Reborn in 2000, starting from the university website

After seeing Su Muqing off, Bai Yuhang did not return to his dormitory, but went directly to the school's computer lab.

The school provided each dormitory in the Computer Science Department with a computer, and Lao San also had his own computer. However, there was no landline or ADSL broadband in the dormitory, so neither of the computers could access the internet.

Students can access the internet for free in the computer lab with their student ID cards. Although the speed is slow, it's sufficient.

He checked the domain name first.

I filled out a registration form on the website, noted down the payment information, and spent eighty yuan.

Then I looked for a web hosting service. The cheapest one was a US-based one, which cost $200 a year. Although the speed was slow, it was enough for my initial needs.

Another two hundred yuan was spent.

Fortunately, it's run by Chinese people and supports wire transfers in Chinese currency.

The initial budget of 300 yuan dwindled to only 20 yuan. Bai Yuhang looked at the 300 yuan in his pocket and smiled bitterly. In his previous life, when he started his first business, the initial capital was 500,000 yuan, and he still felt it wasn't enough. Now, he had to start a project with only 300 yuan. It was a world of difference.

Strangely, Bai Yuhang wasn't anxious; instead, he felt a long-lost excitement, like starting a new game from scratch and challenging the highest difficulty level.

He ran to the China Construction Bank next to the undergraduate building and wired all the money according to the remittance information he had written down.

At 3 p.m., he returned to the server room, checked the domain name and host, and found that they had been successfully registered. He then quickly resolved the domain name to the host space.

While waiting for the parsing to complete, he opened Notepad and began typing website code by hand.

Until 5 p.m., with only one hour left before the server room closed, Bai Yuhang saved the code, uploaded it to the server, and renamed the file to "index.html"—the homepage.

Next, enter the domain name you just registered—QH2000.com—in your browser's address bar.

Press Enter, and the page loads. It's simple, clean, and has everything you need.

Although it's just text, without any image enhancements, and quite rough, it's already taken shape.

Bai Yuhang stared at the screen for a long time. This was the first mark he left in this era. It was small and inconspicuous, but it was an extremely important beginning.

What followed was a simple repetitive process: using the CD that my third brother helped me buy, I downloaded the latest pirated version of Windows 98 from the internet, installed the drivers and software, and then used GHOST software to create a new image file. On the computer room with the CD burner, I burned four system disks in one go.

Of course, the homepage of the new system was all linked to the address of his newly created "Qihang Internet Navigation" website.

As I left the computer room, it started to snow lightly again.

Snowflakes fluttered under the streetlights, momentarily resembling a long shot in a movie.

Bai Yuhang wrapped his scarf tighter and walked towards his dormitory. He only had twenty yuan left in his pocket for his startup budget, but he felt very at ease.

I'm going to meet Su Muqing's cousin tomorrow. If all goes well, we'll have the first batch of users.

If things don't go smoothly... then we'll think of another way.

Having experienced too many failures in my past life, I'm used to it. In this life, I have plenty of time and patience.

The snow fell heavier and heavier, covering the footprints left during the day. Winters in Harbin are long, but spring will always come.

The internet winter is certainly coming.

Bai Yuhang pushed open the dormitory door, and a wave of warmth wafted out.

The third brother was still playing Counter-Strike, the eldest brother was reading a book, and the fifth brother was writing a letter—everything was as usual.

But some things have quietly changed.

Bai Yuhang didn't sleep well all night.

She mentally rehearsed every detail of meeting her cousin Su Muqing tomorrow, what she should say, what she shouldn't say, what questions he might ask, and how she should answer them.

His experience from his previous life at age 45 taught him that first impressions often determine success or failure, especially in these early, unregulated times when internet cafe owners believed in seeing is believing.

As soon as it was dawn, he got up and checked the system disk that he had worked on the night before on his dormitory computer.

"Sixth brother, up so early?" The eldest brother peeked out from the top bunk, still half asleep. "It's only six o'clock..."

"Something came up." Bai Yuhang put the CD into his cotton-padded jacket pocket, then rummaged through the drawer for the last twenty yuan he had left. After thinking for a moment, he put it in his inner pocket—just in case he needed to buy someone a drink.

At 7:30, Bai Yuhang ate a bowl of porridge, a steamed bun, a boiled egg, and a small dish of pickled vegetables in the cafeteria.

At 8:00 a.m. sharp, he appeared at the main gate of the university.

Su Muqing was already there. Today she was wearing a beige coat, and her jet-black hair was loose, gleaming faintly in the morning light. She was wearing leather gloves and holding a folder in her hand, looking down as she flipped through it.

"Have you been waiting long?" Bai Yuhang walked over.

"Just arrived." Su Muqing closed the folder, her expression somewhat serious. "There's something I need to tell you first. My cousin... he's not easy to deal with."

"How so?"

"His name is Zhao Jianjun, he's in his early thirties, he served in the army, and after being discharged, he went to live with my sister-in-law in Harbin. My sister-in-law runs a restaurant in Harbin, and he opened an internet cafe." Su Muqing spoke quickly, "He's very shrewd and decisive, otherwise he wouldn't have been able to open three stores in two years. But his attitude towards the internet is very contradictory. I heard him say on the phone before that someone tried to sell him internet cards or online top-up services, but he scolded them away, saying they were all scams."

Bai Yuhang nodded: "Understood. Be practical, don't play games."

