Back to the prime of life

Chapter 154: Routines and Borrowing Money
As August approached, the Olympic atmosphere became more intense. Lu Changge had already agreed with the swimming pool staff in advance to give everyone a week off, starting on the 8th when the opening ceremony took place, with the aim of allowing everyone to go back and watch the Olympics.

In the past half month, even the students who are about to enter the third year of junior high school and the third year of high school have stopped their tutoring classes. Most people are on vacation. The swimming pool is temporarily closed, which can fully gain the understanding of customers. Moreover, it is only closed for one week, not two weeks.

Unless you are busy with your own business, you really don't want to stop.

For example, Qin Jun and Li Ming probably knew that they only had half a year, so they didn't want to delay for even a single day. The samples of the white-collar shirts had already been decided, and the photos of the "seller show" had already been taken. The only thing left to be negotiated was the cooperation with the local express delivery company.

This was one of the reasons. Qin Jun originally wanted to bring Lu Changge along to talk, but later decided to try it himself first.

As for the packaging box design and thank-you card preparation, they have all been completed.

Lu Changge originally thought that he could happily wait to watch the opening ceremony, but he didn't expect that just two days ago, Hui Chuankun fell ill. After going to the hospital for a check-up, he found that it was just the flu, but because he was very tired in the past month, his immunity was reduced, so the symptoms were more serious.

Birth, old age, sickness and death are inevitable for human beings. To show their concern, Lu Changge and Yin Anyan went to see him together.

Speaking of which, their company is still in its start-up phase and nothing is perfect. Does this count as an occupational injury?

Lu Changge thought about this matter specifically, and later felt that it still counted. No matter what the identification criteria were, Hui Chuankun was defeated right under his nose.

In the hospital, his girlfriend Lu Lanying was taking care of him.

Seeing her boyfriend so weak, the girl felt sympathetic and said, "The doctor told you to rest. When you get better, you can't be like before."

"I know, it's okay, it's just a cold." Hui Chuankun was a little annoyed. The development cycle was set at eight weeks, and he fell ill halfway through. "I guess I need to exercise. Why am I sick when everyone else is fine?"

"No one else is staying up late either." Lu Lanying was a little confused. "What on earth are you guys doing? Is it necessary to stay up all day and night like this?"

Hui Chuankun said, "You know Lu Changge. So far, nothing he has set his sights on has failed."

He usually talks about these things with his girlfriend, and she understands the reason behind them.

"I know he's good, I mean physically."

"I know, ahem, watch your expression, he'll be here soon."

Lu Lanying curled her lips and let out a cry. She didn't have much opinion about Lu Changge. In fact, she had always encouraged her boyfriend to follow her as much as possible.

We are all smart people. How can we not tell what is good and what is bad?

"Xiaoxiao, I know you also want us to succeed."

Lu Lanying said, "Of course I hope so, but didn't I tell you not to dwell on one thing? The key is the person. He's so talented, he's better than others at everything. It's not like he has to stay up all night writing software."

This is something she brought up herself.

But,
"But you know, I only know this..."

Bang bang bang.

Just at this moment, there was a knock on the door.

Lu Lanying's face changed. The two of them didn't have any acquaintances in Jiangzhou. If she was sick and hospitalized, it would most likely be Lu Changge. Because she valued him more, she would not allow herself to be too casual.

When the door opened, she found that it was indeed him, so she put on a smile and went to greet him.

"Changge..." Hui Chuankun struggled to get up.

Lu Changge took two steps at a time and said, "Don't be polite with me. Just lie down. How do you feel now?"

"I'm feeling much better. The fever is gone, but I still have a cough. My butt and waist hurt, but luckily they're just muscle pain. The doctor said it will be gone in two days."

"That's not bad. You're still too thin. After you recover, let's get some delicious food."

Nowadays, everyone considers being thin as beautiful, but when it comes to actually being hospitalized, people with some body fat can still hold up longer.

Lu Lanying said, "He just said he needs to exercise more."

"Yes, look at Mr. Sheng. He smokes a pack of cigarettes a night. He's over 30 years old, but after a month of doing this, he's still going strong."

