Outside the Supreme Court building in Washington, NBC reporters spoke to the camera:

"We have seen the presence of lawyers representing Microsoft, IBM, Compaq, Brandland, and MicroPort, who should have challenged Actor's plagiarism in the same way as Lotus, who had previously filed amicus curiae briefs in favor of Actor."

An ABC news reporter introduced the image in front of the building before the trial from another angle:

"In addition to peers and professionals, we see that there are about 200 lawyers who represent various non-profit advocacy organizations as amicus curiae and will be in the scene today to hear the Supreme Court's decision in the infringement case of Lotus Inc. v. Actor, in addition to Stanford University's representative of the university that is the founder of Actor, and there will be a number of students and administrators who will intervene in this trial in various capacities."

"And in addition to these lawyers who are entering the building, we can also notice that there are about five or six hundred people gathered at the scene, mostly women, holding 'Support Tommy' and 'God bless the righteous' 'Don't let Lotus break the American dream!' It is understood that these are some of the people who received the OSS software of the Actor company for free, and we interviewed one at random. ”

"Hello, ma'am, what do you call it?" The reporter walked up to a middle-aged woman in her thirties and handed the microphone to the other person's mouth.

The middle-aged woman looked at the camera, first waved her hand curiously, and then said, "I'm Emily, and I'm from Badsville, Washington, D.C." ”

"Emily, why are you here?" The reporter asked with a smile at Emily.

Emily said seriously to the camera: "Support Actor, support Tommy Hawk, I hope to have the opportunity to tell him face to face, don't be afraid, don't panic, we are standing here, with him, he is not for himself, he just wants more people to live with dignity, he is not wrong, if the court decides that Actor loses the lawsuit, he should not worry, we may not be able to afford the expensive software of those big companies, But we can afford to pay 49.99, and we'll raise money to get him and the Actor through it. ”

"Wow, but Tommy and the Actor company may be ...... for plagiarism" The reporter frowned slightly, trying to turn the question to his opinion on the lawsuit, but before he could finish asking, Emily had already corrected what he said with some dissatisfaction:

"He didn't plagiarize! Not having a clear law telling this poor kid that he can't do that is a mistake of American justice! But now the rich men and the judges are clearly trying to get rich and steal our money and kill him! We cannot tolerate a massacre in full view! His mother must have burst into tears in Heaven at this time, and her kind, loving son was about to be framed as a sinner by this country......"

Benjamin Rosen, chairman of Compaq and executive director of EFF, appeared next to the camera at this time, as if he happened to pass by, and the reporter quickly shook off Emily and chased after him and asked: "Mr. Rosen, as a professional in the computer industry, can you briefly talk about your views on this lawsuit and why many companies in the computer industry are willing to support this possible infringement of Actor Inc." ”

"Because a certain court judgment in favor of Lotus is a subversion for the entire computer industry, practitioners are aware of this potential harm, so as practitioners and professionals, it is natural to make the most sober decision." Benjamin Rosen spoke gracefully into the microphone and walked towards the Supreme Court building.

"The Actor Corporation has arrived!" A voice rang out from the crowd.

Two vans slowly approached from a distance, parked outside the building, the crowd crowded, the doors opened, and out came Delia Case and her team of lawyers, Actor Co-founders Holly Keener, Jason White, but none of the blonde boy who had told everyone at the hearing that he was ready to take all the blame alone.

"Excuse me, Mr. Case, won't Mr. Tommy Hawke be present at the trial today?" A reporter saw that the car was empty, and asked loudly to Delia and the others.

The people who came to show their solidarity also asked loudly, "Where's Tommy?" ”

Faced with questions from reporters, Delia and the lawyers were expressionless and tried to walk towards the building, but the crowd kept asking questions.

Delia didn't speak, Jason lowered his head and was silent, only Holly, who seemed unable to face those enthusiastic eyes, plus walking at the end, was a little overwhelmed in front of everyone at the moment, barely squeezed out an ugly smile, and hesitated to speak:

"Tommy has some problems right now and can't come with us right now, but we're confident that he's with everyone at Actor."

"What happened?" Hearing that someone was finally willing to answer, countless topics and flashing lights were pointed at Holly, and she asked loudly.

