Chapter 170 Taking a Big Step

In late February, the sky over Huizhou is always gloomy.

After a spring rain, the wind carried moisture that seeped into every crevice of my bones.

Chen Zhuo pushed open the door to dormitory 215.

The lights were off inside, making it rather dim.

Yang's sliding door was half open. Wang Dayong was standing on a chair, struggling to tie a red nylon rope to the bed frames on both sides. Hearing the door open, Wang Dayong turned around.

"You're back?"

Wang Dayong smiled, quickly tied a tight knot in the rope in his hand, jumped off the chair, and wiped his hands on his trouser leg. "Yeah, just arrived."

Chen Zhuo pushed his suitcase into the house and closed the door behind him.

"The weather in the south is really strange. It doesn't look like it's snowing, but it's so cold that your bones ache."

Wang Dayong came over and helped Chen Zhuo place his suitcase flat on the empty space between the two desks.

"Was the train delayed?"

"More than half an hour late."

Chen Zhuo took off his coat and draped it over the back of the chair, stretching his somewhat stiff shoulders.

"The train was crowded, so crowded that there wasn't even a place to stand. The whole carriage smelled of instant noodles and orange peels."

Wang Dayong nodded in deep agreement.

"It's the same on my train. The aisle was full of standing tickets, and I actually managed to fall asleep next to the handwashing station in the middle of the night."

Chen Zhuo smiled, squatted down, and unzipped the suitcase.

When the box was opened, besides a few changes of clothes, most of the space was filled with plastic bags and bottles of various sizes. "Dayong, what were you busy doing on the balcony just now?"

As Chen Zhuo took things out, he casually asked.

"Hanging meat".

Wang Dayong pointed in the direction of Yang.

"I brought some red sausage from my hometown, as well as two pieces of cured pork that my mom smoked herself. I was worried they would spoil if I put them in the box, so I quickly took them out and hung them in a ventilated place to air them out. You know, even though it's cold in the south, it's easy for things to get damp, so I have to keep an eye on them."

Chen Zhuo glanced in the direction he pointed, and sure enough, several strings of cured meat were hanging on Yang's rope, with a faint smoky aroma wafting in the air. "It's good, it smells delicious."

Chen Zhuo took out several cylindrical objects from the bottom of the box, which were wrapped tightly in layers of old newspapers, and placed them on his desk. Inside were four large glass jars.

"What's this good stuff?"

Wang Dayong came closer and looked at him curiously.

"My mom made this sauce herself."

Chen Zhuo pointed to the items in the glass bottle and introduced them to Wang Dayong one by one.

"These two bottles are beef chili sauce, with crushed peanuts and sesame seeds in them. This bottle is pickled radish strips, perfect with white porridge in the morning. And this one is savory sauce." Chen Zhuo took a bottle of beef sauce and pushed it directly onto Wang Dayong's table.

"Here, try my mom's cooking. If you're tired of the cafeteria food, just mix this with rice."

Wang Dayong didn't hesitate and reached out to take the heavy glass bottle.

He twisted the lid hard, and a rich aroma of chili oil mixed with the fragrance of beef and dried chilies instantly filled the dormitory. Wang Dayong swallowed hard and quickly screwed the lid back on.

"Auntie's cooking is amazing. Just smelling it makes me want to eat two extra bowls of rice for lunch."

Chen Zhuo smiled and continued taking things out of his suitcase.

Besides these bottles, there was also a bulging, large red plastic bag in the box.

That was given to him by Zhang Qiang before he left, as a way of thanking him for his dedicated tutoring during the winter break.

Chen Zhuo opened the plastic bag, revealing a colorful array of items: Little Raccoon Crispy Noodles, Want Want Rice Crackers, White Rabbit Milk Candy, and even two packets of spicy strips. Chen Zhuo placed the bag open on the corner of the table.

As the two were tidying up, there was a sudden knock on the door across the hall.

The sound of slippers scraping against the floor came from the corridor.

His voice was slow and weak, conveying a sense of impending death.

Immediately afterwards, the door to room 215 was pushed open from the outside.

Chu Ge appeared at the door.

Her hair was a mess, like a bird's nest, with a few strands stubbornly standing on top of her head.

What's most frightening is his complexion.

