Chapter 9: Oh, Tang Wan, Tang Wan

Xia An’s home had a brand-new vertical air conditioner in the living room. He remembered buying it last summer. Originally, he hadn’t wanted to install one, but his parents had spent several thousand yuan just to ensure their son could study in comfort. Whenever Xia An was away, the old couple never turned it on, fearing the electricity cost.

Xia An told Tang Wan that if she felt cold, she could turn it off—it didn’t matter to him—and then he lay down on the sofa. Tang Wan leaned forward, looking toward the living room at Xia An, and felt a renewed sense of gratitude. This was his home; he could have slept in the master bedroom, or even his own room, but sleeping on the sofa was nothing if not a sign of his respect for her.

Tang Wan was curious. She could clearly sense in Xia An a composure and a profound maturity that most high school students lacked. Yes, maturity. She vividly remembered the looks she received from boys his age when she was a student and later a teaching assistant in university. At seventeen or eighteen, hormones were at their peak. Regardless of gender, there was an instinctive physiological desire to explore the opposite sex. No matter your status, they would look at you nakedly, as if appraising a piece of top-grade Wagyu beef—wanting to take a bite, yet fearing the cost.

But in their many close encounters, she had never seen that kind of blatant desire in Xia An’s eyes. Tang Wan noticed that Xia An liked to smile—a mischievous, squinting smile full of wisdom. She regretted not asking if he had a girlfriend before she entered. If he did, would her presence here cause trouble? If not, she was certain that in his upcoming university life, he would be devastatingly attractive to girls.

For the first time, Tang Wan looked around his parents' bedroom. It was very ordinary. Ordinary wedding photos, ordinary decor, just clean and tidy. She couldn't imagine how such a warm, pleasant, yet truly unremarkable family had managed to raise a boy like Xia An. This was perhaps the first time in her life she had felt curious about a man. However, caught in a conspiracy and feeling at a loss, Tang Wan did not yet realize that feeling curiosity about a member of the opposite sex is precisely the beginning of one's downfall.

...

Xia An did not fall asleep as quickly as Tang Wan. Even though he was tired and sleepy, the "big gold nugget" had not yet been secured, and his brain continued to run on momentum. Tang Wan really didn’t understand; otherwise, she should have asked: "Why are you registering on overseas websites? China doesn't even operate them."

In truth, that was the first pot of gold Xia An had devised. There were many opportunities in this era—the stock market, real estate, the internet—all of which could make someone rich quickly. But they all required initial capital. An ordinary person didn't have a father who could toss out hundreds of millions for them to experiment with; initial accumulation was exceptionally difficult. If he had returned a month earlier, Xia An was confident he could have quietly siphoned off about fifty million from the World Cup without being discovered. But fate had made him miss that, so he had to find a backup plan. Since he had set the goal of devouring the Tang Group as the first stage of his rebirth, he would proceed steadily, step by step.

Tang Wan was a chess piece. The hospice project between Zhao Zhijing and Lin Jiajia was a contingency plan to plant a nail beside Tang Tianxing for the mid-to-early term; it needed time to develop. Whether or not he could eventually hold leverage over Zhao Zhijing wouldn't affect the big picture. The core of the plan was money.

A few days ago, while racking his brain over the timeline of the era, he had remembered a person and an event: Cai Wensheng and domain names. In the year 2000, Tencent bought qq.com for 2 million USD. In 2015, 360 bought 360.com from Vodafone for 100 million yuan. That same year, wanda.com went for 60 million. The previous owner had bought it two years prior for 8 million, specifically waiting for "Young Master Wang" to acquire it. In his previous life, Xia An had learned about this while self-funding his MBA. Domain squatting was a speculative trend; commercial development had started worldwide around 1991. By the second wave in '98 and '99, most registrable domains were already gone. Yet, Cai Wensheng’s "cast a wide net" strategy had still achieved massive success. Xia An had once researched the reasons and methods behind this in depth.

To put it nicely, it was about attention to detail. To put it bluntly, it was about "the foolish old man moving the mountain." But once accomplished, it was like picking up money. The peak acquisition case in this industry was about to happen in early 2007. Brian, the founder of HomeAway, in order to prevent competitors from growing strong, would spend 35 million USD to buy the domain VacationRentals from an ordinary person named Johnny. It set the record for the highest strategic acquisition price in the field, a record that remained unbroken until the industry shrank.

The moment Xia An recalled this, he looked it up online. At present, the registered owner of this domain wasn't Johnny, but a Canadian named John, who had held it for over two years. This meant the domain was likely to "drop" and expire in the coming months. For Xia An, this was a massive opportunity! There was a rule to registering domains: after paying 220 yuan, there was an annual maintenance fee. If you didn’t pay, it expired. A classic case was Sina. Perhaps fewer than ten people in China knew that its original domain was srsnet. Because they failed to renew, it dropped, was snatched up by someone else, and they had to change to sina.

Xia An didn't know when VR would drop; he could only play the "waiting for the rabbit" strategy. However, over the past two days, he had successfully sniped weibo, weixin, and douyin… 360 was already in Vodafone’s hands; no chance there. At 220 yuan apiece, it had exhausted most of his savings. This meant that from this moment on, even if Xia An did nothing else, by 2010 at the latest, Weibo would be bought by Sina, and he would be worth millions overnight. Millions? Too little. It wouldn't even be enough to buy a big villa for his parents and little Youzi.

