Chapter 26: The Largest Cassette Tape Distributor in the Capital City

  The task was assigned, and they went their separate ways. Yang Yun took Jiang Shaoyun out the door and began strolling along Zhongguancun Electronic Street.

  Since Zhongguancun was designated as a development zone in May 1988, it has taken just over a year for the area to show signs of prosperity.

  On Zhongguancun Avenue, huge billboards of various electronics companies, Beijing sales offices of machine tool companies from all over the country, transnational corporations such as Japan's Sanyo and Sony, small workshops from Jiangsu and Zhejiang with a guerrilla-like posture, private and state-owned enterprises, no distinction between you and me.

  The China Industrial Group Corporation, the famous "Two Communications and Two Oceans" and "National Team" Great Wall Electronics, the giant CAS Institute of Software, and the newly-emerging Lenovo Fangzheng, all fought on this street, stationed in succession, announcing their presence.

  In the daytime, Zhongguancun Electronics Street is crowded with businessmen from all over the country, selling ordinary printers, 2401 typewriters, and even imported computer chips wholesale.

  At first glance, Yang Yun was startled and felt that this family's tone was too big. After taking a closer look, it turned out to be the four Tong in "Two Communications Two Oceans". He couldn't help but feel that this company is really powerful, fearing that even foreign exchange controls can't stop its progress. The country is crying out for US dollar foreign exchange, and it can still openly supply imported chips to the United States!

  On the streets, there are also Chinese characteristics, such as numerous restaurants that are everywhere, and small hotels. IT personnel of all shapes and sizes hurry to and fro, vendors selling pirated video tapes, pirated cassette tapes and floppy disks, and peddlers selling pirated CDs are everywhere, it's quite lively.

  Yang Yun soon found a gang selling game cards near the iconic building in Zhongguancun, under the double helix Huang Zhuang sculpture.

  The conversation was simple, Yang Yun and the game card vendor chatted and boasted, immediately arousing each other's interest.

  This little peddler limped along in front, talking non-stop: "It's not me, Matsumoto, bragging! In this capital city, whoever does business with game consoles knows our boss Jiang's reputation? Who has a larger scale than our boss Jiang? You know Nintendo, right? That Nintendo, they begged our boss Jiang to help them open up the market, but our boss Jiang thought it was too much trouble and looked down on them, refusing! Now? You two are also in this line of work, have you seen Nintendo's large-scale sales in this city? I'm afraid not. Why is that? Because with just one word from our boss Jiang, no one in the entire capital dares to sell their goods. Without our boss Jiang, they'd be a powerful dragon unable to move in our snake's territory! Look at his abilities! Haha..."

  Yang Yun and Jiang Shaoyun listened to the music, humming and making supportive noises along the way, following Xiao Jiao Hu as he wandered through the streets, occasionally laughing and discussing something in hushed tones.

  "Director Yang, was Nintendo really driven to this by Old Man Jiang?"

  "How is it possible... Nintendo's market value is in the billions of dollars, they're taking the official route, a single cartridge costs hundreds of dollars, how can ordinary people afford it? They're big shots in the international market, with sales of millions of units in North America, but China is too poor to be considered, the market isn't valued, how can they possibly sell on a large scale? Just listen to his nonsense... This is a classic case of 'if you don't do stupid things, you won't die'."

  "What? Not what died what?"

  "Haha... get out of here!"

  The dwarf tiger patted his chest and bragged all the way, not feeling lonely at all. He took Yang Yun and Jiang Shaoyun back to where he got his goods, the oldest professional market in Zhongguan Village - Sihai Market, and introduced them to an ordinary-looking small businessman inside a common storefront.

  I didn't expect that the legendary figure who single-handedly fought against Nintendo and defeated them in the description of Doraemon, was sitting in a small storefront of less than 10 square meters. This is the largest cartridge dealer in all of Beijing?

  "I heard you two are looking for game cartridge distributors?"

  This ordinary merchant was short and thin, with a shrewd appearance of a Jiangsu-Zhejiang businessman. After listening to the report from the dwarf tiger, he looked puzzled, sizing up the two men up and down, his tone full of jest: "Still want to be the largest distributor in Beijing? That's quite an big mouth! First, let's make it clear that we won't ship less than 5000 pieces!"

  Can't anyone hear the disdain in this? Is it that you can't even ask questions? Not shipping under 5,000 pieces is a bit too arrogant, isn't it?

  Jiang Shaoyun got a hint from Yang Yun, not showing any weakness, and sneered: "Short-legged tiger, is this the boss Jiang you've been bragging about? He doesn't look like much either!"

  Alas! Quarreling as soon as we meet?

  The dwarf tiger is in trouble, he's a small fry, both sides are masters, can't afford to offend either!

  "This boss Jiang is not someone easy to get along with, his face immediately sank and he sneered coldly: 'Short-legged tiger, you've got skills now? You bring all sorts of riffraff here? Do you still want to do business? Get out! Don't let me see you again!'"

