I met my whole family through Baidu Tieba.

As soon as Shi Qiongfeng arrived at the entrance of 307, Zheng Changhao came out to greet him with a smile.

"Boss Shi, it's been a while since I last saw you, and you seem to be in even better spirits."

Shi Qiongfeng smiled and replied, "Boss Zheng too, you look radiant. Looks like business has been good lately..."

After exchanging a few pleasantries, the two went into the 307 meeting room and sat down.

Zheng Changhao personally poured tea. After taking a sip, Shi Qiongfeng revealed the purpose of his visit: "Boss Zheng, our GG contract is about to expire, isn't it?"

Jung Chang-ho nodded. "Yes, it's almost due."

Shi Qiongfeng said, "I came here today to ask if, if this GG contract is to be renewed, could Boss Zheng lower the price a bit?"

Zheng Changhao's heart skipped a beat, but he still smiled and said, "Boss Shi, this isn't the first time we've been working together. For the past six months or so, the price has been the same."

Many of the businesses operating in the university campus are small businesses that only have one store. Very few businesses like Shen Kang's, which sign a six-month contract with GG, are so rare.

These small businesses usually sign contracts with GG for one or two months at a time. Some even buy GG slots by the day, which is quite normal.

Shi Qiongfeng is one such example.

The owner of Shi Ji Grilled Fish works on a monthly contract basis.

However, it seems that the investment in GG merchants on Yangbei Forum has paid off. Although no long-term contracts were signed, Shi Ji Grilled Fish still renewed its GG contracts every month when they were about to expire.

In previous contract renewals, Shi Qiongfeng had never mentioned hoping that Yangbei Forum would lower the GG fee; this was the first time he had done so.

"The past is the past, the present is the present, and the situation is different now."

Shi Qiongfeng sighed, looking very distressed. "As you know, there's a global financial crisis now, and everyone's short of money. My shop has been affected to some extent too. Every family has its own troubles..."

Shi Qiongfeng explained that business was affected, and hoped that Zheng Changhao would appropriately reduce the GG fee in consideration of their long-term cooperation.

After chatting with him for a while, Zheng Changhao finally made a decision, "...Boss Shi, we've been working together for so long, if you're in trouble, I'll definitely help. How about this, the new GG fee will be reduced by 10%!"

10% off?

Upon hearing this number, Shi Qiongfeng felt disdain and continued to haggle, eventually quoting a price that was basically half off.

Zheng Changhao naturally could not accept this price.

However, that's how business is: asking for the moon and then haggling over the price. The two continued to dawdle and negotiate, gradually moving closer to a psychologically acceptable middle ground.

However, after more than half an hour of wrangling, the two sides were ultimately unable to reach an agreement.

In the end, Shi Qiongfeng bid farewell with regret.

After leaving 307 and going downstairs, Shi Qiongfeng didn't leave. Instead, he sat on the electric scooter that had driven up, took out a pack of cigarettes from his pocket, lit one, and smoked while silently thinking.

The reason he suddenly asked Zheng Changhao to lower the price of GG today is because Beiming Community and Shiji Grilled Fish are GGs that can be done in Beiming Community.

That was just a few days ago.

At that time, a man named Lin Mian came to their store to promote the GG service of Beiming Community.

Shi Qiongfeng was in the store at the time and directly contacted Lin Mian.

"...Our Beiming Community is a unique campus forum. Although it hasn't been around for long, it has already driven Yangbei Forum out of the Yangke University campus..."

At the time, Shi Qiongfeng was dismissive and disbelieving of what Lin Mian had said.

He has been running his shop here for two years. He had previously witnessed the battle between Yangbei Forum and the student forum of Yangke University, and he also personally witnessed Yangbei Forum dominate the university town of Beilu District, and then had no rivals.

He naturally wouldn't believe it if a website suddenly appeared claiming they had driven Yangbei Forum out of Yangke University.

However, the other party spoke with such certainty and even said that they could come and see for themselves. Shi Qiongfeng hesitated for a moment, but then thought that it wouldn't hurt to take a look, so he took the other party to the office and went online to take a look.

After watching for a while, Shi Qiongfeng was surprised to find that the other party was not bragging!

The Yangbei Forum's Yangko University campus section is indeed very deserted, while the Beiming Community is quite lively. It seems that the Beiming Community has really driven the Yangbei Forum out of Yangko University.

This discovery made Shi Qiongfeng take the Beiming Community and the salesman Lin Mian in front of him more seriously, and he began to listen to what the other party had to say.

"...Our GG model differs from Yangbei Forum's; we use a three-party GG model..."

After learning about the GG (Girlfriend) model of the Beiming Community, Shi Qiongfeng found it quite interesting. Most importantly, this GG model wasn't expensive.

