The old man said, "We don't understand national affairs; we're just listening to other people's nonsense. The Hu and Yang families were originally at odds, but we don't know who made the connection, but recently they've been cooperating very well. Their combined strength has greatly increased, and now there's a growing trend in the north where these two families are the leaders."
Zhao Qiang said, "Is this why Yihai's pipes can't be sold in the north?"
The old man said, "Yes, because Yihai Pipe Industry is a business of the Chen family. Families in the north are very resistant to it. They also have their own related companies. How could they possibly spend money to buy pipes produced by the Chen family?"
Zhao Qiang had a wild idea: "What if the three of them joined forces?"
The old man said, "Then China's economy can reach a new level, maybe we won't have to repair bicycles anymore, we won't have to be mortgage slaves for life, the personal income tax threshold can be higher, prices can be lower, and inflation can be less."
Zhao Qiang asked, "Since it's advantageous, why not join forces?"
The old man asked, "If I told you to make peace with the enemy, would you do it? Would you listen to me or the enemy?"
"We are all Chinese, so how can we talk about enemies?"
The old man said, "You can think that way, but they don't think that way. Unless there is a very talented person who makes them wary, and then they can unite because of common interests, but where can you find such a person?"
Zhao Qiang nodded: "Yes, it wasn't easy, sir. Thank you so much for teaching me so much."
The old man waved his hand: "What are you being so polite about? It's just something people talk about. Just listen to it as a story."
Ding-dong! The office lady who came to get her electric bike repaired this morning rode over and honked her horn from a distance to let him know. The clear, pleasant sound of the horn was very pleasant. Zhao Qiang stood up and went to greet her: "What's wrong, sister? Is there still a problem with your bike?"
Mr. Zheng said, "Hello, young man, my name is Zheng Nan. May I ask your name?"
"Sister Zheng, my name is Zhao Qiang. Why are you back?"
"The car is fine. I came to thank you," Zheng Nan explained after stopping the car.
Zhao Qiang was relieved. "It's good that the car is okay. What are you thanking me for? If everyone were as conscientious as you, our job would be too difficult. We'd be receiving countless people coming to express their gratitude every day."
Zheng Nan chuckled and explained, "The thanks I'm talking about aren't for the car repair, but for the software you helped me fix. I tried it when I got back, and it really works great, so I wanted to express my gratitude for your help. Here's two thousand yuan, you must accept it, because this is the fee you deserve for helping me fix the program this morning. I took the lion's share, so this is just a small token, please don't think it's too much."
Zhao Qiang only considered it for two seconds before accepting it, saying, "Okay, I accept."
Zheng Nan glanced around and asked, "I wonder why Mr. Zhao is repairing his bicycle here?"
Zhao Qiang said, "It's just a hobby."
Zheng Nan said, "I would like to invite Mr. Zhao to visit my company. If you are interested, you can work for me. I will definitely give you special treatment in terms of salary."
Considering that the two women had already gone down to rent a shop, Zhao Qiang said, "I'm sorry, Sister Zheng, I prefer to be more independent. But if you have any work, you can come to me, and I'll just charge you a small fee."
Zheng Nan didn't press the matter, saying, "Alright, come with me to see how the company is doing."
Seeing that no one was coming to repair the car, Zhao Qiang greeted the old man who repairs cars and then went with Zheng Nan to her company for an inspection.
Zheng Nan's company is not large. It only rents a storefront in Yihai City's technology market. The front is the sales hall, which sells branded computers and consumables. The middle is the employees' office, and the innermost part is Zheng Nan's own office. Judging from the size, the total assets are no more than 300,000 yuan. Otherwise, Zheng Nan would have bought a car long ago and wouldn't need to ride an electric bike to and from get off work every day.
Zheng Nan brewed a pot of fine tea in her office, and the two sat down to leisurely enjoy their afternoon tea. Zheng Nan asked, "Xiao Zhao, how's my company doing?"
For Yihai, this company is considered quite good, considering that many computer companies can't even afford to rent a storefront on the street and can only rent one or two counters in the market.
Zhao Qiang said, "It's alright, Sister Zheng mainly sells computers?"
Zheng Nan said, "Actually, we do more software work because it's more profitable. I wonder how much you've studied this area, Xiao Zhao."
Zhao Qiang said, "It's alright, but I plan to focus on repairs from now on."
Zheng Nan smiled and said, "Our businesses are somewhat similar. I also have a few technicians on my side who are in charge of the company's maintenance business. It's just that the economy has been sluggish recently, and we haven't seen many big orders at the end of the year."
Zhao Qiang checked the time, stood up and said, "Sister Zheng, I've been out for quite a while. Thank you for the afternoon tea and hospitality. I have to go back now."
