Chapter 35

Chapter 36

Electronic pets were portable entertainment devices introduced by Japan's Bandai after 1997. They were a little like the digital watches that had been popular in China years earlier, with a built-in clock system, some random variations, and a system for changes in appearance as they grew. Each kind of pet had several possible forms; how you raised it determined what it became, and you could carry it around and play with it anytime. Because they saved power, time, and effort, and were cheaper than things like Sony's robot dogs, young people had scrambled to buy them. They became a major social phenomenon at the time. In terms of LCD and chip technology, they were actually barely more complicated than the Tetris handhelds every street vendor seemed to have back then. The brilliance lay in the idea. When Bandai saw how well the pets were selling, it hurried to release countless new models. Some people bought more than a dozen to raise and never tired of it. Three months later, knockoffs appeared in China, and ridiculously cheap electronic pets began sweeping the country.

I gave Liu Mingyao this proposal mainly for two reasons. First, of course, the technical barrier was low, and our current team was fully capable of handling the work. Second, this thing would come and go quickly, sweeping in like a tide and then receding the same way, leaving nothing behind. That meant I didn't have to worry about the knockoffs and pirated versions that would follow. At worst, we could denounce piracy and get some free publicity for the company. We wouldn't lose anything anyway.

According to my plan, production of the electronic pets would proceed in two stages.

The core technology, including the clock and operating system, would use a common system, while the devices would come in two forms: portable and home versions.

The portable version needed to consume as little power and cost as little as possible. There were domestic production lines for digital watches, so that part was easy enough.

The home version was harder. It required a large number of artists and programmers to polish the details. I could only sketch out a broad framework for them; other people would have to finish the rest.

Liu Mingyao handled the outside work, registering trademarks and applying for patents. I heard his father had been promoted again-note the word "again"... I could more or less guess his family background, but I didn't say anything outright and simply left the patent applications to him. In any case, all we needed right now was a complete, working program. As for the finished products, we could discuss those once the specifications and models had all been confirmed.

With the patents off my mind, I began waiting for the finished product.

The people in R&D had been downcast for ages, unable to hold their heads up, always feeling as though they owed Mr. Liu and Mr. Cai something for standing by them. Suddenly handed something like this to work on, they all threw their long-stifled energy into it, and the results were surprisingly impressive. The proposal I had given them really only touched on each aspect in broad strokes, yet they managed to grasp it all and put it together. Before school started, they delivered a portable electronic pet to Zhang Xiaotong and me.

"Is it fun?"

With a lollipop in my mouth and black tea in my hand, I nudged the Super Famicom controller with my bare foot and asked Zhang Xiaotong, who sat sideways beside me.

"Mm."

She basically had no time for me. However mature and rational she was, she was still a young girl. Apart from her legs growing a little longer and her breasts a little fuller, she hadn't changed much that summer. I tipped back and lay down with my head on her lap. "Don't just play, President Zhang. Give me some constructive feedback."

Zhang Xiaotong finished giving the chick water and handed me the pet. "Couldn't you make it in color?"

"Color eats up battery power..." My hand brushed over her calf as I took the electronic pet. "And it costs more. Even if other people couldn't copy it, our own sales would take a huge hit. What I'm actually more interested in is how to link it to a personal computer."

"That wouldn't be easy technically, would it?"

"No, it wouldn't," I said. "Right now, the only things we can use are the printer port and the COM port, and we'd have to make the adapters ourselves."

"Are we doing it?"

"...Let's do it. There's not much else we can do. It won't make much money, so we can treat it as publicity for ourselves."

"You decide. I'm going to play a little longer."

"Wait." I called Zhang Xiaotong to a halt. "Let's take a picture."

"What for?"

"A group photo of the world's first electronic pet, its owner Miss Zhang Xiaotong, and her cousin Zhou Xingwen... Not bad, right?"

Zhang Xiaotong brightened. "You're giving it to me?"

