Video Game Empire

Chapter 1: Past and Present

On July 15, 1979, Hong Kong was a bit sultry under the scorching sun. For many secondary six and seven students who participated in this year's Advanced Level Examination and Advanced Level Examination, their hearts were cold.

The Advanced Level Examination and the Advanced Level Examination are the entrance examinations for the University of Hong Kong and the Chinese University of Hong Kong respectively. Since there are only these two universities in Hong Kong, it is not an exaggeration to call them the college entrance examination. The academic system of CUHK is four years, which is one year longer than that of the three-year system in Hong Kong. Therefore, Secondary 6 students who only need to study for a year of preparatory courses can apply for the exam. Therefore, the number of applicants will be larger and the admission rate will be lower.

At Sheng Yan Middle School, No. 11 On Tin Street, Kwun Tong, East Kowloon, the long dragon at the entrance of the school office slowly moved forward. The crowd in line was quiet, and the atmosphere was a little depressing. Although Li Xuan's expression was calm, there was still a trace of tension in his heart, which could be said to be the moment that changed his destiny.

The financial conditions of Li Xuan's family are not good, so he is studying a one-year preparatory course. This time, he is desperate. If he fails to pass the test, he can only find a job.

Although he was confident that he did very well in the exam, he didn't get the grades, after all, he didn't know what to do. After a while it was finally his turn, Li Xuan let out a sigh of relief and said to the teacher in the window, "Class A No. 04, Li Xuan!"

The teacher quickly took out a sheet of paper from a stack of papers, glanced at it, a smile suddenly appeared on his originally expressionless face, he nodded kindly to Li Xuan, and handed over the note.

Li Xuan took the note and glanced at it immediately, with a happy smile on his face. The three courses of general mathematics, advanced mathematics and physics are all A, and the two courses of Chinese language and English are B. Such excellent grades are enough for him to obtain an entrance degree at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, and even if he applies for a full scholarship, he is more confident.

"Li Xuan, how was the test?" A tall, thin four-eyed boy with black-rimmed glasses patted Li Xuan's shoulder from behind.

"Well, it's pretty good, three A's and two B's!" Li Xuan turned his head and saw that it was Liu Zhihao from Class C, "Did you do a bad test?"

"How do you see it?"

"The hair is fluffy and the eyes are dull. This face is like a dry bitter gourd. Laughing is more ugly than crying. You said that I would not see that you failed the exam!" Li Xuan jokingly patted the other side's thin face , "Let's go, please drink milk tea and comfort your injured heart!"

"Hey, you'll be happy, you can escape and ascend to heaven, and I have to go back to study! I don't have much hope for this grade in the Hong Kong University entrance exam next year. It's better to go straight to work now!" Liu Zhihao said with a long face. The C class he read is a two-year preparatory course, and there is still one year left.

"It's very disadvantageous to work in Hong Kong without a diploma. Do you want to work in a factory? Don't worry, if you can't get into the University of Hong Kong next year, your old bean will send you to study abroad!" Li Xuan comforted, Liu Zhihao's family conditions are very good Yes, his father is an orthopedic doctor, enough to support his son's study abroad expenses.

In Hong Kong in 1979, there were only two universities, HKU and CUHK. The University of Science and Technology was still seven or eight years away from the preparations. Others such as Polytechnic University, City University, and Baptist University were still post-secondary colleges and could only issue high-level honors. Diploma, not the qualification to issue a bachelor's degree.

According to the statistics of the Hong Kong Education Department, only two out of every 100 Hong Kong school-age students have the opportunity to enter the university. This shows how fierce the competition for the college entrance examination in Hong Kong is. .

"But I don't want to go abroad. I don't even know a friend in my life!"

"Okay, be happy! Don't you have a year left! Starting tomorrow, you can hang your head and pierce the beams, I believe you can do it!"

Hong Kong adopts the British academic system, and there is a preparatory course between secondary schools and universities. The preparatory degree is applied for based on the results of the Hong Kong Examination at the time of graduation from Form 5. Because Hong Kong University and Chinese University have different systems, they are divided into one-year preparatory courses and two-year preparatory courses. Li Xuan and Liu Zhihao were at the same table before the reclassification of the preparatory department, and they have a very good relationship.

