game trailblazer

Chapter 9 Goodbye to Dr. Yu

On the train home, Uncle Zhao behaved a little strangely, often watching Zhang Lexing hesitate to speak.It wasn't until he was about to get off the train that Uncle Zhao said something that he didn't understand as if he had made up his mind, "Son, you have to stand firm on your class position..."

Zhang Lexing was very confused, and said in his mind: "I should have done nothing out of the ordinary, could it be serious to talk to Dr. Yu a few more times?"

I wanted to ask Uncle Zhao for clarification, but Uncle Zhao remained silent, which made Zhang Lexing helpless. The last stage of the journey was spent quietly in such strange silence...

Back home, Zhang Lexing put away his luggage, tidied up the room briefly, and then sat in front of the writing desk by the window in a daze.Uncle Zhao's previous strange behavior has long been forgotten, and Zhang Lexing's mind is now full of whether his software will find a seller in the United States and whether it will sell for a good price.Zhang Lexing is still very confident in the software he wrote. Although he is not sure about replacing VisiCalc, which is in full swing, it is estimated that it will not be a big problem to sell five or six thousand sets. If this is the case, he should be able to share it according to the current popular share ratio. Tens of thousands of dollars.If he persists in this way for a few years, Zhang Lexing feels that he should be able to accumulate a lot, and when he faces good opportunities in the next few years, he no longer has to worry about lack of starting capital.Thinking about it, Zhang Lexing fell asleep on the desk...

In the first week after returning, Zhang Lexing was full of anticipation every day, imagining that he could hear Uncle Li calling him to listen to the phone downstairs, and he was a little absent-minded about the routine time of using the Apple II every day.However, Uncle Zhao's side has returned to normal, and he began to study programming as before.As the days went by, Zhang Lexing's fiery mood gradually faded away. He no longer paid too much attention to the movement downstairs as before, and gradually put his mind on the research of the operating system and application software, writing programs. Troubleshooting, or theoretical research on software, and occasionally drawing cartoons.Except for the occasional worry about my own software, my life is basically simple and dull.Just when Zhang Lexing thought that there would be no more news from Dr. Yu, and was about to give up completely, a sudden overseas phone call came, and the peaceful life began to be turbulent again.

This day, Zhang Lexing was debugging the new software he wrote in the computer room as usual. When Uncle Li called him to answer the phone came from downstairs, Zhang Lexing didn’t react for a while. When he recovered, he was excited. He went downstairs in a hurry, and ran to the guard's room at the gate.Standing in front of the table where the phone was placed, Zhang Lexing calmed down and reached out to pick up the phone.

"Hello, I'm Zhang Lexing, who is looking for me?" Uncle Li didn't make it clear just now, and Zhang Lexing was still not sure if it was Dr. Yu's call.

"I'm Yu Youcheng, I have something to discuss with you..."

Hearing Dr. Yu's kind voice on the phone, Zhang Lexing was very happy.It's a pity that as the saying goes, extreme joy begets sorrow. I didn't expect it to be true on the phone. Before Dr. Yu finished speaking, the effect of the phone call suddenly became very poor. Not only was the background noise too loud, but the voice of the call was also fluctuating. This may be the analog era. It's a common problem with overseas calls.In this way, Dr. Yu muttered on the phone for a long time, Zhang Lexing barely understood a word, but just before the end of the call, Dr. Yu vaguely heard Dr. Yu mentioned that he would come over after the National Day.Although Zhang Lexing didn't figure out what Dr. Yu wanted to find him in the end, he finally got some news, and hearing Dr. Yu's tone at the beginning shouldn't be a bad thing, Zhang Lexing began to look forward to it again...

The days of waiting always passed very slowly, and when Zhang Lexing's patience was about to run out, Dr. Yu finally came.It was a very ordinary day. Zhang Lexing stayed in the computer room as usual. During this time, he often couldn't concentrate on software design, so he had to play a few small games to pass the time.When he was playing and getting involved, there was a sudden shout from outside, "Zhang Lexing, someone is looking for the door!"

Zhang Lexing hurried out of the computer room, leaning against the guardrail of the corridor and looking down, it turned out that it was the doorman Li Bo who was calling downstairs.

"Le Xing, someone is looking for you at the door." Li Bo looked up and saw Zhang Le Xing coming out, and then shouted: "It looks like an overseas Chinese who came back from outside."

Zhang Lexing was delighted in his heart: "Could it be that Dr. Yu is here?"

Zhang Lexing hurried downstairs and followed Uncle Li to the door.Looking from a distance, it was really Dr. Yu whom he hadn't seen for a long time, so Zhang Lexing hurried to meet him.At this moment, on a small white building not far behind Zhang Lexing, a pair of vigilant eyes watched the situation here.

"Dr. Yu, long time no see. Well, how about my software?" Zhang Lexing was very nervous, uneasy, not knowing whether Dr. Yu brought good news or bad news.

"Good news, your software is quite popular." Dr. Yu smiled and patted Zhang Lexing on the shoulder, "Over 3 sets have been sold in the past few months. Looks like $350 million."

"How much?" Zhang Lexing couldn't believe it, wondering if he heard it wrong.

"US$350 million!" Dr. Yu replied with certainty.

