Wang Taoxin hurriedly said: "6 yuan is too expensive? If you come two weeks early, it will cost at least 8 yuan for an hour." ”

"Anyway, I think it's expensive!"

Although Lin Weidong also knows that the current computer is still a high-consumption product for most Chinese people, he still feels that the cost of surfing the Internet is a bit expensive.

However, with the spread of computers in China and the increasing competition among Internet cafes, Internet fees are much cheaper today than they were a few years ago.

As early as May 1996, the first Internet café in the history of China appeared in the magic capital, called "Wigate", and the price of Internet access reached 40 yuan per hour - which was a sky-high price at that time.

You know, the national average salary is only about 500 yuan, and the pork is only 3 yuan and 1 catty.

It is worth mentioning that the "Internet café" was not called an Internet café in the earliest days, but a computer room, where you could play local games and leisure.

In November 1996, Yanjing Shouti Ximen Shihua Internet Coffee House was opened, becoming the first Internet coffee house in China.

Subsequently, the new term "Internet café" quickly became well-known and imitated by countless IT professionals.

Including this "Red Ant Internet Cafe", more than 10 Internet cafes have been opened in the entire urban area of Mei'an City in 1999.

Lin Weidong pondered for a while, then took out his wallet from his trouser pocket, took out a 5 yuan and a 1 yuan yuan from it, and said to Wang Taoxin: "Let's go to the clock." ”

"Good. Wang Taoxin nodded, took the money from Lin Weidong's hand, and then said, "Then let's both go for a clock." ”

"Boss, help me drive two machines. Wang Taoxin approached the boss and found that the chubby boss was counting the time in a small notebook.

The boss looked up at Lin Weidong and Wang Taoxin, and asked, "How long will it take?"

"An hour. Lin Weidong and Wang Taoxin replied in unison.

"Standalone, or online?"

"Internet access. ”

"Good. The boss nodded, then stretched out his chubby fingers, swept all the way down from the small notebook, and said, "Machine 7 and machine 16 can be on." ”

Wang Taoxin's face was embarrassed, and she asked again: "Boss, are there two machines connected together?" We are buddies and want to sit together. ”

The boss shook his head and said coldly: "You two are not a couple, you have to kiss each other when you play on the computer?"

Without waiting for Wang Taoxin to say more, the boss urged: "If you want to go on quickly, otherwise you won't have a chance to wait for a while." ”

Although Wang Taoxin wanted to sit with Lin Weidong, due to the fact that the conditions did not permit, she could only accept the boss's arrangement.

Lin Weidong didn't think there was any problem, just like the boss said, he and Wang Taoxin were not in love, nor were they playing games in a team, so why did they have to sit together.

Soon, Lin Weidong and Wang Taoxin finished paying the money and sat in front of the computer screen.

People on the left and right were playing stand-alone games, and Lin Weidong looked at the old antique computer in front of him, and couldn't help but stretch out his hand and start to operate.

However, the network speed of the computer is very slow, the mouse in the hand clicks when scrolling, the sensitivity is very poor, and there are several keys on the keyboard, as if you can't play it when you press it.

Subsequently, Lin Weidong saw an OICQ software on the computer desktop, a small penguin with a slender body with wings outstretched, which is a version of OICQ99a, about 230K, only the size of a picture.

This version has extremely limited features, mainly for publishing Chinese web pagers, public chat rooms, and transferring files.

At this moment, Wang Taoxin ran over from his seat, saw Lin Weidong sitting in front of the computer and was stunned, thinking that he didn't know how to play the computer, so he recommended himself and said: "You haven't touched the computer before, right? ”

"I'll help you register an OICQ account first. ”

In front of Lin Weidong, a "rookie", Wang Taoxin feels like an Internet veteran, with a great sense of achievement.

However, Lin Weidong thought that Wang Taoxin was in the way, so he waved his hand directly to catch up: "No, I'll just come by myself, you play yours." ”

As he spoke, Lin Weidong began to tap on the mark and keyboard, and began to register an OICQ account in front of Wang Taoxin.

Seeing Lin Weidong's familiar operation, Wang Taoxin retracted his hand and walked back to his seat.

Lin Weidong's luck is not bad, he applied for a 5-digit account for the first time, 16*81, and then took a random screen name: Journey.

In order to prevent the loss of the account, Lin Weidong also borrowed a pen from the boss and wrote the 5-digit account number in a notebook, so as not to forget it in two days.

According to Lin Weidong's understanding, the shortest OICQ is 5 digits, so 5-digit accounts are extremely precious, but the accounts applied for in this year are basically 5-digit.

If in two years, as more and more people use OICQ, there will not be enough OICQ numbers, and the number of digits of OICQ numbers will definitely increase.

In another decade or two, a five- or six-digit account will definitely become very valuable.

However, Lin Weidong did not want to make a fortune by reselling 5-figure OICQ accounts, because it was too far away.

Lin Weidong looked at his 16*81 account, and wondered in his heart, who will be the owner of account 10001?

Thinking of this, Lin Weidong immediately began to search for 10001, and after a while, the screen name was displayed on the screen: pony.

"Pony is Ma Huateng's English name?"

Lin Weidong thought about it and shook his head again, as if it wasn't, he vaguely remembered that Brother Xiaoma's English name seemed to be Tony.

Some people may wonder, how did Lin Weidong know Ma Huateng's English?

In fact, it is not unusual to know Ma Huateng's English name, Lin Weidong still remembers the English names of several celebrities, such as Cheng Long's English name is Jackie Chan, and Ma Xiaoyun's English name is Jack Ma......

It's a shame to say, in fact, Lin Weidong knows the English names of these three big people in total, no, there should be Andy Lau's English name, Lin Weidong also has the impression that his English name seems to be Andy.

So, Lin Weidong continued to search for 10002, and sure enough, the screen name of this account was indeed Tony.

"There's nothing wrong with Tony! ”

However, what Lin Weidong didn't know was that Ma Huateng's English name was indeed Pony, not Tony.

For the sake of insurance, Lin Weidong sent friend applications to the two OICQ accounts "10001" and "10002" respectively.

Obviously, in Lin Weidong's view, Little Pony Ma Huateng is definitely a friend worth making deeply.

Although Lin Weidong does not have the ambition to become an Internet tycoon, nor does he have the capital to buy OICQ, he has a strong premonition in his heart that he and Tony Ma will meet sooner or later.

"Weidong, come here. Wang Taoxin, who was sitting in front of the No. 16 computer, beckoned to him.

"What's wrong?" Lin Weidong got up and walked over, looking at Wang Taoxin's screen.

"My chat room is very fun, although there are not many people, but the proportion of female compatriots is quite high. Wang Taoxin pointed to the screen and said proudly.

"New Century Chat Room?" Lin Weidong glanced at the name at the top of the chat room.

"Come, I'll tell you the account number of the chat room. ”

"Forget it, you can play by yourself, I'm not interested. ”

Lin Weidong is talking from his heart, and all he is thinking about now is how to make money, and he can't raise the slightest interest in his children's affection.

Three minutes later, under Wang Taoxin's warm invitation, Lin Weidong entered the chat room.

A line appears on the page of the New Century Chat room: Welcome to the chat room "Journey".

Momotaro said, "This is my good friend, so let's talk about it." ”

Momotaro is Wang Taoxin's screen name, Lin Weidong saw it, and could only sigh silently, and typed three words on the keyboard: "Hello everyone." ”