Chapter 3: Finding a Circle

The project had already been underway for several months, and since he was looking to snatch a piece of the pie from the jaws of Qidian, speed was of the essence.

A novel website capable of dominating the national market held a significance far greater than what met the eye; it was certainly not as simple as the superficial annual profit of over a billion. In the immediate term, the web novel industry had weak competition, low entry costs, and was easy to break into, serving as a powerful traffic driver for most online businesses. In the long run, this industry gathered the "creativity" of tens of millions of young people across the country.

Therefore, for the foreseeable future, Zhao Zejun intended to treat the novel website as his core business. During the initial development phase, the foundation had to be rock-solid, and he wouldn't feel at ease unless he was there watching over it himself.

Beyond keeping a constant eye on the website's development, Zhao Zejun also needed to meet someone of significant importance. The Song Tianming incident had passed smoothly, but it had served as a major wake-up call for Zhao Zejun.

His methods for dealing with Song Tianming had been far too extreme to be treated as a standard operating procedure. To avoid encountering similar situations again, he needed to make some friends and integrate himself into certain circles. This would not only allow for mutual assistance and the cultivation of business partners but also form a protective net around himself.

When Song Tianming had dared to strike at Zejian Construction without restraint, there were many reasons, but the most crucial one was that Zejian stood alone and isolated, possessing almost no influence. If he had even known a few people in the Yijiang City construction industry who could have put in a word with Song Tianming, things might never have escalated to the point where lives were at stake.

Among all the connections he could currently leverage, the most formidable—and the most viable—was the Huayang Group, which had started out in the coal business. He had collaborated with them before and owed the Huayang Group’s chairman a "favor." Now that he was in the provincial capital, where the company’s headquarters were located, it was the perfect opportunity to pay a visit.

Being able to associate with someone of Wang Yan’s stature, even if only as a casual acquaintance, would mean that characters like Song Tianming wouldn't dare make a move if Wang Yan just happened to mention him. In fact, Wang Yan wouldn't even need to intervene; once Song Tianming learned of their connection, he would have to think twice.

On his first day in Jianwu City, Zhao Zejun had specifically contacted Zheng Yuan to ask when Wang Yan might be available for a visit. Wang Yan was a very busy man, constantly flying across the country. He had been in the capital that week and was returning to Jianwu the next, but he could leave at any moment. If Zhao were to get bogged down in military training, he might lose this opportunity and not know when he would get another chance to meet him.

Hearing that Ou Chen’s parents were doctors, Zhao Zejun had an idea: ask him for help in obtaining a fake medical certificate.

Ou Chen thought for a moment and said, "I'll ask for you, but I can't guarantee anything."

After hanging up the phone, he made a call to his family on his PHS handset. He nodded to Zhao Zejun: "It's done."

After the meal, both tables returned to school. Ou Chen and Zhao Zejun slipped away to the hospital, where they obtained the medical certificate.

The handwriting on the document was a chaotic scrawl, as illegible as a heavenly script. It essentially stated that this student, Zhao, was suffering from a deficiency of every vitamin from A to G, as well as calcium, iron, zinc, selenium, copper, silver, and gold. He was lacking in every element of the five phases and was missing everything; it was a miracle he was still alive, surviving only through the grace of Jesus and the Buddha. In short, he was unfit for any strenuous physical exercise.

"Thanks," Zhao Zejun said to Ou Chen.

"Don't mention it. Every year before military training, parents bring their kids in to get these; we have a template," Ou Chen said, looking around before whispering, "Brother, I'll get you the money in a little while."

"It's just a few hundred yuan, why do you keep bringing it up?"

On his first day at university, Zhao Zejun had a feeling: dealing with university students was noticeably different from his time in high school. College students were more mature, their worldviews were already taking shape, and it was hard to fool them as easily as he could with the students in high school. However, they were also more pragmatic.

Zhao Zejun’s counselor was a man in his thirties named Kong. Zhao Zejun bought two cartons of cigarettes and, armed with the medical certificate, paid him a visit. Half an hour later, the military training issue was resolved.

"Old Zhao, you look perfectly healthy to me. Where is this 'frailty' you're talking about?" Wang Fengcheng asked, eyeing him up and down in the dorm.

"Me?" Zhao Zejun shook his head. "I'm strong on the outside but weak on the inside!"

"What a pity. I heard the boys' and girls' dorms are facing each other during this training," said Sun Yahui, the 'God of Standing,' with a regretful look.

Guo Xiaochao chimed in, "Even if you went, it wouldn't matter. 'Strong on the outside, weak on the inside'... Old Zhao, those were your own words, haha!"

"Alright, enough with the useless talk. I actually envy Old Zhao for not having to do the training. Hurry up and pack, we're leaving this afternoon." Ou Chen stuffed a large bag of Dove chocolates into his backpack.

Zhao Zejun patted Ou Chen on the shoulder and looked around the room. "You all have my number. During the training, if you need any help, just call me."

...

Having seen his roommates off onto the green military trucks, Zhao Zejun immediately went to find Song Yun.

According to Song Yun’s initial calculations, a project like this only required three or four developers, including himself. Website development wasn't a highly difficult technical task; there were even many off-the-shelf website code templates on the internet that could be modified and used.

With over a million yuan to invest in the web novel world, and Zejian Construction ready to provide blood transfusions at any time, Zhao Zejun had more confidence than anyone else. Neither the industry leader Huanjian nor Qidian could afford a head-on financial clash with him.

Therefore, the last thing Zhao Zejun feared was spending money. In the early stages, a reasonable and robust architecture had to be built to ensure website performance. In the long run, spending an extra few tens of thousands was well worth it. Once the site was operational, finding out the performance couldn't keep up and having to undergo a redesign would severely impact the user experience.

In the end, including Song Yun, they recruited nine people for the project group. All were computer science and software majors, and they even had a professional art designer. The most impressive among them was a senior who had worked on projects with a professor, giving the R&D team considerable strength.

The R&D site was an open laboratory at the university.

The greatest advantage of a university was its abundance of resources. The University of Science and Technology had various "laboratories" of all sizes, ranging from those receiving national funding for top-tier international research to specialized projects led by professors, and even "interest groups" formed by students. These many laboratories were like technological cradles, continuously nurturing scientific achievements and training generations of talent.

The lab where the novel project was based was, frankly, an open computer room for the School of Computer Science. It provided space, computer equipment, and various programming software for student practice. The fees were very cheap; one could get a card with a student ID and use the school's resources for just a few dozen yuan a month.

When Song Yun introduced Zhao Zejun to the group and they learned that this real boss was actually a freshman, the members were visibly surprised. They had assumed he was an entrepreneur from the outside world or a task assigned by a teacher, never expecting the benefactor to be their own junior.

Zhao Zejun took the team out for a proper meal in the city. Over the next few days, he stayed in the lab, discussing website design and refining the layout with the group.

Money made things easy; the prototype of the website came together quickly. Next, they needed to continuously refine the specific functions of each module and conduct performance tests—a role Zhao Zejun was happy to fill as a tester.

"Song Yun, do you know someone named Ma Kaizhi?" Zhao Zejun asked casually one day while logged into the editor's backend for data analysis testing.

This Ma Kaizhi was the guy with connections in the capital who had entered the National Development and Reform Commission after graduation and had a smooth-sailing political career.

"I've heard of him. He's a cadre in the Student Union, but the kind without any real power. Why?" Song Yun asked while debugging an issue.

"Nothing, just heard people mention him." Zhao Zejun didn't elaborate. Knowing that this person was indeed at the university was enough; he would find a suitable opportunity to make contact later.