Chapter 293 Burdened by Fame
Su Yuanshan sat in the backseat of the Passat. To make chatting easier, Zhou Xiaohui sat beside him.
This trip to BOE had been handled with his usual directness—he had gotten straight to the point in every meeting, full of momentum.
Yet now, as they drove away, Su Yuanshan leaned back in his seat and gave a wry smile.
"Even if it means losing money, we have to help build an LCD panel company."
Seeing him rubbing his forehead, Zhou Xiaohui chuckled and shook her head.
"I noticed that Vice President Wang's assistant seemed a little wary of us.
They probably don't think we're here to help them...
They think we're here to take advantage."
"Heh, they see us as businessmen.
And businessmen... don't act without profit," Su Yuanshan said, closing his eyes with a soft laugh.
"But honestly, if I couldn't see the future potential and market for LCD panels, I wouldn't have bothered coming at all."
"Mm... do you think they'll agree to let us invest?"
After thinking for a moment, Su Yuanshan shook his head.
"BOE was restructured recently.
Their equity structure is complicated—especially with banks as shareholders.
When it comes to management decisions, I trust Wang Dongsheng's authority.
But when it comes to ownership, he might not have the final say."
Opening his eyes, he smiled at Zhou Xiaohui.
"Sister Xiaohui, what do you think? Should we invest in BOE directly, or set up a joint venture?"
Zhou Xiaohui pressed her lips together, blinking.
"In my opinion... if possible, doing both would be the best option."
Su Yuanshan's eyes lit up.
"Explain."
"Mm..."
Zhou Xiaohui bit her lip, thought for a few seconds, then said softly,
"If we partner with Sony and form a joint venture, BOE won't have the money to invest heavily.
If all they contribute is their land and factory assets, their stake would naturally be small."
Su Yuanshan nodded.
"Right."
"Judging by Wang Dongsheng's confidence in the future of LCDs, he'll definitely want a larger share in the joint venture—otherwise it'll just feel like they're working for someone else.
And if that's the case, they'll need cash."
"They have banks as shareholders," Su Yuanshan said with a chuckle.
"And banks certainly have cash."
Zhou Xiaohui blinked.
"But banks lack confidence.
If we invest in BOE directly, it'll signal that we have high hopes for the factory —
And you know how much the banks want to align themselves with us."
Su Yuanshan didn't know all the details about how badly the banks wanted to cozy up to Yuanxin —
he had only heard bits and pieces.
Supposedly, provincial branch managers from the four big banks often invited Chen Jing out for tea.
Some even pulled strings through provincial leaders, just to "send" money to Yuanxin.
Frankly, there wasn't a better investment target anywhere in the country.
"So... if we have the money and the conditions are right, I believe Wang Dongsheng could convince his shareholders to let us invest," Zhou Xiaohui concluded.
Su Yuanshan nodded.
"Mm. And by conditions, you mean we have cash, right?"
Zhou Xiaohui smiled sweetly.
"Exactly!"
Su Yuanshan laughed.
"Cash is no problem."
Indeed, cash wasn't an issue.
Yuanxin was guaranteed to post an accounting loss this year —
but for a modern company, that didn't matter.
What mattered was healthy cash flow.
Yuanxin's cash flow was still robust.
And whether it could keep growing would largely depend on the National Day sales surge —
on whether they could hit their mobile phone sales targets.
...
Back at the siheyuan, they grabbed a simple lunch.
Su Yuanshan went for a nap, while Zhou Xiaohui opened her laptop to check and reply to emails.
To better support Su Yuanshan's work, she had decisively demanded a laptop —
even though it was heavy, it was better than nothing.
After finishing her emails, Zhou Xiaohui logged into EM.
She chatted briefly with a few foreign contacts.
Then Chen Jing's avatar began flashing.
"Sister Xiaohui, is President Shan around?"
Zhou Xiaohui froze for a second, then quickly replied,
"Hello President Chen, he should still be sleeping.
Do you need me to wake him?"
The reply came quickly:
"No need.
I just wanted to ask when you two are coming back."
Zhou Xiaohui thought for a moment and typed,
"We'll probably be back on the 2nd.
Tomorrow, President Shan plans to visit a few professors at Peking University, and on National Day, he'll meet up with Academician Su."
"Alright. No problem.
I'm flying to the Philippines tomorrow, so some related emails might get forwarded to you.
Please handle them as needed."
"Got it, President Chen. Safe travels."
After replying, Zhou Xiaohui rested her hands on the keyboard.
Seeing Chen Jing's avatar dim, she smiled and shook her head.
Then she glanced at another avatar — and sighed lightly.
It was Ye Rudai's.
As Su Yuanshan's secretary, Zhou Xiaohui had been among the first to understand his feelings.
Back when Ye Rudai used to send letters to Su Yuanshan, Zhou Xiaohui personally received and handed over every single one.
And almost every reply Su Yuanshan wrote was personally mailed out by her —
sometimes she even secretly observed his expressions when he opened her letters.
No one understood better than her just how happy Su Yuanshan was whenever he got a letter from Ye Rudai.
It was pure, heartfelt joy.
Sometimes, she couldn't understand Su Yuanshan.
He was mature far beyond his years, mentally speaking —
someone who shouldn't have been interested in naïve young girls.
If anything, he should have been open to "older woman-younger man" relationships.
Yet somehow...
he had fallen for this young girl Ye.
Meanwhile, President Chen was such an excellent woman —
only four years older than Su Yuanshan, maintained beautifully, stunningly attractive, brilliant, capable...
Zhou Xiaohui thought,
If I were a man, I'd fall for President Chen too.
"What's this thing called love, anyway..."
Zhou Xiaohui sighed again.
She opened the chat window and saw a message from one of her foreign contacts:
"I miss you."
She curled her lip in disdain and promptly closed the chat.
Westerners really were direct —
barely a few days of chatting and already throwing around "I miss you."
...
That afternoon, Su Yuanshan didn't nap for long.
Instead, he holed up in the office, preparing discussion topics and material for his meetings with the physics professors at Peking University the next day.
Even though the second-round review from Nature hadn't arrived yet,
he knew it was only a matter of time —
especially since a peer lab had already replicated his experiment.
Once his paper was published in Nature,
he would become a rising star in the domestic applied physics scene.
And after that, he was planning to submit a paper on the Hall effect —
for which he would need to prepare a huge amount of supporting knowledge and citations.
"Man... burdened by fame already..."
Su Yuanshan groaned as he lay slumped over his desk.
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