Volume 1 [005] Was it a dream?
When Zhao Qiang woke up, his five roommates were already fast asleep in bed. It seemed they didn't plan to go to class in the morning. This was the result of Tunghai University's lax management!
Zhao Qiang first washed his face with water. The computer on the table was already in standby mode. He tapped the keyboard to restore the screen and was surprised to find that the desktop was the same as the computer he had seen at the company during the day! It was Windows 7.
But after searching carefully, Zhao Qiang couldn't find the white cat Xiao Wei. He thought its program had been shut down, or that he had just had a dream last night! Yes, maybe he was just dreaming.
Zhao Qiang swiped the mouse on the touchscreen and clicked to shut down the computer. Then he stuffed all his belongings into his backpack, a proud smile on his face as he hurried to the company. Of course, he didn't forget to buy a steamed bun for breakfast on the way.
Zhang Chunjiang arrived unusually early today. He was already waiting outside the door before Ma Xiaohua even opened it, which startled her so much that she almost fell off her electric scooter. "Engineer Zhang? Has the sun risen in the west? You're here to inspect the work so early?"
Zhang Chunjiang looked annoyed. "Don't even mention it. Open the door, or my mom will yell at me."
Ma Xiaohua chuckled sweetly, "Another blind date?"
Zhang Chunjiang didn't answer, but his expression confirmed it. What mother isn't anxious about her son's marriage? But Zhang Chunjiang wasn't in a hurry at all. Early in the morning, his mother was forcing him to go on a blind date, so he had to run to the company to avoid it.
Unwilling to discuss his own relationship matters further, Zhang Chunjiang changed the subject, "Ma Xiaohua, what do you think Zhao Qiang will do last night?"
Ma Xiaohua said, "Of course it's a computer, what else could it be but a woman?"
Zhang Chunjiang chuckled: "With his skill level, he wants to build a laptop by himself? He's probably crying in secret right now. He might have already burned out the power supply and optical drive. He doesn't even understand the compatibility issues between hardware. I really admire him."
Ma Xiaohua said, "Young people should have drive. At least he dared to try, which is commendable. Those broken parts aren't worth much. Just consider it practice for him. Don't discourage him. As for the power supply and optical drive burning out, he can return them to the dealer for warranty."
Zhang Chunjiang said, "Okay, if he can really install a laptop, I won't discourage him."
The shop door creaked open, and Zhao Qiang walked in carrying two steamed buns. Ma Xiaohua said, "Zhao Qiang, no class today? Hehe, don't eat steamed buns every day, you need to get a balanced diet."
Zhao Qiang laughed and said, "With flour, vegetables, and meat, this bun is much more nutritious than a fried dough stick. I'll skip class today to earn more money to buy some buns."
Zhang Chunjiang laughed, "Zhao Qiang, your ideal is really far-reaching. You go to work just so you can eat steamed buns?"
Zhao Qiang put down his backpack, took a bite of the juicy steamed bun, and said, "Yeah, the school was strict in the second semester of my sophomore year, and we couldn't go out to do part-time jobs. For a while, I couldn't even afford steamed buns. Hehe, Engineer Zhang, you're here really early today. By the way, could you check if there's anything wrong with this system? I think I've been hacked."
Zhang Chunjiang looked bewildered: "What? You really installed the laptop? And even the operating system? Hacked you? What idiot would hack your computer for no reason? That person must be crazy, having nothing better to do?"
As Zhao Qiang took his laptop out of his bag, he said, "I'm not too sure either. I just followed your instructions when installing the system."
Ma Xiaohua glared at Zhang Chunjiang, signaling him not to dampen Zhao Qiang's enthusiasm. Zhang Chunjiang said, "Let's go to the repair shop and take a look."
