Reborn in 1970, I thrived in Hong Kong.

On October 16, 1971, Li Huai-ren arrived at the Phoenix Electronics Factory early in the morning.

In a small conference room at the Phoenix Electronics Factory, Li Huai-ren and Deng Wen-shan stood in front of a 1.2-meter-high "iron cabinet," listening to Deng Wen-shan introduce it:

"Boss, this is the arcade prototype you described. It uses TTL logic circuits and a monochrome CRT."

We've tested it, and it runs both "Computer Space" and "Pong" without any problems.

Li Huai-ren glanced at the arcade machine, whose ROM capacity was so small that it could only store simple vector graphics—strictly speaking, it was a first-generation arcade machine—and shook his head inwardly.

"1KB ROM" is only the size of a picture in the previous life. It seems that those games should release comics first and get the copyright first.

In its previous life, Nolan Bushnell founded Atari in 1971, mass-producing "Computer Space" and bringing it to bars. The following year, he launched the groundbreaking "PONG" (table tennis).

In this life, Li Huai-ren naturally wouldn't let go of the gaming industry, which could make him a fortune. Especially since he was so coincidentally reborn in 1970, before the first generation of commercial arcade games had even appeared.

He naturally obtained all the patents for the arcade games.

This first-generation arcade machine had no CPU, used 74-series TTL logic circuits, implemented game rules through 200 logic gates, and was displayed as a 15-inch black and white vector picture tube with lines depicting spaceships/nebulae (without raster scanning).

No storage, no ROM, state machine circuit with fixed logic, unable to change games;

The controls use a four-way metal joystick and a missile button, introducing directional control for the first time.

But this extremely simple game console has created an astonishing wealth legend in the world.

Li Huai-ren reached out and patted the arcade machine casing, then said to Deng Wen-shan:

"Just replace the metal shell with a wooden shell and spray the paint on better."

By the way, there's the electronics show in Munich, Germany next month. You should still have time to register. Make the arrangements and sign up to exhibit as soon as possible.

After thinking for a moment, he added:

"Once the casing is made of wood, we'll immediately start mass production of casings to build up inventory. Hmm, let's start with 10,000 casings for the first batch."

"Ten thousand units?" Deng Wenshan was taken aback.

"I'm worried that 10,000 units won't be enough. You'd better find Mr. Ye from a certain company and talk to him in advance to subcontract the production of the casings to them."

By the way, timber is much more expensive in Hong Kong than on the mainland. We might as well just order these 10,000 casings from a certain company.

In the blink of an eye, it's already mid-November.

On November 13th, at the Munich Electronics Show in Germany, a series of major announcements were made:

Intel launched the world's first 4004 microprocessor!

Texas Instruments showcases the TMS1802 calculator chip (the first mass-produced single-chip calculator)!

Siemens showcases a 1KB bubble memory!

Phoenix Electronics showcased its first commercially available arcade machine, which was a great success.

On November 17th, just after the exhibition in Germany ended, Li Huai-ren received a long-distance phone call from Deng Wen-shan. He was shouting and yelling like a madman:

"Haha, boss, our arcade machines are selling like hotcakes! Haha, we've got three thousand orders from the US alone..."

"We make $600 per unit, so if we sell 10,000 units, we'll make a whopping $6 million, boss! Hahaha..."

"This is nothing. After you come back, hurry up and develop other games, and sell as many arcade machines as possible."

We'll transform our Phoenix arcade into a gaming platform, allowing games developed by others to be installed on our arcade machines.

We get a share of the revenue from each game, isn't that what we should do?

Listen to me, building a platform is the most profitable business.

By the way, could the arcade machines be sold for a lower price?

Think about it carefully. What does it mean when there are millions of Phoenix arcade machines worldwide?

After hanging up the phone, Li Huai-ren checked the time. He was thinking of sneaking over to the villa across the street where Teresa Teng, Zhao Yazhi, and Chen Yu-lian lived, and sneaking into Teresa Teng's room to... cough cough cough... have a little intimate time...

Leslie Cheung's voice suddenly rang out from behind him:

"Ah Ren, my master said my voice has settled down, so I can release an album to test the waters."

There are twelve songs in total. You know which songs are suitable for me to sing, so you can decide for yourself.

"By the way, I'll give you twelve songs in a week. Is that alright?"

Upon hearing this, Li Huai-ren rolled his eyes:

"Do you think good songs are like cabbages, that they just appear out of nowhere? Especially for someone your age, singing children's songs is not suitable, singing love songs is too young for you, and you don't have the experience and temperament to sing songs with a sense of history and maturity."

Leslie Cheung glared at him:

"Stop talking nonsense. You're a well-fed man who doesn't know the hunger of an starving man. You already have three wives, and you don't even care about me. You treat me like a transparent third wheel, and you can be intimate with me whenever you want."

"Hurry up and release an album for me. Once I release an album and have money, I'll buy an apartment and move out. I don't want to continue being a third wheel in your house."

"You're moving out?" Li Huai-ren was taken aback.

Leslie Cheung glanced at him:

"I'm not moving out, it's so much fun watching the four of you play tricks on me every day?"

I'm not a masochist, I just can't stand seeing the four of you being so affectionate.

"Stop talking nonsense and get on with the song! I want to release an album!"

Seeing his resolute attitude and knowing his personality, Li Huai-ren didn't offer to help him buy the apartment first and pay him back slowly; instead, he readily agreed.

"No problem, I'll give you twelve songs in a week, half Chinese songs and half English songs."

By the way, you can go look at apartments tomorrow. It would be best to buy one near my home in Bijia Mountain.

Leslie Cheung was greatly surprised:

"Wow, you're so confident? Now I'm really curious about what kind of songs you'll write for me to sing."

Li Huai-ren turned and went upstairs, waving his hand without looking back:

"Nonsense! Every song I wrote for Lijun, Roman Tam, and Sam Hui is a classic among classics!"

Three days later, Li Huai-ren "wrote" twelve songs and gave them to Leslie Cheung.

Leslie Cheung looked through it:

"Childhood? Didn't they say I'm not suited to singing children's songs? Why are they giving me 'Childhood'? What's going on?"

"The Rainy Season at Seventeen? Green Apple Paradise, Love, Red Dragonfly..."

Seeing the look of disgust on his face, Li Huai-ren glared at him and really wanted to punch him. He thought of Luo Dayou's "Childhood," Lin Zhiying's "Rainy Season at Seventeen," and the three most popular songs from the Little Tigers...

These twelve songs, any record company would split them into twelve albums as title tracks and release them, wouldn't they?

He said irritably:

"You've only seen the song title, not the lyrics and music yet, so don't jump to conclusions."

I can't be bothered with you anymore. Anyway, this is the only twelve songs on my first album. Take it or leave it, sing it or not.

After saying that, he turned and drove to Hung Fook Restaurant to attend the celebration banquet for "72 Tenants".

"The House of 72 Tenants" officially ended its run in Hong Kong yesterday, grossing HK$4.8 million. The film grossed HK$562 million in 1973.

Judging from the number of moviegoers, the box office performance was definitely better than that of Shaw Brothers' previous production, "The House of 72 Tenants," because movie tickets were only HK$3 each at the time, but had risen to HK$4 each in 1973.

After "The House of 72 Tenants" was taken off the screens, the next film to be released was "The Big Boss," which had been promoted for over a month and which Li Huai-ren planned to use to expand into overseas markets.

The premiere of "The Big Boss" will be held tonight, also at the Taiping Theatre.