1980 My literary era

Facts have proved that Han Shanping's vision is very accurate.

In its fourth week of release, "Hero" grossed 47.4 million yuan at the box office. Compared with last week's box office of 81.3 million, the drop exceeded 60%, which shows that the impact of piracy on the box office is real.

But overall, this figure is acceptable. After all, it is the fourth week of release, and it can still have a box office of more than 40 million, which is already an incredible record.

After four weeks of release, the total box office of "Hero" has reached a total of 274.6 million yuan. There is still half a month before the release of "Jurassic Park 2: The Lost World". Taking 30 million box office is a big step for "Hero". It shouldn't be difficult.

300 million box office is just around the corner.

In early August, Qu Xiaowei called Lin Weimin and said that Charles went to Feiyue Internet Cafe to surf the Internet again. He grabbed Charles and said that he wanted to introduce a friend to him, and then called Lin Weimin regardless of whether Charles wanted to or not. Telephone.

It was after get off work when Charles went to Feiyue to surf the Internet. Lin Weimin had just finished dinner and had nothing to do, so he answered his call and went to Feiyue Internet Cafe.

Entering the Internet cafe, Qu Xiaowei was chatting with a young man who was fashionably dressed and had his legs crossed.

As soon as he saw Lin Weimin coming, he stood up immediately and introduced Lin Weimin enthusiastically: "This is Charles. His name is Zhang Chaoyang. He is a top student at Shuimu University and MIT in the United States. Now he has opened an Internet company in Yanjing."

"Charles, you should know this, right? Lin Weimin, a great writer."

Zhang Chaoyang, who was chatting casually, stood up immediately when he saw Lin Weimin's face.

"Hello, Teacher Lin, I am Zhang Chaoyang." He extended his hand to Lin Weimin with a slightly respectful attitude.

Zhang Chaoyang really didn't expect that the person Qu Xiaowei, the Internet cafe owner, was going to introduce to him today was actually Lin Weimin.

He graduated from the Physics Department of Shuimu University in 1986. In the same year, he was admitted to the CUSPEA project scholarship to study at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the United States.

Zhang Chaoyang stayed in the United States for nine years. These nine years happened to be the stage when Lin Weimin went from obscurity to all-powerful in the United States.

Over the past few years, Lin Weimin's reputation among overseas students, especially those from the United States, has experienced a huge leap from being a group of people who attacked him to worshiping him.

Now he has long become the pride of China among overseas Chinese, including international students. Whenever chatting with foreigners cannot open up a topic, mentioning the name "Lin Weimin" will always have unexpected results.

In the eyes of these overseas students, Lin Weimin's image has long been separated from the "Chinese writer", and it is more appropriate to call him a world-class litterateur.

"Hello, hello." Lin Weimin looked relaxed, shook hands with Zhang Chaoyang and sat down, "I'll call you Qin Chaoyang!"

"It's up to you to speak as you please."

Zhang Chaoyang's attitude was very humble, which surprised Qu Xiaowei on the side. He thought that this kid was just talking to anyone carelessly.

With Qu Xiaowei as the intermediary, Zhang Chaoyang and Lin Weimin chatted happily after a brief exchange of greetings, mainly Zhang Chaoyang introducing his own experience.

He received a scholarship to study abroad in 1986. After receiving his PhD from MIT at the end of 1993, he stayed at MIT to engage in postdoctoral research for a period of time.

During this period, Zhang Chaoyang met Mason and his son who wanted to invest in power plants in China, and through them he met Gary Muller who was studying at Harvard Business School.

Gary Mueller established an Internet company ISI and successfully obtained financing. After 1995, he was invited by Gary Muller to become the chief representative of the American ISI company in China.

In 1996, Zhang Chaoyang came up with the idea of ​​​​starting a business. After some troubles, he obtained angel investment of US$225,000 from Professor Negroponte and Professor Edward Robert of the MIT Sloan School of Business. .

For this angel investment of US$225,000, Zhang Chaoyang paid 30% of the shares of the company that had not yet been established. At the time, a valuation of US$750,000 for a company that had not yet been established was already quite considerable. Yes.

Many Internet entrepreneurs in China today don't even know the concept of venture capital, but Zhang Chaoyang has received the first venture capital in his life, and his entrepreneurial journey has been smoother than that of most people.

