Super God-Level Top Student

It seemed that those who often said, "If money can solve the problem, it's not a problem," were usually consoling others. However, when it came time to spend their own money lavishly, they conveniently forgot this saying completely.

As for Xilin, it was his own beloved daughter's business, and it was in the entrepreneurial stage with its own set of troublesome issues.

Every city had its own distinct management style.

Being a seasoned businessman, he knew exactly how to adapt.

Fortunately, the company had intricate ties with Youwei and Xilin University of Technology, which helped him establish a firm foothold quickly.

Otherwise, the company would have faced many more chaotic issues during its startup phase.

Troubling indeed.

Forcing himself to stay focused and not to think of the exquisite models in the villa at Linhai, he reviewed and approved a human resources proposal hoping for funding to attract talent. Then, Zhang, his secretary, came in with a phone in hand.

"Su, the president of Apple in the Greater Huaxia Region, Cheng, just called and said he would like to invite you to visit the Apple Headquarters in Linhai. Would you like to return the call?"

Su Lixing had two main phone numbers, one for work, which was kept with Zhang, who would decide whether he needed to take the calls that came in. His private number was known to very few people—even some old-timers at Linhai Licheng were unaware of it.

Clearly, Apple's call had gone straight to his office number.

Su Lixing was not surprised, knowing that many people were aware of his work number. With Apple's influence in Huaxia, it was easy to locate him.

As for the purpose of Apple's invitation to visit their headquarters, Su Lixing was well aware.

This must be really urgent.

Su Lixing's wife was a diehard Apple user.

It wasn't that she was particularly fond of the iPhones; it was more about familiarity with Apple's ecosystem after using it for over a decade. She had always felt awkward with previous HM and Android devices.

But this time he sent her an M60P, and after experiencing the Qunzhi voice assistant, she dropped Apple's UI the next day and got used to HM's operating system, now she practically couldn't do without it.

Last night during their video call, she was showing off the new phone tricks she had learned. After he briefly explained HM's ecosystem capabilities, she immediately ordered a full set of Youwei devices, whether they were immediately needed or not. When Su Lixing jokingly commented that they'd just gather dust at home, he was met with fierce objection.

"How could these devices gather dust? Didn't you say that Qunzhi will be cross-platform compatible in the future? Then I can place my phone, laptop, and tablet together and have them perform a crosstalk for me. Right now, the phone can only do stand-up comedy," she told him.

Besides admiring his wife's playfulness, Su Lixing didn't know what else to say.

But receiving a proactive call from the president of Apple in the Greater Huaxia Region today was unexpected for Su Lixing.

It showed sincerity, but not much.

It still felt a bit arrogant to Su Lixing.

In the past, Yu Hongwei, in his hopes of securing a license for the Qunzhi System, had made a special trip to Xilin to discuss it.

However, Su Lixing was a businessman and didn't hold grudges. After a moment's thought, he said, "Call him back."

Zhang approached, dialed the number, and then handed Su Lixing his work phone.

"Hello, this is Cheng, right?"

"Yes, this is Cheng. Su, hello. I'm calling to invite you to come and visit our Apple Headquarters sometime soon. When might you be available?"

"Ha-ha, thank you for the invitation, Cheng. But as you know, we've just established Xilin Licheng and I really can't step away right now. Tell you what, when I'm back in Linhai, I'll definitely pay a visit to Cheng."

"I see, that was indeed presumptuous of me. Then how about I visit you in Xilin tomorrow?"

"Oh, if it's just a casual visit, of course I would be delighted to welcome you. But if it's business we're talking about, I'm afraid I might have to disappoint Cheng," Su Lixing replied courteously.

Indeed, it was going to be a disappointment.

To secure a good price, Su Lixing had negotiated for an exclusive licensing agreement.

It wasn't that Su Lixing didn't want to pursue a non-exclusive deal, but the problem still lay with Qiao Ze.

The boy just wanted to create the framework; he had no interest in dealing with anything else.

