I Really Am a Handsome Guy

The weekend brought even colder temperatures.

It was just around the time of the Minor Snow solar term.

"Ding-a-ling-a-ling..."

A sudden alarm clock rang in the early morning.

Xie Yang covered his head with his blanket and grumbled, "Which idiot set the alarm?"

"Your grandpa!"

Chen Guiliang flipped over and got up. He was going shopping today, and Bian Guanyue was helping him pick out clothes.

Yang Hao also got up. He was the most diligent in Room 302, but his test scores were similar to Xie Yang's.

"What time is it?" Liu Zhihong asked groggily.

Chen Guiliang said, "Seven-thirty."

As soon as he said this, everyone started cursing, and even Yang Hao lay back down.

It was a holiday today, so they definitely wanted to sleep in.

Liu Zhihong complained, "Brother Chen, don't throw a tantrum. Why set a damn alarm on the weekend?"

"Magic cloak? I'm not Harry Potter." Chen Guiliang put on his pants and jumped off the bed.

Xu Haibo asked, "Where are you going so early?"

Chen Guiliang said proudly, "I have a date to go shopping with a girl."

"Damn!"

Several people in the dorm sat up at once.

Xu Haibo asked, "Are you going out with Bian Guanyue or Tao Xue?"

"It's a secret."

Chen Guiliang walked to the full-length mirror and looked at himself, finding himself more handsome the more he looked.

He had weighed himself at the pharmacy yesterday and had gained weight, reaching 120.4 pounds. His cheeks no longer looked sunken.

Li Yulin offered help proactively, "You can borrow the jacket on my bedside today. I've only worn it once since I bought it."

Chen Guiliang said, "No need. Thanks."

"Why be polite with me?" Li Yulin advised patiently, "I have experience dating girls. While you don't need to dress high-end, you can't be too shabby either. Don't embarrass the girl by walking on the street. Your jackets are damn old and worn out, they don't match Bian Guanyue."

Xu Haibo reminded, "Brother Chen, you should also get a haircut."

The other guys in Room 302 also spoke up one after another, offering advice for Chen Guiliang's first date.

Chen Guiliang felt quite warm inside. This kind of dorm friendship was pure and unadulterated.

Xie Yang thought to himself, What the hell do you guys know? Brother Chen is running a private server and is about to become rich!

Chen Guiliang strolled out of the school gate. While waiting for a ride, Tao Chenggang called.

"Are you up yet?" Tao Chenggang asked.

Chen Guiliang said, "Just woke up."

Tao Chenggang said, "I went to Rong City yesterday and asked a friend to hire a well-known lawyer. I had dinner with him last night, and while we ate and talked, I got a clear understanding of the situation."

"Will running a private server land me in jail?" Chen Guiliang thought it wouldn't, but he was genuinely unsure.

Tao Chenggang said cheerfully:

"Haha, no."

"That lawyer said that the current regulations concerning the internet and electronic products include internet management methods, which only involve confiscating illegal gains and imposing fines. There's also the Copyright Law revised two years ago, but copyright is different from intellectual property rights. The copyright of 'Legend' is held by the Korean developer, and Shanda only has the agency and operation rights for 'Legend' in mainland China."

"For agents and operators of internet electronic products, there are currently no regulations that strictly define their responsibilities and rights. The law in this area is very vague, and it's unclear whether Shanda can even file a lawsuit. The only thing that's certain is that the Korean developer can sue us for infringement."

"But Shanda and the Korean side have long since fallen out, and the reconciliation is only superficial. The Korean side doesn't even provide Shanda with subsequent versions. We're running a Legend private server, and the Korean side probably enjoys seeing Shanda frustrated."

"If they could arrest people and put them in jail, Shanda would have gone through legal procedures long ago. Would they need to resort to hackers out of anger?"

Legislation for a new thing is a gradual process:

In 2001, the copyright of internet electronic products was established. In 2005, the responsibilities of operators and agents were regulated. In 2006, the rights of operators and agents were determined.