He and Liu Zhihao had known each other for so long, and he knew very well that his friend had an eccentric personality. He wouldn't take things like bad exams to heart at all. If he slept and woke up tomorrow, he would forget about it.

The two went out of the school gate and went to a tea and milk tea shop on the corner to buy two cups of milk tea. Liu Zhihao was going to go to the beach at Repulse Bay to go crazy, but Li Xuan didn't want to run that far, and he had to go to work in the afternoon, so the two separated at the entrance of the tea restaurant.

Li Xuan's family lives in Sau Mau Ping Village in Kwun Tong, Kowloon, a large public housing estate built by the Hong Kong government in the late 1960s. His parents work in a garment factory in the nearby Kwun Tong industrial area.

Hong Kong has a small land and a large population, and housing prices are very expensive. When building a building, real estate developers do not design a very large apartment. The two-bedroom and one-bedroom is only 450 feet, and a house with more than 1,000 feet is considered a luxury house. In the low-cost and low-rent public housing estates, the design of the apartment is more compact. The five-member Li family applied for a suite with two bedrooms and one living room less than 400 square feet.

Hong Kong is a British colony, so the imperial unit is commonly used in measurement, and one square foot is abbreviated as one foot. And one square meter is about a little over ten feet.

"Brother, you're back, how are your grades? Can you be admitted to CUHK?" As soon as Li Xuan entered the door, his younger sister Li Ying, who was watching TV in the small living room, ran up to him.

"Three A's and two B's, it's no problem to study at CUHK, I guess I can still apply for a full scholarship!" Li Xuan patted his sister's head and said with a smile.

"Oh, do you want to go out to celebrate?" The little girl rolled her eyes and immediately put her arms around her brother's arm and said coquettishly.

"Celebrate at dinner time. Grandma comes back from work and asks her to cook some good dishes!" Li Xuan knew what his sister was up to, and took out a ten-dollar piece of Hong Kong dollars from his trousers pocket, "Here, this is for you. Your pocket money, don’t spend it indiscriminately!”

Li Ying snatched the banknotes from Li Xuan's hand and put them into her pockets with a smile. Usually, Laodou gave five cents or one piece of pocket money. Ten dollars was a huge sum for her: "You two are the best for me!"

Li Xuan's old bean is named Li Haichuan, who used to be a fisherman from Lantau Island. When Li Xuan was five years old, Li Haichuan encountered a strong wind when he was fishing at sea. The small fishing boat capsized directly after encountering the wind and waves. After floating in the sea for a day, he was lucky to be rescued by a passing freighter. After Li Haichuan escaped, he didn't dare to go out to fish again, so he went to find a job in a factory in Kowloon. Later, he was lucky enough to apply for a public housing estate in Sau Mau Ping, which had just been built, so his family moved to Kwun Tong to settle down.

He and his wife Liu Huili gave birth to two sons and a daughter. Li Xuan is the second son, and he has a big guy named Li Ke who is two years older than him. Li Ke is not as good at reading as his younger brother. He dropped out of school after finishing the third year of secondary school. He started working in an electronics factory. He thought the work was too tiring and he quit after a few days of salary. Now he is watching the scene in a video room.

There are still some leftovers from last night in the kitchen. Li Xuan used the rice cooker to cook the meal. He and his sister Li Ying had lunch early, and then the two went out together. Li Xuan went to the company to work in the afternoon, and Li Ying was sent by her to report the good news to her parents who were working in the garment factory. After all, the whole family knew that today was the day when the college entrance examination results were released, and they must be anxiously waiting for the news.

"After going to Laodou's factory, I will come back to do my summer homework. I will check it at night!" Li Xuan told his sister, "When you come back, remember to call the boss again and ask him to come back for dinner. I just called him and didn't get through!"

"Understood, Er brother, you are more talkative than grandma!" Li Ying pouted and squinted at her second brother.

The college entrance examination is completed at the end of May, and the results will not be released until mid-July, and the university entrance exam will not be released until September. Naturally, Li Xuan would not let these months go to waste. He found a summer job in a small company engaged in import and export trade right after the exam.

