Chapter 28: Chi Yang's Four-in-One Game Card

  When the leader of the gang questioned him, Yang Yun smiled and explained: "Let's take a look, it's quite lively here!"

  A few onlookers came over, rolled up their sleeves, spat, and had a fierce expression, with triangular eyes, looking sinister. Jiang Yang saw this and hastily took out a pack of Wrigley's cigarettes, offering one to each person.

  It's Marlboro, good cigarettes! The few rough-looking young men who were about to pick a fight immediately backed down and the atmosphere eased up considerably.

  Yang Yun waved to the leading big brother: "Brother, we are game card wholesalers from Shenzhen. We came over today to take a look at the market. Don't be too worried. It seems that this business is quite profitable, calculated... one machine can earn about three yuan per hour? In a day, it's four or five hundred!"

  The tank battle lasted for about 10 minutes and was over, 10 minutes cost 0.4 yuan, 1 hour is 2.4 yuan, 8 hours a day, not to mention the evening, what kind of venue fee electricity fee are almost free, two game consoles earn 40-50 yuan, very normal!

  Jiang Shaoyun couldn't help but calculate: "Excluding windy and rainy days when the stall can't be opened, this month's total is over 1,000."

  Is there so much?

  Even Jiang Yang was shocked by this number, these 1毛2毛's may look insignificant, but when calculated together, one month can actually earn so much money? In 1989, the average monthly salary of Beijing people was only over 130 yuan, which is not even enough to cover three days' income from this courtyard!

  The big brother who led the way did not want to say much, and said vaguely and somewhat guardedly: "It's not that much, we have a lot of people here! This guy eats horse feed, hey! Just earning some cigarette money! You're all smoking Wonton Road, I'm afraid you don't look down on our little money?"

  The console rental market is that big, the cake is that much, who wants to share it with others? It's hard to chase and win, how can you easily give in to strangers?

  The big brother who took the lead was very vigilant, of course, he worried that these few people were also preparing to enter this market. This is the gold mine they just discovered! As long as they make money for another half month, the younger brothers below will have capital to open a branch elsewhere!

  Yang Yun waved his hand: "Don't worry about it. I said, we're just selling cassette tapes, we won't compete with you for food. In fact, the few of you are our breadwinners! We can't even keep up with supplying..."

  "Haha......" The big brother who led the way burst out laughing.

  Yang Yun saw the threat disappear and asked another question: "What do you think of these games?"

  The big brother took a sip of smoke: "It's okay! However, the number of games has decreased. We entered this as four-in-one, why not forty-in-one?"

  Yang Yun glanced at Jiang Yang and smiled, saying: "Boss Jiang, listen to the voice of the people, how rustic it is! Did you hear that......"

  Jiang Yang nodded repeatedly: "Young man, this is truly inspiring, you're absolutely right! I've decided, when I get back, I'll search the whole world for this game cartridge. Four-in-one isn't enough, let's go with ten boxes, that's forty-in-one, isn't it!"

  The big brother laughed: "Don't even think about it! I've seen a lot of game cards, Japanese and American, we have connections. But those Japanese things, they're fun, but expensive! And when you put their card in our machine, it can't be used at all! You have to spend more money to buy their original machine!"

  Yang Yun nodded and said to Jiang Shaoyun: "Hurry up and take note, it should be compatible, the game console should be universal, and the cartridge should be compatible!"

  The big brother took the lead and came up with even more: "And! The game can't be too simple, one person has to play for two hours, we can't just drink northwest wind!"

  Yang Yun nodded: "Boss Jiang, let's review and filter out the weak games later. We won't play along with those trashy games that follow the trend. We must come up with new ideas!"

  "Can't be too hard! If it's too hard, nobody will want to play!"

  Yang Yun wiped his sweat: "Shao Yun, go back and collect the needs of several clients, feed them back to the R&D department, let them control the difficulty level, don't make it too difficult like a Sherlock Holmes, best if the client can adjust the difficulty level themselves."

  The big brother took the lead and continued to make demands: "And...and..."

  “……”

  Out of the alley, the two were dizzy and confused. Yang Yun laughed and said, "Don't stop! We've only seen one household so far! Let's go to the middle school area, the factory area, finish looking during the day, and then take a look at the night market. We need to get in touch with the people, blend in with the masses, truly understand the people's needs, and serve them better!"

  Jiang Yang wiped the sweat and raised his thumb again: "Boss Yang! I'm convinced! Really convinced! Don't need you to say it, old Jiang will follow you, no matter how much sales, just give the order, if I make a mistake, my surname won't be Jiang!"

  After running for a day, they finally waited for this sentence. Yang Yun and Jiang Shaoyun looked at each other with excitement, it seems that the domestic sales route has been successful!

  ……

  ……

  August 5, 1989, in the factory department of Little Emperor Electronic Industrial Company in Rongcheng City, Zhao Yongping held two boxes of game cartridges and listened to the report from Ma Dayong, head of the sales department.