"Of course I'm giving it to you," I said lazily. "Who else would I give it to?"

"At least you put some thought into it."

Plot-relevant key character Zhang Xiaotong's affection increased by 5. Acquired item: one young girl's light kiss. Event completion: 100%.

I wore an especially smug smile for the photo, like a little fox that had stolen a chicken.

Linking the portable electronic pet to the computer version was actually quite simple. Only after hearing an explanation from a technical specialist did I learn that data transmission might be difficult elsewhere, but on a computer it was the simplest thing of all. In that case, my worries weren't an issue at all.

Linking the portable devices to one another was relatively more troublesome.

Two electronic pets needed to connect to exchange items, and we needed to add a few RPG elements so people could take out the pets they had raised and show them off. That required more substantial changes and adjustments.

Americans liked things straightforward, while Easterners preferred gradual progress. Since the electronic pets were aimed at the Asian market, we definitely had to consider that. Raising a pet properly would take ten days to half a month at least. If all you could do afterward was look at it, that would be far too dull. Without realizing it, I added some RPG elements, such as pet stats and attributes, making it look a little like the famous handheld RPG Pokémon. Still, other companies had later used this idea to death too. I wasn't afraid of people copying me, because I knew I couldn't do better than the two geniuses who had created and perfected the monster-collecting and raising RPG. At most, I was stealing their ideas ahead of time to try something out.

My intention was to sell the first generation of electronic pets anyway, but within three months, we had to release a second generation with collecting and raising features. Only then could we stay ahead of the knockoffs.

As for the computer version, we would give out the beta first and make people pay for the full release. I wasn't afraid of piracy. Development costs for this thing were absurdly low. If sales brought in no profit, it wouldn't matter if we treated the loss as an advertising expense.

The requirement to add RPG elements threw the development team into another flurry of activity. Mountains of data, analysis, debugging, and testing. While they were busy, school started for me.

Sixth-grade life was actually very dull. The lessons had been finished ahead of schedule, and everyone plunged into endless revision, drilling exercises and practice papers over and over every day. It was supposed to be nine years of compulsory education. Was all this really necessary?

Every day, I yawned my way through lessons, read extracurricular books with boundless energy during study periods, worked through mock exams in utter boredom, enthusiastically joined in long-term planning about which middle school to attend after graduation, and sleepily thought about Zhang Xiaotong's thighs, which were so comfortable to lie on. Occasionally, when I had some energy, I glanced at Zhang Xin. I really had no idea what was going through that girl's head. Over the past six months, her attitude toward me in class had grown colder and colder, yet outside school she seemed very warm.

Was it a limitation of the times? Too embarrassed to have much contact with boys-she really was the demure sort of girl I had liked back then.

Xu Jiajia, beside me, was different. Once she had right on her side, she wouldn't let up, and her moods changed faster than a Taiwanese prime-time soap opera. Her ability to cry and laugh at will made her a model for anyone entering show business.

Thinking it over, I seemed to have lost touch with all these classmates later on. Making a living was a decent excuse, but I still felt a little ashamed.

I should at least keep something to remember them by...

During afternoon study period, Xu Jiajia stared as I pulled an enormous diary from my schoolbag. "What are you up to?"

"Classmate Xu," I said solemnly, "would you say our teacher is lazy or hardworking?"

"Why are you asking that all of a sudden?" Xu Jiajia actually thought about it. "Of course she works pretty hard."

"I certainly don't think so."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Well..." I lowered my head, pretending to ponder. "Don't you think... we've been deskmates for six years without ever changing seats. Isn't that a miracle?"

"Pah! Sick of sitting with me? If the author weren't lazy, do you think you'd still be here?"

"...I wouldn't dare." I hastily put on a grin. "What I mean is, after all these years together, let's keep a memento."

Xu Jiajia looked at the diary in my hands and more or less understood what I meant.

"Please include one one-inch bareheaded portrait photo, detailed contact information, a parting message, and a signature. When you're famous, I'll sell this for money."