Zheng Nan saw him to the door and said, "Now that you know the company address, come over and visit sometime. If I have any work to do, I'll call you and call a taxi for you; I'll pay the fare."
Zhao Qiang left in a taxi. Sister Liu appeared out of nowhere, and Zheng Nan asked, "How's your investigation going?"
Sister Liu said, "He's not a good person. He hangs out with two female sales clerks from Haiyun Shopping Mall. He's not exactly well-off. We can't find his ID or educational credentials. His appearance in Yihai is very abrupt."
Zheng Nan hesitated: "If that's the case, I wouldn't dare entrust the cracking work to him." Zheng Nan was unwilling to give up without securing the multi-million dollar order. Originally, she planned to test Zhao Qiang's abilities, but now that she couldn't figure out Zhao Qiang's background, she was afraid of something going wrong. After all, providing cracked discs to pirates was illegal.
Zhao Qiang worked at the repair stall for two hours until it got dark. He earned fifty yuan in commission that day, plus two thousand yuan from Zheng Nan. Zhao Qiang excitedly bought a bunch of cooked food and a case of beer and went upstairs.
Volume 2 [441] The Newly Discovered Secret
Zhao Ling opened the door for Zhao Qiang. Seeing that Zhao Qiang had bought a lot of things, she felt a little sorry for him. "Oh, we're cooking. Why did you buy so much food? Don't you know how to save money? Xin Xin and I have our eye on a store, but the prices aren't cheap. We've decided to start saving money from today and not buy any clothes for six months."
It's worse than killing women if they don't buy clothes, which shows Zhao Ling and Chen Xinxin's determination to help Zhao Qiang.
Zhao Qiang put down his beer and handed the cooked food to Zhao Ling. "Don't worry about it. I can make money. Cut it up and serve it as a snack with your drinks. Let's celebrate tonight."
Zhao Ling was delighted to hear there was wine to drink. "Okay, but if we go over budget today, you can't let Xin Xin scold me."
Chen Xinxin came out of the kitchen carrying a large bowl of rice. "Zhao Qiang, I think we've been spending money too extravagantly in the past, so from today onwards we need to be more frugal, do you understand?"
Zhao Qiang took out two thousand yuan from his pocket and placed it on the table, saying, "This is what I earned today."
Zhao Ling, not even bothering to go into the kitchen to chop the cooked food, asked, "What's going on? Is repairing bicycles so profitable?"
Chen Xinxin asked, "You didn't settle the remaining wages from Haiyun Shopping Mall, did you? It shouldn't be more than a few hundred yuan."
Zhao Qiang said, "I helped someone modify a program while I was repairing a car this morning. She paid me for it, and this afternoon she even invited me to visit her company and asked me to join her, but I didn't agree."
Zhao Ling picked up the money with delight, "God, what did you do to help them that you got so much reward?"
Zhao Qiang said, "It was just a small program modification, which only took a few minutes in total."
Chen Xinxin was so excited she almost threw the rice bowl down. "Zhao Qiang, I knew you were right! We can't work for others anymore. You have the skills, let's open our own shop and I'll be your secretary."
Zhao Ling said, "I'll be your public relations manager, in charge of bringing in business. You'll have to give me a commission, okay?"
Zhao Qiang generously said, "I'll give you all the money I make."
The two women smiled seductively: "Really? You can't back out now."
Zhao Qiang held up his finger: "We can pinky swear. I just like repairs, I'm not interested in money. As long as you can provide me with food and lodging from now on, that's fine."
Zhao Ling generously replied, "Food, lodging, and even sleeping with you are included. Are you satisfied with that?"
Soon the food and drinks were set on the table. Everyone first raised a glass to celebrate. Then Zhao Ling took out a map of Yihai City, and Chen Xinxin personally pointed out to Zhao Qiang, "We have chosen a bustling area, but the storefront is not big. In addition to a hall of less than 30 square meters, there is only a small room of 10 square meters."
Zhao Qiang said, "That's enough. The outside will be used as the reception and sales area, and the inside will be the maintenance room."
Zhao Ling asked, "What exactly do you want to repair? We need to have a general idea of what you're looking for."
Zhao Qiang said, "All household appliances, vehicles and the like are also acceptable."
Chen Xinxin said, "If we're going to repair cars, we don't have the space at all, and we can't get that many tools and spare parts. I think we should repair home appliances instead. These tools are very cheap, and we can just buy a few and start operating. As for spare parts, we can prepare some first, and then go and get more if we run out."
Zhao Qiang said, "I'm afraid no one will come to my door. As long as someone comes, I can make money."
Zhao Ling said, "Leave the business to me. Just make sure you can fix it for them."
Zhao Qiang said, "Don't worry about that. I'll fix any plane or tank you bring."