His already pale skin now had a bloodless, deathly pallor. Dark circles hung beneath his eyes, and his lips were dry and even chapped. He looked like a zombie who had spent a week straight in an internet cafe.

Chu Ge stood at the door, his nose twitching twice, clearly having smelled the meat sauce aroma that had wafted out when Wang Dayong opened the bottle.

Without saying a word, he walked straight to Chen Zhuo's table in his slippers, reached into the red plastic bag and pulled out a packet of Little Raccoon instant noodles. He tore open the packaging, didn't even crush it, just broke off a large piece and stuffed it into his mouth, chewing it with a loud crunch.

"I'm starving..."

Chu Ge chewed while mumbling incoherently.

Chen Zhuo stopped tidying his clothes and turned to look at Chu Ge's face.

He didn't seem surprised at all; he simply picked up his glass, walked to the thermos, and poured half a cup of steaming hot water. Chen Zhuo handed the glass to Chu Ge, making a gentle, teasing remark.

"Eat slowly, what's wrong? Did the stress test during the Lunar New Year not kill you? It's only the beginning of the semester, and the feng shui of our university seems to be a bit draining of yang energy, doesn't it?" Chu Ge took the water glass, swallowed two mouthfuls of instant noodles in quick succession, and almost choked.

He tilted his head back and took a big gulp of warm water before letting out a long breath.

Upon hearing Chen Zhuo mention the New Year, a spark ignited in Chu Ge's eyes.

He pulled over a chair next to Chen Zhuo and sat down heavily, squeezing the instant noodle bag in his hand so hard it rattled.

"We've weathered the stress test during the Lunar New Year holiday."

Chu Ge gritted his teeth, his tone full of resentment.

"Thanks to the discrete matrix algorithm you taught me over the phone, we cut off most of the concurrency redundancy, and the server didn't deadlock on New Year's Eve." "That kid Wang Xing, with that surge in user data and activity during the Spring Festival, ran around Beijing like crazy, pulling strings to meet investors." Chu Ge sighed and threw the remaining half of the pancake into his mouth.

"He actually got lucky and managed to snag an angel investment."

Wang Dayong hung up the cured meat, clapped his hands, walked over, and chimed in.

"Isn't that a good thing? You've secured investment! Your makeshift team is now a legitimate company, and you won't have to pay for electricity and code here anymore." "Good my foot!"

Chu Ge suddenly raised his voice, his emotions suddenly becoming agitated.

He crumpled the empty packaging bag in his hand into a ball and threw it into the wastebasket under the table.

"That bastard went completely insane after getting the money!"

Chu Ge stood up and paced back and forth in the aisle.

"It's only 2004! What was the internet environment like in China then?"

Chu Ge turned his head and stared at Chen Zhuo.

"He saw NetEase doing blogs, and he saw that there was a website in Korea called Saiwo.com that did a photo wall, and he got envious! He called me at three o'clock last night, like he was on steroids." "He said there are too many alumni directories online now, and we need to differentiate ourselves. He's not satisfied with just letting users post on it to find old classmates." Chu Ge ran his fingers through the list to Chen Zhuo.

"He insisted on adding a photo upload function to our rudimentary website."

"We also need to add a journal feature so users can write diaries on it."

"The most outrageous thing is that he was jealous of how much money 00show makes, so he insisted that I put a virtual coin system in it! Let users recharge and buy virtual background music and virtual clothes and accessories for their homepage!" Chu Ge became more and more distraught as he spoke, running his hands into his messy hair and scratching it hard.

"Does he think this is The Sims?!"

Chen Zhuo leaned against his wardrobe door, his arms crossed over his chest, looking somewhat lost in thought.

"Our basic database was originally a makeshift, cobbled-together mess."

Chu Ge walked to Chen Zhuo's table, picked up the water glass on the table, took another sip of water, and forcibly suppressed the anger in his heart.

"Back then, to save time, we used only simple relational linear lists. A user ID corresponded to a school name, and then to a comment, which barely allowed for cross-referencing of text." "And now?"

Chu Ge pointed to the air, as if there were an invisible system architecture diagram there.

"He's adding so much random, unstructured data! Images, audio, all sorts of custom avatar tags."

