Chapter 187 The Simple Joy of an Engineer
After escorting Ken Kutaragi and his assistant back into the exhibition hall, Su Yuanshan returned to Yuanxin's booth.
By then, Microsoft had finished their product launch, and Carly, representing Xinghai, was onstage presenting their full software portfolio—officially sounding the trumpet for Xinghai's advance into the Chinese market.
After the morning session ended, Su Yuanshan found time to stroll over to the booths where members of the Caotang Association had gathered.
He couldn't help but chuckle—domestic startups really did have a strong sense of brotherhood, squeezing their booths together like a medieval fortress.
Of course, Yuanxin had been granted a prime location by the organizers—one carefully prepared in advance.
In the afternoon, Su Yuanshan headed to the airport to welcome Chen Jing and Vincente's group from TI, who had just flown in from Shanghai.
Normally, a pure semiconductor team like Vincente's would have zero interest in a software expo.
But since they had extra days after finalizing their deal, they decided to swing by the provincial capital for a look.
And the provincial organizers were thrilled—
The more foreigners and enterprises attending, the more "international" the expo seemed.
Xi Xiaoding had joked earlier that if no foreigners showed up, the organizers might hire a bunch just to act as fake attendees...
...
"Hard work, Sister Jing," Su Yuanshan said.
After arriving back in the provincial capital, Chen Jing had barely rested before rushing to the expo site, accepting interviews with provincial and national TV stations, and networking with countless officials and business figures.
By the time she returned to Yuanxin's headquarters, even someone as energetic as her looked drained.
"Not too bad," Chen Jing said, curling up on the sofa, massaging her sore feet while sipping from a thermal cup of pork trotter soup that Su Yuanshan had personally fetched from the canteen.
She had been so exhausted that she didn't even want dinner, let alone attend any welcome parties.
So Su Yuanshan had instructed the kitchen to whip up a small meal just for her.
Recently, Yuanxin's major contracts and project launches had required someone at the very top to attend—and Chen Jing had ended up carrying much of that burden.
Su Yuanshan folded his arms and watched her take tiny, ladylike sips from the spoon.
"You're being way too polite," he teased.
"We're so close—just drink straight from the cup!"
"This isn't chicken soup, you know. I'm just sipping a little to quench my thirst," Chen Jing said, putting down the spoon and exhaling.
"Ah, canteen food really is the best."
Su Yuanshan: "..."
Chen Jing tilted her head and grinned. "You don't think so?"
"Mainly because when we eat out, there's always a mountain of work hanging over us," Su Yuanshan chuckled.
"Only here, back in the Science Park, can we really relax. That's why even simple food tastes great."
Chen Jing thought about it, then smiled. "You're right.
Old Zhang said the same thing."
Su Yuanshan nodded.
Zhang Rujin had already arrived in Shanghai, staying behind to oversee construction preparations for the new fab.
Su Yuanshan had been waiting for Chen Jing to finish eating so they could discuss the situation over there.
After wiping her mouth with a napkin and putting aside the thermal cup, Chen Jing looked at him.
"Right now, the Shanghai government is fully supporting construction.
But staffing the fab won't be so easy.
Should we transfer people or hire new staff?"
"Recruit new ones," Su Yuanshan said.
"Once the plant is finished, we can move some project teams and labs over."
"And who's handling the recruitment?"
"I'll head over in a few days to discuss it with Old Zhang," he said.
"This has to be led by him."
Chen Jing laughed. "You really don't treat him as an outsider anymore."
"Of course not. He's already one of us," Su Yuanshan said with a grin.
"Old Zhang has a warm heart—we just need to support him."
They chatted briefly about the progress at the Silicon Valley R&D center.
Lin Bencheng's team was settling in, drafting project budgets—it wouldn't be long before they started asking for money.
"You get some rest," Su Yuanshan said.
"I'm going to play around in the lab for a bit."
Grabbing the thermal cup, he headed back toward the canteen.
"...I really envy you engineering types," Chen Jing said suddenly.
"Hmm? What's there to envy?" he asked.
She didn't answer directly. Instead, she asked:
"Is the lab really that fun?"
"Of course."
"See?
