Chapter 1

In the golden autumn of October, the Qinling Mountains were awash with the vibrant colors of the season, a sea of red and orange.

In the valley, a train passed through.

Today is October 17, 1999, a Sunday.

This is the T8 train from Shudu to the capital.

In the hard sleeper compartment, Gao Yang sat by the window, gazing at the autumn scenery, feeling a myriad of emotions.

Gao Yang has been reborn in 1999 for a month now.

After more than half a month of contemplation, Gao Yang decided to follow the path of his previous life, moving to the capital and switching jobs to an IT weekly newspaper called *IT Distributor*.

After the Golden Week of National Day, he resigned from his job as a civil servant in the town government and as an editor at the newspaper.

Five years ago, Gao Yang graduated from a vocational school and was assigned to work at the town government in his hometown. He obtained a college diploma through part-time study over three years and then took a leave of absence to apply for a reporter position at the Jinyang Evening News.

Gao Yang worked at the newspaper for more than two years, demonstrating outstanding professional skills and excellent performance, and was promoted to a responsible editor.

He was the only editor among the young reporters at the newspaper.

Even so, Gao Yang was only a hired employee without a formal position.

Gao Yang had a civil servant position, but the newspaper was unwilling to accept him, making it impossible to transfer his work status.

The newspaper had about 70 to 80 employees, of which only 13 were on the formal payroll, all transferred from the Jinyang Daily.

These people, under the so-called market-oriented operation mechanism, earned about 4,000 to 5,000 yuan per month, with an annual bonus of 20,000 to 30,000 yuan, starting with an annual income of 70,000 to 80,000 yuan.

Gao Yang, on the other hand, had just received his September salary, which was only 820 yuan.

By the Spring Festival, the newspaper would probably give out a year-end bonus of about 1,000 yuan.

Reborn at the age of 25, Gao Yang did not want to return to the town government or stay in Jinyang, a third-tier city.

He decided to switch jobs to the capital, just as he did in his previous life, and follow the path of an IT journalist.

This move to the capital would soon see Gao Yang's income reach tens of thousands of yuan, ten times more than what he earned at the Jinyang Evening News.

The reason for this choice, in the end, came down to one word:

Money!

Without money, all beautiful aspirations are just daydreams.

After being reborn, Gao Yang felt the urgency of time.

If everything remained unchanged, his father, Gao Yingxue, who had toiled in the fields all his life, would fall ill from overwork and die of cancer eight years later, at the age of 64.

In his previous life, Gao Yang's lack of foresight led to a life of poverty and hardship, and a broken family by middle age.

In this life, his greatest wish was to make up for these regrets and enjoy a sense of achievement...

On October 18, at noon, after a 24-hour journey, the train arrived on time at the West Railway Station in the capital.

Gao Yang, dragging his suitcase, stepped out of the station and saw Wu Bo waving and smiling ahead.

Wu Bo, 38 years old, was originally a deputy editor at the Jinyang Daily. When the Jinyang Evening News was founded, Wu Bo transferred to the new newspaper and worked with Gao Yang for a year, serving as his mentor.

At the beginning of the year, Wu Bo switched to the capital and became the general manager and editor-in-chief of the national edition of *IT Distributor*.

Wu Bo had always admired Gao Yang, and it was Wu Bo who introduced him to the IT media company in the capital.

Beside Wu Bo were two young men.

One was about the same height as Wu Bo, around 172 cm. Gao Yang knew this was the chief reporter Wan Hong, from Yunnan Province.

The other, about the same height as Gao Yang, was Zhang Tao, from Harbin in Northeast China, who was now the assistant editor.

Gao Yang also knew that Wan Hong and Zhang Tao shared a small two-bedroom apartment, and Wu Bo had arranged for him to live with them temporarily.

Wu Bo introduced Zhang Tao and Wan Hong to Gao Yang, who smiled and shook hands with his familiar colleagues.

The four of them hailed a taxi. It was a Jetta, with a starting fare of 10 yuan, covering 3 kilometers.

In those days, taxis in the capital were quite affordable.

After getting in the car, Wu Bo said to the driver, "Driver, go past Bai Shi Bridge and stop at the retirement home in front of the Meteorological Bureau..."

"High Yang, you're finally here. Teacher Wu has been talking about you, saying you're a talented writer," Zhang Tao said warmly, with a generous personality.

Gao Yang smiled slightly and humbly replied, "I'm familiar with the mass media, but I know nothing about IT. Please guide me in the future."

"High Yang, IT isn't as complicated as you think. Our CPI focuses on IT channels and marketing, not much on IT technology," Wan Hong responded, with a heavy accent.

Gao Yang knew that CPI was the English abbreviation for *IT Distributor*, with the full name *Computer Partner Information*, meaning "Computer Partner."

In the IT channel circle, the concept of a distributor was vague, with significant differences in the channel systems of major brands, making it impossible to generalize with the term "distributor."

In those days, IT products, represented by PCs, could no longer maintain high profits, and the market quickly evolved from a blue ocean to a red ocean. Brand manufacturers also began to promote the concept of cooperative win-win partnerships.

In his previous life, Gao Yang had worked in this industry for 10 years and could be considered an expert in the IT media channel.

The streets of the capital in those days, though busy with traffic, were not very congested.

After about 20 minutes, the taxi passed the Capital Stadium, and Wu Bo pointed out the window, saying,

"High Yang, the office is just ahead. There's a comprehensive market here, and you can buy some daily necessities in the afternoon."

A few minutes later, Wu Bo asked the taxi to stop in front of a small restaurant near the retirement home. They got out and had lunch.

Wu Bo ordered a roasted duck, a few dishes, and two bottles of beer.

The simple meal cost over 160 yuan, and Zhang Tao insisted on paying the bill.

In Gao Yang's memory, whenever colleagues ate together, Zhang Tao would always insist on paying.

After lunch, the four of them entered the retirement home and took the elevator to the fifth floor.

The elevator opened to the CPI reception, which occupied half of the floor.

CPI was an IT business media group with its headquarters in Shudu, and this was the Beijing branch.

Zhang Tao placed Gao Yang's suitcase in the work area and introduced him:

"CPI Group has four projects in Beijing: the national edition, Home Computers, Game News, and the research company CPI Research, with a total of over 100 people. Our project is the national edition, the largest project in the group..."

Zhang Tao enthusiastically introduced the company, and Gao Yang smiled and nodded, pretending to be clueless.

Back in the office, Wan Hong went back to his work, always busy with his computer.

At that moment, in the work area of the national edition, there were only a few people left.

Zhang Tao asked Gao Yang to find his application materials, made copies of his college diploma and ID card, and handed them to Wu Bo along with his resume.

Wu Bo kept Gao Yang's application materials and planned to submit them to HR in the afternoon to complete the onboarding process.