Cafes are places where Europeans and Americans like to chat, chat, and gather every day, and Chen Bo chose Starbucks in Silicon Valley as the locals followed. The best place to talk about business in Huaxia is at the dinner table, and it is difficult to get things done without drinking under the table.

"You're Chan who emailed me?" A black man with glasses who looked like an iron tower walked up to Chen Bo and asked.

"You're Williams. Pratt? ”

"Yes, it's me." The black man pulled over the chair across from Chen Bo and sat down calmly across from him.

Chen Bo didn't expect that the other party was actually a black man, not that he was racist against blacks, but that Silicon Valley was prejudiced against blacks. Here, except for those basic jobs, there are very few blacks in the ranks of engineers and executives. Colored people other than whites are the faces of Asians, and India's suzerainty is the United Kingdom, which naturally has a language advantage, followed by Chinese and Japanese.

Chen Bo said, "Let's talk about your paper, if I'm interested, the price is not a problem." ”

"When did the Japanese become so generous?" Pratt muttered.

"When did Japanese people become so fluent in spoken English?" Chen Bo asked him with a smile.

"Oh, sorry, I see. You are Chinese, and I also know that the founder of Yahoo is also Chinese! Pratt suddenly came to his senses, and the speed of his reaction was quite fast.

"I graduated from Howard University, which is the best black college in the country!" Pratt looked very proud of his alma mater, but the expression on his face was a little lonely: "Even such an excellent university does not get a fair chance." No tech company wants to hire Howard graduates just because we're black. They always brag about how much good food and fun they have in their office, but they don't say what opportunities they can provide us. Google fired me on the grounds that I was not Google! Why is that? ”

Pratt whined in front of Chen Bo without scruples, and a disappointed expression crawled on his face. Pratt should have been an early immigrant, with skin that is closer to brown and looks like he is in his 30s.

Racism has never disappeared in the white world, even if the president of this country is black. Even though the labor law prohibits racial discrimination, companies have the right to choose their employees. Chen Bo couldn't say anything, so he had to interrupt him first and read his paper.

Pratt handed him a stack of bound papers in his leather bag, Chen Bo asked while reading it, it did involve too many professional terms, Chen Bo could basically understand it in the field of computer science, but he seemed to be more brain-burning in terms of advanced mathematics.

After two hours of careful study, Chen Bo closed the paper, he was still chewing on the concepts mentioned in it, but it was only an imperfect idea, this is a kind of program algorithm, which requires very large data support, millions to hundreds of millions of times of operation model.

What is the purpose of this algorithm, Pratt did not explain clearly, although Chen Bo already has the bottom in his heart, it is impossible to tell him now.

"What price do you want to sell?" Chen Bo closed the paper and asked.

Pratt saw that his face was expressionless, and even a little heavy, and knew that the other party was not very optimistic, so he said, "What do you think of 20,000 dollars?" ”

"$20,000?" Chen Bo frowned and repeated.

"No, no. $10,000 is also possible. Pratt panicked and didn't want to give up on the buyer.

"You studied computers?" Chen Bo did not give him a direct reply.

"Ah, I majored in Advanced Mathematics at Howard University, an elective in Computer Science. So I have two degrees! ”

"No one in Silicon Valley wants to hire you?"

Pratt saw that he hadn't gotten to the point, and looked at him left and right, so he said, "If you don't want to buy it, then let's leave it at that." With that, he reached for the paper on the table.

Chen Bo suddenly stretched out his hand and pressed it on the paper to organize his continued movements, and said, "Are you interested in coming to Huaxia to work?" ”

"Huaxia? No, no, no. Pratt's head shook like a rattle, "That's too far, and it's not rich." You know, I have to pay the rent and support my wife and children, and I will not leave the United States. ”

"How about an annual salary of $100,000? You can bring your family to Huaxia, and I will take care of all the expenses. You still retain your U.S. citizenship, and no one will force you to become a Chinese citizen. ”

$100,000? This annual salary is nothing in the eyes of white people, but in the black world, there are simply too few office workers who can get this salary, and those black sports and entertainment stars are a special case.

"$150,000. It can't be any higher, and if you can prove your worth, I'll give you an adjustment of the salary structure every year. And you can also have stock options for the company. ”

Chen Bo is seducing him step by step, and $150,000 is enough for him to buy a beautiful house in the United States.

"Okay, I can go. But you're going to tell me what the company does? What needs to be done from me! Pratt hesitated for a moment before agreeing, he couldn't turn down the tempting price.

"My company is an Internet company, what exactly do you want to do, I will tell you when you go to Huaxia, I spent so much money to hire you, of course I didn't let you go on vacation."