Maybe it's because he's a little fatter? Lu Changge thought to himself.

"Who is saying bad things about the teacher behind his back?"

Speak of the devil, and he'll appear. Chi Yongsheng actually followed him in, and after entering, he said to Lu Changge, "I only drink half a box a night, but once you put it in my mouth, it's doubled immediately."

Lu Changge was thick-skinned and didn't care about being caught. "It's half a box now. If things continue to develop, it will be a whole box."

"Listen, everyone. Which student has the guts to talk to the teacher?"

Hui Chuankun and the other two girls all laughed.

"Chuan Kun, you should have a good rest. You're almost done with the data-saving design. Zhou Shuang has praised you behind my back several times, saying that you're someone who's willing to put in the effort to study. In short, don't be too burdened. Your health is more important."

Hui Chuankun said: "I am afraid that in the end I won't be able to finish it in 8 weeks."

"No, I still have half a pack of cigarettes left, and I haven't used this trick yet."

"Hahaha."

Chi Yongsheng seemed to be in a good mood, and was in the mood to tease them. He then said to Lu Changge, "By the way, Zhou Shuang told me that he has found someone to launch the app store overseas. I'll go with you when we have time."

"Really?" Lu Changge's eyes lit up.

I need to ask someone about this, because the entire team is based in China, but the software they developed is to be launched overseas. Lu Changge doesn't know how to operate this thing, and it's not something that can be explained in a few words. Especially when it comes to communication software, communication security is involved, so I still need to understand it. If I don't make a big deal about it, I might get sanctioned.

"Okay, except for August 8th, any other time is fine."

Chi Yongsheng said: "Don't worry, no one will make an appointment on that day, wouldn't that invite scolding?"

"That's right. By the way, Teacher Chi, is there really no good way to deal with Zhou Shuang?"

This woman is really amazing. Yongsheng can take the lead in the iOS client code pool, but Zhou Shuang is actually the one who leads the secondary development of the communication protocol based on the XMPP open source framework, including offline messaging and the overseas launch just mentioned. She has played an important role in many of the difficult problems involved.

"This woman doesn't even have a partner, so she can't even use roundabout tactics. Maybe we really need to achieve something before we can say anything."

Lu Changge thought to himself that that wouldn't work, and no one could guarantee that this would succeed. What if the number of users didn't reach one million?
Maybe because he had been focusing on software development for this period of time, although he had previously said that he would find a way to keep Zhou Shuang, he had not really thought about it.

Now that I have some free time, this idea comes up again.

After leaving the hospital, he was still thinking about what to do. The next day, he asked Chi Yongsheng out alone and told him more about Zhou Shuang.

Through him, Lu Changge learned that Zhou Shuang was a farm girl from a small county town, or a small town test-taker in later times. She had studied in the United States on a scholarship, and after completing her studies, she returned to China and worked for two foreign companies, Yahoo and Microsoft, and later for 360.

I do a lot of different things, but I'm better at software development.

Fortunately, she's not some high-flying executive at a major company, otherwise she wouldn't have been able to achieve it. There's no need to elaborate on why she's not that high-flying talent, because 99% of people aren't like that. This is the normal state of being for ordinary people, and because it's normal, there's no need for a reason.

She has brothers and sisters at home, but Chi Yongsheng doesn’t know how many there are. Anyway, she is the most powerful one and the only one who is not married.

After talking for a long time, Lu Changge didn't hear any useful information, so he said, "I'm not going to investigate the household registration, what's the point of you talking about this?"

Chi Yongsheng sighed and said, "Haven't you read history books? To conquer talented people, the key isn't to offer them good conditions, but to share a common goal with them. And a person's life goals are hidden in their past experiences."

Lu Changge nodded thoughtfully, "As expected of a teacher, you're really good at explaining things. Now that you put it that way, I suddenly feel like there's some truth to what you're saying."

"That makes sense," Chi Yongsheng pushed his glasses and said, "As for Zhou Shuang, I think she's still fighting for her life. She doesn't have a husband, and it doesn't look like she wants to find one. People like her will face all kinds of rumors, and over time, they'll inevitably become rebellious. So she has to have something to fight back. Even if it's not a fight back, she has to let others see that she's doing well and is very successful."