Moreover, this kind of content, which is not like a psoriasis but rather created through its own content and makes people read it spontaneously, is quite novel to Shi Qiongfeng, and he wants to give it a try.

So Shi Qiongfeng readily gave up and gave up.

Over the past few days, Shi Qiongfeng was pleasantly surprised by the results of the Google Ads campaign: from the perspective of the return on investment, the return on investment for Google Ads on Beiming Community is much higher than that on Yangbei Forum!

Shi Qiongfeng himself also conducted a special analysis on this matter and ultimately came to the following conclusion:

First, Shi Ji Grilled Fish has been plastering its ads on the Yangbei Forum for too long, and users are tired of it. Those students who might have come to try it out because of these annoying ads have already been there.

The Beiming Community is different.

Although judging from the results shown by Lin Mian, many of the people in Beiming Community were snatched away from Yangbei Forum, Shi Ji Grilled Fish, this new guy, has a different "guest position" in Beiming Community.

Many students who don't usually pay attention to the psoriasis GG position may notice Shi Ji Grilled Fish's GG because of this new GG format.

Therefore, although the main demographic has not changed much, the number of people who have seen the new GG of Shi Ji Grilled Fish has likely increased significantly, which is the core of the new customer base.

Secondly, there are the inherent advantages of this three-party GG model.

The kind of annoying guys on Yangbei Forum who openly tell you "I'm a guy" will make students subconsciously feel resistant.

Many people can't even tell that this third-party GG in the Beiming Community is GG!

This inherently reduces a lot of resistance, making people more susceptible to the influence of this kind of "GG" and thus more likely to come to the store to make a purchase.

In conclusion, this explains why my grilled fish restaurant has such a high return on investment when advertising on the Beiming Community.

Everything is subject to comparison.

After summarizing these points, Shi Qiongfeng felt uneasy looking at the Google Ads listings he had placed on the Yangbei Forum. He felt he had clearly invested more money on the Yangbei Forum, but the return on investment was lower than investing in Google Ads on the Beiming Community. If he continued to invest, wouldn't he be a sucker?

Of course, it doesn't mean he'll immediately withdraw his GG listings from the Yangbei Forum. If the price of GG on the Yangbei Forum can be appropriately reduced to a level that satisfies Shi Qiongfeng, he's still willing to list GG on the Yangbei Forum.

This is the purpose of Shi Qiongfeng's visit today.

Unfortunately, the deal fell through.

"If it didn't work out... then it didn't work out."

After thinking for a while, Shi Qiongfeng finished his cigarette, threw it on the ground, stepped on it, spun it around a few times, and then drove off on his electric scooter, heading back to the shop.

The owner of Beiming Community is still eating at his shop. He'll go back and have a few drinks with Shen Kang.

Upstairs, Zheng Changhao stood at the window, watching Shi Qiongfeng's departing figure on his bicycle, his brows furrowed.

Shi Qiongfeng is not the first.

In the past few days, two more merchants from the front street came to my door. One, like Shi Qiongfeng, said he wanted to talk about a price reduction for GG, but the deal fell through and he didn't renew the contract. The other one didn't even mention the price reduction for GG; he simply didn't renew the contract. He just came to say something to show sincerity, perhaps to pave the way for a possible return later.

"Shen Kang..."

Zheng Changhao muttered to himself.

Since discovering the Beiming Community, he had been keeping a close eye on Shen Kang's every move, and naturally he quickly discovered Shen Kang's GG actions.

When he first discovered this, Jung Chang-ho was very excited and wanted to copy it.

But he soon realized that he couldn't simply copy it all at once: Yangbei Forum and Beiming Community were different. If he wanted to copy this approach, he would need to learn from Beiming Community and start by redoing his personal homepage as a key section, adding many new features.

"This is quite a lot of work, especially since our website has been running stably for several years. Making such a change will take some time..."

When Wei Mingrui said this, his expression was very hesitant.

Zheng Changhao asked him how long it would take to finish, but Wei Mingrui didn't dare to give a guarantee. After hesitating for a while, he said that he needed to hire people and technicians, but he couldn't give a specific timeframe.

Zheng Changhao could only put aside his idea of ​​copying it immediately and let Wei Mingrui do it as soon as possible.

The new GG model can't be copied, and the things that Jung Chang-ho copied before didn't work very well either.

Previously, Zheng Changhao, following Shen Kang's example, wanted to encourage users from other schools on the Yangbei Forum to post more engaging content.

Users on the Beiming Community can teach fashion, yoga, and fitness; users on our Yangbei Forum can do the same! In fact, we have even more users! With such broad coverage, statistically speaking, the probability of producing engaging content is much higher.

But that's not the case.

With the official promotion and encouragement of Yangbei Forum, some students have indeed started posting similar content, but the number is very small, and their enthusiasm is significantly less than that of Beiming Community.

