Chapter 13
The afternoon sun streamed through the tall windows of the school's computer lab, casting lazy beams of light into the dusty air. The hum of the computer fans mingled with the clatter of keyboards, creating a unique background soundscape characteristic of this era. Li Ming sat before a slightly bulky CRT monitor, the screen's blue light reflecting on his focused face. He expertly opened his browser, typed in a website address, and the orange, somewhat rustic Taobao homepage slowly loaded.
Sitting next to him, Li Ziqing frowned slightly, curiously examining the dazzling array of product images and shop information on the screen. Taobao in 2006 was far from the complex and sophisticated platform it would become in later years, but for most high school students, it was still a rather trendy and even somewhat unfamiliar concept.
"Is this what you call...e-commerce?" Li Ziqing's voice carried a hint of uncertainty as she pointed a slender finger at the screen. "You look at things online, and then...it's shipped to you? You can't see or touch them, so how can you guarantee the quality? How do you pay? Is it safe?"
A series of questions represent the most common concerns ordinary people have about online shopping at this time.
Li Ming didn't answer directly. Instead, he moved the mouse, clicking on several shops with relatively high sales volume, showing her the buyers' delighted reviews and the rudimentary but already established credit scoring system. "See, this is the accumulation of trust. Although there are still many imperfections, this is the trend." His voice was steady, with an undeniable certainty. "Information asymmetry will gradually be broken down, and geographical limitations will be overcome by logistics networks. A large part of future commerce will happen here, on countless screens like these."
He closed the Taobao page and opened a blank PowerPoint document, which he had prepared the night before. There were no fancy animations, only simple text and a few photos he had secretly taken with his phone of local specialties from his hometown, Lincheng—glossy mountain walnuts, root carvings of various shapes, and simply packaged, homemade shiitake mushrooms and wood ear fungus.
“Western Shanxi has abundant specialty products, but in many places like Lincheng, good products can’t be transported out or sold at a good price.” Li Ming switched the slides, his gaze fixed intently on Li Ziqing. “But Taobao can bypass layers of middlemen, allowing us to directly reach consumers across the country and even the world in the future. We can create a boutique store, focusing on the concepts of ‘direct from the place of origin’ and ‘all-natural,’ which will have a great market in the future.”
His vision was concrete and enticing. But Li Ziqing wasn't a naive fool; she quickly grasped the core issue: "Sounds good. But starting it up requires funding, right? Purchasing, packaging, logistics, and that 'forum traffic generation' you mentioned… all of that costs money." She paused, glancing at Li Ming's faded school uniform collar, her tone tactful, "You…"
“I don’t,” Li Ming admitted frankly, his gaze meeting hers without flinching, but instead shining even brighter. “But you do.”
He leaned forward slightly, lowered his voice, and his tone was no longer a simple explanation, but rather carried a highly persuasive and inflammatory quality: "Ziqing, this is not just about helping me, nor is it about wasting your New Year's money. It's an investment. Use your current idle funds to invest in a certain future, to participate in creating something entirely new. We can work together, starting from scratch, to build it up."
He called her "Ziqing," a natural and intimate tone that broke the previous formality between classmates. Li Ziqing's heart skipped a beat, and her face flushed slightly. She looked into the burning flame in Li Ming's eyes, a light she had never seen in the eyes of her peers before—a light that blended ambition, wisdom, and unwavering certainty. This light was more convincing than any flowery words.
"I trust your judgment." After a few seconds of silence, Li Ziqing said softly, her eyes gradually hardening. "What do you need me to do?"
The first sum of money, five thousand yuan, came from Li Ziqing's New Year's money account. In those days, this was not a small amount, but it wasn't an exorbitant sum she couldn't afford either. Li Ming insisted on drawing up a simple loan agreement, stating that it was considered her investment and agreeing on a preliminary profit-sharing model. His seriousness and adherence to regulations reassured Li Ziqing.
The operation began immediately.
Li Ming demonstrated remarkable efficiency and attention to detail. He used the weekend to personally return to Lincheng, relying on his vague memories from his past life and his careful discernment in this life, to travel to several towns with the highest quality assurance, carefully selecting a batch of high-quality walnuts and mushrooms. He also found an old root carving artist with superb skills but struggling to find a market, and signed an exclusive sales agreement with him.
Back at school, he borrowed Wang Hao's computer skills (for a meal as payment) to build an extremely simple yet visually clean Taobao shop page. He took the photos himself, and the copy was dictated by him and polished by Li Ziqing, highlighting the tone of "mountain treasures" and "unique craftsmanship." There was no graphic designer or model, which instead exuded a primitive and simple authenticity.
