Chapter Fifty-Five: The Real Economy and the Virtual Economy

After the little incident just now, Peng Dongli led the two of them to a roadside noodle shop.

“Old Peng, aren’t you being a bit cheap? Treating us to noodles?”

Looking at the simple setup of the noodle shop—the low tables and chairs were rather humble—it did seem a bit shabby. Yet the place was bustling, every table full, which suggested the food must be good.

The three of them waited on the sidewalk until a table opened up, and hurried to sit down.

“Boss, three bowls of beef noodles,” Peng Dongli ordered with the ease of a regular. The shop owner glanced at him, as if he already knew exactly what to do.

“Sure thing, same as always, Mr. Peng.”

Seeing how practiced Peng Dongli was, Tian Wenyuan teased, “Aren’t you the leader of a big corporation? And here you are, bringing us to a roadside noodle shop?”

Peng Dongli replied, “Don’t underestimate this place. It’s been part of my life for seven years. Back when I was just a junior employee, one of the veterans brought me here, and I fell in love with the taste. The owner is a good man, too. After coming here regularly, he’d always give me double beef every time I came.”

Tian Wenyuan shot him a look. “So you’re just here for the extra beef, aren’t you?”

“Get out of here.”

They both burst out laughing.

Before long, the owner brought over three bowls of beef noodles.

“Mr. Peng, haven’t seen you in a while,” he remarked.

Peng Dongli pulled the bowl with the most beef in front of himself. “I’ve been away on business, pretty busy. But as soon as I got back, I came for your noodles.”

The owner smiled, “Thanks to the support of your company’s staff. Little street stalls like ours are few and far between in Xiping now. It’s so tough to run a physical shop these days.”

Hearing this, Tian Wenyuan sighed in agreement. “There’s no helping it. We’re in a time when information is moving from the real to the virtual. The economy used to be driven by physical goods; now it’s the virtual economy leading the way. Who knows how many brick-and-mortar businesses a single website can now support? Without the virtual network, physical enterprises simply couldn’t survive these days.”

“Times have moved on. Maybe it’s just our turn to be left behind,” the owner said, shaking his head as he spoke.

Watching the owner’s dispirited figure, Zhang Mingyang said, “It’s not that brick-and-mortar businesses can’t rise again, but they have to wait—wait for humanity to enter the space age.”

“Oh? And how do you mean?” Peng Dongli looked at him with interest.

“This is how I see it: the Earth’s resources are ultimately finite. No matter how advanced your technology is, it’s still limited to what’s on Earth. But sooner or later, humanity will enter the space age. The first thing we’ll do then is acquire resources and use them for colonization and construction. In that process, the virtual economy will become less important, and the real economy will have to step forward.”

“And most importantly, the real economy will have to undergo a complete transformation. Even manufacturing knows to upgrade its industries; how much more so must the real economy?”

“That’s when the real economy should seize the opportunity, adapt in that direction, and not just stubbornly cling to tradition.”

Tian Wenyuan found this convincing, but still felt the age of human space colonization was far off.

He replied, “Junior, what you say makes sense, but we don’t know when the space age will actually arrive. So what should the real economy do in the meantime?”

Zhang Mingyang thought for a moment, frowned, and then said, “In this period, the real economy should merge with the virtual economy, use the advantages of the virtual economy for preliminary reform, and lay the groundwork for the space age.”

Peng Dongli pressed further, “But what about small businesses? Like this noodle shop owner? They don’t have the resources or technology of big companies. How can they survive?”

Zhang Mingyang replied, “For small places like this, I think they should band together, form a larger enterprise or a chamber of commerce, or some kind of association. With numbers and a stable customer base, any virtual economic entity would be eager to cooperate with them.”

After he finished, the owner sat there, looking a bit dazed, clearly not following their conversation. But Peng Dongli and Tian Wenyuan listened with great interest. Especially Peng Dongli, as a company general manager, he was familiar with these issues. After a moment’s thought, he said, “Junior, I agree with what you said before, but I have a different view on your last point.”

“Oh? Please, go on.”

“I think, in the future, there won’t be any distinction between the real and virtual economies.”

“Really?”

This idea caught Zhang Mingyang off guard.

“I believe the real economy will ultimately merge with the virtual economy and become a single economic entity.

“Right now, the world economy is already being led by the virtual economy, but over time, the virtual economy will realize that without the backing of the real economy, it’s too risky and fragile. Any financial crisis can wipe out swathes of the virtual sector. To ensure its own security and development, the virtual economy will naturally evolve into a ‘virtual-real’ economy. That is, a company will use the virtual economy as its vanguard, with the real economy as its support, controlling the entire industrial chain. That’s the path of future enterprise development.”

Hearing Peng Dongli’s thoughts, Zhang Mingyang found himself agreeing as well.

“All right, all right, the noodles are getting soggy,” Tian Wenyuan cut in, interrupting the two of them. “You two shouldn’t even be in research—you should each start your own company. You have different opinions, different visions. Each of you should do your own thing, and see who succeeds in the end. Isn’t there a saying? ‘Truth comes from practice.’ You two can compete.”

“Get out of here. I’m just discussing things with my junior.”

Zhang Mingyang grinned sheepishly, “Senior Tian, actually, I think Peng’s view makes sense.”

“All right, hurry up and eat. It’s almost five.”

Peng Dongli glanced at his watch. “Hey, you guys should eat now. We still have plans tonight. Who knows when we’ll get dinner again?”

“What plans?” Tian Wenyuan asked.

“Hurry up and eat. I’ll take you there after we finish.”

With that, the two of them grabbed chopsticks from the holder and started eating.

...

In less than ten minutes, they’d finished their noodles. Zhang Mingyang stood up, ready to pay, but Tian Wenyuan pulled him back. “Didn’t we agree? Let this guy pay. Why are you rushing to pay?”

Seeing Zhang Mingyang going for his wallet, Peng Dongli quickly stood up, hurried to the owner, and paid the bill first.

“Senior Tian, I just—”

Tian Wenyuan replied, “You don’t even have a job. How can we let you pay? Let the rich guy cover it.”