Chapter 5 Once You Show Off, You Can't Back Down
Qin Weimin stood up to greet the visitor, extending his hand. "Hello, you must be Xi Xiaoding?"
The young man named Xi Xiaoding nodded, shook Qin Weimin's hand calmly, and sat down without hesitation. He was thin, his face pale, but his gaze was sharp and full of energy.
Su Yuanshan watched in slight surprise, noticing that Qin Weimin, usually confident, seemed a little uneasy in this man's presence.
Su Yuanshan cleared his throat and approached Qin Weimin's desk. "Sorry to interrupt, Senior Brother. I'm just dropping off some documents."
"Alright, just leave them here." Qin Weimin casually pushed the resume toward Su Yuanshan, then looked back at Xi Xiaoding with a smile. "It seems I should call you Senior Brother."
Xi Xiaoding finally smiled faintly and shook his head. "No need. I started studying early; I might not even be older than you."
Su Yuanshan coughed lightly and glanced at the resume.
Xi Xiaoding.
USTC Young Talent Class.
Master's degree in Electronic Engineering, supervised by Wang Jianmin.
PhD from the University of Pennsylvania, Computer and Information Science, under George Zou.
Su Yuanshan took a sharp breath.
The USTC Young Talent Class had indeed produced many prodigies, most of whom pursued studies abroad. Many of them had illustrious careers upon returning to China.
UPenn—University of Pennsylvania. A big name. Why was someone like this showing up here? Especially considering that most overseas students would not yet return at this time.
Su Yuanshan and Qin Weimin exchanged a glance, both seeing the confusion and helplessness in each other's eyes. This man was obviously here to flex.
Perceiving the strange atmosphere, Xi Xiaoding smiled slightly, a touch of red appearing on his pale cheeks. "I returned to China because my father passed away. After handling the funeral, I had some spare time. I saw your recruitment ad on the train, thought it was interesting, so I came to take a look. Sorry if I intruded."
"My condolences," Qin Weimin said politely, then smiled. "Senior Brother Xi, it so happens that your mentor and my mentor are academic siblings."
Xi Xiaoding nodded. "Professor Wang mentioned Professor Su to me. He spoke very highly of him."
"I thank Professor Wang on my father's behalf," Su Yuanshan said, bowing slightly as the professor's son. He smiled and asked, "Senior Brother Xi, are you considering staying?"
"Not really. I've already received an offer from IBM," Xi Xiaoding replied, shaking his head. "I just came out of curiosity."
Ah, so it was just a show-off visit.
"Since you're here, what have you seen?" Su Yuanshan asked casually.
"It's like this..." Xi Xiaoding lowered his gaze slightly and smiled. "We technical people don't like to sugarcoat things. Honestly, China's computer industry, both software and hardware, still lags far behind the West. To improve, we must go abroad and learn.
"I see you're planning to build an EDA tool with mostly engineering grads... Frankly, it feels a bit like shutting yourself in and building cars behind closed doors."
His words made Qin Weimin fall silent.
As a local master's graduate, in front of a young genius who had been through USTC and UPenn, Qin Weimin's momentum naturally faltered.
Fortunately, Su Yuanshan didn't falter, no matter what position he was in.
He smiled and said, "But Senior Brother Xi, the second half of that saying is that after shutting yourself in, you eventually align with the standards."
"In one month, Yuanxin's EDA already has a prototype. The first tool is almost complete. How many EDA tools have you actually used?"
Xi Xiaoding looked at Su Yuanshan and answered: "Although I didn't continue down the IC design path during my PhD, I never stopped working with circuits. I've used Protel, Mentor, Cadence, and others."
"Would you like to try ours?" Su Yuanshan gestured for Qin Weimin to move aside.
Xi Xiaoding was surprised. Were they really letting him see an unfinished product?
"Senior Brother, you can check if domestic programming skills are truly behind the West," Su Yuanshan said as he inserted a floppy disk into the computer. "Of course, this is confidential, but I trust you to keep it secret. Even if you leak it, no one will catch up to me— not even Big Blue."
He smiled lightly, joking about IBM.
Xi Xiaoding hesitated, but curiosity got the better of him. He moved to stand behind Su Yuanshan.
Su Yuanshan launched C++, loaded the project, and started debugging.
The interface that popped up immediately made Xi Xiaoding's eyelids twitch.
It was beautiful.
"These reserved interfaces, I won't explain too much. Let's just plug in a tool."
Su Yuanshan opened the source code for his input tool and connected it to the framework.
"Now, let me demonstrate by drawing a simple PCB— the component database isn't complete yet, so I'll just make a basic radio receiver."
He effortlessly pulled up the drawing interface, placing components and wiring them up as if the software had a life of its own. In less than five minutes, a simple radio receiver PCB was complete.
