Chen Guiliang, suddenly much more handsome, swaggered out of the barbershop. "Come on, I'll treat you to pearl milk tea."
"I should treat you instead. Last time we got the computer fixed, you paid all the travel expenses."
In Bian Guanyue's eyes, Chen Guiliang was still dirt poor, so she wanted to save him some money.
Chen Guiliang said mysteriously, "Let me tell you a secret. A big boss gave me startup capital, and the plan to launch Qin Emperor's Mausoleum has taken another step forward. I have money now. I can afford a cup of milk tea."
"Will you die if you don't lie?" Bian Guanyue did not know whether to laugh or cry.
"Believe it or not." Chen Guiliang ran off on his own to find a milk tea shop.
Bian Guanyue hurried after him.
Without realizing it, she had already let Chen Guiliang take the lead.
As the saying went, those involved could not see clearly, while onlookers saw everything.
Back when she watched Chen Guiliang chat with Tao Xue, she could tell at a glance that Tao Xue was being led around by the nose. Now that it was her turn, she was muddled and unable to figure it out.
Besides, Chen Guiliang really did look better today.
People were visual creatures, after all.
The milk tea shop was easy to find. From far away, they could see the surging crowd.
It was the only milk tea shop in the entire county, and it had not been open for long. On weekends, plenty of young people came to try it out, and the line clogged up the pedestrian street outside.
"Damn, there are so many people!" Chen Guiliang exclaimed sincerely.
Bian Guanyue followed him to the end of the line. "Forget it. We'll have to wait forever."
Chen Guiliang said, "There's a seating area over there. Why don't you go grab two seats first?"
"I'll wait in line with you."
As she spoke, Bian Guanyue looked around anxiously, afraid of running into classmates.
Going shopping with a boy and lining up to buy milk tea was something she had never experienced before. For some reason, she felt both guilty and excited.
While they waited, Bian Guanyue said, "You don't need to rush to pay back the thousand yuan I lent you for clothes. You're actually very capable. Once you get to college, you can work part-time. I have a cousin who made a lot of money in college."
Chen Guiliang asked, "Did your cousin make money from part-time work, or did she start a business?"
Bian Guanyue said, "She studied business administration. During SARS, she started selling things she'd used on Taobao. Later, she began buying stock herself, rented a place near her school as a warehouse, and specialized in phone chargers and other electronic accessories. The Samsung MP3 I use now was bought from her Taobao Store. Actually, it was a secondhand one she didn't want anymore. Oh, right, do you know Taobao?"
When Taobao had just started in 2003, most sellers were dealing in secondhand goods. It was a lot like the later Xianyu platform.
After SARS eased, more sellers began offering knockoffs and unbranded products.
There were also merchants selling genuine name-brand goods. Kodak film, for instance, sold very well. Production capacity had increased while the market was shrinking, leaving huge amounts of inventory piled up. When it was dumped on Taobao at low prices, it became hugely popular and jumped into the top three best-selling products on Taobao.
"I know it. Alibaba," Chen Guiliang said.
Bian Guanyue was very surprised. "You actually know Taobao? It's only popular in a few major cities."
Chen Guiliang put on airs. "Though I dwell in a humble room, my heart embraces the world."
Bian Guanyue opened up. "My cousin advised me to apply to a university in Hangzhou, so I could do Taobao with her. But I don't understand business, so I probably wouldn't be much help."
"It's simple. You're so smart, you'll learn it in no time," Chen Guiliang said.
"But I don't really want to do business." Bian Guanyue thought carefully. "Actually, I don't know what I want to do either. I'm pretty lost."
Chen Guiliang coaxed, "We can start a business together. That thousand yuan for clothes can count as your share capital."
"No way. Business is hard," Bian Guanyue said.
They chatted on and off. Bian Guanyue was in an excellent mood, much brighter than when they had first met.
After transferring schools, she had gradually made some friends. Apart from Chen Guiliang, there were Wang Siyu and Zheng Feng, as well as her new deskmate Wu Meng and Tan Zhuo from the neighboring desk.
Chen Guiliang asked, "Are you getting along well with Wu Meng?"
Bian Guanyue smiled. "She's like me. She doesn't talk much normally. But she's actually very helpful. Whenever I ask her about difficult problems, she patiently explains them in detail. I know those questions are especially easy for her. It's just that I'm too dumb, so it's hard for her to explain them clearly."
Chen Guiliang thought back carefully and realized he knew almost nothing about Wu Meng.
He only knew that this top student had become the city's Top Liberal Arts Student in the College Entrance Exam, and later he heard that she had emigrated to Singapore. But across both their lifetimes, they had barely interacted, because Wu Meng was extremely introverted and rarely spoke.
