Volume 3: My days in a college fraternity Chapter 146 Black Humor
Outside the Supreme Court building in Washington, an NBC news reporter said to the camera:
"We have seen that lawyers representing Microsoft, IBM, Compaq, Bolan, and MicroPort, which was supposed to challenge Actor's plagiarism like Lotus, have appeared at the scene. They have all previously submitted amicus briefs in support of Actor."
ABC's news reporter introduced the scene in front of the building before the trial from another angle:
"In addition to peer companies and professionals, we see that there are about 200 lawyers representing various non-profit advocacy organizations, acting as amicus curiae, who will enter the court today to listen to the Supreme Court's ruling on the infringement case of Lotus v. Actor. In addition, Stanford University, representing the university that founded Actor, will also have several students and administrators participating in this trial in different capacities."
"In addition to the lawyers who are entering the building, we can also notice that there are about 500 to 600 people gathered at the scene, most of them are women. They hold signs saying 'Support Tommy', 'God bless the righteous', 'Don't let Lotus destroy the American dream!' It is understood that these are some of the people who received Actor's OSS software for free. We randomly interviewed one of them."
"Hello, ma'am, what's your name?" The reporter walked up to a middle-aged woman who was probably in her thirties and put the microphone to her mouth.
The middle-aged woman looked at the camera, waved curiously, and then said, "I'm Emily, from Batesville, Washington, D.C."
"Emily, why are you here?" the reporter asked Emily with a smile.
Emily said to the camera with a serious expression: "Support Actor, support Tommy Hawke. I hope to have the opportunity to tell him in person not to be afraid, not to panic, we are standing here with him, he is not doing this for himself, he just wants more people to live with dignity, he is not wrong, if the court rules against Actor, he should not worry, we may not be able to afford the expensive software priced by those big companies, but we can afford 49.99, we will raise money to help him and Actor get through the difficult times."
"Wow, but Tommy and Actor might be accused of plagiarism..." The reporter frowned slightly, trying to turn the question to his opinion on the lawsuit, but before he could finish his question, Emily corrected him with some dissatisfaction:
"He didn't plagiarize! There is no clear law telling this poor child not to do this. This is a mistake made by the American judiciary! But now those rich people and judges are obviously trying to make money and kill him all in order to take our money! We cannot tolerate a massacre that happens in public! His mother in heaven must be in tears right now. Her kind and loving son is 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. The reporter quickly shook off Emily and chased after him to ask, "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 Actor's possible infringement behavior."
"Because if the court rules in favor of Lotus, it will be a disruption to the entire computer industry. Practitioners are aware of the potential harm, so as practitioners and professionals, they will naturally make the most sober decision." Benjamin Rosen finished his speech gracefully into the microphone and walked towards the Supreme Court building.
"People from Actor Company are here!" a voice rang out in the crowd.
Two business cars drove slowly from a distance and stopped outside the building. The crowd crowded over. The doors of the cars opened and Delia Case and her legal team walked out, as well as Actor's co-founder Holly Keener and Jason White. But the only person missing was the blond boy who had told everyone at the hearing that he was prepared to take all the responsibility on his own.
"Excuse me, Attorney Case, will Mr. Tommy Hawke not be attending the trial today?" A reporter asked loudly to Delia and others when he saw that the car was empty.
People who came to show their support also shouted, "Where's Tommy?"
Faced with reporters' questions, Delia and the lawyers had a blank expression on their faces and tried to walk into the building, but the crowd continued to ask questions.
Delia didn't speak, Jason lowered his head and remained silent. Only Holly seemed unable to face those enthusiastic gazes. In addition, she was walking at the end and was a little overwhelmed in front of everyone. She forced an ugly smile and spoke hesitantly:
"Tommy has some issues right now and cannot come with us , but we believe that he is with everyone at Actor."
"Excuse me, what happened?" Hearing that someone was finally willing to answer, countless topics and flash cameras were directed at Holly, asking loudly.
