In the 1990s, my cousin got down on his knees and begged me to join him in the pager business.
I helped him secure frequencies, build connections, and train staff. In three years, we made three million yuan.
When it came time to split the profits at year's end, he tossed me five thousand yuan and said, “We're family. This should be enough to show I appreciate you.”
Then he kicked me out.
Everyone thought I was finished.
I took that five thousand yuan and rented a shabby storefront in the urban village, then started selling PHS phones, a business everyone said was “a dead end.”
My cousin laughed and called me crazy. My relatives called me an ungrateful wretch. My parents wiped their tears and begged me to go back and apologize.
I refused.
From pagers to PHS phones, from mobile phones to the mobile internet, one “madman” everyone looked down on was about to turn the entire telecommunications era upside down with his own hands.
