Chapter 23

"Mom knows you like Chinese cuisine, so the chef she invited to our home today is from a Chinese restaurant at the north entrance of Ikebukuro. His Suzhou-style dishes are exceptional; many people from the mainland praise them for their hometown flavor," Mizuko said with a smile, sitting in front of a square table in the small but bright, traditionally decorated room.

"Thank you very much, Mother, for your thoughtfulness," Li Xu replied respectfully from another square table, then sighed inwardly.

Four dishes were laid out before him, not many, but they were all visually and aromatically appealing: squirrel fish, clear-stewed crab meat lion's head, crystal pig's trotter, and chicken soup with shredded tofu. Especially the crystal pig's trotter, which melted in the mouth without any jelly-like texture, was surprisingly delicious.

But... if he had a choice, he would prefer spicy Sichuan and Hunan dishes. Suzhou cuisine was too mild; what was the difference from Japanese cuisine?

Well, there was a difference, even though his level as a gourmet wasn't high, he could still taste it. However...

Forget it. Li Xu shook his head inwardly. As long as tonight's dinner went smoothly, he shouldn't be so picky. To be honest, tonight was a separate dining arrangement, and Mother didn't require him to kneel on a cushion to eat, which was already quite good.

Kneeling to eat was absolutely unbearable, even with a cushion. Li Xu really disliked it. His mother often used this to tease him, and she always set an example, which was very frustrating.

"Mom used to eat like this when she was a child," she said.

Your legs didn't become bowed, did they? Li Xu wanted to comment, but he only thought about it.

The rest of the dinner was a picture of filial piety. Mizuko asked about his life while eating, and Li Xu, in turn, showed concern for her health and praised the authenticity of the Suzhou dishes.

Then, Mizuko asked casually, "Ah, right, Liangshi, what exactly is the cross button?"

"Hmm... it's a design used on game controller joysticks," Li Xu replied, raising an eyebrow, feeling a bit strange.

Since he had accumulated his current capital through video games, and his parents were familiar with the industry, even if the cross button sounded unfamiliar, a simple order to the servants would quickly get the information. There shouldn't be any misunderstanding, so why ask now?

"Can this be patented?" Mizuko asked again.

"Of course not, the cross button is just an improved design, not enough to apply for a patent," Li Xu answered instinctively, then frowned. "Is there a problem?"

"Nintendo's Hiroshi Yamauchi called, saying they can help you apply for a patent on the cross button," Mizuko said casually.

"Nintendo? Hiroshi Yamauchi?" Li Xu immediately understood the situation, feeling both puzzled and amused. "How can they help me apply for a patent?"

"He said..." Mizuko picked up a piece of fish with her chopsticks, elegantly placed it in her mouth, and after a satisfied nod, wiped her mouth and continued, "He said they can apply for the copyright of the cross button."

Li Xu almost choked on his drink, looking up in surprise. "Copyright? He means the copyright of the cross button?!"

"Yes, that old man is quite resourceful," Mizuko chuckled, not taking it seriously.

But she didn't know that Li Xu was inwardly raging: Oh, so this is the world's correction force? When a controversy over copyright doesn't exist, it replaces it with another possible controversy over copyright? Big news, I need to study this. If I can find the pattern of the correction force, I'll be rich. Forget making money, I'll cultivate and become a god and destroy the world!

Well, he was going crazy again. Ignore him; he'll be fine in a while. But this matter is quite interesting.

In another timeline, in Li Xu's previous life, in the late 1970s and early 1980s, there was a notorious example of exploiting copyright loopholes.

The patent law was created to help capital monopolize technology and make money, and to attract inventors. Even though Britain enacted the patent law in the 17th century, it wasn't until after the two world wars, when the scope of power was redefined, that the blatant copying among strong countries was curbed.

Even so, various loopholes still existed. After all, no matter how good the system is, it can't escape four questions: who makes the rules, who revises them, who interprets them, and who supervises them.

Well, let's not digress. In another timeline, the nominal inventor of the Rubik's Cube was Hungarian, Ernő Rubik.

Mr. Rubik, a sculptor and sculptor, invented the Rubik's Cube for his students. Although he realized its commercial potential and successfully launched it in a toy store in Budapest in 1977, it didn't sell well due to poor marketing.

Then, due to the Iron Curtain and other reasons, it didn't spread internationally, even though a Hungarian expatriate mathematician named Tibor Laczi helped promote it at the Nuremberg Trade Fair in Germany.

