Chapter 208 Confrontation

eidong examined Su Can for a moment, appreciating his clear and loud voice despite being irritated by him. He extinguished the cigarette in the ashtray and picked up the Soft Yun cigarettes, idly play...Volume 2: New Voyage Chapter 208: Clash

The ones receiving Su Can at the airport were Dustin, Catherine, and Qiao Shuxin.

It had been over a month since he last saw Qiao Shuxin. He was wearing a plaid shirt, looking much more relaxed and carefree than when he was in Shanghai. Su Can knew that during this period, Qiao Shuxin hadn't had anything significant to do at Facebook in the US. However, Su Can believed that Qiao's mood couldn't be good.

Qiao Shuxin helped take a bag from Li Pengyu and said, "I often call back to Merit Tower, asking about the progress of various departments and products planned for development before I left. I still can't bear it."

Then Qiao Shuxin sighed again. Afraid of disturbing Su Can's mood, he smiled and said, "Let’s not talk so much now. You've just arrived; treat this as a trip."

The most distinctive feature of the California terminal was its gently arched roof structure that extended over surrounding glass walls like wings. Dense steel cantilevers from the ceiling stretched forward to support parts of the building, with no pillars in the central area. This design was also used for United Airlines' aircraft maintenance hangar, which could accommodate four DC8 airliners. Inside the building surrounded by full glass structures, one could see at least five layers of road overpasses winding around outside the terminal. Although Shanghai was filled with construction sites this year and Terminal 2 of the airport would soon be completed, it still fell short when compared to San Francisco.

Outside the entrance, Dustin's silver-gray Aston Martin with a strong British style stood out prominently as he and the blonde Catherine waited there.

A long time had passed since their last meeting. As Catherine approached and lightly hugged Su Can, she said in her deep blue eyes, "We've been keeping an eye on Facebook China's development in Shanghai. We thought it would be difficult to outdo many competitors, but now you’ve done it. That’s amazing."

"This is mostly Qiao Shuxin's achievement," Su Can smiled.

After placing the luggage into the car, Dustin patted the hood and laughed at Su Can, "What do you think of this guy I spent $170,000 to buy her."

Li Pengyu and Su Can examined the car and nodded in admiration. Su Can added, "If it were in Shanghai, it would cost no less than $300,000." At that time, Aston Martin had not yet been introduced domestically; Dustin paid RMB 13 million for it in the US. If it landed in China, with high customs duties and domestic dealers' excessive markup profits, its price would start from RMB 3 million.

The American Facebook recently issued some benefits, and old-timers like Dustin had received around a million dollars. With Dustin's and Catherine's shares, both of them might already be in the ranks of multimillionaires. Yet, dressed casually in an outer linen jacket with her blouse tied at her waist and flat, smooth abdomen bearing a pretty navel, wearing loose casual pants, it was hard to tell that she was worth millions. She looked more like a big girl from American youth idol dramas.

Catherine wasn't satisfied and said to Dustin, "If you don’t often drive this thing around California's campuses showing off and chasing girls, I’d feel better about the car. You lack gentlemanly grace fitting it."

Dustin grinned and said, "That’s because you always focus on my appearance without ever understanding me from the inside."

"Let your Berkeley University sweetheart, Stanford senior, or high school neighbor at California State University understand you from the inside. I have no interest in that; we’ve always belonged to two different worlds."

Su Can couldn't help but smile. Dustin was still sulking while Catherine remained spirited and lively like a Stanford beauty.

The group got into cars and headed towards Palo Alto.

Dustin drove while saying, "Honestly, your arrival today makes everything perfect. The South Bay Hotel in California Street Commercial District has specially organized a gathering just for you. You'll surely enjoy it. 'Victoria's Secret' models are now all young girls from the 80s generation; they used to be private collections of social elites at Harvard clubs. But nowadays, when these girls have to choose between Facebook and Harvard University, they won't hesitate to join our Facebook gatherings. Ha! We've become celebrities now. There will be a bus full of models coming here tonight to celebrate. With one of the co-founders from China arriving in his base camp, why shouldn't we throw a party You'll visit the company, see our basketball court built on the rooftop halfway up the building, and check out our hundreds of matrix servers in the data center, like scenes from The Matrix. We've also set up a beautiful staff canteen for employees in a building just one block away from headquarters; all food is free and the head chef was poached from Google."

Palo Alto, reputed as the heart of Silicon Valley, is only about fifty kilometers from California Airport where Su Cun's group arrived. Two highways and a state road could be taken to get there. The group took Highway 82 in California. Along the way, they saw a train heading in the same direction; it was traveling from San Francisco to San Jose and would stop at three stations in Palo Alto, though usually only two were served unless Stanford Stadium had an event that day.

