Chapter 52

The gap between the first place on the new book chart and my second place is so huge and disheartening! ... But even so, I have to grit my teeth and push forward! Everyone, please give me a hand!***

He Xinyu was very interested in Song Chen's software company. This interest was not about him wanting to join Chenxing, as a university professor was no less prestigious than a high-ranking government official in the future. Strictly speaking, he was interested in the chat software that Xu Xiaoying and Zhang Dayu were internally testing.

Therefore, he would come to the company every few days, guiding the students on software development issues while practically joining the internal testing of the QQ software.

However, there was one thing he was very curious about. Just like the highly targeted internet cafe billing system and the current internet industry, which mostly couldn't find a profitable direction, He Xinyu also couldn't see the profit potential of QQ. Unlike web pages, which could provide a small amount of advertising revenue in the early stages, QQ not only required a large amount of company funds to invest in server and bandwidth expansion but also needed more funds to recruit company personnel.

When he asked Song Chen, Song Chen naturally didn't give an answer but vaguely indicated that this industry had huge potential, and as for how to find it, they were currently working on it.

Song Chen was very busy. After a brief understanding of the server prices and performance on the market through newspapers and magazines, he was shocked by the exorbitant prices of servers (mini-computers) from companies like IBM, HP, and SUN, which could cost hundreds of thousands. According to the early Tencent data he knew, they needed to add two servers every month, which meant that within three to four months, he might face a huge funding gap, not to mention the equally exorbitant bandwidth and server hosting fees!

Perhaps, this was an unavoidable obstacle in his plan! — He was very clear about how large the funding gap was in the early days of Tencent.

However, as the person in this world who knew the instant messaging software market best, he always doubted whether the early Tencent needed such expensive servers to feed. After all, the current ICQ took dozens of seconds to send a message, and although the domestic network was a bit better, hardware always constrained the development of the internet. This situation would not be significantly improved until 1999! Both internet access fees and bandwidth had made significant progress.

And it was only 1997, with just a few days left until 1998... Looking at the prices of domestic PC servers in computer magazines, Song Chen made up his mind.

Just as many fields emphasize "marketing is king," in the early days of Chenxing Penguin, scale was king! Tencent, like most people, initially overlooked the value hidden in OICQ! It could be said that from its birth to its growth, from its infancy to elementary school and junior high, every step of OICQ, which was initially named as an online pager, was filled with luck and coincidence. It was almost forgotten, then fostered by others, and later found to have some value. After being raised for a while, it became too expensive to maintain, and it almost ended up being "sold" by human traffickers...

If it weren't for the changes in the management of China Internet and the failure of the Hong Kong PCCW and Baring Fund acquisition plan, it would be hard to say whether Hong Kong PCCW, rather than Tencent and MIH, would be the one to laugh last.

Song Chen believed that as long as he established a foothold in the instant messaging field before 1999, there would be a great possibility of stifling the southern OICQ! If the plan went smoothly, before the dot-com bubble burst, he could even complete the layout of the national instant messaging market, and then he could roll out the profit plan for QQ.

Thus, the method of building servers using PC technology in the low-end server market entered his sights.

He spent a whole day negotiating with the staff of the Inspur company's Dongou branch. When Song Chen proposed an order of no less than twenty PC servers for the next year, the Inspur branch staff were extremely skeptical, almost calling security to drive away this young but convincing fraudster! If it weren't for Song Chen showing his company's photocopies and ID card, these staff members in their twenties and thirties would never have believed that the twenty-something boy in front of them was the boss of a company with a registered capital of one million!

An order of twenty servers a year naturally gave Song Chen significant bargaining power. At this time, the scale of Inspur was still small, and the branch staff naturally hoped to secure this large order for Inspur. However, Song Chen, citing the short hardware update cycle and the performance of Inspur servers, only hoped to apply for one to try out first!

After the branch staff contacted the headquarters and received approval, Song Chen spent a whole day and finally got his first server. Inspur also promised to send staff with the server to Chenxing the next day to optimize and debug the QQ software.

At 9 PM on the 15th, the computer room was still full of people, and even more customers were standing behind to watch. When Song Chen returned to check the day's computer usage records, he unexpectedly found that although the company door was tightly closed, the dirty glass above was faintly lit by the blue light from the computer screens.

Considering that students like Qiu Lin occasionally worked very late and sometimes even slept there, Song Chen didn't pay much attention. However, after checking the accounts and collecting the day's revenue, he stayed in the store for a while and left at ten o'clock.

Just as he was about to go home, he looked up and saw the light still on inside. He hesitated for a moment, then took out his keys and went inside.

Perhaps some students were secretly installing games and playing. Although Song Chen wasn't a strict and stingy boss, he didn't want the students to be too reckless, especially when he was getting busier.

He originally thought there would be many students sneaking in, but when he opened the door and went in, he found it was eerily quiet with only one person inside!

Xu Xiaoying!

She was wearing headphones, facing the wall, and hadn't noticed Song Chen sneaking up behind her. Her slightly swollen eyes were fixed on the screen, and her small hands were quickly typing code. Under the light of the display, she looked serious and focused, completely unaware that someone was standing behind her.

Placing his hands on Xu Xiaoying's slightly thin shoulders, Song Chen asked with concern, "It's so late, why aren't you resting?"

Feeling the weight on her shoulders, Xu Xiaoying was startled and turned around. Seeing Song Chen, she took off her headphones and said in a daze, "Oh... I think the core and architecture of ICQ can be improved, so I want to rewrite it..."

"Then what about the others? Are they resting upstairs or back at school?" Song Chen asked, then realized he had asked a silly question. If they were resting upstairs, they wouldn't have gone to bed so early, at least not before dialing up to the internet until midnight!

"They went back! They have classes tomorrow morning!" Xu Xiaoying smiled.

It was only then that Song Chen noticed her still haggard face, just as it was when he first met her. He advised her with concern, "Although I care about the QQ project, there's no need to rush. Since we have an internal test version, we can update the features and bugs gradually! Don't be too anxious! Get some rest!"

Seeing Song Chen about to leave, the dazed Xu Xiaoying murmured, "I hope to complete the software as soon as possible..."

Song Chen, who was about to go home, frowned slightly and asked, "Why?"

Thinking of her family situation, he added, "Is it because of your family?"

Xu Xiaoying looked up at Song Chen with a sad expression and nodded lightly, smoothing her hair behind her ear. She said dejectedly, "Last time... I prepaid three months' salary from you, and I haven't even thanked you yet! So... I want to repay you!"

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