This situation continued until 1979, when a British toy merchant saw the Rubik's Cube in Hungary and quickly realized its potential, seeking to collaborate with Rubik.

However, a problem arose: Rubik had only applied for a domestic patent in Hungary and had missed the deadline for international patents by 1979.

Worse still, other countries had similar patents. A chemist named Larry Nichols from Massachusetts had even applied for a similar patent in 1972, using magnets to connect the small cubes.

This meant that once the Rubik's Cube hit the market, it would face many imitators, making it hard to make money. But as mentioned, loopholes always exist. The toy merchant had a bright idea and applied for the copyright of the Rubik's Cube.

This wasn't a virtual item like a paper or a novel, but they succeeded. Thus, the original 3x3 Rubik's Cube became their exclusive product. Even with many imitations, only their 3x3 Rubik's Cube was the authentic one, and they could sue the imitators successfully.

Therefore, many people, when discussing the copyright of the Rubik's Cube, were quite disdainful of the British toy company—this is why Rubik is considered the nominal inventor of the Rubik's Cube.

In the current timeline, Li Xu, knowing this history, borrowed money from his family in 1974 to develop the Snake game and then quickly developed the Rubik's Cube, applying for a patent before Rubik, in January 1975.

As for the chemist from Massachusetts, Larry Nichols, he unfortunately suffered a major setback at the end of 1974, needing a large sum of money and had to sell some of his patents that seemed unpromising to interested parties to raise funds.

Moreover, not only the 3x3 Rubik's Cube, but also the 4x4, 5x5, 6x6, 7x7, and up to the 13x13 Rubik's Cubes, Li Xu applied for patents for all of them. He invested all the money he made from Snake and borrowed more from his family to fully promote and advertise them.

Thus, between 1975 and 1980, this small toy had already swept the world, selling at least 10 million units. The iDea toy company, which his father helped establish, even held the first Rubik's Cube Championship in San Francisco in 1977, with many more participants than in the other timeline's Budapest.

Without patent disputes—where the toy company, even with the copyright, was sued and lost in the U.S. by the chemist Larry Nichols—without production issues, and without copyright issues, everything was natural, just like any ordinary commercial event.

However, what Li Xu didn't expect was that when he used the cross button to show Nintendo his willingness to collaborate, the old man Hiroshi Yamauchi would think of using "helping to apply for the copyright of the cross button" as a way to show goodwill. Oh, are the islanders' ways of thinking so similar?

"Since that's the case, I'll accept it," Li Xu shrugged under his mother's scrutinizing gaze. "I hope he won't regret it later."

If the application is successful—likely to be successful—it would mean that Nintendo would have to pay him for every handheld console or the upcoming Famicom they sell.

If Hiroshi Yamauchi knew about Nintendo's future success and the fact that handheld console sales alone would exceed 100 million, would this decision make him cringe?

But on the other hand, this wasn't a completely sweet deal without side effects. It could be predicted that after Nintendo used the classic cross button, any other company developing a game console would also need to use this design.

So if Li Xu accepted the "copyright" offer, those game console manufacturers would also have to pay him, and he would be grilled like Rubik in the future.

But... even so, what's the problem?

"Oh? Just like that?" His mother raised an eyebrow, seeming a bit puzzled.

"Of course, what else could I do..." Li Xu paused, then suddenly realized.

I see, that's why he wants to show goodwill but doesn't come to me directly, instead, he goes through my mother to say these things.

"Is he that afraid I'll take over his Nintendo?" Li Xu couldn't help but laugh, then shook his head.

Well, he finally figured out what he had overlooked, a cause for celebration. However, Mizuko then delivered a blow: "It's me, not you, understand that, Liangshi."

"Alright, it's you, Mother," Li Xu rolled his eyes.

"Then, Liangshi, are you really not interested in Nintendo?" Mizuko asked immediately.

"Yes, of course. Although I'm very interested in video games, my future plans may not be in this field," Li Xu said with a serious face.

Mizuko nodded, not sure if she agreed or just put it aside, then tapped her fingers on the table. "Then, Liangshi, Mom has another question for you."

"Yes, Mother," Li Xu casually picked up his water glass.

"Look, Hakuai is three years older than you, Yoshinaga and Kurara are eighteen years older, and Teresa Teng is nine years older," Mizuko asked seriously, "Liangshi, do you have a mother complex?"

Pfft!