Starting From the Chip in 1991

Chapter 67 The Extremely Fierce Woman

Ever since Li Mingliu led a team along with Qu Hui to settle into Chengguang Institute, and Xiao Shouping took another team to Shenzhen, the VCD decoder chip project group at Yuanchip was practically in name only. Only the veteran Gao Xiaodi remained, overseeing a dozen or so interns, and according to him, it was like giving these younger students a second round of military training.

"I've said it so many times already — develop good commenting habits! Why don't you understand? Do you plan to spend your whole life writing projects nobody else can read? If that's the case, just strap the computer onto your back and live with it!"

Gao Xiaodi, from the mountain city, had come from Electronics Tech last year to support the EDA development project. After graduating, he stayed at Yuanchip for his master's degree. After the initial team split, he had jokingly declared himself one of the 'three giants' of the chip design group — naturally excluding Su Yuanshan.

Even after Li Mingliu and Xiao Shouping left, Gao Xiaodi didn't feel any happier. Watching this bunch of clumsy new graduates from Electronics Tech made him so angry that he lost his temper at them constantly — and he wasn't gentle at all. Yet the interns didn't dare complain — after all, he was their senior from the same university.

"Senior Gao," Su Yuanshan greeted him, using the chance to rescue the group of interns.

"Xiaoshan," Gao Xiaodi greeted back, walking over while still taking a moment to point at an intern's monitor behind him.

Within Yuanchip, given Su Yuanshan's unique age and status, there was an unspoken rule about how to address him — the early master's and PhD students from Electronics Tech called him "Xiaoshan," while people like Li Mingliu and Jiang Wanchao, who were considered external hires, called him "General Manager Shan" or "General Manager Yuan." Those from logistics or finance departments usually addressed him as "Little General Manager Su."

Su Yuanshan didn't mind how anyone addressed him; he simply called everyone else "Senior Brother" or "Senior Sister" in return.

Inside the office, Su Yuanshan sat down on the guest sofa and asked Gao Xiaodi for the list of interns. After reading it carefully, he picked up a pen and marked five names. "Senior Brother, judging from your notes, you're sure these people hope to stay at Yuanchip?"

"Yeah. They voluntarily chose to intern here, and they all want to officially join after the internship — otherwise, why would I bother training them?" Gao Xiaodi said, smoothing his hair, which revealed an unusually high hairline.

"Alright then, help me with these five. Tell them they'll be sent to Shenzhen to learn motherboard design."

Gao Xiaodi froze for a second, then practically jumped a foot into the air: "Damn! You're stripping me clean! And they haven't even graduated yet — you want to send them to learn motherboard design?"

Su Yuanshan had already anticipated this reaction and chuckled: "Precisely because they're new. They're still moldable. Plus, Pan Xiaojun has people over there to teach them EDA, and Xiao Shouping is there too."

Gao Xiaodi shook the paper and realized that Su Yuanshan had picked out all his most promising candidates, leaving him even more frustrated: "Your eyesight is too damn sharp! How am I supposed to get any work done now?"

Adjusting his posture slightly, Su Yuanshan smiled warmly: "First, focus on leading the remaining people to work on that prepaid card system we discussed. Major universities across the country are preparing to switch from meal tickets to IC chip cards. Even if we only earn one or two yuan per chip, multiplied across thousands of students, it adds up to a lot."

"Just with this few people? It'll take us until 2020!"

"Of course not. Start slow. Once we do a campus recruitment drive in May, we'll bring in a hundred-person team for you."

After a lot of persuading, Su Yuanshan finally calmed Gao Xiaodi down — otherwise, he really might have gone crazy. And he wasn't lying: an IC card boom would soon sweep across the country, along with huge demand for campus ID and payment cards. In his previous life, IC cards hadn't really become widespread until after 1995, once Shougang NEC's 6-inch production line had ramped up and chip costs dropped significantly.

