51 The Special Disk

Qin Guan nodded. It was a busy business. There were quite a few people around the shelves, standing or squatting down on the floor.

The young man was too busy counting the disks to help Qin Guan.

Qin Guan had to depend on himself. Squatting down on the floor, he pushed lightly through the pile of disks containing popular TV series and films of the time.

There were films like “A Wicked Ghost”, “The Emperor and the Assassin”, “Sorry, Baby”, and so on.

Among the TV series were “Man's Best Friend”, “Witness to a Prosecution”, “White-Haired Heroine”, etc. I have watched these in my past life. They're bringing back memories of the old days.

Qin Guan selected several disks and pulled over a red plastic bag from a shelf nearby. He put them in the bag and turned to the shelf on the left to look at the video games.

There were lots of games there. “Age of Empires”, “Railroad Tycoon II”, “Taikou Risshiden III”, etc.

Qin Guan picked several disks up and threw them inside the bag. Liu Xiaoyang will be delighted to get them as a gift.

Finally, he took a CD titled “Xianglong Financial Software” from the shelf on the right. There were ten disks all in all.

Qin Guan handed the bag to the young man. Looking around, he asked him in a low voice, “Hey, dude. Where are the special disks?”

The young man looked up in understanding. He looked around again before pulling Qin Guan to the most secluded corner of the room.

There was a giant travelling bag there that could be carried away easily. All the special disks were inside.

Rubbing his hands, the young man asked slyly, “Who do you want?”

Qin Guan was surprised. He answered with a question, “Who do you have?”

The young man realized he was a green hand, and shared his experience with Qin Guan proudly, “There are both veteran and new stars here. Who would you like?” Then he went on to list Japanese adult movie actresses. Qin Guan was confused. He wasn't familiar with those girls at all. “Who would you recommend?” he asked modestly.

The young man raised his head and patted his chest proudly. “Okay, I’ll choose for you. How many do you want?” Qin Guan lifted two fingers. “I’ll try a couple first. If they're good, then I’ll come back for more.”

With the same understanding expression in his eyes, the young man patted Qin Guan on the shoulder. “You must have bought CDs titled ‘An Encounter in the Wild Field’, only to find that it's ‘Animal World’ when you return home. Those sellers are f*cking cheaters. We are honest businessmen, we don't like men like that. Since you trust me, I’ll help you choose. They'll be excellent.”

Qin Guan nodded. The young man took two disks out of the bag with ease, sheathed them in white-paper shells, and threw them into Qin Guan's bag. Qin Guan paid him 60 yuan.

It was no wonder that piracy was flourishing in 1999. The internet wasn’t widespread yet, and this was much cheaper than buying hundred-yuan video games and thousand-yuan office software.

The young man filled in the number “12” at the column where Sun Erhua had signed. The deal was made.

Qin Guan walked outside the building, feeling very pleased with himself. Suddenly, he remembered what he had planned on doing at Zhongguancun in the first place.

He found himself in a dilemma once again. Shall I buy the memory banks or not? It's no pain, no gain after all!

It was said that people would go as far as to commit murder for double profit. Plus, this would be 300% profit.

Thinking of this, Qin Guan quickly entered the bank beside Zhongguancun Center and withdrew 8,000 yuan.

That was most of his income from his part-time job. Taking a long breath, Qin Guan then entered the Zhongguancun Center and took the escalator to the third floor of the building.

There were several small counters there, each of them a small shop. Many people had started their businesses by sharing a counter with other partners there.

There were plenty of customers and sellers. Qin Guan did not stand out among them.

He walked to a counter at the far corner of the third floor. Behind the counter, there was a handwritten sign reading, “Motherboards and memory banks on sale.”

Qin Guan knocked on the counter and asked the boss, “How much is the 128M memory bank?” “

The man behind the counter looked up and answered plainly, “85 yuan each.”

Qin Guan was unsatisfied with the price. Shaking his head, he said, “I’m not a retail customer. I know the market here. Twenty sticks, 79 yuan each. Is that okay?”

Qin Guan had the man's attention now. Whoops. The boy might be young, but he sure is familiar with the market. Still, he insisted on his original price.

Then he thought it over and shook his head again, “No, the price today is 80 yuan. No more bargaining.”

Qin Guan looked around and said in low voice, “To be honest, dude, twenty sticks from your shop are not enough to satisfy my demand.”

The man looked excited. He moved closer to Qin Guan and asked in low voice, “How many do you want? Tell me. I can get them from other shops for you.”

Qin Guan lifted one finger carefully. “One hundred for that price.”

The man knocked on the counter. “Deal.” Then he took out a folding chair for Qin Guan. “Sit down for a bit. I’ll go check my stock.”

Qin Guan put the chair down and went to buy a bottle of water from the resting area. When he returned, he found the man with a bag of parts on the counter.

While he was drinking, the man finished counting. There were only 33 sticks. He was 67 sticks short. The man told Qin Guan to wait a while and manage the counter for him while he went to get the sticks from other shops.

He ran to the shop in front and talked with the young man behind the counter, who gave him two memory banks.

The man took them and moved on to the next shop. When Qin Guan was half-way through his bottle of mineral water, the man returned with a bag full of memory banks.

He piled them all in his hand on the counter and counted, “... ninety-eight, ninety-nine, one hundred exactly!”

Qin Guan was straightforward with him. “I will not open the packages, but I've got to ask. How did the others find new products just like that? How can I know that the quality is good?”

The man smiled. “You are so weird. Such a big number of memory banks will be either for stock or for sale. Or will you just keep them at home? If you plan on selling them later on, the outer package will have to be intact. The seniors in our circle can guarantee that they're new products. There are no scratches on them. They're experienced, don't worry.”

Qin Guan felt relieved. He kept one of the bills and handed over the rest to the man. “7,900 yuan. Count them.”

Beaming, the man counted the bills. Then he took out a currency detector from a corner and counted them again.

Finally, he straightened up and said, “No problem, take them. Come back anytime.” He gave Qin Guan a business card.

Qin Guan took the bag and the card, nodded at the man, and left Zhongguancun.