Up to now, Shanda's responsibility as the agent and operator of Legend has not even been regulated!

Let alone protecting their rights.

At most, they can persuade relevant departments to conduct special rectification activities to slightly clean up the market environment.

As for Shanda using hackers to attack private servers, that started in late 2002.

At that time, there weren't many private servers. Any private server with a public IP was attacked by Shanda's hackers.

Later, as the server-side localization improved, more and more new tools were developed. Especially the development of the M2 modification tool, which made it possible for anyone to run a private server, leading to a surge in the number of private servers.

New private servers popped up every day, and the hackers were simply too busy, so Shanda had to give up.

Chen Guiliang was a little worried, "We're getting too big now, and I estimate Shanda has already noticed us. What if we get attacked by Shanda's hackers before we even recover our costs?"

Tao Chenggang instantly stopped smiling. "If we really get hacked, we can only accept our bad luck."

"Big companies don't react that fast. It shouldn't be hard to recoup the costs," Chen Guiliang comforted Tao Chenggang, while also comforting himself.

The two fell silent on the phone.

Neither of them had expected beforehand that a promotional soft article could go viral.

Sometimes, too much is as bad as not enough.

One could also say it was counterproductive, being too clever for one's own good.

Until the bus arrived, Chen Guiliang hung up the phone and took the bus to the agreed-upon location.

He would deal with future matters when they arose, taking things as they came.

Chen Guiliang wouldn't spend all day immersed in worry and fear.

The county town wasn't large, with the old district crowded together. A new district had been developed two years ago, but the new town only had that one main road.

Prices in the new residential areas were around 800 yuan, with the most expensive not exceeding 1000 yuan.

After a few stops, Chen Guiliang got off in the new district and looked around for Bian Guanyue.

Bian Guanyue sat on a bench by the roadside, listening to Stefanie Sun and Jay Chou on her MP3 player.

When she was in Rong City, she occasionally went shopping with friends.

But they were all girls.

This was the first time with a guy.

"Chen Guiliang, over here!"

Seeing a familiar figure get off the bus, Bian Guanyue quickly stood up and waved sweetly at him.

Chen Guiliang strolled over and asked, "Did you eat breakfast?"

"Yes," Bian Guanyue said.

Chen Guiliang nodded. "Perfect, let's eat breakfast together."

Bian Guanyue: "..."

Of course, he was joking. Chen Guiliang went to a roadside breakfast shop and casually bought some soy milk and steamed buns.

Bian Guanyue said, "I'm not familiar with the new district, and I don't know where they sell clothes."

"Then let's walk and look," Chen Guiliang said.

The two walked side by side, creating a stark contrast.

The woman was beautiful as a flower, her clothes expensive.

The man was completely unkempt, his hair probably hadn't been cut in two months, and his clothes, pants, and shoes were all very shabby. Moreover, he was eating while walking, wolfing down his food without any regard for his image.

"What price range of clothes are you planning to buy?" Bian Guanyue tentatively asked.

Chen Guiliang said, "As long as they fit, I don't care."

Bian Guanyue said, "If they're too expensive, you don't have to rush to repay the money I lent you."

"Alright, then I'll get a whole set of designer clothes," Chen Guiliang joked.

Seeing that he wasn't self-conscious about being poor, Bian Guanyue also stopped being cautious and even laughed, complaining, "You're certainly not shy."

Chen Guiliang seized the opportunity. "Who are we to each other? I'm Qin Shi Huang, and you're the future Qin Dynasty Empress. No matter how much money I spend on you, it's just startup capital."

"Stop taking advantage of me, I'm not going to be an empress," Bian Guanyue wasn't stupid.

The two chatted aimlessly, and soon they had walked through most of the commercial street in the new district.

There were no clothing brand stores suitable for young people...

Even brands like Eifini and Metersbonwe would have to wait another three or four years before opening specialty stores here.

