Chapter 446: Guidelines for the Vertical Procurement System
The break taken by the Apple team lasted longer than expected.
All afternoon, the group huddled in Jobs' suite, deep in discussion.
After dinner, they gathered again in the living room of his suite.
Jobs glanced at his watch—still set to Silicon Valley time. It showed just past 4:00 a.m. back home.
"We'll probably need to wait a little longer. You've all gone through the technical documentation from this afternoon?"
Jobs didn't particularly like the board of directors, but for a deal of such strategic magnitude with Yuanxin, he needed their backing—there was no way around it.
"We've read it," Ruins replied, sighing slightly. "Honestly, if I hadn't seen it with my own eyes, I wouldn't have believed they could be so… forward-thinking on an architectural level."
Jobs himself knew little about chip design. To him, chips were just tools—machines for processing data to fulfill product requirements. Whether an architecture was advanced, or in what way, was not something he could judge.
"What's advanced about their architecture?"
"It solves communication and data exchange between modules." Knowing his boss wasn't a technical expert, Ruins avoided going too deep and instead used a metaphor. "Imagine the current YX architecture as a high-rise building. The various floors are occupied by longtime residents—arithmetic logic units, register banks, control units—and a newcomer, the baseband signal processing module."
Jobs nodded, signaling him to continue.
"The old residents know each other well and have established efficient ways to communicate. The newcomer, however, is unfamiliar. Integrating baseband into the main chip is no longer the hard part, thanks to improvements in wafer fabrication. What's hard is building high-efficiency communication channels between these internal modules."
"And it seems Yuanxin has solved that problem well. Their architecture can even support integration of additional modules, with a design that's fully modular."
Jobs immediately recalled Su Yuanshan's earlier discussion on the future of SoC (System on Chip).
Not just desktop computers—but mobile devices, cars, aircraft, ships, home appliances—every device could be digitized and automated.
Of course, Jobs wasn't interested in planes or cars. His focus remained on personal digital products. But that didn't stop him from agreeing with Su's vision.
If the future was headed that way, and chips were the entry point, it made no sense for Apple to miss the opportunity—even if all they did was sell chips.
Moreover, working with Yuanxin didn't interfere with Apple's existing plans. The only things affected would be the partners and the future ecosystem.
"Alright, continue organizing your notes," Jobs said, sipping his coffee before closing his eyes to rest.
Just then, the suite's phone rang. Ruins immediately glanced toward the door.
Jobs opened his eyes, also curious. He picked up the phone without hesitation.
Su Yuanshan's cheerful voice came through. "Mr. Jobs?"
"This is he."
"Good. If you're available, I'd like to send over a report for you to review."
"Sure. Please send it."
"It'll be at your door in about three minutes."
Jobs hung up, checked his watch again, and then, three minutes later, stood behind the door when he heard the click-clack of high heels approaching.
Right on time, a knock came. He opened the door to find Su's secretary, Wen Xiaoqian, smiling and holding a folder.
"Mr. Jobs, this is the document from President Su."
"Thank you. Would you like a cup of tea?"
"Thank you, but no."
As she disappeared down the empty hallway, Jobs smiled faintly before returning to the couch and regaining his usual composure.
There were two documents—one in Chinese, one in English. Judging by the formatting, their contents were identical.
The title: Guidelines for the Vertical Procurement System
…
In Su Yuanshan's room, Qin Weimin was sipping tea and chatting casually. When Wen Xiaoqian entered, he grinned and asked, "Xiaoqian, they didn't frisk you at the door, did they?"
"I wore high heels on purpose," she said with a smirk, tilting her foot to reveal the iron-capped heel. "Made sure they echoed real loud."
"…Senior Brother, the fact that Jobs agreed to stay at our hotel at all shows he trusts our reputation," Su said, shaking his head with a smile. "Whether he actually trusts us or not, at least he's putting on the appearance of it."
Ordinarily, in sensitive negotiations involving mutual interests, both parties would stay at neutral venues. This helped avoid unnecessary complications.
But Jobs had voluntarily chosen to stay at Yuanxin's campus. Regardless of how the negotiations played out, the gesture showed he had confidence in Yuanxin's business ethics.