When Zhang Chunjiang saw the broken laptop with keys that were almost falling off, he couldn't help but laugh. It was pure junk. But when he saw the laptop boot up smoothly into the Win7 system, he became curious. He checked the remaining hard drive capacity and found that there was still more than 2GB left. He suddenly realized and said to Zhao Qiang, "You're really keeping up with the times, aren't you? A Win7 interface emulator. If I didn't know that the hard drive only had 6GB, I probably would have been fooled by you."
Zhao Qiang was puzzled. "Engineer Zhang, I installed Win7. How could it be simulating? I didn't do anything except shut it down after installing the system last night." The system started up smoothly, and the desktop was the same as the Win7 on the sample machine outside. The little white cat on the screen did not reappear, which made Zhao Qiang even more convinced that he was dreaming last night, or that it was just a plugin that only started once.
Zhang Chunjiang patted Zhao Qiang on the shoulder and said earnestly, "Little Zhao, don't try to fool me. My IQ is perfectly fine. I've never heard of anyone using a 6GB hard drive to install the installation disk I gave you yesterday. That's not a stripped-down version. It's normal for it to take up 6 to 10GB of space after successful installation. You think you can fool me with XP? Besides, you only have 128MB of RAM. Who would believe you can run Win7 with that? But look at your machine now, it's so fast."
Zhao Qiang was a little confused. Could it be that he installed XP yesterday? Could it be that the pirates used XP to impersonate Win7 to save trouble? Unable to figure it out, Zhao Qiang could only say awkwardly, "Engineer Zhang, it's possible that I installed it on the wrong disk. You know I don't know anything right now. You're a senior expert, so please take care of me."
Being flattered by Zhao Qiang's title of "senior expert" made Zhang Chunjiang very happy. He pulled a USB drive from his pocket and tossed it to Zhao Qiang: "Here, copy the contents to your laptop. Don't say I didn't help you out. This is all the latest hacking software I just downloaded yesterday. Ordinary people can't get their hands on it. I'll tell you secretly, there's a Red Star scanner in it. It can find at least three vulnerabilities that Microsoft hasn't discovered yet. Don't tell anyone else, or I'll be in trouble too."
Zhao Qiang was a little reluctant, thinking to himself, "I came here to learn how to repair computers, not to become a hacker. That stuff can't make a living." Zhao Qiang's hesitation was misinterpreted by Zhang Chunjiang as him not understanding copy and paste at all. So, the 'enthusiastic' Zhang Chunjiang personally began to teach him, "Open the removable storage device, select these files and click copy. Then create a new folder on your hard drive, open it, and click paste. See, it worked! You've learned another trick!"
Zhao Qiang nodded gratefully. It turned out Zhang Chunjiang wanted to teach him how to copy files, but he seemed to already know a thing or two about it and didn't need Zhang's instruction. Anyway, there was nothing on the computer; installing some hacking software and learning from it wouldn't hurt.
Zhang Chunjiang casually opened the Red Star scanner and started scanning Zhao Qiang's system. Then he unplugged the USB drive, opened his own laptop, and said while running CF (CrossFire), "Alright, you can study on your own. I'm going to play some games."
Zhao Qiang saw a network cable on the table and wanted to test if the network card integrated into his laptop worked, so he casually plugged it in. Just then, Ma Xiaohua's figure flashed by in the outer room as she swept the floor. Zhao Qiang slapped his head, realizing that the victory of owning a laptop had clouded his judgment, and he still had to clean! Otherwise, wouldn't he be wasting the ten yuan that Wang Yidong had given him yesterday?
Zhao Qiang slammed the screen shut and ran out of the repair room. He snatched the broom from Ma Xiaohua's hand and started working. Ma Xiaohua admired Zhao Qiang's keen eye. She straightened up and asked, "Zhao Qiang, how was the computer assembly last night?"
Zhao Qiang thought for a moment and said, "That sounds pretty exciting."
