Chapter 188 Nanshan District's Product Meeting
The software expo ended successfully.
The success of an exhibition is first judged by the number and stature of exhibitors and visitors, and second by the amount of business transactions during the event.
This time, domestic agencies and companies had shown great support, and both international and domestic exhibitors had more or less secured orders.
Foreign companies were equally cooperative, achieving many preliminary agreements.
At the same time, domestic customers made one very practical request:
They hoped Western software companies would develop Chinese versions of their products—just like Windows 3.2.
Everyone politely agreed.
Whether they would actually follow through... well, only time would tell.
After all, the Chinese market was still too small.
It wasn't even a "chicken rib" yet—barely a "mosquito leg."
Only companies like Xinghai, which had a large number of Chinese engineers, would seriously consider developing Chinese versions.
After the expo ended, Su Yuanshan and Chen Jing naturally invited guests like Gates and Carly to visit the Science Park.
Especially Carly, who remarked that visiting as a "guest" felt very strange.
While accompanying her, Chen Jing had laughed and shared how she herself had once been a mere collaborator with Yuanxin—and somehow ended up becoming its CEO.
...
After seeing off the various guests, Xi Xiaoding also took YXLab to Beijing for a "results evaluation."
Although technically the evaluation happened after the launch, under the banner of "supporting the software expo," everyone understood.
There was no doubt YXLab, as a research-oriented mathematics software, would quickly secure large orders from universities nationwide.
And Xi Xiaoding would finally gain the recognition he deserved.
Combined with his earlier achievements in the EDA project, it was almost certain that he would be promoted to full professor and granted the authority to supervise Ph.D. candidates.
After all, everything now emphasized speed—even government officials were being promoted faster, and there was no reason to delay honoring someone standing at the top of their field.
Not to mention, Xi was a returning scholar from overseas.
To Xi Xiaoding, however, the most important outcome was the lab itself.
He was grateful he could maintain a team of geniuses—people who could only do math and coding, and cared about little else.
Su Yuanshan shared the same sentiment.
Incidentally, Su Yuanshan rarely visited Xi's lab.
He worried that the high-IQ folks there might quickly see through the truth—that his mathematical skills were only superficially impressive.
That would have been too damaging to his carefully maintained image.
...
At the end of November, Su Xinghe traveled to Shanghai for an academic conference.
Su Yuanshan tagged along, arranging a meeting between his father, Zhang Rujin, and himself.
There, he formally authorized Zhang Rujin to fully oversee the fab construction project.
This was one of the outcomes negotiated earlier between Chen Jing and TI.
During negotiations, to probe TI's bottom line, Chen Jing and Carly had conducted extensive analysis.
Their conclusion: TI's true bottom line was technology.
As an old-school tech company, TI's lifeblood was still its technology.
On everything else, they were willing to be flexible.
And from TI's perspective, their investments—buying a stake in Xinghai, collaborating with Yuanxin to build a fab, and investing in the EDA company—meant they had finally gained meaningful entry into the Chinese market.
Previously, TI had been reluctant to invest because there was no promising entry point.
Moving in back then would have been little more than charity.
Now, with Yuanxin's projects offering real potential, TI naturally took the collaboration seriously.
Meanwhile, Su Yuanshan had originally planned just a brief visit to check on Li Mingliu's team.
But when he arrived, he found Li and his crew in full "final sprint mode"—the same frenzied state he had seen during the final push to complete the VCD project.
The sight nearly gave Su Yuanshan a heart attack.
This was only 1993!
How long could even an iron man like Li Mingliu sustain this pace?
Su Yuanshan was still counting on Li to lead Yuanxin's future battles in the memory market—the most critical battlefield in semiconductors.
"Who controls memory controls the industry."
That wasn't just a slogan—it was a truth proven by countless semiconductor cycles.
Still, Su Yuanshan understood:
Li Mingliu was likely pushing himself this hard because he had boasted at last year's company party that he would once again be Yuanxin's "Best Employee" this year.
If he couldn't deliver a successful cache design... he would lose that title.
Even if he succeeded, he'd have to compete with Tian Yaoming for it.
As for Xi Xiaoding's mathematics team?
Everyone agreed it would be inappropriate for the company's founding executives—Su, Xi, Chen—to personally compete for employee awards.
So Su Yuanshan forcibly dragged Li Mingliu onto a flight to the Special Economic Zone for a forced vacation.
Li was frustrated but also amused.
Once on the plane, he finally relaxed and slept soundly in business class.
When he woke up, they had landed—and Xiao Shouping was waiting at the airport.
Xiao, once a junior colleague under Li during the VCD days, was now helping manage the facilities.
Seeing each other again, they chatted happily all the way to Nanshan District.
...
Nanshan District, Yuanxin Internet R&D Center.
Pony was holding a product meeting.
"Right now," he said, adjusting his glasses, "the Internet version of EM (Easy Message) has entered alpha testing.
It's time to think about expanding its features."
Despite being fresh out of college, Pony exuded confidence.
After all, he had passed SYS's tough assessment and now led a team of young engineers—all undergraduate-level.
"Two options lie before us:
First, partner with paging companies and turn EM into an Internet-based pager system."
"Second, overhaul our database and enable offline messaging—in short,"
Pony glanced toward the adjacent meeting room,
"EM would gain email functionality."
"Now, let's discuss the pros and cons of each approach and assess the difficulty of implementation."
He picked up a piece of chalk and wrote two words on the small blackboard:
Paging and Email.
Immediately, someone raised their hand.
"I think adding network paging functionality could help build a revenue model.
Whereas email...
Honestly, EM was conceived as an instant messaging tool.
We shouldn't mess with email's territory."
Pony nodded and wrote "Revenue" under "Paging."
But someone else pointed out,
"Partnering with paging companies would complicate things."
Pony waved it off.
"Don't worry about that.
Remember, we're a direct R&D unit under Yuanxin's tech center.
More than half of China's paging systems and devices come from Dr. Tian's team.
And I've worked at Zhongxin—I know our relationships with the paging networks are solid."
"Any other thoughts?"
Pony looked around eagerly.
But then he noticed that everyone... was staring toward the door.
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