After leaving Lenovo, He Zhengcheng and Xu Xin parted ways. He wanted to explore the current Yanjing City and witness the prosperity of this era.
Standing on the roadside, He Zhengcheng felt as if he had arrived in a third-tier city twenty years in the future. Lenovo and its surroundings surprisingly lacked any tall buildings.
There were still many cars on the road, already showing a glimpse of the future, but in his eyes, these cars were just four wheels and a chassis that could move on the road.
"Where to?" A yellow taxi stopped in front of him.
"Master, first to the Summer Palace, then to Shichahai, Houhai to see the hutongs, and finally to Tiananmen and the Forbidden City," He Zhengcheng said.
"You don't have enough time. How can you visit all that in one afternoon?" the taxi driver replied.
"It's fine. If I can't finish, I'll continue tomorrow!" He Zhengcheng said.
"Are you from America?" the taxi started moving, and the driver continued to chat.
"Why don't you say I'm from Guangdong and Xiangjiang?" He Zhengcheng asked.
"Looking at your attire and demeanor, you don't seem like a Xiangjiang person," the driver said.
"Sorry, I'm from Great Xia Xiangjiang, working in Silicon Valley, America," He Zhengcheng corrected him.
"Silicon Valley? Is that the place as famous as Zhongguancun?" the driver asked.
"It seems so!" He Zhengcheng was sweating; this person was really confident.
"Why don't you stay in Silicon Valley? What are you doing in Zhongguancun?" the driver questioned.
"This question is complicated. Simply put, I believe Great Xia is about to join the WTO, and its future development will be very fast, so I want to come and invest," He Zhengcheng explained.
"Investing is good; it can create more job opportunities," the driver said.
"Yes, and we can also make money," He Zhengcheng agreed.
"Making money is good; we can also have more ways to make a living. But what kind of work do you do?" the driver asked.
"I currently do venture capital, and I might start my own business in the future," He Zhengcheng replied.
"What is venture capital?" the driver inquired.
"It's when someone wants to start a business but doesn't have money and can't borrow from the bank. What do they do? At this time, they can come to us for venture capital.
For example, let's say you want to open a company and do business. No matter who you borrow money from, if you lose it, your future life will be greatly affected. But venture capital is different. You don't have to return the money you get from us. Even if the company loses money, we share the burden. It's just that this business is considered a partnership, similar to a joint-stock company. After making money, it will be distributed according to the share ratio," He Zhengcheng explained.
"There are such companies?" the driver asked.
"Of course. Why is America so developed? These types of companies have been very common there since the 1960s and 70s. You know about computers and the internet, right? They were basically cultivated by venture capital companies in America," He Zhengcheng said.
"So, is it very profitable?" the driver asked.
"That depends on whether you look at it from an overall perspective or an individual one. For example, Lenovo of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. If I had invested in it ten years ago, and it's now listed, I would definitely make more than ten times my investment. But ten years ago, I couldn't have invested only in Lenovo. I would have lost a lot on the companies that failed. Overall, if you're lucky, you'll make a lot of money, but most of the time, it's like most companies, with no big difference," He Zhengcheng elaborated.
"You invest money like this. Don't you feel bad when you lose it?" the driver asked.
"That's why we invest with other people's money!" He Zhengcheng said.
"You guys are amazing!" The driver gave a thumbs up.
"Heh heh!" This driver was still inexperienced. Wall Street had taken the art of using other people's money to make their own to the extreme.
He Zhengcheng began to ask the driver about the current situation in Yanjing City, such as their income, how business was, the income of ordinary workers, changes in the urban environment, urban planning, and so on.
Without stopping at the Summer Palace, He Zhengcheng asked the driver to go directly to Shichahai.
"What's so good about those places? They're just old hutongs," the driver commented.
"I just want to buy hutongs, but I want complete hutongs, preferably those with stories, like those where historically famous officials and dignitaries lived," He Zhengcheng clarified.
"You want to be a landlord in Yanjing City too?" the driver asked.
"If you have a good place, you can tell me. If I buy a good place, I'll pay you tens of thousands of yuan in commission," He Zhengcheng offered.
"Big boss!" The driver didn't take it seriously.
He Zhengcheng didn't care either. Not to mention whether he had made up his mind to buy a siheyuan, even if he really wanted to buy one, it was unlikely he would do so through the driver. It had been several years since the market economy began, and people weren't fools. High-quality siheyuans wouldn't be sold through ordinary people.
Arriving at Shichahai and Houhai, the taxi drove through. It really was similar to a future third or fourth-tier city, or rather, a particularly underdeveloped third or fourth-tier city. The weather was cold, and not many people were out. Stoves and coal smoke could be seen on the road. Pedestrians on the road were bundled up tightly, without any sense of aesthetics.
Walking all the way, there was no time to visit the Forbidden City. Driving past Tiananmen, the changes here were not significant, only the square opposite seemed a bit old. There was no time to pay respects to the great man. After a hurried pass, he asked the driver to take him to the Quanjude old store.
Fortunately, Quanjude's taste was much better than he remembered. It seemed that time had made the ducks less authentic.
After dinner, he realized that he was alone in Yanjing. He didn't even have a companion to go out and play with. How could Shanhai Capital be such a broken company, without even a base in Yanjing?
During this time, he also received a call that he would meet Li Guangnan tomorrow. To be honest, he didn't know much about this person. Even with a lot of information online later, he still didn't understand him. This person seemed to live in his own ideal world.
He Zhengcheng was indecisive, and he didn't expect to make another wrong decision. Between Sanlitun and Houhai bars, he actually chose Houhai. MMP, who would be so foolish? In 1999, how many bars were there in Houhai? In the pitch black, he fled in embarrassment.
"Take me to Tianshan Renjian!" He Zhengcheng was very annoyed. The name echoed throughout Great Xia, to the west of the Great Wall Hotel annex. How could he not know it?
After asking about the services, he found that it seemed to be a bit different from what he had imagined, not as brazen as rumored online.
He opened a private room and found a girl to chat with. It was just simple chatting and singing, nothing else happened all night. In the end, he was the only one who went to the Great Wall Hotel to rest for the night. Degradation also requires luck, and He Zhengcheng temporarily did not have that luck.
Although the whole day yesterday was not smooth, boredom might be the most basic daily routine in life. He woke up very early today, after all, he still had to prepare for today's meeting with Li Guangnan. To put it bluntly, he still had to rely on his silver tongue to do his best to persuade.
But how to persuade a somewhat stubborn person? To paint a grand picture for him, but developing a computer CPU is itself a huge pit. If he jumps into it, he will surely die. If he doesn't jump, what else can he do? But he really wanted to establish a chip design company, only lacking such a mature team...