Computer

After glancing at the time, Chu Chen saw that it was already past one. He headed straight to Aunt Zhang's home, planning to renew the rental contract and take care of the broadband arrangements while he was at it.

When Chu Chen was almost at Aunt Zhang's place, he saw from a distance that she was already standing at the door waiting for him.

Seeing this, Chu Chen could not help grumbling inwardly. There's money coming in, so she's incredibly enthusiastic. Usually, when I ask her to get the property management office to fix the hallway light, I never see her this eager. No wonder they say money makes the world go round.

When Aunt Zhang saw Chu Chen arrive, she was overjoyed. She warmly ushered him inside, then brewed him a cup of green tea that was both bitter and astringent. The taste nearly made Chu Chen spit it out on the spot.

Afterward, in a friendly atmosphere, the two sides signed the contract again. Of course, the rent had definitely gone up by fifty yuan. Aunt Zhang would never forget something like that.

After taking care of the rental matter, Chu Chen went with Aunt Zhang to the telecommunications service center to arrange broadband service. The installation date had originally been uncertain, but fortunately Aunt Zhang knew someone there, so they could come install it the next day. Naturally, Chu Chen also gave the worker a pack of good cigarettes. China was a society built on personal connections, after all. When someone helped you, you had to show your appreciation.

Once everything was settled, Chu Chen breathed a sigh of relief. He decided that after the Spring Festival, he would look at some houses and prepare to buy one. Living in a house that was not his own was truly troublesome.

When Chu Chen was about to leave, Aunt Zhang stopped him again. "Xiao Chen, your Brother Zhang misses you. He asked you to drop by his shop when you have time."

Chu Chen paused, then said with a smile, "Brother Zhang never asks me to drop by for no reason. Don't tell me he's brought in another batch of low-quality rough stones?"

The Brother Zhang Chu Chen referred to was Aunt Zhang's son, Zhang Guosheng. He was thirty-five that year and had a shop on Antiques Street called Cuiyuan Zhai. He specialized in jadeite and also dealt in rough jadeite stones. It was precisely because Zhang Guosheng also did business on Antiques Street that Aunt Zhang had heard about Chu Chen's previous mistake.

When Chu Chen had first arrived at Panjiayuan, he had learned about the stone-gambling trade by chance. After hearing many stories about people becoming rich overnight, he had been tempted. Fortunately, he had been able to control his desires and had not invested much money. Even so, he usually spent several hundred yuan a month, and sometimes more than a thousand.

As for stone gambling, it truly was a case of nine losses out of ten. People often thought about how much money someone had made, but never about how others had lost everything, leaving their wives and children behind. Fortunately, Chu Chen was good at learning and did not act blindly. With a bit of luck besides, he had not lost too much over the years. And the place where he gambled on stones was Zhang Guosheng's shop.

Zhang Guosheng's business was fairly substantial, but perhaps he had inherited his mother's tendency to seek bargains, so he also had a habit of taking advantage of others. Thus, every year he brought in one or two batches of low-quality rough stones. As it happened, there really were people willing to buy such stones, and Chu Chen was one of them. The general mindset behind buying them was to risk a small amount in hopes of gaining a fortune.

Although there were buyers, the quantity was large. Often, when Zhang Guosheng got his next shipment, he still had not sold all the previous one. At times like that, he would invite people like them over under the pretext of visiting and maintaining relationships, then sell off the old stock at a certain discount.

The stones had already been leftovers when Zhang Guosheng acquired them. After customers picked through them, their quality was obvious. Most were already nothing more than brick material. Still, there were buyers—even Chu Chen had bought some several times. The reasons were simple: first, they were cheap; second, people always had a bit of wishful thinking. Maybe their luck would explode and they would cut out jadeite.

But after all these years, no one had ever actually cut jadeite out of that pile of waste rock.

"Well, you'll know once you go. I don't concern myself with his affairs," Aunt Zhang said with complete composure.

Chu Chen thought, As if you don't know your son's penny-pinching nature. I've patronized his business for years and barely had a few cups of tea. If he weren't trying to get us over there to clear out his stock, why would he be so kind as to invite me? Now that he had his special ability, he had become rather uninterested in stone gambling and merely wanted to humor Aunt Zhang.

But then a thought suddenly struck him. Could his special ability sense jadeite as well? At that thought, he grew excited and wished he could rush to Zhang Guosheng's shop to try it immediately. However, he restrained the impulse, because he had already used up all three chances to activate his ability that day.

He had first used his ability on the "Time Pot." Later, since he had not planned to visit the antiques market again that day, he had followed the principle that failing to use his ability would be a waste and used it on two late Qing Dynasty pieces of furniture in Zhu Dafu's reception room. That had led to his current awkward predicament, leaving him feeling so miserable he nearly wanted to cry.

Chu Chen quickly adjusted his mindset. The stone doesn't have legs and can't run away on its own. If there really is jadeite inside and someone else picks it out, there's nothing I can do about it. Thus, he said to Aunt Zhang, "All right. I'll go to Brother Zhang's place after I get the broadband installed tomorrow."

