Chapter 5

Hai Zhou Hotel.

The four people sitting in a private room felt quite empty, especially with the table being so large that if they sat apart, they would have to shout to talk to each other.

So, the four of them sat side by side.

Mr. and Mrs. Li, Li Mu, and then Chen Wan.

Chen Wan was happy, mainly because she had shed a psychological burden. After the comprehensive check-up, Li Mu was indeed fine, except for the scrape on his forehead that somewhat affected the young man's handsome appearance.

Mr. and Mrs. Li originally didn't want Chen Wan to spend money on them, but Chen Wan insisted it was appropriate, and Li Mu agreed with a matter-of-fact expression. Unable to persuade them otherwise, the two of them came along.

Fortunately, Mrs. Li had thought ahead and went home to fetch a clean set of clothes for Li Mu while they were waiting for the results. So, Li Mu could sit next to Chen Wan, joking with her as if nothing had happened.

"To be honest, after being hit today, I feel particularly clear-headed. I used to score around 90 to 100 in English, but today I feel I can score over 120."

"Really?" Chen Wan's eyes nearly popped out.

Li Mu nodded: "Really."

"Don't talk nonsense!" Mr. Li laughed and scolded: "If you don't score 120, see what I'll do to you!"

Li Mu said seriously: "Dad, if I don't score 120, I won't have the face to enter our home."

"Don't say that," Mrs. Li quickly said: "Son, it doesn't matter if you do well or not. You're my only son."

Mrs. Li spoke earnestly, and Chen Wan tried hard not to laugh, her pretty face turning red. Li Mu sighed: "Even my own mother doesn't believe me. Well, we'll see when the college entrance exam results are announced."

Mr. Li immediately decided: "Son, if you can score 120 in English, Dad will buy you a laptop!"

At that time, a laptop cost around ten thousand yuan, almost as much as Mr. Li's annual salary.

Li Mu knew that their current savings probably weren't even that much.

As a programmer who had worked for over a decade in the future, he naturally yearned to have his own computer, but he couldn't ask his parents for it.

In fact, Li Mu had already made up his mind that not only the computer, but also the first year's tuition and living expenses for college, he would earn during the summer.

So, Li Mu said with great determination: "Dad, I'll earn the laptop myself this summer."

As a reborn person, if he couldn't earn this much money in a summer, he would be truly unworthy of the heavens and the earth.

However, Li Mu's words left the other three people speechless.

In 2001, a well-paid state-owned enterprise employee earned just over a thousand yuan a month. How could a high school graduate earn ten thousand yuan in two months?

Faced with three pairs of extremely surprised and distrustful eyes, Li Mu said without a hint of joking: "I'm serious, and I'm confident."

Chen Wan couldn't help but ask: "Li Mu, I'm very curious. How do you plan to earn enough for a laptop in two months? I bought one at the beginning of the year, and it cost more than twenty thousand yuan."

Chen Wan wasn't showing off; she was just reminding Li Mu that it's easy to make big promises, but it's a skill to keep them.

"You don't need to worry about that. I'm confident."

His words were very confident, but when he calmed down and analyzed it, Li Mu's heart sank.

In 2001, the internet was still in its infancy. No one could predict what the future of the internet would be like, except for Li Mu.

Moreover, no one could predict the future direction of internet and mobile internet technology, except for Li Mu.

This was the reason Li Mu dared to boast in front of his parents and Chen Wan.

However, upon careful consideration, Li Mu realized that while it wasn't difficult to make money using the internet in this era, making quick money was highly unlikely.

Hao123, which would later be valued at tens of millions, was founded in 1999 and had been operating for about two years, with a solid foundation. Even it would take another three years to be acquired by Baidu. If he started a navigation website now, it would take at least one to two years to surpass Hao123, and he wouldn't make quick money.

QQ already had millions of users. Even if he could develop a better similar software, it would take about half a year just to write the code. After all, developing a software alone required an enormous amount of programming work. Even if he developed the software in half a year, he wouldn't have the money for promotion. By then, Tencent would already be well-established, and Ma Huateng was a master of imitation. He couldn't compete, so he wouldn't make quick money.

Not just QQ, many software applications from the future were beyond his reach. Even if he had a top-of-the-line computer from the future, he would still have to type out the code character by character. Moreover, the subsequent promotion and operation would take years, even if he could do it alone, he still wouldn't make quick money.

Even if he imitated Cai Wensheng and registered a bunch of double-pinyin domain names, selling them after 2005 wouldn't be easy. Cai Wensheng was already registering a large number of double-pinyin domain names using the Xinhua Dictionary. The only domains he hadn't thought of were probably new, trendy double-pinyin words like Weibo, WeChat, and Taobao, which hadn't appeared yet. So, he still wouldn't make quick money.

All the ideas he could think of now required years of incubation, but he had only set himself a two-month deadline.

After his grand declaration, Li Mu suddenly felt a sense of despair.

Li Mu suddenly thought, if he were to make a list of keywords for the world in 2001, what would come to mind?

George W. Bush's inauguration, 9/11, joining the WTO, successful Olympic bid, the national football team qualifying, NetEase's suspension, the internet bubble...

Due to the distant era, what Li Mu could think of were mostly major events that had caused a stir at the time, mostly international political news. It was basically impossible to use these to make money.

The other three were eating, but Li Mu was frowning and lost in thought.

He felt he was missing something crucial, but he couldn't quite grasp it.

At this moment, Chen Wan gave Li Mu a way out: "Actually, a computer isn't very useful for studying. There's no need to buy one so early. Buying a computer now is mostly for going online and playing games."

"Games?" Li Mu's eyes lit up like a light bulb when he heard these words!

Damn, how could he forget about games!

In his excitement, Li Mu reached out with his right hand and grabbed Chen Wan's left hand, shaking her soft, delicate hand a few times: "Wan-ge, you're absolutely right!"