"Shanshan, don't blame me for being nosy...." After staying quiet for a while, Kang Siyin started her analysis, "Based on Yinyin's description, didn't you hear, did they even have time to go to the internet café? When did Old He post the status with a photo?"
"Didn't Old He change his phone.... He must have used his phone to post it," Zhou Xueyin answered for Yao Shanshan.
"That's quite extravagant...." Kang Siyin commented, "Yinyin, our skewers are ready, it's time to pay."
"It is extravagant! How expensive is it to post a picture online! Boss? How much is the total?" Zhou Xueyin critiqued Old He while paying and collecting the skewers.
"A total of 30.... Take care, and come again!" The owner said enthusiastically.
On the way home, possibly attracted by the scent of the skewers, a small tri-colored kitten jumped out from the bushes, meowing around the four people.
"Wow! What a cute little kitty!" Yao Shanshan couldn't move when she saw the cat. She reached out to play with the little calico, who conveniently flopped down, showing her belly in a gesture of trust.
"It looks so pitiful, why don't we take it home and raise it?" Li Jiniang also squatted down, petting the little calico.
"This kitten looks only about two months old and came out to find food by itself, no sight of a larger cat around?" Zhou Xueyin looked around and didn't see any other cats. "Could this kitten have been abandoned?"
"Seeing how friendly it is, it must have been abandoned. Let's just take it home. It won't survive in the wild!" Kang Siyin decided as she picked up the cat. "Yinyin, it's settled then, we'll take this cat in as the forum's mascot, how about that?"
"Sure! Let's give it a bath when we get home!" Zhou Xueyin agreed enthusiastically.
And just like that, the four people returned home with the newly found kitten.
After cleaning up the kitten, they began to drink merrily, celebrating the forum launch with skewers.
In the days that followed, the number of views visibly skyrocketed, yet not a single person registered to post. Not even the spam accounts that they expected to come for advertising showed up.
"This is strange, the views and user registration numbers are totally disproportionate, aren't they? What could be the reason? Could it be that our forum can't be searched? But that's not right either, if it can't be searched, then where did this high traffic come from?" Kang Siyin wondered aloud to herself.
"Could it be that our forum has no content? It's empty, so no one registers?" Zhou Xueyin pondered. "Anyway, if it were me, I probably wouldn't register on an empty forum."
"How about copying some popular content from other forums?" Yao Shanshan suggested.
"Just because some content is popular on other sites doesn't mean it will catch on here," Zhou Xueyin considered. "How about this! Jixiang, why don't you and I go on a street sweep?"
"Street sweep? How do we do that?" Li Jiniang was confused.
"I have a portable camera; let's start with the malls nearby. We can capture the information about sales and promotions and post them to our forum to attract users," Zhou Xueyin dug out an old camera from her suitcase.
"Will that work?" Li Jiniang asked doubtfully.
"We won't know unless we try. Look at these fashion magazines. When they first started, didn't they also go all out to create content on the streets? Otherwise, should we just wait for content to come to us?" Zhou Xueyin pointed at the magazine in Li Jiniang's hand, "Oh right, KK, you go talk to the moderators of those fashion forums about exchanging links. I see they have quite a few friendly links; such collaboration might bring some users our way."
"Ah? Yinyin, isn't this too hard for me? You know I have communication issues," Kang Siyin waved her hands, shaking her head, backing away.
"Exercise, exercise... and besides, it's online communication, not face-to-face. You can do it! Do you think users would just come without an invitation? Keep going, you can do it!" Zhou Xueyin encouraged Kang Siyin.
"Um... uh... well, I'll give it a try..." Kang Siyin said hesitantly.
Yes, everyone was trying their best to improve the forum, and she couldn't lag behind!
"Yinyin, Yinyin, what about me?" Yao Shanshan looked at Zhou Xueyin expectantly.
"You... you should get your next month's COS competition sorted out! If you win, it could serve as publicity for the forum, right? Hehehe..." It turned out Zhou Xueyin had her own motives.
"Alright then, I will continue working on the costumes... make sure you stay hydrated, don't get heatstroke in this scorching summer." Yao Shanshan took out a bottle of plum juice she had made from the fridge and handed it to Zhou Xueyin.
"Wow! Shanbao, you're too considerate!" Zhou Xueyin took the cold bottle, "Jixiang, let's go!"
"Yinyin, wait a moment... let's first decide where to go, so we're not aimlessly wandering about. We need a plan, right?" Li Jiniang stopped Zhou Xueyin.
"Let's head to Xidan... It's a hotspot for young people, and there are so many shopping malls there. Shall we start there?" Zhou Xueyin pondered.
Wudaokou did have some tiny shops, but it was inconveniently located and far from the city center, so it wasn't considered.
As for Wangfujing, it had a resounding name, but it was expensive and not affordable for the average person; they could revisit it once the forum grew bigger.
The most suitable was the Xidan Commercial Street, especially the 5-8 floors of the Warwick Building, which housed various small commodity stalls. Perhaps they could find some businesses to collaborate with there.
"Xidan? Xidan sounds great! I think it's the most suitable too!" Li Jiniang nodded in approval, "Great minds think alike!"
"Then what are we waiting for, let's go!"
Upon deciding on their destination, the two of them boarded a bus to Xidan.
The room was left with just Kang Siyin and Yao Shanshan...
"Oh no! I forgot to ask them to bring back cat litter and cat food!" As soon as Zhou Xueyin and Li Jiniang had left, Kang Siyin realized that the kitten locked in the bathroom had no place to relieve itself and no proper food.
"By the time they come back, Little Walnut will be starving, listen to its cries." Yao Shanshan opened the bathroom door, and the kitten started licking her feet, "Look how famished the poor thing is... I'll go down to the supermarket and get some cat food as a temporary solution."
Yao Shanshan handed over the cat to Kang Siyin and went downstairs.
Should she first go online to ask for cat care advice or should she exchange friendly links with other forums? Kang Siyin was caught in a tough choice between the two.
"Meow~~ meow~~~" The kitten nuzzled against Kang Siyin's hand, acting coquettishly.
"Alright, alright, I'll first figure out how to take care of you, this uninvited little fellow!" Kang Siyin stroked the kitten's head and began searching online about how to care for cats.
While searching, she also exchanged friendly links with moderators of other pet forums; indeed, she managed to do both tasks without delay.