While Qin Xizhen's Tianxing Music was "not doing its job" and was working on the patent deployment and authorization of the Xuanling Ringtone business, CQ's development this year was also quite rapid. In 2001, the number of Internet computers in China reached 9 million, the number of CQ registered users reached 80 million, and the number of online users exceeded 1 million. It is a foregone conclusion that the number of registered users will exceed 100 million, and it may happen in the next two or three months.
I don’t know whether we should celebrate when it reaches 100 million.
This is a signpost that roars along with the progress of the times.
With nine million Internet-connected computers in the country, the only things that can support CQ's large number of users are the Internet cafes that are scattered throughout the streets and alleys.
Internet cafes entered their golden age.
Later, people generally believed that the Internet cafes at that time made CQ successful. And what made the Internet cafes successful was the online game "Spirit Realm" created by CQ's game department.
The popularity of "Spirit Realm" has become a spectacle. At that time, in Internet cafes, at least nine out of ten machines were full of the game interface of Spirit Realm that was full of strong oriental charm, or sometimes entered the Western Region map with exotic customs.
One is the fastest growing instant messaging software in China, which has become a popular online chat tool. There is an interesting phenomenon that small business owners now leave a CQ number on their business cards in addition to the traditional mobile phone number and postal code. The other is the record-breaking No. 1 online game that is popular in Internet cafes all over China. The two are organically combined under one company, making CQ the most prominent Internet company this year.
Li Mingshi has become a "legend" or "oddball" in the eyes of countless people.
However, due to his technical background and his achievements in becoming the top domestic player in the fields of online games and social networking, he is more commonly known by the nickname "alien".
At that time, the three major domestic Internet companies, Tonglang, Sohu and NetEase, were all in the trough of the NASDAQ bubble, while CQ's online game profits and instant messaging business were far ahead. The key is that the company was able to complete the expansion of its instant messaging business by relying on its game business, and had no need for financing. It also rejected investments from several well-known companies, which was quite remarkable. It did not raise funds, did not dilute the team's equity, and firmly grasped control.
Desire for control, tyrant, ambition... These catchy words have made Li Mingshi's value in the eyes of the media even higher.
But the storm still exists. The success of the Ling Yu online game has also brought negative public pressure. The perception that online games are a scourge has never disappeared. On the other hand, because the game "Spirit Realm" has strongly cracked down on plug-ins, some players are quite dissatisfied, because some of them had their accounts stolen, resulting in account bans.
Lingyu started out as a web game with data stored on the server, and later developed into a client-based game. However, the data center is still on the server, so the technical threshold for Lingyu plug-ins is very high. Generally, there will be no plug-ins that tamper with the game data. Most of them are plug-ins similar to acceleration software. However, Lingyu's anti-plug-in mechanism is still constantly upgraded.
On the one hand, there is in-game monitoring, and on the other hand, there are rewards for players reporting. Once the use of plug-ins is discovered, the account will be immediately blocked.
This one-size-fits-all approach effectively cracked down on plug-ins. Every month, a long list of banned accounts would be published on the CQ community, but it also aroused a lot of controversy and dissatisfaction. However, in these controversies, Li Mingshi implemented his will almost with iron blood.
The iron rule of cracking down on and banning plug-ins has been written into the game agreement, and there will be no compromise.
In the face of social accusations that games are electronic opium, Li Mingshi did not respond publicly. He only appeared occasionally to announce the results of CQ Game's healthy gaming mechanism construction for minors in the media or official announcements.
Specifically, minors cannot purchase point cards from regular point card distribution points in Internet cafes, and restrictions will be imposed on minors based on the in-game information linked to the CQ number. But everyone knows this well. When the entire social information collection system has not reached a high level, it is impossible to effectively identify whether the game data age of users and players is consistent with their real age, and some measures can be circumvented.
But doing something is better than doing nothing, and Li Mingshi's timely disclosure of his identity as a recipient of a National Academy award and inventor of a geological disaster prevention and mitigation system also allowed him to face this wave of public opinion more calmly.
Sometimes Cheng Ran saw the news and the discussion about Li Mingshi in the school, and sometimes he felt that he was too unkind and put Li Mingshi on the spot. The storms from the outside world and the series of arguments and noises surrounding these businesses were blocked by the breakwater built by Cheng Ran's professional manager.
…
After Jiang Zhou's Tianxingdao Hall opened in Nanzhou, many aspects had matured, including specific operations and marketing. He then began plans to open a hall in Pengcheng, the capital. Jiang Zhou concentrated on his plan to open a hall and devoted himself to the career of a shepherd raising cash sheep.
Shi Jiaxun and Gao Yue have obtained their marriage certificate and attended a class reunion, where Shi Jiaxun was addressed as "Director Shi."
