Chapter 2: The founder
In Changsha, the provincial capital in the Changliu Basin along the lower reaches of the Xiang River, Xue Yiyang had just accompanied an older student he was close to at school to Guochu Computer City to put together a computer. They were taking the bus back, with two large cardboard boxes containing the monitor and tower at their feet. All along the way, the older student kept asking him for StarCraft tips, joking that he might as well take him as his master. Changsha's esports scene was relatively advanced by national standards, probably precisely because of this atmosphere that had already sprung up across its universities in those days.
The bus traveled over an old arched bridge lined with green willows, passing fruit vendors and pedestrians. Xue Yiyang's blue-screen Nokia rang. He picked it up, glanced at it, and said, "A buddy I grew up with." He answered and exchanged a few words, then fell silent and listened.
After hanging up, Xue Yiyang suddenly turned to the older student and asked, "Do you know about it?"
The older student thought for a moment, then shook his head. "No. What is it?"
Xue Yiyang shook his head too, but Liu Rui's excited report over the phone still seemed to linger in his ears. "Apparently it's a website. He said a buddy of mine founded it. I'll look it up online when we get back." After a while, he added, "I don't know if he was joking. Wasn't April Fool's Day last month?"
... Beijing ...
In the villa district by Xiangshan Park, Wang Weiwei was visiting a friend's home with several friends from his circle for a drinks party. At the time, Beijing's villa developments followed four major geographical groupings: the so-called "one mountain," "two rivers," "three