Reborn in 2000, starting from the university website

At six o'clock on Tuesday morning, it was still dark in Harbin. The wind that seeped in through the cracks in the window carried a crisp smell of coal smoke, a unique smell of the morning during the heating season in the north.

The snoring in dormitory 206 rose and fell like a symphony. Zhang Jian, the third oldest, was a restless sleeper; one leg dangled off the edge of the bed, and he was smacking his lips, probably still dreaming about his unfinished lamb skewers. Bai Yuhang leaned against the headboard, listening to the noise, but couldn't fall asleep at all. His mind was full of things, mainly because of that unanswered email from Baidu. The current situation was like a pot of water that had just boiled; you had to put the noodles in while it was still hot. If you overcooked them, the water would evaporate, and the noodles would clump together.

He tiptoed out of bed, moving like a cat, careful not to disturb his sleeping brothers.

Pulling open the bottom drawer of the desk, a soft "click" sounded as the lock opened.

He pulled out the remaining wad of cash from the locked drawer. He put on his coat and walked out of the dormitory. In the dim light of the hallway, his fingers quickly counted: two thousand three hundred, a little more than he had expected.

This amount of money looks like a lot, but if you were to scatter it into the vast ocean of the internet, it wouldn't even make a sound. But these days, even a penny can be a stumbling block, and having money in your pocket gives you peace of mind. He pulled out three red bills, clutched them in his palm, and without counting the remaining two thousand yuan, simply stuffed them into the inner pocket of his coat, zipped it up, and patted it through the fabric.

He went back to his room, closed the door, and bent down to pat Jiao Liwei, the eldest brother who was still snoring on the lower bunk.

The eldest brother, Jiao Liwei, was fast asleep, his head completely covered by the blanket, with only a few strands of hair stubbornly sticking out.

"Boss, wake up, have a smoke with me."

Jiao Liwei groggily opened his eyes a crack, put on his glasses, and saw Bai Yuhang already wearing a coat and walking out. He muttered, "What time is it?" but his body language betrayed him. He grabbed the coat draped over the back of the chair and followed him out.

The window at the end of the corridor was half-open, and the cold morning wind of Harbin rushed in like a knife, instantly waking the two of them from sleep.

Bai Yuhang stuffed three hundred yuan into Jiao Liwei's hand.

"Boss, take this. We worked all day on Sunday, so this is fifty yuan per person as a reward for your hard work."

Jiao Liwei felt as if he had been burned and tried to push the money back: "What nonsense are you talking about? Didn't I pay the bill for the celebration banquet the day before yesterday? The meal cost ninety yuan, and there's still two hundred and thirty left. It's all on my tab. You're just starting out, and you still need to renew your server fees. You're not exactly rolling in money, so why are you splitting it up?"

"One thing at a time." Bai Yuhang blocked his hand, forcefully stuffing the money into his pocket, his tone leaving no room for argument. "The remaining two hundred and thirty is for operating expenses, to keep for meals or emergencies. This three hundred is the Sunday service fee, which is rightfully ours. I don't have much on hand right now, so I'll share more with everyone. You all traveled that far to install machines for people and teach them how to use them; it's not easy for anyone. Even close brothers should keep clear accounts; this rule needs to be established. Otherwise, when business gets bigger, it's easy for misunderstandings to arise."

Jiao Liwei clutched the money in his pocket, remained silent for a moment, lit a cigarette, took a deep drag, and exhaled a bluish-white smoke ring: "Fine, I'll listen to you. But Lao Ba..."

"He's not included." Bai Yuhang leaned against the windowsill, looking at the empty playground below, not even glancing back. "Those who work get paid, those who don't get paid. It's fair. When you give everyone the money later, take some with you so it doesn't get awkward."

"He leaves before seven every day, and he should be getting up soon." Jiao Liwei gave a wry smile and flicked his cigarette ash. "He said he was going to the library to reserve seats, but he was really just avoiding us. The day before yesterday, when we came back, we were singing and dancing, and I saw his face turn green."

"He chose this path himself." Bai Yuhang stubbed out his cigarette on the concrete edge of the windowsill. "Boss, I'm going to eat. You should go back and take a nap too."

The cafeteria was deserted, with only a few senior students preparing for postgraduate entrance exams eating steamed buns. Bai Yuhang ordered a bowl of tofu pudding and two fried dough sticks, which he ate quickly.

When they arrived at the classroom, it was completely empty. The desks and chairs were arranged neatly, and there was a faint smell of chalk dust in the air.

He found a seat by the window and took out the black softcover notebook from his bag.

More than three months after his rebirth, he has finally found the right path, but problems have arisen as he expands his business.

