Soon after, his tires outside his apartment were slashed. Then a fired driver showed up at Mister Softee’s office and threatened to kill the workers there. Things got more bizarre.Nearly a year later, with Sparks still operating without a new permit, officials proposed holding a lottery to dole out Suzhou permits to Sparks and the knockoff trucks. Around that time, police started ticketing Mister Softee trucks for parking illegally in spots they’d been working for years.That’s good news for Apple, but not for Mister Softee. Other major companies that have since bailed on China include Uber in 2016 amid tough local competition and stricter government regulations on its pricing, and Seagate last year as Chinese regulators moved to impose higher taxes on the electronics maker’s 2,000-employee factory.