Go back in time and be a chaebol

Chapter 2483 People Whose Luck Was Stolen (First Update, Please Subscribe)
Hong Kong Island in December carries a slight chill of winter.

Xu Huachi was busy at his art shop when he was suddenly drawn to the news playing on television.

"Teachers at Chang'an Middle School spent 200,000 yuan to purchase 10,000 paintings by modern and contemporary masters..."

Then, the television showed footage of the gallery exhibition. After Chen Jingming purchased those paintings and calligraphy, he did not auction them off immediately, but instead collaborated with some galleries and museums to publicly display them.

With the help of professionals, Chen Jingming's story of spending 20 yuan to purchase tens of thousands of modern and contemporary masterpieces of calligraphy and painting at the National Museum has become a legend in the world of collecting.

This immediately attracted attention from all sides, especially from the media. After all, people always love all kinds of legendary stories. For a time, the entire Chang'an and even SEA were reporting on this legendary "bargain hunting".

In this context, the calligraphy and painting exhibition naturally attracted a lot of interest—he didn't even need to auction off the works. The revenue from the public exhibition alone was enough to cover the cost of purchasing them.

Many museums and galleries have even approached him about long-term rental agreements for his calligraphy and paintings exhibitions. In short, the revenue generated by these tens of thousands of calligraphy and paintings has far exceeded Chen Jingming's initial expectations.

This news naturally spread to Hong Kong Island as well. Xu Huachi suddenly sat up straight, his reading glasses slipping down to the tip of his nose without him even bothering to push them back up, his pupils filled with disbelief and astonishment.

He has been immersed in the art collecting world for over thirty years, so he is very familiar with the market conditions for calligraphy and paintings—the sluggish market on the mainland is understandable, after all, for them, making a living is the most important thing.

But what about Hong Kong Island?

Works by even slightly famous painters are in high demand and short supply, costing several hundred yuan each. Works priced at thousands or tens of thousands of yuan are even more scarce.

At a recent Sotheby's auction, a painting by Qi Baishi sold for 120,000 yuan, and a landscape hanging scroll by Zhang Daqian even broke 150,000 yuan. How could someone possibly acquire tens of thousands of genuine works by famous artists for 200,000 yuan?
This isn't just finding a bargain; it's practically bringing home gold at cabbage prices!

"Goodness, this gentleman is really lucky!"

Watching the news on TV, he felt a mix of shock and excitement. The other person's luck was simply incredible, but then, his Adam's apple bobbed involuntarily.

Xu Huachi walked to the window, a hint of undisguised expectation playing on his lips, and murmured to himself:
"If he puts them up for auction later... I should definitely take the opportunity to buy a few."

Of course, another thought flashed through his mind: he should go to the mainland immediately. Although he might not be able to buy tens of thousands of paintings and calligraphy works at bargain prices like Mr. Chen, he could at least collect some works by famous artists at low prices.

While he was feeling that the other person's luck was extraordinary, he had no idea that a few years later in another world, he would spend 20 yuan at the National Museum to buy 9000 pieces of calligraphy and paintings by famous artists—all of which had been stockpiled there and had not been sold.

Upon learning the news, he began selling his possessions and borrowing money. He then transported the 9000 paintings in several trips to a rented warehouse, where some were displayed at the Heping Art Gallery.

Despite the economic crisis that followed, Xu Huachi did not sell his paintings. Instead, he diligently continued to categorize, pack, and prevent moisture and mold from entering his paintings, remaining immersed in his craft.

Xu Huachi's large family was forced to move from their big house to a smaller one, and their lives became increasingly difficult. They had less than 5 yuan a day for living expenses and worried about making ends meet every day.

However, opportunity always favors those who are prepared and can persevere. More than a decade later, with people having enough to eat and wear, they paid more attention to their spiritual and cultural life, and the collection and trading of calligraphy and paintings suddenly became very active.

Meanwhile, the prices of the tens of thousands of paintings and calligraphies by renowned Chinese artists in Xu Huachi's collection also soared. Many of their authentic works, whether by Qi Baishi, Xu Beihong, Wu Guanzhong, or Zhang Daqian, were priceless.

Therefore, some have estimated that his net worth, based on his collection of paintings, is no less than 400 billion yuan. Moreover, the price of these works will only increase over time.

His investment has become a legend in the world of collecting.

However, at this moment, Xu Huachi was only watching the news on TV and lamenting other people's luck, completely unaware that his own luck had been taken away by others.