Ma Xiaohua started giggling again, her ample breasts jiggling wildly, making Zhao Qiang hurriedly lower his head and continue sweeping the floor. Ma Xiaohua said, "Pretty exciting? This is the first time I've heard someone describe DIY like this. Anyway, I'm optimistic about you. Your first DIY attempt was a great success. Keep up the good work!"
"Thank you, Sister Ma, I will try my best." Zhao Qiang was indeed grateful to Ma Xiaohua. At least she didn't charge him for the memory, and without her memory, his crappy laptop wouldn't even be able to be put to use.
Zhao Qiang originally wanted to ask Zhang Chunjiang about the pet program, but after turning on the computer, he didn't see the little white cat Xiao Wei, so he had to cancel his plans. Although Zhang Chunjiang seemed quite enthusiastic, he showed off his skills everywhere, which made Zhao Qiang somewhat disgusted. He would rather not bother the old man if he could avoid it.
"Damn it, what's going on? It's so laggy first thing in the morning, can't a person play like this?!" Zhang Chunjiang suddenly slammed the mouse down in anger. Ma Xiaohua poked her head into the repair room and said, "What's wrong with you so early in the morning?"
Zhang Chunjiang said, "The network was lagging just now, and someone got shot in the head. Damn it, I told Lao Wang to switch to fiber optic a long time ago, but he just wouldn't spend that little bit of money... Damn it, I got shot in again. What happened? I'm not playing here anymore. I'm going to the internet cafe. When Lao Wang comes over, I'll tell him I'm taking a day off to go on a blind date."
Zhang Chunjiang walked away quickly, unaware that the network card indicator light on the junk laptop beside him was flashing wildly! Meanwhile, the Red Star scanning software, which claimed to be able to detect three vulnerabilities, had already completed its scan, finding zero vulnerabilities.
Volume 1 [006] Making a Move
Zhao Qiang finished cleaning with great enthusiasm. This time, he didn't run into Wang Yidong's inspection, so he wouldn't get the ten yuan reward like yesterday morning. However, Zhao Qiang didn't care; he wasn't there for the ten yuan in the first place.
Two beeping sounds came from outside the door, and then a man in his mid-thirties hurriedly pushed the door open and entered. Ma Xiaohua immediately greeted him with a smile, "Good morning, sir. Are you here to buy a computer or for repair?"
The man stomped his foot and cursed, "Buy my ass, fix my ass! What kind of crappy computer store is this? You sell nothing but junk! Where's the boss? Tell him to get out here! If you don't give me an explanation today, I'm smashing your store up!"
This guy doesn't seem friendly. Zhao Qiang picked up the mop behind the door. This guy looks like he's here to cause trouble. But Ma Xiaohua gave Zhao Qiang a look to tell him not to be impulsive, so Zhao Qiang had no choice but to let go of the mop.
"Sir, don't be anxious. Just tell me what's wrong. It's not worth getting angry and ruining your health." Ma Xiaohua coaxed the man with a charming smile. A woman's smile is truly lethal. After Ma Xiaohua finished speaking, the man calmed down a lot. It seemed that the emotions that had been brewing outside had been diluted a lot by the charm of this young woman, Ma Xiaohua.
The man finally spoke up and explained, "I just bought this printer here the day before yesterday, but it turned out to be broken. I urgently need to print an invoice. What are you going to do? It's disrupting my company's normal operations. You have to fix the printer for me and compensate me for my economic losses, or I'll smash up the shop again."
At first, Ma Xiaohua thought she had been scammed and wondered if she should call Wang Yidong and report it to the police. But when the conversation turned to printers, Ma Xiaohua remembered that this person was indeed a customer who had bought a printer, and she was the one who had served him. He made 230 yuan from each Yingmei dot matrix printer, and Wang Yidong gave her a 20 yuan commission.
"Sir, please don't be angry. If we really sold you a faulty printer, we will definitely take responsibility. I don't think your boss will shirk responsibility for the losses caused to your company." Ma Xiaohua didn't rush to distance herself. Customers who come back to cause trouble are irrational, and she didn't need to argue with them. That would only make things worse.