"With hundreds of people online simultaneously, uploading photos to one person's profile, leaving comments on another's blog, and then disliking each other, the original linear list simply couldn't handle such complex concurrent logic; the data was completely messed up!"

The blood vessels in Chu Ge's eyes turned even redder.

"During the peak access period around 8 or 9 pm, the database CPU goes up to 100%! The server alarms are like air raid sirens. These past few days, I've been investigating related bugs, and even when I close my eyes, all I can think about is gibberish and save/load statements."

"If we keep going like this, our own servers will burn out before anyone else can compete with us."

After finishing his long speech, Chu Ge seemed to have used up his last bit of strength and slumped back into his chair.

The room finally quieted down.

Wang Dayong stood to the side, completely bewildered.

He was a physicist and knew almost nothing about the databases and servers Chu Ge was talking about; he could only look at Chu Ge's miserable state with pity. Chen Zhuo remained in the same position leaning against the cabinet door.

He walked to the table, picked up the jar of meat sauce for himself, unscrewed the cap, smelled it, and then tightened it again.

"Chu Ge".

Chen Zhuo's voice was soft and steady, carrying a warmth that could instantly calm people down.

Chu Ge raised his head, his bloodshot eyes looking at Chen Zhuo.

"What you're doing now is like setting up a food stall on the roadside."

Chen Zhuo placed the glass bottle in his hand on the table.

"You can't even cook a simple plate of fried rice properly, and customers have to wait forever to order it."

Chen Zhuo turned his head and looked into Chu Ge's eyes.

"At this point, Wang Xing insisted that you add a Manchu Han Imperial Feast to the already greasy menu."

"Do you think this stove will explode?"

Chu Ge was stunned.

Chen Zhuo pulled out a chair and sat down opposite Chu Ge.

"Chu Ge, step outside the code and think about what your website is actually for."

Chen Zhuo's tone was very calm.

"When people go online and register for their alumni websites, is it to buy clothes or to listen to background music?" Chen Zhuo shook his head.

"No, they went up there to look for someone."

"Looking for my junior high school deskmate, my high school crush, and my college bunkmate."

"The essence of social interaction is the connection between people. Right now, you haven't even smoothed out the basic pathway of how to let someone find their friend's friend as quickly as possible. If there are even a few people, it will get congested and crash." Chen Zhuo looked at Chu Ge, who was deep in thought.

"At this time, there is no point in dressing them up in virtual clothes and posting photos online."

"They're rushing to build skyscrapers before even laying a solid foundation. Even if they manage to build one, it's only a matter of time before it collapses in the wind." After saying this, Chen Zhuo picked up the kettle and poured himself a cup of hot water.

He didn't say another word.

Chu Ge sat in the chair, not moving for a long time.

Yes.

Even finding someone is slow, and even the most basic messages are often lost. Who are all those fancy value-added services for?

Technology serves demand. When the demand itself is a false proposition, every line of code written by a programmer is contributing to the grave of the future. Chu Ge took a deep breath.

The confusion in his eyes disappeared, replaced by a resolute determination.

"you're right."

Chu Ge suddenly stood up, the chair leg scraping against the floor with a screeching sound.

"They didn't even cook the fried rice properly, what kind of Manchu Han Imperial Feast are they making?"

Chu Ge rubbed his face and smoothed his messy hair back.

"I'll call him right now."

Chu Ge gritted his teeth.

"I'm going to give this bastard a good talking to today. If he dares not cut these ridiculous requirements, let whoever wants to write this crappy code write it. I'm not putting up with it anymore." With that, Chu Ge turned and walked out the door.

As he reached the door, he suddenly stopped and turned to look at Chen Zhuo.

"Thanks, Brother Zhuo."

Chu Ge grinned, revealing his first smile in days, his chapped lips parted.

Then, without looking back, he rushed out of 215, his hurried footsteps echoing down the corridor.

Chen Zhuo sat at his desk, picked up his cup, and took a sip of hot water.

Watching Chu Ge's figure disappear through the doorway, Chen Zhuo smiled helplessly.

Chu Ge always carried a reckless and impulsive spirit.

Wang Dayong watched all this from the sidelines, somewhat bewildered.

"He's gone already? His problem is solved?"

Wang Dayong asked, puzzled.

"Maybe."

Chen Zhuo put down his water glass, stood up, and prepared to wash his hands and face.