The road Su Cun took extended into Palo Alto and was also known as King's Highway. The location of the party Dustin mentioned was where King’s Highway intersected with Palo Alto’s commercial district.

He stayed in a five-star hotel nearby. Despite being just a small town, Palo Alto is famous for its many high-tech companies and is considered the heart of Silicon Valley. The hotel had a Mediterranean style; stepping on the carpet at the entrance made his shoes sink halfway down, giving him an ethereal sense of comfort.

Su Cun shared a room with Li Pengyu. After settling in, Catherine walked over to draw back the curtains, half her body rising up as she did so. Unlike Eastern women, her slim figure revealed healthy and very elastic tawny skin around her waist, a charming sight for Su Cun when he arrived in Southern California.

However, through the side mirror, Catherine noticed that Su Cun was watching her. She smiled confidently, turned to him quietly, and looked at him, saying, "It's really great you're back." Then she seemed to think about Li Pengyu still being present and felt a bit awkward; though expressing welcome, the atmosphere had become slightly dense and quiet. After that, she returned to her identity as a technical woman, casually picked up some of her things left on the sofa, then said goodbye, "You can take a shower first; we'll go to headquarters later, and there will be endless activities tonight."

Mark was inspecting servers at California’s server center and wasn't in Palo Alto.

Even though he had prepared himself mentally, Su Cun was still stunned by the enthusiastic welcome atmosphere that night.

The hotel entrance displayed a banner welcoming him. At this time, countless cars were already parked outside with people entering one after another. A few silver buses with a sense of technology also stopped at the door; most of those getting off were handsome men and beautiful women, dazzling to behold.

When they arrived at the entrance, Dustin wore a glittering outfit like an escort from Las Vegas casino outside. The crowd outside the door stared at him as if he was some very popular student activist or speaker at Stanford University.

"Many of you may not have seen him before, but I must say that all those present here today understand his identity and status!" Dustin saw Su Cun approach and pointed to where he stood next to Qiao Shuxin, "Let's welcome the star guest of tonight’s banquet, the co-president of our company, Mr. Su."

People started looking at Su Cun’s group and clapping, discussing among themselves.

Axel Partner Company's Jim, one of Facebook's board members, was a tall American man with distinct facial features. He held a glass of red wine and leaned against a pillar outside the hotel, waiting for everyone to greet and shake hands with Su Cun before walking over to him and raising his wine glass slightly, "Pleasure meeting you."

As Axel Partner Company's representative, Jim seemed quietly sizing up this young Chinese man who could stand shoulder-to-shoulder with Mark. He was curious about how he would impact the company in the future.

Then several men and women around their thirties approached, extending business cards to Su Cun; they were all investors or securities traders related to Silicon Valley.

Li Pengyu, with a smile on his face, kept him behind.

After entering the elaborately decorated hotel restaurant, Qiao Shuxin patted Su Cen's shoulder and said, "I believe that half of FaceBook’s staff attended today's welcome party for you. The total number of employees at FaceBook is around five hundred. But if we exclude cleaners and other support department workers, there are roughly four hundred official employees. Most of these employees own some shares in Facebook. This number will likely remain stable over the next few years."

Su Cen nodded. According to SEC regulations (Securities and Exchange Commission) in the U.S., once a company operating within the country has more than five hundred shareholders, even if it is not publicly listed, it must disclose its financial statements within 120 days of reaching that number. Many companies would rather avoid disclosing their reports before going public due to strategic considerations. Even after listing, most companies' report details are vague and ambiguous. Facebook distributed employee options in batches, leading to virtually all official staff becoming shareholders.

Many Silicon Valley companies, once they exceed 500 shareholders, will find additional shareholders to repurchase stocks to avoid exposing financial statements, creating a number of people whose wealth soared due to selling their shares. Of course, there are both the lucky and those who suffered losses as future stock value rose, like participating in a large roulette wheel of wealth.

"Did you prepare for this gathering" Su Cen turned around to ask.

"Think of it as a political show," Qiao Shuxin sighed. "This is inevitable."

Su Cen understood that Qiao Shuxin was planning to create momentum and establish his prestige during this trip by hosting such a welcome party. In the U.S., there's no better way than throwing a welcome party to demonstrate someone's status and importance within the company.

Some of the founding members, who were still with Facebook, came up one after another to greet Su Cen. When Facebook was just an apartment-based company, everyone started from scratch with cheap furniture bought from IKEA and a few computers and speakers, and now they have grown into a giant corporation with a building and over five hundred employees serving tens of millions of users.

Many people had left along the way. Matt Cohler, Chris Hughes, Adam D'Angelo, among others, as well as many young faces Su Cen did not recognize—white Americans, African-Americans, Vietnamese, Chinese, and even Indian students from Stanford University. Many of these people were sitting in distant booths, pulling aside founding members who had just shaken hands with Su Cen to vent their curiosity about this mysterious co-president and numerous questions they yearned to clarify.

