1982 Started from Hong Kong

Chapter 290 The CD is released
The rain was pouring down and the thunder was roaring.

A small typhoon swept across the Hong Kong River just before the Mid-Autumn Festival.

Zhai Yuan lives in a garden villa in Deep Water Bay.

A table was set up by the window, on which was placed a steaming hot pot with bright red chili oil boiling.

"Eat it, you're welcome. I brought back the hot pot base from the mainland, authentic old Yanjing Bashu red pepper."

Zhai Yuan greeted everyone around him warmly, picked up a piece of tripe, dipped it in the pot, chewed it twice, and took a sip of ice beer to relieve the spiciness, feeling so refreshed.

Today is a get-together for two major companies, Jiuyi Entertainment and Qvod Technology.

Mr. Zhai now has sufficient funds again, and asked everyone to come over to discuss the plans for next year.

The meeting was headed by two senior executives, Shi Nansheng and Guan Weiming, and surrounded by department heads.

However, this group of people grew up in the South and were not used to spicy food. Even though Zhai Yuan invited them warmly, no one picked up their chopsticks.

Zhai Yuan raised his eyebrows when he saw this: "Why, you bought it but you don't eat it, are you being disrespectful?"

Shi Nansheng rubbed his nose to relieve the feeling of sneezing from the spicy oil rushing into his nostrils: "I've been feeling hot lately, and the doctor told me to eat a lighter diet."

When the people around heard this, they all agreed and found reasons not to touch his pot of red oil.

Zhai Yuan suddenly felt bored that such a good thing could not be shared with others, so he waved to the Filipino maid next to him and said, "Maria, these people are not lucky enough to eat this. Bring two hot pots over, and help me cut a plate of delicious beef tongue."

The clear water pot was brought to the table, and everyone picked up their chopsticks.

Shi Nansheng ate more elegantly than the rough guys. He swallowed a piece of sashimi in small bites, wiped his mouth with a tissue, and said with a smile, "I heard that Mr. Zhai made a lot of money in the stock market?"

Zhai Yuan went to the stock exchange, and no one noticed him at first.

As a result, when Du Jiancheng jumped off the building, a crowd gathered and Zhai Yuan's handsome face that had been in the newspapers was recognized.

Next came the investigation into the jumping case.

Zhai Yuan invited Du Jiancheng, and once he died, the police asked him to help record his confession.

As time went by, the news that the boss of 1024 was entering the stock market came out, along with the data that he had dumped over million yuan in one go, which made the headlines several times in a row.

"Prodigy Yuan Yuan's stock market sniped the US dollar, making a net profit of hundreds of millions of Hong Kong dollars in a single day, and may become the youngest billionaire"

"The Light of Sau Mau Ping, the Last Self-Made Billionaire in the Post-Shipping King Era"

"Getting rich without inheritance, starting a business after graduating from high school, revealing the unknown secrets of 1024 bosses"

When Shi Nansheng asked this question, Zhai Yuan felt helpless: "I just came back to Hong Kong and it caused a big news. I wanted to make a fortune quietly, but now the media is really omnipresent."

"Du Jiancheng's suicide had a huge impact, otherwise there wouldn't be so many people paying attention to it."

Shen Wei, who was promoted to the head of the legal department of Jiuyi, sighed: "I felt something was wrong when I saw him a few days ago. I didn't expect him to dare to falsify accounts and lose tens of millions of clients' principal. I heard that those bosses who lost money are suing the Hong Kong Stock Exchange."

Zhai Yuan shook his head: "So that's a person's destiny... Although I made money this time, I still don't recommend everyone to enter the stock market. In addition, in the future, companies will have to do background checks when recruiting people. Gamblers like Du Jiancheng will be passed."

The head of the human resources department nodded and said he knew.

Shen Wei chuckled twice. He was once a gambler. He could watch people fighting dogs in the city for a whole day. He only came ashore after meeting Zhai Yuan.

We chatted briefly about the stock market.

Zhai Yuan changed the subject: "Qvod is a new company I founded. It is in the trial operation stage this year, and will be officially linked to Jiuyi Entertainment next year. Uncle Ming is the general manager of the company now. In the future, if you need to communicate, you can contact me or Sister Nan."

Guan Weiming and Shi Nansheng had met each other only a few times. This was their first close contact, and they exchanged a few polite words.

"Mr. Zhai's Qvod is a technology company that currently specializes in the development of two types of equipment: VCDs and optical disks. You may not understand what they are if I tell you the scientific names, so I brought samples today to show you."

Guan Weiming is a practical man and not as eloquent as these entertainment management managers.

The technicians who were accompanying them were called over and directly moved the TV cabinet from Zhai Yuan's living room over and took out the VCD player they had brought.

At this time, the color TV is essentially an simulator and does not detect signals. The DVI port on the back is connected to video, and the AV port is connected to audio, which is similar to the principle of connecting a VCR.

