Siheyuan, Shazhu: I have both parents in this life

Chapter 295 Lao Fang, where did I use all those devices?

"Go for it! Not just go for it, go for it big! Don't just dabble. Immediately assemble your most capable real estate and commercial planning team and, based on these prime subway sites, come up with a comprehensive CBD development plan! Not just one, but all the core areas of Hong Kong—Yau Tsim Mong, Central, Wan Chai, Causeway Bay… include all the good sites we've acquired! The core of each CBD must include a 'Yellow River Life Plaza' that integrates a large supermarket, branded department stores, and restaurants and entertainment! It must become a regional landmark and lead a new trend in Hong Kong's commerce!"

"CBD sounds catchy, but with the boss making such a big move, what about our funding?"

How much capital does Yellow River Industry have?

“We still have over HK$300 million in paper money. We have many projects under construction recently, and you don’t do pre-sales, boss.”

"Then let's make some changes. Once the roof is capped, we can sell it."

"That's great. This will also relieve the pressure on sales. Otherwise, it's always so crowded that we have to resort to a lottery."

"A lottery? Is it really that complicated?" He Yuzhu only knew that the houses in Huanghe were selling well because he could see the funds flowing back in; he never imagined that a lottery would be needed.

"Hehe, it's because you never go to the site, boss. Do you want to go and take a look? Our luxury homes are about to go on sale."

"No, what's so interesting about selling houses?"

"Okay." Ah Lang was a little disappointed that his attempt to fool him had failed.

"You should hurry up and develop the CBD. One of these things is worth more than any number of buildings you sell."

"Understood, boss! I'll get on it right away! The planning team has already prepared talent in this area, and the plan will be ready soon. However... the Hong Kong government has always been strict in approving properties above subway stations, and since we just acquired the Li family, some people might take this opportunity to obstruct us."

“We didn’t steal or rob; we’re using real money for construction, all for the prosperity of Hong Kong. Let’s get the legislators who support us to take action.”

"Yes, boss!"

In the days that followed, Yellow River Industry began operating at high speed.

A large team of top architects, business planners, and transportation planners was quickly assembled and, under A Lang's personal supervision, began intensive planning and design work.

Using the prime land left by Li Ka-shing as a base, combined with the layout of the subway network and predictions of future urban development, they outlined one leading CBD blueprint after another. Of course, He Yuzhu would also offer some suggestions; he hadn't developed them, but he had visited them.

Yau Tsim Mong Core Station: The planned "Yellow River Century Center" integrates Grade A office buildings, five-star hotels and large shopping malls; its core is the "Yellow River Life Plaza Flagship Store" with more than five floors, and the top floor is designed as an entertainment center with a cinema.

Central Extension Area: Utilizing land adjacent to the financial core area, the "Yellow River International Financial Plaza" is planned, focusing on high-end finance and professional services, while the supporting "Yellow River Life Plaza" features boutique supermarkets and international luxury brands.

Wan Chai waterfront site: designed as "Yellow River Harbour World" that integrates the waterfront landscape, including a cultural exhibition hall, high-end apartments and a large leisure shopping center, with its "Life Plaza" emphasizing family entertainment and dining experiences.

Causeway Bay New Hub: Relying on the subway transfer station, it is planned as the "Yellow River Trend City" integrating trendy shopping, fashionable dining and youth culture, with its "Life Plaza" positioned for youth and fast fashion.

Each design strives to achieve the ultimate in functional integration, space utilization efficiency, and commercial appeal.

Large supermarkets are placed in an important position as the core magnet for attracting daily foot traffic, perfectly complementing department stores, restaurants, and entertainment.

When these massive planning schemes, embodying the wisdom and ambition of the Yellow River, were formally submitted to the relevant departments of the Hong Kong government along with detailed economic benefit analysis reports, they immediately caused a huge stir within the government.

The scale, forward-looking nature, and potential urban transformation of the project far exceed those of ordinary projects.

The approval process was slow, but with the combined efforts of internal (legislative council) and external (media, Chinese business association) forces, the balance was finally tipped.

September 1978, Yellow River Semiconductor Research and Development Center, Singapore.

"Frequency stable, instructions executed without error, power consumption within expectations!" Emilia, the engineer in charge of testing, spoke with a slight, almost imperceptible tremor as she pointed to a near-perfect curve on the screen. "This motherboard prototype, based on our optimized 8-bit microprocessor core and integrating a memory controller and basic I/O interfaces, is a success!"

The system self-test message displayed on the screen—"SYSTEM READY"—is exactly the same message that appeared a year ago when the avionics core was successfully replicated in Hong Kong, but its meaning is completely different.

