Chapter 409: Praise to the point of madness
In the New Year of 1984, Shirakawa Kaede did not return to his hometown in Akita.
Not only him, but even Kazuko and Shirakawa Hayato did not return to Akita Prefecture.
Because of the births of Haruko and Mei, Shirakawa Kaede's family, including Tanaka Yuko's family, stayed in Tokyo to celebrate the New Year.
This was the first private gathering of their families, and because there were so many people, the courtyard in Setagaya Ward became unusually lively.
"Brother-in-law...well, the grapes in your house are really good." On the sofa, Ryuzo Tanaka was holding a bunch of grapes the size of ping-pong balls and eating them happily.
Tsk, the life of rich people is different.
It is unexpected that we can achieve fruit freedom in Neon during the cold winter.
Is this the power of the top billionaires?
While sizzling the grapes, Ryuzo Tanaka glanced at the sliced pineapple beside him.
"Longsan, do you think these grapes have a special flavor?"
Shirakawa Kaede picked up a piece of melon and stuffed it into his mouth with a smile. Hmm~ it lives up to the name of Yubari.
"Hey, a special taste?" Tanaka Ryuzo picked up a grape and looked at it carefully.
There's nothing special about it except that it's very big and tastes very sweet.
"Puff~" He spit a seed into the pond, attracting a group of fish to scramble for it.
Shirakawa Feng wiped his mouth, turned his head and looked at Tanaka Ryuzo who was busy eating grapes beside him and responded.
“The smell of dollars.”
"Huh?" Tanaka Ryuzo stopped talking and looked at him strangely.
"Here," Baichuan Feng raised his chin, "The one in your hand is $6,400."
"Six thousand..." Stunned Tanaka Ryuzo had just said half of his sentence when he jumped up on the spot as if he had been electrocuted.
He held the half bunch of grapes in his arms tightly with both hands and asked again as if to confirm.
"$6,400? 1.6 million yen?!"
"Hmm~" Baichuan Feng nodded and picked up another piece of pineapple.
"This...this..." When Tanaka Ryuzo learned that he had spent 800,000 yen, the expression on his face was extremely complicated.
When he came to his senses, his first reaction was to wonder if he could exchange the remaining half of the string for money.
He roughly counted a string of 25 beads, which cost $6,400, an average of $226 per bead.
Converted into Japanese yen, it is more than 50,000 yen per piece. Oh, by the way, there is still one in my mouth.
Tanaka Ryuzo lowered his head, stretched out his hand, and wanted to spit out the half-eaten grape in his mouth.
"Hey, don't be so disgusting." Baichuan Feng saw his actions and slapped him on the head.
"But...what about these 1.6 million yen? Why are grapes so expensive?"
Poor Ryuzo Tanaka, he felt that poverty completely limited his imagination.
1.6 million yen... I only make 80,000 to 90,000 yen a month as a supporting actor.
This means that he would have to work as a supporting actor for 20 months without eating or drinking to earn that much.
"Ruby Roman grapes are a specialty of Ishikawa Prefecture. The bunch you ate happened to be the best this year."
This is a bunch of Neon's best quality grapes that was photographed by Shirakawa Kaede at the Tokyo Agricultural Products Exhibition, which is why it is so expensive.
After hearing his explanation, Tanaka Ryuzo's eyes lit up. He had heard of the names of these fruits, but they were only legends.
I didn't expect that I would have the chance to see the real thing today, and I almost ate it all.
"By the way, brother-in-law, what about that piece of pineapple you just ate...?"
"British pineapples, $1,600, shipped by air."
"Hiss~ Where's the melon?"
"This is cheap, $225 a pair. Made in Yubari, Hokkaido, your hometown~"
"..."Tanaka Ryuzo.
Looking at the fruits that he had just eaten, Tanaka Ryuzo took a deep breath and looked at Shirakawa Kaede seriously.
"Brother-in-law, I don't want to work hard anymore~"
"Get lost!" Baichuan Feng rolled his eyes at him without any courtesy.
You are not my sister-in-law, so are you qualified to say this?
Shirakawa Feng felt that this guy Tanaka Ryuzo had no idea at all.
"Then brother-in-law, can I come to your house often to eat fruits in the future?" Tanaka Ryuzo compromised.
"As long as your sister doesn't object, I don't mind." Baichuan Feng shrugged, indicating that he was casual.
But are Japanese people so persistent in their pursuit of fruits?
"That's great," Tanaka Ryuzo high-fived excitedly.
Look at these fruits, from all over the world.
When the time comes, I'll bring some for those country bumpkins around me to try, so that they can also get a glimpse of what the life of a truly rich person is like.
"Hey, what do you mean as long as I don't object?" Hearing the voice, Yuko Tanaka stepped out from the main room not far away.
"Oh, nothing." Tanaka Ryuzo stood up attentively and began to tease the little Qingkong in her arms.
"By the way, brother-in-law, I heard that the track in Shonan has been repaired? Do you want to go for a spin together tomorrow?"
Ryuzo Tanaka has been eyeing the sports cars in Shirakawa Kaede's garage for a long time. While taking a break, he certainly couldn't wait to experience them.
"I'm not free tomorrow because I have to accompany my mother and others to the Imperial Court. Crown Prince Akihito specially took care of it, and I can't refuse such a kind invitation~"
"..."Tanaka Ryuzo.
…
Since we spend the New Year here in Tokyo, it is inevitable that we have to visit some local families.
