The Lichuan University City Forum looked much the same as Jiang Qin remembered.
The homepage was divided into four sections: Daily Chat, Campus Life, Internal Announcements, and Study Materials.
Hmm? Study materials?
Jiang Qin felt something stir in his DNA. He reached out and clicked on it.
"Past Years' Graduate Entrance Exam Questions and Answers"
"Complete Guide to the TOEFL Exam"
"Full Lecture Transcripts from Professor Wen of the School of Finance and Economics"
Jiang Qin glanced through it and found that it really was study material. He immediately lost much of his interest.
That was normal, though. The forum itself had been jointly founded by the four nearby universities and was considered an official website. There was no way it would contain the kind of content college students loved.
But precisely because the authorities controlled the content behind the scenes, all the posts on the forum were dull and boring, always carrying a rigid and serious air.
College students were clearly a youthful and energetic group. Who would willingly use such a rigid forum?
Jiang Qin had already made up his mind on the way there. He was going to create a website.
Its core users would be college students, with its reach extending to the surrounding area.
Boys and girls in their youth were in an age when their hormones were running wild, and their desire to find a partner was intense. So, in the early stages, the main section would be a Confession Wall.
Also, college students of this age were highly sensitive emotionally. Many of them had things they did not want to say to people they knew, so his second section would be the Anonymous Tree Hole.
Apart from that, taking hobbies and trends into consideration, Jiang Qin planned to open two more sections: Games and Anime, and Fashion and Lifestyle.
Aside from attending classes and falling in love, college students' daily lives basically consisted of paper characters and obsessing over their appearance.
As for studying...
That section could be scrapped. After all, he did not want to steal all the traffic from the official forum.
In the early days of the internet's rapid development, browsing forums was still the main way people surfed the web. Zhihu, Douban, and Weibo had all been founded around this period.
The website Jiang Qin planned to create would focus on sharing one's lifestyle, but it would be different from the QQ Space that was currently so popular.
QQ Space could only be viewed by one's friends, making it a closed social circle. His website, however, would be completely open.
As for how to attract traffic, that was simple enough.
He could just pretend to be a female college student and make a few posts.
"Are there any handsome guys? I want to fall in love recently. Who's going to take me home? I was born without a gag reflex and learned dance, so I can do the splits." Then he could attach some revealing photos of a female internet celebrity.
That would guarantee those crude men would howl with excitement and stay on the forum all night without sleeping.
Attracting female college students would be easy, too. He only needed to create a few points of conflict.
"Guys, does anyone else get it? My boyfriend actually wanted to split the bill when he took me out to eat. What a turn-off."
"Guys, does anyone else get it? My best friend and I fell for the same man. Should I let him go?"
The forum's initial profits would definitely come from running advertisements. Later, it would need to follow the internet's trends and find an opportunity to develop in the direction of short videos.
"I need to buy a domain name first."
"Oh, right. I also need to rent some virtual server space."
Jiang Qin found a domain marketplace and briefly browsed the prices.
Domain names were hierarchical. The more popular a domain was, the more expensive it was. Anything related to college students was too expensive, anything linked to Tencent was even more expensive, and some of the more popular buzzwords had already been registered.
Jiang Qin thought it over and suddenly considered a question.
What year was the real Zhihu founded again?
It seemed to be after 2010, right?
In other words, Zhihu doesn't exist yet?
Heh, what a coincidence. Sorry, but this domain name belongs to me for now.
Jiang Qin took a small box from his bag, pulled out a USB security key, plugged it into the computer, and bought the zhihu domain without hesitation.
The name had plenty of class. Zhi hu zhe ye—though it was a homophonic pun, it had a strong scholarly flavor and suited the college student demographic quite well.
"Ol... Old Jiang, what did you just spend three thousand yuan on?"
"I bought a domain name. I plan to make a website for fun."
Only then did Jiang Qin realize that the other three guys had never left, so he did not hide it from them.
Upon hearing his answer, Zhou Chao and Ren Ziqiang opened their mouths wide. They had no idea what a website was, but they understood money. Their living expenses were only a little over six hundred yuan. Who would have thought Jiang Qin would spend three thousand yuan on something invisible and intangible? That was freaking absurd.
Cao Guangyu merely tugged slightly at the corner of his mouth. After thinking for a long while, he said nothing.
Even as a rich second-generation heir, he would not dare spend three thousand yuan in one go without a second thought. After all, no matter how much money his family had, it belonged to his father, and his own living expenses were only a thousand yuan.
By comparison, Cao Guangyu felt that Jiang Qin looked more like a rich second-generation heir. Could this bastard be hiding his true strength while pretending to be weak? "Old Jiang, what does your family do? How can you spend money so recklessly?"
"An ordinary working-class family at the bottom of society."
Ren Ziqiang felt numb. "Then how much are your monthly living expenses?"
Jiang Qin opened his clothes and pulled out his wallet. "Five hundred. After buying the train ticket, I have three hundred and sixty left. Hey, there's a one-yuan coin here. Does anyone want it?"
"I do. Give it to me!"
Zhou Chao reached out and pinched the coin. "Jiang Ge, you're such a spendthrift, but I like it."
Jiang Qin closed his wallet. "I'm not a spendthrift. Coins are easy to lose in your pocket, so I might as well use them to win someone over."
After hearing that, Cao Guangyu clicked his tongue. "Lao Zhou, you really have no standards. You'll take one yuan? Have you never seen money before?"
"You think I'm greedy for the one yuan on the front, but what I really love is the national emblem on the back!"
"You son of a... You really know how to argue."
Zhou Chao raised his lips smugly, tucked the coin into his pocket, turned around, and lay back down on his bed.
Ren Ziqiang stretched, yawned, and went into the bathroom.
Cao Guangyu glanced at his own phone, then at Jiang Qin's computer. His expression suddenly grew somewhat dejected.
He had shown off three times that day. He should have established his status and dignity as the Big Brother of the dormitory, but Jiang Qin had cut him off every single time. How could he possibly feel good?
"Old Jiang, could you leave me some dignity next time I show off?"
"Didn't I?"
"Did you?"
"Fine, I get it. Next time, I'll let you show off to your heart's content."
Cao Guangyu pouted. He did not know whether Jiang Qin meant it, but at least he felt considerably better. So he picked up his new phone and began surfing the internet.
At the same time, Jiang Qin noticed a QQ message notification suddenly pop up in the lower-right corner of the computer. He moved the mouse over and clicked it, discovering that it was from Hong Yan, whom he had met the day before.
"Jiang Qin, are you free? Come out for a meal?"
"Now?"
"Tomorrow. How about after registration?"
Jiang Qin folded his hands behind his head and leaned back slightly in his chair, his expression thoughtful.
He and Hong Yan had only met once and could not be considered familiar. They were merely acquaintances. Although they had said "See you when we're free" at the school entrance that day, Jiang Qin had taken it as nothing more than a polite remark. He had not expected this girl to take it so seriously.
"Sure. Then let's get in touch tomorrow?"
"Okay~"
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