In August last year, Zhang Chaoyang, who received entrepreneurial funds, officially established Aitexin Company in China. Aitexin Company is the predecessor of Sohu.

Zhang Chaoyang talked about his experience of studying abroad and then returning to China to start a business. Qu Xiaowei praised: "There have been many overseas students who have gone abroad in recent years, but not many have come back. For this reason alone, you are better than most people."

Zhang Chaoyang said embarrassedly: "I'm not that noble. The main reason why I returned to China was because there was a large amount of experimental data that needed to be calculated by computers during the laboratory, which exposed me to the Internet. When I returned to China the year before last, I saw The country is lagging behind in this regard, and lagging behind is also an opportunity.”

Lin Weimin nodded when he heard this and said: "Chaoyang's words are very insightful. No wonder you returned to China to start an Internet company. Your company should be developing well now, right?"

When talking about the company's development, Zhang Chaoyang frowned.

It has been a year since Aitexin was founded. After this year of exploration, Zhang Chaoyang has found the path he wants to take in the future, but now he is facing a dilemma.

Atesin is out of money!

In one year, Zhang Chaoyang spent all the 225,000 yuan invested by angels. He is not the kind of entrepreneur who spends every penny wisely. He spent the money happily before, but now it is just as painful to have no money. , he is having a headache recently about financing.

He contacted several venture capital companies in the United States. At this time, venture capital was a new thing in China and no one had touched it at all.

Venture capital institutions in the United States are very shrewd. Although Atesin, a Chinese Internet company, has been established for one year, it has no achievements worth boasting about. No one is interested in Atesin at all.

In the past six months, Zhang Chaoyang has been worrying about the company's second round of financing. Recently, the situation has become more urgent because the company's money is almost running out of money.

Lin Weimin's words made Zhang Chaoyang feel a little embarrassed. He had promoted himself intentionally or unintentionally during the chat just now, and as a result, he felt a little embarrassed when talking about the company's development.

After hesitating for a while, he finally said: "To tell you the truth, the company's recent development has not been going well..."

Putting aside his face, Zhang Chaoyang felt relieved and told the dilemma that Aitexin was facing now.

After returning to China to establish a company, Zhang Chaoyang rented an office in the Everbright Building. The company's servers were shared with ISI. He now also helps manage ISI's Chinese business.

In February this year, Atesin launched the Atesin China Business Network. They now plan to launch a search section on the Industrial and Commercial Network. This is actually a large-scale classified query search engine, which is basically equivalent to a low-end version of Yahoo.

The product is there, but the question is how to make money.

This is not only a problem that troubles Zhang Chaoyang, but also a problem that troubles many Internet entrepreneurs around the world.

After listening to Zhang Chaoyang's words, Lin Weimin was silent. Zhang Chaoyang smiled self-deprecatingly and said, "Hey, let's just talk about me. Teacher Lin, it's fate that I can meet you today. I didn't know..."

Qu Xiaowei specially grabbed Zhang Chaoyang and waited for Lin Weimin today. There must be a reason for the appointment. Lin Weimin said smoothly: "The Internet wave in China is in the ascendant now, and our Chinese Literature Society is also very interested in this emerging industry. It happened that Xiaowei He said he knew a top student who had returned from studying abroad, so I thought of coming to ask for advice."

After Lin Weimin finished speaking, Zhang Chaoyang's eyes flashed with light, "Teacher Lin, is your company going to build a website?"

Lin Weimin pretended to hesitate, shook his head and said: "Actually, I haven't thought about it yet. I just have this idea now. You also know that we are a public institution and we don't have any experience or accumulation in terms of talents or technology in the Internet."

"Yes, yes, this is an unfamiliar industry to you. Investing rashly is very risky, so you should be cautious. Among Internet companies around the world, the United States is the best, but most companies are still It’s in a cash-burning stage.”

Having said this, Zhang Chaoyang showed some hesitation on his face. After struggling for a moment, he still said: "Actually, I think that if you want to enter the Internet industry, you can start with investment."

Seeing a look of inquiry on Lin Weimin's face, Zhang Chaoyang was worried. It was too hasty. The Chinese Literature Society was a wealthy man. Now that they wanted to enter the Internet field, maybe they were willing to throw the money at him?

"Teacher Lin, as I said just now, my company is short of money. What the Chinese Literature Society is lacking now is projects, and I happen to have them there. This is a win-win deal."

