Reborn in 2000, starting from the university website

The weather in Guangzhou is completely different from that in Beijing. The hot April wind carries a layer of sticky humidity that clings to your body and feels rather uncomfortable.

Following the address given by Zhang Xiaolong over the phone, Bai Yuhang found his way to an old street in Yuexiu District.

There are no high-end office buildings here, only banyan trees growing wildly on both sides, their aerial roots hanging down and brushing against the heads of passersby.

He found a small coffee shop called "Blue Harbor". The neon signs on the sign were missing two of the three-dot water radicals, making it look a bit desolate in the daytime.

As I pushed open the door and went inside, the wind chimes rang once, and the aroma of coffee mixed with a strong smell of tobacco wafted towards me.

There weren't many people in the store. Bai Yuhang could see all the way to the bottom and saw a man in a gray T-shirt sitting in a corner by the window.

The man had slightly long, messy hair, glasses perched on his nose, a small mountain of ashtrays piled up in front of him, and a freshly lit Kent cigarette between his fingers.

He stared at the screen of a laptop in front of him, but his eyes weren't focused on the code; he seemed to be daydreaming.

Zhang Xiaolong.

He single-handedly created Foxmail, which had two million users, but he became penniless because he insisted on keeping it free. In the end, he had no choice but to sell his "own son" to Boda Company for 1500 million, becoming a tragic hero through and through.

Bai Yuhang didn't rush over. He ordered two Americano iced coffees at the bar and carried them to him.

Is anyone here?

Zhang Xiaolong didn't look up, but simply pulled his backpack, which was on the chair opposite him, further inside, and exhaled a smoke ring: "Nobody's here."

Bai Yuhang sat down and pushed one of the coffee cups towards him.

"Mr. Zhang doesn't look like someone who just received over ten million yuan in cash; he looks more like a college student who just broke up with his girlfriend."

Zhang Xiaolong paused for a moment while holding the cigarette, and finally looked up.

His eyes behind the glasses were bloodshot, giving off an aloof and unapproachable aura.

"You're the college student Zhang Lei introduced?" Zhang Xiaolong's voice was hoarse, clearly from years of staying up late and smoking. "You came all this way just to laugh at me?"

"I wouldn't call it mockery, but I'm definitely envious." Bai Yuhang leaned back in his chair, looking at the dappled shadows of the trees outside the window. "Over ten million. That's enough to buy several buildings in Guangzhou and collect rent. You could live comfortably for the rest of your life without spending it all. How many programmers spend their whole lives coding and don't even earn a fraction of that amount?"

"Yeah, lying down." Zhang Xiaolong chuckled self-deprecatingly, stubbing out his cigarette in the ashtray with a bit too much force, sending sparks flying. "Foxmail was sold, and the people at Boda took over the code. They say they're going to add Google Play, pop-ups, and monetize the traffic. My two million users will have to watch a random 'GG Mass Sale' for ten seconds before opening their emails."

He pulled out another cigarette, but didn't light it; he just twirled it between his fingers: "I sold my child into a brothel, and then came out with the money to squander. That feeling is pretty 'cool'."

Bai Yuhang stared intently at him.

Zhang Xiaolong at this time is not yet the father of WeChat who would later become a legend; he is currently in the painful period of his idealism being shattered by the realities of capitalism.

"So you want to hide?" Bai Yuhang asked. "Zhang Lei told me you're going to America, or maybe you'd better find some remote mountain village to live in seclusion?"

"Is it not allowed?" Zhang Xiaolong retorted. "I don't need the money anymore, and I don't want to see the code I write become a tool for making money. I'm tired."

"The tool itself isn't wrong; the problem is how it's used." Bai Yuhang leaned forward, his fingers lightly tapping the table. "Foxmail is just an email client; it's an isolated island. Users use it and leave, there's no retention, no social interaction, and all that's left is old, archived emails. So it can only monetize by selling itself. But what if... we built a bridge to this isolated island?"

Zhang Xiaolong stopped lighting his cigarette, the flame of the lighter dancing in the air: "What do you mean?"

"I just acquired OICQ and am preparing to rename it QQ," Bai Yuhang said calmly and resolutely. "Including my Renren.com, I now have over four million young users. But I'm missing something."

"What's missing?"

