked it with Liu Zhen.
Liu Zhen picked up the cup and took a sip, "I'm not that pretentious. Please introduce it to me."
"This is Liu Daqiang, she is Tang Lai Di, and that is Wu Xiaoxiong." Nan Yi introduced the three people to Liu Zhen, and pointed at Liu Zhen, "This is my wife Liu Zhen, she works in a bank."
After everyone exchanged greetings, Nan Yi and Liu Zhen continued to chat in private.
After a while, Nan Yi saw that Liu Daqiang was hesitant to speak, so he ended the couple's private conversation and said to him, "Have you thought it through?"
"Once we've thought about it, we can develop the billing software."
"Since you can write it, I'll let you write this software. Considering the difficulty and time required for development, I think 50,000 yuan is a reasonable price. What do you think?"
The price offered by Nan Yi was neither high nor low. At that time in 1995, there were not many programmers in China who could develop software, and the demand was not great either. However, computers were still very high-end objects in the eyes of ordinary people, just like the computer room in a school, which required dust and static electricity prevention before entering. Computers were not accessible to ordinary people, so being able to tinker with computers naturally made people look up to you.
Therefore, ordinary workers earn tens of dollars, while programmers earn tens of thousands of dollars.
"50,000?" Liu Daqiang exclaimed.
The surprised expressions on Tang Laidie and Wu Xiaoxiong's faces were even more exaggerated.
"Less?"
"Quite a lot, quite a lot." Liu Daqiang said repeatedly.
Nan Yi looked at the other two people and got a "not a small amount" expression in response, then he continued: "Okay, that's the price, let's talk about the payment method. Tomorrow, I will sign a development contract with the three of you. After signing the contract, I will pay you a 10% deposit. It's decided.
For the remaining 60%, the contract will stipulate a development schedule, at which stage the payment will be made. After the software is completed, it will be used in the store for a month. If there are any bugs, you will be responsible for fixing them. After one month, if there are no major problems with the software, I will pay you the balance.
If there are any problems with the software in the future, I will contact you again and pay you the maintenance fee, or we can sign a maintenance contract before that and I will pay you annually.
This is a very normal software development process, and it is almost the same abroad.”
Nan Yi smiled at the other two and continued, "Next, I will say something a little unusual. I plan to treat the billing software you are going to develop as a commodity and sell it to the outside world in the future. This is equivalent to a business, and in this business, software can be said to be technology that accounts for 30% of the shares.
At present, the value of this 30% of shares is 50,000 yuan. For you, you can choose not to pay, but to take shares, and bet that this software will sell well in the future. Of course, you can also choose to take part of the money and part of the shares, or just the money without shares. It is up to you to decide.
In addition, how to divide the money or shares is up to the three of you to negotiate among yourselves. I will only communicate with you as a whole. I treat you as a team.
Oh, and I know you don’t have computers, you can use the store’s computers in your spare time, which counts as one of my 70% investments.”
After Nan Yi finished speaking, he suddenly felt quite bored. He had opened Feilong Internet Cafe for his own entertainment, but now it was turning into a tool to make money. The pursuit of profit seemed to be engraved in his bones.
"Uncle Nan, can this software be sold outside?" Liu Daqiang asked after thinking for a while.
"Da Qiang, you are the first one to come to the store. You should know how the business is going. With an investment of less than 300,000, we have now earned more than 170,000. It took less than four months to recover the cost. The remaining cost of buying parts and repairs is also known. If you calculate it, the profit is still good. With such a good business, there will definitely be people who learn to do it.
I plan to buy the store next door and open a store that specifically serves business owners who want to do business like ours. I will help them configure computers, set up local area networks, and sell software. The 30% stake I mentioned refers to the entire store's shares, not just the software."
Liu Daqiang's eyes lit up, "Master Nan, it's a bit of a waste to just do this. We can also sell some floppy disks, copy paper, etc."
Nan Yi nodded, "You can consider it. Before you open the store, go to Zhongguancun and look for some easy-to-sell items to sell in the store. Okay, there's no rush. We can talk about it later. You guys think about the contract first. If you can't figure it out today, think about it tomorrow. We can sign the contract later.
Lai Di, don't just stand there, eat some more dumplings, the skins are broken, eat them quickly, or it will be a waste."