"Keep dreaming. One day I'll get you a plane to fix," Zhao Ling said.
Zhao Qiang raised his glass and said, "Alright, you'll see then that I'm a very honest person and I never lie."
The two women were full of hope for the future, and the three of them drank more and more. Before they knew it, Zhao Qiang had drunk more than three bottles. However, his brain did not crash as before. This was probably because many bugs were fixed after the reboot.
However, after drinking bottle after bottle of wine, all three of them got drunk. The two women couldn't hold their liquor as well as Zhao Qiang, and they went to bed early. Zhao Qiang insisted on eating a lot of food before getting into bed and lying between the two women. He slipped his hand under their clothes and touched their two different breasts. Satisfied, Zhao Qiang closed his eyes and fell asleep while rubbing them.
He enjoyed this ambiguity. Zhao Qiang wasn't in a hurry to get to bed. Once they took the final step, the mystery would be gone. It was better to keep them in suspense and wait for them to give themselves to him. That would better show their feelings for him.
The next day, Zhao Qiang continued to repair bicycles, while Zhao Ling and Chen Xinxin negotiated prices with the landlord. If they could reach an agreement, they would tidy up the house, buy some office supplies, and then officially open for business. As for the business license, they would deal with it later when the industry and commerce and tax authorities urged them to apply for it.
Ever since Zhao Qiang became his helper, the old man who runs the stall has been incredibly relaxed. He came in this morning, set up his tools, and then disappeared again, leaving Zhao Qiang to watch the stall alone. There were two bicycles that had been sent for repair this morning that hadn't been dealt with yet, and Zhao Qiang decided to fix them now that he had some free time, so as not to delay the owners from picking them up at noon.
One of the bikes was a mountain bike, and the chain kept falling off. Zhao Qiang scanned the entire structure and found that the frame was severely misaligned, causing the rear sprocket and chain to not engage properly. Although Zhao Qiang was strong, it was impossible for him to straighten the mountain bike frame with his bare hands. If he used a hammer, it would definitely damage the bike's appearance. Zhao Qiang was in a dilemma.
Staring at the broken-down car, Zhao Qiang racked his brains, his mind racing, but he couldn't come up with a single good solution. Instead, the excessive memory loss he was dealing with caused his brain to enter a vicious cycle, with countless random images swirling before his eyes. Beads of sweat streamed down Zhao Qiang's forehead like a small river, and his hands and feet trembled. Fortunately, no one was around to see, otherwise he would have needed an ambulance. In fact, this illness was beyond the capabilities of doctors. If someone were to examine Zhao Qiang's body, they would surely discover an astonishing secret.
Zhao Qiang's brain was stuck in a vicious cycle, and he was stuck like this. He had never felt so uncomfortable before, and for such a long time. Now his brain was completely out of his control, and he could only let this state continue. Although it was painful, Zhao Qiang had no choice but to endure it. The pain made him wish he were dead.
Suddenly, as if struck by a heavy blow, Zhao Qiang's body trembled violently before he collapsed onto the repair stall. A fruit vendor nearby noticed something was wrong and rushed over to help him up, asking, "Child, what's wrong? Are you starving?"
Zhao Qiang stared blankly. The heavy blow he had just received had somehow brought back many memories, as if his brain had finally managed to navigate a faulty circuit and retrieve the relevant data. This data turned out to be a complex program about energy control. Now Zhao Qiang understood what all the fat in his body could be used for. It turned out that fat could be converted into energy through the body's biological mechanisms, and this energy could be separated from the body to perform many maintenance tasks.
"I'm fine, Auntie, I'm just a little dizzy. I probably caught a cold because I didn't cover myself properly while sleeping last night," Zhao Qiang said, trying to cover for himself.
The old woman said, "It's good that you're alright. Young people shouldn't stay up too late, otherwise they'll have health problems. Here, have a banana."
Zhao Qiang didn't stand on ceremony. He took the banana, peeled it, and ate it. The old lady who sold the fruit often repaired cars for free at her repair stall, so he wasn't worried about her losing money by eating some fruit. Neighbors help each other, and refusing would seem pretentious.
After the fruit entered his stomach, Zhao Qiang carefully sensed that his stomach was very different from that of ordinary people. It was peristaltic at an extremely high speed. After the food entered, it was ground up in a very short time and then sent to the intestines for absorption. Substances that could be directly used by the body entered the blood cells, while nutrients that could not be used temporarily were stored in the abdominal fat, and waste entered the large intestine to wait to be excreted.
Zhao Qiang was overjoyed, not only because he had discovered a function of his body, but also because he had found a way to restore his memories. In the past, whenever his brain went through a dead loop, he would either actively stop it in the early stages or be interrupted by others. This time, his perseverance had yielded such results, so the restoration of other memories should not be far off.