Zhang Lexing felt dizzy for a while, he didn't expect the software to sell so well now.He held Dr. Yu's hand excitedly, and said gratefully: "Dr. Yu, thank you for running for me. You have worked hard during this time!"

"It's okay, we are also destined." Dr. Yu said with a smile.

"Well, Dr. Yu, can you tell me about the situation during this time? I'm really curious about how this software was sold? I'm even more curious about how there is so much money." Zhang Lexing asked curiously.

"Okay, let me speak slowly. In fact, I didn't expect the software to sell so well beforehand." Dr. Yu nodded, and slowly talked about his experience in the United States...

When he first got Zhang Lexing's software, Dr. Yu actually didn't have much expectations, although he felt that Zhang Lexing's computer skills should be quite high during the conversation, but no matter how high the level is, the current environment in mainland China may not make it up. Software suitable for Americans, maybe few people know what Americans look like.Just out of a kind of politeness, a kind of intimacy with the same language, and the pleasant chat with Zhang Lexing at that time, Dr. Yu agreed first, so as not to affect the enthusiasm of the young people.

After Dr. Yu returned to the United States, he was so busy that he almost forgot about this software.Fortunately, Dr. Yu has an Apple II at home. When he was using it, he suddenly remembered the software he brought from mainland China, so he put it in the floppy drive to see how well the software did.Dr. Yu intends to try it if the software is not too bad. After all, he has already made a promise. Of course, if the software is not good enough, there is no need for it.After the software started, Dr. Yu habitually wanted to get the software manual, but he remembered that there was no such thing at all. He was slightly disappointed, but then he found that this spreadsheet software is very easy to operate, and he can use it without reading the manual. , even if there are occasional things that I don’t understand, I can learn quickly with the help of the software. Compared with the popular VisiCalc, I found that the electronic form VisualForm made by Zhang Lexing is more powerful and easy to use. Dr. Yu I think this software is very promising.So I found Walker, a friend who sells software, and demonstrated the operation of the software. In addition, Walker tried it himself. The excellent performance of VisualForm completely conquered Walker, and he immediately decided to express his willingness to act as an agent.

After some bargaining, Dr. Yu and Walker signed a contract, which stipulated that Dr. Yu would provide the development of VisualForm and subsequent versions, while Walker's company was responsible for copying the floppy disk, printing instructions, advertising and distributing the products to various places.Dr. Yu will receive 40% of the software retail revenue and 50% of the wholesale revenue. This ratio is more reasonable at this time, mainly because the sales and promotion at this time are too simple.

After Walker's promotion, the sales of VisualForm caught up with the former king VisiCalc in just two months, and the orders came like a snowflake.The market demand is diverse. The popularity of VisualForm has attracted many companies to ask whether Walker can provide other machine versions, but the developer is still nestled in the mainland. Dr. Yu has made several phone calls but has not been contacted. It is not easy to wait. I got through the phone but couldn't explain clearly at all, so I rushed back immediately in a hurry.

……

"Dr. Yu, it's all up to you to sell the software this time." Zhang Lexing said gratefully, "I've thought about it. I can do programming, but it's too difficult for me to export software. You know better than me, and you have a wider network of people. If I want to sell my software, I really need someone like you to help me. I want to ask you to be my partner, and I hope you can agree."

Dr. Yu thought for a while and said with a smile, "Okay, but my financial situation is not good now, so I don't have the money to invest in you."

"Dr. Yu, since you have agreed, I want to be a partner, and I hope to give you 30% of the share this time, which can be regarded as your rights and interests as a partner."

"Too many, I didn't do anything, I just found a seller for you, 10% is enough," Dr. Yu evaded.

"How about this, let's make a concession each, 20%, do you think it's okay? I can count on you for future external contacts." Zhang Lexing quickly persuaded Dr. Yu to accept, after all, now that Dr. Yu has left, even a set of software is not enough. Don't even think about sending it abroad.

"Well, since you're so persistent, I'm going to be disrespectful." Dr. Yu accepted with a smile, "By the way, can you develop other machine versions of VisualForm? Now Walker is dying of anxiety. You have to ask me several times."

Zhang Lexing said distressedly: "It's no problem to write software, just give me some time to familiarize myself with the programming environment of other machines, and I should be able to figure it out. The main reason is that there is no development platform. How can there be computers from abroad in mainland China?"

Dr. Yu pondered for a while: "I can solve the problem of developing the platform, but it's more troublesome to get it here. It happens that I'm going to start a class in Hong Kong next time. How about you come to Hong Kong to develop it?"

"You're joking, how can I go out, I don't even have a passport." Zhang Lexing smiled wryly.

"That's no problem, I'll figure it out." Dr. Yu thought it was a small problem. After all, his father-in-law still had some energy in the mainland.

"That's really great, I'm really sorry to trouble you." Zhang Lexing was very happy. He didn't expect that he would still have the opportunity to go to Hong Kong. Maybe his plan could be much ahead of schedule.

"It's okay, who made us partners now. Hehe" Dr. Yu said with a smile, "I don't think it will be too long, I will send someone to pick you up then."

"Thank you so much." Zhang Lexing also laughed.

Dr. Yu remembered something important, so he hurriedly said, "Well, do you have a photo? It's for a passport. If not, hurry up and take a photo."

(End of this chapter)