Reborn in 2000, starting from the university website

Monday morning, as usual.

During a break in the long lecture, Bai Yuhang slipped away to the China Construction Bank next to the Xueyuan Building.

The clerk at the counter, with a stern face, stamped a remittance slip and threw it out with a "thud".

Four thousand dollars—the equivalent of five or six months' wages for an average worker these days—was simply turned into a server lease.

Bai Yuhang put the receipt in his pocket, and the weight that had been hanging over him finally lifted. The money was spent; now it was time to see if it could generate more money.

He dashed back to the software engineering classroom and went to attend his major class.

On the other side of the college, in a class in the Department of Computer Science and Technology, we happened to catch Professor Zhang Ling, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, giving a lecture on "Practical Network Security." This class, held in the computer lab, was also the most active time for the computer science students.

At this time of day, the computer lab is usually either filled with people messing with the registry and causing damage, or people secretly playing StarCraft online.

But the atmosphere today is a bit strange.

In the huge server room, dozens of large CRT monitors were dimly lit.

Previously, the default Windows desktop background was always blue sky and white clouds, or random celebrity wallpapers left by the previous generation of students.

Looking around today, most of the screens in the server room are displaying the same page with a white background and light blue title – "Qihang Internet Navigation".

The fourth brother, Wan Lianghao, sat in the back row and nudged the seventh brother, who was staring blankly at the screen. He lowered his thick, thick-sounding dialect and chuckled, "Hey, seventh brother, did you see that? This is called a virus intrusion. None of us brothers even lifted a finger, and these kids changed it themselves. Can you believe how lazy these guys are? They're all computer science students, and they can't even be bothered to type 'www'."

Indeed, for most college students who are still practicing "one-finger typing" and memorizing website addresses as painfully as memorizing vocabulary, this webpage that puts Sina, Sohu, NetEase, frequently used websites, and trending topics on the internet right in the open is simply a savior.

On the podium, Professor Zhang Ling pushed up his glasses, which were thicker than the bottom of a bottle, and walked around the aisle with his hands behind his back.

He walked to the first row and stopped in front of a machine.

The student was so frightened that he quickly tried to close the webpage.

"Don't move." Zhang Ling pressed down on the student's shoulder, bent down, grabbed the mouse, and clicked twice.

The computer room fell silent instantly, with only the buzzing of the computer cases and the sound of Professor Zhang clicking the mouse.

Lao Ba Jiang Shuo sat in the corner, his back ramrod straight, a sneer on his lips as he waited to see a good show.

In his view, such behavior of arbitrarily modifying the homepage is "defying the rules" in a cybersecurity class and should definitely be criticized.

"This page is... kind of interesting."

Zhang Ling straightened up and tapped the table. The sound wasn't loud, but it was clearly audible in the quiet server room. "This website's source code structure is very simple. It doesn't use any fancy JavaScript to slow down the site, and there are no annoying pop-ups or spam. What's noteworthy is that its overall layout and page depth perfectly suit the current usage habits of Chinese internet users—they're lazy. The layout and categorization logic is very clear, much more comfortable to look at than Yahoo! Yellow Pages, with its screen full of dense text. You're all using it, do you know who made it?"

No one said a word.

Only a few people in dormitory 206 who knew the truth were winking and trying to suppress their laughter until their stomachs hurt.

With a sharp "scratch," Jiang Shuo's ballpoint pen left a deep mark on the book. He stared at the webpage on the screen, which he considered "crude and lacking in technical sophistication," his face turning ashen.

How could Professor Zhang praise such a static webpage that doesn't even use a database? Is this old man senile?

This is an insult to academia.

By Tuesday, the data in the backend was so stable that Bai Yuhang felt it was almost unreal.

The daily page views (PV) of the Qihang Navigation website have been stubbornly hovering around 8. The curve is still climbing slowly, like a snail climbing a hill, taking one step at a time.

With no classes in the afternoon, Bai Yuhang was in the computer room staring at the backend logs, pondering the website redesign, when his pager vibrated as if he were getting an electric shock.

He ran into the hallway to return the call, and as soon as he picked up the receiver, Zhao Jianjun's booming voice exploded in: "Brother! Amazing! Absolutely amazing!"

Bai Yuhang moved the receiver further away and casually picked at his ear with his little finger: "Brother Zhao, this isn't some kind of shamanistic ritual, so how is it magical?"

"Today, a Santana owner came in to use the internet. He didn't play any games, just stared at the management software and the homepage, insisting on asking who made the page, saying he wanted to get one for his company's computers too. And two guys from Nangang District who run internet cafes, I don't know how they found out my number, they absolutely have to buy me drinks, wanting to ask if I can install this management system on them too." The background noise on Zhao Jianjun's end was loud, clearly indicating booming business. "They're practically drooling over my success!"

"That's a good thing."

Bai Yuhang leaned against the wall, watching the students playing soccer on the playground outside the window. "This business has come knocking on our door, Brother Zhao, you can arrange it. Same old rules, they can use the system for free, and we'll cover the maintenance, but the browser homepage must be locked to 'Qihang Navigation,' no discussion about that. As for the installation fee, that's the brothers' hard-earned money, you can help negotiate it."