"Someone... Sorry, I can't tell you the other party's identity, but they wanted to take some time to talk to Tommy about this lawsuit. After the conversation, Tommy felt a little uncomfortable. He told us that he had a headache and the doctor asked him to rest, so he couldn't come to court in person to attend the trial. But he asked me to make it clear that no matter what the judgment was, he would accept it calmly. I'm sorry, everyone, I lost my composure. Please let me in..." Holly looked pitiful and weak, and covered her mouth with her hand.
Jim Manz happened to pass by wearing a baseball bat in a low-key manner. As the former vice president of Lotus, he will attend the trial today as a witness for the plaintiff Lotus, and he looked relaxed at the moment.
Of course it was easy. If I hadn’t run fast, I would be the one in a mess now.
Hearing Holly's words, the corners of his mouth curled up unconsciously. This was definitely a trick directed and acted by Tommy Hawke himself to deceive these poor guys in the square outside. Wow, look, the thief Tommy has touched the profit cake. Some people don't want him to attend the trial, and some people are afraid of him.
As for who held Tommy back, it didn't matter, it was done by a big shot anyway, why was he sure? Of course, Lotus replaced their hardworking vice president Jim Manzi with a guy with Kennedy in his name in order to defeat Actor.
In fact, these are just those people's wild imaginations. The real reason is that the trial of the Supreme Court will not be open to the public. At most, one can only consult the text. There is no TV broadcast and no reporters taking pictures. That bastard has no room to play at all. Of course, this matter should be handed over to lawyers who are more professional in dealing with judges.
Otherwise, this bastard said to a bunch of justices passionately and generously: I am willing to bear all the sins! Those justices are not members without the power of judgment. If these justices are moved by Tommy's sincere feelings and decide to help him become an American saint, Tommy will find a place to hang himself and see if he can be resurrected after three days. If he can be resurrected, he will become Jesus. If he is dead, he will be the funniest joke in the next hundred years.
"God bless the righteous..." Jim walked up the stairs into the building, looking at the slogans that made him laugh. "He wants others to help him and then thank him. This bastard can be called a righteous man. What a weird magical country this is. If things continue like this, maybe Tommy or another person with strong instigation will tell them that he is a woman. Maybe they will believe him and even invite him to the ladies' room."
Holly on the other side seemed unable to continue speaking. She just said sorry in a hurry, turned around and followed Jason and others, causing others to look at each other in bewilderment.
The middle-aged woman named Emily who was interviewed just now took the opportunity to appear in front of the unfocused camera and said loudly:
"America needs young people like Tommy. He has all the virtues. He will make this country a better place. He will definitely win! God bless the righteous!"
…
Sitting on the terrace of the River View Suite at the Four Seasons Hotel in Washington, Tommy felt the moist breeze from the Potomac River for a moment. He slowly opened his eyes while sitting on the sofa in his pajamas. “This is the only day in this period that I don’t need to take sleeping pills and can sleep until I wake up naturally.”
Stephen Bean turned his gaze from the river scenery in the distance to Tommy Hawke, who was standing right next to him. "It's an honor for you to frame me as the hidden big shot who put pressure on you to prevent you from attending the trial, Tommy. It was you who called me here, and then you asked your blonde to tell the outside world that someone was putting pressure on me, and you didn't dare to refuse."
"You're worth six hundred million, rich man, how could I refuse you?" Tommy laughed:
"The Supreme Court's trial is not open to the public. There is no need for me to waste my breath on it. Let the lawyers handle it."
Sophia, who was in the living room in the distance, gave a tip to the waiter who rang the doorbell, and then brought over coffee and snacks.
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 look. Tommy Hawke shrugged: "Secretary, girlfriend, assistant, whatever, I didn't pay her salary anyway."
"I don't believe that there are women who are willing to deliver coffee to you without paying." Stephen Bean said in a firm tone.
"I'm charming, okay? The whole of America is obsessed with me~" Tommy glared at Stephen's comments about him.
"I didn't pay Sophia a penny. I just helped her a little bit with my personal charm and love."
Stephen curled his lips: "Love? A stingy poor guy like you, how can you have such a thing as love?"
"I told an organization called EFF that in order to express gratitude to Sophia for providing free legal assistance to disadvantaged groups in the computer software industry, EFF donated money to Stanford Law School as a scholarship, and Stanford Law School gave it to her. It may not be much for you, but it is enough for Sophia to continue providing me with free legal assistance." Tommy said lightly.
