Chapter 130 - Employee of the Year
Time passed slowly but steadily, and in the blink of an eye, it was New Year's Day.
Over the past month, apart from occasional visits to the laboratory, Su Yuanshan's life had revolved entirely around a three-point line: cafeteria, dormitory, office.
Sometimes his mother would call and complain,
"You live so close, yet you never come home."
"Mom, I know... I'll definitely come tomorrow," Su Yuanshan would promise.
"You'd better!" she would insist.
After hanging up, Su Yuanshan glared at Chen Jing, who was laughing at him from across the desk.
"What's that look for, Sister Jing?" he asked, annoyed.
"Schadenfreude," Chen Jing answered honestly.
She had come over to discuss the contents of the year-end summary with him.
"...Tomorrow's New Year's Day. Got any plans?" Su Yuanshan asked, tossing aside the file.
Chen Jing shook her head,
"No plans.
Just staying in the dorm, watching TV, reading some documents.
I'm not familiar with this city anyway."
"Have you visited any of the local tourist spots?"
"Last time I went to Dujiangyan with some Japanese guests."
"Ah..."
Su Yuanshan realized that ever since luring Chen Jing to Yuanchip, she had been constantly busy — almost as busy as him — with barely any weekends off.
In fact, the administrative and procurement departments at Yuanchip had been built entirely from scratch under her leadership.
Feeling a bit guilty, Su Yuanshan smiled and said,
"How about I take you sightseeing tomorrow?
Like visiting Wuhou Shrine?"
Chen Jing gave him a suspicious look,
"Aren't you supposed to visit your family tomorrow?"
"I'll just go home in the evening," he said casually.
After thinking for a moment, Chen Jing nodded,
"Alright."
The two then leaned closer, continuing to discuss the year-end report and the selection of the best employee.
The next day, Su Yuanshan accompanied her to tour Wuhou Shrine.
They took many photos.
Su Yuanshan also took the opportunity to give her a dose of patriotic education, straight from the teachings of Zhuge Liang.
Perhaps in retaliation, Chen Jing insisted on spending the afternoon shopping...
dragging Su Yuanshan around like a human clothes rack.
In the end — perhaps out of guilt — she bought him a new down jacket.
On January 20th, Yuanchip held its first ever year-end summary conference, hosted by Chen Jing in the large auditorium.
Attendees included all Yuanchip staff based in the provincial capital, including those from the EDA division, as well as major employees from the branch factories and executives like Wang Chaoxin and Zhang Jianjun from Zhongxin.
During the meeting, as CEO, Chen Jing summarized Yuanchip's achievements over the past year —
both in terms of project breakthroughs and successful collaborations with other entities.
Finally, it was time for the Best Employee award.
"And now, the moment everyone's been waiting for —
Employee of the Year —
and there's only one!"
Chen Jing said playfully, sweeping away her usual calm demeanor as she smiled down at the audience of nearly a thousand people.
Instantly, all chatter stopped.
Everyone's eyes turned toward the front rows.
"Who is it?"
Wang Chaoxin, sitting beside Su Yuanshan, whispered.
Glancing past Su Yuanshan to Su Xinghe and then to Xi Xiaoding, Wang asked softly,
"Is it President Xi?"
"You guess," Su Yuanshan replied, tilting his head.
"President Xi?"
"Hehe, no," Su Yuanshan smiled faintly and shifted his gaze —
toward Li Mingliu.
Li Mingliu, sitting quietly beside Xi Xiaoding, looked calm and composed —
no sign of excitement.
Past him sat Jiang Wanchao and Qu Hui.
Jiang Wanchao even smiled and nodded at Su Yuanshan.
Su Yuanshan simply smiled and shook his head.
On stage, Chen Jing, seeing that she had teased the crowd long enough, finally smiled and announced into the microphone:
"Now, let's invite Li Mingliu to come up and accept this year's Best Employee award."
"A brand new Santana car!"
A buzzing sound filled the hall, followed by thunderous applause.
Li Mingliu stood up.
Though he was briefly stunned, he quickly composed himself and strode up to the stage.
...
Since joining Yuanchip last year, Li Mingliu had been a true warrior in all the company's battles.
Aside from an initial attempt to challenge Xi Xiaoding, he had always thrown himself wholeheartedly into Yuanchip's projects.
He had served as Xi Xiaoding's right-hand man in EDA development.
After EDA's stabilization, he joined Su Yuanshan's team and almost single-handedly completed the VCD project,
while mentoring future stars like Gao Xiaodi and Xiao Shouping.
Later, he led three teams — Yuanchip, UESTC, and Chengguang — in the lithography collaboration.
Not only did he protect Yuanchip's reputation, but he also flawlessly completed the mission.
After the lithography project concluded, he was immediately sent to Shanghai,
where he spearheaded the high-speed cache memory project.
It was no exaggeration to say he had made extraordinary contributions.
"Say a few words," Chen Jing said, handing him the microphone.
"I..."
Li Mingliu pursed his lips,
barely holding back his emotions.
"Thanks to President Xi and President Su, thanks to Yuanchip,"
he said after a deep breath, standing tall.
"Next year, I'll be standing here again."
The crowd burst into laughter and applause again.
Su Yuanshan also smiled faintly, glancing toward the left side of the hall.
There, sitting in the front row because of his project contributions, was Li Yinan —
his expression determined, even clenching his fists.
Clearly, this talented youngster had been shaken by the sheer strength of Yuanchip's senior experts.
His previous arrogance had diminished, but his confidence remained.
Su Yuanshan was quite satisfied with that.
Onstage, Chen Jing smiled and said,
"Let's look forward to it.
Next, please welcome Professor Su Xinghe to deliver the closing remarks."
...
...
That evening at the company dinner, Su Yuanshan was mercilessly forced to drink by Wang Chaoxin and the others.
When Wang knocked on his door the next morning, Su Yuanshan was still groggy.
"Wang Ge, Zhang Laoge, you two are ruthless,"
Su Yuanshan said, rubbing his eyes and plopping onto the sofa, smiling at them.
"Not only did you get me drunk, now you're waking me up early."
"Haha, we're not waking you just to bother you," Wang Chaoxin laughed.
"We're leaving. Just wanted to say goodbye."
Su Yuanshan yawned, puzzled,
"Not staying another day?"
"No," Wang said seriously.
"The pager market is starting to get chaotic.
Several new companies have entered.
I'm seeing chips from Motorola and Siemens.
The era of high profits that lasted nearly a year — I think it's about to end."
Su Yuanshan immediately became more alert,
"Got a plan?"
"When markets get messy, it's all about either cutting prices or adding features," Wang said seriously.
"I'm thinking bigger screens — pagers that can display stock quotes, plus news and weather services."
Hearing Wang's plan, Su Yuanshan smiled.
These were indeed features pagers had used in the previous life — and customers had even paid hefty monthly fees for them.
It sounded good, but in practice, it had little competitiveness.
"Wang Ge, since we're in integrated circuits, why not add something else?"
"Like what?"
"How about a simple game?
Snake, Tetris — even add FM radio reception..."
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