Rebirth 07: Start adding points from elementary school students

Chapter 520 Li Yan's Difference

Li Yan's presence is relatively reduced, but the presence of future technology is very explosive.

Linjiang’s New Year’s Day fireworks will show off the muscle of the drone matrix as a signal to open up the international civilian drone market; Jiaolong Mobile Phone 2 has been fully preheated and will be available for pre-sale on the first day of the new year; the “Youkan” platform has even served as a New Year’s Eve party partner for several satellite TV stations, and has also organized an Internet New Year’s Eve carnival. Many celebrities took this opportunity to join in, breaking down the barriers between “Internet celebrities” and celebrities…

No matter how you look at it, it looks like a bloody storm is going to break out in early 2014.

Future technology has become a top predator in the eyes of many capitals.

Such a behemoth, which does not go public to play capital games and does not need investment from others, has achieved monopoly-level influence in multiple fields. Logically, it should be a thorn in the eyes of the authorities.

However, the person at the helm developed the photolithography machine and even became the leader in the high-tech chip industry. In the eyes of the officials, his status is simply not comparable to that of capitalists of the same size.

It seems... there are not many of the same size left.

If they really had to eat at the same table, I'm afraid the other big guys would have to bow and toast Li Yan.

Li Yan doesn't have to drink it.

The most commendable thing is that Li Yan always adheres to the principles set at the beginning.

The monopoly is just to prevent bugs from messing up the market. Future Technology always insists on good money driving out bad money. If others can't be the good money, I will be it myself.

After a period of time, the public will go from appreciating to finding fault with future technology products such as the super living circle. Naturally, there will be the operation of major hostile forces during this period. However, when some people here are really fooled into leaving future technology products and joining other companies, they will come back crying after a while and become the most loyal fans of future technology.

When the Jiaolong second-generation mobile phone was promoted abroad, a wave of patriotism was aroused, and people were resisting the erosion of their own industry share by future technological products.

In the end, it still didn't stop it.

The masses always vote with their feet. As long as one of the two major influencing factors, extreme cost-effectiveness and leading the times, is enough to become a hegemon. Future technology has always been both. How to compete?
What the capitalists can’t understand the most is how could Li Yan just sit there and wait for the money to be made?
Take Hungry for example. It is already invincible, so why should it give up so much profit? Why should it invest so much money in insurance?
Damn it! It makes it impossible for a person with iron bones to attack.

In their mindset, Li Yan's initial investment should have been for today's harvest. However, today when emerging brands can't make any splash at all, he just doesn't start the harvest.

There are even major projects like intelligent assembly line manufacturing that truly benefit the entire society.

It is precisely because of this that the official support has become even more unscrupulous, and Linjiang is almost tying itself to future technology.

This shows how superior Li Yan's status is.

Just look at the level of coverage that major websites gave to the birthday fireworks on December 12th, and you’ll realize just how much influence this talented billionaire who just came of age has.

On the eve of New Year's Day, when the rule that the first-generation consumption records could subsidize the second-generation mobile phone purchase costs was released, the current CEO of Pineapple Company was destined to be sleepless.

Which generation of users has not spent 800 yuan on Super Life Circle?
This is equivalent to making free money, and it is a complete benefit for old users to replace their phones. The key is that after deducting 800 yuan, the second generation of Jiaolong mobile phone, which is not only a little more powerful, is priced at 1999, which is even cheaper than the first generation.

This psychological advantage is enough to make everyone make their choice silently.

Domestic veteran smartphone manufacturers can no longer sit still. Lian Xiang said, "I'm about to be beaten to death, and you still use this trick?"

The Chrysanthemum Factory, which changed its business direction in time, is increasingly glad that it has chosen the right path to research and develop communications technology. It has now become a strategic partner of Future Technology.

"How do you think Li Yan makes money?" Wu Lansheng was visiting Wei Yili's home.

"Are you trying to trick me?"

"It's different now that we're a family."

"Do you regret it, Old Wu?"

"Of course I regret it. There's no need to save face. The withdrawal of investment has made me lose face in the company." Wu Lansheng shook his head.

"Don't just look at one part of Li Yan." Wei Yili said, "You only analyze the cost of developing a mobile phone, but you can't analyze the whole thing."

"Oh?"

"The scale of intelligent assembly line manufacturing is far beyond your and my imagination. I can't analyze this alone. The assembly line of Future Technology itself represents the efficiency of the mechanism. I'm afraid only he himself knows how much he spent on the production of the assembly line. This thing has brought about an industry, making the subdivision of assembly line design a major profession. How big do you think the scale is?"

"You mean, with this thing, the cost of Li Yan making things by himself is also incredibly low?"

"It's not just him." Wei Yili lit a cigarette and took a deep breath. "As far as I know, there is a very complicated part where the Jiaolong II lens connects to the phone. They opened a separate production line for it. Can you imagine?"

"After all, they can even make a photolithography machine..."

"Building a photolithography machine has concentrated the country's top optical component production capacity, and has created the country's top optical and optoelectronic equipment company."

"Yi Li," Wu Lansheng showed a subtle expression, "You are really going crazy when it comes to praising your son-in-law, huh?"

