Reaching for the stars with one hand

Chapter 2 Letters from America
Rewind time to the end of the 80s.

That year, the 47-year-old NBA commissioner David Stern came to China. In the cold wind of Beijing, he carried a roll of NBA videotapes and waited humblely outside the gate of CCTV, hoping to complete a cooperation. Waited for over an hour.Sincerity is as good as gold and stone, and finally, the president was invited into the reception room at the entrance of CCTV.

This seemingly embarrassing visit opened the way for the promotion of the NBA in China. Decades later, basketball has become the most popular sport in China, and the NBA has become one of the most watched leagues.

There were actually many foreigners who came to China to knock on doors like David Stern.

At that time, there was no Internet, most families did not have telephones, and there was no public information. Coupled with huge cultural differences and language barriers, foreign companies looked at the rising Chinese market like a group of diners without knives and forks, looking at the coal fire. The grilled sizzling steak is salivating, but I don't know how to put it in my mouth.

In an office of a certain institute of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Professor Tian is sorting out a new batch of overseas mail.

Mail envelopes vary in size, including academic journals from abroad, invitations to various academic conferences, and replies to papers or conference activities, etc.All letters have been uniformly reviewed and then sent to the institute together.

Professor Tian first took out the magazines one by one. These things are very precious and cannot be bought with money. At that time, they were one of the main channels for understanding foreign technological developments.Next, we deal with letters from familiar research institutions or academic units, and finally some unfamiliar letters. In this type of letters, letters from enterprises are always the least important part, ranking last.

Professor Tian picked up a thin envelope, which seemed to contain a booklet and a letter.

The letter was sent by a company in the United States. There was no addressee, only the name of the research institute. It should be a corporate brochure that was delivered randomly. Such things are not precious in Professor Tian's heart. They are good things in this world. There are many, but the foreign exchange of the research institute is limited. Unless there is an important subject and there are indicators in the institute that can be purchased, no one can afford imported equipment.

Professor Tian hesitated for a moment, seeing that the envelope was well printed, he finally did not discard it, but opened the envelope and took out the letter.

Halfway through the letter, Professor Tian's heartbeat suddenly increased, and he captured a huge opportunity outside of academics.Before he finished reading, he picked up the phone and called the paging station, "Call 1151 for me, leave a message, I'm in the office, call back quickly, father."

……

In the graduation season of Tsinghua University, students always cherish the last time they spend with each other, and various student drinking parties emerge in endlessly.All kinds of sad youth songs are always played on the campus radio.

Tian Xiaowei is one of the few Tsinghua students who did not get together with his classmates. He disliked all pure social activities without benefits.And now, he has no mood to participate in these activities that do not make money. At this moment, he is experiencing the first business failure in his life. This time, he lost a lot of money.

A high-spirited family who is not short of money has raised a child who is naturally interested in making money. Apart from saying that it is God's will, how else can I explain it? .

Tian Xiaowei was forced by his father, Professor Tian, ​​to go to Tsinghua University. This may sound like a show off to outsiders, but it is the truth.

Perhaps because of dissatisfaction and protest against his father's domineering style, Xiaowei has not studied seriously since the day he entered college, but started his own business journey. He has contracted the school cafeteria, organized training courses and distributed Too small ad, judging from the time, a student named Yu Minhong is doing similar things in the next campus at this time.

Four years passed in a flash, and by the time this batch of the best students in the country graduated, Xiaowei had already saved more than 1 yuan.This is an era when "ten thousand yuan household" is synonymous with rich people. It is amazing for a student to have such wealth.

So in the graduation season, the confident Xiaowei decided to play big.

He bet on everything, rented two trains, and transported Xinjiang grapes as crystal clear as pearl agate from far away Xinjiang.

According to Xiaowei's estimation, this time his wealth should have a chance to double.

In the end, it really "turned over". The seven-day and seven-night train had a long journey, hot weather, and poor storage.When the wagon pulled into the station, the aroma of wine was already coming out of the wagon.

Xiaowei took his two boys, Yi Mu and Wei Cheng, swimming in the grape juice in the carriage, hoping to salvage something that still kept the grape shape, so as to stop the loss as much as possible.

When Xiaowei's legs were covered with grape juice, he was standing outside the wagon in a daze, calculating when the end of the world would come, when he received a message from Professor Tian.

Xiaowei took down a palm-sized giant Hanxian BP machine from his belt. This was the most high-end communication device before the advent of Big Brother. Xiaowei looked like a child, so grand that passers-by looked sideways. Who is this? The second generation?
Xiaowei didn't care about his father's call, and continued to worry about the wine.

It was dark, and when it was confirmed that the loss was close to [-]%, Xiaowei left the platform and walked on the street like a wandering spirit, with the two little boys following behind, silently, not knowing how to persuade him.