That alone was a considerable show of respect.
Truthfully, the Yuanxin Science Park was so big that Su hadn't bothered to assign anyone to shadow the Apple team. If they wanted to hold a secret discussion, they could simply duck into one of the many garden pavilions on the property, and they'd be completely undisturbed.
"I was just joking," Qin said, laughing. "Still, it's wild to think that Apple is now the one pulling all-nighters because of us. Do you think they'll accept our proposal?"
"Eighty percent chance they will," Su said confidently. In front of his senior brother, he always spoke candidly. "Jobs spent a long time talking with me this afternoon. He's still a brilliant product manager—maybe even a genius—but at the end of the day, he's also Apple's CEO."
"If Apple wants to continue growing, they'll need to move beyond just launching consumer products. They also have to strengthen their place in the supply chain and improve cost control—and those are exactly what we can offer."
Su turned to Wen Xiaoqian and asked with a smile, "Xiaoqian, you've seen the vertical procurement plan. Do you think it has appeal for Apple?"
She froze for a moment, then hesitated and said, "President Su, I've read it, but… I didn't really understand it."
"…Well, alright then."
Su sighed silently. He couldn't bear to criticize the young assistant too harshly.
At that moment, he truly missed Zhou Xiaohui, who was now stationed in Silicon Valley.
But Zhou Xiaohui was destined for greater roles—she couldn't be his secretary forever.
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Chapter 447: Intel's Shamelessness
Silicon Valley.
At exactly 5:00 a.m., Zhou Xiaohui woke up a second before her alarm rang. The moment it buzzed, she precisely reached over and shut it off.
Stretching and blinking firmly, she turned on the bedside lamp, got out of bed, casually tied up her hair, and opened her laptop to review the day's negotiation content and related strategies.
Officially, Gao Xiaodi was the team leader for the negotiation with Intel. But in truth, his limited English and his primary focus on technical development meant that all the pressure of negotiation had fallen squarely on the shoulders of Zhou Xiaohui and Yu Yuru.
And since Yu Yuru was the legal representative, most of the actual coordination and leadership work fell to Zhou Xiaohui.
Over the years, she had rarely missed any of Yuanxin's major negotiations. In some cases, she had even stepped in to finish discussions that Su Yuanshan couldn't see through personally, later reporting the results back to him in detail.
But this was the first time she was truly leading an international negotiation of this magnitude—and with a powerhouse like Intel, no less.
The pressure was immense.
To prepare, she had been gathering as much material as possible, while also humbly seeking advice from Carly and Qin Si, who generously shared some of their most valuable "unspoken tricks of the trade."
Still, she dared not relax—despite Su Yuanshan having given her and Gao Xiaodi a very low bottom line: as long as Intel agreed to provide licensing, they could concede on nearly everything else.
The reasoning was simple: Zhou Xiaohui wanted to push for more. She wanted Yuanxin to get a better deal.
Gao Xiaodi felt the same.
Shortly after logging into EM, Gao Xiaodi's avatar lit up and he quickly sent her a message.
"Director Zhou, awake?"
"Yes, Director Gao. You should try to sleep a little more. According to the schedule, today you're presenting the technical analysis. Don't show up all groggy."
"No worries, I'm wide awake. Just thought of something—see if this can be used as a bargaining chip."
"Go ahead."
"Since Intel wants reverse licensing, isn't that basically bullying us? But what if we flipped the table? What if we created a new instruction set and licensed it to them—but with a condition? That they must use it, and share all upgrades and improvements with us. That way, they'd end up helping evolve our technology too."
The so-called reverse licensing clause meant that once Yuanxin was granted a license for x86, all improvements based on x86 would have to be licensed back to Intel. In other words, Intel got access to any progress Yuanxin made.
It was, frankly, a bully clause. And it had been set as one of Intel's non-negotiable terms.
But when Su Yuanshan heard about it, he didn't seem particularly concerned. Even if they had to license back improvements, Intel wasn't likely to copy Yuanxin's CPUs. At most, they'd just get access to some patented techniques.
In fact, Su was almost glad. If Intel started relying on Yuanxin's advancements, it might grow complacent—and that was exactly the weakness he was hoping to exploit.