Under the curious gazes of the Jiuyi employees, Guan Weiming took out a disc of "A Better Tomorrow" and put it in.

Turn on and play.

Immediately afterwards, the familiar opening logo of Jiuyi Entertainment appeared on the TV screen.

Di Long's calmness, Wan Ziliang's arrogance, Zhang Guorong's liveliness...

One after another came into view.

This is the first time that the two technologies, VCD and optical disc, have appeared in front of people outside of Qvod.

It wasn't until about five minutes into the movie that someone finally reacted.

"What Mr. Guan just put into the machine doesn't seem to be a videotape, but rather a CD... How can a CD have pictures?"

Yeah, shouldn’t CDs be put into jukeboxes to listen to music?

Jiuyi employees, including Shi Nansheng, looked at each other in bewilderment.

Guan Weiming smiled when he saw this, ejected the disc from the disk, and the TV screen stopped abruptly.

He walked back and showed the palm-sized disc to everyone, and said confidently: "This is the disc developed by Mr. Zhai. It can perfectly match all images when paired with the VCD device. A disc currently produced by our Qvod can store 300 minutes of content, which is a length that no other product on the market can match. Videotapes? I opened a video cassette factory in the 70s. After seeing this disc come out, I had only one thought in my mind: videotapes, which I have been making for more than ten years, will soon be a thing of the past. In the future, there will only be one playback medium on the market, and that is our Qvod discs."

Under Lao Guan's bold words, a small CD was quickly passed from one person to another for everyone to watch.

At only 6 inches, it is half the size of a traditional laser disc, but its storage capacity is increased tenfold.

A color-changing film is attached to the surface of the CD, which refracts and reflects light as the angle changes. In the past, this optical film was used in military products such as sights and telescopes, and was later used by major car companies. The masters of Qvod repeatedly mixed new pigments and finally developed a coating that can be used on CDs, which is scratch-resistant and corrosion-resistant. This small change alone is a patented technology.

Shi Nansheng stroked the surface of the disc and asked in amazement: "Can such a small device hold a 300-minute movie?"

Zhai Yuan smiled and nodded: "Technically speaking, it's no problem to double the duration."

Everyone around found it incredible.

The current mainstream VHS videotapes have a standard length of between 60 and 120 minutes. If they are longer, the image quality will have to be compressed, which makes them unsuitable for the increasingly larger TV screens.

"The CD also needs to compress the image quality, right?"

"No, it is fully adapted to the highest picture quality of the TV."

It was not until after the millennium that Sony's DRC-MF line doubling technology came out and the resolution of televisions entered the 720P era.

At this time, the 480P TV is already high definition.

Shi Nansheng and others asked several questions in succession, and Zhai Yuan and Guan Weiming answered them one after another.

Jiuyi’s employees gradually gained a complete understanding of CDs.

Shi Nansheng breathed heavily, stared at Zhai Yuan and said, "If CDs become popular, wouldn't it make more money than the box office if we put Jiu Yi's movies on CDs and sold them?"

"No, our goal is the sea of stars~"

Zhai Yuan shook his head lightly, pointed at Guan Weiming and said, "I remember that my first pot of gold in the film industry was probably from a Western film I sold in cooperation with Uncle Ming. The name of the film was "I Spit on Your Grave". There are more than one company producing films in this world. Next, I will take out a special fund of 100 million yuan and set up a film review department in the company. In addition to purchasing the disc screening rights of those well-known films, we will also find unpopular films like "I Spit on Your Grave" from the global video film market."

Zhai Yuan paused here, looked around at everyone, and continued: "I will give you one year. Within one year, you must at least set up a CD distribution channel in Asia. By that time, there will only be one film company left in Hong Kong, Jiuyi Film Company. You will all be the super veterans of this largest film company..."…………

Even Shi Nansheng, a talented woman from Hong Kong, was so excited by Zhai Yuan's words.

In the next few days, the heads of various departments of Jiuyi Entertainment were full of energy.

Batches of videotapes imported from overseas were delivered to the company building.

Shi Nansheng appointed the king of commercial films, Wang Jin, as the person in charge of the newly established film review department. He paid him an extra salary and asked him to pick out valuable film reports from the vast ocean of films every day.

In the era without the Internet, there was a serious gap in cultural exchanges. If Zhai Yuan had not introduced a movie like "I Spit on Your Grave", few people in Asia would have seen it.

This time, he also obtained the copyright of "Grave", so he could get on the train first and buy the ticket later, completely eliminating the hidden danger of Zhai Yuan distributing pirated copies in major theaters before.

Zhai Yuan’s funds are also growing.

After several months of preparation, we successfully stood at the forefront of the Plaza Accord.

In just a few days, the stock market's returns were greater than what Zhai Yuan had achieved in a whole year of hard work.

"So a person's destiny..."

