Restart life

Chapter 596 Epilogue [The Second Decade]

2023 October.

The Oceanwide Lavie residential complex in Beijing comprises 190 villas, each averaging 6895 square meters. The artificial lake has a 12-kilometer-long shoreline, with each villa built right on its shore.

One of the buildings has a garden surrounded by a lake on three sides, and even a miniature dock.

It's the weekend, and several women are playing with their children in the garden.

While playing, two little boys started fighting over a toy. One little girl burst into tears, while the other clapped and cheered them on. A little boy squatted nearby, poking ants with a blade of grass.

"Stop crying, everyone. I'll take you horseback riding," Chen Guiliang shouted.

"Hey, let's ride horses!"

"Dad, my second brother hit me."

"You took my toy first. You have your own, yet you still took mine."

"Daddy, I want to ride that little white horse."

"..."

The horse farm is nearby, just a few minutes' drive away.

The family doesn't learn any riding skills; they just ride horses for leisurely strolls. They also have miniature ponies specifically for children to ride.

They played until noon before going home for lunch.

The afternoon was disastrous; several children were taken to their extracurricular classes by their mothers. Kids generally aren't interested in these classes and looked miserable while learning.

Fortunately, they didn't enroll in many extracurricular classes, only two per person, so they had plenty of time to play on weekends.

Once the mischievous kids had all gone to study, the house finally became quiet.

Chen Guiliang looked at the date on his phone screen; today marked the twentieth anniversary of his rebirth. Having not made a public appearance for two or three years, Chen Guiliang suddenly decided to start a live stream.

What the hell is my username and password again?

Chen Guiliang flipped through his phone's notes and actually found the account password.

He tossed his phone onto the sofa and ran to the bathroom to take a shower—he'd been sweating quite a bit from riding a horse for half a day.

The number of comments in the live stream chat increased.

"?????"

"Did Old Master Chen retrieve the password?"

"Damn, it really came back to life."

"Masks disappeared a year ago, and it seems they were only photographed by reporters during the Two Sessions in between."

"Where is everyone? Are they livestreaming to show off their ceiling?"

"This chandelier is beautiful, it must cost hundreds of thousands, right?"

"..."

The number of viewers in the live stream quickly increased, and many popular streamers, upon hearing the news, brought their fans to watch.

But no matter how long they waited, no one appeared; the only thing visible was the ceiling and half a chandelier.

Even so, very few viewers left; on the contrary, more and more viewers came after hearing about it.

Finally, Chen Guiliang returned after taking a shower, picked up his phone and said, "Hi everyone, I just took a shower and dried my hair."

"Holy crap, it really is Old Master Chen."

"Hubby, I love you!"

"My husband is getting more and more handsome."

"Are the Americans really going to ban foreign videos?"

"Does Mr. Chen play 'Black Monkey'?"

"..."

Chen Guiliang picked up his phone and walked towards a collection room: "Let me show you my collection."

The room was filled with ancient weapons and armor.

"Haha, I thought it was some kind of antique calligraphy or painting."

“Old Master Chen, if you were to hoard weapons and armor like this in ancient times, you would be beheaded.”

"And muskets?"

"Don't tell me that bronze sword is genuine, or it will be too much of a punishment."

"Report! Report!"

"..."

Chen Guiliang said, "This is a bronze sword from the early Western Han Dynasty, which was purchased from abroad. It's legal and compliant, with all the necessary paperwork. It's in excellent condition, but unfortunately, it has no inscription."

"How about this set of Mingguang armor? I had it made by a professional team; it weighs over 50 jin (25 kg). This is a horizontal sword, ceremonial sword, long sword, and shield sword... This kind of spear was called a 'shuo' in the Tang Dynasty..."

"This set is the cavalry equipment of the Abbasid Caliphate, and it's a reconstruction based on unearthed artifacts and paintings. The chainmail is lined with cotton leather, and it includes a scimitar, composite bow, and shield..."

"These are the equipment of Galdan's army. Oirat muskets, scimitars, bows and arrows, lamellar armor, felt helmets... This jar is a gunpowder jar, and there are ammunition pouches next to it... I plan to get another Zambalak, which is a light cannon mounted on a camel's back..."

"The Ming Dynasty? Of course the Ming Dynasty had soldiers and armor, and a lot of them. Everyone, follow me..."

At this very moment, netizens from all corners of the internet are calling on their friends and family, and the number of viewers in the live stream has already reached several million.

I don't know how many of them are real people.

Chen Guiliang gave a brief introduction to his armor and then went to another room filled with various gaming devices. Chen Guiliang said smugly, "Most of the items in that previous room were modern replicas, but everything in this room is the real deal. Does anyone recognize this? The Little Tyrant is endlessly fun..."

"This is a 1977 Atari 2600. It's in 90% new condition, the original owner kept it in excellent condition, and it cost a lot when I bought it..."

"This is a 1981 Nintendo arcade game, the classic Donkey Kong... Of course Nintendo has arcade games..."

"This is……"

If the mode isn't changed, the live stream chat is so dense that it completely obscures the live stream screen.

"Wow, this is the richest man's collection? Hahahaha!"

“Old Master Chen, everyone else collects porcelain and calligraphy, but you’re just showing off by collecting a bunch of game consoles.”

"I'm so envious! Porcelain and calligraphy are nothing compared to this; these are the things a real man should have!!!"

"Master Chen really loves games, no wonder Youke can produce high-quality games."

"Old Ancestor Chen has truly become an immortal."

"..."

Chen Guiliang walked to a computer and sat down: "I haven't had time to play 'Black Monkey' which came out last week. Today I'll play it with everyone... Wait a minute, I'll switch to streaming from the computer..."

