Reborn in 2000, starting from the university website

On Saturday morning, the cold wind in Harbin was still biting.

At the entrance of the New Century Internet Cafe, six people stood with their down jacket collars turned up, each carrying several stacks of newly prepared contracts in their arms, looking like a suicide squad about to head to the battlefield.

"You've memorized everything?" Bai Yuhang held the last document in his hand, his gaze sweeping over the group. "We're not going to ask for favors; we're going to deliver contracts and also to acquire land. Smile sincerely, but be ruthless when you strike."

Yang Bo adjusted his glasses and patted his briefcase: "Don't worry, I went through the contract again last night. The previous internet cafes all charged 1,000 yuan for installation, but for the nine new ones and those joining in the future, the installation fee will be adjusted to 2,000 yuan. I think the terms are quite reasonable and well-hidden. Once they sign, they can forget about switching to another navigation provider for life."

"Set off."

At Bai Yuhang's command, the six men turned and got into different taxis, heading to various corners of Harbin.

Daoli District, "E-Net Love" Internet Cafe.

Liu Jing spread the contract on the bar counter. The two bold lines read: "The Qihang Internet Cafe Management System will be provided to the internet cafe free of charge. Qihang Technology will be responsible for software training and subsequent maintenance and updates. The internet cafe will need to arrange for a network administrator to be on duty for daily management, and will pay a one-time installation and training fee of 2,000 yuan. The internet cafe must also ensure that the homepage of all machines in the internet cafe is set to the Qihang Navigation website. The Qihang Navigation website, as the internet cafe's page entry point, cannot be modified. Otherwise, all services provided by Qihang Technology will be immediately terminated, and the internet cafe will be compensated by Qihang Technology with 50,000 to 100,000 yuan depending on the size of the internet cafe and the circumstances."

"If Qihang Technology publishes Google Play on its page and generates Google Play revenue through internet cafes, it will take 10% of that revenue and distribute it as profit sharing based on the size of each internet cafe." The text was typed twice heavily.

"Boss, you're a smart guy. In the past, those who installed systems would charge you for a long time, but it's different now. We'll give you this great software, and we'll even burn the system disk for you to use. We'll be partners in the future." Liu Jing's words flew. "As long as you keep Qihang on your homepage, if we take over GG later, you'll be counting money while you're at it. This is real money dividends."

The internet cafe owner glanced at the "10%" figure and thought it would be better if it were there, but not essential. As for the clause about "unauthorized changes to the homepage incurring a penalty of 50,000 to 100,000 yuan," he ignored it after a quick glance. In his opinion, he'd be crazy to switch back to those Geek Alliance pop-up ads; as long as Qihang worked well and customers liked it, locking the homepage was no big deal.

"Sign! Sign now!" The boss grabbed a pen, afraid that this good deal would slip away.

The same scene unfolded in various corners of the bungalows and incense shops. The contract drafted by Yang Bo was a textbook example of "carrot and stick." Paid installation, free maintenance, software training, plus future GG profit sharing—that was the carrot; while the 50,000 yuan penalty for breach of contract, which could bankrupt a small internet cafe, was the spiked club hidden behind it.

These bosses were also scared by the Geek Alliance's rogue pop-ups, and coupled with the technical prowess that Qihang had demonstrated in the past two days, they all readily pressed their red handprints.

Before noon, apart from Zhang Jian who stayed behind, the other people's pages came in one after another, all reporting good news.

Bai Yuhang didn't rush to celebrate. Holding the most special contract in his hand, he went alone to the Blue Speed ​​Club in Nangang District.

This place is a completely different world from the smoky internet cafes I'm used to frequenting. The waiting area has genuine leather sofas, the aroma of freshly ground coffee, and even the hum of an air purifier.

Shi Hongchao sat behind the large boss's desk in the office, with the Qihang Music website page prominently displayed on the computer screen in front of him.

"You're here?" Shi Hongchao didn't look up, and clicked the preview button for "Thank You for Your Love 1999" with his mouse.

Almost the instant his fingers touched the speaker, Nicholas Tse's voice flowed out without a single interruption.

"Sit down." Shi Hongchao pointed to the chair opposite him, finally raising his head with a hint of inquiry in his eyes. "Xiaobai, this thing of yours is quite interesting."

Bai Yuhang placed the contract on the corner of the table, not in a hurry to get down to business, and poured himself a glass of water: "Does President Shi think this speed is acceptable?"

"It's more than just 'okay'." Shi Hongchao leaned forward, tapping his fingers lightly on the table. "I studied business abroad, so I know the ins and outs. I know what bandwidth is like these days. This song is over 4 megabytes; even my dedicated line couldn't achieve that kind of instant loading speed. Is your server in the Harbin Telecom Bureau's server room?"

"In Beijing, it's a typical server room with rented server space." Bai Yuhang took a sip of water to moisten his throat.

"Impossible," Shi Hongchao denied categorically, staring into Bai Yuhang's eyes. "Unless you can reduce the file size while maintaining quality... how did you do that?"

Bai Yuhang smiled, said nothing, got up and walked to Shi Hongchao's computer. He brought up the code debugging window of the system's Internet Explorer browser.

"Mr. Shi, look, this is segmented transmission." Bai Yuhang casually circled a piece of code with his mouse. "Compression of MP3 format is a challenge now. I've figured out a way to cut the file into countless small chunks for caching, and then compress and transmit them through a concurrent channel. It's like cutting an elephant into small pieces and transporting them there, then piecing them back together at the user's local machine."

Shi Hongchao, a returned overseas elite, is a true expert; his skill is immediately apparent. Looking at the ingenious code structure on the screen, his eyes shone brighter and brighter. This wasn't just a music website issue; if this technology were applied to internet file transfer, the bandwidth savings would be astronomical.

"Did you write the code for this website?" Shi Hongchao asked.

"My brothers and I stayed up several nights in a row." Bai Yuhang neither took credit nor revealed anything.

Shi Hongchao fell silent. He took a Zhonghua cigarette from the pack, tossed one to Bai Yuhang, lit it himself, and took a deep drag. Amidst the swirling smoke, he seemed to be making a decision.

"Xiao Bai, this contract..." Shi Hongchao picked up the contract stamped with Qihang Technology's bright red official seal from the corner of the table, didn't even glance at it, and threw it directly into the drawer. "I want to sign a different one."

Bai Yuhang paused, his hand holding the cigarette still, and frowned slightly: "Is President Shi having second thoughts?"

"No, it's that I feel the scope is too small." Shi Hongchao flicked the ash into the crystal ashtray, leaned back, and exuded the aura of a successful businessman.

Two hundred thousand.

Shi Hongchao held up two fingers, his tone as calm as if he were buying groceries: "I want to acquire Qihang Technology. Including your team and this data compression and distribution technology. Two hundred thousand RMB, paid in full upfront. You'll remain the person in charge, but the company will belong to Lansu."

The room was so quiet that the only sound was the computer fan.

What was the concept of 200,000 in Harbin in 2000?

You could buy two large apartments, each over 100 square meters, in the city center, or a Santana with a full tank of gas that would last for ten years.

For a few freshmen who are still eating in the cafeteria, this is a huge sum of money that could make them faint.

Bai Yuhang toyed with the lighter in his hand, the metal casing twirling between his fingers. He looked at Shi Hongchao's confident expression and suddenly smiled.