The man probably felt it was undignified to get angry at a woman, and besides, Ma Xiaohua was sweet-talking and he liked what she said, so he softened his tone and said, "I'll give your boss a chance for your sake. The printer isn't working properly on the computer, and a customer urgently needs an invoice. You need to solve this problem for me right now, otherwise your small company can't afford to take responsibility even if you sell everything you own. I make millions of dollars a day, and your small shop can't save face."
Ma Xiaohua said repeatedly, "Yes, yes, we're just a small business, so please bear with us. I remember I taught you how to install the driver when we moved the printer, right? Could it be that you didn't install the driver?"
The man said, "I went back and tried it as you told me, but it didn't work. I brought the printer and computer with me. If you don't believe me, you can see for yourselves."
The customer's emotions had basically stabilized, and Ma Xiaohua called to Zhao Qiang: "Go help this man move his things down. I'll call Zhang Chunjiang and ask him to come back. Let's try to solve this problem for him as soon as possible."
In the back of the man's car, there was a laptop and a USB dot matrix printer. Zhao Qiang carried them into the repair shop in two trips. At this moment, Ma Xiaohua walked in looking anxious. She whispered to Zhao Qiang, "Zhang Chunjiang's phone is off. He's probably afraid his mother will call him. We can't get through to the boss. Who knows where he went gallivanting last night? He probably hasn't gotten up yet. Going to his house to call him now is definitely too late. That scoundrel outside probably can't wait."
Zhao Qiang was also dumbfounded: "What should we do? Sister Ma, do you know how to fix a printer?"
Ma Xiaohua said, "It's more like it can fix me. I don't even know how to install drivers. Last time, Zhang Chunjiang taught him how to install drivers."
Zhao Qiang said, "I know less about computers than you do."
Ma Xiaohua glanced at the man pacing back and forth outside the repair shop and said, "Let's try anything, I'll give you the driver disk. You can fiddle with it right away and see. If it's a printer problem, just replace it with a new one. If you can't find the cause and fix it, I don't want him to return it. Otherwise, I won't earn a single penny of commission, and he might even hold us responsible. If that happens, we'll both lose our jobs if we ruin the boss's shop."
Zhao Qiang exclaimed in surprise, "No way, Sister Ma, you want me to fix this? How can that be?"
Ma Xiaohua said, "Why can't you do it? Didn't you install the system yourself last night? I believe in you, don't let me down."
After saying that, Ma Xiaohua threw down the drive disk and walked out of the repair shop, pretending to smile and chatting with the man to buy time. Zhao Qiang was already sweating profusely without doing anything. He had no idea where to start. This was really worrying him.
"Meow," Zhao Qiang's laptop suddenly meowed. The sweat that Zhao Qiang had just broken out in was still wet on his back. Xiao Wei! It, it's back again. This is not a hallucination!
Zhao Qiang pulled over the laptop, and sure enough, the adorable white cat appeared. However, a red star scanning software on the screen was rather obtrusive, so Zhao Qiang closed it without even looking at it. Because Xiao Wei's appearance was somewhat strange, Zhao Qiang's voice trembled slightly: "W-what do you want?"
The cat looked surprised: "Master, why don't you recognize me? You don't mean you don't want me anymore, do you? What am I going to do then, meow..." The cat's meow was filled with deep sorrow.
Zhao Qiang wiped away a cold sweat, cursing himself inwardly. What was he afraid of? It was just a pet program. He should ignore it for now and quickly find out the cause of the problem, otherwise he would disappoint Sister Ma.
Zhao Qiang said impatiently, "Go away, can't you see I'm busy? I'll be in trouble if I don't get the printer sorted out... But what should I do first? Nobody has ever taught me. That damn Zhang Chunjiang, he only knows how to brag, he hasn't taught me anything useful."
