Chapter 21

At the end of November, the school started ice skating classes.

On afternoons without classes, 717 would invite 603 to practice skating together.

Aifeng brought Nanjiao, Chen Jian brought Suyi, and Li Yu and Yujin circled around Li Xun. It was clear that although the relationship wasn't confirmed, the girls didn't dislike the boys from 717.

Bian Xuedao knew how to skate. Although he hadn't skated for many years, he quickly found his rhythm after playing for a while. Li Youcheng skated very well, and several times he quickly skated past Bian Xuedao and then turned to look at him.

Li Youcheng was good, but he wasn't the type Bian Xuedao liked. Besides, he was now fully focused on building his website.

Bian Xuedao sat on the steps at the edge of the rink, using the bag with his skates as a cushion. Suddenly, a crowd gathered on the opposite side of the rink. After a while, Li Youcheng skated over and said to Bian Xuedao, "Yujin and Aifeng are arguing with someone."

Bian Xuedao quickly got up and followed Li Youcheng to the scene.

It turned out that Aifeng had asked Li Yu, who skated very well, to teach Nanjiao, leaving Yujin to accompany Li Xun.

The two boys kept skating around Li Xun and deliberately knocked Yujin down, leading to an argument. Both dorms were involved, and the boys from the dorms gathered around.

Aifeng had a short temper and was about to start a fight, but Li Yu and Nanjiao held him back.

Nanjiao grasped the key issue. She told Aifeng that the boy who had knocked Yujin down was a sophomore from their department. They had organized a freshmen welcome party together, and the boy had asked their dorm to have a joint party several times. However, because Suyi and Li Xun disliked some of the boys in the other dorm for being too talkative and telling dirty jokes, they had refused.

By the time Chen Jian and Bian Xuedao arrived, the freshmen, who were tall and strong, had become a bit less aggressive, but they still pointed at Yujin and Aifeng, saying, "You two, watch your step."

The last person to arrive was a thin, long-haired boy with a hooked nose. The two sophomores said, "Second Brother, they cursed us and got aggressive after we accidentally knocked them down."

The boy with the hooked nose looked at Li Xun and Suyi, who were standing nearby, and stared at Chen Jian, asking, "Which department are you from? What year are you in? You're so aggressive. Haven't you ever been beaten up?"

Bian Xuedao carefully examined the boy with the hooked nose but had no memory of him.

Chen Jian turned to the girls from 603 and said, "You girls go change your shoes and head back to the dorm."

He then called Tong Chao to change his shoes and escort them.

Seeing the girls walk away, Chen Jian said, "I'm from the School of Management, 01st year, International Trade 1, living in 6A, room 717. My name is Chen Jian. I've never been beaten up and have always wanted to try it. If you have any ideas, come find me." Then he pulled the eager Aifeng and Yujin to change their shoes.

Li Yu, who had been silent all along, was the coolest. Before leaving, he said to the boy with the hooked nose, "6A, 717, remember that."

The seven of them had just changed their shoes and walked out of the rink when they saw Tong Chao running over, out of breath, holding a half-brick he had found somewhere.

Yujin walked over, put his arm around Tong Chao, and they walked back to the dorm together.

Not long after they got to the dorm, the phone rang. Suyi was looking for Chen Jian.

Chen Jian said "really nothing" several times on the phone.

Yujin sat on the bed with his arms crossed, "That guy definitely did it on purpose."

Chen Jian said, "Suyi just told me, those guys are sophomores from their department, and they were targeting their dorm."

Aifeng chimed in, "Next time we run into such people, don't argue with them, just kick them."

An hour later, the dorm's intercom rang, "Someone is looking for 717."

Yang Hao asked, "Who are they looking for?"

After a while, the aunt on the intercom said, "Anyone will do!"

They understood.

Everyone in the dorm, except for Bian Xuedao, stood up. Yujin even pulled out a telescopic baton from his bag.

Chen Jian said it wasn't necessary, as there were people downstairs, and the other side wouldn't dare do anything. They probably just wanted to make a date.

Aifeng said, "Don't all go down, it'll look like we're scared."

Chen Jian said, "The dorm leader and the fifth one will go with me."

Chen Jian's thinking was simple: Aifeng was the dorm leader, and Li Yu seemed to be the wealthiest.

Seeing Chen Jian call Li Yu, Bian Xuedao said, "I'll go down too."

Seeing that Bian Xuedao was going down, Chen Jian was very happy. He had always felt that Bian Xuedao was very independent and somewhat detached from the dorm. Now that he was going, his height alone would be very intimidating.