Nan Yi waved his chopsticks again and invited everyone to eat.
…
After the meeting, Nan Yi and Liu Zhen walked home.
"Do you like that Tang Lai Di?"
“Somewhat.”
"Because of my shadow?"
"You think too much. I just think Tang Lai Di has a tenacious quality. As long as there is a ladder, it is hard to say how high she can climb."
"Nan Yi, I noticed that you have a preference for women. Why don't you mention Liu Daqiang and Wu Xiaoxiong? I think Liu Daqiang is good and will definitely be better than the other two in the future."
"You have a good eye. Liu Daqiang has the qualities that a successful businessman should have . He should be able to achieve success in the future."
Liu Zhen smiled and said, "So, you think you can't catch him, so you care more about Tang Lai Di?"
"It's different now than before. My career is on track now. I don't have to bring a potential talent home just because I catch one. I just go with the flow. If we can get along, that's the best. If not, I won't force it. I just get along like this, without any scheming."
"No, you were calculating against me in the beginning."
"Come on, I've lost so much money here with you." Nan Yi hugged Liu Zhen, "Your stamp is no longer usable, I'll go to the street with you tomorrow, and I'll get a new one carved by the roadside seal engravers."
"I won't carve it anymore. I'll just stamp yours when I get a letter next time. Speaking of letters, my family hasn't received any from you in a while. What about your pen pal? Don't you write to him anymore?"
"I don't know what happened, but the communication just stopped naturally. What about yours? Are all three of them disconnected?"
"No, we're still in touch, but not as often as before. Now we only write once every six months. We're all busy with work and life. Let me tell you, one of my pen pals got divorced and he just got over it."
"You guys didn't get divorced just because of your correspondence, did you write something cheesy?"
"You're sick." Liu Zhen glanced at Nan Yi and said, "She's a woman."
"She's a woman. Is she pretty? If she is, send me to comfort her. I will definitely comfort her... Ouch, don't do it."
"It's not enough that there are several people outside, and you are thinking about the people around me?"
"How can a pen pal become someone close to you?"
"No, that's not possible."
"Okay, don't worry about it anymore, let go." Nan Yi pried open Liu Zhen's hand that was pinching the soft flesh on his waist, "We haven't spent the night outside yet, how about letting loose today and I'll take you to the all-night video studio?"
"You are really sick. Aren't you afraid of getting cold in the middle of winter?" Liu Zhen's heart was moved, but she complained.
"It's okay. Go home and put on some thick clothes. Take your marriage certificate with you, in case you run into a security check and can't explain clearly, Lei Zi might arrest us for soliciting prostitution ."
"Don't give me that. If I really get arrested, the police will notify my workplace to pick me up. I will be so embarrassed."
"Haha, I didn't think about it. Forget it, let's go to the cinema to watch a movie tomorrow. There are not many people watching movies now, it's like renting out the whole theater."
"If you really want to book the whole theater, you might as well watch the tape at home and watch whatever you want."
"Look at the atmosphere. The current hall is outdated. It will soon be changed into a small hall. You may not have the chance to watch the hall in the future. One less show to watch."
"Then go and see."
Nan Yi and the other person were chatting. Just as they walked back to the courtyard of the old villa, snow began to fall from the sky. The snow fell lightly and gracefully without any panic, as if they were strolling leisurely in the garden.
Liu Zhen looked up for a while, and said eagerly: "Change clothes and go out for a walk. I want to try walking in the snow."
"Which feeling do you want, "Annual Rings" or "Flying Fox of Snow Mountain"?
"Take an umbrella."
"Got it. I'll go slick my hair back."
The two returned to the house. Nan Yi went upstairs to the bathroom first and combed his hair back. Then he went downstairs to the bedroom and changed into the windbreaker suit that Liu Zhen had found and placed on the bed. He put on his suit, tie, and a white scarf. After he was ready, Nan Yi helped Liu Zhen, who was sitting in front of the dressing table, to braid her hair.
After a long time, the two finally changed their clothes. Nan Yi held an umbrella over their heads, and the two slowly walked along South Street towards the city.
Along the way, Nan Yi hummed the background music to himself, "The waves are running, the waves are flowing, the surging river never stops..."
