Fang Yu's mind went blank for a moment, as if she had been hit by a heavy hammer. A surge of offended anger welled up inside her. "You've always known who I am?"

“We’ll talk about this later. I just wanted to tell you that some thugs looked for your number on the computer you used and added you. Next time you go online, don’t accept their friend requests, or go to a different internet cafe. I wanted to leave a message for you, but I was afraid you wouldn’t know and would run into them again next time you come here.”

Fang Yu frowned. "Then how did you add me?"

Thor's ears turned red instantly. He scratched his head, a little embarrassed, and said, "I... I also remembered your number this way and added you. But I didn't mean any harm. I just think you're a nice person and I wanted to be friends with you." His eyes were sincere, like the winter sun, with a touch of awkward warmth.

Fang Yu's displeasure subsided a little. "I really didn't expect that meeting someone I met online would be like this."

Thor laughed too. "It is a bit sudden. Where are you going? Wait for me over there, I'll go turn off the computer and take you home."

"No need, it's not too late now."

"I'll take it to you now. Turn off the computer when you get back. Let's go." Thor walked up to Fang Yu without waiting for a reply.

"Really, there's no need. My mom's right here, it's inconvenient for you to come with me. You should go back!"

"Okay, then be careful." Thor stopped in his tracks.

Fang Yu quickened her pace toward her mother's shop. When she reached the front, she turned around and saw Thor still standing there watching her. Fang Yu turned into a side street and arrived at her mother's shop.

Just as Yu Jihong was about to close the door, she asked, "Fang Yu, do you want to come see me again?"

"I'm not a child, I'll be back on time."

Fang Yu took the lunchbox containing the semi-finished dishes that she had brought from home that morning, and Yu Jihong locked the door.

The night was already quite cold. The wind swirled fallen leaves on the stone path, and occasionally a bicycle returning home late would pass by with its jingling bell.

Yu Jihong asked, "Are internet cafes really that fun? Do you want to go there all the time?"

Fang Yu paused for a moment, then laughed, "I don't go that often, just occasionally, mainly because it's new and exciting. I can see new things happening in Beijing and Shanghai, and I can also play some games."

"Today, a customer told me that her child is addicted to games and she doesn't want him to go, but he still sneaks off to play."

"Yes, I do, but I don't play those games. I don't play those violent games either. I just play some simple games to relax. They're not addictive."

Yu Jihong said "Oh," and added, "There are all kinds of people in internet cafes. You should come back early and not talk to or befriend just anyone."

"Okay, Mom, don't worry, I know what I'm doing."

As I opened the door, a warm, cozy breeze greeted me.

Yu Jihong took the lunchbox to the kitchen. "Fang Yu, we're making dumplings tomorrow night. I'll mix the filling at home and bring it to the shop. You can buy some dumpling wrappers when you get home from school."

"Okay!" Fang Yu replied as she ran to the bathroom.

When the date changed from starting with 19 to starting with 20, the new century began.

On December 31, 1999, Fang Dongqiang and his classmates huddled in front of a buzzing computer. This was a special all-nighter granted by the school, so that they, the computer science students, could witness firsthand whether the Y2K bug would really happen.

The server room quieted down, with only the humming of the CPU cooling fans remaining.

Everyone's eyes were glued to the time in the bottom right corner of the screen.

When the number jumps from "1999-12-31 23:59:59" to "2000-01-01 00:00:00", the program on the screen continues to run normally without errors or crashes.

"It's done!" Someone shouted first, and the server room immediately erupted in excitement.

Someone slapped the table and cheered. Fang Dongqiang rubbed his sore eyes and looked out the window. In the direction of the residential buildings in the distance, fireworks were blooming in the dark night sky.

A new century has arrived!

Several colleagues at the kindergarten said that when they wrote lesson plans, they had already written "19" on the paper before realizing it and then crossed it out and changed it to "20".

Fang Yu also smiled; her lesson plan notebook also had the same correction marks.

The caregiver walked by carrying a sterilized water cup, pursed her lips, and said, "They used to say things like the new century and the end of the world, but look at us now, we still get food, snacks, and clean up as usual."

Life goes on as usual in the new century.

With the end of the semester fast approaching, He Xiaolei was stumped by the essay "A Brief Discussion on the Relationship between Law and Morality" on her computer screen.

This was her first course paper in college. Although it was only a few thousand words long, the teacher was extremely strict about the format. She put in a lot of effort to finish the content, but she just couldn't get the format right.

She tried countless times in Word, but either the indentation was too large or there was no response at all, which made her frown in frustration as she stared at the keyboard.

"What should I do..." He Xiaolei bit her lip, thinking of the fellow villager who studied computer science in the chat room.

He Xiaolei stared at the screen for a moment and hesitated before adding Fang Dongqiang.

Fang Dongqiang immediately accepted the friend request from someone from the same hometown in the chat room.

"Hello, Fang Dongqiang, this is He Xiaolei. I can't get the format of my paper right, and it's due tomorrow. Can you help me?"

"Send the file to my email and I'll take a look at it to see what the problem is."

He Xiaolei frowned, her fingers tapping and deleting on the keyboard, before finally replying apologetically, "I've never sent an email before, and I'm afraid I might accidentally lose the paper I've already written."

The reply came almost instantly: "It's okay, just save it first. Even if it fails to send, it won't be lost." Then a long list of instructions was sent, written out clearly.

He Xiaolei tried the steps for a long time, but either she couldn't find the send button or the attachment failed to be added. She was so anxious that sweat beaded on her forehead. Looking at the dense text on the screen, she finally couldn't help but say, "I still can't figure it out. Where are you now? I'm coming to find you."

Fang Dongqiang felt embarrassed to have a girl come to the school to find him, so he said, "No need, you wait at the school, I'll be right there."

He Xiaolei felt a warmth in her heart and quickly replied, "It's too much trouble for you. How about I go over instead?"

"It's nothing, I was just thinking of going out for a walk anyway." Fang Dongqiang replied and then shut down his computer. He grabbed his coat and quickly walked out of the school.

The winter wind felt like knives on his face, and Fang Dongqiang hunched his shoulders and quickened his pace.

More than half an hour later, Fang Dongqiang arrived at He Xiaolei's school.

He met He Xiaolei at the agreed-upon school gate. She was wearing a beige down jacket and a pink hat, and was stamping her feet to keep warm. "I'm sorry, it's so cold outside, and I had to make you come all this way."

"I'm fine," Fang Dongqiang said, panting.

"Let's go to the library's electronic reading room; there are computers there."

The two walked into the library side by side. The electronic reading room was quiet, with only the sound of keyboards being typed.

He Xiaolei found a seat, turned on her computer, and pulled up her thesis document.