Chapter 56: Greed Knows No Bounds

"Compassionate Bai Suzhen, spare the life under the blade and take in Xiaoqing..."

When Di Ye returned home, he saw Huang Ya accompanying Zhang Xiuzhi as they watched *The Legend of the White Snake* on a VCD Player. He teased, "Xiao Ya, you're actually abusing your position, secretly taking the shop's most popular disc home to curry favor with our mom."

"I just happened to see someone returning the disc when I got off work..."

Zhang Xiuzhi was particularly biased now, shielding Huang Ya and not letting her explain, saying, "It's only natural for a daughter-in-law to curry favor with her mother-in-law. Why are you meddling in other people's business?"

Di Ye leaned in and said with a cheeky grin, "Your daughter-in-law is my wife, why can't I meddle? Besides, without me, your son, where would you get such a good daughter-in-law?"

Zhang Xiuzhi was amused by his rogue-like demeanor and scolded, "How did I ever give birth to such a thick-skinned son!"

Huang Ya had not yet fully adapted to her new status and felt a bit shy at the word "wife." She stood up and walked toward the kitchen, saying, "Have you had dinner? If not, I'll heat up some dishes for you; the rice cooker is still keeping them warm."

"I've already eaten. You go back to watching the TV series with Mom; I'm going to go play on the computer."

"Look at that, once a son grows up, he only cares about playing by himself and doesn't accompany his parents at all. That's why daughters are better..."

Amidst Zhang Xiuzhi's grumbling, Di Ye walked into his bedroom, summoned Xiao Honghua, and under her soft and pleasant voice prompts, began writing browser code on his Notebook Computer.

Ever since he went to Liu Shaosong's house last time and made a bet with him, Di Ye had been busy everywhere, seemingly devoting himself entirely to managing Yingfeng. In reality, whenever he had a moment of leisure, he would use his consciousness to communicate with Xiao Honghua, researching how to write a browser that fit the current state of the internet in 1995. After seven or eight days of effort, it was now basically finished.

The reason it was so fast was that the internet at this time was extremely primitive; even the most basic HTML language had not yet matured, with the version number still stuck at 0.9. The technical standard was only about 700 characters long, and other technologies such as CSS, Javascript, and DOM were not even worth mentioning—they simply did not exist.

Under these circumstances, the browser's functions were very limited, capable only of displaying static text and images. It couldn't even open an email, making it extremely crude. Compared to a 2023 browser, it could only be considered a toy, and the difficulty of research and development was very low.

As for Liu Shaosong taking the initiative to bet with Di Ye, believing that developing a browser was very difficult, it was because there were too few people in the country who understood network programming in 1995.

W. Richard Stevens' classic masterpiece *TCP/IP Illustrated* had three volumes in total. The one Di Ye took out that day was the first volume, subtitled "Protocols." The content was primarily theoretical, and even if one understood it, one could not immediately program, because it is human nature for the mind to understand while the hands do not.

Precisely because of this, the second volume of *TCP/IP Illustrated* was subtitled "Implementation," providing over 500 illustrations and more than 15,000 lines of code, detailing the specific practice of network programming. However, Di Ye could not show it to Liu Shaosong, because the day they made the bet was February 5, 1995, and the second volume was released on February 10, 1995.

As for the third volume, which was more helpful for developing a browser, it was released in 1996, so it was even more impossible for Di Ye to show it to Liu Shaosong.

To use an analogy, in 1995, *TCP/IP Illustrated* was like the *Nine Yang Divine Art*; everyone else was learning incomplete versions, while only Di Ye had mastered the full set. Moreover, he possessed divine arts like Taiji Fist (Xiao Honghua) and Universe Shift (future knowledge), making him equivalent to Zhang Wuji at his peak. Writing a simple browser was naturally a piece of cake.

After Di Ye had been typing code on the Notebook Computer for over ten minutes, Huang Ya pushed open the bedroom door, walked in carrying a cup of green tea, and mimicking Zhao Yazhi, said with gentle virtue, "My husband, please have some tea."

Huang Ya loved to imitate celebrities and was very good at it; her expressions, tone, and mannerisms were all vivid and lifelike. Di Ye followed suit, stood up to take the teacup, placed it on the computer desk, then held her hands and said affectionately, "My wife has worked hard."

"Oh, you didn't do it right. It's not said all in one breath; it has to be said separately: 'My wife, you have worked hard.'"

"It's such a waste of talent for you to study Business Administration at Yun University; you should have gone to the Beijing Film Academy to study acting."

