The next morning around 11 a.m., Zhao Ye arrived at Yao Zhifang's shop.

"Brother Zhao, you've arrived!" Yao Zhifang's face lit up with joy when he saw Zhao Ye. He quickly got up and went forward to welcome him into the shop.

"Mr. Yao, are all the electronic component samples ready?"

"Of course it's ready. I made several calls last night to get the goods from my friend. Please wait a moment, I'll go get them right away."

"Um!"

A moment later, Yao Zhifang brought over a cardboard box and placed it on the coffee table: "Everything is here, please check it."

Zhao Ye nodded, opened the cardboard box, and carefully checked the quantity of the electronic components.

"There is one Z80 chip processor."

"There are 20 EPROM memory chips, which is more than enough."

"The number of resistors, capacitors, diodes, Zener diodes, transistors, etc., is more than I requested."

"It seems that Mr. Yao is a decent person."

Zhao Ye was very satisfied and said to Yao Zhifang with a smile, "Thank you, Boss Yao. These electronic components look pretty good. I'll take them back first. If there are no quality problems, I can decide to purchase parts from you."

Actually, contacting the manufacturer directly is the most cost-effective way.

But Zhao Ye started from scratch, and those manufacturers didn't even care about his tiny orders.

Going door-to-door to discuss these matters one by one is not only ineffective but also a waste of time.

Rather than that, it would be better to cooperate with a businessman like Yao Zhifang who has some connections for the time being. Even though the other party would make some money, I wouldn't lose money.

Once the scale is large enough, it's not too late to talk about cooperation with factories.

Upon hearing Zhao Ye's promise, Yao Zhifang's smile grew even brighter.

"Thank you so much, Brother Zhao! I'll treat you to drinks another day! Oh, and this is just a small token of my appreciation, nothing much, please accept it! Once I've secured a partnership with the Chinese Academy of Sciences and made a fortune, I'll definitely give you a big bonus!!!"

As Yao Zhifang spoke, he took a rather thick envelope from his pocket and stuffed it into Zhao Ye's hand.

Zhao Ye was immediately at a loss for words, not knowing whether to laugh or cry.

Should I accept it or not?

If I don't accept it, won't it seem like I don't understand social etiquette?

The reason Yao Zhifang gave me money was probably because he misunderstood that the Chinese character card was developed by the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and he wanted me to put in a good word for him to facilitate cooperation...

Zhao Ye squeezed the thickness of the envelope, estimating that there were several hundred yuan inside, equivalent to more than half a year's salary for him.

After hesitating for a moment, Zhao Ye decided not to take the money.

So far, although he has used the tactic of getting something for nothing, it is just a business strategy and has not caused any loss to anyone.

However, accepting this sum of money would be a hot potato. Although Yao Zhifang wouldn't be angry afterward, if word got out, it would have a negative impact on Zhao Ye's reputation.

People give you money and ask you to do things for them in order to cooperate with the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

It's a bit unreasonable for you to take money even though you know the matter can't be resolved.

Therefore, Zhao Ye was naturally unwilling to damage his reputation for a mere few hundred yuan.

Of course, now that Zhao Ye has the electronic components, he's not short of money.

Once he finishes making the Chinese character card, he can reach a cooperation agreement with the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China and receive a payment in advance.

"Thank you, Mr. Yao, but I absolutely cannot accept this money. Don't worry, business is business. As long as your products are of good quality, I will definitely prioritize cooperating with you. So you don't need to go to all this trouble; you should take the money back!"

Zhao Ye placed the envelope on the coffee table, then picked up the cardboard box containing the electronic components and said goodbye to Yao Zhifang.

Yao Zhifang was somewhat astonished. Watching Zhao Ye's departing figure, he couldn't help but feel moved and admire the character of researchers like Zhao Ye who regarded money as dirt!

...

In the afternoon, Zhao Ye arrived at the Institute of Computing Technology, intending to use its equipment to manufacture Chinese character cards.

Time passed quickly, and as evening approached, the people at the Institute of Computing Technology gradually went home.

Zhao Ye used the excuse of working overtime to stay until everyone else had left before he began his actions.

He arrived at the equipment laboratory, carefully completed the manufacturing of the circuit board first, then began to embed various electronic components, and finally wrote the Chinese character library and program into the EPROM chip...

Two or three hours later, a rectangular Chinese character card was completed.

"Next, we'll conduct the tests. Hopefully, there won't be any problems!!!"

Zhao Ye took a deep breath and inserted the Chinese character card into the computer's expansion slot.

Zhao Ye then turned his attention to the computer screen, which showed that the Chinese character card program had started running. He then opened WordStar, a popular word processing software, and created a new document.

Crackling sounds!

Zhao Ye started typing rapidly on the keyboard.

Yesterday, like the flowing water of the East River, has gone far away from me and cannot be retained; today, it troubles my heart, causing me much worry...

A line from the song "New Mandarin Ducks, Butterflies and Swords" appeared prominently in the WordStar document.

It was a success!!!

Zhao Ye was overjoyed and wanted to shout with excitement!

"Let me test it again!" Zhao Ye suppressed his joy at the success and made sure there were no bugs.

Crackling sounds!

Then another series of keyboard tapping sounds rang out.

"Life between heaven and earth is like a journey."

Life is short, but without you, what joy is there?

"The mountain has trees, and the trees have no branches; I love you, but you do not know."

"In your name I take my surname."

...

Half an hour later, Zhao Ye breathed a sigh of relief. After testing, the Chinese character card showed that there were basically no problems.

It was a success on the first try!

Nice!

Zhao Ye deleted the document he had just written, then shut down the computer, took out the Chinese character card again, carefully wrapped it in newspaper, and put it into the backpack he had prepared in advance.

It was so late that he slept at the computer institute. As for his parents, he asked a colleague who was going home on his way home to let them know so they wouldn't worry.

Nothing happened that night, and Zhao Ye had a good night's sleep.

...

Early in the morning, my colleagues arrived at work one after another.

"Xiao Zhao, don't work too hard, your health is the most important thing! I was just like you back then, full of vigor and arrogance, relying on my youth, I often stayed up late to work overtime, and as you can see, I'm bald now! Sigh, it's really hard to look back on the past..." A colleague kindly advised, and after saying that, he touched his bald head and became sad.

Zhao Ye had just washed his face with cold water and felt incredibly refreshed. He smiled and said to his colleague, "Brother Lu is right. I'll pay attention to that in the future. Also, I've been drinking goji berry tea regularly, and my health is pretty good. My hair is still thick and black."

After saying that, Zhao Ye picked up the thermos on his desk and gently shook it.

Pfft~

Seeing this, Lu's colleague couldn't help but twitch his lips. "You're a real talent, aren't you? Drinking goji berry tea all the time at 20! If I had your awareness back then, I wouldn't be bald..."