Jung Chang-ho quickly discovered the reason:

Ultimately, it all boils down to one word: "All the world's hustle and bustle is for profit."

Posting content on the Beiming Community attracts comments and likes, generating buzz. According to the Beiming Community's rules, this earns you "ghost coins" (virtual currency).

Ghost money, on the other hand, can be used as currency. Even if you don't use it yourself, you can sell it online.

So, this is profitable.

After the emergence of this third-party GG model, it became even more profitable: in addition to the in-game currency generated by the popularity, the release of this content also brought a lot of attention. And in the Beiming community, whether you can accept a third-party GG and the amount of the GG fee largely depend on the number of followers.

Therefore, the number of followers is also very valuable.

Such a dual economic stimulus naturally motivates many users to work harder to create engaging content.

However, the Yangbei Forum does not have such an environment.

Yangbei Forum is the traditional forum format it uses nowadays, making money entirely by selling Google Chrome.

Users try their best to create great content on the platform, but all they get is the psychological satisfaction of being seen and praised by more people. Nothing else.

The popularity, traffic, and economic value generated by them are all obtained by Yangbei Forum through selling GG (gifts), and they don't get a single penny.

Naturally, they didn't have the same level of motivation as the users of the Beiming Community to create content.

"How about we give them money too!"

When Wei Mingrui and Zheng Changhao came to this conclusion together, Wei Mingrui said this fiercely.

Jung Chang-ho cursed inwardly, "Giving you money? It's not your money, is it!"

Of course, most importantly, the money-giving model is unhealthy.

"He has the support of offline industries, which generate a steady stream of profits, so he can distribute money. But we don't have the support of offline industries, so we can't outspend him."

This was Zheng Changhao's response to Wei Mingrui's "money-giving theory".

But Wei Mingrui immediately found the key point: "We have a lot of GG slots! I've looked into it, and these third-party GGs are already cheap, so the money they can take from them is even less, far less than our GG fees."

"His physical stores can generate a continuous stream of profits for him, and our online advertising can also generate a continuous stream of profits for us. Let's compete with him."

Wei Mingrui's words made a lot of sense, and Zheng Changhao didn't know how to refute them for a moment, so he could only give a vague response.

To date, Zheng Changhao has still not paid the content creators of Yangbei Forum.

Zheng Changhao realized that it wasn't that he was stingy, but rather that as a leader, he had to consider the big picture and not just focus on one aspect: Did he need money to create the C2B2C secondhand textbook recycling platform that Shen Kang had mentioned? Did he need money to maintain the operation of the Yangbei Forum?

Also, Shen Kang's boyfriend is still listed in the best position on the Yangbei Forum homepage!

Will it cost money to resolve this?

Thinking of this, Zheng Changhao got angry, walked back to his workstation from the window, sat down, and saw the homepage of Yangbei Forum on the computer screen in front of him.

The guy on Xianyu.com is prominently displayed in the most eye-catching position.

Deceiving too much!

Zheng Changhao couldn't help but slam his hand on the table, seething with anger.

At that moment, Li Xiangang, one of the only employees of 305 and in charge of daily operations, finished pouring water and walked past Zheng Changhao with his water cup in hand.

Seeing Jung Chang-ho slam his fist on the table, and glancing at the screen on Jung Chang-ho's computer, Lee Heon finally couldn't help but say, "Senior Jung, you shouldn't have accepted this job in the first place."

Li Xian joined later and didn't experience the original forum war. He only heard about the forum war from Wei Mingrui, so Li Xian didn't have any special trust or admiration for Zheng Changhao.

Li Xian only saw that Zheng Changhao took on a gig, and then the gig's sponsor created a forum that drove their Yangbei Forum out of Yangke University.

Clearly, Zheng Changhao, as the leader, bears full responsibility.

If Zheng Changhao hadn't taken over that project, allowing the Beiming Community to continuously leech off Yangbei Forum, how could the Beiming Community have possibly driven Yangbei Forum out of Yangke University?

"..."

Upon hearing Li Xian's words, Zheng Changhao's face darkened slightly.

College students are indeed bold. Ye Jintong dares to confront Shen Kang every day, and Li Xian is the same, daring to directly criticize Zheng Changhao.

Fortunately, Wei Mingrui was currently working hard on his keyboard, striving to develop the personal homepage model that Zheng Changhao had mentioned.

Upon hearing Li Xian's words, Wei Mingrui looked up and quickly spoke up to smooth things over and try to maintain Zheng Changhao's authority: "No one could have predicted this. Who would have thought he would create a forum? Judging from that secondhand website alone, taking on this guy was the right decision."

"No matter what, things have to be resolved. We can't keep letting this guy be on our homepage forever."