Looking at the growing number in his account, Zhai Yuan couldn't help but sigh: "Not only do we have to rely on our own efforts, but we also have to consider the course of history."

After the Mid-Autumn Festival.

In early November.

The traditionally closed Toyo foreign exchange market opened. When the yen appreciated to 1:227 in the European and American markets, Toyo Bank sold 12 billion US dollars to foreign parties. As a result, there was not even a splash. The local yen depreciated instead of appreciating and remained at around 235.

Investors in the East Asian market were worried, which led to a panic retreat.

The experts on TV gave a very reasonable analysis and believed that the Japanese government had to take action and the depreciation of the US dollar would stop.

Zhai Yuan remained motionless.

The manager of the exchange reminded: "Mr. Zhai, the market is not good today, you..."

Zhai Yuan waved his hand: "No need to talk, all in."

Japan's foreign exchange market is indeed unable to buck the international trend.

The Japanese yen exchange rate remained stable for a few days at home, and the Ministry of Finance and Toyo Bank sold billions of dollars in succession, finally breaking a crack in the stagnant dam of the Toyo market.

mid-December.

In the European market, the exchange rate of US dollar against Japanese yen reached 1:210.

The closing price of the American market was 1:208.

The exchange rate in the Oriental market reached 1:216.

This is the end.

In the Plaza Accord, the United States’ demand for a 10% devaluation of the dollar has been met.

Finance Minister Takeshita Noboru was in a good mood and joked to reporters: "My name is 'Noboru', so the yen will naturally rise."

The US Treasury Secretary appeared on TV with a smiling face and praised Japan and West Germany, his favorite sons.

"The friendship between the United States and the other four countries has lasted forever. Together, we have resolved a world economic crisis. We will always be allies..."

The agreement was declared a success, the dollar fell to the expected value, and the market gradually fell back.

Experts began a new round of analysis.

Investors are redeeming their money in droves to look for new opportunities.

In the Stock Exchange, the manager smiled as brightly as a chrysanthemum: "Mr. Zhai is indeed a stock market sniper. He has made at least 500 million from this venture. If you see another opportunity to enter the market in the future, please take care of me."

Zhai Yuan took the subscription form, signed it skillfully, and asked, "Now is the time to enter the market. I will continue to go long on the Japanese yen. Do you dare to follow me?"

The manager's smile froze: "The Plaza Accord has been fulfilled."

Zhai Yuan smiled noncommittally and threw the subscription form in his hand to him: "900 million Hong Kong dollars, continue to go all in."

…………

When you make money, you have to spend it.

But the money spent was nothing compared to the income Zhai Yuan had earned during this period.

After the Plaza Accord was completed, the market entered a brief period of cooling off.

Zhai Yuan took advantage of these few days to go to Yuen Long again.

"Mr. Zhai, this is the list of machines we need to buy, including the purchase price agreed with the overseas parties. Please take a look and see if there are any problems."

Guan Weiming sat in the newly renovated office. There was still a smell of paint in the room, and he didn't know whether there was formaldehyde.

Zhai Yuan opened the window for ventilation, took the list he handed over and took a look at it:

Two commercial lithography machines, each costing HK$400 million.

Independent module packaging machines, twelve units, each costing HK$30.

Six small electroplating machines, each costing HK$120 million.

Sorting conveyor belts, presses, printers, cutters, fillers...

All in all, it’s more than 30 million Hong Kong dollars.

Guan Weiming saw that he had finished reading, and handed over another list: "Here is a batch of raw materials needed for CD production. Among them, rare earth and magneto-optical alloys need to be imported from overseas. The plastic shell of VCD is simpler, but the materials used to produce circuit boards are also not cheap..."

In addition to materials, there is also labor.

Guan Weiming did some calculations for Zhai Yuan. There were about 150 villagers from Xiawan Village who were related to him and went to work for Kuaibo. Later, new people from surrounding villages joined in. Kuaibo provided them with jobs, and they voted for Zhai Yuan. There were at least 400 people in this group, with an average monthly salary of yuan, so the monthly salary would be over one million yuan.

"If there was no hot money from the stock market to support me, the little money I made from the movie would have dragged me down in a minute."

Zhai Yuan has a clear understanding of industry. This is the case when Kuaibo has new technology that can make money, while other industrial factories in Hong Kong, such as textiles, are going bankrupt every year.

Labor is too expensive, but this money cannot be saved now.

Zhai Yuan listened to Guan Weiming calculating the accounts for half an hour, his head buzzing, and finally interrupted: "Come on, no need to talk anymore, please hire a few financial accountants, and go to the bank with me tomorrow to get the money..."

Coming out of Yuen Long.

Take the bus back to Kowloon Tong.

Zhai Yuan knocked on the door of the garden villa, and as soon as he entered the room, he saw Deng Leling frowning and winking at him.

Michiko Nishiwaki sat on the sofa in the living room, tears streaming down her face.

(End of this chapter)