"Yes." Su Muqing glanced at her watch. "We'll take the bus there. His main store is near the East Station in Daowai District, about forty minutes from here."

During the morning rush hour in Harbin in 2000, buses were packed like sardine cans.

Bai Yuhang helped Su Muqing squeeze to the middle of the carriage, gripping the cold handrails. Thick frost covered the windows, and the street scene outside was blurred into a flowing gray-white.

"Did you really finish the website last night?" Su Muqing asked softly amidst the bumpy ride.

"It's just a prototype," Bai Yuhang said. "It uses an American host, so the speed won't be too fast."

"It's already very fast." Su Muqing turned to look at him, her eyes filled with something complicated. "I'm increasingly feeling... that you're not quite the Bai Yuhang I know."

Bai Yuhang smiled and said, "People always change."

"But some changes take time." Su Muqing's voice was very soft, almost drowned out by the roar of the bus. "You look like this now... it doesn't seem like something that could be achieved in a few months."

Bai Yuhang was silent for a few seconds, looking out the window at the post office building that flashed by, where a huge GG sign hung: "Surfing the Internet, the choice of the new era."

"If I told you I had a very long dream, a dream that spanned the next twenty-five years, would you believe me?" Bai Yuhang said half-jokingly.

The two exchanged a smile, and the topic was dropped.

Well, some things don't need to be explained too clearly anyway.

Daowai District was even more dilapidated than Bai Yuhang had imagined. The streets were lined with low bungalows with peeling paint that revealed the red bricks underneath. The snow had been trampled into a dark gray color and piled up on the roadside like dirty cotton wool.

Zhao Jianjun's internet cafe is located in a two-story building facing the street. The sign is very eye-catching: "New Century Internet Cafe" in blue with white lettering, and below it is a line of smaller print: "Dedicated line access, hundreds of machines".

Lifting the cotton curtain and pushing the door open, a wave of heat, a mixture of smoke, instant noodles, and machine exhaust fumes, hits you.

The hall was packed with dozens of CRT monitors, and it was almost full of people early in the morning. Most of them were playing games like Red Alert, Age of Empires, or StarCraft, and the sound of keyboards and mice clicking filled the air.

Behind the counter sat a man in a military green jacket, with a buzz cut and a square face, looking down at a calculator. He looked up when he heard the door open.

"Brother." Su Muqing walked over.

"Oh, Qingqing's here." Zhao Jianjun stood up. He wasn't tall, but he was very sturdy and had sharp eyes.

He glanced at Bai Yuhang, then turned and asked, "Is this your classmate?"

"Yes, Bai Yuhang, from the Computer Science Department of the University of Technology," Su Muqing introduced. "Bai Yuhang, this is my cousin, Zhao Jianjun."

"Hello, Brother Zhao." Bai Yuhang extended his hand.

Zhao Jianjun shook hands firmly: "Qingqing told me you created some kind of navigation website? And you're even going to install an operating system on it for me?"

Bai Yuhang took out a CD from the paper bag. "I made this system disk myself. It comes with commonly used software. After installation, the browser homepage will be set to my navigation site. Take a look."

Zhao Jianjun took the disc, examined it against the light, and then tossed it back onto the counter: "Young man, do you know how many systems I install here every day?"

"About... three to five units?"

"At least ten." Zhao Jianjun lit a cigarette. "What kind of people come to internet cafes? They download things randomly, insert floppy disks and CDs randomly, and every day there are people getting viruses or experiencing system crashes. I hired a kid as the network administrator, who is specifically responsible for reinstalling systems. He only pays twenty yuan a day."

Bai Yuhang understood the underlying meaning: "But I can't avoid the trouble of reinstalling this game."

"It's definitely unavoidable." Zhao Jianjun exhaled a puff of smoke. "You'll still get infected eventually, but if your installation is quick and has all the software, I might consider using it. However..."

He stared at Bai Yuhang. "Why should I help you promote your website? What benefit would it bring me?"

Here we go, the core issue.

Bai Yuhang was prepared. "Two advantages. First, using my disk will ensure that all the browser homepages on your internet cafe are consistent, making it look professional, and the websites are indeed easy to use. Second..."

He paused for a moment before continuing, "I can help you develop an internet cafe management software."

Zhao Jianjun raised an eyebrow: "What software?"

"You're still keeping accounts by hand, right?" Bai Yuhang pointed to the notebook on the counter. "Member top-ups, computer usage and logout times, and revenue statistics are all done manually. I can write a management software for the internet cafe, with computer accounting, automatic computer on/off timing, and a one-click report at the end of the month."

Su Muqing looked at Bai Yuhang in surprise; he hadn't mentioned this yesterday.

Zhao Jianjun was silent for a few seconds, the cigarette slowly burning between his fingers: "You can write?"

"Give me two days," Bai Yuhang said, "but on one condition: I'll make internet cafe management software for you. All the machines in your three internet cafes will use my system disk, and the homepage will be locked to the Startup Navigation feature for at least three months."

"What about three months from now?"

Bai Yuhang replied, "If you felt the navigation site was useless at that time, you could replace it. If you found it useful, we could continue to cooperate, and I could even help you upgrade and maintain the management software."

Zhao Jianjun stubbed out his cigarette and laughed: "Kid, you're pretty good at negotiating. Okay, I'll give you a chance."

He pointed to an empty machine in the corner, "That one, use your disk to install a system on it right here and let me see. It needs to be installed within half an hour, and all commonly used software should work. Then I'll trust you."

"it is good."