deltrittennovels Chapter 80 A Summons
Chapter 80 A Summons
In early November 2019.
The integration of Zheng's OEM factory entered its second week. Temporary fencing was erected around SMT Line 2, and engineers from the tooling and fixture inventory were being drawn daily from Zheng's original team to work with Hongyuan's structural engineers. Zhou Ming personally stayed at the factory for three days, and upon returning to Longhua, he commented at a meeting: "President Zheng is a reliable person."
Su Chen smiled after hearing this and didn't press further. He focused more on learning about IMU technology. Every morning from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. without fail, he went to the virtual disassembly lab. Bosch's IMU, ST's IMU, and TDK's IMU—the three mainstream solutions—gradually became clearer in his cognitive map. He began to be able to distinguish which were real technological barriers and which were just barriers in marketing rhetoric.
Wu Zheng's progress was even better than Su Chen had expected. In his first month, he spent two weeks reviewing Hongyuan Flight Control's entire codebase, and in the third week, he proposed two refactoring suggestions for the current code layering at an architecture meeting. Liu Yu, who was present at the meeting, nodded and said, "I've wanted to do those two things for a long time, but I haven't dared to."
Everything is progressing smoothly.
Then the summons arrived.
It was October 8th, the first workday after the National Day holiday. At 2:35 PM, Fang Xu, the legal counsel, knocked on Su Chen's office door. He was holding an EMS envelope, and his expression wasn't pleasant.
"Mr. Su, Haotai Capital has filed a lawsuit."
Su Chen reached out and took the envelope. It contained a copy of the civil complaint. Plaintiff: Shenzhen Qianhai Haotai Equity Investment Partnership (Limited Partnership), controlled by Shenzhen Haotai Capital Management Co., Ltd. Defendant 1: Hongyuan Intelligent Technology (Shenzhen) Co., Ltd. Defendant 2: Wu Zheng.
Two causes of action—
First, Wu Zheng violated the non-compete agreement signed with Tianying Technology by joining Hongyuan Intelligent, a direct competitor, within six months of leaving the company.
Second, Hongyuan Intelligent is suspected of maliciously inducing employees to violate their non-compete obligations and using trade secrets from Tianying in the technological assets formed after Wu Zheng joined the company.
Claim amount: RMB 42 million.
Su Chen placed the indictment on the table, his finger lingering on the line for "forty-two million" for two seconds.
"Fang Xu, what is the actual legal risk of compensation?"
"The worst-case scenario is around 12 million, with the most likely compensation range being under 5 million. But the 42 million they offered is clearly an inflated figure. I reviewed Wu Zheng's non-compete agreement this morning—the clause itself contains two vague statements, which should at least discredit half of the charges in court. The trade secret claim is basically untenable; Hongyuan's flight control code library is publicly available and traceable, and the timeline matches up."
"Their motive for filing the lawsuit isn't money."
"Probably not."
Su Chen nodded. He opened the last page of the complaint and saw an attached "Application for Pre-Trial Mediation." The applicant was Haotai Capital. The application stated: "To avoid wasting judicial resources, the plaintiff suggests a pre-trial mediation before the formal trial. The mediator will be appointed by the Commercial Division of the Shenzhen Qianhai Court."
Attached to the application was Xia Kanghao's business card and a handwritten note: "Please arrange a meeting when it is convenient for Mr. Su. In industry disputes, face-to-face discussions are better than written communication."
Su Chen looked at the business card over and over again.
"He wants to meet."
"Should I see him or not?" Fang Xu asked.
"See."
Su Chen got up and walked to the window. In early October, autumn was just beginning to arrive in Shenzhen, and an engineering helicopter was flying north along the skyline of Longhua District outside the window.
"He came to meet me with a lawsuit for 42 million dollars; that's quite a generous gift. I wanted to hear what he really wanted."
He turned and went back to his desk.
"Fang Xu, reply to the other party that the mediation center at Qianhai Court will be at 3 PM the day after tomorrow. You will come with me."
At 2:50 p.m. on October 10, Su Chen and Fang Xu arrived at the Qianhai Court Mediation Center.
The reception room of the mediation center was small, with only a rectangular wooden table and eight chairs. A landscape painting hung on the wall. In the center of the table were two pots of tea, one red and one green. The mediator was a judge surnamed He, from the commercial division of the court, who wore gold-rimmed glasses and was in his fifties.
When Su Chen and Fang Xu entered the room, Xia Kanghao was already sitting across the table. He was accompanied by a legal advisor, who was Haotai's chief legal counsel.
The two stood up and shook hands.
"President Su, to be honest, I'm relieved to be able to sit down and talk here today." Xia Kanghao's tone was much lower than at the media briefing a few months ago. "I've reviewed some of the things I said at that briefing afterward. I was too direct and offended quite a few people, including Hongyuan."
Su Chen sat down. He didn't respond to the self-reflection.
"Mr. Xia, forty-two million is a large sum. I'm here today to hear what you truly want."
Xia Kanghao smiled. He glanced at the legal counsel beside him. The counsel handed him a manila envelope. Xia Kanghao didn't open the envelope, but gently placed it in the center of the table and pushed it towards Su Chen.
"Forty-two million was just the asking price in court. The real purpose—"
He paused for a moment.
"We hope to obtain a license for the core interfaces of Hongyuan Flight Control SDK. Specifically, this refers to the underlying protocol of the external interfaces of the Plant Protection SDK Open Alliance. Haotai is willing to purchase a perpetual license at a reasonable price. Once this is achieved, we can withdraw the lawsuit in court."
Su Chen didn't immediately reach for the file folder. He looked at Xia Kanghao.
"In other words, today's lawsuit is essentially a business card used to knock on doors."
"President Su's understanding is accurate."
Su Chen pushed the file bag back.
"I'd like to hear what Haotai plans to do with this authorization."