jdhmnovel Chapter 320 Arranging a backup plan
Chapter 320 Arranging a backup plan
January 24, 1998, 9:00 AM.
Ling Yun sat in his study, several documents spread out in front of him. He wasn't looking at them, but staring blankly at one of the pages.
At 9:15, his phone rang. He glanced at the caller ID and answered it.
"Found it." Fiona's voice came through the receiver, a little lower than usual.
"explain."
“Last month, from July 20th to 22nd,” Fiona said, “Goldman Sachs’ Anderson, Morgan Stanley’s Winston, Microsoft’s Ballmer, Dell’s Michael Dell, HP’s Pratt, and Cisco’s Chambers all went to Washington.”
Ling Yun didn't speak.
"We're staying at the same estate," Fiona continued, "The Ritz-Carlton, over in Georgetown."
Do you know who they met?
"I couldn't find anything," Fiona said. "The estate is very secretive, but at that time, Congress was in its last week before recess, and many members of Congress were there."
Ling Yun remained silent for a few seconds.
"Any other news?"
"There's one more thing," Fiona said. "There was a dinner at the White House those days, and the invitation list included people from Microsoft and Cisco, but I don't know exactly who went."
"understood."
"Mr. Ling," Fiona paused, "is this... alright?"
Ling Yun did not answer.
"You go ahead and do your thing," he said. "I'll contact you if I need anything." Then he hung up the phone.
Ling Yun recalled the terms he had discussed with Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley a few days ago.
It's all going too smoothly, so smoothly it's like they're just flattering him. Now he knows why. They're probably going to take advantage of the situation and take over Starcraft, like the chipmaker Winston of Morgan Stanley described—give him some money, send him away, and acquire the company.
In the 90s, America was still quite civilized. If they robbed you, they would even give you some severance pay. But after 2008, robbery became much less civilized. Not only would they rob you, but they would also put you in jail. If you dared to resist, they would shoot you eight times in the back and kill you.
July 20th to 22nd.
What was he doing then? Shopping with An Shiyu. Visiting vineyards in Napa Valley. Watching sea lions at Fisherman's Wharf. Buying paintings in Carmel-by-the-Sea.
Those people have already finished their meeting in Washington.
They sat in a conference room at the Ritz-Carlton, drinking coffee and chatting. People from Microsoft, Dell, HP, Cisco, Goldman Sachs, and Morgan Stanley were there.
A few casual words are enough to determine the future of Star Technology.
Ling Yun leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes.
He remembered what Winston had said that day, "Once you become a citizen, you're one of us."
"One of us," sounds so nice. This is forcing Ling Yun to take off his armor. Without Chinese citizenship, what room for resistance does Ling Yun have?
Ling Yun picked up a pen and wrote a few words on a piece of white paper:
Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Microsoft, Dell, HP, Cisco
He stared at those words for a long time.
Then he drew a circle next to it, circling all the words inside.
Outside the circle, he wrote a word: stars.
He stared at the circle, stared at the word.
The gap is huge; they're not even in the same league.
He couldn't outmaneuver Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley in finance. Those guys had been playing the game for over a hundred years; they'd seen it all. Compared to them, he was just a toddler learning to walk.
But he had something they didn't: he knew the future.
He knows which companies will rise and which will fall. He knows which technologies will become mainstream and which will be phased out. He knows when a crisis will erupt and when a bull market will begin. He knows when all the black swan events, big and small, will occur.
This information was unknown to Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, and Microsoft; only he knew it.
He pushed the paper aside and took a new one.
This time he wrote a few words: operating system, browser, instant messaging, database.
He looked at these words, thought for a moment, and wrote a few words next to them: core code, algorithm logic, user data, patent layout.
Then he started writing his plan, writing very slowly, sometimes pausing for a long time, sometimes crossing out and rewriting.
At noon, he put down his pen.
The paper in front of me was covered with dense writing. Some were technical terms, some were dates, some were names of people, and some were company names. Lines connected them, forming a complex diagram.
He looked at it for a few seconds, then folded the paper and put it in his pocket.
Two o'clock in the afternoon.
He drove to the company.
There weren't many people in the office building; most had gone out for lunch during the break. He walked through the office area, entered his office, and closed the door.
He picked up the phone, dialed a number, and said, "Fiona, please organize the company's patent certificates and show them to me."
"Okay, boss," Fiona replied crisply.
Fiona sorted out all the patent certificates, a huge stack of certificates that was quite heavy. Fiona carried this stack of certificates to Lingyun Office.
As I passed by Eric's office, he came out just then. "What are you carrying, Fiona?" Eric asked, puzzled.
"Oh, Eric, the boss wants to see the company's patent certificates," Fiona said casually.
Eric was a little puzzled. "Why would President Ling be looking at these things?" He picked up a few certificates and glanced at them. "Huh, these are all President Ling's personal patents!"
"What's so special about that? Most of these are Mr. Ling's personal patents. Mr. Ling is the company's most core engineer. All of you combined don't even contribute as much code as Mr. Ling alone," Fiona said with admiration.
"I'll help you move it over to Mr. Ling's place. I happen to need to talk to him about something." Eric prepared to take the certificate.
"No need, I'll just deliver it myself." Fiona didn't think much of it.
While the two were talking outside the office, Ling Yun was making a phone call to Li Mo inside the office.
"President Ling?" Li Mo's voice was slightly surprised. "You're back?"
"I'm still in the US," Lingyun said. "There's something I need you to do."
"you say."
"For the operating system code, there are several core modules in the framework. You can extract them separately."
"Pull it out?"
"Okay," Ling Yun said, "Create a separate code repository, not synchronized with the main branch. Access is limited to you, me, and Jiang Feng. No one else is allowed to touch it."
There was a few seconds of silence on the other end of the phone.
"President Ling," Li Mo lowered his voice, "what happened?"
"It's nothing," Ling Yun said. "Just making some preparations, like a backup."
"What are you preparing?"
"We're prepared to sell to anyone who tries to forcibly acquire Starry Sky someday."
Li Mo didn't say anything.
"Also," Ling Yun continued, "that database, which Jiang Feng's team made. Have him do the same thing. Store the core algorithm separately, encrypted. Don't touch it without our authorization."
"clear."
"The same goes for the browser," Lingyun said. "We've extracted the core code of the rendering engine and the key algorithms of the JavaScript engine."
"it is good."
"Also," Ling Yun said, "use Spark Technology Company to develop a website specifically for distributing the public version of the Star System software."
Li Mo's breathing became a little heavier.
"Mr. Ling," he said, "what's going on...?"
"Be prepared," Lingyun said. "It's better to be safe than sorry."
There was a few seconds of silence on the other end of the phone.
"Okay," Li Mo said. "I'll take care of it."
"Be careful," Ling Yun said. "Don't let anyone know."
"clear."
hang up the phone.
Ling Yun sat in the chair, looking out the window.
He recalled the words written on that piece of paper: Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Microsoft, Dell, HP, Cisco.
They thought the stars would be their nourishment, waiting for Lingyun to become one of their own, and then they could do whatever they wanted with him.
But what they didn't know was that Ling Yun had his own plans; he neither wanted to become an American citizen nor wanted to be passively attacked.
He stood up and walked to the window.
All of my current strategies are defensive. I need some countermeasures, at least enough to make them feel the pain of a counterattack.
Outside the window, the sky began to darken. The shadow of the lemon tree stretched long, all the way to the window.
He stood by the window, looking at the shadow.
Waiting for nightfall.