This is perhaps how the world changes; when a butterfly flaps its wings, it changes more than just one person's fate.

Sometimes, the changes in people's fates can be earth-shattering. Perhaps, sometimes it's just a trivial matter that can completely alter people's destinies.

While Xu Huachi unknowingly missed out on a treasure worth 400 billion yuan, in Yongning, Bill Gates looked at the Windows operating system interface on his computer with a look of surprise.

"The new generation of Windows 79 operates more smoothly, and its interface is also more concise..."

While Bill was praising him, Paul Allen, a partner in the company, said:
"The most crucial factor is the Pentium processor provided by Paradise Electronics. Only with this advanced processor can the Windows system smoothly perform multitasking."

"I know……"

Bill nodded and said, "But the most crucial thing is the new generation of Windows system. Its multitasking capabilities are not only more powerful, but its multimedia performance is also unprecedented. It can even run 3D games!"

Although the current 3D technology is simple, Bill believes it is undoubtedly a very noteworthy advancement.

"Of course, you see, Paradise Electronics is a game company, so when they designed the Pentium processor, they specifically optimized its graphics processing performance, so..."

Paul pointed to the electronic computer on the table and said:
"I believe that the era of Windows has arrived, and it will eventually replace all operating systems, including the one we are currently designing..."

Paul said this because his company is currently designing an operating system that is somewhat similar to Windows, and he also has some unique design features of his own.

But now, facing the extremely mature Windows operating system, Paul was feeling extremely down.

Bill, as a partner in the company, was much the same; that's why they came to Yongning and Silicon Valley from the United States.

The goal is to design a superior software, thereby enabling the company to succeed and achieve business success.

Although the Windows operating system has been in use for several years, its performance was limited at that time, and it also had various shortcomings.

This also presented an opportunity for many people, including Bill Gates. On the one hand, they drew inspiration from the Windows system concept, and on the other hand, they did their best to circumvent patent restrictions and redesign their operating systems.

Just as Bill and Paul were ambitiously trying to launch their own product to defeat Windows, a new generation of Windows systems emerged at the end-of-year electronics show.

It not only overcame the various shortcomings and defects of the older generation of Windows systems, but also perfectly integrated with the Pentium processor.

It can not only handle all kinds of files, but it can also perform multimedia tasks—playing music videos, playing games, logging onto the internet, and so on… In short, it can do almost anything you can imagine.

More importantly, his operation became simpler and smoother, which completely overturned their expectations.

In fact, the current Windows system is roughly equivalent to the level between Windows and Windows 95. It is more complete than the first generation of Windows operating system, but it is not as good as Windows 95.

Even so, it was already incredibly advanced for this era. That's why Windows named the next generation system Windows 78 and released it to the market at the end of the year.

This is a future-oriented operating system for electronic computers that will bring about revolutionary changes to computers.

At that moment, facing this revolutionary product, Bill's shock was unimaginable.
"Paul, do you know? From now on, everyone can use computers, even an ordinary housewife. They can use computers without any training."

He lightly clicked the shortcut on the desktop with the mouse. When he opened the Word document, Bill Gates' expression was complex.

For a moment, he felt as if all of this had burst forth from his mind, or that he had had such thoughts. But when he only vaguely had these thoughts, someone suddenly turned them into real products. How could this not shock him?
Of course, what impressed him even more was the ease of use of the operating system, which far exceeded his expectations. That's why he made such a remark.

"Yes, in the past, operating a computer required professional training, but now... anyone who has received an education can use a computer. Just press the switch, open the corresponding file, and you can type and calculate. Although some professional software requires training, in general, there will be no more barriers to using computers in the future."

Paul sighed helplessly.

"But this is not good news for us, after all... it is much more mature than our product."

While experiencing an unprecedented shock, both Paul and Bill felt a deep sense of helplessness.

After all, they had designed similar products, and the emergence of the new generation of Windows systems was undoubtedly a wake-up call, putting them in a dilemma.

"It seems we're doomed..."

Paul said this because the company's funds could no longer support their research and development of new products, after all, they had wasted a lot of time and money on the development of the operating system.

Hearing Paul's words, Bill Gates glanced at the computer in front of him, looking at the near-perfect Windows 78 operating system. He thought for a moment, then said:

“We can sell our operating system to them…to Windows! I think they’ll need our product, yeah, they definitely will.”

(End of this chapter)