"Oh, I got it wrong." Wei Yili sighed, "In short, his industries support and influence each other. The investment cost will be lower than we thought, and the money earned will be more than we thought."

"Yi Li, just tell me, how much assets does he have?"

"It's impossible to invest now. Do you want to know a number before giving up?" Wei Yili laughed.

"Yes, if he is much richer than me, I will give up."

"I do not know."

"We are indeed a family..."

"Really not." Wei Yili put out his cigarette. "I don't have any criteria to judge him. I don't understand how he makes money and spends it. If you say he only has 100 billion, I'll agree. If you say he has 1 trillion, I won't be surprised. The money-making ability of Youkan alone is beyond imagination. How many new-age millionaires has this short video platform created? Can you say that the platform itself doesn't make as much as they do?"

"One trillion..." Wu Lansheng muttered to himself.

"I didn't say he really has one. Have you heard about the future city planning?"

"I heard it's a big deal. I wonder how much money it will cost."

"I don't understand. I don't understand. Look at how many workers were mobilized for the Future Building. It's a 500-meter landmark, with new materials and new structures. It took 30 billion yuan to invest... Others take years to build a building, but he topped it out in one year. If it weren't for the cement drying and various tests, I doubt this guy could have changed several construction teams to work around the clock. Xin'an's speed is ashamed by comparison."

"Didn't Li Yan research a highly efficient concrete solidifying agent? He applied for a patent."

"You have a very deep understanding, Old Wu."

"You sound very proud, Yi Li." Wu Lansheng smiled and drank a cup of tea.

Wei Yili's expression froze for a moment, then he suddenly laughed, shook his head and said, "Alas, I used to call you Mr. Li all the time, and treated you like a brother."

Wu Lansheng almost spit out his tea after hearing this sentence.

"Hey, Yi Li." He slowed down and changed the topic of the conversation, "What can this immortal talk about with your daughter when they are in love?"

"My daughter is also a top student."

"Can that be a level?"

"Li Yan is also a human, not a robot." Wei Yili smiled, "As a human, he has emotional needs. He even set off fireworks. No matter how talented or amazing he is, he is still an 18-year-old boy. Haven't you experienced youth? They talk about the same things as you would talk about with your partner back then."

"My youth was full of hardship, not like yours. Li Yan won't talk to Xiao Wei about the company and the world? I thought Xiao Wei was fascinated by these things." "Don't I know my daughter? She is not interested in these things. Maybe when Li Yan is with her, he is completely different from what we see. New Year's Eve is coming soon, Li Yan may be preparing some romantic gift for Yunzhi again."

"You are so proud. You look so smug." Wu Lansheng said contemptuously.

On New Year's Eve, Li Yan did ask Wei Yunzhi out, and the location was... a house less than one kilometer away from Linjiang University.

It's really hard to describe this place. It looks like an old guild hall with several decades of history. The area is not very large and it has been renovated, but there is no sign.

In the past, people nearby didn’t know what it was used for. Rumor has it that it was a house passed down from a wealthy family and was once used to entertain guests. After the rich man renovated it, he also used it as his own private reception venue. It looks ordinary from the outside, but it is quite ingenious inside.

Everyone calls it "No. 18, Second Street, Huanhu Road", which is the address.

The two were reading books in this hall with exquisite and gorgeous interior decoration.

"I asked someone to turn it into a library. The hall is a small library, and this small room is for reading. It's quiet, well-lit, and you can sit or lie down anywhere. It has all the necessary stationery. There's also a coffee shop, tea room, and dessert shop on the other side. There's a nap room, shower room, and game room on the second floor. I've hired someone to manage them. You can come here anytime you want to rest or read, and you can also come here for a gathering with friends - but this reading room belongs only to you and me."

Love it to death.

"Have you rented it from the legendary boss?"

"I bought it. He's going abroad." Li Yan smiled and said, "This house belongs to you now."

"what?"

"I'll give it to you, but I still want to emphasize that this small reading room we are in belongs only to us. All the books here are carefully selected by me."

"This whole thing belongs to us." Wei Yunzhi said, "It's an upgraded version of YY Bookstore. I won't let anyone else in. Friends can just rent a place outside for a party."

"It's all up to you."

So on New Year's Eve when it was noisy outside, they sat on the sofa, one holding a cup of coffee and the other drinking tea, and read quietly.

It turned out that Wei Yili really didn't understand his daughter.

Wei Yunzhi was so absorbed in reading "Das Kapital" that he kept taking notes.

"Are you interested in this?"

"I have always been interested in people and society," Wei Yunzhi said without taking his eyes off the book. "I read half of it before, but I felt that I couldn't understand it thoroughly. Now that you are here, it is the best opportunity to read."

"Do you think there's a capitalist next to you who can give a personal testimony?"

"No, you are not. It depends on the definition of capitalist, but you are definitely not a capitalist on the capitalist road. You are obviously taking another path, but I can't tell..."

"What's the difficulty?"

"It's because I don't understand some aspects of human nature," Wei Yunzhi said, "or rather, I'm always stuck in the contradiction between economic theory and human choice."

“Starting with simple questions is a good way to escape from the vortex.”