Stephen's eyes widened. "You're trying to avoid taxes even when paying your girl's salary? If you keep going like this, you'll have to avoid taxes even when buying Torjan!"
Tommy gestured to the other party to shut up and said seriously, "Stanford University gave her the scholarship. What does it have to do with me?"
"Then why didn't I see your girl delivering coffee to the dean of the law school?"
"Sophia, my friend asked why you didn't bring coffee to the dean."
Sophia sighed, raised her head and pushed her glasses up: "Because the dean is busy with the opportunities you created, he frequently appears in the public eye. He is helping you and increasing his own popularity."
"The dean told her to just thank me, the boy from the Order of the Phoenix." Tommy made a provocative pouting kiss gesture to Stephen, then changed the subject:
"Let's talk business, rich man. Remember what I said about you investing your money when the time is right, and then your Tommy daddy giving you some pocket money? The time has come."
"How much money do you need?" Stephen heard Tommy talking about investing money and took a sip of coffee.
"Give me any reason so that I can have a reason to notify the manager of the financial company. Even if you say you need my money to help you treat AIDS, it's fine. Any reason is fine."
"Six hundred thousand OSS users are eagerly waiting for me to sell them computers. After I gain a foothold in the software circle, of course I will also get involved in the hardware circle. If I don't gain a firm foothold now, the probability of getting those big companies to give me a chance will be lower than the probability of God appearing." Tommy said to Stephen:
"During this period, EFF, Actor has made preliminary contacts with several companies in the industry, and it is very likely that their money will come in. Do you understand? Actor cannot always be Tommy's company alone. This means that my shares will be diluted a little, but it is not nothing. I am also planning to transfer some shares and get some cash. The company's valuation is fake, as long as the money is real."
Stephen put down his coffee cup, picked up the cigarette box, lit a cigarette, and then threw the cigarette box to Tommy: "Let's get to the point, Tommy, I'm not interested in how much money you make."
"Mr. Benjamin Rosen of Compaq has urged me many times that as long as I agree, he will invest in Actor in the name of Compaq and remove the Compaq logo on the computers they produce and replace it with the Actor brand. In his opinion, among the 600,000 users, even if only 100,000 are willing to buy computers, the sales volume will be enough to scare everyone." Tommy also took out a cigarette and put it in his mouth:
"I can provide software for free, but not hardware. You should all understand that, right? We can assemble it ourselves, or we can hand it over to small companies that are blocked by IBM and Compaq. We can also give away some software from other small companies in the EFF alliance that Actor has invested in for free. I'm not greedy. I'm not interested in the hardware market above $1,000. IBM, Apple, Compaq, etc. can compete as they please, but I want to have a foothold in the computer market below $1,000."
Stephen blew out smoke. "I'm not a computer science major, Tommy. Don't make it 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 what Tommy said, he was so angry that he choked on the cigarette and coughed twice: "Then you asked me to take out the money, are you fucking teaming up with you to open a strip club?"
"What I mean is, instead of having the wallets of those 600,000 people and possibly more people emptied by others, they should be given to me. At least I am willing to change their lives." Tommy looked at Stephen:
“Do you know what a microloan is?”
"Shouldn't lending be the bank's business?" Stephen was stunned for a moment. "If we invest all 600 million, this bank can only be considered a small bank, Tommy. Besides, I can't invest all of it in your bank."
Tommy motioned for Stephen to listen to him. "I'm going to open a microcredit bank and lend money without collateral to those who trust me to buy computers, software, or do other things they want to change themselves. I won't lend to rich people. I require borrowers to live below the poverty line and be willing to accept the bank's advice to create a five-person customer group. They are one. Once the group is established, they will be able to get a bank account and receive loans. Every week, these five people will hold a group meeting hosted by bank staff to repay the loan and discuss the progress or changes of the week, exchange ideas, etc."
"Weekly? That's too high a frequency. I heard that household bills are only sent once a month." Stephen said puzzled.