But to evolve from a framework that served a limited scope to a platform that could serve hundreds of millions of users, both hardware and software required significant investment.

As a developer, Qiao Ze was unwilling to be involved, and even if Su Lixing could somehow come up with the funds, he dared not invest blindly.

So, in reality, it was Youwei Group that took over the subsequent development work. Under these circumstances, a non-exclusive license was out of the question.

Major companies like Qualcomm, Apple, and Youwei could sell their patents everywhere precisely because they had robust R&D teams continuously conducting technological research. For now, at least, Licheng Technology did not possess that capacity.

"What does Su mean?"

"Haha, just what it sounds like. I'm sorry, Mr. Cheng," Su Lixing said firmly.

"Oh, these are trivial matters. I wonder if Su could introduce me to Qiao Ze?"

"Truth be told, I'm not unwilling to help, but Qiao Ze is currently focused on his studies and really doesn't want to leave school. You have no idea; it's pretty hard even for me to get a chance to see him."

"I understand, then I won't bother Su any further."

"It's fine, sorry I can't help you, Mr. Cheng."

"You're too polite, Mr. Su, goodbye."

"Goodbye."

After hanging up the phone, Su Lixing let out a heavy sigh.

He felt inexplicably relieved.

Even the thought of Qiao Ze's rarely expressive face seemed quite handsome to him.

After all, it's unlikely that the head of Licheng Technology in Linhai would ever receive a call from a regional president of a world-class high-tech enterprise.

Now, not only had they called him, but they had also been extremely polite.

And he had been able to confidently refuse their request.

This sense of spiritual satisfaction was indeed something that couldn't be brought about by mere wealth.

It was even slightly more interesting than playing with models.

The moment he handed the phone back to his secretary Zhang, Su Lixing suddenly felt that dealing with the pile of documents on his desk wasn't so tiresome anymore.

"Cough cough, go on, if there are any more calls that come out of nowhere, just tell them I'm not available," Su Lixing coolly instructed.

"Got it, Mr. Su."

EditWith his daily affairs so numerous, Mr. Su of Xilin Licheng had no time to entertain these irrelevant parties.

...

Xilin University of Technology.

While Su Lixing was putting on airs, Qiao Ze saw an email from Roth Dugan, the editor-in-chief of Mathematics Annual, from Princeton.

The email roughly said that the paper had met the publication requirements of Mathematics Annual. However, considering Qiao Ze's previous papers were mainly in the field of Group Theory, the reviewing editor hoped to have a direct call with the author of the paper.

It was essentially a request for a remote video defense of the paper.

Well, Qiao Ze thought the request wasn't too unreasonable.

It seemed they were just being overly cautious.

After all, it was just a mathematics paper that hadn't solved any significant problems.

But thinking of Ackerman Konietz from the University of Cologne, Qiao Ze felt a bit of rigor wasn't bad at all and even felt some fondness for this editor. After all, he himself didn't find the paper particularly impressive; a paper he completed in one afternoon still got attention.

It just showed there were too many bored people in the world.

Thus, Qiao Ze simply replied with an email, asking the other party to confirm a time for the video session.

What he didn't expect was that just five minutes after sending out the email, he received a reply saying they could hold the video call in half an hour.

The efficiency was so surprising to Qiao Ze, especially considering the time difference—it was already past eight in the evening during daylight saving time in the United States, well after working hours.

If they were willing to make the effort even after hours, Qiao Ze, who was just starting on his work, naturally didn't mind, and he replied with an "OK".

Soon after, the other party sent a download link for a video software, along with an internal meeting room link.

It took five minutes to download the software, pass the security check, install, register an account, log in, copy the link to enter the meeting room, and with 20 minutes left on the countdown, Qiao Ze thought for a moment and then said to Su Mucheng, "Call Liu Chenfeng over."

"Huh? You need him for something?"

"The editor-in-chief of Mathematics Annual says the paper is ready for publication, but there are a few issues to confirm with the author. Liu Chenfeng is the third author; he should show his face too."