Chapter 23: The College Entrance Exam, smoother than expected.

Chen Fan was stunned.

Yiyu.com had actually gone live.

This meant that while he had been busy building his own DomainNet, Boss Yao had been building Yiyu.com as well. The two websites had launched within three or four days of each other.

In an instant, Chen Fan felt an unprecedented sense of pressure and urgency.

He began by carefully studying Yiyu.com. To be honest, from the perspective of the future, this forum-style website was incredibly crude. Not only did it pale in comparison to his own DomainNet, but it was also complete garbage compared to other similar sites.

However, Chen Fan knew something others did not. Even a site like this, in just a few months, would attract the attention of venture capital. It would eventually be acquired by Wanwang in the same year, earning Yao Jinbo his first pot of gold and securing him an executive position at Wanwang.

But in this life, Chen Fan was the glitch in the system. With DomainNet and Yiyu.com launching back-to-back, they were destined to split the available traffic. The question now was which site could seize the lion's share and ultimately rise to dominance.

Chen Fan took a deep breath. The thing he feared most had happened. He was certain that Boss Yao had also noticed his DomainNet. Two competing sites would inevitably engage in a fierce battle for traffic. And the best way to get ahead of a competitor was through promotion.

There was no secret to promoting a website; it was all about burning money. A lot of money. In this regard, Chen Fan was no match for Boss Yao. Although Boss Yao was also just starting out, Chen Fan knew that his opponent’s capital far exceeded his own. As of now, Chen Fan had only five hundred and twenty yuan to his name, five hundred of which he had earned from fixing someone’s computer. If Boss Yao started aggressively pouring money into marketing, Chen Fan would truly be out of options.

"Whew!"

Chen Fan exhaled slowly, forcing himself to calm down. For now, his DomainNet’s only advantage was that it was aesthetically pleasing and functional. Both the interface and the layout of the sections were generations ahead of Yiyu.com.

"I still have a chance."

He quickly regained his composure. With both sites launching simultaneously, his site could maintain a temporary lead thanks to its beautiful interface and rich, user-friendly features. What he needed to do now was formulate a defensive strategy before Boss Yao started throwing money at marketing.

On the way back to the exam hall that afternoon, Chen Fan was still mulling over his strategy. It wasn't until he stepped into the classroom that he shook his head and snapped back to reality.

Focus on the exam. Once the college entrance exam was over and summer break began, he would have a full month to spar with this Boss Yao.

The bell rang. The invigilator began distributing the mathematics papers. For math, Chen Fan had no "golden finger" or cheat sheet. Aside from the final few complex problems he remembered from his past life, he had to rely entirely on his current knowledge to answer the rest.

After the math exam, Chen Fan didn't feel particularly relaxed. Out of 150 points, he estimated he could manage a score over 100.

After the math test, Chen Fan didn't meet up with Su Ruochu; instead, he slipped away early with Guo Shuai. Before going home, to avoid his parents noticing anything suspicious, he swapped school uniforms with Guo Shuai and removed the gauze from his head and the bandage from his hand.

Even so, his mother, Li Jinqiu, spotted something amiss the moment he walked through the door. After all, a bump that large on his head wasn't easy to hide. Chen Fan had to lie, claiming he had accidentally tripped on his way home.

"How could you be so careless? Do we need to go to the hospital and get it checked?" Li Jinqiu asked, sounding nervous.

Chen Fan waved her off with a smile. "Mom, it’s fine. I just bumped it. I’ve already had a doctor look at it; they said it’s nothing, and the swelling will go down in a few days."

"You child, how can you be so reckless..."

Just then, his father, Chen Jianye, interrupted his wife. "That’s enough. The boy said he’s fine, so stop nagging. Young people bump and bruise all the time; he’s not made of glass." He gave his wife a stern look, signaling her not to affect their son’s state of mind for the exams.

During dinner, Li Jinqiu looked uneasy, clearly still worried about her son. Chen Jianye, however, chatted with him a bit. Chen Fan cheerfully mentioned that he had done quite well today and might have a shot at getting into an undergraduate program. Seeing their son looking so relaxed, the couple exchanged a private look of relief, finally letting go of the tension they had held all day.

The next day was only the English exam. Chen Fan wasn't worried about English. Aside from being fully prepared, English was the one area where he held an advantage after years of professional life. As his business grew, he had inevitably dealt with foreigners, and that was how his English level had been honed over the years. As expected, the English exam wasn't difficult, especially the final essay, for which Chen Fan simply transcribed the piece he had prepared in advance.

On the morning of July 9th, the final day of the liberal arts exams, Chen Fan felt as if he were divinely inspired. He answered the questions smoothly, finishing the paper nearly an hour ahead of time. After a careful review, he let out a long sigh of relief. He knew his college entrance exam results wouldn't be a problem. If nothing went wrong, he would be able to attend the same university as Su Ruochu.

The bell rang, and Chen Fan was the first to stand up and hand in his paper.

As he walked out of the classroom and grabbed his bag, he prepared to meet up with Guo Shuai. But just as he descended the stairs, he saw a familiar, graceful figure. Su Ruochu was standing there quietly, as if she had been waiting for a long time. She hadn't seen Chen Fan for two days and was worried. For this final exam, she had handed in her paper ten minutes early just to wait for him here.

Moved by this, Chen Fan reached out and gently ruffled Su Ruochu’s hair. "Silly girl, look, I'm perfectly fine."

Su Ruochu’s sharp eyes immediately caught the large bump on Chen Fan’s head. She grabbed his hand, only to notice the scars on his palm. "What happened? You're hurt..."

Tears welled up in her eyes instantly. Seeing the wound on Chen Fan’s palm, Su Ruochu’s heart ached. Chen Fan hurriedly and awkwardly raised his hand to wipe the tears from her eyes.

"Don't cry, don't cry. I just accidentally cut it. See? I'm fine."

But that only made her cry harder. Su Ruochu clutched his hand, choking back sobs. "What exactly happened? How did you get hurt?"

Chen Fan gave a wry smile. "I broke a bottle and cut myself by accident..."

Su Ruochu kept her head down, looking at his palm with a pained expression, gently stroking the stitched scar. "Does it still hurt?"

Chen Fan smiled. "It hurt quite a bit before, but it doesn't hurt at all now that you're touching it. Of course, if you could give me a kiss, maybe it would stop hurting completely."

With tears still in her eyes, Su Ruochu gave him a light punch. "You’re hurt this badly and you’re still being a smooth talker. Did you hide from me these past few days because of this?"

Chen Fan smiled sheepishly and wiped away her remaining tears. "Yes. I didn't want you to worry."

Su Ruochu pouted, looking a bit angry. "From now on, you must be the first person to let me know about things like this."

"Okay."