Xiaowei finally remembered his father's call, saw a public phone booth by the side of the road, walked over, and called his father back.

Professor Tian had been waiting for his call back and stayed in the office.

He was very anxious, but he didn't say anything to blame his son, "Xiaowei, where are you?"

"I'm in the Yincao Difu, if you have something to say, tell me quickly, the bull's head and horse noodles are waiting for me to put into the frying pan over there."

Professor Tian sighed. As a researcher, he has zero authority in front of his son.

"No matter what happened to you, you have to listen to me this time, and register a company tomorrow."

Xiaowei was extremely disgusted with the phrase "you must listen to me", but when he heard about the registered company, his disgust was much less.

"Company? What to do?"

"Sell GPS."

"What is a GPS?"

"Global Positioning System, Global Positioning System, a device that relies on satellites in the sky to achieve navigation and positioning."

Xiaowei didn't quite understand it, but intuitively it seemed to be a good thing, but he was still immersed in his failed grape business, so he used grapes to measure whether the business was worth it.

"How much money can you make? Can you make back a carload of grape skins?"

Professor Tian was obviously taken aback, "Grapes? What kind of grapes? This is high technology, and each one is worth tens of thousands of dollars."

The two Fa Xiaowei who stood behind were surprised to find that Tian Xiaowei's stooped figure suddenly straightened up, and the sense of decadence caused by the failure of the grape business was swept away, and the whole person regained their most familiar demeanor.

Xiaowei said loudly, "Dad, wait for me, I'll take a taxi back, let's talk in detail."

……

A few months later, a bald, pot-bellied American came to Beijing and stayed at the Great Wall Hotel.

On the second day, in the lounge on the executive floor, Ray, the Asia-Pacific director of Skydon Company with a big belly, met Professor Tian who was wearing an ill-fitting suit, and Tian Xiaowei, who was a little young.

Perhaps on the same day, CCTV was moved by David Stern and invited him into the reception room.

Many stories, at the same moment, start here.

……

……

Fast forward to the mid-90s.

On the eve of this year's graduation season, Zhang Yong said goodbye to his girlfriend Qianqian on the platform with a bulging backpack on his back.There was a hint of worry on the girl's delicate face, "Is it still going? Is Beijing that attractive to you?"

Zhang Yong nodded, "It will take me three years to settle down in Beijing. When you graduate from graduate school, you don't have to start from scratch there. I will be your backing."

"If Beijing doesn't find an opportunity, will you come back here and accompany me until graduation?"

Zhang Yong gently stroked the girl's hair, "How could there be no chance? I have already signed the unit before, but something happened. Don't worry, I will definitely find the opportunity."

Qianqian left, Zhang Yong, who was full of longing for the trip to the capital, didn't notice the girl's lonely eyes

The train was galloping, and Zhang Yong, who was sitting at the window, looked at the scenery boredly. He looked up and saw a silver-gray plane passing by the sky, and he suddenly had an idea, "I don't know when I will be able to take a ride airplane."

In the first class cabin of the airliner, Tian Xiaowei was busy with his laptop.Today's Xiaowei is no longer that young student who sells grapes. If he wants, he can completely buy the largest fruit and vegetable market in Beijing.The Tiangong Group he founded, as the general agent of SKydon in China, became the first professional GPS company in China.Once he wanted to exchange a carload of grapes for a few thousand yuan in profit, but now, he just sends an instrument case that is larger than a suitcase to users, and he has hundreds of thousands of profits.

When the plane flew over the train, Xiaowei inadvertently looked down from the window to the ground, and saw the train like a thin line.He shrugged, "It seems that I haven't taken this kind of low-speed transportation for a long time."

Neither Zhang Yong nor Xiaowei realized that they once looked at each other so far away, and the stories since then have been entangled.

In Beijing, Zhang Yong took a map, and after a few subway and bus transfers, he came to the gate of a compound. The sign at the gate said a certain scientific research institute.

The old man at the door is familiar with the students who come to find a job this season, so he didn't ask much, and he simply registered and let him go.However, when Zhang Yong entered, the uncle's gaze swept Zhang Yong's backpack intentionally or unintentionally. After all, it didn't look like a book.

Zhang Yong walked into the Personnel Office and sat opposite Zeng Office.The director in Kyoto is not enough to have his own independent office, but just occupies a corner of the office of the personnel department.

Zeng Chu took Zhang Yong's resume, but put it on the table without reading it. "Zhang Yong, I remember you, we met at M University."

"Yes, you still remember it."

"Remembering people is the instinct of our personnel cadres. But, Zhang Yong, you are late. When you were in Jiangcheng, you never confirmed my invitation. Now we have confirmed a student from the Earth Department for this position. Our The official letter was sent out just before you came in, and he came back to report these days. Unfortunately, we have always given priority to students from the north, and now, you can only go to other units to have a look."

(End of this chapter)