Chapter 23

January 1, 2002.

In the entire 717 dorm, only Bian Xuedao hung a calendar by his bed.

He would glance at it before going to sleep and again when he woke up in the morning, using the phrase "time waits for no one" to motivate himself to work even harder. Of course, not to study harder, but to make more money.

Neither Li Yu, whom he considered a friend, nor Yu Jin, whom he considered a partner, knew how Bian Xuedao felt every day when he looked at the calendar.

Deep down, Bian Xuedao had a deeply hidden fear. He was afraid of missing the opportunities he knew were yet to come, and he was afraid that in 2014, he would still be a nobody, holding the winning lottery ticket but being played by the welfare lottery center that said "anything is possible"...

Bian Xuedao felt he was in a race against time, and his performance-enhancing drug was effective for 13 years.

Bian Xuedao before 2014 was a person with a cheat code, but after 2014, he would be just like everyone else. If he wanted to live comfortably for the rest of his life, it all depended on what he could achieve in these 13 years.

The development of the new cheat code went smoothly. Based on the features of invincibility, automatic targeting, and others, Bian Xuedao designed acceleration and enhanced attack functions. Although the price increased to 150, it still sold better than the first generation.

After discussing with Yu Jin, they decided to charge 100 for the 150 cheat code, and the remaining 50 would be distributed by the secondary sellers. In just half a month, thanks to Yu Jin's efforts, a three-tier sales system was formed.

At the end of the first semester of their freshman year, the two earned 56,000 yuan.

According to the ratio, Bian Xuedao took 44,000 yuan, and Yu Jin took 12,000 yuan. This was the first time Bian Xuedao, who had always lived on his salary, came into contact with a high-profit industry.

This time, Yu Jin didn't have any special reaction; he calmly discussed with Bian Xuedao and planned to return home later during the holiday. First, they would rent a house near the school, buy two second-hand computers, and develop more secondary sellers while the market was good.

After sending the others in the dorm off, the two found a house in the afternoon. It was very close to the school, on the second floor, with the first floor being a semi-basement.

The house was very old, estimated to be at least 30 years old. Bian Xuedao suggested looking for a better environment, but Yu Jin thought it was unnecessary. They just needed a place with constant electricity to put the computers and a bed, and they would still eat at the school cafeteria. Moreover, this house was very close to the dorm building, making it convenient to deal with dorm inspections.

The rent was 400 yuan per month, and Yu Jin signed a six-month contract.

After renting the house, Bian Xuedao called Wang Wenkai and asked him to check the prices of second-hand computers at the electronic market near the university. Wang Wenkai said he had a knowledgeable senior brother and would go and ask first.

The next day, Bian Xuedao, Yu Jin, Wang Wenkai, and Wang Wenkai's senior brother, who was surnamed Wen, bought two 80% new computers for 7,000 yuan through Wen's connections. Just as Yu Jin was about to leave with the computers, Wen's senior brother stopped him and brought Bian Xuedao and Yu Jin to the third floor where the computers were repaired.

There, Wen's senior brother opened the computer case, checked it again, and used his connections' equipment to test it. He pointed out a few issues and told Bian Xuedao and Yu Jin, "The computers you bought at this price will have some problems. I'll point them out now so you can use them more comfortably."

On the third floor, the two spent 500 yuan to replace a few parts.

Bian Xuedao knew that Wen's senior brother was genuinely helping them. He couldn't arrange the computers, so he gave 500 yuan to Wang Wenkai in front of Wen's senior brother, asking him to treat his senior brother to a good meal. Before leaving, Bian Xuedao and Wen's senior brother exchanged phone numbers.

The school was already on holiday, and Bian Xuedao and Yu Jin moved into the rented house.

The next day, Li Yu somehow found out they had moved out and came over. He refused to leave in the evening and insisted on staying the night.

Yu Jin, who spent all his time in the game, quickly discovered a crisis. Within a week, three cheat codes with functions very similar to theirs appeared online, and their prices were slightly lower.

Bian Xuedao didn't sit restlessly like Yu Jin. He knew that game cheat codes were a big pie, and even if others didn't come to snatch it, he and Yu Jin couldn't eat it all. The era of cheat code wars would eventually come, and the key was still the stability and functionality of the cheat codes.

Li Yu somehow got a steel bed and a set of bedding and settled in with Bian Xuedao and Yu Jin. Li Yu said he wanted to write a song for Li Xun and spent his days with a guitar, trying to find inspiration.

Unfortunately, Li Yu's singing was excellent, but his songwriting was terrible. Later, whenever Li Yu sang his own songs, Yu Jin wanted to scratch the walls and threatened to throw Li Yu's bed out if he sang again.

Bian Xuedao spent over ten days updating the cheat codes for "Stone Age" and "Millennium" and wrote a few small cheat codes for the most popular games on Lianzhong. He bundled these cheat codes with my123 and placed them on his newly created third website, woyou game forum, for people to download and use.

These cheat codes were free to download, but users needed to earn some forum activity points.

After a few more days, Bian Xuedao bought a train ticket home, leaving the house for Yu Jin and Li Yu to manage.

