Volume 1 [001] Old copy from the archives 'Zhao Qiang, let's go to the internet cafe to play CrossFire this morning. Our team is short one person,' his roommate called out to Zhao Qiang as he picked up his backpack. Zhao Qiang shook his head helplessly: 'No, if I don't go to work at the p
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Chapter 1
Volume 1 [001] Old copy from the archives
"Zhao Qiang, let's go to the internet cafe to play CrossFire this morning. Our team is short one person," his roommate called out to Zhao Qiang as he picked up his backpack.
Zhao Qiang shook his head helplessly: "No, if I don't go to work at the part-time company today, the boss will definitely fire me. You guys have fun."
My roommate sighed, "I'm really impressed with you. You haven't had a single Sunday off in three years of college. Don't make things too hard on yourself."
Zhao Qiang smiled calmly as he walked out of the dormitory. In fact, he didn't want to live such a tiring life. He also wanted to sleep in on Saturdays and Sundays, then meet up with his friends for a couple of drinks at noon, and then go on a day trip with his girlfriend in the afternoon and evening.
But he was just a poor boy from a small town. His parents worked year-round despite their illnesses, and the money they earned wasn't even enough to cover their medical expenses. They had no means of living a carefree life!
In order to avoid going hungry and to earn enough tuition fees, Zhao Qiang had to work hard for himself. This started when he first entered the university and he has long since become accustomed to it.
As I walked out of the school gate and looked back at the four gleaming characters of 'Donghai University,' the gatehouse was truly magnificent. It was a pity that Donghai University could only be considered second-rate in Donghai City, and it wouldn't even be considered second-rate in China! Nearly two-thirds of its graduates couldn't find jobs every year, a stark contrast to Huaxia University of Technology, which was also located in the same city.
It is said that this year, half of the senior students in various departments of the university were hired by large companies with extremely high salaries. They are white-collar workers from the start, and the benefits of social insurance and housing fund are naturally included. Wow, the difference is too big.
Zhao Qiang regretted his decision to save several thousand yuan in tuition fees back then. If he had applied to a university of science and technology, the scholarship might have been enough for him to live on. But now, he was in Donghai University, where teaching and management were lax, and in the somewhat unpopular Department of Geology and Mineral Resources, majoring in Engineering Surveying Technology. Zhao Qiang's ambition had long been gone, and part-time jobs had taken up most of his time, so his studies were a complete mess! It was a blessing from Buddha that he had made it to his senior year.
After taking several buses, Zhao Qiang arrived at "Rujia Computer Company," a privately owned company mainly engaged in computer sales and repair. The store was over 80 square meters, newly renovated, and displayed more than a dozen desktop and laptop samples. Overall, it looked quite impressive. The owner, Wang Yidong, was 38 years old. Because the company was located near several residential areas, business was decent.
The store was already open. Zhao Qiang scanned his fingerprint on the fingerprint attendance machine. Ma Xiaohua, the accountant and saleswoman, was already cleaning. Zhao Qiang hurriedly grabbed the mop: "Sister Ma, let me do it."
Ma Xiaohua was 29 years old, seven years older than Zhao Qiang. She was already a mother, but she still had a strong mature woman's charm and was quite pretty, so Zhao Qiang would occasionally fantasize about her.
Ma Xiaohua looked up and smiled: "Zhao Qiang, is it worth it for you to sacrifice all your days off and three hours every night for 600 yuan a month?"
Zhao Qiang had only been at Home Inns Computer Company for a few days and was still in the internship stage. He hadn't received a penny yet. While mopping the floor, he said, "Sister Ma, what's the big deal? I'll do it if I get paid. I can't let myself go hungry."
Ma Xiaohua smiled and said nothing more. She and Zhang Chunjiang, the company's technician, had a base salary of 2,200 yuan per month, plus sales commissions. On good days, they could earn about 4,000 yuan, which was considered a good income for ordinary people in Donghai City.
After mopping the floor, Zhao Qiang then wiped down the sample machine. After finishing these tasks, the boss, Wang Yidong, arrived. He was a very shrewd man who had gone from setting up a street stall to opening an IT company in just five or six years. Now he was earning over ten thousand yuan a month. Zhao Qiang came here to work with the intention of observing and learning, especially since IT was a sunrise industry. There was no reason for Zhao Qiang not to move in that direction, so the salary he was paid was enough to fill his stomach.
Wang Yidong walked around the shop with satisfaction. Seeing Zhao Qiang standing to the side, covered in sweat and holding a rag, he nodded approvingly and said, "Not bad, Xiao Zhao is quite diligent. Follow Zhang Gong's trainees and I'll officially hire you after you graduate."