It's time to reflect and take a step back.

The current page of "Qihang Navigation" flashed through his mind.

too ugly.

From the perspective of a product manager in 2026, this page is practically a bare-bones house that hasn't even been plastered yet. The color scheme is outdated, the interaction is clunky, and it's only barely passable because today's internet users are relatively unsophisticated and the page loads quickly.

He wrote down a few words that came to mind when he couldn't sleep at night: "search engine", "social media", "online games", "electronic map", "life review", and "e-commerce portal".

The pen nib paused on the paper for a moment, then scribbled away each line with a sharp stroke.

Search engines? That's not something one person or a small team can do; it requires deep government involvement. No way.

Social media platforms are worth considering, but it's best to wait until you have a large user base before starting. You can't be as single-minded as Xiao Ma; I don't want to pretend to be a woman and chat on OICQ.

Games are my forte, but like social media, games are difficult to launch from scratch. Besides, the overall technical level of the team is also an issue; it would take forever for me to develop it all by myself. I need to find a project that my current dorm team can pick up and work on immediately.

Making maps in 2000? There was no civilian GPS yet, surveying data was classified, and map licensing was not available. What a joke!

Dianping? These days, restaurants don't even have landlines installed, so who would bother with reviews? Without map navigation, even if you did review a restaurant, it's hard to find; it's just wishful thinking.

E-commerce? Even USB-based online banking isn't widespread yet. Are we expecting users to go to the post office to fill out money order forms to buy things? Logistics are unreliable, and then there are returns and exchanges. Taking such a big step is bound to cause problems. The well-known e-commerce platforms I remember all started after 2004. We'll have to wait and see; this is a good opportunity for me to build my own experience.

The current internet infrastructure is still a wasteland; building skyscrapers directly is a pipe dream and impractical. We need to find something that doesn't require logistics or physical interaction, something purely online.

Bai Yuhang twirled his pen, his gaze falling on the words "essential needs" in the upper right corner of the notebook.

What do netizens lack most these days?

He wrote several words heavily on the paper:

Perpetual Calendar – These days, the bottom right corner of a computer only displays the time. To see the lunar calendar, you have to go through the imperial calendar on the wall. If you could see at a glance on a webpage whether today is auspicious for marriage or inauspicious for moving earth, that would be absolutely useful.

Weather forecast—nowadays, to check the weather, you have to wait for the 7:30 PM news broadcast, or go to the meteorological bureau's terribly slow official website on the Qihang Navigation website. If you just scraped the data directly and put it prominently in the navigation bar, wouldn't that increase user engagement?

Stock codes—the first batch of stock market investors are taking shape, and the VIP trading rooms are packed. If they can quickly access historical trading information, these people will treat the website as their homepage.

Finally, he wrote down three letters and numbers, and then underlined them heavily with two horizontal lines: MP3.

Modern server hard drives are a whopping 500 GB, which is a complete waste of space when used for static web pages. 2000 was the eve of a fierce battle in the Chinese music scene, with Jay Chou about to burst onto the scene, and netizens were practically starving for music.

Download speeds are incredibly slow these days; searching for a song takes me through eighteen websites, all of which are dead links. If a dedicated music chart website were created, offering stable streaming and downloads, the traffic would definitely double.

As for copyright?

Back then, the internet was still in its infancy, and the legal departments of major record companies didn't have the time to deal with such small, insignificant websites.

First secure the market, then discuss the rules.

If things go wrong, we can just make money and buy all the copyrights.

Bai Yuhang's thoughts became clearer and clearer as he thought about it, and his pen flew across the paper, sketching out the architecture diagram. Suddenly, his pen stopped, and his gaze fell on an OICQ number written in the corner of his notebook—it was Su Muqing's number.

Chat website.

His heart pounded against his chest several times.

In 2000, Ma Huateng was still worried about server costs. OICQ had not yet been renamed QQ and was still exploring ways to imitate ICQ, with limited functions and a rudimentary interface.

He was thinking, what if he leveraged the massive traffic of the navigation site to create a lightweight forum, or...

Why not just create an instant messaging software that better suits the habits of Chinese users?

Bai Yuhang's fingers tapped the table unconsciously.

This market is still too big, and the required technology and capital are still quite high, even though Tencent is currently very vulnerable.

However, why not first plant a seed in the navigation site and create a website application?

For example... a "local chat room"? Or even further, an "alumni directory"?

To provide a place for those who are new to the internet and yearn to find real-world connections in the virtual world.

Bai Yuhang placed the pen on the table, his palms slightly sweaty. He rubbed his palms together.

He turned to look out the window at the rising sun, its light shining brightly on the snow.

These few things are manageable.