Yuanxin, meanwhile, had already begun planning its 64-bit processor architecture.
"That's a question for Director Yu."
"You could ask Yang Yiwen too, couldn't you?"
Zhou Xiaohui thought for a moment, then replied with a simple "Alright."
She inserted Gao's idea into the negotiation notes and resumed reviewing her prep materials.
…
The next day, Su Yuanshan returned to the negotiation table full of energy.
The Apple team arrived right on schedule.
Su immediately noticed Jobs looked a little sleep-deprived. Though his posture remained upright and his eyes sharp, the dark circles under his eyes told the truth.
More notably, Su saw that Jobs had placed the document he had sent the night before—Guidelines for the Vertical Procurement System—on the very top of his stack of materials.
After a brief and polite exchange of greetings, Su got straight to the point.
"Mr. Jobs, has your team come to a decision?"
"We agree to jointly establish a chip design team with Yuanxin." Jobs looked directly at Su. "But we still need to discuss how exactly this collaboration will be structured."
Su let out a breath he hadn't realized he was holding, then smiled. "Of course. But let me remind you—our technology exports are also subject to regulatory timelines. That's why we suggested starting practical development here in the Yuanxin Science Park while approvals are underway."
Jobs was momentarily caught off guard.
Under the agreement they were discussing, both sides would share and license technology. Clearly, Yuanxin was offering far more than Apple in the early stages—something Jobs had counted on to his advantage.
He hadn't thought much about government approvals. After all, Apple would be gaining much more from the deal—any bureaucrat could see that.
But he had overlooked something: if Apple was benefiting more, then Yuanxin was conceding more—and those concessions would definitely be scrutinized by domestic regulatory bodies.
Jobs glanced at Ruins, who also seemed a bit surprised.
Su saw it all. The reason he had offered so much technical value upfront was simple: he wanted to spark interest in the Apple team.
The ARM team had once been exceptional, and the engineers working on PowerPC at Apple were no different. Su knew better than to blame these researchers for the commercial failure of their previous platforms.
Capturing their talent—and blending it into the DNA of the YX architecture and Gao Xiaodi's "Sol" architecture—was one of Su's key goals.
He was painfully aware of the limits of Yuanxin's chip team. Right now, those limits weren't obvious because he could personally guide their direction. But when the chip sector advanced into more specialized microarchitectures and cutting-edge innovations, their lack of global experience and diversity in thinking would become a real bottleneck.
To truly thrive, a chip company needed not only vast numbers of brilliant minds—but minds that came from diverse educational backgrounds, work histories, and schools of thought.
In his previous life, Su's most successful chip project had been built by a team of talents from all corners of the world. Only then had they managed to design a leading-edge 7nm chip.
"We'll take that into consideration," Jobs said after a moment, giving a vague, noncommittal answer.
Then he picked up the Vertical Procurement System document again and looked at Su.
"This… is part of your cost control strategy?"
"It is. But it's more than that." Su put down his pen, leaned back casually in his chair, and scanned the Apple team with a calm gaze.
Clearly, Jobs had made a miscalculation. He hadn't brought anyone from his supply chain team.
"It's hard to explain its significance in just a few words," Su continued. "But I can guarantee you—this model will eventually become essential for any large, mature company."
"Everyone plays their role. Everyone masters their specialty."
"I'm proud to say that, in the Special Economic Zone, Yuanxin's foundry has already begun to implement this system. In fact, our partners barely need to do anything—yet they instantly gain an edge over competitors."
Su's smile broadened as he finished.
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Chapter 448: Standardization
With a critical consensus now reached, both sides entered the next phase of negotiations that afternoon—discussing the model for collaboration.
Neither Su Yuanshan nor Steve Jobs participated in these talks directly. Instead, they delegated the matter to their respective technical teams. After all, these were the people who would be working together day to day; as long as the overall boundaries were maintained, it was best for the engineers to hash things out themselves.
Yuanxin's team, led by Qin Weimin, had only one core instruction: to fully implement Su Yuanshan's decisions.