Qin Weimin smiled and patted Su Yuanshan on the shoulder, his gaze flicking toward Xi Xiaoding.
Xi Xiaoding maintained a calm expression, but his pupils shrank, and his right hand clenched involuntarily.
"Our design philosophy is modular and team-based. Code readability is highly standardized through our engineering libraries," Su Yuanshan continued. "And what you see now is just the tip of the iceberg. Yuanxin's EDA, when completed, will double the efficiency of CPU architecture design teams. It can already handle designs exceeding ten million transistors."
"As for simulation tools, they support deep debugging parameters. As long as wafer fabs provide the necessary data, we can deliver full simulation support."
At this, Xi Xiaoding finally protested: "Impossible!
Chip simulation is a physical domain issue. Without a ton of physical data, how can you even write the algorithms?"
He didn't believe it. No small, fledgling company could achieve this.
Su Yuanshan was silent for a few seconds. He couldn't exactly say, "Senior Brother, I'm from thirty years in the future. I know all the physical properties and algorithms from the FinFET era." So he simply smiled and said:
"All code implementations ultimately reflect human intelligence."
"All design solutions ultimately reflect human intelligence."
"In China, even if our fabs are behind, we still have some production lines. We can still get basic data. As for physical expertise, we can hire and train talents. Even in the West, EDA companies don't build their own fabs or physical labs. They rely on data supplied by the fabs."
"So, why not?
Why is it impossible?"
Xi Xiaoding lifted his head and stared at Su Yuanshan for a long time without speaking.
Qin Weimin narrowed his eyes and said slowly: "Senior Brother Xi, you're right that we must go out to learn. But at the doctoral level, learning is about mastery, not just absorbing."
"C++ was born only ten years ago. Even foreigners are still learning it," Su Yuanshan added, standing up and pulling out the floppy disk. "I dare say I understand C++ better than anyone. If you disagree, let's debate."
After twenty years of practical experience and a month of intense training in this life, Su Yuanshan had every right to boast.
Moreover, his greatest advantage wasn't just technical proficiency. It was the instinct and intuition of an old programmer, honed by decades of battle, and a library of data and ideas from future generations.
Xi Xiaoding looked at him in astonishment.
Qin Weimin smiled and said: "Here's the deal. Senior Brother, sign a confidentiality agreement, and you can take a look at Xiaoshan's code."
Xi Xiaoding hesitated for a moment, then picked up a pen and signed.
Su Yuanshan and Qin Weimin exchanged a knowing smile.
Three hours later, Xi Xiaoding finally raised his head from the screen.
The office was empty except for him.
Through the frosted glass partition, he could see people at the workstations laughing, eating boxed lunches, and occasionally operating computers with a swarm of curious heads gathering around.
This was a startup full of energy.
The door opened. Su Yuanshan, holding a boxed lunch, walked in with a grin.
"Senior Brother, come eat."
Xi Xiaoding nodded. He licked his dry lips and pointed at the code. "You wrote all of this? Including the engineering library?"
Su Yuanshan nodded: "Framework, library, interfaces, tools— all mine."
Xi Xiaoding silently accepted the lunchbox, unsure what to say.
He could read the code easily.
And precisely because he could read it, he understood.
Su Yuanshan's programming was elegant, efficient, beautiful. Not a single line was wasted, not a single comment out of place.
He was strong—far stronger than anyone Xi Xiaoding had ever seen.
If this were a martial arts novel, Su Yuanshan's programming skills would be at the "enlightened" level.
Leaning back in his chair, Xi Xiaoding let out a long breath.
Su Yuanshan sat on the desk, swallowing a bite of food and smiling. "Senior Brother, how's that chair?"
"Oh, it's nice, but a bit hard," Xi Xiaoding answered absentmindedly, then looked up sharply at Su Yuanshan.
"Then we'll get you a softer one," Su Yuanshan said with a grin.
Xi Xiaoding licked his lips again, trying to hide his inner turmoil.
Su Yuanshan continued eating leisurely.
He had only hoped to discourage Xi Xiaoding a little. But now he realized: this man was seriously tempted.
IBM might offer stability and money.
But true engineers didn't choose stability. They chased dreams.
And Yuanxin offered a world-class project to lead.
Su Yuanshan's gaze grew more serious.
"Senior Brother, do you really want to waste your life in some meaningless department at IBM?"
"Or will you keep playing the game on easy mode?"
"We, the technical people, never worry about starving.
The only thing to fear is not realizing our full potential."
"I can tell you're a real deal genius.
And a genius should dare to change the world."
Xi Xiaoding lowered his head. For a long time, he said nothing.
Then, he smiled.
"May I ask about the salary?"
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