At that time, the company called Hengtai Trading Co., Ltd. urgently recruited a temporary translator who was proficient in computer expertise. It's 1979, and the personal computer isn't out of the woods yet. Computers are still a very expensive and high-tech thing for most people.

The Apple II computer launched by Apple two years ago is priced at 10,000 Hong Kong dollars in Hong Kong. In this era when the average monthly income of ordinary people is only a thousand dollars, such an expensive thing is definitely a luxury for ordinary Hong Kong people.

The address of Hengtai Company is in an office building in the North Point of Hong Kong Island, opposite Victoria Harbour. When Li Xuan leaves home, he has to take the bus to Kwun Tong Ferry Pier first, and then take the ferry to the North Point Ferry Pier across the sea.

Sitting on the ferry, Li Xuan chose a window seat. Outside the window is the rippling sea, and looking west to the distance is the outline of Central. The grand central skyline of later generations has not yet taken shape, and the design drawings of the famous landmark buildings, the Bank of China Tower, the International Commerce Center, and the International Financial Center are still in the minds of architects.

Now the tallest building in Hong Kong is the Kangle Building, which was completed in 1973 with a height of 178.5 meters and a total of 52 floors. However, its status as the tallest building in Hong Kong will soon be lost. The Hopewell Center with a height of 216 meters and a total of 66 floors has been completed and will soon take its place.

Li Xuan couldn't help but sigh with emotion, the vicissitudes of life, and the difference between people and people, who could imagine the rebirth of transmigration, this kind of plot that can only appear in online YY novels, will one day hit him on the head.

Didn't he just accidentally fail to fasten his seat belt before the plane landed? Why did he have a flat tire? Boeing, your aircraft tires are made by Kumho! Li Xuan was thrown out of his seat tragically during the sudden turbulence of the plane, his head hit the floor heavily, and then he suddenly lost consciousness...

When he woke up again, he found that he had become another Hong Kong teenager with the same name and surname, and the time had also gone backwards. It was no longer 2015 in the 21st century, but all of a sudden back to 1979.

In China in 1979, the curtain of reform and opening up was slowly unfolding, and Bao-An- County on the other side of the Jiehe River was transformed into a deep-sea special economic zone. In the world of 1979, Margaret Thatcher became Britain's first ever female prime minister, and she will use her iron fist to win the reputation of "Iron Lady". This year, the Iranian hostage incident broke out, and the once Middle East ally of the United States instantly became the number one mortal enemy. In the same year, the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan, the red empire that once made the entire Western world tremble. UUkanshu www.uukanshu.com sounded the death knell for itself with a war that did not pay for itself.

As for Li Xuan's semiconductor major, Intel released a castrated version of the 8086 processor - a cheaper 8088 processor. It was with this processor that IBM launched the PC two years later, ushering in the era of the personal computer and profoundly changing the world.

Li Xuan in his previous life was an orphan. In the spring of 1992, one morning after the great man made his southern tour, he was found by a kind aunt in the toilet of the Shenhai Special Economic Zone Railway Station. After calling the police, he was sent to the social welfare center by the police uncle. , and then he grew up with this young city.

Li Xuan initially majored in software engineering in his undergraduate degree. Later, he thought about his unwillingness to become a code farmer after graduation, so he transferred from the School of Computer Science to the School of Information Engineering in his second year, majoring in microelectronics.

After graduating from an undergraduate degree, Li Xuan was very fortunate to apply for a full scholarship from a prestigious school in the United States with his excellent grades to study abroad for postgraduate studies. After successfully obtaining a master's degree, Li Xuan found a job in a large company in Silicon Valley doing the underlying design of embedded systems, with an annual salary of 120,000 yuan, which is considered to be the level of the middle class in the United States.

Two months ago, when Li Xuan attended a technical seminar, he met Chief Engineer Li of a well-known high-tech company in the deep-sea special zone, and the other party invited him to return to work in China. Li Xuan, who has been away from Shenhai Special Economic Zone for eight years since he went to college, suddenly had the urge to go home all the time. Although Shenhai did not have his relatives, he had all the memories of his youth.

So Li Xuan resigned resolutely and took the flight from San Francisco to Hong Kong, but he didn't expect an accident when he was about to arrive at the door...

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