In the first-floor lobby, three boys were standing: the one who had knocked Yujin down, the one with the hooked nose, and a fat boy who was tall and fat, wearing small round glasses, and smiling.

Seeing Chen Jian and the others come down, the one who had knocked Yujin down pointed at them.

The fat boy still had a smile on his face but spoke rudely, "This afternoon, you were the ones cursing and trying to start a fight. I'm friends with the student council president of your department. If you don't want to get beaten up, find a place to apologize."

Chen Jian turned to Li Yu and asked, "Is there a good restaurant near the school hospital?"

Li Yu didn't understand what he meant and shook his head.

Bian Xuedao understood and said, "There's a good restaurant near the city's orthopedic hospital. The rehabilitation center is also nearby."

Chen Jian smiled brightly.

The fat boy stopped smiling and said to Bian Xuedao, "Let me tell you, I used to have a bad temper and have beaten up over ten people. I've only recently calmed down."

Bian Xuedao laughed and stepped forward, mimicking the fat boy's tone, "Let me tell you, I used to have a beard in high school and only shaved it off when I came to college."

The fat boy was so angry that his whole body trembled. "6:30, Lao Liubao Barbecue. If you don't come, you're a coward."

When Bian Xuedao and the others arrived at Lao Liubao Barbecue, the room was filled with smoke, and there were already over ten people sitting there.

Seeing them arrive, the fat boy opened three bottles of Erguotou and put them on the table, "I don't care who started it, who cursed first. Send one person to drink these three bottles, and you can leave. Otherwise, none of you are leaving."

Aifeng was about to grab a chair, but Chen Jian held him back, walked over, and picked up the three bottles of Erguotou, smashing them on the ground, "Drinking this would be bullying you. Boss, bring two cases of beer and two large beer glasses."

Chen Jian sat on a chair, put his foot on the beer case, picked up two bottles of beer, and opened them by clinking the bottle caps together, placing the beer on the table, "Send one person to drink a case of beer with me. After that, we can talk about other things."

The fat boy had a good drinking capacity, but he met his match in Chen Jian. Especially in this kind of rapid drinking, most people couldn't keep up.

By the 14th bottle, the fat boy had spewed out all the alcohol. Chen Jian, savoring the lamb skewers the boss had just brought, slowly drank two more bottles. Seeing that the fat boy was completely done for, Chen Jian put 300 yuan on the table and said to the sophomores, "Someone take him to the hospital."

After saying that, he called the 717 group to go back.

The boy with the hooked nose had a fierce look in his eyes, but seeing no one stand up, he sat back down.

At the dorm building, they saw Suyi, Li Xun, and Nanjiao.

Seeing that the 717 group had returned, the girls were relieved. Li Xun asked why Li Yu didn't have his phone, and Li Yu said it was inconvenient to carry it when he was out.

A few days later, a rumor spread around the school that the fat boy had been beaten up by the freshmen.

For a few days after that, the student council was stricter when checking the dorms, finding fault with everything. They caught Li Yu three times for not meeting the standards and threatened to issue a public reprimand if it happened again. Following Bian Xuedao's advice, Li Yu found an opportunity to give the department student council president two good packs of cigarettes. After that, the student council members who checked the dorms would just glance at 717 and leave.

Li Yu's computer greatly accelerated Bian Xuedao's progress in building his website.

December 14, 2001, was a historic day for Bian Xuedao. After working for half a month, he had completed the domain registration, hosting, filing, parsing, and uploading of his my123 and iyou websites.

Building my123 was something Bian Xuedao had been preparing for a long time, while building iyou was a recent decision.

Not long ago, Yujin had seen someone playing "Legend" in an internet cafe and quickly became addicted, neglecting even Li Xun and spending all his time in the cafe.

Seeing the obsessed Yujin, Bian Xuedao suddenly thought of Chen Tianqiao, who had made his fortune with "Legend," and Zhu Jun, who had started with "Mir," as well as the "World of Warcraft" that would later dominate the Chinese online game market and the booming online game industry. Bian Xuedao could still recall the photo of Zhu Jun showing off his 10 million yuan, hinting that he wasn't short of money.

The more he knew, the more depressed Bian Xuedao became. Even though he knew that the yet-to-be-released "Mir" was very profitable, he had no money to secure the rights. He vaguely remembered that Zhu Jun had used a million dollars to secure "Mir," but he couldn't even come up with 10,000 yuan. Even if his parents sold everything they had, they could only get about 100,000 yuan.

Find venture capital? Forget it.

Looking at his simple iyou website, Bian Xuedao thought for a long time. He tried to recall the development paths of 17173 and 5173 and didn't make a hasty decision. Rationality told him that it was best to focus on building my123 first.

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