Chapter 90

"Clap... clap clap... clap clap..." Anna Belle walked unsteadily towards Li Xu with her arms outstretched, mumbling indistinctly.

"Good, Anna, just a little more effort." Li Xu bent his body, smiling and opening his arms wide.

The little one wobbled on the carpet, her legs seemingly unable to fully straighten and support her weight, at any moment she might fall to the ground.

Even so, she managed to complete this short journey and pounced into her father's arms.

"Great job, my little treasure." Li Xu lifted her up happily, and amidst her giggles, he proudly raised his chin at Isabelle, who was sitting nearby sipping coffee.

Isabelle huffed, said nothing, and turned her head away.

"Anna, call Mommy." Li Xu chuckled and immediately began coaxing his daughter.

"Ma... Mama..." The little one obediently called out.

She had just turned one year old and could start mimicking single-syllable words, becoming even more lively. Unfortunately, when she celebrated her first birthday, he was attending classes in Cambridge and couldn't come to see her.

Well, actually, Isabelle didn't let him, as it was a family gathering.

Although it wouldn't have been a problem to go, he had previously been too oppressive towards Isabelle, so he had to make some concessions and lower his stance, which was why he couldn't attend.

So, after settling Lili's affairs in London and accompanying Diana to the Royal Ballet several times—she had almost resigned from her kindergarten job in New York and visited the ballet company multiple times, asking all the public relations departments—

Of course, the information she received was what Li Xu wanted her to know. He had already arranged for his father to connect with the Royal Ballet's management beforehand.

They couldn't lie, but they could selectively describe and gloss over some information.

However, this also showed that Diana was indeed passionate about ballet. When they visited the Royal Ballet together, and Li Xu suggested she undergo some specialized administrative training before taking on this volunteer work, she agreed without hesitation.

Using this to entice her was indeed the right move.

After doing this, he went to Paris to see his daughter and, incidentally, to tease or provoke someone.

"Hey, Anna." Seeing that the daughter was looking for her mother, Isabelle had to stand up and clap her hands in front of her.

However, Anna Belle looked at her mother with a puzzled and bewildered expression, as if she found her mother's smile strange.

"Relax, Isabelle." Li Xu immediately said, "Show off your acting skills."

Isabelle glared at him, then took a deep breath, smiled gently, and clapped her hands again, "Anna."

"Ma-ma..." The little one grinned, reached out her hands, and wriggled from her father's arms into her mother's.

After playing for a while, Anna Belle started yawning. Li Xu called the nanny to take her to bed, but the little one clung to him, refusing to let go, and started crying as soon as she was separated. In the end, she had to hang on to him.

"Daughter really loves her daddy." Holding the sleeping little one, Li Xu proudly said to Isabelle.

Isabelle snorted, looking quite disdainful, but her eyes showed a complex expression.

"Christmas is coming soon. Take Anna to San Francisco; Grandpa wants the whole family to celebrate together." Li Xu then said.

"Take your girlfriend if you want." Isabelle coldly replied.

"You can be my girlfriend temporarily." Li Xu shrugged.

"No interest." Isabelle refused without hesitation.

"You didn't let me attend Anna's first birthday celebration, which I promised to do." Li Xu immediately said.

Isabelle was speechless for a moment and finally said, "I know."

Li Xu chuckled and asked, "Are you getting used to living here?"

"Can I say I'm not?" Isabelle retorted.

"Of course you can," Li Xu said seriously, "If you really don't like it, I'll immediately find you a new place. What do you think of the estate where we met before?"

Isabelle fell silent.

Since she brought Anna Belle back to France, Li Xu had arranged for them to live in a mansion in the 7th arrondissement of Paris, with a butler and servants, for Anna Belle's growth.

Isabelle guessed his intentions but couldn't refuse, especially when it was for her daughter.

"Rest!" she said firmly.

Well, a long and arduous journey lies ahead. He really missed those days in Provence, but it was unknown when he could revisit them.

After seeing his daughter and getting Isabelle to agree to go to San Francisco for Christmas, Li Xu returned to Boston.