The kitten in the laptop said, "Master, turn on the laptop first, then run the installation disc. When prompted, insert the printer. If anything goes wrong in the process, we'll fix it step by step."
Zhao Qiang was completely lost when Xiao Wei's words came as a timely help. He unconsciously followed her instructions. The other person's laptop had XP installed, the most widely used operating system at the time. The CD was set to autorun, which saved Zhao Qiang a lot of trouble. During the driver installation process, it required turning on the printer and plugging the connection cable into the laptop's USB port, which Zhao Qiang also completed. However, just as the file copying was about to finish, a red cross dialog box popped up: "RPC server unavailable, installer encountered an error and stopped." Zhao Qiang was dumbfounded. What did this mean?
Zhao Qiang's laptop webcam was pointed directly at the repair station. Seeing Zhao Qiang standing there dumbfounded, not knowing what to do next, Xiao Wei said, "I don't know much about this system. I can only analyze it based on the network information we just obtained. First, open the Control Panel, find 'Printers and Faxes,' and there is an 'Add Printer' button in the middle on the right."
With nowhere else to turn, Zhao Qiang naturally did as Xiao Wei said, otherwise he would have been left helpless. As a result, another red cross popped up: "Operation cannot be completed. Printing background service is not running."
Xiaowei paused briefly and then said, "I understand. Go to Control Panel, run 'Administrative Tools,' then run 'Services,' find the 'PrintSpooler' program in Local Services, and then double-click it."
Completely clueless, Zhao Qiang continued to follow Xiao Wei's instructions. These things were too complicated for him. If it weren't for Xiao Wei's hints, he would have collapsed long ago. This cat seems to know a lot. The person who designed it is really awesome.
"Startup type: Disabled; Service status: Stopped." This is the text displayed in the center of the dialog box that pops up after double-clicking PrintSpooler. Zhao Qiang then saw that there were options after startup type, including 'Automatic', 'Manual', and 'Disabled'. Without Xiao Wei reminding him again, Zhao Qiang switched to automatic. Then, one of the three gray buttons under service status, 'Startup', became selectable. Zhao Qiang then clicked it with the mouse, and a progress bar flashed by.
Xiao Wei praised Zhao Qiang's actions, saying, "Master, well done. Try installing the driver again."
Success seemed within reach, and Zhao Qiang was somewhat excited. "Okay."
Having already mastered the previous steps, Zhao Qiang didn't need Xiao Wei to remind him. The file copying process began quickly, and with Zhao Qiang's constant prayers, it was completed perfectly. A dialog box popped up indicating that the hardware installation was finished! Zhao Qiang's face flushed with excitement. This was his first time doing a repair, and he had done it entirely on his own—or rather, thanks to Xiao Mao. Without its reminder, Zhao Qiang would still be staring blankly at the screen.
Ma Xiaohua chatted with the man about all sorts of things, and the man laughed heartily and said, "Miss Ma is so funny. How about we have a casual lunch together? I'll take you out for some fun this afternoon as compensation for my company's losses."
As Ma Xiaohua hesitated about how to refuse the man without making him angry, Zhao Qiang poked his head out of the repair room and said, "Sister Ma, it's done. This gentleman had disabled the printer's background program, so the driver couldn't be installed. It's back up now. Let him come in and try it."
Upon hearing that it was all sorted out and that it wasn't the printer's fault, Ma Xiaohua's smile vanished immediately, and she said to the man in a serious tone, "Sir, let's go in and take a look."
The man naturally didn't want to bring up lunch again, so he followed Ma Xiaohua into the repair room. By this time, Zhao Qiang had already received instructions from Xiao Wei and put on an old-fashioned air, saying, "Sir, did you install some optimization software? Ordinary users like you don't know much about the system, so it's best not to mess with the system settings."