For example, the senior employees now hold a high position and reputation within Facebook, showing great respect towards him. And there were also secret stories like how Sean Parker, who once founded several renowned companies in Silicon Valley, was ousted by Su Cen, becoming one of the biggest winners—an intriguing story that American youth would love to explore.

Su Cen didn't know if this could be called "When a man is away from the江湖 (jiao hu—literally means 'rivers and lakes,' here refers to public view or attention), he has already become a legend." At least, the arrangements Qiao Shuxin made had served their intended purpose.

Qiao Shuxin ultimately sighed. "I hope that the final showdown at the board meeting doesn't happen. I used to think Mark would eventually be on our side. But after two years as CEO in China, seeing many things and Zhaofan's departure, my understanding of human nature deepened. You should look around you."

Su Cen followed Qiao Shuxin's gaze; there were hundreds of people at the party, each with bright eyes and confident smiles. They were employees of Facebook. Now they didn't need to travel across America or even reach Britain to proudly say that they worked for Facebook—no one would dare belittle them because it was too well-known. Every single person here had confidence; they wouldn't worry about social status or living conditions, feeling a genuine drive to work. The options in their hands made them members of the American upper-middle class and millionaires-to-be.

Qiao Shuxin's voice re-entered Su Cen’s ears, "If Facebook were to face a crisis in America, these people would be affected. They are currently working hard for substantial rewards with their hearts full of ideals; this way of life could disappear forever if they encountered adversity. Their shared beliefs might crumble. Mark has no room for retreat because he is not just himself but also the embodiment of what others entrust to him. Therefore, all his decisions must revolve around self-interest to protect Facebook from any threat. Actually, he's not wrong. And we're no different; whatever challenges lie ahead, we will represent our own interests in China. No one is right or wrong, but everyone is actually wrong."

Su Cen had nothing to say.

The banquet continued long into the California night, with people indulging themselves in revelry. Li Pengyu drank five large glasses of beer in front of everyone and was then heroically escorted behind where he vomited until unconscious. When his father from Nanjing Military Region called to ask about his situation in America and if he had contacted any friends there, he picked up the phone saying, "Dad, I just arrived here in California, did you say drinking No, no drinking!" followed by a series of laughter.

After performing an energetic dance, Catherine, a rebellious tech beauty at Stanford, amidst the collective cheers and applause from other girls, blushed and boldly gave Su Cen a cheek kiss, triggering a frenzy at the party.

This is the passion of California.

Su Cen would occasionally miss all this.

***** Late at night, Zack and his group hurried back to Palo Alto. Several mysterious black vehicles also arrived but eventually split up at a crossroad. After briefly stopping by headquarters, they drove straight to the hotel where a welcome party was held for Su Cen.

When Vice President Chris Cox of Facebook saw the high turnout at the venue when entering the restaurant, his pupils constricted; such a scene indeed made him feel threatened given his current status within the company.

Zack stood in the ballroom, staring blankly at Su Cen on the other side as if unaware of the surrounding revelry. Then he noticed Su Cen, and after several moments of hesitation, Zack walked up to shake hands with Su Cen, merely saying, “You made it.”

In the all-glass boardroom at Facebook's headquarters in Palo Alto late into the night, Su Cen stood alongside Zuckerberg, looking out through the window at the town’s scenery. The hotel where Su Cen was staying was just a short walk from headquarters, so he only needed to take a few steps to return to his room.

Li Pengyu, Qiao Shuxin, Cox, and several other Facebook executives that Su Cen hadn't met before all watched the scene with mixed emotions. This might be their last amicable conversation.

"I know it's pointless for me to persuade you not to sell your shares now," Su Cen sighed. "So my final efforts will likely have been in vain."

"Unless you find a better way," Zuckerberg shook his head, looking somewhat sad; he seemed unsure of how to deal with this once-close friend.

He had many friends—childhood friends from the small town where he grew up as a dentist's son, high school classmates, and Harvard University roommates. Su Cen wasn't necessarily the closest geographically but his encouragement and support in helping Zuckerberg become CEO of Facebook and the shared vision to change the world made their relationship unique and irreplaceable, which perhaps made this separation so painful. "But you won’t find a way, neither will I."

Standing before the clear floor-to-ceiling window that overlooked Palo Alto's lights, Su Cen remained silent alongside Zuckerberg for quite some time. It seemed they would remain in silence indefinitely.

Su Cen finally patted Zuckerberg on the shoulder and said, "We'll see each other at the board meeting."

Then he turned around and walked into a transparent elevator with Li Pengyu, slowly descending into the depths of the building.

(To be continued)ide the province are lining up to enter this second largest city commercial center in Xia Hai City. If we seize this opportunity, it would be unprecedented.""I really am a bit worried about starting a...