Starting From the Chip in 1991

Chapter 66 The Spring Breeze of Reform Sweeps the Land

Su Yuanshan could easily guess that Wang Chaoxin's call was purely to share good news. Although Wang Chaoxin possessed sharp market insight and bold decision-making, he still liked to discuss big moves with Su Yuanshan — even though Su Yuanshan had told him, as long as the direction was right, even occasional missteps would simply become valuable experience. For example, when it came to aggressively expanding production capacity, Wang Chaoxin had trusted Su Yuanshan completely, pouring all available funds into expansion while simultaneously starting to develop paging system chips on his own and extending business into overseas markets — the Siamese engineers were currently isolated in a separate development department, collaborating with Yuanchip's IC designers on creating Thai-language decoding chips. But until real results came in, Wang Chaoxin's heart remained uneasy. Now that everything had fallen into place, confirming that every strategic move had landed on the right spot, he was naturally ecstatic.

Su Yuanshan didn't chat much with Wang Chaoxin and didn't interfere in his detailed layout for the pager market. Compared to Wang Chaoxin, he himself was still a bit of an amateur in this area now.

"Hello, Director Zhao," Su Yuanshan turned to greet the director, who would later become a household name, with a cheerful smile and an extended hand. "It's an honor to meet you."

Director Zhao hurriedly shook hands, smiling modestly: "No, no, I'm just someone who shot a small project."

"Anything from Director Zhao is guaranteed quality — even a small project will surely be a big hit," Su Yuanshan laughed. Then he turned to the young woman standing up beside Zhao: "And this is?"

"This is Editor Wang Yuping."

This time, Su Yuanshan skipped the usual pleasantries. After shaking hands briefly, he went straight to the point: "My uncle should have roughly explained things to Director Zhao and Miss Wang. On the surface, this drama praises the 'spring breeze of reform sweeping the land.' But privately, we also hope to promote the spirit of tech entrepreneurship — and by the way, slip in some product placement for our new invention."

Director Zhao exchanged a glance with Wang Yuping and nodded: "Over the past half month, we've developed a rough story outline."

Wang Yuping immediately took a file folder from her briefcase and handed Su Yuanshan a handwritten outline.

Su Yuanshan quickly skimmed through the general plot and the brief descriptions for twenty episodes. Overall, it was close to what he had envisioned. However, in the early episodes, there was too much focus on the failings of the collective enterprise system and the hardships faced by workers. The parts depicting the actual product development were too sparse.

After pondering for a few seconds, Su Yuanshan said: "Director Zhao, here's the thing. Although reform and opening up is now inevitable, it's best not to overly highlight corporate losses or people's suffering using traditional storytelling methods. After all, the real theme of this drama should not be exposure or criticism. What we want to convey is that technology is the true path to a prosperous future, the key to improving people's lives."

"Therefore, the drama should show more about how the protagonist builds a team, overcomes difficulties, and finally achieves success."

Pausing, Su Yuanshan couldn't help but smile, remembering the 'face-slapping counterattack' tropes that were so popular in the internet novels he had heard younger colleagues discuss in his past life: "You can even arrange some rivals for the protagonist — maybe a distributor of imported VCRs, or even foreigners. They could look down on the protagonist's team, mocking them with lines like, 'Even foreigners can't make it, what makes you think you bumpkins can?'"

Noticing that Wang Yuping was frantically jotting down notes, Su Yuanshan paused again and slowed his speech: "But make sure not to let the tone get too oppressive. The audience must always feel hope. Show continuous progress, like 'the chip design has reached the register stage, and tape-out is just around the corner' — keep giving them exciting developments. Understand?"

Director Zhao smiled and shook his head: "Please continue, Su General Manager. This kind of storyline conflict actually sounds stronger."

"Good, whether you understand or not isn't critical," Su Yuanshan smiled. "Later, we'll assign some technical experts to assist your scriptwriters. When presenting it to the audience, don't make the technical explanations too dry. You can let the characters explain concepts through dialogue, and if it gets too complicated, just have them say, 'You wouldn't understand even if I explained.' As long as the audience knows the protagonist is working on something amazing, that's enough."

"And finally, be sure to handle the transformation of the antagonists properly — from mocking to being genuinely shocked. Find good actors who can perform that shift convincingly."

After Su Yuanshan finished his long monologue, Director Zhao looked at him with open admiration, exclaiming: "Su General Manager, your understanding of dramatic conflict is remarkably deep."

Su Yuanshan merely smiled. In truth, he didn't understand much about crafting drama — he was just copying the tried-and-true tropes that internet novels and popular culture had proven to stimulate dopamine among audiences who were desperate for entertainment in this barren cultural era.

...

After arranging for the logistics team to help Director Zhao and Editor Wang stay and immerse themselves in Yuanchip's atmosphere, Su Yuanshan returned to his office. Resting his chin on his hands, he began thinking about Yuanchip's European expansion.

According to reports from Xi Xiaoding, Yuanchip's participation in CEBIT had gone well. Besides the major companies they had already secured deals with, several smaller chip design firms and electronics manufacturers had expressed strong interest. The only headache was that because they were unfamiliar with the local environment, expansion had been progressing slowly.

"Hello, President Chen?" Su Yuanshan grabbed the phone and dialed Chen Jing's satellite mobile.

As he expected, this economics master's degree holder had returned specifically to help her brother expand their operations. Before coming back, she had also interned at a major Western computer company for half a year. Combined with Chen Daohua's family business background, she had a very deep understanding of the motherboard industry. This entire mainland push had been based on her careful analysis and planning. Now, she was in charge of their new company on this side.

"Hello, young Su General Manager, please go ahead."

Su Yuanshan smiled: "Come on, don't be so formal."

On the other end, Chen Jing, who was overseeing a construction site, chuckled quietly without a sound: "Aren't you calling about business?"

"Well... partly, but not completely," Su Yuanshan laughed. "We just opened a branch in Germany — I believe it's in the same city where your sales office is located, in Berlin, right?"

"Our marketing office is indeed in Berlin."

Su Yuanshan cleared his throat: "In that case, I'm sure you guys must have great local connections. I was hoping we could collaborate more closely — share resources and contacts."

There was a moment of silence from the other end, then a soft laugh: "Sure, but I'd like to ask you for a small favor too."

Su Yuanshan chuckled and said quickly: "Name it."

"Our clean room here isn't finished yet, but we can't afford to delay the motherboard design work. Could you send a few engineers over to help us temporarily? The basic design isn't complicated — they'll pick it up quickly."

"I..."

Chen Jing, without the typical delicate tone of an island girl, sounded calm and direct: "Besides, the original partnership agreement did mention that you'd dispatch engineers."

Su Yuanshan narrowed his eyes and changed into a more relaxed position, lying back in his chair: "But that was supposed to happen after production started, wasn't it?"

"After production starts, your engineers won't be able to pick it up instantly either."

"Well... you're right. It's not that hard to learn." Su Yuanshan sighed. "Fine, I'll send a few people over."

"Thank you."

After hanging up, Su Yuanshan couldn't help laughing and muttered: "What a little fox..."

Zhou Xiaohui, who had sharp ears, heard him and looked up, laughing: "How rare — first time I've ever heard you curse someone."

"Not a curse," Su Yuanshan said with a grin. "That was praise — she's really capable."

Then he picked up a pen and started playing with it absentmindedly, letting out a long sigh. Why, he wondered, didn't he have a sister who was so sharp and unwilling to suffer even the slightest loss... or maybe an older sister?

(End of Chapter 66)

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