Aunt Tao Was Very Happy

Tao Xue had no interest in making games. She squatted beneath the camphor tree, poking at ants for fun.

She picked up a small twig and started tormenting an ant.

Whenever the ant crawled a few centimeters, she used the twig to block its path, startling it into changing direction.

Little devil, so wicked!

Xie Yang, however, pricked up his ears and eavesdropped on Chen Guiliang's call.

At that moment, his grand ambition was not to pass the civil service exam and become an official, but to make games and become China's Richest Man.

Chen Guiliang continued, "I gave it some careful thought these past few days. Legend itself has a weapon-upgrading system, so we can start there without adding any new features. The accessories guaranteed to drop from dungeons can be used by players to upgrade weapons. That deals with the excess overpowered accessories wealthy players get from repeatedly farming dungeons, and it'll make them more motivated to keep running them."

Tao Chenggang praised, "Not bad, not bad!"

Unfortunately, drilling sockets into equipment and adding gems were features the official Legend servers had yet to introduce. That kind of gameplay required new functions and would be somewhat difficult technically.

Chen Guiliang continued, "To increase immersion, we can add a bit of dialogue for players when they talk to Old Soldier, who teleports them to the dungeons, and use it to flesh out the worldbuilding. Say that during the battle between good and evil, a mysterious force from the Void invaded. Those dungeons are all projections of the real world inside rifts in the Abyss. Any overpowered equipment that's hard to name can simply get 'Abyss' or 'Void' as a prefix."

Tao Chenggang burst out laughing. "Never seen anyone running a private server who still has to make up a story."

Chen Guiliang said, "I'm a bit of a perfectionist."

"Fine, we'll do it your way. It's just adding a line of dialogue anyway," Tao Chenggang said.

Chen Guiliang reminded him again, "Remember, the focus of our promotion is this: no equipment for sale, everything has to be earned through grinding. You and Yang Ge should write an article recounting your experiences playing Legend over the years. Write about your joy, your sadness, your friendships, that sort of thing. It would be best if you included the major events in Legend's history."

"You mean that promotional article?" Tao Chenggang asked.

Chen Guiliang said, "Right. The more emotional, the better. Email it to me when you're done. I'll polish it up before posting it on the forums."

The two continued talking for over ten minutes before finally ending the call.

Chen Guiliang also sent his email address by text message.

He had registered that email account earlier at his cousin's house. He had long forgotten the email address he used in high school in his previous life.

Chen Guiliang had barely slipped the Xiaolingtong into his pocket when Xie Yang impatiently asked, "What's going on? You're making a private server with someone?"

"You know about private servers too?" Chen Guiliang asked back.

Xie Yang said, "I'm a veteran Legend player. How could I not know about private servers? Every internet cafe has Legend Private Server servers, but they're especially boring to play. Take Hua Yu Internet Cafe, for example. The highest-level map there is only the Zuma Temple."

This so-called Hua Yu Internet Cafe was naturally a knockoff, not a genuine chain brand.

Xie Yang often went to Hua Yu Internet Cafe. The computers there were the worst, so it was cheap too—members only paid 1.5 yuan an hour.

The Legend Private Server at Hua Yu Internet Cafe was built by the network administrator using a junk framework downloaded for free, with the server set up directly in the cafe. Yet people still played that stuff. Some even paid to buy equipment, letting the network administrator earn a little spending money.

"How did you end up making a private server with someone?" Xie Yang pressed.

Chen Guiliang explained simply, "I know an internet cafe owner. I gave him a few game ideas."

Xie Yang pressed on, "Will it make money?"

"It might," Chen Guiliang said, not making any promises.

Xie Yang said excitedly, "Bring me in too. I don't want money. I just want to take part."

He felt that as long as he got involved, it would count as doing something big. Whether it made money did not really matter.

Chen Guiliang smiled. "I'll call you once it goes live. I'll give you a few overpowered items, and you can act as a shill in-game, guiding rich players into spending money. Or you can help promote it by replying to posts on the forums."

Hearing that, Xie Yang grew even more excited. "Don't worry, I know what to do!"

Chen Guiliang reminded him, "Don't go spreading this around. Running a private server is illegal, after all. Don't tell people in class or in the dorm either."

"I know. I won't tell anyone," Xie Yang promised, thumping his chest.

Chen Guiliang was still quite assured about him. Xie Yang might usually be unreliable, but he never messed around when it mattered.