  "Director Zhao, in July, we produced a total of 600,000 boxes of learning cards with games, which were branded as Kote, and they were sold to Liu Qiang's group of Sega learning card distributors. Additionally, our self-developed Little Emperor learning machine was produced in a quantity of 28,000 sets, and there are 50,000 extra Little Emperor four-in-one game cards. Can we sell them separately?"

  Zhao Yongping was displeased: "What is Shen Jun up to? Why is the production of consoles so slow? Yet there are so many more cartridges?"

  Ma Dajun looked around and whispered: "I heard from Da Zhong that Shen Gong often stops the production line, saying it's to improve efficiency..."

  "Is this the improved efficiency?" Zhao Yongping said indignantly: "The improved production line can only produce less than 300,000 sets? Why are there an extra 500,000 four-in-one game cards? This difference is not trivial!"

  It's strange if Zhao Yongping doesn't get angry!

  After seeing off Yang Yun, he didn't know what the headquarters meant. Before finding a new technical director, Shen Jun, the deputy director of the technical department, was directly appointed to take over and lead the entire technical department for R&D.

  For this, Zhao Yongping had disputes with his superiors.

  However, the leader only said two sentences: "Shen Gong is an expert from the University of Science and Technology who has developed domestic microcomputers. Can't even lead a technical department? This is someone personally invited by Director Huang, so don't think about other ways, Little Zhao."

  Zhao Yongping was helpless. With the support of General Manager Huang from the headquarters, he had to swallow this disgusting result even if he hated Shen Jun more.

  Zhao Yongping is not a person who sits idle, Shen Jun took office and he also didn't have to be in a bad mood all day, so he wholeheartedly went around finding people to design games, spending two-thirds of his time running around outside every month.

  He visited peers who made game cartridges, asked Ma Liang's teacher Huang Guangli for advice, and rarely returned to the factory to repair it. Unexpectedly, such a big problem occurred in production. Shen Jun actually reached out to the production workshop and even stopped the production line to improve efficiency?

  "Are his hands too long?" Zhao Yongping cursed: "Relying on someone to support him, right? Ma Dazhong is the same! Stopping the production line, why didn't you notify me?"

  Ma Dajun can't answer this question. When gods fight, mortals should stay far away, no one wants to get involved in this trouble.

  Zhao Yongping casually tossed the two boxes of cards to Ma Dajun and asked in a huff, "What does Mao Dasheng mean by sending over two boxes of cards?"

  Ma Dajun took a closer look and found that one of the boxes was their own Four-in-One game cartridge, with a thick line drawn on the sticker to cover up "Eat Beans", leaving only "Greedy Snake", "Russian Blocks" and "Tank Battle".

  Another box is weird, Red Sun Game 4-in-1 cartridge, with Super Mary, Kong, Circus, 1942.

  Ma Dajun wondered, "This Chi Yang game, is it the same company that makes Chi Yang learning cards? How did they start making professional gaming cards too? Director Zhao, didn't Mao Danxin say anything?"

  Zhao Yongping hummed: "I just came back, and these two cards were given to me by Wang Dage, the doorman! Last time Ma Daxin was scolded by me, he's probably too ashamed to see me."

  The last time Zhao Yongping and Yang Yun applied for a patent in Beijing, there was a leak incident at the Xiaobawang factory. Mao Daxin was the most enthusiastic one, he was the first to rush to grab goods, and also the first to return goods to the factory. The impact was particularly bad, causing smaller distributors to follow suit and bringing huge losses to the factory.

  Later, the tank battle came out, which was the first four-in-one game card with full independent intellectual property rights of Little King Company. It was touted as a national self-strengthening movement and was cheap in price. Mao Daxin, with a proud face, was the first to come over and ask for exclusive distribution.

  Zhao Yongping recalled the words Yang Yun said at the meeting: "Those shortsighted distributors who come to return goods will suffer their own losses. If they offend us today, don't expect to be able to purchase from us tomorrow."

  He also wanted to refuse Mao Daxin, but was vetoed by Shen Jun. As expected, the headquarters directly issued an order, and Mao Daxin obtained the exclusive agency right, and suddenly became arrogant again.

  Zhao Yongping is dissatisfied with Mao Daxin, Shen Jun and the group company that points fingers at him. As a factory director, he has almost been marginalized!

  How frustrating!

  Ma Dajun picked up the phone on the table and called Mao Danxin, talking for a long time before hanging up. His expression was strange: "I asked him what's going on, but he didn't say anything. He just said that their sales route in Beijing was somehow blocked, and they can't sell cards in the south. It seems like some big shot in the card wholesale industry in Beijing has issued an order to ban the sale of our cards. Retailers are all refusing to accept them. If we don't think of a solution, he'll go to Beijing!"

  Zhao Yongping was puzzled: "Who did we offend? We didn't do anything, so why can't we sell it? What's the problem?"

  Ma Dajun pointed at the four-in-one game console: "Mao Danxin said let us play and see, especially the circus in the Red Sun game card."