"The behind-the-scenes story of Black Monkey? Didn't the media already report it? Tencent's 'Dou Zhan Shen' team disbanded, and I recruited a few of them... They were having a tough time; halfway through, Youke refused to invest any more money. Feng Ji called me to complain, and I approved continuing to allocate funds to them..."

"I stopped getting involved in the day-to-day operations a long time ago, but it's a real shame about Black Monkey. If I didn't give the money, the final product would be a watered-down version..."

"Damn, this ginseng spirit scared me..."

"Many people ask about TikTok. There's not much to say about that; let the Americans ban it if they want. TikTok has already separated from ByteDance and gone public. Its stock price plummeted recently, but the company bought back shares to recover it. If they do this a few more times, I can just privatize TikTok and relist it elsewhere..."

"DJI? DJI was already subject to restrictions proposed back in 2016, and the restrictions have been tightened almost every year since. Now it's just being added to the Entity List, so the impact isn't significant, since DJI isn't publicly listed..."

"For things like lithography machines and chips, there aren't any good solutions yet; we can only focus on research and development. I can't go into specifics about the investment, but we've been pouring money into it. Although progress is slow, there's been improvement every year..."

"..."

When HarmonyOS failed to expand overseas, HarmonyOS Technology quickly adjusted its strategy and, like other mobile phone manufacturers, began selling products outside mainland China with the Android system.

They sell HarmonyOS domestically and Android overseas.

Correspondingly, Apple's sales in mainland China have been hampered by HarmonyOS, preventing them from reaching their full potential.

Especially after 2015, the labs invested in by HarmonyOS have produced one achievement after another. HarmonyOS phones have something new every year, and apart from the CPU chip not being able to surpass Apple, other functions and technologies have always led the trend.

Even with Apple's large and loyal fanbase, its market share in mainland China has been declining year by year, now down to around 3.5%. Some apps simply don't release iOS versions, or their iOS updates are delayed.

Samsung lost its top-tier status in mainland China due to the infamous battery scandal.

With Samsung's decline and HTC's collapse, Lenovo is now the only company struggling to maintain the Android system in mainland China. However, Lenovo lacks a large and loyal fanbase, leading to a sudden collapse of the Android app ecosystem and forcing Lenovo to sell HarmonyOS-based phones in mainland China.

When Samsung adjusted its strategy and returned to the Chinese market, it found that Android was no longer viable.

Therefore, Samsung phones in China also started using the HarmonyOS operating system...

In the current Chinese mainland mobile phone market, HarmonyOS has become the dominant system. However, Chinese manufacturers also need to go overseas, and they must use the Android system abroad.

This fucking turned mainland China into a closed market.

The Android system can't get in, and the HarmonyOS system can't get out.

"Streamer, streamer, why is there only one boss in your game?"

"Old Master Chen, quickly use your abstract power and smash that big-headed doll to death with one palm."

"I estimate that Big Head can play for a week."

"Died again, hahahahahahaha!!!!"

"He looks so tired, I really want to help him play a game."

"..."

After Chen Guiliang was resurrected, he fought off the monsters while watching the comments: "The Wandering Earth 3? I guess the script is finished, but I don't know the specifics..."

"It wasn't as outrageous as people said. At the time, there wasn't much decent science fiction in China. Only Guo Fan's 'The Adventures of Li Xianji' was somewhat passable, so I had Guo Fan direct 'The Wandering Earth.' As for Gong Ge'er, he was brought in by Guo Fan..."

"Haha, I can't read faces. What do you mean I took a liking to Guo Fan at first glance? That's pure nonsense... Damn, the minions have taken so much damage from me, I might as well just let them kill me and start over."

"Don't mention 'Three Kingdoms Kill' to me. I stopped interfering in game development a long time ago. Being number one on the bad review list has nothing to do with me. And don't mention 'Genshin Impact' either. I only invested in it and haven't been involved in their development from start to finish..."

"Let's talk about something else..."

"LGBT? I can only say that material conditions determine consciousness. The rise of LGBT is based on Western electoral politics, and electoral politics is based on economics. The trade war between China and the US will intensify. Although China's economy is declining, the decline in Europe and the US is even more severe..."

"With the economic downturn in Europe and the United States, right-wing forces will rise rapidly, and the LGBT community will inevitably face purges within the next year. As for how exactly they will be purged, let's wait and see the results of next year's US presidential election."

“I support DEI, but not the kind of DEI we have now. Do I need to repeat what Boeing is like? Last year I optimized some of the company’s middle and senior management, and they were the main promoters of DEI.”

"Don't you guys find it more interesting to watch me play games? Why do you insist on making me talk about those boring things? LGBT and DEI, they can only stay around for another year at most..."

"A war between the two countries? I'm not taking sides, let them fight. No one can persuade them otherwise. Russia has already entered a wartime economy, and the other country is in a bind. They're not going to stop... Haha, this big boss is finally down!"

"Am I awesome? I killed Big Head in less than 20 tries."

"Someone dug up my college thesis? And the video analyzing it is all over the internet lately? I really didn't know that. Here's a link, let's check it out..."

Chen Guiliang, having finally defeated the big boss, closed the game with satisfaction and opened a video analyzing his graduation thesis.

This video has a pretty high number of views.

A bespectacled content creator, sitting in a study, said, "A while ago, I was researching for a video and stumbled upon Chen Guiliang's graduation thesis. It has a high citation count, but forgive my ignorance and youth, I'd never read it before. After reading it and seeing the publication year, I was completely stunned. No wonder he became a self-made billionaire! Old Master Chen hadn't even graduated from his undergraduate studies yet, and he'd already predicted the social trends of China for the next ten years or so..."

(End of this chapter)