"I know why we need monopoly. But in history, there are countless cases of excessive monopoly... maybe it's not excessive monopoly, but unhealthy business model after monopoly, which can be simply described as excessive harvesting of wealth from the bottom, because this model eventually led to its own collapse. Why do those capitalists have to keep making money and making money even when a monopoly has been formed? Can't they choose to make concessions like you?"

Li Yan was about to answer, but Wei Yunzhi waved his hand again, "To put it more simply, why must capital continue to accumulate? Take you for example, I think you have more money than you can spend."

"Yes, it's totally inexhaustible." Li Yan said, "I didn't have enough emotional understanding of this sentence before, but now I do. For me personally, and even for the groups closely related to me, even if we do nothing now, we don't even need to manage the money, we can spend it as much as we want, and we can't spend it all in several lifetimes. This level of wealth cannot be affected by buying houses or luxury cars. I eat a meal worth 100,000 yuan a day, 300,000 yuan a day, 10 million yuan a month, 100 million yuan a year, and 1 billion yuan in 10 years. If I eat until I die, it's nothing more than tens of billions.

"These are just a bunch of numbers. As long as wealth is free, 'how free you are' is not a goal worth pursuing."

"This is what I don't understand." Wei Yunzhi frowned. "I know you are different from others. You have invested a lot of the money you earn into research in new fields. You have great ambitions, but what about others? At least I think most wealthy people don't have this kind of cognition...including my dad."

"As long as they have set foot on the capital route, all capitalists have only one task, which is to make money non-stop. All private ownership cannot avoid the Matthew effect. As you said, pathological monopolies will eventually go to destruction, but if there is no monopoly, it will be destroyed immediately by the monopolist. However, capital is not aimed at production, but at capital appreciation. Financial games are faster and easier than production appreciation, so transfer has become the main route for capital appreciation, rather than production."

Wei Yunzhi listened very carefully.

"For example, if I am willing to go public and play some financial games with my size and influence, my wealth will reach a new level. If I want you to be rich now, I can only give you real industries and funds, and really divide the cake in my hands. But if I play financial games and give you 10% of the shares, you can have a place on the rich list."

"what……"

"Do you remember the day we went to the auction?"

"of course I remember."

"Don't you find it strange? The so-called national experts ignored even the basic characteristics of the Asakura soil, calling a horse a zebra and confusing the public."

"Isn't it because he lacks ability?"

Li Yan smiled and said, "In certain specific environments, this is just a trick of transferring money from one hand to the other. Everyone is acting, and artworks and cultural relics are just props. No one cares whether they are real or fake and how much they are worth. As time goes by, this thing has a value that ordinary people cannot earn in several lifetimes. But what does it provide? It's just a game prop."

“Is this the path that capital wants to take?”

"They have to go," Li Yan said. "Don't talk about human nature in a group. As an individual, I can still discuss benefiting the country and the people, but not the collective concept of 'capitalists'. If you don't play the game of capital, you will be eaten up by those who play the game well and abandoned by capital. There are many people who want to take your place."

"So, the development of capital will actually stifle society's consumption power?"

Li Yan nodded in approval. "All resources have been absorbed by high-level capital. Giving up profits goes against the logic of capital operation. No one would risk their own violent death to be a good person. But as I just said, individual consumption power is very limited. Most of the money is not circulated after all. The so-called 'string of numbers' is really just a string of numbers."

"Then..." Wei Yunzhi suddenly realized something, and his expression became complicated. "Aren't you under a lot of pressure?"

"There are many people who want to take advantage of me. I have to make concessions while maintaining a monopoly, which requires much more work than just reaping the benefits directly." Li Yan said with a smile, "Only China can tolerate and support my approach. The official support for me is not just because I developed the lithography machine."

Wei Yunzhi's breathing was a little rapid.

“The end point of private ownership is total collapse. The distribution system cannot be changed easily. Economic crises, world wars…are all means of reshuffling the cards, freeing up space, creating demand, and then reaccumulating capital.”

“Is it true that humans cannot learn lessons from history?”

"I know everything I need to know, but some laws are like birth, aging, sickness and death. As long as human desires remain, they cannot be eliminated."

"Then what are you doing for?"

"If I can only contribute a little in the end, I will give as much as I can; if I have the chance to have the power to create the world, I will chop it down with this axe no matter what. Humanity deserves a better future."

Wei Yunzhi was stunned.

After a few seconds of silence, Li Yan smiled from the bottom of her heart and said softly:

"But I am not doing this for humanity. I am doing this for myself. For the meaning of my own existence."

Fireworks shows along the river outside the house are being staged in many places in New Taipei City, and the appearance of drones has caused waves of exclamations; the pre-sale of Jiaolong II has started, and many people have been hanging on the webpage and refreshing to grab a beautiful steel number; Minister Jiang has finally officially sent out the promotional video and endorsement invitation letter, just like a cup of water poured into a boiling oil pan, frying the entertainment industry and all walks of life in a panic...

In the quiet study, Li Yan was chatting with Wei Yunzhi.

The girl felt that the glow of the person in front of her was more brilliant than fireworks.

(End of this chapter)