As Zhao Qiang spoke, he opened the Printers and Faxes option in the Control Panel, right-clicked on the default printer, selected 'Properties', and clicked 'Print Test Page' in the lower right corner of the printer properties window. He then fed in the paper, and the printer started working smoothly. Everything was normal! Zhao Qiang was very pleased with himself after completing these operations. Being technically skilled is really awesome.
The man looked a little awkward. The printer was still the same one, and the computer was his own. His arrogant attitude when he came in now seemed like a self-inflicted wound! Wiping the sweat from his brow, the man said, "Oh dear, what's going on? My company's accountant spent half the night last night trying to fix it but couldn't. You professionals are really something... My computer has been slow to boot up lately, so I downloaded 360 Security Guard and disabled a lot of startup items."
Zhao Qiang said, "No wonder. You must not optimize or disable programs haphazardly again, otherwise it will cause problems and delay your company's normal operations."
The man nodded hurriedly, "I remember, I remember, thank you, thank you so much. Big companies really have excellent technology. My accountant even considers himself a computer expert, but he can't even handle this little problem." As he spoke, the man loaded his computer and printer into his car, then drove off without a word, and the plan to invite Ma Xiaohua to dinner and have fun was naturally abandoned.
Volume 1 [007] Things Zhang Chunjiang Couldn't Handle
"Zhao Qiang, I love you to death!" Ma Xiaohua suddenly picked up Zhao Qiang, her full breasts pressing against his face, which startled him so much that he struggled to escape, his embarrassed expression making people laugh.
Ma Xiaohua laughed so hard she bent over. "Hahaha, what, Zhao Qiang, are you still a virgin? Did you think I'd take advantage of you? You're still too green... Speaking of which, this is all thanks to you. I never thought you could play dumb to fool me. If you hadn't fixed the printer, I would have let that old pervert take advantage of me today."
Zhao Qiang was still a young man and found it hard to accept jokes from a married woman. However, Ma Xiaohua had stopped teasing him, and Zhao Qiang said, "Sister Ma, we could just say the boss isn't here. There's no need for you to sacrifice your looks."
Ma Xiaohua stopped laughing and said seriously, "Zhao Qiang, I'm not trying to lecture you. If we always shirk our responsibilities, I think Lao Wang's shop would have closed down long ago. Then I would have to find a new job, and I might not be as happy as I am now. So, the company's success is also for our own future. What do you think?"
Zhao Qiang nodded: "Sister Ma, you're right. I was too selfish. As a man, I should take on more responsibility."
Ma Xiaohua patted Zhao Qiang's chest, "That's right, that's more like a man. I have faith in you. You're so smart, you'll make it big one day. Don't forget me then!"
Zhao Qiang secretly shook his head. Was he really that smart? If it weren't for Xiao Wei, he probably wouldn't have been able to handle what had just happened. Ma Xiaohua left the repair room, and Zhao Qiang pulled over his laptop. On the screen, Xiao Wei's smug cat face was waiting for his praise. Zhao Qiang said earnestly, "Thank you, Xiao Wei, but I don't understand. Since you're just a pet program, how do you know so much?"
Xiao Wei raised her two front paws and hugged them together with a proud air, "Who said I'm just a pet program? My owner underestimates me too much."
Indeed, Xiao Wei never referred to it as a pet. Zhao Qiang asked curiously, "Then what are you?"
Xiao Wei said, "This is a very complicated problem. If I think about it any longer, your laptop definitely won't be able to handle it. But teaching you how to repair it just now reminded me of something. I think I used to do this kind of work."
"Repair?" Zhao Qiang was somewhat surprised. "You're just a program, how can you help others with repairs?"
Xiao Wei said, "Master, as I said, I am not as simple as a program. I was not like this at first. I lost a lot of things, so I can only stay in your computer for now. As for helping others with repairs, didn't we just do that?"
Zhao Qiang said, "That's right. You say it and I'll do it. It's a pleasure working together. I don't know much about computers, so you'll have to teach me more in the future."