The moment Aunt Zhang heard that, she started walking toward the telecommunications service center. As she walked, she said to Chu Chen, "Xiao Chen, you go take care of your own business. I'm going to hurry my friend along and ask him to speed things up."

Chu Chen was rendered speechless, feeling as if black lines covered his entire forehead.

************************************

The next day, Chu Chen still got up at six as usual. He practiced his punches for a while, then ate breakfast on the way back. Once home, he turned on the computer in the living room and began tinkering with it.

On his way home the previous day, when he had only gone halfway, he had received a call from Uncle Wu saying that his computer had been assembled. Uncle Wu told him to come to the shop and take it home together with the staff.

Chu Chen was happy to retrieve his computer, but at the same time he could not help grumbling inwardly. Does Heaven itself dislike seeing me with money? Otherwise, why would more than half of the fifty thousand yuan in my hands be spent before I even had time to warm it?

The entire computer had cost more than thirteen thousand yuan, but the price was fair for its configuration. He had heard that its CPU was the newly released Pentium 4, and it also had a forty-gigabyte hard drive. It was far better than Uncle Wu's computer, making Uncle Wu extremely envious.

The system had already been installed when the computer arrived, along with several games, such as Monopoly and Command & Conquer: Red Alert. Chu Chen was not particularly interested in Red Alert, though. Once the computer was set up, he began battling away at Monopoly. However, he had no interest in the foreign characters in it. What could he do? He had somewhat nationalist leanings.

The previous day, Chu Chen had played Monopoly until one in the morning, practically forgetting food and sleep. Fortunately, ever since his martial arts had broken through to the Minor Heavenly Cycle, he had needed less sleep. Otherwise, he would never have been able to get up at six that day.

When Chu Chen was only three properties away from victory, he heard knocking at the door. When he opened it, he found that it was the broadband installation worker. He checked the time and saw that it was only a little past eight. He could not help admiring Aunt Zhang's abilities. She had probably pestered her friend so relentlessly the previous day that the man had been left with no choice but to work this efficiently.

Although he had connections, Chu Chen still offered the worker tea and cigarettes. As the saying went, people became soft-hearted after eating someone's food and short-handed after taking someone's gifts. This was the unchanging principle Chu Chen had followed during his years in the capital.

Sure enough, when the worker saw how warmly Chu Chen treated him, he installed the broadband beautifully and securely. He even gave Chu Chen some telephone and computer cables for emergencies. When the work was finished, Chu Chen gave him another pack of cigarettes. Everyone was delighted, and Chu Chen could not help sighing that making things convenient for others also made things convenient for oneself. The ancients had truly not deceived him.

Once the broadband was installed, Chu Chen eagerly went online. He first browsed a few forums about antiques. To be honest, there was not much information online during this period, and there were only a few antiques forums. Their quality varied widely as well.

After comparing them several times, Chu Chen still felt that the forum Uncle Wu had recommended had the most users and the most information. He registered an account there and casually browsed a few sections.

Most of the posts on the forum were questions from beginners. Chu Chen could not help answering a few of them, and before long, several people had honored him as a master, which left him rather embarrassed.

Chu Chen could not help sighing over how important it was to have a good master in the Antiques world. Fortunately, when he had first entered the trade, Uncle Wu had guided him. Later, Uncle Wu had taught him personally, allowing him to avoid many detours, endure far less hardship, and spend who knew how much less money.

Thinking of this, Chu Chen felt even more grateful to Uncle Wu and swore that he would take even better care of him in the future.

The online world was vast. Especially for newcomers, every place was fascinating. Chu Chen was no exception. Most importantly, he could communicate with collectors from all over the country, and he was thoroughly enjoying himself.

Moreover, Chu Chen's foundation was already solid. Now that he also possessed photographic memory, he could say that in the field of porcelain, he was not much inferior to some Master Craftsmen. His answers were always well-founded. He was also modest, and within just two or three hours, his reputation on the forum had risen sharply. He even added several people he got along with as friends.

After exchanging some insights with several forum friends, Chu Chen glanced at the time and realized that it had unknowingly reached noon. He could not help wondering whether this counted as letting his interests ruin his ambitions. After greeting his forum friends, he shut down the computer and went to eat.

After lunch, Chu Chen woke from his nap refreshed and headed toward Zhang Guosheng's Cuiyuan Zhai.

On the way to Cuiyuan Zhai, he happened to pass the place where he often set up his stall. He had not been there for several days and found himself missing the surroundings, so he decided to take a look on the way.

The regular stalls in the market—in other words, permanent stalls—were extremely expensive. Without a certain amount of capital, one could not afford to take one over. Temporary stalls were much cheaper by comparison, generally costing between ten and twenty-five yuan a day depending on the location.

With Uncle Wu's arrangements, Chu Chen could usually rent a good location at a relatively low price. It was also more or less within a fixed area, making it convenient for returning customers to find him. Thus, after several years, Chu Chen still had quite a few regular customers.