Chapter 120

Chapter 120: Let You Xi Make the Decision

“Hi, little friends! Do you remember who I am? Yes, I’m Ge Ping, the voice actor for Blue Cat!”

“The Blue Cat’s Three Thousand Questions and its various spin-offs were representative works of early domestic animation. They are childhood memories for many people born in the 80s and 90s. The main feature of these shows was integrating scientific knowledge while telling stories, covering areas like military, animals, and daily life.”

However, with the development of the internet era, netizens began to be active on various forums, praising the Blue Cat series as the top domestic animated masterpiece. Naturally, there were also many opposing voices. With the declining reputation of recent sequels and continuous controversy, Ge Ping, the voice actor for the popular character Blue Cat, faced numerous parodies.

This parody video uploaded to C Station only lasted three minutes, but it had over 3,000 views in a week.

In today’s internet age where videos often reach millions of views, 3,000 views might seem insignificant. But for Mei Fang and Lin You Xi, this small C Station, it was a significant challenge. They worked late nights fixing server issues caused by the high traffic.

“Why do people enjoy such videos?”

Lin You Xi watched the “Ge Cannon” parody video herself. She didn’t really like it. “These poorly edited clips just attack Teacher Ge Ping. Why are people so entertained by this?”

“I think it’s a matter of perspective,” Mei Fang explained. “For example, heavy metal music and death punk have people who dislike them, considering them noise, but others enjoy it. It’s normal that you find this parody video distasteful, but some people find it funny. Life can be stressful, and seeing a serious role make absurd parodies can be somewhat relaxing.”

“However, personal attacks are not good. If the person involved doesn’t mind, then it’s okay…”

Mei Fang himself wasn’t a fan of parody content, preferring to watch light-hearted parodies occasionally. He remembered that this event in his past life was a significant breakthrough, though it happened on A Station back then. This time, it happened on C Station by chance.

He noticed that the number of registered members was skyrocketing, from two or three per day to forty or fifty now.

New members meant they could post comments and upload videos, but… was the bandwidth cost really that serious?

Streaming websites usually pay for two types of server fees: storage costs, which cover resources like uploaded videos and account data, and bandwidth costs, which determine if users can stream smoothly.

If the bandwidth is too low but many users are streaming simultaneously, it leads to buffering issues.

Previously, Mei Fang had a 20M server bandwidth, supporting up to 100 simultaneous smooth streams at 1,200 yuan per month. Now, he wanted to increase it to 100M, costing 100,000 yuan per year, or 8,000 yuan per month.

No wonder many say that running a video website is expensive. How did A Station and B Station manage to sustain themselves?

Clearly, they relied heavily on funding.

Seeing the outrageous bandwidth costs, Mei Fang felt like he had made a wrong move. While C Station was replicating B Station’s success, it lacked a stable cash flow. Making money would take years.

He created C Station because he wanted to seize the opportunity that B Station hadn’t had, leaving him little time for game development. Bitcoin wouldn’t help much yet. Although his savings were considerable, burning through them like this wouldn’t last long.

Mei Fang didn’t want You Xi to worry about money; he just wanted her to focus on website technology. In late June, You Xi informed him she received a private message from Manha Technology, a network company he had never heard of, offering 100,000 yuan for the C Station domain and source code.

Mei Fang remained calm, not showing excitement. He looked at You Xi, who was reading the message.

“If they’re serious, would you sell the site to them?”

You Xi shook her head. “The site is yours, you decide.”

“It wasn’t just me.”

Mei Fang smiled. “I only helped with the initial modules. You’ve been handling maintenance.”

“But all the money came from you…”

“But I didn’t pay you a salary either.”

You Xi was silent.

Mei Fang continued, “Remember, this is C Station, your site. You decide whether to sell it.”

Asking a child to make this decision was cruel, as earning 100,000 yuan was a huge achievement for a child. But selling it meant all his hard work would amount to mere cash.

You Xi had researched streaming technology extensively and understood their position.

If she valued the site this much, Mei couldn’t expect her to lead C Station far. Instead, he wanted her to focus on games, where many well-known developers were waiting for his investment.

“Fang, I still don’t want to sell.”

You Xi shook her head. “I think our C Station can go further. If we don’t have enough money, we can maintain the current bandwidth. I can continue doing proxy coaching and use some money from my allowance. As long as C Station gains more recognition, we’ll attract investments eventually, right?”

Mei Fang shook his head.

“Times are changing. We’re in the 3G era. If C Station stutters playing 360p videos, it will lose competitiveness. This will damage our reputation and prevent us from attracting investments.”

“So… you think we should sell the site?”

You Xi looked downcast. “If you think so, then there’s no other way…”

“No, you misunderstand.”

Mei Fang explained, “I mean C Station needs to improve bandwidth to expand and attract major investors.”

“But… increasing to 100M bandwidth costs nearly 10,000 yuan a month?”

“It’s fine… Even though it seems expensive, maybe we won’t need to wait a year for investments?”

“Fang, do you have that much money?” You Xi’s eyes widened. “Is it… from games?”

Mei Fang nodded and smiled. “Just believe in me.”

Damn, writing business plots is tough.

But if I don’t write it now, filling in the gaps later will be a hassle.

Please give feedback on parts involving theoretical knowledge. I’m limited in my understanding.

More updates coming later.