"Hehehe, KK..." Zhou Xueyin looked on with a mischievous grin at Kang Siyin, who was engrossed in playing a game.
"Spit it out, I can't miss this boss or I won't be able to pass it!" Kang Siyin replied without looking up.
"After you finish your game, could you help me check the forum settings..." Zhou Xueyin wasn't in a particular hurry.
In fact, she had been unable to fix the forum for some time, having deleted and restored it countless times on the virtual host. No matter what she did, the forum's style remained a jumbled mess, and she couldn't register new users either.
"There, boss Zhou complete! Now let's see what this boss requires of me," Kang Siyin said energetically, stretching languidly.
"Just don't hit me after you see it..." Zhou Xueyin showed her the screen.
An orderly chaos filled with endless error messages.
"Yinyin... how did you manage this?" Kang Siyin asked incredulously. "I remember that if you just follow the instructions step by step, even an idiot could do it, right?"
"Then I must be the idiot who can't get it done... I did follow the instructions step by step. Then I just wanted to change the style, and this is what happened," Zhou Xueyin said with an innocent look on her face.
Despite her major being computer networking, they never covered how to set up a forum in class. What she learned was focused on the 'Three Swordsmen' of networking, Photoshop, and the full suite of Office applications.
As for programming, it was all C++, Java, VB, and such—those computer languages that require precise logic—which were the courses Zhou Xueyin struggled with the most, so she didn't really commit them to memory.
Now, faced with a screen full of code and error messages, she was utterly overwhelmed.
"Stand up, let me have a look..." Kang Siyin hustled Zhou Xueyin away and took her place at the computer.
Kang Siyin opened the virtual host's page first: "You're using this site, aren't you?"
"Right!" Zhou Xueyin nodded.
"Switch to a different one, this virtual host doesn't support forum-style websites! So even if you upload your forum to it, it won't display properly..." It was just like Kang Siyin to quickly pinpoint the root of the problem.
"So that's it! No wonder no matter how I adjusted the style, it was never right, and I couldn't register new users!" Zhou Xueyin suddenly understood.
"Seriously... you're just realizing this now?" It was Kang Siyin's turn to look at Zhou Xueyin with disbelief.
This girl had been so focused on testing the forum that she completely forgot to check if her virtual host actually supported forums. Kang Siyin didn't even know what to say.
Kang Siyin smiled helplessly, and Zhou Xueyin also laughed embarrassedly at her own foolishness.
"Oh right, you don't actually need to find a virtual host to test the forum. I can use my computer as a virtual host and then preview all the forum's features locally, which would avoid all these mistakes you made!" Kang Siyin stood up, went to her own computer, and started working on it.
After a series of high-end operations that Zhou Xueyin couldn't understand, Kang Siyin sent her a link: "Here, try clicking this link on your computer and see!"
"This... will work?" Zhou Xueyin copied the link from the QQ chat box with doubt, pasted it into the browser, and pressed enter.
"Wow! Wow! Wow! Nice job! This is actually possible!" Zhou Xueyin watched a forum she was familiar with come to life on the screen, genuinely admiring Kang Siyin, "KK, you're simply amazing! Without you, my idea to create a forum probably wouldn't have come to fruition!"
"Oh? Let me take a look!" Li Jiniang also asked for the address, "Wow! I want to be the first registered user!"
"The first? Hmph, hmph, hmph! I've already registered, oh ho ho ho!" Kang Siyin placed the back of her hand under her chin, mimicking the victorious laugh of a villain from a cartoon.
"Jixiang! Hmph! Then I'll be the second!" Li Jiniang glared at Kang Siyin, pretending to kill her with her eyes.
"Jixiang... while you were being poor, I already registered! User number 00002! Ah ha ha ha ha!" Zhou Xueyin, adhering to the principle of first-come-first-serve, quickly claimed the second spot!
"Hmph! You're all bad people!" This time, Li Jiniang muttered indignantly while rushing to register her own ID, securing the third number.
"Hey, hey, hey, is this really alright? Taking advantage of my drawing to bully me? Sigh... never mind, I'll take the fourth spot; it's only fitting since I'm already the fourth one in our dormitory... sigh..." Yao Shanshan also pretended to sigh and registered her own account.
It turned out that setting up a forum wasn't as complicated as she had thought. Watching Kang Siyin's simple operations, a fledgling forum was born.
The four of them celebrated the occasion properly.
Locally operating was much more satisfying. Even with internet as slow as a snail, it didn't affect their speedy connection to Kang Siyin's computer at all.
The forum's fine-tuning was going smoothly; however, Zhou Xueyin's computer, which she had bought three years ago, suddenly went haywire.
"Grrrrr..." One afternoon, Zhou Xueyin's computer suddenly made a sound like a starting tractor, scaring her into hastily slapping the computer case. Although the noise didn't disappear, it did become a bit softer.
"Goodness, Yinyin, is your computer going to explode?" Yao Shanshan was so startled by the sudden noise that she jumped from her chair to the door.
"Hehe, hehe... It's normal, normal... Lately, this computer has been running almost 24/7; it's throwing a fit at me. It's fine, it's fine..." Zhou Xueyin apologized with a smile.
"Yinyin, I don't think your computer sounds okay. It might be a loose part..." Kang Siyin suggested as she turned off Zhou Xueyin's computer and pulled out the machine from under the table.
"Shouldn't be... it's been like this since I bought it. Occasionally, it starts up like a tractor. My dad and I are used to it." Zhou Xueyin didn't seem to care, claiming that every time it happened, a slap would keep it quiet for a while.
Bought it? And it was like this since the beginning?" Kang Siyin looked at the computer, not understanding, "Never mind, let me open it up and take a look..."
She swiftly opened Zhou Xueyin's computer case, revealing a tangle of wires like Pansi Cave, components haphazardly inserted, and a fan full of dust...
Kang Siyin, who suffered from extreme OCD, almost passed away on the spot.
"Here's what we'll do, Yinyin... I'll make a list of components in a while. Let's go to the market later and pick out a new computer!" Kang Siyin took a deep breath and closed the case, deciding that what you don't see can't hurt you.
"Ah? In a bit?" Zhou Xueyin looked at Kang Siyin in surprise. She who was always one to procrastinate now, out of the blue, said she wanted to do this immediately, "KK, my computer didn't shock you that much, did it?"
"Shock? I was about ready to ascend to heaven right here! How can your computer be such a mess? I'm amazed you've managed to use it for so long!" Kang Siyin pointed at the computer case.
"For a long time? It's a '98 model... seems like it's a bit old, haha." Zhou Xueyin said innocently.