1982 Started from Hong Kong

Chapter 260 QvodPlayer is launched
"I never asked Mr. He how old he is this year."

Zhai Yuan and He Zilang walked out of the main entrance of the Rural Committee of San Tin Township, Yuen Long, and handed each other a cigarette.

He Zilang smiled and said, "Thirty-six years old."

Zhai Yuan pondered in his heart.

Hmm... I'm still about thirty years away from retirement age.

Then he laughed, put his arm around his shoulders and said seriously: "Honestly speaking, thirty-six is a critical juncture for men. You are thirty-six, but Bruce Lee couldn't make it past thirty-six. Whether you are a dragon or a snake depends on how you choose to go down this path."

He Zilang looked at the young man in front of him who had just turned twenty, and felt a little sad.

Two or three years ago, he was just a kid who made a living by translating pirated videotapes and scalping tickets at the entrance of the cinema with his family. At most, he was considered a little smart.

What was my identity at that time? I was the chief secretary of the non-official councillor of Kwun Tong District, Mak Siu-kwan. Need I explain?
As a result, his boss Mai Zhaojun was no match for the foreigners in the political arena, and was targeted as soon as the return agreement was signed. Several proposals he put forward were rejected. In despair, he immigrated to California with his family and lost his job.

On the other hand, the young people around me can be described as having made great strides. At the age of 20, they are already worth billions, which is a world of difference.

Now he has taken the initiative and wants to hire me as his secretary.

He sighed in his heart, still smiling, and said to Zhai Yuan: "In fact, Mr. Zhai has such a big business, there is no need for him to get involved in the muddy water of politics. The current situation is very chaotic."

"Heroes emerge in troubled times!" Zhai Yuan said nonchalantly, "When I was making movies, some people said the film industry was chaotic. When I started gambling, people said I didn't know what was good for me. What happened?"

Zhai Yuan dusted off the brand-name clothes on his body. From head to toe, everything was matched for him by the girls around him.

He shook the glittering gold dial on his wrist and said arrogantly, "I'm wearing a gold Rolex! Look at me now, I'm wearing Armani on the top and Wasachi on the bottom, Calvin Klein on the bottom, and even the leather on my sneakers is the top layer of leather cut from the yellow cattle that are fed meat, eggs and milk on South American farms. I have no problem eating salted fish and standing thirsty. If the Hong Kong government dares to add seats for legislators, I dare to run for election. The situation is very chaotic? Pick it!"

He Zilang was not frightened by Zhai Yuan's defiance as in the novel, and did not bow down to him.

He smiled mischievously: "A young man with a firecracker personality is indeed not likely to attract the attention of those old foxes, and it can also increase his popularity in front of the public."

"I don't know what you're talking about." Zhai Yuan bit his cigarette butt and smiled, then patted his shoulder: "Go to Xiawan Village tomorrow and help me keep an eye on the situation there. Once my village representative's application is approved, I'll make you the deputy village chief!"

At that time, Hong Kong had not yet reformed the village election system. The "dual village head system" that indirectly influenced Lao Du's filming of "Underworld" after the millennium had not yet been introduced. The votes were in the hands of the men in the village, and they could only be local indigenous people, so Zhai Yuan's words could be regarded as the pinnacle of empty promises.

He Zilang laughed and said, "Let's talk about money more realistically. When I was with Councillor Mai, I made 8,000 yuan a month, 16 months' salary a year plus a year-end bonus."

After a pause, he added: "This is the price two years ago."

Zhai Yuan gritted his teeth and said, "I'll give you another 200!"

He Zilang said bluntly, "If you ask me to work in the countryside, I won't do it if the monthly salary is less than 10,000 yuan."

Zhai Yuan bargained for a while, but the man surnamed He still refused to give in.

"Ten thousand? Even if I run for senator, the Hong Kong government may not be able to give me that much money."

Zhai Yuan muttered a few words, but finally nodded and agreed: "Okay, but in addition to helping me deal with the affairs of Xiawan Village, you will have other work to do in the future."

He Zilang raised his eyebrows, shook off Zhai Yuan's arm that was on his shoulders, and joked to ease the atmosphere: "You're not going to sleep with the boss, are you?"

"You're just dreaming!" Zhai Yuan squinted at him. "I'm running for election because I want to get a status to cover my current business. The most important thing is the word 'cover'. You've been a secretary to a congressman for so many years, so you must know a lot of powerful people. If I have any problems with my business in the future, you must be able to quickly mobilize these connections to counterattack. In addition to those in office, you should also get in touch with retired leaders. Of course, I won't take care of all of them. I'll give priority to those who are retired and have a say, or I can let them take up a sinecure in my company..."