Traffic generation was key. Li Ming didn't have money for advertising, so he targeted the then-popular university BBS and local forums. He registered multiple accounts, posing as a "seasoned foodie who discovered hidden gem shops" and a "traditional culture enthusiast," using carefully crafted, seemingly unintentional yet enticing articles paired with beautiful product photos to subtly penetrate relevant sections. He knew that netizens were averse to hard-sell advertising at the time, so all promotions were packaged as "sharing" and "recommendations," making it as subtle as a gentle breeze.
Li Ziqing then used her connections to quietly spread positive word-of-mouth among local students and housewives in Jinyang. Her endorsement subtly increased the store's credibility.
The wait was agonizing. In the first few days, the shop received very few visitors, and the occasional inquiries mostly went unanswered. When Zhao Zhen learned they were "tinkering" with an online shop, although he didn't say it explicitly, his eyes clearly conveyed "not doing their job properly" and "daydreaming." Even Liu Qiang, Li Ming's biggest supporter, secretly asked him, "Brother Ming, this thing... will it really work?"
Li Ming didn't explain, but he faithfully updated the forum posts every day, optimized the store's keywords, and patiently replied to every inquiry. Li Ziqing would occasionally show a little anxiety, but seeing Li Ming's calm and composed demeanor, her heart would settle down.
The turning point came on a Friday night.
Li Ming was in his dorm room organizing the next batch of orders to be shipped (there were only three orders so far) when his phone suddenly started ringing with text message notifications—it was the phone number linked to Taobao, and he would receive a notification whenever an order was generated.
At first, it was one message every few minutes, then one message per minute, and finally it was almost a constant barrage of ringing!
Li Ming suddenly grabbed his phone; the text messages on the screen scrolled rapidly:
"You have a new order, order number: 20060915XXXXX1, product: premium hickory nuts..."
"You have a new order, order number: 20060915XXXXX2, product: wild shiitake mushrooms..."
"You have a new order..."
Wang Hao looked up from his coding world, adjusted his glasses, and stared blankly at Li Ming and his incessantly ringing phone. Zhao Zhen also sat up in bed, his face full of surprise. Liu Qiang leaned over, his mouth agape as he looked at the ever-increasing number of unread text messages on Li Ming's phone screen.
Li Ming took a deep breath, forced himself to calm down, and logged into the Taobao seller backend with trembling fingers.
When the number representing the account balance came into view, he froze.
On the screen, a number he had never imagined before was clearly displayed: 103,578.50 yuan.
More than 100,000!
In just a few hours, thanks to those posts that went viral on the forum (one of which, about "finding the taste of childhood pecans," was featured by the moderator and saw a surge in traffic), their shop experienced its first wave of frenzied orders! The high-quality, affordable local specialties, coupled with the carefully crafted "authenticity" and the initial positive reviews, created a powerful conversion rate.
Li Ming immediately sent a text message to Li Ziqing with only three words: "Check the backstage."
A few seconds later, Li Ziqing called directly. Li Ming walked into the hallway to answer the phone. On the other end, he heard her voice, which she was trying hard to suppress but was still visibly trembling and breathing rapidly:
"Li Ming...you...did you see that? That number...I...I didn't see it wrong, did I?"
Even through the phone line, Li Ming could almost see her wide-eyed, mouth agape, her face filled with disbelief and excitement.
"Yes, I didn't see wrong." Li Ming's voice was also slightly hoarse. He leaned against the cold wall, looking up at the dim yellow light from the corridor ceiling. A huge emotion, mixed with a sense of accomplishment, relief and ambition, surged in his chest.
A brief silence fell between the two ends of the phone call, broken only by the suppressed, excited breathing of each other.
After a long while, Li Ming slowly spoke, speaking into the microphone, as if speaking to himself:
“Look, this is the power of the future.” He paused, his tone becoming incredibly firm. “And we have grasped it.”
This sum of over 100,000 yuan was like a thunderclap, exploding in his long-planned blueprint and also in Li Ziqing's completely new understanding of the boy beside her.
However, this sudden success, like a surging tide, brought immense surprise but also instantly overwhelmed their originally rudimentary operational dam.
Order processing, packing, contacting logistics, responding to a deluge of buyer inquiries… How can just the two of them handle it? Will this sudden surge in attention bring unnecessary trouble? For example, platform scrutiny, or… the attention of other competitors?
Beneath this first seemingly solid foundation, undercurrents have already begun to surge.
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