As Su's senior and longtime collaborator, Qin had never been kept in the dark regarding the company's strategic intentions. He had also sensed something unusual: over the past year—especially since he had become fully immersed in the baseband chip integration project—there had been a noticeable stagnation in the YX architecture team's capacity for innovation.
He hadn't fully grasped the cause, nor considered the long-term implications, but once Su pointed out the issue of "genetic diversity," it all clicked.
Inbreeding, Su had said, doesn't only apply to biology—it applies in academia too. In the West, particularly in well-established institutions, it was notoriously difficult for PhD graduates to remain at their alma mater. These schools actively encouraged their students to leave. The reason wasn't just academic exchange—it was to avoid intellectual inbreeding and prevent stagnation.
Now, it seemed, the same principle applied in tech.
Due to China's unique domestic environment, Yuanxin had few opportunities to exchange talent with other local firms. Most of their R&D engineers were homegrown, having come from major universities and then undergone internal training. As a result, Yuanxin's "genetic pool" was too homogenous. Over time, this lack of diversity would become a barrier to innovation.
Deep collaboration with a team across the ocean, then, was the perfect chance for learning and growth.
Qin Weimin completely agreed with Su's idea of bringing in Apple's development team en masse. Especially because, in the future, the chip team itself might be spun off into a subsidiary—so early integration was not just beneficial, but necessary.
…
While Qin Weimin and David Ruins were busy sparring on behalf of their teams, Su Yuanshan and Jobs had found themselves with a bit of free time. The two of them, along with Duan Yongping, strolled up to the rooftop garden of Yuanxin's administration building.
Ever since Su had been impressed by a hotel rooftop garden back in the Special Economic Zone, he had ordered the same to be done at Yuanxin headquarters—a small space to enjoy tea and sunshine. Ironically, it was Duan Yongping, who spent the most time at the campus, who got to enjoy it more than Su or Chen Jing ever did.
Now, with their secretaries dismissed, the three men sat under the autumn sun, sipping tea in the rooftop garden.
"Lao Duan, why don't you explain our vertical procurement system to Mr. Jobs?" Su suggested casually.
Duan Yongping cleared his throat awkwardly. "President Su, my English is okay for listening, but speaking… might be a bit tough."
"No worries, consider it practice. I'll jump in and translate if needed."
"Alright…" Duan deeply supported Su's policy that all of Yuanxin's senior staff should learn English—especially with China's WTO entry and opening reforms well underway, it was only natural for Yuanxin to set its sights globally.
But putting that into practice was… painful.
"Mr. Jobs, let me try to explain our system to you in detail," Duan said in halting English. "Please forgive my poor language skills."
Jobs smiled. "Better than my Chinese. I only know 'Nihao' and 'Chi le ma?'"
Su and Duan both laughed. That helped ease the tension.
"Overall, the vertical procurement system stems from a concept President Su proposed a long time ago—'winner takes all.'" Duan paused and glanced at Su, silently asking if that was an accurate translation.
Su nodded with a smile.
But Jobs was slightly taken aback. He said thoughtfully, "If I'm not mistaken… there's a new book this year titled The Winner-Take-All Society. It's an economics bestseller."
Duan blinked. "What's it about?"
"Exactly what the title says," Jobs replied.
Duan laughed. "If it's just about the literal meaning, then I'd say President Su proposed it even earlier. But anyway, let's not split hairs. Since you understand the concept, it's easy to see where we're coming from. As technology continues to explode, the tech industry will become increasingly specialized. Everyone wants to be the winner."
Jobs nodded slowly in agreement.
"As product developers, we've chosen to work directly with component and tech suppliers. This eliminates the middlemen and allows us to directly influence our suppliers' R&D, aligning their progress with our needs. It also forges deep, binding cooperation."
…
Duan explained the system in detail, outlining its advantages one by one. Jobs nodded repeatedly, clearly absorbing the core ideas.
But he wasn't entirely convinced.
"Mr. Duan, vertical procurement requires strong demand and brand power to create a complete supply-demand chain. And that chain must have excellent logistics—otherwise, the longer cycles and costs will outweigh the benefits."
Jobs fixed his gaze on Duan, though his peripheral vision clearly included Su.