Tao Xue finally stopped teasing the ants. Tossing aside the twig, she asked, "Are you two done talking?"

Chen Guiliang smiled. "Thank you, Aunt Tao, for making a special trip to bring me the Xiaolingtong."

"I didn't just bring it to you. I personally went out and bought it at noon, and I even helped you sign up for a plan and top it up," Tao Xue emphasized her great achievement again.

Chen Guiliang said with a chuckle, "You're an aunt. Of course elders have to work a little harder."

Tao Xue looked immensely pleased and continued taking advantage of him. "Then you're not Senior Zhang Wei anymore. You're my little nephew... no, that's not right. You're my big nephew."

She was especially happy now. Chen Guiliang had always tricked her before, but she had finally won one back.

What a huge profit!

Chen Guiliang called her Aunt Tao a few more times, sweet-talking Tao Xue until she was completely disoriented.

"Aunt Tao, wait here for a moment." Chen Guiliang quickly ran back to the dormitory.

When he appeared again, he had an extra book in his hand.

"For me?" Tao Xue asked in surprise.

"A gift for a gift," Chen Guiliang said. "Hai Zi's Poems, an authentic copy from Xinhua Bookstore. It has my thoughts on the poems inside."

This Literary Girl was far too lively and cheerful.

She could read more of Hai Zi's poems and get just a little depressed.

"Thank you, Big Nephew." Tao Xue's eyes curved into crescents as she smiled.

Chen Guiliang continued dangling a carrot. "If I pass the New Concept preliminary round, I'll get to meet a lot of writers. When the time comes, I can get you a few autographs."

Tao Xue became even happier. "Get me Yu Hua's autograph. I'll bring my copy of To Live then and have him sign the title page. It would be best if he could write a message too."

"No problem." Chen Guiliang agreed without hesitation.

Tao Xue's mood grew even brighter. She kept chatting nonsense with Chen Guiliang and occasionally said a few words to Xie Yang as well.

It was not until evening study was about to begin that she happily waved goodbye, skipping toward the classroom with Hai Zi's Poems in hand.

Even after Tao Xue left, Xie Yang was still excited.

"Ha! Hah!"

Xie Yang paced back and forth beneath the camphor tree. Finally, he simply started throwing punches and kicks at the trunk. Only that could release the excitement he could no longer suppress.

"Let's go. Time for evening study," Chen Guiliang reminded him.

Xie Yang caught up in a few strides and said admiringly, "Chen the Hero, you're fucking incredible! Seriously, I've wanted to make games for a long time. I planned to start in college, but I never expected I could get involved while still in high school."

He had always been lost, not knowing what he should do. Now, he finally had something to do.

At the same time, the doubts in his heart grew even greater.

Why had Chen Guiliang, who had never played online games, suddenly teamed up with someone to make a private server? And how could he give people ideas for it?

Chen the Hero was becoming more and more mysterious.

He had always been mysterious. Xie Yang had never been able to see through him.

When they reached the outside of the teaching building, Xie Yang said excitedly, "Chen the Hero, when we go to college, we can choose the same city. During college, I'll follow you into business, and together we'll shake up the world and do great things!"

Chen Guiliang laughed. "Damn, those are some heroic-sounding words."

Evening study.

Homeroom teacher Liu Shuying entered the classroom.

"We held a parent-teacher meeting last weekend. After exchanging opinions with the parents, the teachers and parents both agreed that the seating arrangement should be adjusted again."

"In other classes, seats are arranged according to grades. But Class 11 is an experimental class, and everyone here is a good student. I don't think there's any need to embarrass anyone, so most of the time seats have been assigned randomly, with minor adjustments based on height."

"Now that you're in your final year of high school, since some students have neither shame nor ambition, we'll rearrange the seats according to the midterm results."

"Starting now and continuing until the College Entrance Exam, seats will be changed after every midterm, final, and mock exam!"

"Wu Meng, sit in the middle of the first row."

Wu Meng would be next year's top liberal arts student in the entire city. This time, she had ranked first in the whole school on the midterms.

Most of the students in class looked at Wu Meng with envy.

The poor students were the exception. They did not want to sit in the front row.

Liu Shuying added, "Bian Guanyue, although you did not take the midterm exams, you have been working hard during this period. Bian Guanyue, sit with Wu Meng."

The moment she said that, the entire class looked toward the back row.

Something was fishy!

