Starting From the Chip in 1991

Chapter 44 Picking Up a Team

Su Yuanshan glanced at the chubby programmer across from him, who was nervously reminding Howard, and chuckled. "How much did MOTO offer you?"

"Uh... four..." Howard hesitated as his friend nudged him, mistaking it as a hint to raise the price. "Fifty thousand."

Su Yuanshan immediately caught the slip from "four" to "five." His eyebrows lifted slightly—he was surprised that MOTO was so stingy. Even if they didn't think much of the full-duplex radio idea, offering only forty thousand dollars seemed ridiculously cheap. But then he remembered—it was still 1991, and forty or fifty thousand dollars was a significant sum for a small startup team.

Su Yuanshan lifted his coffee, took a sip, and asked, "So what's your real expectation?"

Howard sat down. "We still have to design the chip... and make a prototype."

"I can help you with the chip design," Su Yuanshan said casually. "You just need to perfect the baseband."

"You can design chips?" Howard widened his eyes, wearing a look that said, 'don't mess with me.'

"Howard!" his companion finally couldn't bear it and shoved the newspaper toward him. "Just look for yourself!"

"Don't interrupt!" Howard snapped at him, annoyed at being disrupted while dealing with a potential investor. Still, he instinctively glanced at the newspaper.

He looked up at Su Yuanshan, then back at the paper, then up again, staring fixedly at him. His cheeks twitched, and he squeezed out a pained, almost tearful smile.

—F**k! The Miracle Kid! He was right in front of him! And he had actually questioned whether this guy could design chips!

"Stop looking. It's me," Su Yuanshan said, smiling faintly. "And by the way, I don't like the nickname 'Miracle Kid.'"

He pulled out a pad and pen from his briefcase, stared lazily at Howard, and said, "I bet you haven't filed a patent yet. Here's the deal: $100,000 for all your current work, plus hiring the three of you as members of OCSS's wireless full-duplex radio project team. Once the project is commercially successful, the three of you will share 10% of the project's equity. You can decide the split yourselves."

"But we..." Howard started.

Su Yuanshan cut him off with a smile. "If the project flops, that's my bad luck."

Howard turned to look at his two companions, both of whom were practically glowing with excitement, their eyebrows wiggling comically.

—An enormous sucker right in front of them. How could they possibly refuse?

Howard licked his lips, seeming to summon all his courage, and nodded heavily. "We... agree."

"Good. Sign a preliminary cooperation agreement today, and I'll give you $5,000 immediately. We'll contact you tomorrow."

Su Yuanshan smiled warmly, looking every bit like a naive fool.

Watching the three leave happily clutching their $5,000, Qin Si said again, lazily, "If an oil company wants to buy your house, it's because there's oil underneath."

Everyone burst out laughing.

**

They quickly found a real estate agency and rented both a house and an office. That afternoon, they also registered with the Santa Clara County government. As for state-level registration, they would handle that another day.

The house they rented was a standalone four-bedroom villa.

Originally, Su Yuanshan had thought about buying it—housing prices were still low at around $200,000—but considering that they had just picked up a cordless telephone project, he decided to conserve cash.

Developing the market for cordless phones would require real, substantial investment.

After buying beds and essentials, they returned home around eight in the evening.

It took another hour or so to clean the house and settle the bedrooms.

By the time they all finally gathered in the living room, it was nearly 10 PM.

The villa was a typical West Coast style—two stories, large central living room, one bedroom downstairs, three upstairs.

Sitting on the couch, Su Yuanshan caught his breath and said with a smile, "I thought I'd escaped high school cleaning duties for life.

Never expected I'd still be sweeping floors in America."

"Haha, you wish!" Yang Yiwen laughed, then teased, "I admit you might never need to again.

If only your senior brother were as capable as you, I wouldn't make him clean either."

"Why isn't Senior Brother capable?" Su Yuanshan said, grinning playfully.

"Hey! You little rascal!" Yang Yiwen smacked him lightly on the head.

The others laughed as they watched them bicker.

Qin Si shook her head, feeling a twinge of envy.

After spending these days together, she knew that Su Yuanshan actually respected her deeply as his "sister-in-law"—even his jokes were always made by dragging Tang Wenjie into the teasing.

"You all relax. I'll go fix something to eat," Qin Si said, pulling her boyfriend to his feet.

When Yang Yiwen got up to help, Su Yuanshan straightened up and smiled at her.

"Sister-in-law, come outside with me. I need to talk to you."

Yang Yiwen hesitated, glanced at the others—Xi Xiaoding smiled at her reassuringly—then she bit her lip and followed Su Yuanshan outside.

The garden was neat and clean, filled with blooming hibiscus flowers—the house had only recently been vacated.

As they walked among the flowers, Yang Yiwen wondered anxiously what Su Yuanshan wanted to say.

"Sister-in-law," Su Yuanshan said, stopping and smiling at her.

She smiled back nervously. "Alright, speak up—you're making me nervous with this build-up."

"When are you and Senior Brother getting married?"

"You..." Yang Yiwen burst out laughing. "You dragged me out here for that?

That's something my mom should be worrying about, not you!"

Su Yuanshan scratched his head awkwardly.

"Well... I guess because I really hope you'll stay here."

Yang Yiwen raised her eyebrows. "Weren't you the one saying I could only stay for a month?"

"Yes," Su Yuanshan nodded. "But today made me realize—

there's huge potential here.

Xinghai can set up an investment division here, led by Qin Si.

But you'll need to manage all the patent operations."

"If we want to survive here, we can't just rely on our own R&D.

We need to keep investing in promising ideas and buying underdeveloped patents to build our patent fortress."

"That's why patent management will become one of Yuanxin's most important tasks."

Yang Yiwen slowly calmed down.

She asked softly,

"You're worried that if I stay, my relationship with your Senior Brother might change?"

Su Yuanshan kicked a small stone and nodded lightly.

"A little.

But don't worry—you won't be apart for long.

Senior Brother only has about six months left on his master's.

I'll arrange for him to come here for his PhD."

"If he comes here for his PhD, he won't be able to help you much for a few years," Yang Yiwen said, watching him carefully.

She knew Su Yuanshan cared deeply about the futures of his senior brothers—and that all of them wanted to stay at Yuanxin.

"That's fine.

By his second year, he can start working part-time," Su Yuanshan said without hesitation.

Yang Yiwen smiled softly.

"Alright.

I'll talk to your Senior Brother about it."

Su Yuanshan nodded, smiling too.

After all, in his past life, they had been a loving couple for decades.

He couldn't let his own ambitions break up something so beautiful.

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