It was a sharp and accurate criticism of the current weak point in Yuanxin's vertical procurement strategy.
Duan smiled calmly. "Which brings us to the matter of standardization—something you and President Su need to decide."
Su took the cue and chimed in. "In the mobile phone industry, there's currently no unified standard for components—not even between Xinghai and Yuanxin."
"So if your company is willing to enter the smartphone field, we could initiate discussions with peers to establish standardized parts: microphones, speakers, screws, vibration motors, power interfaces, audio and data ports, and so on. That would help both suppliers and product designers."
"As for logistics—at least in the Special Economic Zone, we have a well-established supply and distribution system," Su added, smiling.
But Jobs furrowed his brow.
"Su, standardization also means the loss of individuality."
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Chapter 449: Preliminary Agreement Reached
Jobs' remark instantly snapped Su Yuanshan back to reality.
Damn it! He had completely forgotten that Apple had always done things its own way—never following industry trends.
Trying to rope Apple into a unified standard with everyone else? That was clearly a red flag for Jobs. How could Apple possibly be lumped together with those low-end, chaotic, design-less products out there?
"Ah… in that case, if we can't standardize across the board, then we'll have to rely on product competitiveness to build a vertically integrated supply chain," Su quickly shifted gears.
Jobs slowly nodded. Then, perhaps realizing that his earlier pushback had made things a bit awkward for Su, he softened his tone with a smile. "But vertical procurement itself is indeed an excellent system. It aligns perfectly with what a high-quality enterprise should strive for."
Su and Duan Yongping exchanged a glance and smiled.
"So, Su, what you're suggesting… is that Apple outsource production to your Yuanxin manufacturing arm?" Jobs asked with a hint of amusement in his eyes.
"Yes," Su answered directly. "Though it won't be Yuanxin per se—our foundry is in the process of being spun off as an independent company focused solely on manufacturing. In the future, even Yuanxin will have only a partner relationship with it."
"Oh? Like what you did with EDA?"
"Exactly. We won't rule out taking the same path as we did with EDA," Su replied, letting out a sigh. "After all, pursuing technological excellence is the natural mission of any manufacturing company. If staying within the Yuanxin system hinders that pursuit, then we must be willing to let go."
Jobs nodded with appreciation. "Mr. Gerstner should hear this."
Su froze for a moment. Once he realized who Gerstner was, his face turned red and he quickly waved his hand, muttering, "I wouldn't dare, I wouldn't dare…"
Louis Gerstner, the then-new CEO and Chairman of IBM, had transitioned from the tobacco industry to IBM just two years earlier. He had shaken up the company by firing tens of thousands of employees, acquiring Lotus in a bold move, and redefining IBM's strategic direction—especially in mainframe computing. Under his leadership, the once-crumbling blue giant had turned itself around, becoming a key player in enterprise networks and earning the title of "E-commerce Titan" from Time magazine.
Jobs' remark was clearly a jab at IBM—mocking their urge to control everything, unlike Su's rare willingness to let go for the greater good.
…
Two days later, the preliminary agreement was essentially finalized.
Perhaps it was the atmosphere at Yuanxin's science campus. Or perhaps it was the alignment in technical goals. But in the end, the Apple team agreed to Su Yuanshan's proposal: a joint working group would be formed between Apple and the YX architecture division at Yuanxin. This new team would be headquartered at the Science Park.
Of course, not all technical personnel from either side would be moved.
Apple would still maintain and build its own development team in Silicon Valley. The two sides would collaborate via encrypted communication networks to maintain secure, real-time synchronization.
Future results achieved by this joint team would be shared without reservation. As for prior technologies and solutions, both parties would implement limited cross-licensing.
In consideration of Apple's recent financial struggles—and as a goodwill gesture—Yuanxin agreed to waive its IP licensing fees and instead only charge royalties based on actual production. These royalties would function more like a percentage-based commission.
When all was said and done, if Apple were to independently develop a GSM baseband SoC that would typically cost $300 today, Yuanxin would take less than $50 in royalties. In a market where IP license fees were only going up, that was an incredibly generous, almost symbolic price.
And it wasn't even a loss for Yuanxin—after all, they were also an IP licensor for GSM baseband and knew every trick in the book to deal with shady patent holders.
