My Years as a Copyist in Taiwan

Chapter 87 Sun Zhengyi in 82

Zhao Wen knew, of course, that it wasn't Akina's smelly feet. As mentioned before, the side effect of perfect memory was that his nose was exceptionally sensitive. Akina Nakamori's feet didn't smell like that!

Then the problem must lie with the remaining three people.

Faced with this situation, Zhao Wen lost his appetite even for his favorite grilled fish.

Mr. Snail's slight wrinkling of his nose did not escape the notice of Tanaka Futari, who had been watching him closely.

Tanaka Futani guessed that perhaps his feet, which had been cleaned, were starting to smell again because he had been out for too long that day. So he pressed his feet tightly under his thighs, making his kneeling posture look very proper and blocking out most of the smell. The only problem was that he couldn't eat for too long...

Hana-tsuru deliberately arranged for Tanaka Nigi to sit to Mr. Snail's left. This was not a random arrangement. As the president of Yan-yin Company, Hana-tsuru was far inferior to Tanaka Nigi in terms of connections and social status. Moreover, Tanaka Nigi was someone Hana-tsuru had invited to perform flower arranging.

Nana waved for the female general (the proprietress of Yachiyo) to come over and said, "I want to smell the incense that was burned last time..." The female general knew that this was the subtext, that someone's foot odor had bothered her, so she took another incense burner and placed it next to her.

Hua Jianhe was curious as to why Zhao Wen had come on foot, because he knew about Mr. Snail's investment company with the three giants. Although it hadn't been established for long, surely the company would have at least one car.

"My Snail Investment" is right next door, so it's very convenient to eat here.

Hana-san Tsuru laughed loudly, "Tanaka-sensei's studio is right next door! What a coincidence!"

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Tanaka Nigi had almost become Zhao Wen's student, so he quickly extended an invitation, saying he definitely wanted to visit Zhao Wen's studio later, especially since Zhao Wen's studio was combined with high technology!

Zhao Wen nodded in agreement, took out a letter from his pocket, and handed it to Hua Jianhe.

This time when they went to Tainan, the only summer film was the female Fujii Itsuki from her student days. Nakamori Akina could have skipped the trip, but Zhao Wen thought that he hadn't released a song in more than half a year and didn't want to go through the trouble of having a million-dollar recording engineer work on him again. So he decided to have Snail Literature and Yan Yin collaborate to make a vinyl record for Akina!

The letter contained clauses drafted by Zhao Wen.

Snail Literature, Warner Pioneer, and Ken-On Studio collaborated to create Akina Nakamori's first solo ballad album (Akina released mixed mid-range albums last year and this year). Zhao Wen wrote all the lyrics and music, and one of the main tracks was released simultaneously as the theme song for "Spirited Away".

The copyright of the lyrics and music belongs to Snail Literature and Art permanently, while the recording copyright is jointly owned by Snail Literature and Warner Pioneer, with each party holding 40% of the rights and interests. Yan Yin (including artist revenue sharing) only receives 20% of the revenue.

However, the commercial revenue generated by artists, such as performances and endorsements, belongs to Kenon and Akina, and Snail Literature does not participate in the revenue sharing.

Hanami Tsuru readily agreed with a smile, and instructed Motoko and Nakamori Akina to represent Yanon in signing all cooperation agreements at Snail Arts & Culture in Tainan.

For Ken-On, this is a free opportunity to be associated with two world-class IPs—Mr. Snail's work has now been defined as a "world-class IP" by Hanami-san!

For Warner Music, it was a godsend. The album came with the built-in hype of "Spirited Away," and with Tokuma and Kodansha promoting it across all channels, sales were guaranteed to be profitable. It also allowed them to penetrate the Chinese-speaking and Southeast Asian markets.

Tanaka-sensei's studio is a three-story old-style machiya (traditional townhouse). A wooden sign hangs at the entrance that reads "Sogetsu Nigikai" (Sogetsu Two-Girl Association).

o

Push open the door and go inside; it's a completely different world.

