Chapter 107

Chapter 107: The Tail End of 2009

Mei Fang spent two weekends accompanying Xia Yuan and Lin You Xi in learning how to drive. During this period, Xia Yuan and Lin You Xi would also find time to practice on their own.

By the third week, both could ride bicycles to and from school, but they always rode together. Mei Fang and Xia Yuan would protect the still unsteady Lin You Xi.

The winter of 2009 was as cold as the previous year, but there were more sunny days, so the roads weren’t too slippery. The three of them would ride their bicycles to school through such days.

They worked hard from dawn till dusk.

They waited for their lazy companion in the cold wind.

They bought various snacks at a stall near the school gate.

Flaky pancakes, fragrant pancake rolls;

Gorgeous-looking but exorbitantly priced sliced cakes;

Unreasonably priced steamed buns that cost 5 yuan for 3 or 10 yuan for 5;

Sweet oatmeal porridge that was cheap and delicious, and you could get a refill for just 1 yuan per cup.

Although he had some mental preparation for his studies after junior high, he couldn’t help but feel nostalgic about how tough his own schooling had been back then.

Unlike his past life where he only cared about diving into a certain game, he now spent his free time maintaining the website with Lin You Xi and finding time to practice guitar with Xia Yuan.

Of course, the most important thing was to maintain his academic performance steadily.

He had thought that middle school questions were mainly theoretical knowledge, which wouldn’t be too difficult to learn.

However, the problems in the advanced class leaned towards Olympiad math, and occasionally he would spend hours trying to understand certain problem-solving approaches.

In his previous life, his grades were average and he wasn’t particularly smart. But with Xia Yuan and Lin You Xi’s encouragement and his own desire to study well, he managed to present himself as a top student.

Actually, the relationship between Mei Fang and Zhang Ming in this life was less intense than when they met in high school. After all, they weren’t desk partners anymore, and their friendship from gaming days didn’t develop since Mei Fang dedicated all his spare time to accompanying Lin You Xi and Xia Yuan.

But friendships among junior high boys don’t require deep emotional bonds; they became familiar just through daily conversations.

Zhang Ming was less resistant to girls than Du Zihan and was quite popular among the female students due to his friendly nature.

Since school hours didn’t allow leaving campus, many students who were tired of the limited choices in the school cafeteria would buy breakfast from vendors outside the fence. Zhang Ming was one of them, and he often helped the girls bring breakfast.

Sometimes Mei Fang would remind him if he saw Zhang Ming being bossed around. He suggested Zhang Ming should learn to refuse if he didn’t want to do it, but Zhang Ming felt it was no big deal. Mei Fang stopped persuading him, thinking Zhang Ming would eventually realize the inconvenience and stop doing it himself.

Even though Xia Yuan got to attend classes with her long-awaited Mei Fang and Lin You Xi, her studies in the advanced class were not going smoothly. The difficulty of the math and physics problems she encountered rose sharply, and sometimes the scores she achieved were so low that she didn’t dare show them to others. She focused more on her studies, often missing out on practicing guitar with Mei Fang.

Another concern for Xia Yuan was the pressure brought by Lin You Xi’s excellence.

Lin You Xi, serving as the class monitor in Class 9 and consistently ranking first in the grade, naturally became the class monitor in the advanced class. She often scored marks that left the top students in the advanced class amazed. In class, many students would gather around her to ask questions.

As her designated partner, Xia Yuan felt some impact on her mentality when comparing themselves. Mei Fang noticed this and would discuss problems with her during class whenever possible.

Lin You Xi probably sensed Xia Yuan’s discomfort and started turning away students who asked her questions, either outright refusing them or putting them behind those Xia Yuan wanted to ask about. Gradually, fewer students gathered around her.

Though the process of becoming aloof was different from her previous life, Lin You Xi did indeed change along a similar path.

The operation of the C-site was currently in a lukewarm but steady upward trend, partly because it had a reference point in A-site and had gradually formed a stable user base.

Mei Fang was as strict as B-site was in its early days when it came to screening users for C-site. Unlike A and B sites, however, C-site didn’t open registration only during specific holidays. Together with Lin You Xi, they included many game and anime-related multiple-choice and问答题 (fill-in-the-blank) questions, requiring a correct answer rate of over 95% to become a C-site member. Only members could upload videos and send comments.

The official UID 0001 of C-site was 【Shan You Xi】. Lin You Xi usually used this account to post updates about the site, but Mei Fang would use it under her name to chat with users and collect suggestions.

When planning, Mei Fang also had experience in community management, and since he was into anime himself, even with his busy schedule, he always fit in well in forums and fan groups.

Mei Fang modeled his public persona as the site administrator after Lin You Xi’s usual tone, presenting a cold yet elegant image. However, netizens naturally assumed the site administrator must be a tech-savvy otaku, which amused Lin You Xi because she found Mei Fang imitating her very well, and the online community was truly amazing.

Apart from that, Mei Fang also secretly sent free registration codes to many UPs on A-site under the name of the C-site administrator. Some UPs responded to his call, but few actually posted videos on C-site. Only the subtitle group he invited contributed actively, diligently submitting their translated anime videos, hoping their favorite shows would gain wider recognition.

The expansion of domestic anime culture to 2022 was inseparable from the efforts of early anime enthusiasts, especially subtitle groups, who promoted it. Their passion and hard work left Mei Fang deeply moved.

This time, Mei Fang brought Lin You Xi into C-site without intending to commercialize it. He was content as long as it could operate sustainably, even if it meant a small loss.

Perhaps one day that site would still come as scheduled, or someone might copy their model and create a more commercial and successful site. But he didn’t plan to easily alter the current harmonious cultural atmosphere of this circle.

Mei Fang believed that if C-site could stay true to its roots and maintain its user purity while withstanding pressure and taking a different path from the B-site he knew in 2022, wasn’t it, in a sense, making up for the unresolved feelings of that generation of anime enthusiasts who couldn’t find their place in 2022?

After the winter snow melted, the new year arrived.

Ice thawed, spring awakened.

In 2010, the brief winter break ended quickly, and Mei Fang and his classmates soon entered the second semester of their junior high school second year.

Sorry sorry! I was playing games in the afternoon and didn’t update in time. It will be absolutely on time tomorrow!

(End of Chapter)