Rebirth 2004: A lone figure in the literary world

Chapter 419: The pig on the wind is still a pig, not a god
Zhang Chao looked at the bloated Lei Jun in front of him and said with a smile: "Boss Lei, are you really so optimistic about us?"

Lei Jun nodded and said, "It should be said that no one is not optimistic about you. The number and quality of users of the two platforms, Weibo and WeChat, are also in the first echelon in the global Internet.

Anyone with eyes who is not blind knows what this means. It’s just that your door is hard to get in. I heard that many people were turned away by you…”

Zhang Chao quickly distanced himself from the matter, saying, "That was all done by Huang Jiefu... I have long since been a hands-off boss."

Lei Jun smiled and said, "Without your nod, would he be so confident? I have read all your novels, and after reading them, I know that "Tide Culture" will never be able to get rid of your influence."

Zhang Chao put down his chopsticks, his expression became a little more serious, and asked, "Boss Lei, are you really going to invest in us?"

Lei Jun also sat up straight and said seriously: "Although you have expressed your investment intention to Huang Jiefu through formal channels before, you probably thought the time was not right at that time, right?"

Zhang Chao asked: "Why is the time ripe now?"

Lei Jun stared into Zhang Chao's eyes and said, "I read a few of your previous short stories. Considering your speech at the Nanjing Internet Conference, I think you already have a complete set of methodologies and values ​​about mobile Internet in your mind.

This is even more valuable than the Weibo and WeChat you have now.”

Zhang Chao shook his head and said, "You also know that there are many Internet companies that want to invest in us, even Alibaba and Penguin are interested. So why should we accept your investment?"

Lei Jun looked at Zhang Chao deeply and said, "Because I am different from them, I will not seek control over "Chao Tide Culture" and I don't want to get involved in the actual operation of "WeChat" and "Weibo".

I just want to be a pure investor and get a good return after Tide Culture goes public.”

Zhang Chao was speechless and said, "I didn't expect you to be so frank."

Lei Jun said: "You are a writer. Writers are the best at seeing people's hearts, and you are a top writer, so I think it is stupid to hide my true thoughts in front of you.

Instead of saying a bunch of high-sounding words that make you look down on me, it's better to be honest.

To be honest, as an individual investor, my capital may not be the largest compared to other companies, but my sincerity is definitely the greatest, and my desire to control "Tide Culture" is definitely the lowest. "

After saying that, Lei Jun fell silent, lowered his head and started to cook meat for himself.

Zhang Chao looked at Lei Jun, who was both familiar and unfamiliar, and felt caught in a dilemma.

Whether based on the information Huang Jiefu gave him or the memories of his previous life, he knew that Lei Jun was currently in a "confused period" in his life.

He had just led Kingsoft to a successful IPO the previous year, and then left to become an angel investor.

But at that time, he did not feel successful. First of all, Kingsoft was already an "outdated" software company at that time, and it did not keep up with the Internet wave. It was only reluctantly listed in Hong Kong and did not attract much attention.

After he left Kingsoft, he suddenly found himself becoming a bystander in the industry. "No media wanted to interview me; no industry conference invited me to attend. I seemed to be forgotten by the whole world. It was cold and realistic."

This is hard to accept for the ambitious Lei Jun.

Starting from this year, he has frantically invested in more than a dozen Internet and mobile Internet companies, including Lakala, Woyou.com, Duokan, Lexun, UC Browser, and even clothing companies like Vancl, because they sell clothes on the Internet.

In his words, "carry a sack of cash to see who is doing mobile Internet. If the first one doesn't want to do it, find the second one. If the second one doesn't want to do it, find the third one."

From an investment perspective, most of these businesses were quite successful and brought him huge profits, but they still could not make up for his inner sense of loss.

That’s why he returned to Kingsoft’s CEO after being “unemployed” for more than two years. He then became interested in mobile phones - and the rest is history.

But at this point in time, Lei Jun really doesn’t know what to do next.

Zhang Chao pondered for a long time before he spoke: "Mr. Lei, I am a novelist. I don't know much about business. I will just tell you a story."

Lei Jun put down his chopsticks and looked at the young man in front of him who was more than ten years younger than him, with anticipation in his eyes.

The stories Zhang Chao told at the Nanjing Internet Conference directly drove down the stock prices of China's two largest Internet companies by nearly 10 billion yuan. This can be said to be the most expensive story in history. Now that he is telling this story to Lei Jun alone, of course he will listen attentively.

Zhang Chao did not rush to tell this story. Instead, he picked up the chopsticks again and rinsed a few slices of mutton for himself. Then he slowly turned the mutton in the sesame sauce dish three times, and then ate it in one bite, letting out a contented sigh.