This time, it is a prototype of a computing platform that they designed entirely independently and own the core intellectual property rights for—a fully functional motherboard prototype, the heart of which is an 8-bit microprocessor (CPU) codenamed "Yellow River-1".

Dr. Peterson took off his glasses, rubbed his bloodshot eyes hard, and said in a hoarse voice, "Immediately organize all design documents, test reports, and process flow diagrams! Especially the core architecture, instruction set definition, bus timing of 'Yellow River-1', and the integrated logic design of this motherboard. Mr. Wilson needs the most detailed information to apply for a global patent."

The joy of success lasted only a short time before a sense of urgency enveloped the laboratory once again.

Everyone knows that in the semiconductor industry, which is surrounded by global giants and has formidable patent barriers, simply "making" it is far from enough; legal means must be used to firmly protect the results.

One week later, in Hong Kong, at the legal department of the Yellow River Group.

Wilson's office had been transformed into a makeshift war room.

The large desk was piled high with technical documents marked "confidential," and the world map on the wall was marked with different colored pins indicating the locations of the patent offices of key countries and regions.

He is having a conference call with a team of senior international patent attorneys he has hired.

“Mr. Wilson, the situation is more complicated than we anticipated,” John Carson, the lead lawyer, said on the other end of the phone.

"Tell me more specifically."

"We have just received preliminary examination comments from the North American Patent and Trademark Office, as well as feedback from several major European patent offices."

"What did they say?" Wilson's voice was calm.

“The North American side raised questions about several key architectural features of our ‘Yellow River-1’ processor core. They cited… well, mainly some early patents and unpublished technical memos from those top semiconductor companies across the ocean as ‘prior art,’ telling us that our design was too similar to these ‘prior art,’ and even suggesting that we might have borrowed from them,” Attorney Carson replied.

“Borrowing?” Wilson sneered. “Where’s the evidence? Our design documents, development logs, and chip tape-out records for each iteration are all clear and complete. The innovations of Peterson’s team are verifiable!”

“The problem lies in the definition of ‘prior art’,” another female lawyer in charge of European affairs interjected. “Some of the ‘memoranda’ and ‘internal technical reports’ they cite are not even publicly available. This is their usual tactic, aimed at delaying or even stifling patent licensing for emerging competitors. While the European side is relatively objective, it has also been pressured by lobbying from its North American counterparts. Even if it is approved, the review period will be extremely long, so long that the next generation of products may still be under review before the next product is even launched.”

Wilson fell silent; he had been prepared for the resistance from across the ocean.

Fairchild team was originally a derivative of that "juggernaut". Now that it has made groundbreaking achievements and started its own business, the other party cannot sit idly by.

Suppressing emerging challengers and maintaining technological monopolies is the instinct of capital.

"Is it feasible to confront them head-on and take legal action?" Wilson finally asked after a long pause.

Attorney Carson replied, “That would be very unwise, Mr. Wilson. The other side has a top-notch legal team, virtually unlimited litigation funds, and unparalleled influence in the local area. If we get bogged down in a protracted patent lawsuit, we will be severely damaged, regardless of the final outcome, and we will completely lose our precious market window. Moreover, on their home turf, our chances of winning are slim.”

Wilson stood up, walked to the world map in his office, and slowly scanned the marked points on it.

If a hard approach doesn't work, then we must resort to a "roundabout" method.

“Carson, in that case, we need to adjust our patent strategy immediately.”

"You speak, we are all listening."

"First, we will separate the core patents. We will apply for separate patents for the most core and original microarchitecture design and instruction set extension of the 'Yellow River-1' processor from the relatively peripheral and potentially controversial interface and bus designs. This will concentrate our efforts on protecting the most core 'heart'," Wilson said.

“Understood. This reduces the risk of the whole application being rejected, and it makes it easier to demonstrate the uniqueness of the core parts,” Carson replied.

"Secondly, we will apply for patents in Switzerland and Singapore first. Switzerland has a well-established and relatively neutral patent system with a good international reputation. Singapore is an important R&D base for us, and applying locally has an advantage. We will prioritize obtaining core patent authorizations in these two key jurisdictions. In particular, Singapore will be an important production site for the 'Yellow River-1' in its early stages, and we must ensure that local production and sales are not a problem."

“Using Singapore and Switzerland as springboards?” Carson’s eyes lit up on the other end of the phone. “Once we obtain authorization from these two places, we can assert our rights in other countries and regions by leveraging our priority under the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property and the developing Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) system. This will greatly increase our bargaining power and partially offset the direct pressure from North America. This is indeed a feasible strategy!”