Now that Pratt had nodded in agreement, without further ado, Chen Bo then called Depp, helped him draw up an employment agreement, and paid $20,000 for settling-in. Wait until after the Spring Festival, that is, in February 2001, to drag the family to Huaxia Pengcheng.

Chen Bo also has to go back to China to go through the procedures, the company does not mean that you can hire foreigners arbitrarily casually, and you also need qualifications. At the same time, after sending him an official offer, Pratt can apply for a work visa to China from the Chinese consulate.

"Chen, as a responsible lawyer, I need to remind you that such a high salary is enough for you to hire a white engineer. And almost no companies in Silicon Valley are willing to use black people, not only because they are used to it, but because they have a hard time fitting into the corporate culture of Silicon Valley. ”

After Pratt left, Depp said to Chen Bo in line with his professional ethics.

"Don't worry, I have my own plans." Chen Bo smiled and patted Depp's shoulder.

In terms of tolerance, no ethnic group is more inclusive than the Han people, and it also has a super ability to assimilate, and how many powerful nomads have been sinicized and integrated since ancient times. Wasn't the Kunlun slaves of the Tang and Song dynasties also black, and the Israelis at that time also settled in Kaifeng, Tokyo, and did not want to return to the Middle East. Chen Bo never worried about this, and promised that after Pratt arrived in Huaxia, he would feel uncomfortable without eating boiled meat slices for three days.

Just as the American people were filled with the joyful atmosphere of the holiday, the FOX News Channel, Hua. The Sheldon Post, ABC, and the BBC in the United Kingdom have successively broadcast the news that Apple's music player "iPod" is about to be launched to the market after Apple's successful launch of the "iMac", and even the specific parameters and OEM factories are clear.

More powerful media have squatted to shoot the assembly line of the foundry factory, and got the engineering prototype, and the news screen clearly shows the "iPod" logo on the back of the player.

Affected by this news, Apple's stock price rose all the way, closing up 3.7 percentage points on the day, which does not seem to be much, but for the market with a market value of tens of billions of dollars, the market value has risen by 370 million dollars. Unlike the Shanghai and Shenzhen stock markets in China, the U.S. stock market is closed for one day on Christmas Day, rather than all day on holidays.

Apple's public relations department has been flooded with media reporters who have come to inquire and interview, and everyone wants to get this big news.

In the president's office, Steve Jobs slapped the table against the engineer in charge of the iPod, Davitt Jobs. Pueman yelled, "Who the hell, who leaked the iPod's project data?" ”

After learning the news, Jobs immediately ended his wonderful Christmas vacation, flew back to the Silicon Valley headquarters from the warm Caribbean Sea, and convened a meeting of the main responsible personnel.

"Do you know how much we've invested in this player? David, immediately investigate, who the hell is it, I'm going to screw his head! Jobs was furious and slammed the desk on the floor of his office.

As Apple's vice president, Tim Cook knows Jobs' personality well, he is very controlling, and pursues the ultimate perfection of details, but he will always be angry in front of employees. Although Cook is now the company's vice president and is primarily responsible for the iMac, Cook often plays a lubricant role in management.

"Steve, as far as I know, the iPod matter has always been extremely strict secrecy, and our people will not leak out, will there be news from other opponents."

"And you mean the Japanese?" Jobs calmed down and thought about it, electronic entertainment giant SONY now dominates the music player market, whether it is Walkman, MD, CD are in a dominant position, the biggest challenge in this market is definitely him.

"Now that all the media know, we should examine ourselves on the one hand, and on the other hand, we should speed up the acquisition of the iPod trademark." Cook said again.

"David, the question of self-examination is handed over to you, I will not allow any further mistakes!" There was a murderous look in Steve's eyes, and David had no doubt that he would tear himself to shreds, so he quickly made a promise that he would investigate thoroughly, and then fled Jobs's office.

Jobs was a genius, but at the same time a tyrant in the eyes of many, authoritarian, resolute, and in control.

"Call Neha to my office." Jobs rang the intercom on his desk.

After a while, the Indian uncle Neha knocked on the door of the president's office.

"How's the iPod trademark issue going?"

Old Neha said with a bitter face, "It's not ideal, Mr. President." At first, it was the trademark ownership that I talked about, but these days it was his lawyer, and he was an alcoholic. I feel like I'm going to die of torture......"

"How much is the other party's offer?" Jobs interrupted old Neha's nagging.

"The other party insisted on a $60 million royalty." Old Neha said helplessly.

"What? $60 million licensed? Why didn't he go and grab it? Is he wronged to be Apple, damn it, is he a robber!! Jobs roared again with a thunderous roar.