Zhao Qiang said gratefully, "Thank you, Boss Wang. But Sister Ma also deserves credit for this cleaning work. I was just helping out."
Ma Xiaohua wasn't afraid of Wang Yidong at all. She said, "With Zhao Qiang's help, I'm not afraid of President Wang. You did most of the work anyway, so I'll ask President Wang to give you a bonus later."
As soon as the topic of money came up, Wang Yidong immediately stopped, coughed, and said, "Hurry up and get ready. A customer will be coming to pick up a machine for repair soon. Where is Zhang Chunjiang? It's so late, why isn't he here yet?"
Zhang Chunjiang is 27 years old this year. He is a computer science student from a second-rate university, but he has work experience, knows how to repair things and understands networks. He often sighs about being stuck in such a small company, so he is not punctual for work and is a typical latecomer and early leaver. However, Wang Yidong has to rely on Zhang Chunjiang to support him, so he lets him have his way.
Ma Xiaohua said sourly, "Your engineer Zhang is probably still dreaming right now, just you wait."
Wang Yi could wait, but the customer couldn't. So he came right away. A middle-aged woman, around forty years old, was carrying a vegetable basket. She probably just happened to be there to pick up the computer that she had left there for repair yesterday.
With no qualified repairman available, the boss, Wang Yidong, had to step in personally. "Zhao, go to the repair shop and check on that Lenovo machine." Wang Yidong promoted Zhao without batting an eye. He was indeed a shrewd and tactful person. If he told the customer that the repair engineer was sleeping at home, it would be embarrassing and would give the customer the impression that the company was not professional.
Zhao Qiang was only slightly taken aback before realizing that Wang Yidong was bluffing. He knew perfectly well that the Lenovo machine hadn't been touched since it arrived yesterday afternoon! Even if Wang Yidong didn't know the details, he should be able to guess pretty accurately.
Afraid that Zhao Qiang wouldn't understand, Ma Xiaohua gave him a wink as a reminder, then handed a cup of hot water to the auntie. "Sister, please sit down. Let our company's engineer Zhao help you get the machine out. Our company is called Rujia, so this is your home."
The auntie smiled and said, "Okay, I'm not in a hurry. You said my computer suddenly won't turn on, but the fan is still spinning. What's wrong with it?"
Ma Xiaohua mumbled, "Oh, it should be a problem with the power supply or the motherboard. I'll have Engineer Zhao explain it to you in a bit."
Ma Xiaohua clung to the auntie, and Wang Yi followed Zhao Qiang into the repair room without making a sound. The repair room was a separate 10-square-meter room with a row of tables with repair tools and spare parts on them, and a row of high-end computer chairs that Chunjiang used.
Wang Yidong pointed to the Lenovo desktop computer on the table and asked Zhao Qiang, "What's the problem? Has it been solved?"
Zhao Qiang was also there yesterday, Saturday. He said, "I don't know. When it was delivered, Engineer Zhang was about to leave work, so he didn't pay attention to it."
Wang Yidong slapped his forehead: "I knew that kid was unreliable. He agreed to pick it up this morning. Let's check it out quickly. I don't think there will be any major problems."
Zhao Qiang pointed at himself and said, "Me? Boss Wang, I don't even know how to install a system now."
Wang Yidong slapped his thigh again: "You're such an idiot. Is there anything simpler than fixing a computer? Just open the case and see which part is broken and replace it."
Zhao Qiang was quite skilled at tightening screws. He tore off Lenovo's special seal and opened the side panel of the case. A strong smell of dust hit him. My God, is this even a computer? All the circuit boards were covered with a thick layer of dust, and there were even exaggerated cobwebs in the corners of the case. Wang Yidong simply handed him a small vacuum cleaner: "Vacuum it up!"
Zhao Qiang, with a pained expression, started working. Dust filled the repair room. Wang Yidong turned around and left the room. Outside, Ma Xiaohua was still chatting. When she saw Wang Yidong come out, the aunt immediately asked, "Boss Wang, how's my computer? I was in a hurry to play cards on Lianzhong this morning. Will it be a problem?"
Wang Yidong frowned and said, "Big sister, I'm not trying to be mean, but how long has it been since you maintained your computer? Do you know how serious your computer's condition is? In doctor's terms, it's critically ill!"
The woman was startled: "Oh no, I was using it just fine yesterday at noon. I woke up and turned it on again and it was like this. Nobody touched it. I've always treated it like a precious treasure."
Wang Yidong pointed to his chest and said, "No matter how clean you wipe the outside, its heart is already rotten. Do you think that will help? It's just treating the symptoms, not the root cause."
The woman was horrified when she heard this, "Mr. Wang, do you think there's any way to save my computer?"