Now he is not only a counselor, but also the deputy director of the management committee of the laboratory jointly built by USTC and CQ. This identity has brought Shi Jiaxun many things that he never had before. In the counselor circle, many people now meet Shi Jiaxun, and those who didn't say hello before are now obviously eager to meet him. Although Shi Jiaxun is only a deputy director, he is actually a popular figure in front of senior leaders of departments and schools. In the administrative circle within USTC alone, many people believe that in time, Shi Jiaxun's identity will not only remain as a deputy director.
Some of them also sighed privately, saying that if they could meet a student like Cheng Ran, they would be willing to shorten their lifespan by ten years. At the same time, there was a subtle change within HKUST, that is, most counselors and teachers were much more tolerant of their students. In the past, there was a case where a counselor inspected a student's dormitory and couldn't stand it and cursed, "This is a pigsty!" Now, when the same counselor sees a dormitory with poor discipline and hygiene, he turns on the Tang Monk mode in A Chinese Odyssey, persuading the students with reason and emotion, making them feel embarrassed. Since then, it is said that everything from dormitory hygiene to study atmosphere has improved greatly.
The story of Cheng Ran and Shi Jiaxun has actually made the relationship between teachers and students at USTC even more smooth and seamless, as if lubricated. If a ranking of universities based on their teaching and academic styles were to be conducted this year, USTC would definitely top the list.
“Shi Jiaxun! Teacher Shi, Director Shi! I’m afraid you will have to call me Dean Shi in the future… My son has just said that when he grows up, he wants to apply to his father’s university, and then he will recognize him as Uncle Shi! I say you have to be capable first. If you can’t pass the exam, even if ten Uncle Shis help you, it won’t be of any use… Besides, even if others are willing to help, I, your dad, have to have the face to accept it…” The man who was speaking brought a wine glass, Maotai, and poured a glass for Shi Jiaxun who had just finished a glass amid the laughter of the crowd, and then clinked glasses again.
The man was the first person in Shi Jiaxun's class to start a successful business. He was considered the most famous person in that class. Shi Jiaxun remembered that after this classmate started his own business, he handed him a business card and said, "What's the point of being a counselor? My company needs people now. Come and help me. I will give you a salary that is at least three times higher than the current salary..."
At that time, the other party was driving a car worth more than 300,000 yuan. However, Shi Jiaxun knew that the other party might not really mean it when he said that, and he might also be trying to show off his status.
Now the other party was arm in arm, and his words were more sincere than before. Shi Jiaxun believed that the other party was sincere, and at this moment he was really proud of his old classmate. Sometimes he couldn't help but sigh, it was the fact that people tended to only respect achievements and authority, and look down on mediocrity and inaction.
"Lao Shi, there wasn't such a student in our class back then. He got a laboratory sponsored by a private enterprise with 80 million yuan while still in school. He also led a team, right? Does that mean he is starting his own research and development at the university? If there are any good projects in this laboratory in the future, the credit will go to you, the teacher and the director... I saw you in the newspaper, the one when the laboratory was opened, you looked pretty cool!"
Because the school-enterprise laboratory is at the forefront, there are always some media reports. Shi Jiaxun also frequently appears in newspapers or on local TV stations to receive leaders' inspections. This is of course helpful for spreading his reputation.
"Lao Shi, when HKUST celebrates its anniversary, you must bring your favorite student to us to meet him..."
"Our university still produces talented people..."
When the socializing slowed down, Shi Jiaxun had some time to go to his wife Gao Yue. Gao Yue was chatting with the women just now, and she was a little jealous at this time, "I didn't expect that you were quite popular among the girls in your class before... Several of them expressed their envy to me just now, saying that you are such a down-to-earth guy, and I, Gao Yue, have an opportunity to take advantage of you."
Shi Jiaxun hugged Gao Yue, his eyes soft, "Have you told them that when we were friends, we put our coins and pennies every month in a piggy bank. When we ran out of money at the end of the month, we opened the piggy bank to buy our last "food for the famine". We ate noodles every meal at that time, so the noodles you cooked were so delicious. If it were another "smart" girl, who would be willing to follow a "down-to-earth" guy like me and eat noodles every day?"
Gao Yue turned around and hugged her husband, whispering, "They said, will you become the dean one day? If you become the dean, many girls will come to you..."
“Your statement is politically incorrect. If Dean Luo, Dean Zhang, and Dean Deng heard this, they would have called us for tea and a talk…” Shi Jiaxun had a strange expression on his face. He put his arm around Gao Yue’s shoulders and whispered, “Don’t expect to be the dean. It’s hard, right? It’s enough to be a middle or senior level person… It doesn’t matter. I still want to do student work. I want to see my students, not to mention that they all become like Cheng Ran, but to see them graduate with knowledge and leave our university. I feel that the capable people trained by our university are here. You should hurry up and grab them and let them do something great!”