When Zhang Chaoyang said this, Qu Xiaowei interrupted: "Chaoyang, you are a bit unkind. Just now you said that your company was losing money and you couldn't even hear a sound. Isn't this dragging Weimin into a pit of fire? ?”

Zhang Chaoyang was afraid that Lin Weimin would misunderstand, so he hurriedly explained: "Mr. Lin, our company is indeed not profitable yet, but I think the route we are taking now is the right one. It is definitely the most profitable and has huge potential in the future."

Lin Weimin was still pondering. Zhang Chaoyang, who was already at a loss for words, looked at Lin Weimin with a calm face, filled with nervousness and apprehension.

After a long time, Lin Weimin sighed, "Chaoyang, you are really making things difficult for me!"

Hearing this, Zhang Chaoyang's heart skipped a beat. He took a deep breath and was already prepared to be rejected.

"Our Chinese Literature Society wants to enter the Internet to promote the development of its own industry. Can investing in your website achieve such an effect?"

Zhang Chaoyang's heart sank, and he struggled without giving up: "Teacher Lin, if our classified query search engine comes out, I can help the Chinese Literature Society build a website for free, and our search engine can divert traffic to your website."

Lin Weimin chuckled and said: "Investing in your company requires at least one million yuan to start. With that money, wouldn't it be better if I directly advertise the website?"

Hearing this, Zhang Chaoyang showed a bit of dejection on his face. How could he not know the flaw in what he just said, but he didn't want to give up this last straw.

Lobbying Lin Weimin failed, and he felt a sense of frustration. He leaned against the back of the sofa, not daring to look at Lin Weimin's eyes.

"but……"

Lin Weimin uttered two words, and Zhang Chaoyang, who was originally discouraged, raised his head, and a trace of hope flashed on his face.

"I'm quite interested in the search engine you mentioned. I remember there is a Yahoo company in the United States that makes search engines, right? Is it even listed on the market?"

As if grabbing a life-saving straw, Zhang Chaoyang nodded repeatedly and said: "That's right. Teacher Lin, our search engine is following the path of Yahoo. Yahoo has been on the market for two years, and its current market value exceeds 1 billion US dollars..."

Seeing a vague smile on Lin Weimin's face, seemingly understanding his little thoughts, Zhang Chaoyang changed his words and said, "But our search engine is still relatively rudimentary."

Lin Weimin nodded and seemed satisfied with his telling the truth. Zhang Chaoyang felt relieved for some reason.

"So, it does have some potential."

When Zhang Chaoyang heard this, he felt an uncontrollable joy in his heart. There is a way!

"Let's do this. I will take a technician to your place tomorrow to inspect it. If it is suitable, we can invest as appropriate." Lin Weimin said.

Zhang Chaoyang was overjoyed when he heard this. He crossed the coffee table and held Lin Weimin's hand. "Thank you, thank you Teacher Lin."

Lin Weimin smiled easily and said kindly: "The Internet is a high-tech industry. If we can cooperate with your company, it will be a suitable entry point for our Chinese Literature Society."

"Yes, yes, this is a win-win result."

The two chatted for a few more words, and Zhang Chaoyang left Feiyue Internet Cafe with some gratitude. He was looking forward to Lin Weimin's inspection tomorrow.

Looking at Zhang Chaoyang's leaving figure, Qu Xiaowei shook his head silently.

The young man was still young. From the moment he entered to the moment he left, he was manipulated by the old fox Lin Weimin.

"Hey, Weimin, what you told Chaoyang just now about Yahoo! is worth 1 billion US dollars, is it true?" Qu Xiaowei asked.

Although he runs a chain of Internet cafes, he doesn't even understand English, and he doesn't know much about the development of the Internet on the other side of the ocean than ordinary people.

"It's just market value. The company can't make millions of dollars a year."

"Do you really think I don't understand? What does it matter how much money the company makes? As long as the stock is valuable, can I still buy the company's stock now?"

"Yes, but it has dropped by 5 meters recently and I can't make any money."

"Huh?" Qu Xiaowei noticed the loophole in Lin Weimin's words and looked at him suspiciously.

Knowing that he had spilled the beans, Lin Weimin laughed, "What's that? If nothing happens, I'll leave first!"

Qu Xiaowei looked at his back and muttered: They say this guy has investments in the United States. It seems to be true. He is really strict!