Starting From the Chip in 1991

Chapter 48 Truly a Fierce One

After November began, Su Yuanshan's work became even busier. On one hand, he had to take over Xi Xiaoding's work and complete the wrap-up; on the other, he had to work with Qin Weimin to perfect the architecture for the YX01 based on the reduced instruction set. Tian Yaoming's team, after Su Yuanshan retrieved Howard's design, quickly gained inspiration—after all, it was all full-duplex baseband, just using different standards, so the communications department's progress immediately accelerated.

 As for Li Mingliu's VCD team, after completing the design of the two main chips, they were now finalizing the PCB and component designs. It was estimated that once the tape-out was completed, they would be able to build an engineering prototype.

Meanwhile, the land Su Yuanshan had always dreamed about was finally approved after some provincial and city leaders visited Yuanxin. After seeing the plan for the technology park, they immediately signed off, approving five hundred acres, much to Su Yuanshan's delight. He couldn't help but sigh at how desperate every level of government was for economic development.

After all, in the eyes of the provincial leaders, Yuanxin was still a rootless software company. If they didn't provide land and build a temple, Yuanxin could easily move elsewhere—losing a company capable of generating tens or even hundreds of millions in foreign exchange would be a political disaster.

The calendar turned past November. Su Yuanshan was woken early by his mother, who urged him to go with his father to the school auditorium to wait for his "defense."

 "Mom, didn't Dad already say I won the grand prize? Why the rush?" Su Yuanshan rubbed his face wearily, staring blankly at a boiled egg. "Exactly because you're winning the grand prize, your attitude must be perfect!" Zhang Xiuyun peeled the egg for him while nagging incessantly. "Your father is a judge.

 You can't afford even the slightest mistake. You must leave no room for criticism!" Su Yuanshan sighed and started eating the egg. Su Xinghe watched his son, unable to hide the pride and joy in his eyes. He also realized that only at home did Su Yuanshan show true teenage emotions.

Outside, Su Yuanshan always wore a mild smile, but those who interacted with him knew—it wasn't the naive grin of a young man, but a calmness born of life experience. Maybe he really worried too much, making him far too mature for his age.

 Thinking this, Su Xinghe's heart ached for his son. Zhang Xiuyun brought coats for both of them, carefully tidying their appearance before letting them leave.

"Dad, I heard the provincial TV station is coming to record today?" Su Yuanshan asked, hands in his pockets as they walked along the campus paths. "They're coming. Supposedly, the footage will be sent to the national channel too.

The country is taking this competition very seriously. So when you answer questions later, be cautious," Su Xinghe laughed. "No problem. But... can you even find valuable questions to ask?" "Hey! You brat..." They laughed and chatted as they walked into the auditorium.

 Seeing a few pretty senior sisters guiding guests at the entrance, Su Yuanshan couldn't help but smile—obviously, UESTC had pulled out all the stops. These pretty seniors were usually rare to see, given UESTC's infamous 7:1 male-to-female ratio, the highest among all Chinese universities.

Since it was the weekend, apart from the first two rows for participants and mentors, the rest of the auditorium was packed with curious students, buzzing like a marketplace.

Being local, Su Yuanshan casually found a seat near the aisle, chatting with the senior beside him while sizing up the other competitors. Although he couldn't see their faces clearly from afar, he noticed again that there were many more boys than girls, and almost every student was accompanied by their mentor.

 Winning a national award brought glory to the students, but the mentors naturally wanted a share of the credit too.

As TV reporters set up their cameras, the judges, led by the Ministry of Machinery and Electronics, entered.

Su Yuanshan counted: there were seven judges in total—three from UESTC including his father, and the other three were professors from Xidian, Guilin University of Electronic Technology, and Hangzhou Dianzi University—the four kings under the Ministry's command had all arrived.

Then, a beautiful senior sister took the stage with a microphone, warmly inviting President Zhou Zhenzhong to deliver an enthusiastic opening speech, and announced the start of the defenses.

"Next, please welcome student Sun Guoqiao to the stage." Everyone understood the process—this wasn't an awards ceremony but a defense session, so there was no applause.

 Everyone turned their attention to the thin young man walking up from the first row. "Student Sun Guoqiao is a second-year student at the Provincial Aviation Industry School. His entry this time is an electronic ballast." At those words, a wave of murmuring swept the hall—even Su Yuanshan raised an eyebrow.

An electronic ballast wasn't something an ordinary student could create. It involved RF interference suppression, filtering, rectification, DC conversion, and finally converting to high-frequency AC to light fluorescent tubes. The principles weren't hard to understand but were extremely complex in execution.

Without miniaturization, it would be the size of a shoebox. Overseas, integrated chip versions already existed, but domestically, only basic "shoebox" prototypes had been made—no real IC designs yet. For a vocational student to tackle this was impressive. Could this kid really be the grand prize winner?

Su Yuanshan saw his father glancing at him with a mischievous "see, there are real masters too" look. A professor on the judging panel cleared his throat. "Student Sun Guoqiao, how did you fix the high-frequency AC at a stable frequency?" Sun Guoqiao, thin and pale, answered calmly, "Through a circuit module labeled A9 on the schematic."

 "And how did you resolve RF interference issues?" ... One question after another, Sun Guoqiao answered fluently. When all the judges nodded simultaneously, the auditorium erupted in applause.

"That's freaking impressive," muttered the senior next to Su Yuanshan in admiration. "If it were me, it'd take six months just to gather the information." Su Yuanshan nodded. "Truly impressive. He's got a solid grasp of fundamentals—a real talent."

 The senior glanced at him, agreeing. "If he joins UESTC, it'll be an honor. I wonder what the next competitors will be like." "No idea. I heard it starts from the first prizes. Wonder how strong the grand prize winner will be," Su Yuanshan mused.

The senior gave him a strange look. "Who told you it starts from first prizes? That was the grand prize! Next is the Programming Design grand prize." Su Yuanshan froze. "Huh?" The senior kept staring at the beautiful senior sister on stage, completely focused. "But programming? It'll probably be average. What can a high school kid even design?"

At that moment, the hostess smiled and announced, "Now, please welcome student Su Yuanshan to the stage." Su Yuanshan closed his mouth, stood up, and strode forward. The senior beside him, ready to chat more, was left gaping at his retreating figure. "Holy shit! No way!" he gasped.

On stage, the hostess continued the introduction. "Student Su Yuanshan is a second-year high school student from Provincial No. 7 High School.

 His project is a program design—an open-source accessory program capable of converting Protel format files into a format readable by YXEDA." The auditorium fell completely silent. Not every student here majored in electronic engineering, and many didn't even know what Protel or YXEDA was. Even among those who did, few understood the significance of such a tool.

Facing his father's half-smiling gaze, Su Yuanshan coughed lightly, turned his back to the audience, and faced the judges. Among them, Professor Chen Xiaochuan from Guilin University noticed that Su Yuanshan's mentor was listed as Su Xinghe. Suspicious, he looked between the boy and Su Xinghe—and realizing how similar they looked, saw the meaningful smiles among UESTC professors. A surge of anger rose in his chest. Such blatant favoritism? Was there no law anymore?

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