"Alright! I've been waiting for you to say that! Then I'll act as your top agent, and I'll make sure you take over the entire Nangang area in the next few days!"

After hanging up the phone, Bai Yuhang returned to the server room and sat back down in front of his computer.

These past few days he'd developed a professional habit: he'd spend his free time staring at the access logs in the backend. Among the chaotic pile of access records from all over the country, a set of IP addresses from Beijing caught his attention.

`202.106.xxx.xxx`

Looking at the backend logs, this IP address accessed the site with extremely high frequency, but it didn't seem to be causing any damage. It only crawled the link structure, refreshed the page multiple times, and tested the response speed. It felt like a very polite yet tireless visitor who thoroughly explored every corner of the website.

"Web crawler." Bai Yuhang tilted his head, squinted, and tapped his fingers lightly on the table.

These days, most search engine crawlers are as clumsy as a blind person, but this one seems a bit different. It's highly efficient, logically sound, and clearly has a knowledgeable expert behind it.

He had a sudden thought and clicked on the website administrator's email address, which had been gathering dust since he registered.

Sure enough, there was an unread email in my inbox, sent half an hour ago.

The sender's suffix is ​​very simple: `@baidu.com`.

In the spring of 2000, Baidu had only been established in Zhongguancun for less than half a year. Robin Li was still renting a room in the Peking University Resources Hotel to do development. Outsiders only knew about the three major portals: Sohu, Sina, and NetEase. Few people had heard of this name.

Until October 2001, they hadn't even launched the famous "Baidu Search," but were simply providing in-site search technology support for major portal websites such as Sina and Sohu behind the scenes.

This is a young dragon that hasn't even grown its teeth yet, but it will one day become a unicorn eyeing all the market's giants.

The email was short and concise, without any polite formalities, revealing the straightforwardness characteristic of engineers:

"Dear Qihang website administrator, we have been following your site for some time and are impressed by your traffic growth. Baidu focuses on Chinese search engine technology and hopes to discuss cooperation on a deep search box with your site. Please contact us directly at the following number."

Evening, dormitory 206.

The lights were dim, and the air was filled with the mixed smells of food and smelly socks.

"Baidu?"

Jiang Shuo held the email printed by Bai Yuhang in his hand. He glanced at it, a disdainful smile appearing on his lips. He casually tossed the paper back onto the table. "Never heard of it. The internet is dominated by Sohu, Yahoo, and Sina these days. This little unknown company is probably a Zhongguancun scammer trying to piggyback on our traffic."

He turned to flip through the worn-out vocabulary book for the CET-6 (College English Test Band 6), and said without turning his head, "Sixth Brother, don't be fooled. There are tons of these shell companies in Beijing; they might just be computer assemblers."

"You don't know anything."

The third brother, Zhang Jian, was engrossed in the latest issue of "Computer Weekly" when he heard this. He slammed the book on the table, rolled his eyes, and said, "Jiang Shuo, besides memorizing vocabulary, can't you even read the news? Baidu? That team came back from Silicon Valley. Li Yanhong and Xu Jun are top-tier tech experts, specializing in hyperlink analysis. This technology is leading globally right now, and you call that unknown?"

Jiang Shuo was taken aback by the remark, his face turning slightly red with embarrassment. He snorted, "So what if you came back from Silicon Valley? If you're so great, why don't you ring the bell on NASDAQ instead of coming here to collaborate with a navigation website in Harbin? Isn't it because you couldn't make it in the industry anymore?"

"Because they have a sharp eye!" Although Liu Jing, the fifth brother, didn't understand anything about hyperlink analysis, he had a keen business sense. He was rubbing his hands excitedly, his eyes shining. "Sixth brother, a company from Beijing came to us! No matter what, this means we've made it big! Aren't we going to be rich? Call them back right now!"

All eyes turned to Bai Yuhang.

Bai Yuhang leaned back in his chair, twirling a one-yuan lighter in his hand. The "click, click" of the switch was particularly clear in the dormitory.

He looked at the email and saw neither Zhang Jian's technological admiration nor Jiang Shuo's arrogance and prejudice.

"I won't reply."

"Huh?" Jiao Liwei was stunned, almost dropping the half-eaten sausage in his mouth. "Why? They've already left their phone number; this is an opportunity!"

"Going back now means we're seeking cooperation; we're the service provider. Waiting two more days before going back means we're discussing business; we're partners then."

Bai Yuhang lit the lighter with a "snap," the blue flame flickering in his pupils, reflecting a composure beyond his years. "Right now, the traffic is 8. In their eyes, it's just a decent personal website, easily satisfied with a small amount of money. But once it surpasses 20 or 50, it will become the largest traffic portal in Harbin and even Northeast China."

He folded the printed email and casually tucked it into a copy of "C Programming Language" as if it were an insignificant bookmark.

"Let it sit. Good things come to those who wait. Let them be anxious for a while. Right now, they need more attention and more opportunities to prove themselves than we do."

The dormitory was quiet for a few seconds, except for the sound of Jiang Shuo turning pages, which seemed to be venting some kind of dissatisfaction, or perhaps trying to cover up the embarrassment of his misjudgment.

Bai Yuhang had already turned around and continued typing code on the keyboard, making final preparations for the upcoming surge in traffic.