Chapter 226 Testing the Myth
"Senior Brother Zhang, would you be willing to go to the Special Zone?"
Su Yuanshan glanced at the time and realized he had already missed lunch. Though, knowing Zhou Xiaohui, she had probably arranged for some food to be set aside for him — still, for a billionaire boss to eat cafeteria leftovers daily was one thing, but leftovers felt a little too performative.
For a brief moment, Zhang Xiaolong was dazed.
He had heard of Su Yuanshan before. Since starting his internship at Yuanxin, Zhang had heard countless versions of legends about Su Yuanshan — each different in details and focus, but all converging into one conclusion: Su Yuanshan could do anything.
Zhang Xiaolong had always thought: Come on, these people are exaggerating.
After all, everyone here worked in tech. Even if the undergraduates were a little less skilled, they couldn't be that awestruck... right?
Sometimes at the cafeteria, Zhang Xiaolong had spotted Su Yuanshan in person. To him, Su Yuanshan seemed just like a regular young man — a little handsome, not arrogant, always smiling, casually greeting others as "Senior Brother."
If you didn't know about the legend, there was nothing extraordinary about him at all.
So when he received Su Yuanshan's invitation, Zhang Xiaolong only felt a flicker of nervousness — mostly, he was curious.
Finally, he could verify the myth for himself, or judge if his colleagues had just been full of it.
That afternoon, he had diligently prepared, organizing all his ideas about email systems and even broader internet concepts.
He truly admired one thing about Yuanxin: here, he could feel a real atmosphere of looking further ahead.
Everyone worked not just for current products, but for distant, future technologies.
Simply put, Yuanxin was at the forefront of the era.
Thus, when he sat down with Su Yuanshan, the two ended up talking for two full hours — covering everything from front-end to back-end, architecture to databases, email to the future of the internet.
Zhang Xiaolong kept expressing his ideas, and Su Yuanshan kept listening, analyzing, responding... guiding.
Yes — guiding.
At some point, Zhang Xiaolong realized: not only was Su Yuanshan keeping up with his train of thought, he was subtly leading him forward.
That realization made Zhang Xiaolong finally admit to himself — this guy... was the real deal.
"Senior Brother Zhang?"
Su Yuanshan smiled as he noticed Zhang Xiaolong spacing out.
"Oh..." Zhang Xiaolong blinked. Then he realized — he was technically still an intern.
Su Yuanshan smiled, "Looks like you haven't officially signed your contract yet."
"I'll sign it! Right away!" Zhang Xiaolong said quickly, looking around. "Where?"
Su Yuanshan laughed. "There's no contract here. Just wait until you get your master's degree, then we'll sign."
"Alright!" Zhang Xiaolong nodded earnestly.
"Would you be willing to go to the Special Zone?" Su Yuanshan asked again. "You'll directly take over the email client project from Senior Brother Ding Lei."
Zhang Xiaolong hesitated. "Would that... really be okay?"
Su Yuanshan smiled. "It's more than okay. At Yuanxin, we don't worry about people 'stealing credit.' We just want the right people doing the right jobs. If Senior Brother Ding didn't understand that, I wouldn't have asked him to lead the Internet R&D Center."
Hearing this, Zhang Xiaolong only hesitated for a second before nodding. "Alright."
"And," Su Yuanshan continued, "even though Ding Lei is leading the Internet R&D Center, the relationships there are very friendly. None of the rigid hierarchy you find in traditional tech companies."
Zhang Xiaolong grinned. "On the internet, it's the idea that matters. Anyone can code."
"Exactly. Plus... the Internet Center won't be limited to Yuanxin's internal needs. In the future, you might all become giants in your own right."
...
Still chatting, the two made their way to the cafeteria.
As expected, Zhou Xiaohui had kindly reserved meals for both of them.
After dinner, Su Yuanshan returned to his office and immediately called Ding Lei.
After explaining Zhang Xiaolong's situation in detail, Ding Lei shouted "Holy shit!" on the other end of the line and immediately begged Su Yuanshan to send him over.
Still holding the phone, Su Yuanshan opened Yuanxin's internal forum.
By now, many employees had finished dinner and started their evening activities. Some played soccer or basketball or went running. But more preferred to return to their offices — playing games, posting on the forum, chatting.
Smiling, Su Yuanshan asked, "Why do you want him so badly?"
"I'm giving him the entire client project!" Ding Lei blurted out without hesitation.
Su Yuanshan paused, amused. "And what about you?"
"President Shan... you've been too detached from the people," Ding Lei said dramatically, leveraging his seniority to tease. "Go look at the forums. Whether it's big news sites or forums or online gaming... these are all groundbreaking ideas, and they will become reality!"
"..." Su Yuanshan stayed silent.
"I'm different from Pony," Ding Lei continued. "Pony's a little single-minded — he agrees these things can be built, but insists on finishing one at a time. I don't think like that.
Yuanxin is big enough now to support multiple flowers blooming at once! Right now, domestically and internationally, the internet is a wide-open blue ocean!
It's like casting a giant net — wherever you throw it, it's full of fish! Sometimes I wish I could split myself in two."
Hearing Ding Lei's passionate rant, Su Yuanshan couldn't help but grin. "Good! Then go all out."
"OK! As soon as Sister Sun returns, I'll set up an international server in Hong Kong first, and then another in Silicon Valley!"
...
After hanging up, Su Yuanshan sighed lightly.
Ding Lei's earlier jab — about him being "out of touch" — did sting a little.
Was it really just because I hadn't browsed the forums recently? he wondered.
Still, when he did browse, it was usually the technical boards, checking for any interesting challenges or brilliant solutions, and sometimes forwarding meaningful problems to the right teams.
Every once in a while, he would even personally jump in to offer solutions — though that had become rare lately.
Opening the forum's general chat section, Su Yuanshan smiled as he saw the incredible creative energy flowing.
Beyond the imagination, what struck him more was the action. People weren't just dreaming — they were doing.
One thread titled "Bro, Let's Play Mud Together" caught his eye.
The poster explained that a student group from Shanghai Jiaotong University had built a MUD system last year... but it was terrible. He suggested Yuanxin build its own MUD.
In the replies, countless employees flooded in, offering story concepts, character templates, mechanics—everyone eager to create "Yuanxin's own Jianghu" (wuxia world).
Su Yuanshan chuckled and backed out of the thread.
He wasn't planning to personally get involved in building a MUD—but if they made something fun, he'd gladly play.
Scrolling further, he spotted another post—a casual complaint:
"Hey friends, has anyone thought about how to solve the 'network island' problem?"
Network island?
Seeing that phrase — a term that wouldn't become common until twenty years later — Su Yuanshan froze.
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