"Someone...... Sorry, I can't say the identity of the other party, but they want to take some time to talk to Tommy about the lawsuit, after the conversation, Tommy is a little uncomfortable, he told us that his head hurts, and the doctor told him to rest, so he can't come to the court in person to attend the trial, but he asked me to say that no matter what kind of punishment is made, he will accept it calmly, I'm sorry, everyone, I'm a little out of shape, please let me in......" Holly looked pitiful and weak, and covered her mouth with her hand.

Jim Mantz, who was wearing a baseball bat in a low-key manner, and as the former vice president of Lotus, he will attend the trial today as a witness for the plaintiff Lotus, with a relaxed expression at the moment.

Of course it's easy, if it weren't for the fact that I ran fast, I would be the one who was anxious now.

Hearing Holly's words, the corners of his mouth turned up unconsciously, this is definitely a trick directed and acted by Tommy Hawke to deceive these poor ghosts in the square outside, wow, look, the grand thief Tommy touched the cake of interest, some people don't want him to attend the trial, and some people are afraid of him.

As for who Tommy was dragged by, it doesn't matter, anyway, it's the big guys, why are you sure? Of course, in order to defeat Actor, Lotus replaced their diligent vice president, Jim Manz, with a guy with Kennedy in his name.

In fact, it's all the cranky thoughts of those people, the real reason is that the Supreme Court's trial will not be open to the public, at most you can only consult the text, there is no TV broadcast, no reporters to take pictures, that bastard has no room to play at all, of course, this matter must be handed over to a lawyer who deals with judges more professionally.

Otherwise, the bastard said to a bunch of justices with great passion: I am willing to bear all my sins! Those justices are not lawless legislators, and if these justices are moved by Tommy's sincere feelings and decide to fulfill him to become an American saint, Tommy will find a place to hang himself, and see if he can be resurrected in three days, if he can be resurrected, he will become Jesus, and if he dies, it will be the funniest joke for the next hundred years.

"God bless the righteous......" Jim walked up the stairs towards the building, looking at the signs that only made him laugh: "I hope someone will help him, and then thank him, this kind of bastard can be called a righteous man, this is a strange fucking magical country, and if it goes on like this, maybe Tommy or another person with a strong demagogue will tell them that he is a woman, maybe they will believe it, and invite him to the women's bathroom." ”

Holly over there didn't seem to be able to say any more, so she hurriedly dropped a word of sorry, and turned around to follow the footsteps of Jason and the others, causing the others to look at each other.

The middle-aged woman named Emily, who was interviewed just now, took the opportunity to appear in front of the unfocused camera at this time and said loudly:

"America needs a young man like Tommy, who has all the virtues, who will make this country better, and who will win! God bless the righteous! ”

……

On the terrace of the Four Seasons Hotel Washington Riverview Suite, feeling the damp breeze blowing from the Potomac River for a moment, Tommy, who was sitting on the sofa, slowly opened his eyes in pajamas: "This is the only day during this time that I don't have to take sleep aids and sleep until I wake up naturally." ”

Stephen Bahn looked at the river scenery in the distance and turned to Tommy Hawke: "It's an honor to be framed by you as the hidden big man who put pressure on you to prevent you from participating in the trial, Tommy, obviously you called me here, and then you asked your blonde girl to tell the outside that someone was putting pressure on, and you didn't dare to refuse." ”

"You're worth a 600 million, big guy, how could I refuse you?" Tommy laughed:

"The Supreme Court is not open to the public, so there is no need for me to waste my saliva myself, let the lawyers take care of it."

In the living room in the distance, Sophia paid a tip to the waiter who rang the doorbell, and then brought her coffee and snacks herself.

Stephen said thank you, looked at Sophia's back as she walked back to the living room, and then looked at Tommy with an inquiring gaze, Tommy Hawk shrugged: "Secretary, girlfriend, assistant, whatever, I didn't pay her anyway." ”

"I don't believe you don't pay, there are women willing to help you deliver coffee." Stephen Benn said in the affirmative.

"Am I attractive, okay? The whole of America is fascinated by me~" Tommy glared dissatisfiedly when he heard Stephen's evaluation of himself:

"I didn't pay Sophia a penny, I just relied on my personal charm and love to help her a little bit."

Stephen pouted: "Love? You're a stingy poor ghost, and you're going to have that kind of thing like love? ”

"I said to an organization called EFF that in order to thank Sophia for providing pro bono legal help to vulnerable people in the computer software industry, EFF donated a sum of money to Stanford Law School as a scholarship, and Stanford Law School gave her a gift, which may not be much for you, but it is enough for Sophia to continue to provide me with pro bono legal aid." Tommy said lightly.

