My Lord, you need to stand up!

Chapter 350 I Don't Sell Computers, I Sell My Life
"Ask him if he can get 6502 chips, the lower the price and the larger the quantity, the better. Ask quietly, don't let anyone else hear."

So Qin Yuye really acted like a middle-aged woman at a train station, signaling Steve to turn around and quietly ask about accommodations, movies... Oh, oh, oh, that's Shen Cuiyue's old trick, flirting with girls.

Steve was baffled by this behavior: "O'Fox, how much does he want? Is he a spy?"

He couldn't help but turn back to look at Rang Weidong one more time.

Wei Dong understood the beginning.

Seeing that most people around were chatting privately, they had no choice but to disperse.

He leaned closer and whispered, "A good horse to ride?! At the very least, I want 100,000, 200,000, or 500,000 pieces."

After the translator relayed the message, Steve finally began to communicate seriously: "The chip in this Macintosh is Motorola's 6800. The 6502 is actually a cheaper model that other manufacturers imitated and produced. The 6800 costs $360, while the 6502 has the same performance but only costs $25."

After listening to the translation, Wei Dong suddenly had a very strange feeling.

The world is truly a great cycle.

Isn't this exactly the same idea as making cheap cameras?

He immediately pointed to the all-in-one computer on the table and asked, "How much is this?"

Steve proudly stated, "At $2495, I chose the 6800 because I need the most stable and best components to assemble the most perfect finished product. The 6502 doesn't fit, but I can help you arrange an order. As far as I know, someone can order 6502 in bulk for nine dollars."

Wei Dong's eyes widened as if he had seen some prehistoric monster!

Having frequented Akihabara these past few days, he's become quite knowledgeable about the computer market.

Home computers cost roughly $800 to $1,000, while business computers with higher configurations cost around $1,500 to $1,800.

The cheapest ones probably all need to be connected to a TV as a monitor.

Even the most expensive ones are nine-inch monitors; $1,800 could actually get you a 12-inch color monitor.

Your product is a full thousand dollars more expensive, so it's definitely considered a high-end product on the market.

Yes, they created a groundbreaking graphical interface system and added a mouse, so it's understandable that it's more expensive.

But surely they don't have to go this far to rip you off.

Moreover, according to the mindset of domestic businessmen, they would choose to use exorbitantly expensive parts when there are already cost-effective alternatives available at one-fortieth the price, completely disregarding the business principles of cost reduction and efficiency improvement.

Do you know how to do business?
But then they immediately said, "What the hell do I care if it sells for thousands? A 6502 chip for nine dollars?!"
The Famicom (Nintendo Entertainment System) costs 14,800 yen (including tax) in Akihabara, which is about sixty US dollars at the time.

It's easy to imagine that the $25 6502 chip accounts for nearly half of the cost!

Now that it's down to nine dollars, if they're not afraid of being sued for copyright infringement, they could practically turn the tables on Nintendo.

Of course, this has nothing to do with Wei Dong. He only has one thought right now: cling to this powerful figure and desperately import cheap 6502 chips!

The obsequiousness Qin Yuye had just witnessed reappeared, the previous coldness long gone: "Okay, okay, sell Furun, love to dig oil, oil hot to death Best, cat poop ee ri tug! tug, ah oil ang is single?!!"

The Hong Kong girl was laughing so hard she had tears in her eyes.

What kind of force could compel this man to speak English?
It's comparable to getting an elderly person in a wheelchair to stand up and applaud a woman who's just skirting the edge of a woman.

He gestured with the mouse, indicating that there should be two buttons here, and even made a peace sign.

The key point is that Steve actually understood, shaking his head repeatedly and babbling a string of English expressions.

The girl, who was trying to hold back her laughter until her stomach hurt, leaned on Wei Dong's arm to translate: "And the three-button mouse, he felt was unnecessary, would confuse users, and would increase unnecessary costs."

Oh, now we're talking about costs again. Why not cut corners on the $371 chip cost, but instead save on these two—no, one—keys?

Wei Dong ended the argument with a very sophisticated response.

He pointed to the keyboard accessibility keys he had just used: "Any skill that requires instruction to learn is not the best skill."

Qin Yuye struggled to turn the page, clearly noticing the style of this proverb format.

Steve was immediately stunned and fell into deep thought.

Wei Dong then added, "What is your purpose in doing this? Is it for your own amusement, or do you want to sell it to more people? Is it a select group of high-class individuals, or everyone in the world?"

Steve's tiger-like eyes gleamed.

Wei Dong then revealed his true proverb: "There's an old Chinese saying, 'Sharing happiness is worse than enjoying it alone.' Anything can only have a brighter future if more people are involved. At this point, I can cite one of my business examples..."

He gestured to the camera hanging around his neck and said, "Last February, I was just dealing with a factory on the verge of bankruptcy. The Chinese market generally had domestically produced cameras for $60 or $70 and imported cameras for $400 or $500. I led them to develop a camera for $9.99 and then sold a million units in the past year!"

Qin Yuye stood up straight, with a proud and confident attitude, using all her English speaking skills to convey her message as accurately as possible... Oh, she also immediately took out her plateau photo album from her bag and handed it over like a salesperson.

