Chapter 0246: Reward

In fact, the most pitiable aspect of human nature is that when people desperately want something in their hearts, they pretend on the surface that nothing is the matter. This is called saying one thing and meaning another.

And those who are most guilty of this are undoubtedly the Chinese.

This is deeply rooted in the Confucian education that the Chinese nation has received for thousands of years. From childhood, whether it's our parents or teachers, they teach us to be modest and prudent, to learn to be tolerant and forgiving.

But after entering society, the post-80s and post-90s generations find that the more modest and prudent they are, the more they tolerate others, the more they are bullied.

Taking advantage of others' goodwill has become a problem many have to face.

For example, in a competitive sports match, both sides want to win, but our commentators and team propaganda all talk about friendship first, competition second. They say things like training the team, letting players learn from the opponents' advanced experience.

That's complete bullshit, isn't it?

In competitive sports, being weak is the original sin.

If you can't beat others, you deserve to be crushed. What's this about learning experience? This isn't an exam. What experience is there to learn? The experience of failure?

"Alright, stop hiding it. I'll give you a task." Zhao Fusheng thought for a moment and said to the few staff members, "Starting now, go to various forums, especially school BBSs, and post content promoting our website. When the number of registered users reaches the target I set, I'll reward each of you with two months' salary."

Their current salary was six hundred yuan per month, so two months' salary was twelve hundred yuan. With Zhao Fusheng's words, their eyes lit up, clearly very tempted.

That was twelve hundred yuan—in other words, a third of their tuition fees.

Students who came out to work at this time were not only business-minded but also short of money.

With the chance to earn a third of their tuition, their eyes turned red. Even Zhao Fusheng himself hadn't expected such a good effect.

Watching the young people rush into the room and start logging onto forums on their computers, Tan Kaixuan gave Zhao Fusheng a thumbs up: "You're awesome!"

To be honest, he really hadn't expected that Zhao Fusheng could drive these people completely crazy with just a few words.

Zhao Fusheng shrugged and said quietly, "Money moves people."

Tan Kaixuan was speechless for a long time, then nodded gently.

He wasn't stupid. Zhao Fusheng's words were absolutely right; that was exactly how it was.

As the saying goes, generous rewards bring out brave men. These people weren't usually lazy, but if working a bit harder could earn them more pay, no one would choose to slack off.

After all, who would want to be at odds with money?

"By the way, is Wang Zhen asleep?" Wen Yu asked Zhao Fusheng.

Zhao Fusheng hummed in response: "He's asleep. He's been exhausted these days."

"But seriously, I didn't expect this thing you guys made to be so fun," Wen Yu said. He had tried it out for a while and found that this virtual community was really interesting, giving people a feeling of managing their own lives.

Zhao Fusheng smiled. Some things others didn't know, but he was well aware that as history developed along its trajectory, people would gradually become accustomed to seeking spiritual solace on the internet.

This kind of virtual community was just a beginning. When even stealing vegetables could become a trend, that would truly mark the arrival of the internet age.

…

…

After chatting with his two unscrupulous roommates for a while and seeing that it was getting late, Zhao Fusheng dragged Wen Yu and Tan Kaixuan to a Korean restaurant near the school for a meal. Afterward, Wen Yu went to the studio, while Zhao Fusheng and Tan Kaixuan returned to the dormitory.

The four of them had agreed that at least one person should stay there every day, in case anything came up and they needed to be contacted.

Of course, this was only a temporary measure. Once the website was on track, Zhao Fusheng was considering whether they should register a company.

"Register a company?"

Hearing Zhao Fusheng's words, Wang Zhen, who had just woken up, was still a bit groggy.

"Yes, I think we can give it a try," Zhao Fusheng said to Wang Zhen. "MyHome is growing fast. If the current trend continues, I believe it won't be long before we reach hundreds of thousands of registered users."

"Hey... how is that possible?" Before Wang Zhen could speak, Tan Kaixuan waved his hand and said absurdly, "How many internet users are there in the whole country? Even if yours is a hit, getting eighty or a hundred thousand registered users is already impressive. Hundreds of thousands? The servers would crash."

Clearly, in his view, Zhao Fusheng's words were nothing but wishful thinking.

Zhao Fusheng smiled and said to Tan Kaixuan, "How about making a bet with me?"

"A bet?" Tan Kaixuan looked at Zhao Fusheng in confusion. "What do you mean? How do we bet?"

Zhao Fusheng tilted his head, thought for a moment, blinked, and said, "Let's set a six-month deadline. If within six months, MyHome reaches five hundred thousand users, you have to promise me three things. If not, I'll promise you three things. Deal?"

"What things?" Tan Kaixuan asked directly. He didn't ask why Zhao Fusheng proposed this bet, but instead asked what the three things were.

Zhao Fusheng laughed heartily: "Don't worry, they definitely won't go against your principles or make you run naked or anything. So, do you dare?"

"Haha, are you kidding? Do you think I'm afraid of you?" Tan Kaixuan waved his hand grandly. "It's a bet! Old Wang, you be the witness!"

Wang Zhen nodded: "Alright, I'll be the witness."

Zhao Fusheng glanced at Tan Kaixuan and sighed silently in his heart, saying nothing more.

Some things were not yet the time. He just hoped that this almost joking bet would be able to save him when the time came.

After chatting for a while, Tan Kaixuan went back to studying his finance books diligently. Zhao Fusheng couldn't be bothered to say anything and just let him be.

The inertia of history sometimes truly cannot be changed by anyone's will. Even though Zhao Fusheng had tried to prevent Tan Kaixuan from following the same path as in his previous life, unfortunately, he ultimately couldn't stop him.

After a simple wash, Wang Zhen perked up a bit. He called Dong Chenxi to report the good news to his girlfriend, then turned to Zhao Fusheng.

"Old Zhao, what do you think? Does our virtual community need any additional features?" Wang Zhen asked Zhao Fusheng.

Zhao Fusheng tilted his head and thought. He had initially planned to add features like stealing vegetables from his memory, but on second thought, he realized it wasn't necessary.

So he said to Wang Zhen, "I think basically nothing needs to be added. At most, we could add a marriage function. If the intimacy level between a male and female player reaches a certain point, we allow them to become a couple."

"But how do we determine the intimacy level?"

"Simple, by exchanging gifts. Um, and also by online time—for example, if two people spend time together doing something online for a certain duration, that counts as increasing intimacy." Zhao Fusheng tried his best to convey some elements from games he had played in his previous life to Wang Zhen.

In fact, this MyHome had many similarities with some online games that would come later, but given the underdeveloped internet technology of the time, the functions of this virtual community were limited to this.

And most importantly, Zhao Fusheng never intended to make this thing last long. Once someone wanted to buy it, he would definitely sell both the users and the website as a package.

No one understood the severity of the internet bubble better than Zhao Fusheng. It was a storm that swept the globe, affecting seventy to eighty percent of internet companies. Although most survived due to small investments and scale, the bitterness was known only to the entrepreneurs themselves.

Zhao Fusheng didn't want to face Wang Zhen every day with worried expressions, longing for the arrival of spring.

He was reborn to enjoy life, not to suffer.