Zhai Yuan spoke eloquently.

He Zilang explained it clearly in four words: "It means that you want me to be a profit broker, why make it so complicated."

Zhai Yuan nodded silently.

Oh! So that word is pronounced as 掮!

Interest brokers, at that time this system in Hong Kong was not yet a system.

In the future, some large companies will have a special job classification, or call it a "business strategy and competitive strategy" department, allowing the company to have a say in high-level positions.

He Zilang sighed and said, "Suddenly I feel that 10,000 yuan is still too little."

…………

The matter of Xiawan Village finally came to an end.

Zhai Yuan picked two new heads of households in the village and asked them to follow He Zilang's instructions. He no longer had to worry about the occasional rogue villagers who showed up.

After that, it was the turn of Xinji's construction team to enter the site to build factory buildings and dormitories, and to construct a factory covering an area of 7 square meters.

Of course, it does not have to be completed completely. As long as the assembly line factory is built first, the first batch of VCDs and optical discs can be produced.

The engineer in charge of the factory drawings roughly estimated that the process would take four to six months.

Everyone is busy.

Zhai Yuan is also very busy.

Guan Weiming and Tao Zongyi came to Jiuyi Entertainment to meet Zhai Yuan with a sample machine and a newly burned CD.

Tao Zongyi showed off a home VCD that was only one-fourth the size of an office desk.

"Mr. Zhai, our technical backbone has improved the new product functions in the factory. The current VCD and the new disc are nearly 100% compatible, and the capacity is more than enough to hold a movie."

Zhai Yuan tried the new machine in the office, and after putting the disc in, the playback was very smooth.

The most important thing is that there is no noise like the first generation. After watching the whole movie, there is no scratch on the disc.

It already has the appearance that later generations have in their minds.

After the movie was over, Tao Zongyi carefully put away the camera.

Guan Weiming, who was standing by, was equally excited. "To be honest, this is the first time I've seen a high-tech product created from scratch. Last year, Mr. Zhai, you told me that a disc could be used as a videotape. It sounded like a fantasy. Currently, this disc costs less than ten Hong Kong dollars. If it is put into mass production in the future, the price will be even cheaper. The factory technicians tested it and found that a disc was played more than three thousand times and it was still as good as a new one. This alone will be enough to defeat videotapes when it enters the market in the future!"

At that time, there was almost no room for breakthrough in videotape technology.

A CD can remain as good as new after decades of storage, but a videotape only has a lifespan of three to five years.

Tao Zongyi disagreed and said: "In terms of service life, a few years of videotapes are actually enough. The most important thing is the technological breakthrough."

Guan Weiming thought about it and it seemed to be true. It was normal for household products to be iterated every few years.

“The service life is not only a technological breakthrough, but also a good way to promote it.”

Zhai Yuan smiled and said, "In the future, when doing marketing, we can shoot an advertisement where a couple falls in love, gets married, has a child, and the child grows up to be an adult with many grandchildren. At the end, the scene changes and the couple, who already have gray hair, takes out a disc and puts it into the VCD, and the whole family relives all the scenes from decades ago... Would you dare to promote the video like this?"

Guan Weiming and Tao Zongyi thought about the scene, and both of them couldn't help but be moved.

Lao Tao sighed: "Boss Zhai is indeed a businessman. I would never have thought of what you said." "Advertising is about making people empathize, not about boringly introducing technology..."

Zhai Yuan shook his head, not wanting to discuss this meaningless topic in depth, and changed the subject to ask: "With the current technology, can VCD be used to complete the functions we previously castrated?"

When VCD was first being made, the most capable technicians were three Japanese people, who were no match for Tao Zongyi and his group of big names poached from the Academy of Sciences.

In order to facilitate playback, the machine has castrated various functions such as channels, pictures, subtitles and clarity.

"In fact, these functions are finally realized on the optical disc and have little to do with VCD."

Tao Zongyi subconsciously corrected Zhai Yuan, then smiled and said: "The most important problem of laser burning has been solved, and adding these functions is actually not difficult."

Guan Weiming said: "The factory hasn't been built yet, how about we do some more research?"

"No need, I'm just asking in advance." Zhai Yuan waved his hand and said, "When the first generation of products enters the market, we will release this castrated version of the machine first. When someone follows suit or a new product comes out, we will release the second generation of the machine."

In this era, developing CDs is definitely a monopoly-level advantage.

