Chen Fan looked at the young punks dressed like wannabe rebels.
He immediately realized they were looking for trouble.
"Need something?"
"Fuck, I asked if your name was Chen Fan!"
Chen Fan feigned confusion. "What do you want with him?"
The guy with the bird's-nest hair spat a thick glob of phlegm onto the ground.
"Huang Hu's one of my boys. You know him? Did you threaten him?"
Chen Fan promptly shook his head.
"I'm not him. I didn't. It wasn't me."
Just then, one of the lackeys beside him suddenly pointed.
"Crow, that's the bastard. Huang Hu showed me his photo."
At that, the guy with the bird's-nest hair grinned.
"Pretty sly, aren't you, kid?"
"But even the slyest hunter can't beat a good fox..."
The lackey beside him couldn't help correcting him. "Crow, you've got that backward."
The guy with the bird's-nest hair slapped him.
"Shut the fuck up."
Then he pointed threateningly at Chen Fan.
"Huang Hu's my boy. He's under my protection around here, understand?"
Chen Fan quickly asked, "And you are...?"
"I'm Crow."
"Crow, how about protecting me too? I'll call you my boss."
Crow visibly froze at those words.
He was just about to sneer when Chen Fan suddenly brightened and waved at someone behind them.
"Mr. Wang, you're here for lunch too?"
The young punks jumped in fright and hastily turned around.
Instead, they saw Guo Shuai carrying a bucket of kitchen slops, which he dumped straight over Crow's head.
Chen Fan stepped forward and kicked him flat.
"Fuck..."
Before Crow could say another word, Chen Fan and Guo Shuai had darted into the alley and fled.
"What the fuck are you standing around for? Get them!"
Crow scrambled furiously to his feet, rotten vegetable leaves piled on his head and foul-smelling liquid dripping steadily down his hair...
Chen Fan and Guo Shuai dashed through several alleys before finally stopping, out of breath.
"Can't run anymore. Let's rest... rest a bit..."
Guo Shuai clutched his stomach, gasping for air.
"So... who were those guys?"
Chen Fan glanced back and snorted.
"Who else? Huang Hu sent them to teach me a lesson."
"Huang Hu?"
Guo Shuai sneered. "It's about our class academic rep, right?"
Chen Fan blinked. "You knew he liked Su Ruochu?"
Guo Shuai laughed.
"Only an idiot wouldn't notice."
"That dumbass Huang Hu thought he hid it so well. I could tell at a glance that he had dirty intentions every time he looked at her."
"Fuck, he dares go after my future sister-in-law? I'll kill him."
Chen Fan patted Guo Shuai's shoulder.
"You're a real brother. I can count on you."
"All right, let's head back."
"Wait!" Guo Shuai grabbed Chen Fan.
"Those guys might be waiting at the school gate. Going back now would be walking straight into their trap."
Chen Fan frowned. "Then what do we do?"
"No rush. Let them wait. Let's go have some fun at White Birch Grove."
"White Birch Grove?"
Chen Fan suddenly remembered.
White Birch Grove was an internet café near their school.
Back when they were students, he and Guo Shuai had often sneaked in after school to play games.
Chen Fan thought it over. Guo Shuai had a point, so he nodded.
"Let's go!"
They quietly emerged from the alley, checked that no one was around, then took a long detour straight to White Birch Grove.
As soon as they entered the internet café, Guo Shuai greeted the girl at the counter with practiced ease.
"Hey, beautiful, two computers. Two hours each."
The girl behind the counter looked up and glanced at them.
"Your ID cards. I need to register you."
Guo Shuai didn't so much as blink.
"Didn't bring them. Just give us temporary cards."
Chen Fan was speechless. Dude, you're still wearing your school uniform.
Yet the girl actually took out two slips of paper with strings of numbers on them and tossed them onto the counter.
"Come on!"
Guo Shuai pulled Chen Fan into the main room.
They pushed aside the thick door curtain, and damn, it was as dark as an air-raid shelter.
Smoke filled the room too, thick enough to make them choke.
All kinds of voices washed over Chen Fan's ears like a rising tide.
"Fuck! They raided my ore refinery!"
"Their infantry's already here! Where are the tanks? Why didn't you buy Apocalypse Tanks?"
"Your super! Hurry up and do your super... shit, the way you play Iori is a total fucking mess..."
"Boohoo, Brother Xiaoyao and Zhao Ling'er's story is so touching..."
Listening to the voices around him, Chen Fan couldn't help smiling faintly.
It brought back so many memories.
Students in this era had no short videos or video-streaming sites. A simple little game could keep them excited all day.
Guo Shuai pulled Chen Fan over to seats in the farthest corner.
"Quick, quick, boot it up. Today I'll show you my endless unit-spamming skills in Red Alert."
Chen Fan sat down with a smile and pressed the power button. The familiar Windows 98 startup music played.
"You play on your own today. I've got something else to do."
Guo Shuai's eyes widened. "Seriously? You came to an internet café and you're not gaming? What, are you here to watch the evening news?"
"Quit talking. I've got actual work to do."
Muttering to himself, Guo Shuai went over and launched Red Alert on his own. Before long, he was shouting excitedly.
Microsoft had actually released Windows 2000 in February that year, but the internet café in their little town hadn't upgraded yet.
Besides, for Chen Fan's generation, Windows 98 had been their first familiar introduction to computers.
Looking at the classic desktop with its blue sky, white clouds, and green grass, Chen Fan smiled knowingly.
It brought back so many memories.
By this time, the first wave of pioneers had already emerged on China's internet.
Chen Fan remembered that had successfully listed on Nasdaq in April and was enjoying unrivaled attention.
But soon, NetEase would go public at the end of this month, while Sohu, the last of the three, would list on the twelfth of the following month.
Then the three major portals would stand as the industry's dominant trio, basking in the spotlight.
As for BAT, which would become even more famous in later years, Tencent was struggling through the internet winter. At one point, Ma Huateng had wanted to sell QQ for one million yuan.
Meanwhile, Alibaba's Ma Yun was struggling desperately, painstakingly building his sales team.
Baidu was doing slightly better. It had launched its Chinese search engine just last month and was beginning a full-scale move into Chinese-language internet technology.
There was also another future titan, Qiangzi, who was still selling CD burners in a little Zhongguancun shop called JD Multimedia. His complete transition to online retail was still three years away.
But none of that had anything to do with Chen Fan, who was still a student.
Even as someone who had traveled back in time, he wasn't yet qualified to sit down with those titans and discuss the future of the business world.
He clicked to open and casually browsed a few current news stories.
"US stock market turmoil, Nasdaq index continues to slide..."
Reading the headline, Chen Fan thought that few people in China probably knew that the shock waves from the Internet Bubble would soon sweep through the country.
When that happened, countless domestic companies would perish in the internet winter.
Only businesses that had prepared for the crisis would survive this winter and go on to enjoy another surge in growth.
But all that was still far too distant for Chen Fan as he was now.
What he needed was an opportunity to make his first pot of gold.
He considered where exactly he should begin.
His gaze happened to sweep across the top of the page, and an idea suddenly flashed through his mind, making his eyes light up.
Domain names, domain names... that's it! I can buy and sell domain names!
Before you continue