Xia An set an alarm, deciding to sleep for three hours before getting back to his post. In his dream, he saw himself carrying thousands of hand-drawn pictures of pomelos to find his little Youzi. He saw the Hope Primary School at the end of the national highway. He saw little Youzi, who had become lame. Smoke from firewood rose above the earthen house, and the light winter rain of the Daliang Mountains fell on the forehead of the pure and simple Zuo You. She was stumbling forward, carrying rusty iron buckets in both hands.

From a third-person perspective, Xia An also saw the mud truck and himself turning into a human torch. On the muddy road, Zuo You ran in a panic, the drawings fluttering down, engulfed in flames. It was only a few steps away, and he could have held her again...

...

"Did you have a nightmare?" Tang Wan’s voice came from the master bedroom behind the sofa.

Xia An clutched his chest, gasping for air. Then, he heard a faint line of dialogue: "My name is Shanji—'ji' as in 'ji-cha'!" The home computer had no headphones, and Tang Wan had turned the speakers down very low. But Xia An heard it clearly. Then came the sound of frantic clicking.

"I'm so sorry, I was playing a game while watching a movie. Did I disturb your sleep?" Her voice was soft, filled with apology.

Xia An said, "It's fine. My hearing is bad, I can't hear it. Keep going, I'm just going to wash my face." He checked his watch and realized he had only slept for two hours, but the sleepiness was gone. The immense regret from his past life had crossed time and space, pressing down on him until he couldn't breathe. While washing his face in the bathroom to wake up, he looked at his young self in the mirror with deep emotion. Although they hadn’t met yet, the Zuo You and his parents at this time must be very young. They hadn't even had the chance to see or experience the prosperity of the future. They should live in a big house and grow old in happiness, slowly. They shouldn't leave too soon. All disasters could be averted. They must be averted!

A short while later, Tang Wan saw another side of Xia An—one not typical for a high school student. Xia An came out with a basin and was crawling on the floor... mopping it. Cleaning at two in the morning?? What kind of bizarre habit was this? Tang Wan covered her small mouth, nearly laughing out loud.

After finishing, Xia An started doing push-ups. Tang Wan peeked out again. His physique was truly excellent... Then, he started boiling porridge?? Seeing Xia An working non-stop until 3:30 AM, Tang Wan grew tired of sitting. When she got up to pour water, she said to Xia An in passing, "I won over twenty million 'Happy Beans' for you."

Xia An, busy shredding radishes, laughed, "That’s amazing."

Two seconds later, he suddenly asked in surprise, "How much?"

Tang Wan nonchalantly held up two fingers: "Twenty million. I even boosted your QQ account's win rate to 96%."

Xia An’s eyes darted around, and he suddenly asked her, "Do you know how to play Texas Hold'em?"

Tang Wan shook her head blankly, but she understood what he meant. "I had a classmate who played 21-point, gambling, and got caught."

Xia An laughed, "I'm talking about JJ Games, the legitimate ones. Winning prizes and gifts isn't illegal."

"I know that one. I've played it. It's also Landlord-fighting (Dou Dizhu). I’ve won computers and phone credit." Speaking of this, Tang Wan became interested, proudly telling Xia An that she played online when she was bored. In college, she had won both phones and computers. Once, she had her eye on a dress—it was very expensive—and she hesitated for a long time before deciding not to buy it. Not wanting to ask her second uncle for money, she sold the prizes she won, and she could even cover her living expenses.

Xia An added salt and pepper to the shredded radish and mixed it with chopsticks. He sighed, "With your mathematical ability, why didn't you go abroad for further studies?"

Speaking of her major, as if finally able to show off in front of Xia An, Tang Wan explained carefully. She said it wasn't that her mathematical ability was strong, but her calculating ability. "My ability isn't top-tier; it's just that I have some talent. The domestic education model produces many people with strong calculation skills. But that isn't true mathematical ability. If you want to engage in systematic, in-depth research, it’s far from enough."

This was a field Xia An hadn’t touched before; he felt enlightened. Looking at Tang Wan, he thought that everyone has their strengths and weaknesses; even this dazed girl had incredible qualities.

Xia An said, "The porridge will be ready soon. Why don't you eat something before going to sleep? I'll take the post during the day..."

Hearing him mention "the post," Tang Wan suddenly remembered something. "Oh, right, that website of yours turned green, then it turned gray again... Oh!"

*Clang!*

The kitchen knife fell to the floor, and Xia An sprinted into the room. The screen was split into three parts. The domain registration page took up the largest half. On the other side was the Landlord-fighting interface, and below that, a small window of PPS playing *Young and Dangerous 3*.

Refresh, refresh... it was still gray.

35 million USD, an exchange rate of 7.8. 270 million yuan gone? It was impossible not to feel heartbroken. But could he blame Tang Wan? He hadn't made it clear to her, and he couldn't explain how much this thing was worth. Xia An bit his tongue hard. Why did he have to sleep for those two hours? He blamed himself, and he blamed heaven. From two days ago to the beginning of next year, there were months when the domain could drop. How could it happen exactly during the two hours she was in charge?

"The cause is present, but the result is missing..." Xia An thought of this phrase again. He could no longer deny that Tang Wan’s appearance was deeply intertwined with him. Tang Wan, oh Tang Wan...

Tang Wan rinsed the kitchen knife and sauntered into the room, tilting her head to ask him curiously, "What’s wrong? Was it really worth a lot of money?"

Beauty is justice, Xia An comforted himself, smiling bitterly. "It's alright, it is worth something."

Tang Wan asked, confused, "Then why do you look unhappy?"

"?"

"I submitted it for you. I saw that the owner on the screen has already changed to your name. Doesn't that count as a success?"

"!"