You can’t serve consumers food that is too good, otherwise they won’t buy it next time. The best way is to take your time and squeeze the toothpaste.

Zhai Yuan touched his chin, looked up and asked Tao Zongyi: "Hey, Lao Tao, can we add a function to VCD so that users will automatically break down after a few years of use and have to buy our new product?"

Tao Zongyi: “…”

Guan Weiming laughed and said, "Mr. Zhai, we can't do such a thing as giving birth to a son... It's immoral."

"Okay, I'm just asking casually." Zhai Yuan grinned and said jokingly, "Old Guan, your Mandarin is getting better and better."

Guan Weiming said happily: "Just study together with Teacher Tao and the others."

"Lao Tao's Cantonese hasn't improved much."

"Yes, I have been with my friends in Yanjing for a long time, and the technicians in the factory are also willing to take care of us and try not to communicate with us in Cantonese."

"Then I would recommend you to buy a copy of the Cantonese Pronunciation Dictionary!"

Three grown men chatted for a while in the office.

Guan Weiming raised a key question: "Mr. Zhai, when our machine goes into mass production in a while, should we give it a catchy name?"

Zhai Yuan pondered for a moment and was really stumped by his question.

After monopolizing the two well-known brands of "1024" and "", General Zhai ran out of ideas. Even when the Ya'an Security Company was registered, the name was given by Shen Wei himself in Panama, which had no style or originality.

What will the VCD be called when it comes out?

Zhai Yuan looked at Tao Zongyi and said, "Old Tao, you have read a lot of books. Please help me come up with a better brand."

Tao Zongyi thought for a moment and said, "We Chinese have made this kind of high-tech product. China is promising. I think we should call it Hua..."

"Hush!" Zhai Yuan interrupted him, smiling: "You are overstepping your authority!"

Tao Zongyi showed a confused expression, what kind of thing was this an encroachment?

Guan Weiming coughed lightly: "Mr. Zhai, I think the Super King player is a loud enough sign!"

Zhai Yuan waved his hands and said, "Go away! What the hell!"

The cultural qualities of these two people are different from each other, and General Zhai has to step in at the critical moment.

Zhai Yuan asked: "What are we doing?"

Guan Weiming replied: "VCD player."

Zhai Yuan asked again: "How fast is our VCD playback speed?"

Tao Zongyi immediately said: "It is definitely fast. We have specially compared it with the scrapped products of previous generations. Now there is almost no black screen waiting for the picture."

Zhai Yuan hummed: "So the brand name is out~"

Guan and Tao asked curiously, "What's your name?"

"Just call it Qvod!" Zhai Yuan snapped his fingers: "I've even thought of an English name, QvodPlayer!"

…………

Zhai Yuan inherited the legacy of his predecessors.

Shen Wei took the materials to the industrial and commercial department and soon applied for the signboard of the world's first 'Hong Kong Qvod Technology Company'.

Create a word QvodPlayer.

Guan Weiming always felt that this name was not as loud as his Super Overlord.

Later, Tao Zongyi told him that simplicity is the best way to achieve success. Didn’t you see that Boss Zhai’s naming methods of 1024 and are both a return to nature?

"Nine One is the Taoist concept of nine nines returning to one, and 1G has 1024MB, so there is a 1024 movie theater. Although Mr. Zhai is usually not very serious, he actually studies both Chinese and Western cultures, and is also very interested in the field of science and technology, otherwise he would never have come up with the name 1024."

Zhai Yuan knew nothing about Lao Tao's praise and criticism behind his back.

At this moment, he was hugging Zhou Huimin and said seriously: "I founded 1024 in the hope that one day I would meet a good girl who would make me think about her 1024 times a day. I think I have found her now."

Zhou Huimin's heart started beating fast and she curled up in his arms, blushing and letting him do whatever he wanted.

End of March.

The 'Hong Kong and Taiwan Chinese Songs Chart', which reflects the performance index of Hong Kong's popular music scene, is released.

Fans of celebrities including Alan Tam, Nick Cheung, Anita Mui, and Teresa Teresa waited in front of the radio station for the results of the selection.

As the results were announced by Hong Kong Radio 2.

Everyone was shocked.

A new female singer who has never been heard of has emerged like a dark horse, skipping all the rookie charts and directly reaching the top
The champion song of the Hong Kong and Taiwan Chinese Songs Chart is "Blue and White Porcelain".

Zhang Xueyou, the new singer who was highly expected before the competition, was shortlisted for the second place with the song "Smile Again Maria".

Suddenly, the dark voices of music fans were heard everywhere.

(End of this chapter)