Wang Yidong had already figured out that this woman was from Dianbai, so he spoke without the slightest fear, "Of course there's hope, otherwise, what would be the point of keeping my company running? Last night, I was working overtime to fix your power supply, motherboard, and hard drive..."
The woman panicked even more when she heard that several parts needed repair. "Boss Wang, do you mean my computer is totaled? How much will it cost?"
Wang Yidong was afraid of scaring the old lady too much and causing her to stop repairing, so he quickly said, "I've been running this shop here for years, and we're practically old neighbors. We see each other all the time, so we must have some connection. Besides, my shop is called 'Rujia' (meaning 'Home Inn'), so coming here should feel like home. Would I possibly charge you more? That's something only a shrewd businessman would do. Wait a minute, I'll go inside and check."
Just as Zhao Qiang finished vacuuming the dust out of the computer case, Wang Yidong came in. He tossed an eraser to Zhao Qiang and said, "Take out the graphics card and memory, and clean the gold contacts. With so much dust, it would be strange if it could even start. Remember to touch the radiator pipe first to discharge any static electricity from your hands, so that the static electricity doesn't damage the chips."
The task wasn't difficult. Zhao Qiang unscrewed the graphics card, removed the memory sticks, carefully cleaned the gold contacts on both circuit boards, and then reinserted them as before. Wang Yidong decisively waved his hand and said, "Power on!"
Zhao Qiang was a little confused. Was that all? Wang Yidong ignored Zhao Qiang's expression, plugged in the power himself, and then pressed the power button. Buzz, the fan started spinning and sprayed out some residual dust that hadn't been sucked up. Zhao Qiang was sprayed all over his face. He coughed and took two steps back. At this moment, there was a beep, and the startup screen appeared on the monitor used for repair.
Wang Yidong snapped his fingers: "Done. Replaced a 512MB DDR400 Apacer memory stick, fixed the power supply... uh, forget about the motherboard, I'll just charge her two hundred." As he spoke, Wang Yidong picked up the side panel of the case, inserted it, and screwed it on.
Zhao Qiang was dumbfounded. He wasn't very tech-savvy. Although many of his roommates had bought computers, he was too embarrassed to borrow them. Besides, if his roommates' computers broke down, he would have to ask for help. It was impossible for them to take apart their computers and do DIY every day. Even though Zhao Qiang was completely clueless, where had he just replaced the memory? Where had he repaired the power supply? Two hundred yuan? He just cleaned the dust and wiped the gold contacts himself? That only took about ten minutes.
W
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Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Chapter 42
Chapter 43
Chapter 44
Chapter 45
Chapter 46
Chapter 47
Chapter 48
Chapter 49
Chapter 50
Chapter 51
Chapter 52
Chapter 53
Chapter 54
Chapter 55
Chapter 56
Chapter 57
Chapter 58
Chapter 59
Chapter 60
Chapter 61
Chapter 62
Chapter 63
Chapter 64
Chapter 65
Chapter 66
Chapter 67
Chapter 68
Chapter 69
Chapter 70
Chapter 71
Chapter 72
Chapter 73
Chapter 74
Chapter 75
Chapter 76
Chapter 77
Chapter 78
Chapter 79
Chapter 80
Chapter 81
Chapter 82
Chapter 83
Chapter 84
Chapter 85
Chapter 86
Chapter 87
Chapter 88
Chapter 89
Chapter 90
Chapter 91
Chapter 92
Chapter 93
Chapter 94
Chapter 95
Chapter 96
Chapter 97
Chapter 98
Chapter 99
Chapter 100
Chapter 101
Chapter 102
Chapter 103
Chapter 104
Chapter 105
Chapter 106
Chapter 107
Chapter 108
Chapter 109
Chapter 110
Chapter 111
Chapter 112