"Third, we also need to prepare a 'Plan B.' I will tell the technical team to fine-tune the potentially controversial points and prepare alternative solutions. At the same time, we will begin designing the next-generation compatible but architecturally optimized 'Yellow River-2' kernel, further widening the originality gap on the existing foundation and circumventing potential patent minefields. We can't put all our eggs in one basket."

“Yes, Mr. Wilson!” The members of Carson’s legal team perked up, their minds opened up.

A head-on confrontation won't work, but leveraging rules, finding loopholes, diversifying strategies, and continuous iteration are precisely the forte of top business lawyers and strategists.

"Act quickly. Dr. Peterson will fully cooperate and provide all the necessary technical details. Remember, speed is key. Before the enemy can weave a tighter net, we need to plant the Yellow River flag at as many key points as possible."

"understand!"

After the meeting, Wilson reported to He Yuzhu, who only said one sentence: "This is just the beginning. There will be many more battles like this in the future. Wilson, you need to be prepared!"

“I know, boss, that can be seen from our car sales figures.”

"Break it down even more, and it would be best to register each one that can be separated into its own parts."

"Is this boss really necessary?"

"It's necessary. This way, we only need to purchase some small parts, and then we can produce the finished product."

"Understood. I will give priority to this option for other applications that require patent registration in the future."

"You can confirm this with the technical department later to find the best solution for us."

"Yes."

In the days that followed, the Huanghe legal team worked closely with Peterson's technical team, using a patent pool strategy and a 'core patent + peripheral patent' approach (similar to the 5G and 6G patent registration methods) to conduct patent registrations globally.

The laboratory has already put the design of 'Yellow River-2' on the agenda. As for mass production, He Yuzhu has not made any arrangements, and due to patent issues, it has been temporarily shelved.

By the end of December, a historically significant meeting had concluded, and He Yuzhu's massive investment plan for comprehensive development in Bao'an finally received concrete news. He Yuzhu received the call on New Year's Day, 1979. It was a call from President Liang himself, his voice brimming with excitement: "Mr. He, great news! Your plan for the comprehensive development of Bao'an County is receiving high attention from above! Although specific details, such as land policy, joint venture ratios, and management models, still require further negotiation, the general direction is clear—we welcome powerful and sincere partners like the Yellow River Group to participate in domestic construction! Guangdong Province will soon establish a special liaison group to invite your delegation to conduct substantive negotiations!"

Even the usually composed He Yuzhu couldn't help but grip the microphone tightly at this moment: "President Liang, thank you. To receive such good news at the beginning of the year, I'm sure this year will be very smooth!"

"Hahaha, it will definitely go smoothly, it will definitely go smoothly!" President Liang laughed.

How many people can we send?

“There’s no limit to the number of people, but Mr. He, you can’t bring hundreds of people with you, can you?”

"It's not that bad, we'll need at least a few dozen. We'll go to all the places we need to visit, we'll need some technical professionals, won't we?"

"That's for sure, but it's a problem if so many of you get through."

"There will always be a way."

"Of course, with He Sheng's methods, it should all be a small matter, a small matter!" President Liang was very happy, because if the deal was really reached, things would be much better for him in the next few years.

After hanging up the phone, He Yuzhu asked Xiaoman to notify everyone and tell them to prepare their personnel and be ready to depart at any time.

In 1979, there was still one thing weighing on He Yuzhu's mind: the monkey was about to cause trouble, but he couldn't say anything, much less ask which unit was currently stationed there.

After thinking it over, He Yuzhu came up with a solution: he sent a telegram to Lao Fang.

"Urgent! Call back immediately! He!"

The telegram really scared Lao Fang. Every time He Yuzhu said something urgent, it was never anything good, and it was always something serious.

The phone rang shortly after.

"Ring ring ring"

"Hey!"

"Pillar, it's me!"

"Uncle Fang, are you sitting by the phone?"

"Go away, go away! Your telegram made this old man with his limbs run around all over the place."

"Hahaha, this is a good way to get some exercise."

"You little brat, you're asking for a beating."

"Rely on your four henchmen? They're no good!"

"Hmph, what's the rush you've got? You don't seem worried at all, but I'm the one who's getting anxious!"

"Here's the thing, I want to ask who's using the batch of cars and planes I left in eastern Hebei last time."

"Why do you ask?"

"Those are all good stuff of mine, worth a lot of money. Can't I even ask how to use them?"

"You don't mean you want to go back, do you?" Old Fang probed.

"Am I such a petty person?" He Yuzhu said irritably.

"It wasn't like that before, but who knows if it is now? Everyone says that the bigger a business gets, the more careful people become with their money."