Li Xian, who is in charge of daily operations, also shared some information: "It's not just Yangko University anymore. According to the backend data, even several other schools are showing signs of losing members."

"Those schools have absolutely no connection with the Beiming Forum. The only connection they have is this GG on our homepage. I looked through the logs and found that several people who reduced their logins or even stopped logging in had clicked on this GG, and their disappearances all happened after this. The timing matches up."

Upon hearing Li Xian's words, Zheng Changhao remained silent for a moment before finally standing up.

Dragging this out is tantamount to allowing the Beiming Community to leech off the Yangbei Forum, a form of slow suicide. This matter must be resolved first!

……

The grilled fish at Shen Kangjue Shi Ji is quite good, especially when the meal is free, it tastes even better.

Halfway through the meal, the owner, Mr. Shi, returned to the shop and had another round of drinks with Shen Kang.

After finishing their meal, everyone went back to school.

Ji Feiyan and the others went to class in the afternoon, while Shen Kang went off to do other things, including coordinating with the student union, discussing sponsorships, and working on promotional materials...

The next afternoon, Shen Kang arranged to meet Zheng Yaosheng to practice basketball at the gymnasium.

After all, even though there are top players protecting one player, you still have to play yourself, right?

Putting everything else aside, at least adjust your playing posture—Wang Pan actually said that his three-step layup looked like Old Wu from the village entrance had suffered a stroke!

Adjustments are necessary!

However, before Shen Kang even reached the stadium, he received a phone call. When he picked it up, he saw that it was Dai Qiu calling.

"Hello, Dean Dai."

Dai Qiu's voice came from the other end of the phone, sounding cheerful and with a hint of a smile, "Are you free now? I need to talk to you."

"Did you need something from me?"

Shen Kang thought for a moment and said, "Tell me what's up? I'm about to go practice basketball. I just signed up for the basketball event at this sports meet, and I'm planning to show off my skills."

"Sports meet? Basketball?"

Dai Qiu on the other end of the phone was stunned. Shen Kang seemed to hear him touching his bald head, a bit like wiping glass. "What nonsense is this?"

"The school is holding a sports meet in response to the national call to improve students' physical fitness. How could it be a mess?" Shen Kang said casually.

Dai Qiu didn't bother with his nonsense. "Alright, are you a regular student? Basketball and sports meets aren't for you. If you really want to get some exercise, why don't we spar a bit with some Taoist techniques?"

Mentioning this, Shen Kang perked up, "Sure! Dean Dai, do you have any friends who've recently opened a new shop? It's been a while since I've opened a jar, and I'm getting a little itchy to do it myself. How about we collaborate?"

Dai Qiu, on the other end of the phone, sounded somewhat tempted. "Now that you mention it, I'm actually a little itchy too. But it seems like none of my friends have opened a new store recently... Wait, did I call to talk to you about this?!"

Dai Qiu finally realized the topic had gone astray and quickly steered it back on track. "We have something important to discuss. Don't go to basketball practice this afternoon. Come to my place. Yangshang University has contacted our school, hoping to resolve the issue of your 'GG' comment on the Yangbei Forum. We need to discuss it together. They'll be here in a bit."

Dai Qiu couldn't stop laughing when she talked about it.

Ever since Shen Kang told him at the academic conference that he had started a forum, Dai Qiu had been paying attention to it. Not only did she make arrangements to get Shen Kang's office space approved as soon as possible, but she also started to follow up on Shen Kang's Beiming Community.

Dai Qiu even went so far as to scout out enemy positions and check out the Yangbei Forum.

Ever since the forum created by Yangke University's own students was defeated by Yangbei Forum, Dai Qiu has never looked at Yangbei Forum again.

This is the first time this has ever happened.

Dai Qiu was completely stunned after glancing at something on the Yangbei Forum homepage.

Xianyu is a convenient and fast second-hand trading website.

This was the first thing Dai Qiu saw on the Yangbei Forum homepage, the most eye-catching guy.

???

Wasn't Xianyu.com created by Shen Kang?

When Dai Qiu was paying attention to Beiming Community before, she knew very well that both Xianyu.com and Beiming Community were created by Shen Kang, and that Beiming Community and Yangbei Forum were enemies.

As a result, Yangbei Forum is now using the best spot on its homepage to give Xianyu.com a "GG" (Goblin)?

Moreover, you can also access the Beiming Community from your spare time online.

What kind of baffling behavior is this?

Has Jung Chang-ho gone mad? ...

Dai Qiu was completely bewildered at the time.

After being completely bewildered, Dai Qiu immediately called Shen Kang to ask what had happened and learned the whole story.

After hanging up the phone, Dai Qiu burst into laughter, laughing for a long time until snot bubbles came out of her nose.