Chapter 113
Chapter 114
Chapter 115
Chapter 116
Chapter 117
Chapter 118
Chapter 119
Chapter 120
Chapter 121
Chapter 122
Chapter 123
Chapter 124
Chapter 125
Chapter 126
Chapter 127
Chapter 128
Chapter 129
Chapter 130
Chapter 131
Chapter 132
Chapter 133
Chapter 134
Chapter 135
Chapter 136
Chapter 137
Chapter 138
Chapter 139
Chapter 140
Chapter 141
Chapter 142
Chapter 143
Chapter 144
Chapter 145
Chapter 146
Chapter 147
Chapter 148
Chapter 149
Chapter 150
Chapter 151
Chapter 152
Chapter 153
Chapter 154
Chapter 155
Chapter 156
Chapter 157
Chapter 158
Chapter 159
Chapter 160
Chapter 161
Chapter 162
Chapter 163
Chapter 164
Chapter 165
Chapter 166
Chapter 167
Chapter 168
Chapter 169
Chapter 170
Chapter 171
Chapter 172
Chapter 173
Chapter 174
Chapter 175
Chapter 176
Chapter 177
Chapter 178
Chapter 179
Chapter 180
Chapter 181
Chapter 182
Chapter 183
Chapter 184
Chapter 185
Chapter 186
Chapter 187
Chapter 188
Chapter 189
Chapter 190
Chapter 191
Chapter 192
Chapter 193
Chapter 194
Chapter 195
Chapter 196
Chapter 197
Chapter 198
Chapter 199
Chapter 200
Chapter 201
Chapter 202
Chapter 203
Chapter 204
Chapter 205
Chapter 206
Chapter 207
Chapter 208
Chapter 209
Chapter 210
Chapter 211
Chapter 212
Chapter 213
Chapter 214
Chapter 215
Chapter 216
Chapter 217
Chapter 218
Chapter 219
Chapter 220
Chapter 221
Chapter 222
Chapter 223
Chapter 224
Chapter 225
Chapter 226
Chapter 227
Chapter 228
Chapter 229
Chapter 230
Chapter 231
Chapter 232
Chapter 233
Chapter 234
Chapter 235
Chapter 236
Chapter 237
Chapter 238
Chapter 239
Chapter 240
Chapter 241
Chapter 242
Chapter 243
Chapter 244
Chapter 245
Chapter 246
Chapter 247
Chapter 248
Chapter 249
Chapter 250
Chapter 251
Chapter 252
Chapter 253
Chapter 254
Chapter 255
Chapter 256
Chapter 257
Chapter 258
Chapter 259
Chapter 260
Chapter 261
Chapter 262
Chapter 263
Chapter 264
Chapter 265
Chapter 266
Chapter 267
Chapter 268
Chapter 269
Chapter 270
Chapter 271
Chapter 272
Chapter 273
Chapter 274
Chapter 275
Chapter 276
Chapter 277
Chapter 278
Chapter 279
Chapter 280
Chapter 281
Chapter 282
Chapter 283
Chapter 284
Chapter 285
Chapter 286
Chapter 287
Chapter 288
Chapter 289
Chapter 290
Chapter 291
Chapter 292
Chapter 293
Chapter 294
Chapter 295
Chapter 296
Chapter 297
Chapter 298
Chapter 299
Chapter 300
Chapter 301
Chapter 302
Chapter 303
Chapter 304
Chapter 305
Chapter 306
Chapter 307
Chapter 308
Chapter 309
Chapter 310
Chapter 311
Chapter 312
Chapter 313
Chapter 314
Chapter 315
Chapter 316
Chapter 317
Chapter 318
Chapter 319
Chapter 320
Chapter 321
Chapter 322
Chapter 323
Chapter 324
Chapter 325
Chapter 326
Chapter 327
Chapter 328
Chapter 329
Chapter 330
Chapter 331
Chapter 332
Chapter 333
Chapter 334
Chapter 335
Chapter 336
Chapter 337
Chapter 338
Chapter 339
Chapter 340
Chapter 341
Chapter 342
Chapter 343
Chapter 344
Chapter 345
Chapter 346
Chapter 347
Chapter 348
Chapter 349
Chapter 350
Chapter 351
Chapter 352
Chapter 353
Chapter 354
Chapter 355
Chapter 356
Chapter 357
Chapter 358
Chapter 359
Chapter 360
Chapter 361
Chapter 362
Chapter 363
Chapter 364
Chapter 365
Chapter 366
Chapter 367
Chapter 368
Chapter 369
Chapter 370
Chapter 371
Chapter 372
Chapter 373
Chapter 374
Chapter 375
Chapter 376
Chapter 377
Chapter 378
Chapter 379
Chapter 380
Chapter 381
Chapter 382
Chapter 383
Chapter 384
Chapter 385
Chapter 386
Chapter 387
Chapter 388
Chapter 389
Chapter 390
Chapter 391
Chapter 392
Chapter 393
Chapter 394
Chapter 395
Chapter 396
Chapter 397
Chapter 398
Chapter 399
Chapter 400
Chapter 401
Chapter 402
Chapter 403
Chapter 404
Chapter 405
Chapter 406
Chapter 407
Chapter 408
Chapter 409
Chapter 410
Chapter 411
Chapter 412
Chapter 413
Chapter 414
Chapter 415
Chapter 416
Chapter 417
Chapter 418
Chapter 419
Chapter 420
Chapter 421
Chapter 422
Chapter 423
Chapter 424