Bian Guanyue immediately refused. "Teacher Liu, I don't think that's fair. I didn't take the midterms."

"This is my arrangement," Liu Shuying said. "If your final exam results are poor, I'll move you back again."

Bian Guanyue held back a surge of anger. She guessed that her father had said something.

Her father was always interfering with her studies and her life!

Liu Shuying said nothing and waited for Bian Guanyue to change seats. The other students waited too.

Bian Guanyue could only compromise. She could not let the conflict between father and daughter disrupt the entire class.

As Bian Guanyue carried her schoolbag and held her books and test papers as she walked toward the first row, Li Jun secretly gave Chen Guiliang the middle finger with a gloating expression.

Chen Guiliang pretended not to see it.

Once Bian Guanyue had taken a seat at the desk in front of the podium, Liu Shuying finally breathed a sigh of relief. She had to complete the task assigned by the dean of students.

"Li Rui, sit at the desk to Wu Meng's left." Holding the midterm score sheet, Liu Shuying continued reading out names.

Chen Guiliang, who had only done the multiple-choice questions in math and failed both English and the combined liberal arts exam, was actually moved to the second-to-last row this time.

That was because two students had quietly scored even worse than him.

"Chen the Hero, hello." His new deskmate, Qin Shanshan, came over grinning with her books and test papers in her arms.

"Hello."

Chen Guiliang did not have much of an impression of Qin Shanshan. He only knew that both her parents worked for the tobacco company, and that in his previous life, she had chosen to repeat her final year after failing to get into a second-tier university.

She liked makeup too and barely counted as a beauty.

The homeroom teacher's sudden seating adjustment somewhat affected Chen Guiliang's plan of attack.

But it did not matter.

Evening study at No. 2 Middle School lasted a full two hours and fifteen minutes. Each class period was an hour long, with a fifteen-minute break in between.

Homeroom teacher Liu Shuying left after supervising for an hour.

Chen Guiliang ran to the bathroom during the break, though he actually intended to skip an evening study session. Tao Chenggang had texted him to say that the promotional draft had been emailed to him.

"You're skipping class?" Xie Yang appeared sneakily.

Chen Guiliang jumped. "How come you don't make any noise when you walk?"

Xie Yang said, "You're just feeling guilty because you're doing something shady."

The two took a detour toward the school's back gate, afraid of running into the homeroom teacher.

When they reached Internet Cafe Street, business was especially booming. They walked past two internet cafes in a row without finding an empty seat. Most of the customers were students who had skipped evening study to get online!

Of course, they were not all students from No. 2 Middle School.

There was also No. 7 Middle School next door, along with No. 7 Middle School's junior high division.

Between the three schools, there were over ten thousand students. Internet Cafe Street never had to worry about a lack of customers.

When it came to skipping class to surf the internet, No. 7 Middle School was even more serious. Hardly anyone stayed in the classroom during evening study.

Put it this way: with Xie Yang's current terrible grades, if he transferred to No. 7 Middle School, he could easily rank first in the entire school.

They finally found an internet cafe with empty seats. As soon as Chen Guiliang logged in, he received the email. The promotional article Tao Chenggang had sent was titled: "What Games Can We Legend Veterans Still Play Now?"

Chen Guiliang read it carefully and judged it to be "detailed in content, lacking in emotional punch."

He had to polish it himself.

Very soon, Chen Guiliang changed the title to: "The Voice of a Legend Refugee: The Internet Is So Vast, but Where Is My Home?"

Xie Yang did not play games after turning on his computer. Instead, he sat beside Chen Guiliang and watched him revise the article, occasionally suggesting changes based on his own gaming experiences.

It took half an hour to finish revising everything. Chen Guiliang chatted with Tao Chenggang on QQ and said, "Publish this article first on 17173, where the traffic is biggest. Once you get the studio's Internet Trolls to hype up the post, repost it on private server forums like 17577 as though ordinary users are voluntarily sharing it."

Traffic and Internet Trolls were both terms defined by Chen Guiliang. Tao Chenggang, Yang Yuhui, and Feng Tao had already grown used to them.

After receiving the email, Tao Chenggang carefully read through the article once and immediately replied on QQ, "You're fucking amazing! The content is still the same, and none of the people or events changed, but just changing the wording and sentence structure made it insanely emotional."

Xie Yang, sitting beside him, said, "Once this article gets posted, it'll definitely blow up on the gaming forums."