When Metersbonwe opened a store in the county town, it even caused young people to rush in and buy.

This broken county town was too backward!

"This one," Chen Guiliang pointed to a Double Star specialty store.

It was ridiculous; this specialty store was fake, just hanging a Double Star sign.

Only about a quarter of the store sold Double Star clothes and shoes. The other areas of the store were filled with various miscellaneous brands of men's and women's clothing; Chen Guiliang even saw Nike.

"Are the two of you looking for clothes or shoes?"

The female shop assistant was particularly enthusiastic and curiously sized them up, imagining a story of a poor boy dating a rich girl.

Chen Guiliang was incredibly thick-skinned and said to Bian Guanyue, "It's up to you to show off your skills. I'm not very good at picking clothes."

Bian Guanyue carefully looked at Chen Guiliang, thinking about how to best match his clothes.

"You seem to have gained some weight," Bian Guanyue said.

Chen Guiliang said, "Not enough, I've only gained up to 120 pounds. With my height, a weight of 130 to 140 pounds is normal."

Chen Guiliang, having returned to a standard weight, was indeed a handsome young man.

Bian Guanyue quickly brought over three jackets: one with a stand collar, one hoodie, and one bomber jacket. She held them up in front of Chen Guiliang, comparing them.

The female store clerk added her support and sales pitch from the side: "Your boyfriend has a great figure, he'll look handsome in anything. This stand-collar jacket would look best with a pair of casual pants..."

"He's not my boyfriend," Bian Guanyue corrected.

Chen Guiliang said with a serious expression, "We have a pure male-female classmate relationship."

The female store clerk smiled at them with an expression that clearly said, I understand.

Bian Guanyue quickly put together two sets of clothes and pants, feeling quite proud of her results: "How about we buy both sets?"

Chen Guiliang said, "Whatever you say."

Bian Guanyue then went to pick out two pairs of sneakers.

"Can I pay by card?"

"Yes, please come this way."

The female store clerk furiously tapped away on the calculator: "Two jackets, two pairs of pants, two pairs of sneakers, a total of 1356 yuan. I'll round it down for you, 1350 is fine."

"If you're rounding down, why not round down to a whole number? 1000 yuan would be just right," Chen Guiliang casually haggled.

For this kind of fake specialty store, who knew where they got their goods? Haggling down to 800 yuan wouldn't be unreasonable.

The female store clerk said, "Handsome, we don't haggle here."

"You already called me handsome, shouldn't a handsome guy get a little discount?" Chen Guiliang chuckled.

The female store clerk said, "Our store really doesn't haggle."

Bian Guanyue stood nearby, feeling a bit awkward. She was thin-skinned and felt slightly embarrassed.

Unexpectedly, after only a few back-and-forth exchanges with Chen Guiliang, the female store clerk actually agreed to round down to one thousand yuan.

Chen Guiliang took the clothes, pants, and shoes to the fitting room. As he passed by Bian Guanyue, he said, "You pay first, I'll change into my battle gear."

He had money in his card now, but he still let Bian Guanyue pay.

A true man's promise is worth a thousand pieces of gold. Since he had agreed to borrow money to buy clothes, how could he go back on his word?

Not long after, Chen Guiliang came out wearing a new outfit. Bian Guanyue looked him over carefully: "Something's still missing."

The female store clerk said, "His hairstyle."

"Right, his hairstyle," Bian Guanyue asked, "How long has it been since you last got a haircut?"

Chen Guiliang said, "I don't know."

When he was studying, he saved money on everything he could, and haircuts were no exception. He would get a buzz cut and let it grow naturally until he absolutely had to cut it again.

Bian Guanyue took him to a nearby hair salon and said to the stylist, "Cut it a bit shorter, make it look more sunny."

The stylist gave him a buzz cut directly.

After the cut, Chen Guiliang stood there, and Bian Guanyue felt her eyes light up.

She had to admit, the heavier Chen Guiliang, with his new clothes and new hairstyle, did look a little handsome.

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