Spring Breeze Twenty Years

Chapter 1158 Computer Room

Several people came out of the guesthouse and onto the street.

A coal-selling trolley was parked by the roadside, and the coal seller, wearing a cotton hat, squatted down with his hands in his pockets, smoking.

Pedestrians on the street walked in twos and threes, hurrying along despite the heavy snow.

The entire town became indistinct in the heavy snow. Because there was no wind, the smoke from the chimneys on the rooftops became quite conspicuous, rising into the sky in varying thicknesses and colors, black or white, and swirling around as soon as the snowflakes reached them.

The air was filled with the smell of coal smoke; this was the smell of winter in this era.

The coal ash from the boiler room was pushed out and dumped on the snow. With a hiss, a puff of white smoke rose up. A group of children, carrying small baskets and using tongs made of bent wire, searched for coke in the coal ash pile.

"Candied hawthorns!" A loud, powerful cry rang out from afar.

"Pop!" "Oh~!" A group of children always gather in front of the popcorn stand, just to shout a few cheers the moment the popcorn is popped.

The roadside shops had their doors and windows tightly shut. The chimneys sticking out of the windows emitted heat, and various ice cream wrappers and children's toys hung inside the windows. The words "Public Telephone" were written in red pen next to the windows.

There are very few cars on the streets of the county town; it's rare to see one. But every now and then, a few mischievous kids run past, making a racket.

All the bungalows or buildings facing the road on the ground floor have become shops, with all sorts of big and small stores, all kinds of signs, and messy GG characters pasted on the doors and windows.

Although it's not yet New Year's Day, the county town already has a festive atmosphere, with firecrackers going off and every household busy cleaning, washing, and buying things for the New Year. This is the busiest time of year for all kinds of businesses.

This year, a new thing has started appearing on the streets: computer arcades.

There are several types of computer rooms: some for playing games, some for teaching people how to type, and some for copying, typing, and engraving GG (gift codes).

At this time, using self-adhesive lettering and simple graphics to stick on GG cloth became the mainstream for GG. From government announcements to roadside shop signs, this method was used everywhere. Making it into a tetrahedron and adding fluorescent tubes inside was the first generation of lightbox GG, which was quite a cool thing at the time.

At the end of 94, there was no internet, or rather, no public internet, and the internet speed was too slow.

The computer rooms were all connected by local area networks, with several or even a dozen computers linked together to play games, and that was all they could do. From then until 98, these local area network computer rooms were all the rage, and the high price of five yuan per hour allowed some daring individuals to get rich.

In 98, as public networks were gradually opened, these computer rooms became the first generation of internet cafes. Although they could only support BBS chat rooms, they were extremely popular.

Back then, home internet access was mostly 36K or 56K dial-up connections; 64K was simply unattainable.

At home, using a 56K modem for an hour costs about three to four yuan. At that time, there were two types of dial-up internet access: 163 and 169.

Internet cafes mainly use local area networks. To connect to the network, you have to apply to the owner. It costs 30 yuan per hour, later 20, then 25.

In 99, internet cafes upgraded their speeds. If an internet cafe plastered its glass doors with the phrase "512K-ISDN," it was incredibly impressive; it was hard to imagine how fast the internet speed must have been. Back then, learning Wubi typing was fashionable, and many people believed that mastering Wubi meant mastering computer skills.

Back then, internet fees had dropped to five or six yuan per hour, but you could only browse websites and go on BBS forums, mainly just chatting about random things. At that time, playing text-based martial arts games on BBS forums was incredibly popular.

Before 98, only ICQ allowed users to add friends and chat. In 98, various Chinese versions of ICQ were released. In 99, Tencent launched OICQ, which later became QQ. However, at that time, no one paid attention to it. Accounts were usually used once and then discarded, with new ones applied for the next time.

In 99, all applications were for six-digit phone numbers, but by 2000, they had become seven or eight digits, and a stable user base began to emerge. Back then, many people were doing this, but no one thought it would succeed or become a dominant force.

99 was also the year the first generation of online dating emerged, and online dating became a popular topic.

At the end of 94, computers were still a high-end item, computer rooms were the world of young people, and not many families owned computers.

Xiaohong said, "There's a computer room, want to go check it out?"

Qin Xuemei looked at it and said, "What can you do with that? It's boring." Xiao Wei has one at home, and she's tried tinkering with it before, but she's not really interested in it.

Xiao Hong said, "You can play games." To be honest, the games back then were so crude that they were almost unbearable to look at, but they excited a generation at the time.

Qin Xuemei reached out and hugged Xiao Hong: "I'm not going. If you say anything more, I'll spank you."

In the past, Qin Xuemei would never have made this move, much less threaten Xiao Hong. She would only obey or smile faintly. So Xiao Hong was stunned for a moment, and then felt as if the relationship between the two of them had suddenly become infinitely close.

"You dare threaten me? I don't care about being like you on the street right now. You wait until we get back, I'll show you what I'm made of, or you'll look down on me."

Qin Xuemei, still holding Xiao Hong, pointed ahead and said, "There's a cake shop over there. Shall we go get some cake?"

The group then walked over there.

There were no grocery stores along the way, but there were quite a few convenience stores. Xiao Wei asked at a few of them, but none of them had the old-fashioned red sausage.

The cake shop is located on the ground floor of a residential building. From the outside, the shop looks quite large, probably because it was converted by the owner. It has two double glass doors facing the street.

It's a pretty big sign, just a frame covered with a white GG cloth, with big red stickers that say: Good Luck Cake World.

Walking inside, the shop was deserted, with no customers, except for a young man and woman talking while warming themselves by an electric heater in the back.

The heating in the room wasn't very strong, so it was a bit cold.

"You're here? What are you buying? Is it for an elderly person's or a child's birthday?" The man stood up to greet him.

Xiao Wei said, "Are you the boss? Do you have any small pieces to eat here? Or hot drinks or something?"

The boss scratched his head: "There are four of you, how about a small one? We have drinks: Okra, Tang, chocolate, or even formula. What do you want?"

Xiao Wei glanced at the samples on display and said, "Okay, then make a 3-2. What would you like to drink?"

Xiao Hong said, "I want Tang, orange flavor. What would you like to drink, sis?"

Qin Xuemei said, "I'll make it with Guozhen too. Make it a little stronger, it won't taste good if it's too weak."

Wang Jiwei said, "I don't care, as long as it's warm. It's not warm in his room."

The shop owner said, "Brother, we can't make this shop too warm. If the butter gets too hot, it will melt and lose its shape. I have so many different shapes here. If they melt, it'll be a disaster. This is all real butter, and it's worth a lot of money."

This chapter is a make-up for yesterday's, not an extra chapter. Please subscribe and vote. Please support my new book.

(End of this chapter)