The first floor is a huge exhibition hall with a ceiling height of four or five meters. Huge bamboo installations hang from the ceiling, with twisted bamboo branches and metal wires intertwined, resembling some kind of abstract monster. Along the walls are various avant-garde floral works, some made of scrap iron, some of plastic water pipes, and even some of old television sets.

"These are all practice pieces by my students," Tanaka Nigi said modestly to Zhao Wen. "Compared to the structural floral arrangements you're showcasing tonight, they're nothing. I invited you here mainly to see the perfect combination of computers and floral art."

Nakamori Akina followed behind, looking around curiously. By this time, she had quietly changed out of her high heels, but she couldn't change her hairstyle and the powder on her face. She was speechless. It was obvious that her husband didn't like her in this style at all, and he kept laughing!

Walking further in, through the exhibition hall, there is an even smaller courtyard, and at the back of the courtyard is a small building.

I went up to the second floor and pushed open a door.

It's a completely different world inside.

There were no flowers, no bamboo, nothing at all related to art.

A huge old table was placed in the center of the room, on which sat an NECPC-9801.

It was that kind of computer from the 1980s—a bulky, off-white body, a protruding CRT monitor, and a screen emitting a faint green glow.

A stack of floppy disks lay nearby, along with several thousand identical computer magazines. Various circuit boards and wires were scattered on the floor.

The air was filled with the burnt smell of heated electronic components, mixed with the aroma of instant noodles.

A short man sat in front of a computer, his back to the door, his fingers flying across the keyboard, the "clattering" sound particularly clear in the quiet night.

He was so engrossed in typing that he leaned forward slightly, his face almost touching the screen, that he didn't even notice a group of people coming in through the door.

The screen displays green characters, with lines of BASIC code scrolling rapidly.

As he typed, he muttered to himself, "No, no—a loop should be added here—the variable name is wrong—"

and many more.

Zhao Wen suddenly realized something and turned to look at Tanaka Nigi beside him.

Tanaka Nigi said, "Mr. Snail, please excuse my poor performance. This kid's name is Son Jung-yi, a second-generation Korean. He's quick-witted, but he works too hard. I'm his partner, and he's the one who came up with this modern combination of computers and floral art."

Zhao Wen's pupils contracted. Holy crap!

Sun Zhengyi.

Zhao Wen recalled that this guy had just made a small comeback around this time and was currently looking for investment in Tokyo and Akasaka!

SoftBank.

The largest technology empire in the future of Japan.

Sun Zhengyi from 1982... is actually here with Tanaka Nigi? And he's still coding in front of a computer past 10 a.m.?

Tanaka Nigi called out to the retreating figure, "Zheng Yi! Stop knocking, there's a guest."

Sun Zhengyi was struggling with a line of error code when he was interrupted. Without even turning his head, he said, "Wait a minute, wait a minute, let's get this line working first."

Tanaka Nigi cleared his throat: "It's Mr. Snail."

"Mr. Snail?"

Sun Zhengyi's fingers stopped on the keyboard.

He slowly turned his head.

His hair was messy, but his eyes shone brightly.

His gaze swept over the group of people at the door—Mr. Tanaka, a middle-aged man in a suit, a pretty young woman,

A woman with a blank expression finally landed on Zhao Wen.

Sun Zhengyi stared at Zhao Wen for a few seconds.

He had never seen a picture of Mr. Snail.

He spends all his time on the computer and coding, reading nothing but computer-related publications. He doesn't touch gossip magazines like Weekly Bunshun or Weekly Shincho. As for Mr. Snail's fame, that's a matter for the investment world and gossip columns; what does it have to do with him, a software developer and software magazine publisher?

But he knew Mr. Snail and the name "Snail Investment".

The light in Sun Zhengyi's eyes shone even brighter.