Zhang Chao said to Lei Jun, "You can eat too, and talk while you eat."

Lei Jun finally came to his senses and quickly started to prepare some meat for himself.

It was then that Zhang Chao began to tell the story he had been planning for a long time, but his voice suddenly became distant: "During the Xuanhe period of the Northern Song Dynasty, there was a craftsman named Su Di, whose craftsmanship was exquisite and unparalleled, and he was considered the best in the world."

"This craftsman from Su specialized in ingenious mechanisms and once made a 'Bronze Man of Hundred Plays' for Emperor Huizong of Song. The bronze man was seven feet tall and had 360 sets of gears inside. It could perform 28 kinds of acrobatics, such as pole-lifting and sword-swallowing.

The most amazing thing is that the bronze man’s eyes are inlaid with Persian glass, and his expression changes according to the number of viewers - it is said that he is a living god invited by the government from "Along the River During the Qingming Festival".

But this craftsman was not well received by the civil officials. They always felt that this man was not a good person, and that he had seduced the officials into being obsessed with those trivial ways, and the country had spent a lot of money on this. "

Lei Jun is a straight man of science and engineering, who also studies computer science. He deals with either programmers or businessmen. He has never heard of anyone talking so eloquently in front of him and telling an ancient legend.

His hand holding the mutton was suspended in mid-air, and the soup dripped onto the tablecloth, creating dark patterns.

Zhang Chao's eyes were empty as he continued, "One day, Craftsman Su brought his new work, the 'Xuan Ji Instrument', to the palace to present it as a treasure, saying that it was a bronze armillary sphere that could predict the weather. Huizong was very happy and immediately asked Craftsman Su to demonstrate it.

Unexpectedly, just as the instrument was turned on, the copper spoon on it suddenly pointed to "very bad luck". As a result, that night Bianjing suffered a hailstorm that had not been seen in a century.

The next morning, the censors came with impeachment memorials like snowflakes - saying that this evil weapon disturbed the heavens and they wanted to burn Su Di as a sacrifice to the heavens.

The hot pot soup base was bubbling, and the red oil was surging in the copper pot like lava.

"Guess how Su Di responded?" Zhang Chao suddenly raised his eyes, his gaze shifting from the emptiness to focus, "He built a twelve-meter-high pile of firewood in front of the Xuande Gate and placed the Xuanji Instrument on top in public.

Before lighting the fire, he said, "This thing can see through the secrets of heaven, and can also confuse people's minds. If the heavens want to kill me today, let the flames swallow the copper instrument; if they want to spare my life, please let the rain extinguish this fire." Lei Jun's chopsticks "slapped" on the porcelain plate. He was already attracted by this story and had no intention of eating meat.

"Guess what happened next?" Zhang Chao did not stop using his chopsticks. He scooped another spoonful of shrimps and slid them into the pot, saying, "When the fire reached a height of three feet, black clouds suddenly appeared in the northwest. Torrential rain poured down, and a red-hot bronze sparrow rushed out of the fire.

It was the core component of the Xuanji Instrument. Su Di picked up the bronze sparrow and presented it to the emperor, saying, "The fire of heaven quenched its shape, and the rainstorm shaped its soul. This is the real national treasure."

At this point, whether it was the common people, the officials, or even the emperor, they were all convinced of Su's craftsmanship, and believed that he was a remarkable man who could understand ghosts and gods, and knew yin and yang."

The white mist from the hot pot flowed between the two of them, and a layer of fat film had already formed on the oil dish in front of Lei Jun. Zhang Chao swallowed the shrimp slip in one gulp, and called out "hot" several times before continuing the story: "Later, this bronze sparrow was cast into the Chiwen of Jingling Palace, and Bianjing never suffered a major disaster again."

Zhang Chao picked up another piece of overcooked yellow throat and asked: "In this story, was it the Xuanji Instrument that predicted the natural disaster, or was it Su Di who used human minds to calculate the will of heaven?"

Lei Jun thought for a long time before he said timidly, "The meaning of this story is... technology is a dead thing, it all depends on the mind of the person holding it?"

Zhang Chao did not answer him directly, but said: "Su Di's bronze sparrow could be reborn in the rainstorm because he had calculated people's awe of "miracles". To some extent, modern technology is also playing the role of this "bronze sparrow".

Have you read American Gods, a novel by American writer Neil Gaiman?

Lei Jun shook his head. He had little interest in literature. It was already difficult for him to finish reading a few novels by Zhang Chao. Now an American writer had popped up, and he had no idea what to do.

Zhang Chao said: "That novel is very well written. You should read it when you have time."

Lei Jun forced a smile and said, "Okay, I'll read it when I get back." He really didn't understand what Zhang Chao wanted to say. Wasn't it just a matter of a word to allow investment? Why did he have to bring up novels?