Stephen's eyes widened: "You're going to have to find a way to avoid taxes when you pay your chicks?" If this continues, you will have to avoid taxes as much as possible whether you buy Torjan or not! ”

Tommy made a gesture to the other party and said seriously: "It's Stanford University that gave her a scholarship, what's the matter with me?" ”

"Then why don't I see your chick to help the dean of the law school bring coffee?"

"Sophia, my friend asked why you didn't bring coffee to the dean."

Sophia sighed, raised her head and pushed the glasses on the bridge of her nose: "Because the dean is busy with the opportunities you have created, he frequently appears in the public eye, and he is helping you run to improve his popularity by the way." ”

"The Dean told her that she should just thank me, boy of the Order of the Phoenix." Tommy made a pouting and kissing motion to Stephen deliberately provoked, and then changed the subject:

"Let's get down to business, big guy, remember when I said that when the time comes, you can take the money out and invest it, and then your Tommy dad will give you some pocket money? Time's up. ”

"How much money do you need?" Stephen heard Tommy talk about taking the money out to invest, and took a sip of coffee:

"Give me a reason, so that I can have a reason when I inform the manager of the wealth management company, even if you say that you need me to pay you to treat AIDS, it's okay, any reason."

"600,000 OSS users are looking forward to it, waiting for me to sell them computers, after the software circle occupies a place, of course, the hardware also has to be inserted, not to take advantage of the current foothold, and then want those big companies to give a chance, the probability is lower than the probability of God appearing." Tommy said to Stephen:

"During this time, EFF, Actor has been in initial contact with several companies in the industry and will likely get their money in, you know? The Actor Company can't always be Tommy's one-man company, so my shares are diluted somewhat, but it's not for nothing, and I'm going to transfer some shares and get some cash, and the company valuation is all fake, as long as the money is real. ”

Stephen put down his coffee cup, picked up the cigarette case and lit one, then tossed the cigarette case to Tommy: "To the point, Tommy, I'm not interested in how much money you make." ”

"Mr. Benjamin Rosen of Compaq has urged me many times to invest in Actor in Compaq's name as soon as I nod my head, remove the Compaq logo from the computers they produce, and replace them with the Actor brand, and in his opinion, 600,000 users, even if only 100,000 people are willing to buy computers, that sales are enough to scare everyone." Tommy also took out a cigarette and put it in his mouth:

"I can be free of software, but the hardware can't be free, everyone should be able to understand, right, and we can assemble it ourselves, or we can hand it over to those small companies that are blocked outside by IBM, Compaq and them to process on their behalf, and then give away some software from other small companies in the EFF alliance for free, which is invested by Actor, I am not greedy, I am not interested in the hardware market of more than 1,000 yuan, IBM, Apple, Compaq they compete casually, but the computer market below 1,000 yuan, I want to have a territory."

Stephen exhaled a puff of smoke: "I'm not a computer science major, Tommy, needless to say it's too complicated, just tell me, how much money your Actor company needs." ”

"My actor company doesn't need money." Tommy said to Stephen.

When Stephen heard Tommy's words, he was so angry that he choked on the smoke and coughed twice: "Then you let me take the money out, is it joining forces with you to open a striptease club?" ”

"I mean, those 600,000 people and probably many more have their wallets left to me instead of being emptied by others, and at least I'm willing to change their lives." Tommy looked at Stephen:

"Do you know what a microloan is?"

"Shouldn't loans be a bank's business?" Stephen paused for a moment: "All the 600 million yuan is taken out for investment, and the size of this bank can only be regarded as a tiny bank, Tommy, not to mention that I can't take it all out to invest in you to open a bank." ”

Tommy motioned for Stephen to listen to him: "I'm going to open a microfinance bank, and I'm going to lend money unsecured to those who trust me, to buy computers, buy software, or do other things that want to change myself, I won't lend to rich people, I require that borrowers must live below the poverty line, and I'm willing to accept the bank's suggestion to create a five-person customer group, they're one, and once the group is formed, they'll be able to get bank accounts, receive loans, Every week, the five of them have a group meeting under the auspices of the bank staff, where they complete the loan repayment, exchange ideas about the progress or change of the week, and so on. ”

"Weekly? It's so frequent that I've heard that family bills are sent once a month. Stephen said puzzled.