"She likes fried baby potatoes. I buy some every day, and she often treats me to snacks in return." Bian Guanyue was talking more and more now, actively sharing snippets of daily life with her new deskmate.
Chen Guiliang responded at the right moments and guided her to keep talking, making Bian Guanyue even more animated.
The line slowly moved forward. By the time it was Chen Guiliang's turn, dozens of minutes had passed. "Two pearl milk teas."
As he spoke, Chen Guiliang turned to ask Bian Guanyue, "What do you like to eat?"
This milk tea shop was not very proper. It also sold all kinds of pastries.
"Red bean cake." Bian Guanyue glanced at the signboard.
Chen Guiliang asked the clerk for red bean cake as well, but inwardly complained: The milk tea is sweet enough already, and you're having red bean cake too? You'll be sickeningly sweet.
Their feet and legs were sore from standing in line. Carrying the red bean cake and two cups of milk tea, Chen Guiliang led Bian Guanyue toward the casual dining area.
In this small county town, selling milk tea was considered a high-end, fashionable business.
There was also a casual dining area beside the shop, filled with simply designed wrought-iron tables and chairs. Sitting there and drinking milk tea felt like eating steak at a Western restaurant.
It was all about the style!
There were no Western restaurants, no fast-food restaurants, and certainly no coffee shops in the county town. Fashionable teenagers had pitifully few choices.
Some young people even stayed seated to enjoy their petite-bourgeois lifestyle after finishing their milk tea.
"Bian Guanyue, there are empty seats here!"
Over in the seating area, Wang Siyu stood and waved. Beside her sat a girl Bian Guanyue did not recognize.
Running into Wang Siyu unexpectedly, Bian Guanyue was pleasantly surprised.
Who knew what she was thinking, but she suddenly became afraid Wang Siyu might misunderstand something. She immediately abandoned Chen Guiliang and went over alone. "You're drinking milk tea here too?"
Wang Siyu said, "My home is in Wealthy Garden, just two bus stops from here. Oh, right, this is my middle school classmate Yuan Wei. She's in the senior-year experimental class at No. 1 Middle School."
No. 1 Middle School was the county's second-best school after No. 2 Middle School.
It had also just moved into a new campus in the new district, and its facilities were better than No. 2 Middle School's. Its landscaping was terrible, though. The newly transplanted trees were all bare.
"Wei Wei, this is Bian Guanyue from my class."
"Hello."
"Hello."
Yuan Wei had delicate features and was fairly pretty.
She took the initiative to help move a chair, then said to Wang Siyu, "Xiaoyu, your classmate is so pretty. Is she the school beauty of No. 2 Middle School?"
Wang Siyu said, "What school beauty? You've read too many novels."
Bian Guanyue sat down with a smile and exchanged a few brief words with them, selectively forgetting about Chen Guiliang behind her.
In front of people she knew, she had to keep her distance from Chen Guiliang.
She had not been like this just a few days ago.
Was it because Chen Guiliang had become handsome?
Girls were hard to understand.
"Where's your milk tea?" Wang Siyu asked.
Chen Guiliang lifted the milk tea in his hand and said with a smile, "Classmate Wang Siyu, there's still a living person standing here."
Wang Siyu froze at first, then said in disbelief, "Chen Guiliang?"
Chen Guiliang sighed. "We sat in front of and behind each other, at least. You don't recognize me just because I changed my hairstyle? That really hurts."
"Holy shit!"
Wang Siyu was especially outgoing. She stood up and circled Chen Guiliang once. "I never noticed before, but Chen the Hero is actually handsome."
Then she added, "Really handsome. He could at least rank in the top three in our class. If I'd known, I would've chased you myself. What a waste of handsome-guy resources."
"I was always handsome. I was just handsome in a more restrained way." Chen Guiliang moved a chair over and sat down, placing one cup of milk tea in front of Bian Guanyue. "I'm done pretending today. I'll come clean. If you regret not chasing me, you still have a chance now."
Wang Siyu said disdainfully, "You haven't just become handsome. You've become slick-tongued too."
"Woman, you're making excuses for your inability to recognize true talent," Chen Guiliang said solemnly.
Wang Siyu could not be bothered with him. She introduced him to her best friend Yuan Wei. "This is my classmate Chen Guiliang, known in the martial world as Chen the Hero. The fact that he wasn't expelled for what he did at No. 2 Middle School is a miracle."
"Hello." Yuan Wei was much more shy, especially around a handsome guy. Her voice carried a trace of bashfulness.
Chen Guiliang nodded in greeting. "Hello."
Wang Siyu completely ignored Chen Guiliang and brushed back her hair. "Bian Guanyue, look. I got an ionic perm today too. My hair suddenly became so smooth and straight."