Zhang Chao ignored Lei Jun's somewhat tired tone and said, "American Gods tells the story of a group of gods from the Old World who followed immigrants to the New World and still live in modern America, including Odin and Loki from Norse mythology, the Queen of Sheba from Africa, and the leprechauns from Ireland...

However, these ancient gods have become weak due to the changing times and the decline of believers, and are almost becoming mortals. At the same time, many new gods have been born in the United States - credit card gods, highway gods, Internet gods, new media gods..."

When Lei Jun heard this, he suddenly seemed to have grasped something. He opened his eyes wide and said in a trembling voice: "You mean... what we are doing now..."

Zhang Chao smiled and said, "What's the difference? The battle between the new gods and the old gods in Gaiman's works is essentially a battle for the collective subconscious of mankind - just like Su Di's bronze sparrow was reborn in the rainstorm, not because it really has divine power, but because the awe of 300,000 people in Bianliang City made it 'alive'."

Lei Jun was silent, but his heart was filled with turbulent waves. He knew that Zhang Chao was not talking about the new era's business trendsetters becoming "gods", but that they would be worshipped like gods in this era.

In fact, this deification movement based on material worship had already begun many years ago. Bill Gates and Buffett are two gods who have been worshipped for more than ten years.

In China, these two people are highly respected by everyone from the elite to the general public. They are familiar with Bill Gates' experience of dropping out of school and Buffett's investment philosophy.

Their "belief" has also penetrated into every corner of the world along with the United States' globalization strategy.

If human hearts could really gather the energy of faith as described in the legend, wouldn't these two people be immediately included in the ranks of immortals?
And on the Chinese Internet, such myths and legends are also budding - the horse in Hangzhou has the potential to become a new statue on the altar!

Lei Jun certainly would never have thought that in a dozen years, he would also be placed on the altar.

Now he is just doubting: Is it really that exaggerated? How can one become a "god" by doing business?

Zhang Chao seemed not to notice his uncertain expression, and continued, "This story is not over yet - do you know where Su Di went in his later years?"

Of course Lei Jun shook his head "obediently".

Zhang Chao said: "After the Jingkang Incident, someone saw him in Zhongnan Mountain. At that time, he was using bronze gears to assemble a pen holder that could grind ink by itself, but he turned a deaf ear to the news that the Jin soldiers were heading south.

When his apprentice asked him why he no longer made national treasures, he said, "What destroyed the Tongque in the past was not a natural disaster, but the evil in people's hearts. Now that people's hearts have been fed to wolves, what's the point of making a better treasure?"

As Zhang Chao spoke, he took out the prototype of the first Android phone given to them by HTC and placed it on the table. The phone was less than a week away from release, and its appearance and functions were still a secret.

Lei Jun stared at this new digital product curiously, but suppressed his curiosity and did not reach out to take it.

Zhang Chao smiled and said, "It will be released in two days, so it's okay for you to try it out."

Lei Jun took it and started playing with it, and after a long while he reluctantly handed it back to Zhang Chao. Of course he knew what it was, and what it meant for Zhang Chao to own this unreleased new phone.

He suddenly felt that the offer he prepared was a bit low...

There was no "cold 40 billion" on his card - after all, Kingsoft's market value after its listing was less than 20 billion Hong Kong dollars.

Zhang Chao said: "It is equipped with a chip that is ten thousand times more complex than the Xuanji Instrument, and collects more detailed user data than the astrologer of Emperor Huizong of Song. But what is the difference between us who make mobile phone software and Su Di?
In "American Gods", it is said that the old gods rely on blood sacrifices, while the new gods rely on traffic. But do you know what is the most terrifying thing? When engineers like you, Mr. Lei, begin to believe that the more people use the software they develop, the more incense they have for themselves.

Mobile Internet is the vent of the wind, and if you stand on it, even pigs will fly.

But a flying pig is still a pig. It doesn’t become a god just because it’s in the sky, right?”

When Lei Jun heard this, he knew that today's goal would not be achieved. But he did gain something - at least Zhang Chao told him a story that made him think over and over again for a long time.

At this time, the hot pot soup was almost boiled dry, Zhang Chao said: "Mr. Lei, when you make up your mind, we will make an appointment to eat hot pot."

Lei Jun could only nod with a sense of loss.

Zhang Chao suddenly came over and said, "Actually, I have a question I've always wanted to ask you..."

……

Ten minutes later, the two said goodbye at the entrance of "Laoma Shabu-Shabu" and drove home.

While waiting for the red light, Zhang Chao's phone started beeping, and a line of words appeared on the screen: "We have decided which one to choose..."

(End of this chapter)