Chapter Twenty-Two: A Newfound Respect (Part Two)

“Oh, hello, Uncle Chu.” After all, I was a guest in the Su family, so basic courtesy was necessary. By now, Chu Zhengsheng had already shaken off some of his initial shock. A flush of excitement colored his face as he nodded at me and, without hesitation, grabbed my hand. “Are you saying this software was just coded by you on this computer?”

“Yes, that’s right. What, Uncle Chu, do you know about computers too?” I had always assumed that people of Chu Zhengsheng’s generation were unlikely to be familiar with computers. That was why his earlier look of astonishment had puzzled me. But now, hearing his question, I was certain this middle-aged man had been startled by my software. Indeed, in 1997, to produce such a flawless chat program on an Indos97 interface—no wonder he was amazed.

The shock on Chu Zhengsheng’s face had now faded, replaced by the composure and authority of a corporate president. He gave me a slight smile, cleared his throat, and asked, “This… this classmate of Su Xin’s, may I ask if you’d be willing to sell this software to me?”

“Sell it to you?” His words startled me. Was he joking? I was counting on this software to make a fortune selling it to the American GiantSoft! If I sold it to him, what would I have left to sell to them? So I declined politely, “Haha, Uncle Chu, you overestimate me. This is just something I put together casually—it’s hardly worth any money.”

“How could it not be worth money! I’m asking you right now if you’ll sell it to me!” Chu Zhengsheng was visibly excited, realizing that this kid had no idea how valuable his software truly was. All the better. His eyes darted shrewdly as he added with a laugh, “How about this: Uncle is very interested in your software, and I’m willing to pay a hundred thousand yuan for it. Will you accept?”

“What? A hu… hundred thousand?” Before I could respond, Su Xin had already cried out in shock. Good heavens! She’d only watched me fiddling at the computer for just over an hour—how could she have imagined it would be worth a hundred thousand yuan? Her father was a high official, their family was prominent, yet even so, to a high school student, a hundred thousand was astronomical. The fact that Chu Zhengsheng was willing to pay that much for my software left her utterly dumbfounded.

“Haha, I appreciate Uncle Chu’s offer, but the program has only just been written, and there are still lots of bugs I haven’t fixed yet. Perhaps we can talk about it later.” What a joke—he wanted to buy me off for a mere hundred thousand? This Uncle Chu really did take me for a naïve kid.

“Ah, well, I suppose I was too hasty,” Chu Zhengsheng said with a hearty laugh. He realized that, though he had seen the software, he knew nothing of its actual performance or sophistication. Anyway, this boy was Su Xin’s classmate—he wouldn’t be hard to find later. He could always have the company’s software experts examine it. Right now, the most important thing was to establish rapport with this talented young man. The software itself wasn’t crucial—so long as he befriended a computer genius like this, what did he have to fear for his software company’s future? With that in mind, he quickly grasped my hand again and said, “Haha, Su Xin’s classmate—ah yes, your name is Xiao Qiang, isn’t it? Xiao Qiang, you’re truly the most impressive high school student I’ve ever met! I always thought my daughter was outstanding among her peers, but she’s not even a fraction as accomplished as you… It’s a real honor to get to know you. How about we become friends? Oh, by the way, my daughter also studies at No. 4 High, and she’s very interested in computers too. Perhaps you two can chat more when you have time.”

“Your daughter?” I looked curiously at Chu Zhengsheng, whose hand was still tightly clasping mine. This uncle really was odd—what did his daughter’s hobbies have to do with me? Still, I smiled and replied, “Of course, if there’s a chance, I’d be glad to.”

Su Xin was momentarily alarmed by Chu Zhengsheng’s words, fearing he might mention that his daughter was Chu Qitong. She hurriedly forced a smile, tugged at his sleeve, and steered him toward the door, saying as she went, “Uncle Chu, my father is still downstairs waiting for your report. Let’s head down first. Um… Xiao Qiang, you keep working. I’ll call you when dinner’s ready.”

Chu Zhengsheng was a bit puzzled as to why their pleasant conversation was being cut short, but when he heard I’d be staying for dinner, he brightened immediately. “Very well, Xiao Qiang, we’ll talk more over dinner later. I’ll go down with Su Xin and leave you to your work.”

I watched, bemused, as the two of them disappeared out the door. I had no idea what report Su Xin was referring to, nor did I remember agreeing to dinner at her house. But oddities aside, though the software was finished, I still hadn’t figured out who to email it to. I needed to quickly create a few trojans to breach GiantSoft’s defenses and obtain the email addresses of their executives.

I pursed my lips and returned to the computer, my fingers flying across the keyboard…

Before long, I used a trojan to infiltrate GiantSoft’s system, extracted confidential data, and obtained a list of key company email addresses. Among them, I found the contact email for Zhang Zihua, the president of GiantSoft China in 1997. I sent him some source code and a beta version of my SX chat software, along with my home phone number. On a sudden whim, I also investigated several other companies and ultimately selected three to whom I sent rough design sketches and software code.

The first was Inter Corporation, to whom I sent the design and partial technical details of the Pentium 345MHz processor and Celeron processor—products which wouldn’t appear until 1999. The second was Japan’s Paradise Games, to whom I sent the mainboard design and some technical specs for the Gameboy Advance (GBA), which wouldn’t be designed or produced until 2001. The third was Psion, the leader in the mobile software industry from my previous life. In 1997, virtually no one in China had heard of Psion, but in 1999, they would join forces with several mobile giants to form a group that would become a household name: Symbian!

Yes, that Symbian—the system that would one day rule the mobile world. Yet in this life, that system would belong to me, Xiao Qiang. The moment I sent out part of the Symbian OS 6.0 source code, I knew that from now on, Symbian would vanish from this world, replaced by my own reinvented SX system.

When I finally finished everything, I glanced up at the cute little alarm clock above my head and realized it was already past four in the afternoon. I stretched comfortably in my chair, a confident smile spreading across my face. I believed that at least one, if not several, of these four companies would become the source of my first fortune!