"Your hairstyle is beautiful. It suits you especially well," Bian Guanyue praised.
Chen Guiliang sipped his milk tea through a straw, feeling somewhat helpless. He had finally coaxed a girl out, only for two third wheels to appear halfway through.
The four of them sat down and began chatting. Wang Siyu talked about amusing things at No. 2 Middle School, while Yuan Wei complained that No. 1 Middle School was too strict.
No. 1 Middle School's newly appointed principal had implemented quasi-military management, and the students were finding it hard to bear.
But the results were obvious. No. 1 Middle School's college admission rate had shot up.
They finished their milk tea and continued chatting.
But young people without seats nearby kept coming over to urge them along, so the four could only give up their table.
Wang Siyu looked at her watch. "It's almost noon. Let's go eat."
Bian Guanyue politely declined. "I told my grandparents I'd be going home for lunch."
"Then we'll meet up another time," Wang Siyu said.
"Sure!"
"Bye!"
The four waved to one another.
Chen Guiliang accompanied Bian Guanyue to the roadside to wait for her bus.
Wang Siyu and Yuan Wei lived in Wealthy Garden, so they could stroll home after walking two stops.
After they had gone some distance away, Yuan Wei asked, "Are those two classmates of yours dating?"
"I'm not sure." Wang Siyu thought carefully. "There really is something odd about them. They used to listen to music together, and today they even came out for pearl milk tea. Also, Chen Guiliang was wearing new clothes and specially changed his hairstyle. There's definitely something going on!"
Yuan Wei said, "I think they make a good match."
"You don't know," Wang Siyu said. "Chen Guiliang has always been poor. I've never seen him wear many new clothes. In his second year, he had a pair of pants that became too short because he grew so fast. By his third year, they did not even cover his ankles, but he kept wearing them anyway. Even I thought he was pitiful. Bian Guanyue's family is rich. Her phone, MP3, and laptop are all name brands!"
Yuan Wei said with a smile, "You're too materialistic. Love is about mutual affection. It has nothing to do with worldly possessions."
Wang Siyu immediately thought of Zheng Feng and said gleefully, "I don't know whether I'm materialistic, but someone might be about to go crazy. Chen the Hero is really impressive. The moment he made a move, he won over a beauty!"
After taking Bian Guanyue home, Chen Guiliang carried several shopping bags and headed straight to a nearby internet café.
He carefully read the replies from netizens, felt the timing was about right, and sent Yang Yuhui a QQ message. "Yang Ge, enter the third stage at noon today."
"Received!" Yang Yuhui replied instantly.
The Internet Trolls mobilized.
Internet Troll No. 1 made a post suggesting that this private server introduce memberships. Those willing to recharge and show support could become members, while those unwilling to pay could just show moral support. Members would receive no other privileges, but they could activate an accelerator to make the private server run more smoothly.
Selling accelerators was also one of the ways private servers made money these days.
Internet Troll No. 2 immediately replied that this private server was about dreams and youth, and once it charged money, it would no longer be pure.
The two Internet Trolls quickly started flaming each other.
Internet Trolls No. 3, 4, 5, 6... gradually joined the discussion and deliberately guided public opinion.
More and more netizens were drawn into the thread, launching a debate over whether it should charge money.
Gradually, the side supporting fees gained the upper hand. Their reasoning was that dream-chasers should not be allowed to lose money. But equipment absolutely could not be sold, or the game would lose its appeal.
That Beijinger named Fu Guoqiang followed the relevant threads every day and directly replied, "If the private server doesn't sell equipment and preserves the game's purity, I can sponsor 5,000 yuan for free!"
There was more than one or two rich people. Soon, someone else replied, "I'll sponsor 300 yuan."
"I'm an office worker. I'll sponsor 50 yuan as a token gesture."
"I can sponsor 10 yuan. You won't think it's too little, right?"
"Not too little. Even one yuan is fine. Many hands make light work!"
"..."
Yang Yuhui posted using the "One Sword Comes West" account: "I appreciate everyone's goodwill regarding sponsorship, but relying only on sponsorship cannot last. Last night, my friends and I discussed it until midnight and roughly came up with a way to recover costs. I can't reveal the specifics yet. But I solemnly promise: no equipment sales, no memberships, no Game Cheats, and no accelerators!"
This explanation was extremely mysterious and drew even more speculation and discussion from netizens.
Posts about whether to charge fees and how to charge them also received more and more replies, developing in the direction Chen Guiliang had planned.
Chen Guiliang's intention, of course, was to lay the groundwork for selling tickets.
He was giving them a preventive warning!
He first prepared the players mentally, so that when the game server launched and suddenly began selling tickets, it would not so easily provoke resentment and anger.
Before you continue