After taking care of the rear, Gu Mojie can finally free up his hands to deal with the funds embezzled by Jeff Hinton. On the first day of August, he rushed to Hujiang early in the morning, and together with Fei Liluo, Vivien Leigh and another professional foreign-related lawyer from the law firm, the four of them boarded a United Airlines flight at Pudong Airport.

For anyone who tries to fly directly from the Shanghai River to the United States for the first time, the most touching thing about the vastness of the world is not just the mechanical repetitive flight over the monotonous Pacific Ocean for more than a dozen hours in a row;

What's more, it's the speed of the airplane, which multiplies the sense of the passage of time – the Earth rotates from west to east as the plane flies eastward at speeds of more than 800 kilometers per hour. Therefore, people on the plane, within 12 hours, can enjoy a round of sunrise and sunset, sunset and comeback. It seems that the entire space-time has doubled in speed as a result.

Of course, if it is a flight back from the United States, passengers can experience the spectacle of the scorching sun not setting for 30 hours, or the night for more than 30 hours without dawn, as if time has stood still, and the laws of time and space have become toys to be manipulated here.

The soreness of this jet difference made Gu Mojie's legs weak when he got down from San Francisco International Airport. He regretted a little why he didn't listen to Vivien Leigh and booked a flight to take off at night.

However, it is finally time to set foot on the land of the San Francisco Bay Area, a hot land in the heart of the Internet world.

As soon as she got out of the airport, Fei Liluo saw that Gu Mojie was not in good spirits, so she persuaded softly: "Why don't you rest for two days first?" Anyway, it's a month, and I'm not in a hurry to go to Mountain View. We also had to set aside time for my aunt to reach out to her business partner here in San Francisco. ”

The name Mountain View is a paraphrase, and the English name is MountainView. There are also some domestic maps that prefer to be transliterated directly as "Montevia", which is where Google is located.

When Chinese lawyers arrive in the United States, they are not allowed to handle any business that requires a license, and can only act as brokers and take the lead in providing some advice. Vivien Leigh's law firm has a lot of foreign-related business, and naturally there are long-term local law firms in the United States.

Gu Mojie woke up and felt that there was really no need to be in a hurry, so he compromised.

"Then let's rest for two days. Where to book a hotel? ”

"Not far away, just in Belmont, a small town. Leaning on Highway 101, it is convenient to go anywhere. ”

Gu Mojie is not particular about these. Naturally, he obeyed Felilo's arrangement. It was also thanks to Fei Liluo's heart, and all kinds of homework in advance were done very solidly. A few people took a taxi and headed straight for Belmont.

The San Francisco Bay Area is a small, loose urban agglomeration structure that is common in the western United States. Compared with the traditional three-dimensional structure of the East Coast, California in the west seems to be moving from industry to management to city. All present a flatter structure.

The so-called Silicon Valley is actually only the southern half of the Bay Area. On the south shore of San Francisco Bay, seven or eight small cities divided into several counties are lined up along Highway 101 to become Silicon Valley.

AMONG THESE SMALL TOWNS ARE MOUNTAIN VIEW, WHERE GOOGLE IS LOCATED, CUPATINO, WHERE APPLE, AND SAN JOSE, WHERE ADOBE IS LOCATED. There are also Berkeley and Palo Alto, which are known for their academics – UC Berkeley and Stanford University, which are located in these two places.

Sitting in the car, the experience of being able to drive only a dozen kilometers from the city to the suburbs and then re-enter the urban area of another city is hard to imagine in China.

It seems that megacities have a siphon effect of disease. In Silicon Valley, there is no zài at all. Although it operates one of the most demanding industries in the world, there is no need for space constraints.

Here, if you want, you can do the world's most high-tech work while enjoying an idyllic living environment.

Gu Mojie looked at the staggered scenery of modern and pastoral outside the car, and said with emotion: "Before I came out, I thought that among the developed countries in the world, only Germany did not have megacity diseases. I didn't expect that the United States also has something that has done well in this area. ”

"The United States is so big, how can it be generalized, there is always a good one. There are also bad ones. Feliro sat next to Gu Mojie, took over the conversation and teased casually, "The traditional industrial city on the East Coast, New York." Chicago, which is not crowded to death. Even if it's California, I heard my aunt say, if you go to Southern California, Los Angeles, even though the city is quite open. However, the problem of traffic jams is even more severe than that of New York and Chicago. You can't find a lot of structures like the San Francisco Bay Area in the United States, maybe Seattle in the north is okay. ”

Gu Mojie felt related and thought of a question: "You haven't been to the United States either, so why don't you do your homework in advance and study the customs?" ”

Fei Liluo glanced at him with disgust: "Am I so bored? It's just that I heard my aunt talk about it. ”

The two chatted and went to the hotel in Belmont. After the group checked in and settled down, Gu Mojie took Feliro around to take a look at the scenery. The hotel is only a dozen storeys high, but standing on the top floor of the revolving restaurant, you can already see the edge of the city, which shows how small the city is.

Buildings, parks, even farms, ranches, and fisherman's wharves, when they appear in the same view, bring a wonderful sense.

According to the habitual thinking of the Chinese, these places should be "every inch of land and every inch of gold". Those discordant agricultural land or wasteful green spaces and parks should be shoveled to build tall buildings, but the Americans squandered the land in this way.

Gu Mojie stood on the roof of the building, pointed to a vast green space near the sea in the northeast, and asked, "What kind of place is there?" Why is it so empty? ”

Feliro looked at the map and replied, "I guess it's Belle Isle National Park." There are a few fisherman's wharves there, and it is not allowed to be overdeveloped. ”

"How about we go there and find a fisherman's wharf for dinner?"

