Reborn in 2005, starting with repairing mobile phones

At the same time.

The Stanford University President's Residence.

The study was brightly lit.

Several dark leather sofas are arranged in a semicircle, and the oil paintings on the wall gleam with an antique luster under the warm light.

Dean Robert Brown picked up his coffee cup, then put it down again.

He glanced at the man opposite him, and carefully considered his words before speaking.

"Mr. Steve Jobs, thank you for taking the time to come today."

Steve Jobs sat on the sofa, wearing his signature black turtleneck and jeans.

He looks thinner than in the photos; the pancreatic cancer surgery he underwent earlier this year has left its mark on him.

But those eyes remained the same—sharp and focused.

"Dean Brown," his voice was flat, "you said on the phone that someone wanted me to meet them?"

Brown nodded.

He gestured to James Carter beside him.

Carter handed over a thin sheet of documents.

"This person's name is Lin Dong. He's from China and just graduated from high school."

Brown said, "Yesterday, at our Tech Week, he completed a master's level LNA design in two minutes."

Jobs took the documents without saying a word.

Brown continued, "He beat Mark. One of our top PhD students in RF. Mark ran for fifteen minutes and scored 95 points. He..."

He paused for a moment, then said, "We can't give his design a score. If we're going to give it a perfect score of 100, he's already exceeded it."

Mark.

He had heard of Steve Jobs.

During my last dinner with a professor from Stanford, he mentioned, "We have a young man here who's very talented in radio frequency (RF) technology. Would Apple consider him?"

He didn't take it to heart at the time.

Apple receives countless recommendations every year, so it's impossible to see them all.

But now, that "very powerful" person has been defeated by an eighteen-year-old Chinese boy.

Steve Jobs's gaze fell on the documents.

There's a photo of Lin Dong on it—a side profile, a candid shot, a bit blurry.

Next to it are his design parameters: noise figure 0.62dB, gain 20.1dB, power consumption 1.4mW.

He stared at it for a long time.

Two minutes?

Apple's iPhone project has just started.

He personally oversaw and supervised the work, leaving no detail overlooked.

Radio frequency (RF) is the core of the system; without a good signal, any experience is meaningless.

What he lacks most right now is talent in all fields.

He put down the documents and looked up.

"Does he want to come to Apple?"

Brown and Carter exchanged a glance.

It's not about Apple.

I'm coming to Stanford.

If Jobs were to recommend him, even just with a casual remark like "This young man is good," Lin Dong's application for university would gain an invisible boost.

They didn't need Jobs to do anything; they just needed to make him remember this person.

Carter nodded slightly.

Brown turned to Jobs.

"He hasn't chosen a university yet."

Brown said, "Strictly speaking, he is not a student at any school yet."

He paused.

"After your speech tomorrow, we have arranged for him to speak as a student representative."

He said, "You can chat backstage."

Steve Jobs nodded.

"Can."

He picked up the document again and glanced at the blurry profile picture.

Eighteen years old.

Two minutes.

interesting.

The next day.

Stanford University.

Lin Dong woke up at seven o'clock.

He didn't stay in bed. After washing up, he changed into his dark gray casual jacket and stood by the window to look at the sky outside.

The California sun was as generous as ever, casting long shadows from the palm trees.

finally reached.

This time, Stanford's ultimate target is Steve Jobs.

Cheng Chuan and Cheng Yu, Ding Xiao, and the competition—those were all unexpected surprises.

He hadn't expected to be able to take so many people with him at once.

But what he had been waiting for was today.

In his previous life, he had read the transcript of this speech countless times.

On the computer, on the phone, in those sleepless nights.

He recognized Steve Jobs' voice and his tone.

But those are all separated by a screen, by time, by twenty years that can never be caught up with.

Things are different now.

Now all he has to do is walk over, enter that auditorium, sit down, and he can see that person standing on the stage with his own eyes, and even have the opportunity to talk to him.

The person whom countless people look up to, the person who combines hardware and software, and takes design and experience to the extreme.

The person who made him look at the knock-off phone, the reference design, and the blueprints he was always chasing, and then silently wonder, "Where exactly is the gap between us and this person?"

These are coordinates.

That is the benchmark he will surpass in the future.

He took a deep breath and pushed open the door to go out.

He left the hotel and walked towards the campus.

The closer you get to Stanford Memorial Auditorium, the more people there are.

Groups of two or three students walked in the same direction with their bags on their backs. Some held printed tickets, some took photos with their phones, and some talked excitedly with their companions as they walked.

"Did you manage to get tickets?"

"I got one! I waited in line for three hours!"

"I heard we're going to be talking about a new product today?"

"I don't know, but it's definitely something big..."

Lin Dong mingled in the crowd and slowly walked forward.

Long queues had already formed in the square in front of the auditorium.

Several hundred people formed several long lines, some sitting on the steps waiting, some standing and chatting, and some holding coffee and looking around.

Several students wearing Stanford volunteer vests were maintaining order, holding walkie-talkies, their expressions a mix of tension and excitement.

"Take out your tickets, get them ready—"

"Move in, move in, don't block the entrance—"

Lin Dong took out the VIP pass and handed it to the volunteer at the door.

The volunteer glanced at it and paused for a moment.

"You are... Mr. Lin Dong?"

Lin Dong nodded.

The volunteer glanced at him again, his eyes holding something different.

"Please come in."

He moved aside, "Your seat is in the third row, by the aisle."

Lin Dong went inside.

The auditorium was already half full.

The dome is very high, and sunlight shines through the stained glass windows on both sides, casting dappled light and shadow on the seats.

A huge screen stood on the stage, still black, with only the Apple logo quietly lit in the lower right corner.

Lin Dong found his seat and sat down.

People were still arriving one after another.

Someone walked past him, glanced down at his pass, and then looked up at him again.

He didn't pay attention.

He leaned back in his chair, looking at the empty podium.

In a little while, that person will stand on it.

Tell him his stories.

He told the story of how he was kicked out of Apple and then came back.

He talked about the products he had worked on.

He talked about the things he had always believed in.

Stay hungry. Stay foolish.

9:55.

The lights in the auditorium dimmed.

The crowd fell silent.

A video started playing on the screen—Apple's old GG, clips from the Macintosh launch event, and photos of Steve Jobs when he was young, flashing by one by one.

Some people started to applaud.

The video ends and the screen lights up.

A person walked out from the side of the curtain.