One million units?
It was this word that shocked Steve. He even tried to reach out and touch the Olympus mouse on Rang Weidong's chest—it was a high-end product. Rang Weidong, who had already started pushing it up without any strategy, said: "Secondly, this mouse could be made streamlined, really shaped like a mouse, which would be more beautiful and acceptable."

He took out his pen and paper and sketched a design, tore it off and handed it over: "Flip it over, don't hide anything, I need his trust!"

Then, he deliberately and intensively displayed his "genius" abilities: "Do you know what your computer is lacking most right now? Games. You need to add two games to it."

Sure enough, there's not much to say about the mouse; just look at the hand-drawn illustrations and it's clear that it's merely a matter of the outer shell mold. Whether it's adopted or not is unimportant; what matters is demonstrating that I have a lot of ideas and that I'm very talented.

Over the past year, Wei Dong has frequently used this technique to showcase his skills to city officials, third-tier factories, and Hong Kong businessmen, so he has become quite experienced.

It's similar to playing Dou Dizhu (a popular Chinese card game). If you have a winning hand like the "Heavenly Eye" (a powerful card with two Kings and four Twos), you're not afraid to play recklessly and can even show off your winnings.

Steve glanced at the note quickly, his attention definitely on the back: "Games? I don't deny they're for entertainment, but these playable games must be pretty difficult, right?"

Wei Dong laughed: "It's not a complicated game, but two simple cards and... a mine-finding game. The purpose is to train mouse operation and also to kill some time when you're bored."

In the 1990s, tax authorities began to implement computer projects in large numbers, and all the older tax officials of Lao Shi's generation were forced to use computers.

The entire hospital relied on flipping cards and finding landmines to become familiar with mouse operation, and even 20 or 30 years later, people still enjoy playing this game...

Now Steve finally showed that "Holy crap, a god is here!" look of shock.

"How could you have thought of something so thorough?"

Wei Dong immediately launched into the discussion: "I've been looking for this opportunity to combine a game console and a computer into one, launching a TV computer product priced under $99. My country is still poor, but millions of people need to learn and improve themselves through computers, striving to change their destiny..."

There was a deliberate pause here to see Steve's reaction to Qin Yuye's translation.

He can roughly understand some words, at least he knows where the conversation is, but he lacks grammar and expression habits.

It's clear that the cheap $99 TV computer must have blown Steve to bits.

Anyone who prices their computer at $2,500 must understand the meaning behind Wei Dong's earlier statement about everyone in the world.

If he thought those words were just casual remarks back then, now he's certain they're very likely true!
But just as he was about to ask how a $99 TV computer was manufactured, the next words completely silenced him. He crossed his arms and quietly looked at Rang Weidong.

The Asian men and women were somewhat surprised, but Wei Dong managed to keep his composure; he had met many important figures before.

More importantly, I secretly chuckled to myself, confirming that the other person was buying into my rhetoric.

As a retired security guard in a prefecture-level city in Southwest China, he knew nothing about foreign countries, and all his knowledge came from the internet.

Those last few years were precisely when all sorts of keys were at their most popular.

There's a saying that the more of a loser you are, the more you like to pay attention to international affairs.

Wei Dong's stereotype of foreigners was that they were all fair-skinned, dark-skinned, and expensive; every hardship in the Middle East justified their perception of it...

Did this deliberate test really work?

Keep your gaze steady and look at the other person quietly.

Steve waited a moment and then asked, "How can computers change their fate?"

This is a very specific question.

He didn't even expect any clear response. The world still thinks computers are something for highly educated people. At least computer operators aren't illiterate. But what can someone who's so poor that he buys a $99 computer learn?
Even Qin Yuye was curious. After finishing the translation, she waited earnestly and expectantly, inexplicably believing that there must be an answer.

Wei Dong's reply was completely unexpected.

I at least thought he would talk about learning how to use a computer and finding a job, blah blah blah.

No: "Poverty stems from a loss of the ability to learn. People give up and abandon themselves to learn new things. The poorer and more ignorant a person is, the more resistant they become to learning. But everyone can play games and entertainment. I want to force them to relearn the ability to learn..."

He reached out and tapped the computer next to him: "For example, there might be a really fun game here, but you have to enter a complicated little program text to unlock and play it. Isn't this process of entering the text a forced learning process?"

Steve paused for a moment, then burst into laughter: "Yes! Yes!"

Wei Dong nodded: "If you complete it within a fixed time, the game will be unlocked at level one. If you complete it in half the time, the game will be more fun. If you complete it in a third of the time, the game will be the most fun. Do you think that would motivate users to rack their brains to figure out how to crack it?"

He didn't really understand anything, but he was very familiar with wasting hours of his life by scrolling through short videos. He also knew about the mental dulling caused by not being able to muster the energy to read books and newspapers. He even watched too many short videos from later generations and could no longer concentrate on watching movies or long TV series, preferring to watch short clips with impatience.

So, given that game consoles will inevitably dominate the domestic market sooner or later, could this method be used to make some changes?

Why not give it a try?

Steve's hearty laughter turned into him reaching out to put his arm around Wei Dong's shoulder: "Very interesting. I can understand that feeling, because I've also fallen into depravity, selling Fu Run..."

Qin Yuye clenched his fist in excitement, knowing that this deal was another success!
That man who always manages to surprise everyone and is invincible.

(End of this chapter)