After arriving home, Bian Xuedao gave 3,000 yuan to his parents, saying it was money he earned by working at a classmate's company during the past few months.

In fact, including the 40,000 yuan he had withdrawn from the bank before returning home, minus the expenses, Bian Xuedao now had over 80,000 yuan, but he couldn't let his parents know about this money.

Bian's parents had worked hard for half their lives, and the family couldn't even come up with 80,000 yuan in cash. If he suddenly said he had earned 80,000 yuan in a few months, his parents would be worried and suspect that he had done something illegal.

The money Bian Xuedao earned was indeed gray, so he couldn't tell them.

Giving 3,000 yuan was to show his parents that he could earn money now, and they didn't need to worry about his tuition and living expenses for the next few years. They also didn't need to sell the house.

He called a few good classmates and visited some relatives with his parents. Then, Bian Xuedao started to read the programming books he had brought home.

During this period, Yu Jin called a few times. In the last call, Yu Jin said that more people were playing games during the holiday, and the cheat codes were selling well, but some of them had started to lower their prices. He asked if they should also lower their prices. After discussing, they decided to lower the price to 120.

On New Year's Eve, Bian Xuedao received many calls from his junior high school classmates, high school classmates, Dong Xue, Song Jia, Guo Dong, Zhou Hang, the dorm brothers, the girls from 603 dorm, Wang Wenkai, Wen's senior brother, and even the sophomore girl who played the harmonica at the association meeting.

A few days after the Spring Festival, Yu Jin called and told Bian Xuedao that the game had been updated, and the anti-cheat measures had been strengthened, making their cheat codes ineffective.

Yu Jin said he would take the train the next day and arrive in Songjiang in two days.

Bian Xuedao thought for a moment and decided to return to school as well.

This year's Spring Festival was late, and the school opened early. He would have to spend the Lantern Festival at school, and it didn't matter much whether he stayed at home for a few more days or not.

He told his parents that there was something at school, and he needed to return a few days early. They agreed but repeatedly reminded him to eat breakfast, not stay up late, and call home more often.

Bian Xuedao was the first to return to the 717 dorm. After putting his things away, he went to a small restaurant outside the school for dinner and brought a packed meal back to the rented house.

He lay on the bed for a while, opened the computer, and started to study the game updates.

When he encountered something he didn't understand, he sent the questions to Jinghai via QQ and then lay down to sleep.

In the middle of the night, the sound of fireworks woke him up. He turned on the monitor, but Jinghai hadn't replied yet. He ate a few bites of the meal and saw Li Yu's guitar hanging by the bed. He picked it up and idly played a few notes. He found Li Yu's self-written sheet music and tried to play it, but he realized Li Yu really had no talent for composing.

Bored, he opened QQ and looked at his friends, but he had no desire to chat. Subconsciously, he opened the search window, entered Xu Shangxiu's QQ number, and clicked search...

The avatar was actually lit up!!!

Bian Xuedao, who had been in a daze, suddenly became alert.

He immediately sat up straight, opened Xu Shangxiu's QQ profile, and saw that the avatar had been changed to a cartoon girl, and the nickname was "Bingbing."

Bian Xuedao's fingers trembled as he confirmed the friend request.

A few seconds later, the other party rejected it!

He tried again, and it was rejected again.

He kept trying, regardless of whether the other party was online or not.

Suddenly, the other party accepted.

Bingbing sent a message: "Who are you?"

Bian Xuedao stopped typing and thought for a moment, then said: "I'm your classmate."

Bingbing: "Classmate?"

Bian Xuedao: "Yes, I'm in Tianhe, in the same class as you."

Bingbing: "Oh."

Bian Xuedao cautiously asked: "Why are you still up so late?"

Bingbing: "I'm spending the holiday at a relative's house. Everyone is playing, and I'm in my room surfing the internet."

Bian Xuedao typed: "Xu Shangxiu."

Bingbing: "Ah! What for?"

It was Xu Shangxiu! It was Xu Shangxiu! In that instant, a flower bloomed in Bian Xuedao's heart.

Excited, Bian Xuedao couldn't help but say: "I miss you."

Bingbing: "..."

After a while.

Bingbing: "Are you Tao Qing?"

Bian Xuedao was a bit confused. Tao Qing? Who is Tao Qing?

Bian Xuedao: "No, I'm not."

Bingbing: "Go to sleep early, goodbye."

Bingbing went offline.

He found Shangxiu, finally found Shangxiu.

Bian Xuedao was so excited that he didn't know what to do. Although this was their first contact and Shangxiu mentioned a stranger's name, Bian Xuedao didn't care. He was only concerned that he had finally met Xu Shangxiu in this timeline. As long as this woman was in the world, it was his greatest gain and joy.

Bian Xuedao opened Xu Shangxiu's QQ profile and saw a sentence in the description: "I want a house, with a view of the sea and a garden full of flowers."

Bian Xuedao stared at this sentence.

A similar dream, Xu Shangxiu had told him after their marriage. It turned out she had this idea so early.

By the sea, a big house, a big garden...