…
"Brother Liang, when are you leaving?" Su Yuanshan asked casually as he returned to his office with Chen Jing after signing the draft agreement.
Yang Guangliang, as usual, had made himself comfortable and was playing Minesweeper on a Win95 laptop. Without looking up, he chuckled. "What, trying to kick me out already?"
"I have to accompany Mr. Jobs to the Special Economic Zone tomorrow. He wants to tour our manufacturing plants," Su said as he slumped into the seat beside Yang. "With a client this huge, the government ought to give me a gold medal the size of a manhole cover."
"Oh please. You got the client for Yuanxin, not the country. And it's not like it's an investment deal either," Yang teased without missing a beat.
"Uh… wait, are you joking or do you actually believe that?" Su's smile faded a bit. He looked at Yang seriously.
Yang stopped clicking, looked up, and frowned slightly. "Of course I'm joking. You don't actually want a medal, do you?"
"Of course not. What I meant was—do you really think this is just a business deal for Yuanxin?"
Yang's expression turned serious. He looked deeply at Su and said slowly, "Absolutely not. Your vertical procurement system—and its potential impact on the Special Economic Zone's entire industrial chain—has far-reaching implications. I read that report of yours, cover to cover."
"Whew…" Su exhaled in relief, his smile returning. "Good to know. I was worried you didn't realize what it meant to have a client like Apple enter our production system."
Yang smiled and shook his head.
To be fair, Su was probably the only business leader who would speak so openly to someone like him.
But that was a good thing—it meant Yang could hear the unfiltered truth.
One of the main jobs of the Reform and Development Commission these days was to observe and listen. To understand what had been achieved during the era of opening-up, and to hear from the people who were now growing rich—and leading the way.
Especially someone like Su Yuanshan. Yuanxin had almost singlehandedly jolted the entire Chinese semiconductor industry back to life. Listening to him wasn't just insightful—it was essential.
What's more, Yang had noticed something rare in Su. Unlike most entrepreneurs who focused solely on their own empires, Su approached things from a much higher perspective. He was thinking not just about his company, but about the entire national manufacturing ecosystem. In some cases, he even seemed willing to sacrifice for the greater good.
That kind of vision wasn't just worth listening to—it was worthy of real respect.
"When will you need official approval?" Yang asked quietly.
By "approval," of course, he meant the Ministry of Foreign Trade's clearance for exporting advanced technology.
"Let's wait a bit. No rush…" Su grinned. "Can't let Apple think we're in bed with the government, now can we?"
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Chapter 450: Praise from the Old Man
Yang Guangliang chuckled and shook his head.
Yuanxin had pulled out all the stops in its deal with Apple, and the Ministry of Foreign Trade had fully supported the effort—particularly in terms of backing the "technology export" strategy. But from the government's perspective, support was one thing; ideally, there should also be some thresholds—some sort of approval mechanisms that, until now, had never been developed. This cooperation presented the perfect opportunity to establish them.
"This year, our committee has met with many entrepreneurs across the country," Yang said, looking at Su Yuanshan with a sigh. "That includes state-owned enterprises, collectives, and private firms. Some talk a big game about prioritizing national interest, the greater good, and overall strategy—but in reality? Almost none of them mean it. They say one thing, do another. All they care about is their own bowl of rice. Some don't just watch their own bowl, they even covet others' bowls—and the whole pot."
"Out of all those companies, only Yuanxin has truly carried that sense of responsibility on its shoulders."
Su Yuanshan coughed lightly at the praise.
That was way too generous… Yuanxin wasn't ready to bear that weight—at least not yet.
"Brother Liang, you're giving me too much credit. I'm just a capitalist."
"I'm not praising you. I'm praising Yuanxin."
"Uhh…"
Seeing Su Yuanshan speechless, Yang laughed. "Forget about whether it's praise or not. What matters is that everyone is satisfied with Yuanxin's actions—from the top down. I heard that even the Old Man himself offered some private praise."
Su froze for a moment. He quickly realized "the Old Man" referred to Chunfeng.
Though officially retired from politics, it was said that he still paid close attention to current events and had the newspaper read to him daily.