The Royal Palace is just one of them, and of course it is the first on the itinerary.
After all, he still had to give face to Prince Ren. Besides, Shirakawa Feng was also a little curious about where the royal family lived.
However, after visiting it in person, Baichuan Feng became uninterested in the so-called royal palace.
It is exquisite, but compared with Chinese gardens, it always seems to lack a sense of grandeur and elegance.
As for Kazuko and her family, they are more interested in Sensoji Temple than the Imperial Palace. Naturally, going to Asakusa to burn incense after the New Year is an indispensable part of Shirakawa Kaede's family's itinerary.
Watch red and white festivals during the New Year, visit relatives and friends and visit shrines after the New Year.
Throughout January, the Shirakawa family was very busy in Tokyo, but on the other side of the ocean, a press conference that would affect the entire computer industry was being held.
…
Tuesday, January 24, 1984.
Flint Center for the Performing Arts, De Anza College, Cupertino, California.
Inside the entire performance hall, the three viewing platforms on the upper, middle and lower levels were packed with eagerly awaited audiences.
As the lights gradually dimmed, the chatter in the performance hall gradually died down.
The world was silent at this moment and everyone held their breath.
Finally, Boss Qiao, with flying hair and a smile on his face, stepped onto the stage confidently under the lights.
"Oh~", "Swoosh~"
Before he even spoke, cheers and whistles broke out from the audience.
Boss Qiao is wearing a black suit, a bow tie, and a mysterious smile.
Not to mention that at the age of 29, he really has some of Tom Cruise's style.
“It was 1958, and IBM passed up an opportunity to acquire a fledgling technology company.
This small company had just invented a technology called Xerography, and two years later Xerox was founded, and IBM regretted it ever since.”
“Haha~” There was a burst of laughter from the audience.
Steve Jobs' opening remarks directly mocked IBM's short-sightedness and ignorance.
Xerox is the Xerox Corporation, and it is also the technical source of Apple's computer graphical system.
Next, Jobs introduced the origin of personal computers and the history of the birth of Apple.
During these introductions, he also continued to mock IBM's short-sightedness.
It can be said that in the first three minutes of the entire press conference, Jobs was dissing IBM in every aspect.
As for why there is such great resentment, it is because in the North American market, the two companies have been competing for the throne of the leader in personal computers.
After criticizing IBM, Steve Jobs played a short advertisement shot by Apple for the Macintosh computer on the spot.
Only then did he get into the theme of this press conference, "Today we will release the industry's third milestone product, Macintosh."
"Believe me, it's insanely awesome. The Mac will remain at a mainstream price point, $2,495!
You can find it today in 1,500 points of sale across the country.”
As the words fell, cheers rang out again in the hall.
The computer costs $2,495, which is simply unimaginable in Japan.
After all, the price of more than 600,000 yen is three times more expensive than the more than 200,000 high-end products from Japan.
But all of this is indeed mainstream in the North American market, and IBM also starts at one or two thousand dollars.
I have to say that American people from middle-class families are really rich in this era.
After announcing the price, Steve Jobs began to introduce the various advantages of Mac computers.
The mouse, window, icons, drop-down menus, move and click, copy and paste and other functions have all become magic weapons in Jobs's mouth.
"The Mac has SIC's 80281 32-bit processor. Believe me, its performance is far better than Intel's 8088!"
Here, Boss Joe did not hesitate to praise the SIC chip, and he himself was indeed very satisfied with the SIC80281.
Just as Baichuan Feng , the price and performance are indeed far better than Intel 8088.
Nonsense, this is a product made with the latest 3-micron process technology, and of course it is more powerful than the old antique 8088.
The 32-bit number that Jobs just mentioned is actually a bit exaggerated. The SIC80281 address bus has 32 bits, but the data bus has only 16 bits.
To put it bluntly, it was just a bit of a word game, but the audience, not knowing what was going on, still responded with enthusiastic cheers.
"Just like 5.25-inch floppy disks were the norm in the 70s, now CDs will be the norm in the 80s.
It's safe, reliable, and can store 700MB of data. Yes, you heard it right, 700MB!
It’s roughly equivalent to the total amount of information written on 330,000 pieces of paper. Imagine what that would be like.”
As soon as Jobs finished speaking, there was warm cheers and whistles from the audience.
They may not know what 700MB means, but they know that the floppy disks they usually use are 400KB!
To be honest, this difference of nearly two thousand times was beyond their imagination.
In order to let the audience experience the power of Mac computer more personally, Jobs opened the package on the spot and began to demonstrate the operation of Mac computer.
With one hand, a beige Mac computer was placed steadily on the display stand. This was the world's first integrated computer.
As soon as it was unveiled, its simple appearance aroused cheers from everyone.
After plugging in the power, Jobs took out a CD from his suit pocket, flashed it to the audience, and then stuffed it into the CD-ROM drive at the bottom of the Mac computer.
After doing this, he left the display table and returned to the podium.
The Mac computer automatically recognized the CD and not only displayed a picture on the interface, but also played music directly on the spot.
BGM: "Chritos of Fire", Chariot of Fire.
Because the capacity of the CD was large enough and the music was not compressed, the unparalleled sound quality directly shocked everyone present.
As the background music reaches its climax, the word "Macintosh" begins to scroll on the Mac computer screen.
Until the end of the music, the words that remained on the screen were “Macintosh, insanity great!”
Mac, I love it!