Tommy looked at the cigarette in his hand and said, "A high frequency of contact like weekly loans can effectively guarantee the repayment rate, because it keeps people's brains tight, and borrowers also need frequent encouragement or guidance. This is a benign contact. If you only contact them once a month and they are just cold calls to collect the debts, believe me, the bad debts will definitely give you a headache."
Stephen frowned. Although he didn't care about money, he didn't want to lend it to a group of poor people. He asked with some concern: "What if the other party doesn't repay the money after a week?"
"He will not be able to get the next microloan, and will have to wait for someone to come and take away his computers, software and other things. This way, the bank's losses will be relatively smaller. Also, if other people in his group think he has a good reason, they can pay the loan for him and ensure that he can continue to stay in the group. If no one is willing to help him, he needs to leave. There is no possibility of 100% bad debt elimination, but we are trying to use this method to urge those people to change their living conditions as much as possible. Otherwise, how can the bank gain a good reputation? What if you and I decide to become the president and chancellor of the finance department of this country? This is not a game of playing house in summer camp. These are precious reputations." Tommy explained his thoughts.
Stephen shook his head. "This will definitely lose money. You and I can't run for president. The most profitable one will probably be 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 will be a bad debt. 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 said to Stephen with a smile:
"However, in addition to providing this kind of low-interest loan to those who are determined to change their destiny, in order to ensure the bank's income, I plan to use SSD's connections to develop another business called payday small consumer loans, which are mainly for brave soldiers in the United States. The interest and penalty interest will be much higher. Anyway, we don't have to worry about these American soldiers being unable to repay the loans. We only need to use the post-dated checks issued by the national treasury for these soldiers and deduct our loans and interest on payday on time. In this way, their accounts will be managed by us, and they only need to pay off their debts every month and continue to borrow money from us, and at the same time issue post-dated checks for the next month."
Stephen was dumbfounded. Although he was a rich man who had never been short of money, he was sure that none of the soldiers could resist Tommy's temptation. Where did this grandson come up with such an idea of cutting off his family line?
"What will happen after retirement? There is no government funding to pay me, and I haven't found a job yet..."
"If the US government is unwilling to pay, the bank will have to take away his house and car with the bill and let him go bankrupt, or introduce them to be mercenaries to earn more, but that is not what the bank should consider, understand? I help the poor because I am kind, but I will not help the US government. It is the government of this country that has caused these brave soldiers to go bankrupt. It is obvious that these soldiers' salaries are too low, so they need to borrow money. The country should just increase their salaries. What does it have to do with me, the bank that lends them money?" Tommy looked at Stephen innocently:
“I never make money from the poor.”
"You're not making money from the fucking poor people, but you're robbing American soldiers' wallets..." Stephen could no longer find the right expression to express his inner reaction at the moment.
Tommy shrugged. "We started small, for example, we started from the military base in California, and then expanded to nearby Texas and New Mexico. Finally, we had business outlets near all military bases in the United States. SSD has been cooperating with the Veterans Association. We have been doing charity work for so long, and it's time to get some money back."
“And I have always believed that loans can eliminate poverty better than pure charity. Loans will increase the initiative of the poor. We will encourage them to change from borrowers to savers, and then use their savings to lend to more people in need, or invest in more companies in need. You don’t know that there are many great companies in the United States that are worth investing in and helping, but I don’t have money. Then I can only use everyone’s money to accomplish this.”
Stephen covered his forehead and said, “But you won’t share the money you earn from investment with everyone.”
"The money I earned through hard investment is mine. Those people did nothing, why did they take my money?" Tommy said righteously.
"They can't do anything. Not only can they not take your money, but they have to take out a fucking loan." Stephen rubbed his forehead. "I have Jewish ancestry, but now I feel that you are more Jewish than I am."
At this time, Sophia turned on the TV in the living room. A middle-aged woman appeared on the live news screen. She shouted at the camera at the top of her voice:
"America needs young people like Tommy. He has all the virtues. He will make this country a better place. He will definitely win! God bless the righteous!"
Stephen closed his eyes, leaned back on the sofa, and whispered, “Tommy Hawke, with all the virtues, is definitely the most ironic black humor I have ever heard.”