Zhao Qiang carefully read through the massive program that had been restored, and the more he read, the more astonished he became. The power of energy was truly immense; it could not only modify matter but also be used for attack and defense. It was practically invincible! If this ability had existed in his previous body, what level must he have reached? What would his family and friends have been like? Zhao Qiang was extremely eager to know the answers to these questions, but no matter how long he thought about it, he couldn't trigger that state of mental stagnation. It seemed that it needed to be triggered by external forces; he couldn't figure it out on his own.
Since energy can break down metal molecules and recombine them, repairing this mountain bike is much simpler. Zhao Qiang first scanned the data, then programmed a program in his brain, and then tried to separate the energy. Because of the strict control of the program, not much energy was separated. From the outside, only some hazy white could be vaguely seen. At low temperatures, it was mistaken for human breath, so it would not attract the attention of others.
Zhao Qiang turned his back to block the view of those outside, and watched as part of the mountain bike frame melted away and then reassembled. The whole process was incredibly magical. Although he had already mentally rehearsed it, Zhao Qiang was still speechless with astonishment. According to his meticulous mental plan, the reassembled frame corrected the original curvature, and the imbalance between the front and rear wheels had disappeared, so the chain should no longer fall off.
Zhao Qiang hopped on his bike and rode around the area smoothly. Satisfied, he put the bike aside and prepared to repair the next one. This was an old-fashioned Forever bicycle. The problem was that the rear axle was severely worn and needed to be replaced. The job wasn't too complicated. Zhao Qiang grabbed a bunch of tools and started disassembling the rear wheel, switching between a screwdriver, pliers, and a wrench. It was quite troublesome. Zhao Qiang thought to himself that if there were a universal tool, it would be much more efficient.
Clang! The screwdriver hanging from his waist hit the car. Zhao Qiang's heart skipped a beat. He stopped what he was doing, wiped the oil off his hands, and took the screwdriver off his waist. He always carried this screwdriver with him. It would be strange if it wasn't special. But what was so special about it?
Zhao Qiang examined the screwdriver closely, observing its metallic sheen. A thought struck him: he compared the screwdriver to the ring on his finger. They were similar in appearance. Could they be made of the same material? The ring was controlled by thought. With a command, the ring immediately extended into a spiked gauntlet, protecting his hand and allowing him to counterattack. Removing the command from the ring, Zhao Qiang wondered, "If the ring is controlled this way, shouldn't a screwdriver made of similar material be controlled in the same way?" With that thought, he issued a command to lengthen the screwdriver.
Zhao Qiang held the screwdriver in his left hand and sent a command that instantly traveled through his nervous system to the screwdriver's neural sensor chip. Whoosh, the screwdriver lengthened. Zhao Qiang was overjoyed; it really worked! Luckily, he hadn't thrown it away. He'd try making it thinner and longer. Zhao Qiang issued a second command, and the screwdriver continued to extend forward. Seeing that Zhao Qiang couldn't hide it any longer, he immediately revoked the command and then gave a retraction command, and the screwdriver finally retracted.
Zhao Qiang kept changing the shape of the screwdriver, sometimes it was a wrench, sometimes pliers, sometimes a flathead screwdriver, and sometimes a screwdriver. It seemed to be a tool specially made for repairmen. No wonder he liked repairs. His past work must have been related to this.
"Xiao Zhao, what are you busy with? Why are you staring at that screwdriver?" The old man who repairs cars turned around and asked Zhao Qiang with concern. Zhao Qiang is now his little cash cow.
Zhao Qiang quickly hung the screwdriver back on his waist and said, "It's nothing, I'm just replacing the rear axle of this bicycle."
The old man took out a cigarette and handed one to Zhao Qiang, saying, "Take a break, take a break, don't overwork yourself."
Zhao Qiang gestured with his hands, which were covered in grease, and said, "I'm not tired. Let's wash our hands after we finish this job before we rest."
At noon, Zhao Qiang and the old man were eating steamed buns when Zhao Ling called. "Zhao Qiang, we've secured the apartment. It's three thousand a month, and we've already paid one month's rent. Xin Xin and I are planning to clean up and buy some office supplies this afternoon. Why don't you come over tomorrow? How about we try operating for a month first?"
Zhao Qiang said, "Okay, I'll tell the old man that I won't be coming tomorrow."
The old man, who was eating a steamed bun, was startled. "Xiao Zhao, aren't you coming to fix my bicycle?"
Zhao Qiang said, "I'm sorry, sir, my friend has already rented a shop, and I need to go there to work tomorrow."
"You're repairing bicycles too?" the old man asked, sounding a little nervous.
Zhao Qiang said, "No, it's mainly about repairing home appliances."