"We're missing a soul that can truly 'stick' these people together." Bai Yuhang looked directly into Zhang Xiaolong's eyes. "Pony Ma writes solid code, but he has an engineer's mindset, not a product manager's mindset. What I want to create is not just a chat application, but an ecosystem. I want you to integrate QQ, email, and the community. Not just to add GG, but to make users feel that this thing is an organ that's part of their body."

Zhang Xiaolong fell silent.

He stared at Bai Yuhang, seemingly assessing how much of the young man's words were true and how much were false.

"How old are you? A freshman?" Zhang Xiaolong laughed again, this time with less coldness in his laughter. "You've got quite the nerve. Do you know how technically difficult it is to connect these three things?"

"Technology isn't the problem, aesthetics is. To reiterate, to be precise, I'm a college dropout," Bai Yuhang pointed to the cigarette in Zhang Xiaolong's hand, "You pursued ultimate simplicity in Foxmail, and so did I. The QQ I want isn't some fancy GG brand; it's an extremely simple connector. No one in the country but you can handle this job."

Zhang Xiaolong didn't say anything, but simply lit a cigarette and took a deep drag.

Amidst the swirling smoke, something seemed to be reviving in his once lifeless eyes.

Just then, Bai Yuhang's Nokia 3310 on the table suddenly vibrated, making a muffled "buzzing" sound on the wooden table, with a persistent and unyielding energy.

Bai Yuhang glanced at the screen; it read Jiao Liwei.

He answered the phone, and before he could even say a word, Jiao Liwei's low, loud voice came through the receiver, accompanied by the background noise of keyboard typing.

"Sixth Brother! Something's happened! Did you hear that?"

"The sky has fallen?" Bai Yuhang remained calm and unhurried.

"It's more exciting than the sky falling!" Jiao Liwei said urgently. "In the past half hour, the landline in Hailong Building has rang eight times. Robin Li's assistant from Baidu and Ding Lei's secretary from NetEase both called. They somehow got hold of our backend data and say they want to meet with you to discuss 'deep cooperation.' Judging from this, it's like a weasel offering New Year's greetings to a chicken—they've got their eyes on our Renren.com and OICQ, those juicy pieces of meat!"

The phone call was slightly off, but Zhang Xiaolong, who was sitting close by, overheard most of it.

He raised an eyebrow, a hint of amusement in his eyes as he looked at Bai Yuhang.

Baidu, NetEase.

This is a rising star in the internet world right now.

Bai Yuhang held the phone, a slight smile playing on his lips: "Tell them I'm busy having coffee in Guangzhou right now, I don't have time."

"Huh? No time?" Jiao Liwei was stunned on the other end of the phone. "Sixth Brother, these are Li Yanhong and Ding Lei! Shouldn't we...?"

"We're not ready yet," Bai Yuhang interrupted Jiao Liwei. "Tell them they can talk about cooperation, but they have to wait until I return to Beijing and come to the Hailong Building with sincerity. Right now, we're not giving anyone face."

After hanging up the phone, Bai Yuhang tossed his phone onto the table and looked at Zhang Xiaolong, who was clearly intrigued.

"It seems Mr. Bai's business is bigger than I imagined." Zhang Xiaolong flicked his cigarette ash. "Even these gentlemen can't sit still anymore."

"They're restless because they're overthinking things." Bai Yuhang picked up his cold coffee and took a sip, the bitterness spreading in his mouth. "They don't just treat users as traffic, they treat them as韭菜 (a metaphor for being exploited). Robin Li wants to sell Google and its search box service, and Ding Lei definitely wants to get into SP (Service Provider) SMS charging. But I'm not ready yet."

Bai Yu stood up and extended his hand to Zhang Xiaolong.

"Teacher Zhang, do you want to take over ten million yuan and let it rot in some remote mountain village, watching these people turn the domestic internet into a giant marketplace; or do you want to come back to Beijing with me, and we'll pull off a big heist, teaching these big shots what true 'connecting the world' really means?"

Zhang Xiaolong looked at the hand extended in front of him. It was young and powerful, and the lines on the palm seemed to hold some unknown landscape, or perhaps a storm.

He paused for three seconds, stubbed out the half-smoked Kent cigarette in the ashtray, grabbed his backpack, and stood up.

"Will you reimburse my airfare?" Zhang Xiaolong asked.

Bai Yuhang smiled: "Of course."