"Are you trying to fool me like a child? You, with hundreds of stores nationwide? Tens of thousands of stalls? Can you stop being so obnoxious?" Ke Kexiang snorted, utterly unfazed by Huang He's posturing.
"This doesn't feel very satisfying!" Huang He had intended to put on a good show and annoy Ke Kexiang. But upon realizing that Ke Kexiang didn't even know how many stores Jiangnan had opened nationwide, and was mocking Huang He for showing off, Huang He lost all interest in posturing.
Showing off in front of an intelligent person was a pleasurable experience, but in front of a complete idiot, it was utterly meaningless. So, Huang He waved his hand and said, "In that case, let's not talk further. You can leave. We won't buy your vouchers!"
"Who do you think you are?" Ke Kexiang said dismissively, then turned to Liu Xiangjiang, "Manager Liu, you'd better control your subordinates and stop them from barking randomly, lest they ruin the business between our two companies."
"What kind of garbage are you talking? How dare you insult my boss!" Liu Xiangjiang jumped up and kicked Ke Kexiang to the ground.
"Stay calm, don't hit too hard. If the head of Jiangnan Group's Shanghai branch gets thrown into a detention center, it'll be embarrassing!" Huang He quickly tried to intervene, but Liu Xiangjiang delivered a few more kicks.
It was no joke; Old Liu came from a military family. Although he usually appeared refined and cultured, he was ruthless when it came to fighting.
Then, people from the restaurant rushed over. Wang Gang, seeing his honored guest in a fight, didn't hesitate. He grabbed a spatula and delivered several swift blows. The restaurant's waiters and security guards also got into the spirit, each adding a kick.
Fortunately, Huang He kept shouting from the side not to hit too hard, which prevented any major trouble.
In fact, everyone exercised restraint. Ke Kexiang didn't even bleed, merely ending up with a few footprints on his body.
So, when the police arrived, Liu Xiangjiang and the others who had acted were lectured a bit, paid some money, and could have left.
However, Ke Kexiang kept clamoring that he was from Taiwan, a high-level executive at RT-Mart, and insisted on sending Liu Xiangjiang and the others who beat him to detention.
As a result, Liu Xiangjiang made a phone call home. The police then stated that they would strictly follow legal regulations, first sending Ke Kexiang for an examination. After confirming only soft tissue contusions, the perpetrators were ordered to pay a total of just over 100 yuan for medical expenses.
Since no minor injury was even constituted, and several people were involved in the assault, with no principal offender identified, they were collectively educated for one evening and then released.
Ke Kexiang refused to accept this. Liu Xiangjiang generously stated that he was welcome to sue and that the law would be followed. The matter thus ended anticlimactically.
The next day, Huang He flew directly to Beijing. Ke Kexiang, having received 200 yuan in compensation, disappeared with a resentful expression.
---
"Damn it, I lost big time! 100 yuan only gets me 50 Jiangnan coins, and the minimum requirement to use Jiangnan coins is to exchange them for 50 jin of Wuchang rice for 100 yuan. It's a complete rip-off!" Crouching in his dorm room, Tong He grumbled, cursing the ancestors of Daqian.
"Sigh, if only I could gather 8,000 Jiangnan coins, I could exchange them for a mobile phone. But that would require spending nearly 16,000 yuan on blind boxes at Jiangnan. Only an idiot would do that!" Tong He sighed, lamenting that his last 100 yuan for living expenses was gone. Not only could he not get online, but he also had no money for food, which made him feel dejected.
"However, perhaps it's not impossible. I remember their card swiping equipment seems to be a standalone machine that doesn't connect to the internet. If that's the case!"
"No, that's illegal."
"No, I'll just try it. Trying it isn't illegal!" Tong He hardened his resolve and, holding the magnetic card, rushed to the school laboratory.
He was a senior computer science student writing a thesis on magnetic storage. All the equipment in the school laboratory was available for use for experiments, as long as classes were not in session. This included a device capable of reading and writing magnetic chips.
Tong He inserted the magnetic card into the device and found that information could indeed be written directly. However, the magnetic card was encrypted, and it needed to be decrypted before it could be read and written. Therefore, the magnetic card could not be cracked for the time being.
But this did not prevent Tong He from exploring the entire magnetic card. He quickly determined that it was the most ordinary and cheapest type of magnetic card. This type of card could not undergo complex encryption, so it could only be encrypted with a simple password.
Tong He was also something of a genius. He designed a hardware solution that could bypass this old magnetic card encryption method for reading and writing.
This was hardware cracking. Through this method, Tong He spent only one day, using a temporarily built device, to re-enter data into the magnetic card, changing the 50 Jiangnan coins inside to 500.