As for bank cards, Chinese citizens would still have to use magnetic stripe cards for a while — chip cards were just too expensive to be rolled out instantly.

While Yuanchip's interns were setting off to their new assignments, across the ocean, Xi Xiaoding had finished exhibiting at CEBIT and had gone to Berlin to liaise with SOYO representatives. Just as Su Yuanshan expected, even with the strong endorsement of Yuanchip's EDA, the newly launched UESTC91 microcontroller hadn't made much of a splash — only a few small companies showed interest and requested development kits.

When the pager from Chen Jing came through, Su Yuanshan was in a conference room on the tenth floor, reviewing a newly completed scale model with his uncle. His uncle had run all over the city to find someone to make it — it was said to be crafted by a supplier specializing in military projects.

The model represented Yuanchip's future 500-acre technology park. In addition to a wafer pilot plant, several high-rise research centers and laboratories were marked out prominently.

Naturally, Su Yuanshan had not forgotten to plan for employee dormitories.

Picking up the phone, he dialed Chen Jing's number: "President Chen."

Chen Jing's voice was calm, but even a deaf person could have heard the suppressed anger: "General Manager Su, how could you just send me a few interns? Don't forget, you're the majority shareholder!"

"Uh... even the landlord can run out of grain," Su Yuanshan said with a grin. "The problem is that your early manpower request completely disrupted Yuanchip's deployment — we expected your factory to take at least a few more months to build. By then, my top generals might have returned."

Chen Jing didn't respond immediately. All he could hear was two deep, heavy breaths.

"Well... President Chen," Su Yuanshan said, a little sheepishly. "If you don't believe me, you're welcome to come to Yuanchip and see for yourself."

"Fine. I'll bring the construction blueprints with me."

The call ended, leaving Su Yuanshan stunned. He looked up at his uncle and asked humbly: "Uncle, you've seen a lot. Have you ever encountered a woman who refuses to take a loss, no matter what?"

"Except your wife, who would willingly suffer a loss?" Uncle Zhang said offhandedly, still admiring the model. "But women like that usually end up eating secret losses."

Then he suddenly became more alert: "Wait, who are you trying to take advantage of?"

"A woman. She studied economics abroad. Looks very gentle — even has the character 'quiet' (Jing) in her name. But when it comes to negotiations, she's absolutely ruthless," Su Yuanshan said, narrowing his eyes as he recalled his first impression of Chen Jing — all soft smiles and innocent looks.

"She's ferociously fierce."

Hearing the word "economics master's degree," Uncle Zhang shrank back slightly: "Then it's better to stick to honest business dealings..."

Su Yuanshan pursed his lips, then suddenly laughed: "The fiercer, the better. If she's truly that capable, then letting her waste her talents running a motherboard factory would be a pity."

Chen Jing's speed left Su Yuanshan completely unprepared. She had spoken to him at ten in the morning, and by five in the afternoon, she was already calling from a public phone at the provincial airport, asking him to send someone to pick her up.

If he hadn't heard the distinctive accent of the provincial capital in the background, Su Yuanshan would have thought she was joking — trying to get back at him for sending only interns to help her.

Bringing along his uncle, who had been guarding the pager booth at Jiangdu Building, Su Yuanshan decided to personally pick her up. After all, she had traveled alone — quite brave.

Forty minutes later, Su Yuanshan arrived at the airport. From a distance, he immediately spotted Chen Jing standing by a public telephone near a small convenience store. One glance was enough to know that his worries had been unnecessary.

The woman he had called "extremely fierce" was wearing a beige trench coat and high leather boots, her hair neatly tied into a bun. With her mouth pressed into a straight line, wearing sunglasses and tilting her chin slightly upward to reveal a slender neck, she stood perfectly straight, pulling a rolling suitcase beside her.

She looked exactly like a movie heroine — the kind of woman you knew at a glance not to mess with.

(End of Chapter 67)

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