"Then you should settle the accounts from 1975 first. It's not much, just 200 million Hong Kong dollars. After that, I'll settle the accounts from 1976 with you."

"How much? Two hundred million? You're not talking about the currency from 1950, are you? We don't have any money at home. Besides, I remember I said I'd give it to you, but you didn't want it."

"How can you not pay back money just because you don't have any? Does that mean you don't pay back money owed to polar bears either?" He Yuzhu quipped.

"Are you serious, kid?"

"I'm not teasing you anymore. I just want to know where my batch of equipment went. You know, there are Chinooks in there. If they've all been wasted, I'll really charge you."

"Cough cough cough, I'll go ask for you." Old Fang thought it was quite possible; maybe it had been taken somewhere to be dismantled, and whether it could be reinstalled would depend on luck.

The next day, Lao Fang called again, his voice tinged with helplessness: "Zhu Zi, I've found out. Most of your vehicles have been assigned to the engineering and railway troops, scattered across several important infrastructure projects. I heard they've really come in very handy, significantly improving the efficiency of opening up mountains and paving roads, saving the soldiers a lot of effort. This arrangement can be considered making the best use of resources."

He Yuzhu listened without commenting. Although this outcome was within his expectations, he said insincerely, "It's good that they can be used. It's better than letting them rust. What about the planes? Especially those two Chinooks."

Old Fang's tone faltered slightly, as if he found it difficult to speak: "Those two large aircraft... sigh, a few research institutes took them away as if they were precious treasures. Their idea was good; they wanted to study them thoroughly so they could build them themselves. But... but you know our technical foundation back then, we didn't even have blueprints, and we didn't understand the key equipment. We disassembled them, we studied them, but... but we couldn't put them back together. Now, they've become several large 'teaching specimens,' placed in several related universities and research institutes as teaching aids."

He Yuzhu almost threw the phone away. It was a sharp weapon, and not only was it torn to pieces, but it couldn't be put back together. It could only be used as a teaching aid. What kind of situation was this?

"Pillar, pillar"

“I understand.” He Yuzhu forced out three words.

"Pillar, you shouldn't either..."

"It's alright, Uncle Fang. You've given me the items; how you use them is your business. I was just confirming their whereabouts. Now that we know their purpose, it's just a little regrettable."

"Hey, you know we have nothing, so..."

"I understand, I understand everything, but I just feel it's a pity."

"It's been several years, why are you suddenly asking these questions? Is something wrong? You know me too well, you're the type who won't act until you see the benefit."

"It's alright. You know I have a car factory. As for helicopters, I can manage to build small ones, and I'm planning to retrieve the larger ones for research."

"Can your Yellow River be used to build helicopters?"

"For civilian use."

“What is the production volume?”

"About five or six a month."

"Sell it or not?"

"Sell them, otherwise why bother making them?"

"How much is it? I'll have someone talk to you about it."

He Yuzhu thought for a moment: "About a hundred."

"So you were able to build it more than a year ago?"

"Well, there's not much of a market, so we haven't expanded the factory." The truth is, He Yuzhu never intended to sell them. He allocated ten to the Yellow River Rescue Team for training, and the rest are just gathering dust in the warehouse.

Gu Yuanheng also asked He Yuzhu about this, because the cost was not low. He Yuzhu only told him that it had other uses and told him to "keep making it". So production continued, but it was upgraded every few months, so there were actually several versions in the warehouse.

"That technology?"

“Uncle Fang, this is not like before. Bringing those things back did not take much manpower or resources. At most, I just ran some errands. Now, it is impossible to give them away for free. Every item is the result of the hard work of the people in the laboratory and the factory.”

"Zhu Zi, don't mind me. It was my oversight. Just pretend I didn't say anything. It was Lao Fang who was being unreasonable." He really did have this idea, but He Yuzhu was right. Besides, what did the other party get after bringing back so much?
Because he couldn't protect them, the whole family ran away, and now they've moved to another place and started up again. It's really going too far for him to ask again. You can't fleece people like this.

He Yuzhu had one more thing he didn't say: "Can we cooperate? I'll build my civilian products, and you can develop your military products. Of course, my company should be under the military industry; that's the normal development path."

However, these days, if you go to great lengths to do this, people will only think you have ulterior motives and that it's unnecessary.

"It's alright, Uncle Fang. I know who you are, but I'm not alone now, nor am I working for you."

"You don't need to remind me, are you deliberately trying to embarrass me?"

"Someone will talk to you about the helicopter purchase. Is there anything else? If not, I'm hanging up."

"No, no, I didn't mean that, please don't take it to heart!"

"Go away, go away, your tone is annoying."

"Hahahaha!"

(End of this chapter)