Tommy looked at the cigarette in his hand and said: "The high frequency of contact with weekly loans can effectively guarantee the repayment rate, because it will make people always tighten the clockwork in their heads, and the borrower also needs frequent encouragement or guidance, this is benign contact, and if you only contact once a month, and it is just a cold debt collection call, believe me, bad debts will definitely give you a headache." ”

Stephen frowned, although he didn't care about the money, he didn't want to lend it to a group of poor ghosts, and asked with some concern: "What if the other party doesn't repay the loan after a week?" ”

"He won't be able to get the next micro-loan, waiting to be picked up by someone to come to the door and take away things like computers and software, so that the bank's losses will be relatively smaller, and if the rest of his group thinks he has a reason, they can pay the loan for him to make sure that he can stay in the group, if no one wants to help him, he needs to leave, there is no possibility of 100% bad debts, just try to use this way to urge those people to change the status quo of life, otherwise how can the bank win a good reputation, If you and I decide to be the president and chancellor of the exchequer in this country, it will not be a summer camp game, these are precious honors. Tommy explained his train of thought.

Stephen shook his head: "This will definitely lose money, you and I can't run for president, the most profitable is probably your computer company, because this bank needs real money to buy computers and software for those poor people, if they refuse to repay the loan, it is a bad debt, you tell me how to make a profit?" ”

"Don't be like that, be more tolerant and generous to the poor, after all, they are the majority of this country." Tommy smiled at Stephen and said:

"However, in addition to providing this low-interest loan to people who are interested in changing their fate, in order to ensure the bank's income, I am going to use SSD's connections to carry out another business, called payday small consumer loans, mainly for the brave soldiers in the United States, the interest and penalty interest will be much higher, anyway, I don't worry that these American GIs will not be able to repay the loan, just use the post-dated checks issued by the state treasury for these GIs, and deduct our loans and interest on payday on time, so that their accounts are managed by us, All they need to do is pay off their debts every month, continue to borrow money from us, and write a post-dated check for the following month. ”

Stephen was dumbfounded, although he was a rich man, he had never been short of money, but he was sure that none of those GIs could refuse Tommy's temptation, where did this grandson come up with such an idea of cutting off his grandchildren:

"What about after retirement? There is no salary from the state treasury and there is no job for the time being......"

"If the U.S. government doesn't want to pay, then the bank has to take the bill and take his house and car and bankrupt him, or introduce them to be mercenaries and make more money, but that's not what the bank should think about, you know? I am kind to help the poor, but I will not help the US government, it is the government of this country that has created the sin, causing these brave soldiers to go bankrupt, obviously these soldiers are too poorly paid, they need to borrow money, the state will raise their salaries, what is the matter with my bank that lent them money? Tommy looked at Stephen innocently:

"I never make poor people's money."

"It's true that you're not making poor people's money, but you're robbing American servicemen's wallets......" Stephen could no longer find the right expression to express his inner reaction at the moment.

Tommy shrugged: "We started small, for example, starting with the California military base, and then expanding to nearby Texas, New Mexico, and finally all the garrison bases in the United States have our business near us, SSD has been working with the Veterans Association, and it is time to return to some good deeds." ”

"And I've always believed that lending is more effective in eradicating poverty than just charity, and lending will increase the initiative of the poor, and we will encourage them to change from borrowers to savers, and then use the money they have saved, to lend more people in need, or to invest in more businesses that need help, you don't know, there are a lot of great businesses in the United States that are worth investing in, worth helping, but I don't have the money, so I can only use everyone's money to do this."

Stephen covered his forehead: "But you won't share the money you earn from investment with everyone." ”

"The money I worked so hard to invest was mine, and those people didn't do anything, so why take my money?" Tommy said confidently.

"They can't do anything, not only can't they take your money, but they're also going to have a loan." Stephen rubbed his forehead: "I have Jewish ancestry, but I feel like you are more like a Jew than I am now." ”

At this time, Sophia turned on the TV in the living room, and a middle-aged woman happened to appear on the live news screen, and she yelled at the camera in her loudest voice:

"America needs a young man like Tommy, who has all the virtues, who will make this country better, and who will win! God bless the righteous! ”

Stephen closed his eyes, leaned back on the couch, and whispered, "Tommy Hawk, with all virtues, this is definitely the most ironic black humor I've ever heard." ”

Six thousand words~

(End of chapter)