In a way, Yuanxin's rise was the very embodiment of the reforms that Chunfeng had once championed. It was only fitting that he acknowledged it.
"Now I feel the pressure," Su said with a wry smile. "Brother Liang, everything Yuanxin has done is ultimately about ensuring our own development. We realized early on that for a company—especially a large one—its soil for survival determines how far it can go. So it's our duty to help cultivate that soil together with the country while it's still taking shape. I believe other companies can see this too, it's just that…"
"Not necessarily," Yang interrupted. "Not everyone is capable of thinking in terms of their industry or the national interest."
"Maybe… maybe that's because they haven't grown large enough yet," Su said diplomatically. He wasn't about to join in criticizing other entrepreneurs. After all, he was one of them—and a leading figure at that. "But I believe things will get better."
"You're always the optimist," Yang replied, standing up and smiling down at Su. "Alright then, I'll head back. Staying here any longer makes me feel like a spy—totally not my style."
"Then I won't see you off."
Yang smirked. "No need. I'll slip out the back."
Watching him leave, Su shook his head with a smile.
This kind of "pampering" from top regulatory bodies was a good sign. It meant that even if Yuanxin's international ventures failed, as long as it kept pace with leading global technologies, the domestic market would always be theirs for the taking.
But… that was never Su Yuanshan's ambition.
He hadn't sacrificed so much and conceded so many benefits just to fight over crumbs at home. That would be a failure.
…
The next day, Su accompanied Jobs on a trip to the Special Economic Zone.
There, Jobs toured Yuanxin's manufacturing plants in great detail. From production line workflows to factory manuals, he didn't miss a single point that could reveal a facility's true capabilities.
He also carefully inspected parts sourced from local suppliers and even asked Su if he could take some back with him.
Of course, Su immediately agreed.
He knew Jobs was extremely particular about craftsmanship and quality—and that this mindset had shaped Apple's entire philosophy, turning it into a standard-bearer for high-end supply chain management. It was Apple that gave birth to the so-called "Apple supply chain concept stocks," where individual suppliers became stock market favorites just for supplying Apple.
In many ways, Su was learning from Apple.
China—and the Special Economic Zone in particular—was now experiencing an explosive growth of manufacturers. Like education, if you start with good habits and build things right from the beginning, it's far easier to cultivate a group of technically capable, detail-oriented suppliers than to let them grow wildly and then try to reform them later.
That's why Yuanxin had taken them along the correct path from the start.
…
Jobs spent three full days in the Special Economic Zone. On the fourth day, he reunited with his team there, and Su personally saw them off at the Hong Kong airport. From there, they flew directly to San Francisco. Su also used the opportunity to meet up with Sun Xihui in Hong Kong.
"Big Sis Sun, could you stop staring at me and smiling like that? You're creeping me out."
Lying on the sofa in the Hilton Hotel suite, hands behind his head, Su laughed as he teased Sun Xihui, who sat across from him.
Sun Xihui had been focused on international trade for years now, traveling not just across China but around the world. Ironically, despite being just across the river from the Special Economic Zone, she and Su hadn't had a chance to meet until now.
So when they finally did meet, she skipped all pleasantries and just smiled at him nonstop—the kind of "auntie smile" that later generations would jokingly call affectionate but unsettling.
"Cut it out!" Sun laughed and tossed a pistachio at him. "You must've done something guilty."
"What could I possibly have done wrong? Isn't that right, Xiaoqian?" Su turned his head toward Wen Xiaoqian, who was sitting upright nearby, pretending to review a notebook. He grinned.
Wen Xiaoqian coughed awkwardly.
Though she'd been at Yuanxin for some time, this was her first time meeting Sun Xihui. But that didn't stop her from knowing who Sun was—her story was legendary. Once a temporary primary school logistics teacher about to be laid off, she had come to the provincial capital to study for a teacher's college exam, only to accidentally join the just-founded Yuanxin.
From there, she became the logistics director. Then HR director. Then, all alone—truly alone, even leaving her child behind—she moved to Hong Kong.
Four years later, she had built a massive global trading company worth billions under Su Yuanshan's name.
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