Tong He didn't dare to change too much at first, as overly large numbers could lead to problems.
After making the change, Tong He took the card to Jiangnan's flagship store and bought another blind box. He then successfully exchanged it for Jiangnan coins. The entire process went smoothly, and Jiangnan's side detected nothing. Tong He's Jiangnan coin balance successfully changed to 505 Jiangnan coins, with no one suspecting that the card's data was problematic.
Afterward, Tong He went to other Jiangnan stores in Shanghai to conduct experiments, and also visited mobile stalls, using their card readers for experiments. The results were all the same, which put Tong He's mind at ease.
Thus, Tong He changed his card's Jiangnan coin balance to 8,000, and the next day he went to a store and actually managed to exchange it for a Tianxing mobile phone.
While using the phone, which he could never afford, Tong He's thoughts had completely gone astray.
---
Boss Huang had no idea that someone would set their sights on his magnetic cards. He planned to stay in Shanghai for only one day, flying to Beijing the next.
It was June 14, 2002. In two days, it would be June 16, and Huang He had to prepare for some matters in Beijing.
First, Huang He instructed the person in charge of Jiangnan's Beijing branch, saying that there wasn't a single Jiangnan physical store in Beijing's Haidian District. This was unacceptable, and the person in charge needed to come and select a location together to open a Jiangnan physical store.
Upon hearing this order, the person in charge of the Beijing branch was utterly bewildered.
Regarding the physical store in Haidian District, this person in charge had already submitted reports to the head office requesting to open one. However, the head office had never approved it, not even providing a response. This was why Haidian District remained a blank spot.
Unexpectedly, the big boss himself was now coming down and criticizing this issue, making the branch manager feel extremely wronged.
Fortunately, the big boss didn't just believe one side. After the manager explained his reports, he harshly criticized Manager Ruo in front of him and then stated that it wasn't the manager's fault but the company's problem.
To demonstrate his seriousness about this issue, Boss Huang would personally select the location in Haidian District and personally complete the preparation work for this physical store, setting an example for the entire company.
Although this approach seemed correct, the manager felt something was off, as if it were overdoing it. But since it was a direct order from the big boss, he had no choice but to comply.
Thus, for these two days, Huang He and the person in charge of the Beijing branch stayed in Haidian District selecting a location and living there.
On the evening of June 15, Huang He stayed in a hotel in Haidian District. After ensuring the boss was settled, the manager returned home to sleep.
On his way back, the Beijing branch manager glanced across at the hotel. Opposite it, there was a large sign for an internet café.
That night, for some reason, Huang He suffered from insomnia. He couldn't sleep until past two in the morning. Idly, he pulled open the curtains and suddenly saw several people fleeing in a panic near the entrance of an internet café opposite the window.
After these people fled, he could see red light flashing inside the entrance.
"Fire! Fire!" Huang He shouted loudly and rushed out of his room, yelling at the hotel front desk. He alerted the two security guards and a waiter, and they all rushed out of the hotel entrance. They indeed saw flickering red lights emanating from the internet café.
However, the red light was blocked by the door. Moreover, it was likely in the early stages of the fire. Fortunately, Huang He had sharp eyes and could see it even from the third floor.
"Is there anyone inside this internet café?" Huang He asked anxiously.
"There seems to be. I often see kids surfing the internet inside, but because it's an illegal internet café, the owner keeps the curtains drawn and has installed security bars, so you can't see what's happening inside from outside the window," the hotel security guard said.
"No matter what, let's save people!" Huang He pushed the door, but found it was locked from the outside and wouldn't open.
"Is the boss inside? Is there no locksmith nearby?" Huang He asked.
"I don't know! How would I know these things?" The security guards and waiters were all stunned. Gradually, some residents nearby were also awakened by the commotion outside. They came out of their homes, saw the firelight behind the door, and were all astonished.
"No, it can't keep burning, or everyone inside will die. I'll break down the door!" Huang He said, his emotions somewhat agitated.
"Break down the door?" Everyone was taken aback, then they looked at Huang He's slender build and then at the iron gate with its robust lock, and everyone thought Huang He was crazy.
However, Huang He ran towards the street, directly got into a Mercedes-Benz, and the engine roared to life. The Mercedes-Benz made a sharp turn, and in the narrow street, it slid sideways. At the same time, the front of the car was aimed at the iron gate of the internet café.
"No way, is this guy going this far?" Everyone gasped, and then cleared the way. Huang He fastened his seatbelt, stepped on the accelerator, and directly rammed into the iron gate.