"When it comes to acting, how could I compare to you? You speak human words to humans and ghost words to ghosts..."

Like Xia Fangfei, Huang Ya had no interest in being a celebrity. After chatting and joking with Di Ye for a while, she asked about the Shareholder meeting that evening. Di Ye briefly introduced what happened and finally concluded, "The three of them are harboring ulterior motives. They won't let me sell that 20% stake to an outsider; they will definitely offer a high price for an internal buyout."

"How high could they offer?"

"I don't know yet, but my bottom line is 2 million."

Huang Ya had been exposed to too much capital recently and had lost all feeling for money. She wasn't surprised by the 2 million quote, but she was a bit worried and reminded him, "Don't forget they like to use their power to bully others. They only gave Bi Wanxi 200,000 for his 40% stake."

"Using power to bully others depends on the situation. The current situation is a bit like animal chess: I am the little mouse, Uncle Fan is the cat, and Zhong Rongke and Zheng Yingyong are the dogs..."

Huang Ya couldn't help but laugh, saying, "Uncle Fan is being played in circles by you; you should be the cat and he should be the mouse."

"It's just a metaphor, don't take it seriously."

Di Ye picked up the green tea on the computer desk, took a light sip, and continued, "Yuncheng is a provincial capital; there are many powerful and influential people. Once I let out the news that Yingfeng has tens of millions in idle funds, tiger and lion-level figures will immediately pounce. Those two dogs, Zhong Rongke and Zheng Yingyong, are simply not worth mentioning in front of tigers and lions, so they won't dare to treat me the way they treated Bi Wanxi."

Huang Ya thought this made sense and asked again, "2 million is not a small amount; will they give it?"

"The promotional packages we're running are based on 5-year terms. The current 5-year fixed deposit interest rate at the Bank is 13.86%. If we raise 20 million by the end of the month and put it in the Bank for 5 years, the interest will be 13.86 million. The return on a 20% stake is 2.77 million. This is the most conservative return, so they should be willing to pay 2 million."

Hearing his calculation, Huang Ya felt 2 million was too much of a loss and said, "They won't just put 20 million in the Bank to collect interest; they'll definitely use it for investments or stock speculation. You can take the opportunity to sell it for more."

Di Ye shook his head and smiled, saying, "Greed knows no bounds—truly a wise saying. 2 million is about right; any more will cause trouble. After all, we are just small fry; it's easy to choke if we eat too much at once. Besides, we have other plans; there's no need to waste time on this small change."

Huang Ya rolled her eyes at him and retorted, "You're the one whose greed knows no bounds. You don't even put millions in your eyes, and you call it 'small change'..."

Just then, the landline phone next to the desktop computer rang. Di Ye didn't rush to answer it, but instead held his teacup and said with an air of composure, "I bet this call is from Uncle Fan. Do you believe me?"

Huang Ya ignored him and pressed the speakerphone button on the landline. It turned out to be Fan Dazhi, who said in a tone far more enthusiastic than usual, "Xiao Ye, I'm eating with your dad at Old Yang Hot Pot Restaurant. You should come over and have some too."

"Uncle Fan, it's already past 8 o'clock; are you still eating hot pot?"

"It's the middle of winter, hot pot warms the body. Is the Huang girl at home? If she is, tell her to come along and eat."

"She's here. You and my dad go ahead and eat; we'll be over in a bit."

After the call ended, Huang Ya opened the wardrobe, and while looking for an old coat suitable for eating hot pot, she guessed, "Is Uncle Fan trying to buy that 20% stake from you?"

"No, Uncle Fan is scared; he wants me not to sell the stake."

Di Ye snatched a moment of leisure to continue typing code on the Notebook Computer, while analyzing, "In the past, Bi Wanxi was the easiest to bully; now, Uncle Fan is the easiest to bully. If I don't sell the stake and join forces with him, we'll have 60% controlling interest in Yingfeng, which is barely enough to control the situation. If I sell the stake, he'll become a fat sheep with only 40% of the shares, and could be screwed over by someone at any time."

Upon hearing this, Huang Ya turned her head and said, "Uncle Fan has always been good to us. Help him think of a way so he doesn't end up like Bi Wanxi."

Di Ye sighed and smiled bitterly, "As I said before, greed knows no bounds. If Uncle Fan were like me and retreated while he was ahead, he could at least keep the millions he's already made. If he's too greedy and insists on playing with those jackals, tigers, and leopards, I can't help him even if I want to."