Besides continuing his studies and occasionally harassing Judy Foster at Yale, he had another matter to attend to: Apple was finally going public.

"Now, everyone, let's cheer!" With the shout of the 25-year-old bearded young man standing in the center of the stage, everyone in the room enthusiastically shouted, "Oh!"

"This is quite unique. I've never seen a celebration held in a bar instead of a hotel." Donald Valentine, the head of Sequoia Capital, sitting in the corner, muttered. He was dressed in a sharp suit, standing out from the casually dressed young people around him.

"This is the style of the IT industry—young, individualistic, and unrestrained." Li Xu, sitting beside him, smiled and responded.

"You sound like an old man, Eddie." Valentine shook his head.

"More than one person has said that. Is it only old men who can speak from a completely objective perspective?" Li Xu asked.

"Of course not, but..." Valentine thought for a moment and decided to change the topic, "Apple is really popular. All the shares were sold out in less than an hour, and the closing price was $29."

"Of course, if it weren't, we wouldn't have invested, right?" Li Xu replied.

"Let me guess, your assets must have surpassed $1 billion, right?" Valentine asked.

"It will take some time. If Apple can maintain this momentum, it won't be long." Li Xu smiled, "You know, they split one share into seven, which significantly reduced my income."

He and Valentine had interacted quite a bit, and he had entrusted some funds to him, so there was no need to hide these details.

"I must say, Eddie, every time I'm with you, I feel like my first half of life was wasted." Valentine sighed half-jokingly.

"That's perfect. Whenever you start feeling proud, just think of me, and you'll stay humble." Li Xu laughed.

Then, the two Steves, smiling broadly, walked over: "Hey, Don, hey, Eddie."

"Hey, Steves." Li Xu immediately stood up and hugged each of them.

Although Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak had different spellings of their names, they sounded very similar, so he lumped them together.

"I knew he would call us that." Wozniak immediately put on a fake "I'm not happy" face.

"No problem, Steve. Next time he calls us that, we either both answer or ignore him." Jobs looked excited and proud, clearly very happy.

Indeed, the success of Apple's stock proved his success, validating his ability to lead people forward, which he considered extremely important.

To be honest, both Wozniak and Jobs looked good at this time. The former hadn't gained a big belly, and the latter hadn't gone bald, especially the latter, with his thick hair and beard, resembling Ashton Kutcher somewhat.

Similarly, Wozniak and Jobs had a closer relationship at this time, though they often argued, there was no hint of a split.

In fact, Jobs was a very friendly, eloquent, and charismatic person who could stir up the atmosphere without being annoying, as long as it wasn't about work. Once it came to work, he would take a "I am the only one who is right, and you are all fools" attitude.

Although it wasn't always obvious, with Apple's success, this attitude would only become more pronounced.

No one in Apple, including Don Valentine, had escaped his shouting. Only Li Xu, who knew his nature, stayed out of business matters, generously invested, and then stayed away.

The celebration didn't need much description. Valentine, teased by the two Steves, took off his jacket, loosened his tie, and mingled with the young people. However, Li Xu left after 10 PM, for the sake of his studies.

Despite Jobs mocking him, "Can you really learn what you want to learn there? You should develop games, you should use your talent, not hang out with those mediocre people."

Li Xu really wanted to do that, but not develop games, rather play with movies or TV, but the problem was...

"I really want to, but if I do, my grandfather and father will use every means to drag me back." He said.

Undoubtedly, this continued to draw ridicule from the genius with serious personality issues, who had been abandoned by his biological parents, but Li Xu didn't say anything more.

Jobs was that kind of person—neither an engineer nor a designer, but he could grasp people's preferences and lead trends by a half-step.

Just like 30 years later, when people remembered him, saying that Jobs was always an artist at heart, while Cook was just a businessman.

Of course, after a major setback, even the most ardent admirers had to admit that without Wozniak in 1985, if Jobs had been left to his own devices, Apple might have really failed.

So, what Li Xu needed to do was to stand aside and watch, and when necessary, show support—well, this was his attitude towards most of his IC and IT industry investments.

Anyway, with Apple's IPO, his net worth increased, and with more disposable income, he could do more things.