Chapter 28: The Promotion War, More Money Must Be Burned-Renascido em 2000: Começando a Conquistar a Ingênua Deusa da Escola ao Meu Lado(Velho patife malandro)

Six days later, Chen Fan’s website promotion finally appeared on the Sina website.

The advertisement copy was written by Chen Fan himself, consisting of just one sentence:
"You are only one good domain name away from success."
"Domain Network – The best domain name trading platform."

It must be said that in the year 2000, when the internet was not yet fully developed, the advertising impact of Sina was still incredibly powerful.

After being live for just one day, traffic to Chen Fan’s Domain Network surged. Traffic spiked by 50,000, and the user registration rate reached an astonishing 40 to 50 percent. Chen Fan had built the website so beautifully that even users who didn't fully understand what a domain name was still registered accounts just to lurk and chat in the forums.

By the second day, traffic on Domain Network surpassed 100,000, with the number of registered users closing in on the 50,000 mark. In 2000, there were roughly 20 million internet users in China. This was largely thanks to the proliferation of internet cafes over the past two years, which caused the number of netizens to skyrocket from just a few million only two years prior.

However, Chen Fan was well aware that the glory days of internet cafes would only last for these next two years. With a series of upcoming policies and the spread of the "games are poison" theory championed by certain experts and parents, internet cafes would soon face a cold winter. Still, if one could open an internet cafe now, one could definitely catch the final tailwind and make a fortune. Unfortunately, while Chen Fan knew this lucrative idea, he lacked the capital.

Chen Fan’s joy did not last long. A few days later, he saw promotional ads for EasyDomain on the Sohu and Netease websites. They had bought prime, first-page banner ads. Not only that, but EasyDomain was also being promoted on several key secondary pages. It was an display of sheer financial muscle.

Seeing this, Chen Fan knew the real battle had begun. He couldn't see EasyDomain's internal data, but he could judge their progress by the number of posts in their forums. The advertising was clearly effective; EasyDomain was showing signs of rising.

Faced with this situation, Chen Fan felt deeply frustrated. The timing chosen by his opponent was impeccable. His own promotion on Sina was about to expire. To keep competing for users, he would have to pour in more money for further promotion, but he had no funds left. At this stage, he couldn't possibly borrow more from his parents.

Just as Chen Fan was feeling dejected, his good friend Guo Shuai appeared. While they were playing games at an internet cafe, Guo Shuai quietly handed him a bag.

"There is 8,000 yuan in here."

Chen Fan was stunned. Guo Shuai smiled. "I don’t know exactly what you’re up to, but I know you’re in urgent need of money. Like I always say, brotherhood is in the heart."

Chen Fan gave a bitter smile. "No, I can't take your money."

Guo Shuai glared at him. "Looking down on me? Don't worry, I didn't steal this from my family. This is the reward my old man gave me for clearing the third-tier university cutoff. I was planning to buy a mobile phone, but seeing you in such a bind, I’ll just have to wait."

Seeing that Chen Fan still looked hesitant, Guo Shuai tossed the money onto the table. "If you still treat me like a brother, take the money. If you look down on me, then our brotherhood ends here."

Chen Fan couldn't help but laugh and cry at the same time. He reached out and took the bag. "Thanks."

Guo Shuai chuckled. "Don't thank me yet; I have my own ulterior motives. I’ve never had any grand ambitions in this life—I just want to get by comfortably. I think you're smarter than me and destined to do better, so I’ve decided to follow your lead. Don't forget about me once you make it big."

Chen Fan smiled. "Don't worry, I won't."

"That’s more like it," Guo Shuai laughed. "I checked—our schools aren't far from Yunhai University, so we can still see each other often."

On the day they filled out their college applications, Guo Shuai heard that Chen Fan and Su Ruochu had both applied to Yunhai University. He decisively changed his own application to a third-tier school in Yunhai. In his mind, if he was going to attend a third-tier university anyway, it didn't matter where it was—it was better to be in the same city as his best friend, where they could look out for each other.

Looking at the money in his hand, Chen Fan couldn't help but feel moved. In this day and age, to be able to pull out 8,000 yuan and hand it over with absolute trust was something even blood brothers might not do.

"Brother, don't worry. When I make it big, I'll definitely hire you to be my driver."

"Screw you!" Guo Shuai gave him the middle finger. "I'll drive for you when you can afford a Rolls-Royce."

Chen Fan chuckled. "Rest assured, it will happen."

With the 8,000 yuan provided by Guo Shuai, Chen Fan contacted Sina again and signed a second round of advertising contracts. However, the other party were old-school capitalists; sensing that his Domain Network was locked in a struggle with EasyDomain, they nearly doubled the price. Faced with this extortion, Chen Fan had no choice but to swallow his pride. After all, with Yao’s EasyDomain firmly occupying the homepages of Netease and Sohu, he had to sign with Sina if he wanted to keep going. After some haggling, they settled on 8,000 yuan for three days of homepage advertising and a week of placement on two secondary pages.

Despite signing the contract, Chen Fan didn't dare to relax. Until he completely defeated EasyDomain, this "money-burning" promotion might have to continue. He couldn't keep borrowing from Guo Shuai, so he began racking his brain for other ways to make money. He called Guo Shuai, and together they scoured every internet cafe and computer studio in Luocheng, visiting them one by one to offer their services: clearing memory, cleaning dust, reinstalling systems, and troubleshooting. Chen Fan took on any task related to computers.

In a small place like Luocheng, computer repair experts were rare, and since Chen Fan’s prices were lower than his competitors, he did manage to earn some money. However, it was merely a drop in the bucket, and as soon as it hit his hands, he poured it right back into advertising costs. During this period, the popularity of both Domain Network and EasyDomain grew, and traffic increased steadily. Because Chen Fan’s website was better optimized and had a superior interface, he held a slight edge over EasyDomain.

Of course, Chen Fan knew he couldn't let his guard down. The advantage was only temporary; the moment he stopped promoting, he would likely be overtaken. As the two sides were locked in fierce competition, the date finally arrived: July 23rd—the day the college entrance exam results were announced.