  "Hey! What's with the way you're talking?" Jiang Shaoyun's nose was crooked with rage, and if Yang Yun hadn't stopped him, he would have already rolled up his sleeves to give this Manager Jiang a few good slaps. The two of them didn't say anything, so how did they suddenly become like enemies?

  Director Yang is right! Indeed, if you don't seek death, you won't die!

  The dwarf tiger cried with a sullen face, resentfully looked at Yang Yun twice. If it weren't for this young man's mouthful of tens of millions, and promised him an introduction fee of 100 yuan, how would he be so bewildered as to bring these two cannons over?

  One wrong word and you want to fight, isn't this framing your own boss? How is he supposed to live in the future, just relying on selling pirated game cartridges to make a living? Matouku has had enough of being bullied.

  This Manager Jiang is quite eloquent, it's not easy for a merchant from the city to come up with such a long string of numerical phrases! Yang Yun chuckled and pulled the dwarf tiger into his arms, stuffing a deep blue 100-yuan bill into his pocket.

  Then he smiled and said: "Director Jiang, 5,000 pieces is not a big quantity, it's easy to say! We're not newcomers who don't understand anything. Last month I had dinner with Mao Daxin in Shenzhen, and that's where I heard about Director Jiang's reputation in Beijing, saying he's famous and powerful. Today we came specifically to pay our respects, and indeed, hearing his name is not as good as seeing him in person, his reputation is well-deserved!"

  Boss Jiang's smile faded, as a pirate VCD dealer, he was one of the best in Beijing, with enough capital to back it up. Looking down on people was something he often did, and giving them a warning at first sight was his way of maintaining his reputation in Beijing!

  Not satisfied? Fine! As long as you're prepared to mix it up in this line of work, Old Jiang can make sure you won't be able to sell a single cassette tape!

  Another large wholesale market in Shenzhen is where Mao Dasheng, although not a big shot, has made a name for himself. It's said that he recently partnered with a regular cassette factory and got his hands on some good products, with sales volume increasing steadily. As for the specific details, Boss Jiang isn't clear about them for now.

  "It turned out to be Old Mao's friend, that guy. I heard he was a mule who gave birth to a small horse, and a black chicken transformed into a colorful phoenix. After becoming successful, he doesn't even bother with us old folks! What are your names?" This is from this year's most popular rural-themed TV series "Fence Woman Dog", where these two lines of lyrics appear. Boss Jiang intentionally brought them up to mock Mao Daxin, hinting that he was a fake tiger skin banner, actually just a country dog who relied on a good master and became arrogant, thinking he was the king of the forest.

  Yang Yun burst out laughing and hummed along for two sentences, then introduced himself: "I'm Yang Yun, the boss of Longteng Entertainment Game Company. Our company just opened, it's small with few people, I hope Mr. Jiang can take care of us!"

  Boss Jiang invited Yang Yun and Jiang Shaoyun to the back of the store, then shooed away the dwarf tiger, scaring him off with a fierce expression. Turning around, he smiled awkwardly and said: "Is that the great Yang boss from Longteng Entertainment Game Company? I didn't know it was you! Are you still hiring? With a monthly salary over a thousand, even I, Jiang Yang, am tempted! Please, my humble abode is simple, watch your step!"

  It's indeed a humble abode, small front door, shabby office, can't see the factory, can't see the warehouse, but still able to be one of the top in the entire capital city. This is the cleverness of the Jiangsu and Zhejiang people! A shabby place signing contracts, on the surface looking clean and tidy, but actually behind the scenes those shady dealings, who knows where they are hidden?

  Both parties sat down, and Yang Yun got straight to the point: "To be honest with you, Mr. Jiang, I'm a designer who left Xiao Wang's company and have now set up my own independent game cartridge company. We're currently developing new games, so I was wondering if you'd be interested in helping us sell some?"

  Jiang Yang's face didn't reveal his true thoughts: "Little Tyrant? I remember now, Old Mao indeed had a batch of goods that were Little Tyrant's! Four-in-one cartridge, Greedy Snake, Russian Blocks, Eating Beans, and Tank Battle, are you referring to this one?"

  Yang Yun smiled and nodded: "These four games were all developed by me, but after I left the company, the ownership belongs to them now. These games are probably nothing to do with me anymore."

  "Wow... did this young man develop all four of these games? And from the sound of it, he's trading in the ownership rights to these four best-selling games for his own freedom?"

  Jiang Yang took a deep breath, and after a long while, he gave a thumbs up: "Boss Yang, you're really something! Little Liu! Little Liu, pour tea for our esteemed guest!"

  Finally qualified for equal conversation.

  Next was casual conversation to build relationships, Yang Yun stopped talking, Jiang Shaoyun joined in at the right time and started chatting with this clever Boss Jiang about everything except the key point.

  The halo of the four best-selling game developers, the new company in Zhongguancun that has been popular recently, finally took notice of Jiang Yang, who put away his usual careless attitude and asked seriously: "I don't know what you mean by 'helping us sell a bit' when you first mentioned it, Mr. Yang?"