"You money-grubber. What kind of class memory book asks for all that?"

"You can't put it that way, can you?" I spread the diary open and handed over the cheap imitation Hero fountain pen Zhang Xiaotong had won as a prize back then. "A class memory book ought to be practical, with more ways to stay in touch later instead of pretty words. Don't think I don't know. These people copy the wording from leftover New Year's cards they bought and pass it off as parting messages. So fake."

My words left Xu Jiajia looking a little guilty. "Tch. Don't you do the same?"

I shook my head. "When have you ever seen me write a congratulatory message?"

After thinking it over carefully, Xu Jiajia's voice grew quieter too. "I... I guess never..."

"So write something, Miss Xu." I pushed the diary a little farther toward her. "Years from now, maybe I'll open this, remember you, and give you a call... Years from now, I'll definitely be able to say pretty things ten times better than a greeting card. Which do you think is more valuable?"

Speechless, Xu Jiajia took the pen, thought for a long time, and wrote, "If you need anything, come to me." Beneath it, she swiftly wrote her name and contact information.

"Good," I said, applauding softly. "Well written."

Of course it was well written. It meant she would come to me too if she needed anything...

I had Xu Jiajia pass the book to Zhang Xin. Having listened to us all along, Zhang Xin smiled and wrote "Friends" on another page.

I smiled, a little bitterness in my heart. "So we're not classmates?"

Zhang Xin smiled without answering.

Most people were writing in class memory books during study period. With no teacher present, the classroom was filled with nothing but the quiet scratching of pens. Children who had grown used to the routine over six years of school life suddenly realized parting was right before their eyes. Everyone grew a little anxious, and suddenly began to treasure their time together. After looking around the room, I lowered my head, resting my hand on the book, and thought for a long time. On the diary's flyleaf, I wrote, "In the summer of 1994, I knew what I had done."

The summer of 1994. Looking back eight or nine years later, that was all it amounted to. There seemed to be so much, but in truth there was nothing.

At the end of school, my homeroom teacher wanted to speak with me.

I walked into the office and saw Teacher Li knitting a sweater. Several other subject teachers were chatting under the fan. They were talking about a teacher at our school who had offended someone over a housing issue and was currently lying low. It was quite a big affair. Apparently, even the sixth-grade politics class would need a replacement teacher.

"Zhou Xingwen, come and sit down."

I was overwhelmed by the unexpected favor. I didn't usually get this treatment... What had brought this on today?

"Zhou Xingwen, I know what your grades are usually like. You're basically always first in the year. Experimental Middle School is opening an accelerated class and wants to take two students from our school. I wanted to ask whether you'd like to go."

I understood at once. So that was what this was about... No wonder she was being so polite. Having a student she could name with pride and show off would certainly make her look much better. But I definitely didn't want to go to Experimental Middle School, so I would have to disappoint her.

"Teacher, my parents want me to go to No. 13 Middle School," I said respectfully. "In their words, 'The master leads you through the door, but your progress depends on you.' They hope I'll do my best no matter what environment I'm in."

My homeroom teacher's disappointment was written all over her face. "Ah... well... When are your parents free? Could I have a talk with them?"

"They've been trading stocks lately and seem very busy," I said. "Shall I ask them to come to school?"

"See when your parents are free. I'll have a talk with them."

I nodded. "I'll tell them when I get home."

"And what do you want?"

"I want to go to No. 13 Middle School too," I said. "We'll all be taking the high school entrance exam anyway, and the cutoff score for No. 13 Middle School is a little lower. I want to attend No. 1 High School."

That line of thinking seemed perfectly normal to parents and students alike, so my homeroom teacher had nothing to say. The enthusiasm she had shown when calling me in was gone, and she waved me away.

As I slowly walked home in the setting sun, I worked out how to get into No. 13 Middle School without a hitch. My long shadow trailed through countless changes along the street, like the unpredictability of life.