Simple happiness."
Su Yuanshan burst out laughing, but after thinking about it, he added,
"It's not really the experiments themselves.
It's the joy of focusing on one thing without any burdens."
"It's like if you love music," he said.
"But if every time you listen, you're forced to analyze vocal techniques, harmonies, sheet music, and breathing control... would you still enjoy it?"
Chen Jing was silent for a moment.
Then she crossed her legs, smiled, and teased,
"By the way, wasn't there a rumor you wrote a song by the lakeside recently?"
"I didn't!
It wasn't me!" Su Yuanshan said quickly, bolting upright.
"Gotta go. Goodnight!"
"..."
Chen Jing covered her mouth, laughing.
...
Carrying his thermal cup, Su Yuanshan walked toward the canteen, still inwardly regretting that impulsive moment.
After Li Xiao had asked about the song he wrote and been rebuffed, she had stormed off to the lakeside pavilion.
Then, with help from others, she reconstructed the lyrics and melody from memory.
Yuanxin was filled with high-IQ geniuses.
How could they not remember a simple, catchy folk tune?
The next day, Li Xiao had proudly sung it back to him.
Su Yuanshan had wanted to slap himself.
...
At this point, the Science Park resembled less a corporate campus and more a post-graduate engineering school.
Fresh graduates, master's students, even PhDs—
It was filled with brilliant, young, unmarried people.
Located in a relatively remote development zone with few entertainment options, many chose to stay late coding, doing experiments, or... gaming.
And because everyone lived on-site, the canteen stayed open late too.
After returning the thermal cup, Su Yuanshan bought a pile of rabbit heads and chicken legs, gnawing away as he headed to the lab.
Tonight, he planned to assist with chemical vapor deposition experiments—
and inform Cheng Peng and Li Xiao to prepare for new technology arrivals.
Sony was definitely tempted.
...
The chemistry lab was brightly lit.
Su Yuanshan, following lab safety protocols, stood at the observation window, holding the bag of snacks.
Seeing the bag, several students ran over immediately.
Li Xiao snatched the bag first, grabbing a rabbit head before passing it to Cheng Peng, then to Gao Chang...
Soon, a group of people were leaning on the railings, munching rabbit heads and chatting.
Casually, Su Yuanshan dropped the bombshell:
"Sony might exchange their battery technology for our mobile phone design."
There was a sudden loud plop—Li Xiao's rabbit head dropped straight onto the floor below.
"Are you insane?
That phone project took two years to develop!" she cried.
Though she had joined the chemistry lab, Li Xiao had strong ties to other project teams too.
She knew the mobile communications division was Yuanxin's largest unit—over a thousand people strong, divided into subgroups for equipment, base stations, operating systems, and more.
Not to mention the plants and design centers in the Special Economic Zone.
So much manpower and investment...
And Su Yuanshan wanted to trade it away?
Cheng Peng also looked stunned.
After entering Yuanxin, he had buzz-cut his hair and dedicated himself entirely to lab work.
"President Shan, is lithium-ion battery tech really that difficult?" he asked hesitantly.
"It's not about lacking faith in you," Su Yuanshan said with a chuckle.
"It's about lacking time."
"And besides," he added, "even if Sony takes our design, they still need our processors.
It's a win-win."
"And if we're being honest, mobile phone designs aren't rare anymore," he continued.
"But commercialized lithium-ion batteries?
Only Sony has them right now.
You know what exclusivity means?"
The two stared at each other, reluctant but helpless.
Su Yuanshan grinned.
"Now, get back to analyzing that lithium iron phosphate.
We need hard data."
He left them behind, heading deeper into the lab and putting on his white coat.
Li Xiao was right.
Su Yuanshan didn't trust the local teams to independently crack lithium battery tech fast enough.
In his past life, even the prestigious Chinese Academy of Sciences didn't commercialize lithium batteries until two years later—by then, Sony had dominated the market.
If Yuanxin secured the technology now, they could pivot directly into polymer batteries when the time was right.
In the past, China had entered the polymer battery field too late, missing the global top ten spots, which were all occupied by Japanese and Korean companies.
This time, Su Yuanshan was determined to save the country both time and money.
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