"Aren't you tired? Wouldn't it be nice to just take a bite here and go straight to sleep? ”

"It's jet lag, if you fall asleep during the day, you have to wake up in the middle of the night. Why don't you accompany me to have dinner early and come back at six or seven o'clock to rest. ”

Fei Liluo couldn't help it, so she followed Gu Mojie downstairs. Fortunately, it was only two miles away, and the two of them were tired of taking a plane or a car, so they walked around.

I found a small shop in the shape of a wooden house at Fisherman's Wharf and sat down, and the owner was actually a middle-aged Chinese in his forties. Gu Mojie was a little surprised at first, but after chatting with the boss for a few words, he knew that Chinese, Indian, and Judas in Silicon Valley were the most foreign ethnic groups, so there were many restaurants with a little exotic characteristics.

Gu Mojie joked with the shopkeeper: "I just ate Chinese food when I went abroad...... Boring. I'll wait until I'm tired of Western food before eating Chinese food. ”

The boss was obviously very good at soliciting customers, explaining: "We are not Chinese food. It's just that you can bring a little bit of Chinese seafood cooking. If you don't like it, it's okay to make it according to French food. ”

Gu Mojie flipped through the recipe, glanced at it twice, and knew that the so-called Fisherman's Wharf here was also a brother's pretence. A few seafood dishes are locally caught, while others are imported and frozen. But think about it, how can there be many fishery resources in a location like San Francisco.

Keep looking down the next second. Gu Mojie was stunned by the price on the menu.

"Grade A Australian lobster $12 a pound? Grade B $9 per pound? So cheap? ”

A few months ago, when Gu Mojie ate in China, he still needed three or four hundred and one pounds, which was at least equivalent to $50 a pound. In a few years, the price of domestic lobsters will double again.

The owner quickly pointed to the small print at the back of the menu and explained: "This is just the quotation of the ingredients when you order the whole - there are side dishes and cooking costs later, you have to include them." ”

Gu Mojie followed the boss's instructions and looked down, and then there was the price of cooking and side dishes, the labor in the United States is not cheap, and the salary of the chef is also high, and a lobster is ordered. The latter two items are still $60.

In other words, as long as you order lobster, whether it is 2 pounds or 6 pounds, the cooking cost is $60. If spread out evenly, the larger the shrimp, the more cost-effective.

Gu Mojie wasn't bad for money, but he felt that it was too cost-effective for a while, and pondered: "Or, let's eat an A-grade, 6-pound one?" It looks like a good deal. ”

Feliro gave him a blank look: "Can you finish eating?" ”

Gu Mojie patted his chest: "6 pounds is the amount of shells, why can't you finish it?" It's better to get a few less other dishes. ”

said. I didn't discuss it with Feliro anymore and placed an order directly. Feliro looked secretly funny, a person of such a value would actually think that it was worth eating a certain dish. Just a little more.

"You're a ...... I'm not afraid of price drops. ”

"Why did it drop the price? I have been tormented by tariffs in China for so many years, and I finally came out for a trip, and I was not allowed to take advantage of it and come back? It's not that I'm not bad for money, but I just feel that I've lived a good life over the years. Americans' consumer protection is really powerful, and eating a lobster has to be so clear. It turns out that every year I go to Qiandao Lake to eat fish heads, and the slaughter is more ruthless than here. ”

Seafood on very quickly. Gu Mojie and Feliro immediately had no time to chat. The two came for a walk, so they ordered two glasses of red wine. Such a small shop is very easy-going, you can order wine by the bottle or by the glass; On the open-air counter, there was a half-bottle of wine stuffed with a cork, and it was a casual mess.

The lobster on the chef was originally only cut into the shell of the shrimp body, and the shrimp claws were still whole, and most Americans did not eat claws when eating lobsters. Gu Mojie has good teeth, and he doesn't care about his image, so he asked the boss to provide a small hammer, so he smashed the shrimp claws, picked out the whole round and plump meat, and threw it into Feliluo's dinner plate.

Gu Mojie himself also ate a lot of lobster, drank two glasses of Montana ice wine, and sighed thoughtfully: "I finally know why Silicon Valley people always think they can change the world." ”

Feliro didn't bother to talk to him: "What's the matter?" It's only been a day, and I'm so emotional. ”

Gu Mojie was not reluctant, he knew that Fei Liluo couldn't keep up with his train of thought:

"I'm not emotional, but I've really figured it out -- you see, in other parts of the United States, or in Britain, France, and Japan, if you want to make a lot of money and engage in a gold-collar profession, you have to go to the megacities. The division of labor and cooperation in those modern industries are becoming more and more rigorous and meticulous, and people need to be more and more together. As a result, what is the point of making so much money, only living in such a small house and breathing polluted air?

Only in Silicon Valley, the people here are actually committed to one thing every day - so that human beings with more and more detailed social division of labor do not need to gather together in one place, and can still create enough value. With the Internet becoming more and more developed, why do humans still have to crowd into megacities and communicate face-to-face every day? Can't you communicate in video conferences and conference calls?

Why do we have to squeeze into the 'high-tech industrial park' planned by the government when we engage in the Internet in China? Such planning itself is contrary to the basic spirit of the network. ”

When Gu Mojie said this, maybe he drank too much, and his thoughts were like springs. He asked for another glass of ice wine, took a sip, and waved his hand boldly: "One day, when I am developed, I will return to China to build a bunch of Internet companies, and I will not go to the industrial park planned by the government." That kind of park, whoever likes to squeeze whom. ”

"You've drunk too much, so let's take a taxi and go back to sleep." (To be continued.) )