"She's very successful now. She owns a house and a car."

"Owning a house and a car is a superficial success. Some of her friends don't have either. Like you, you can afford $50, yet you still work so hard. Why? Don't you have a little bit of vanity?"

"A little bit... maybe more than that."

"That's it. So don't worry, we can at least guarantee a bottom line. At least this matter is getting better. It should be easy to convince her then. Besides, if she doesn't have any ideas in her mind, why would she agree to your compromise plan? She doesn't need that little technical consulting fee."

"I don't want a guaranteed minimum, I want it as soon as possible."

"That……"

Lu Changge narrowed his eyes. "I have a rough idea. In fact, she is just admiring the strong. Besides, whether the company can attract high-level talents by relying on its prospects is ultimately the boss's business."

In other words, he has to show off his skills to demonstrate his judgment of future trends.

But isn't this what he's good at?

"Hey, Teacher Chi, was she surprised that I predicted that Apple would launch the App Store?"

"Have."

Lu Changge slammed the table and said, "Then I know how to fool you."

That evening, when everyone was working smoothly, Yu Na suddenly raised a question. "Changge, I've been thinking about our user base these past few days. While I believe you said Apple phones will be global bestsellers, the current global mobile phone market is still dominated by Nokia's Symbian system and BlackBerry's BlackBerry OS, not to mention Microsoft's. So the question is, should we develop versions compatible with these systems?"

Lu Changge coughed twice.

He instructed Yu Na to ask this question.

According to his previous plan, he said: "I don't think we need to consider it for now. These systems are mainly for calls and basic functions. The application ecosystem is extremely limited. In addition, the application distribution is fragmented and the threshold for developers is high. We can't do it now."

Zhou Shuang, unsure, nodded. "Yes, and Apple's App Store is showing explosive growth. While there aren't many apps right now, the cumulative downloads have exceeded 1000 million in just one week. This trend is already very clear."

Lu Changge then said, "That being said, smartphones aren't internet portals, so there's no winner-takes-all situation. This means that besides Apple phones, there are definitely products from other manufacturers. Furthermore, Apple phones are relatively expensive, so in terms of price range, they leave room for other phone manufacturers. These phone manufacturers should also need a smartphone operating system. Looking around, I think Google has the most influence. It's connected to dozens of hardware manufacturers, software developers, and telecom operators, and it's even released the source code for its Android system..."

Zhou Shuang followed his lead and immediately thought of something. She frowned and said, "You mean, the Android system?"

Lu Changge originally wanted to talk about it two months later. After all, the mobile phone equipped with the Android system will be released by then. However, things like products will have a preheating before the release, so it’s okay for him to talk about it now.

"Well, I think Apple's model has shaken up the internet industry. Companies like Google and Microsoft will quickly follow suit. Maybe something like an app store will emerge, like Android having an app store. This will help overcome the drawback of fragmented distribution."

In fact, in September 2008, Google launched the Android Market, which later became Google Play. Lu Changge remembered this information.

"This is an interesting point and worth further observation." Zhou Shuang said with interest.

Lu Changge nodded pretentiously, "Yeah, I really need to observe carefully."

Chi Yongsheng could somewhat see his intention, but he was also curious. Is this guy so sure?
But he was just doubtful and did not immediately laugh at Lu Changge's judgment. This was the difference between him and Zhou Shuang. To put it bluntly, he had been almost fooled.

On the evening of August 8, Lu Changge stopped all his work and leisurely waited at home with Yin Anyan to watch the live broadcast on TV. No matter what, the standard of this opening ceremony was still very high and it was worth watching again.

That afternoon, Lu's parents called him and told him they had arrived in BJ. Lu Changge chatted with them for a while on the phone and told them not to worry about the money and to go out and eat and have fun.

In fact, the old couple still couldn't get rid of the habit of worrying. When they were in BJ, they were still thinking about the big and small matters of their relatives at home. He had already expected that they would talk to Lu Changge. After all, he was a small boss outside, so there would definitely be acquaintances who would come to him for various matters.

(End of this chapter)