Computer

After glancing at the time and seeing it was past one o'clock, Chu Chen headed straight to Aunt Zhang's place to re-sign the lease and get the broadband set up.

As Chu Chen neared Aunt Zhang's home, he saw her already waiting for him at the door from a distance.

Seeing this, Chu Chen couldn't help but grumble inwardly. With money coming in, she's incredibly proactive. Normally, if I ask her to get the property management to fix the lights in the hallway, I never see her this energetic. Truly someone whose eyes light up at the sight of money.

Aunt Zhang was overjoyed to see Chu Chen arrive and enthusiastically invited him inside. She then poured him a cup of green tea that was so bitter and astringent, it almost made Chu Chen spit it out immediately.

Afterward, the two parties re-signed the contract in a friendly atmosphere. Of course, the rent had increased by fifty, something Aunt Zhang would never forget, even if it killed her.

After handling the rental matters, Chu Chen and Aunt Zhang went to the telecom office to apply for broadband service. The installation time was originally uncertain, but luckily Aunt Zhang had a contact at the telecom company, so they could get it installed the next day. Of course, Chu Chen also gave her a pack of good cigarettes. After all, China is a society built on relationships; when someone helps you, you should show your appreciation.

Once everything was settled, Chu Chen breathed a sigh of relief. He made up his mind that after the Spring Festival, he would start looking for a place to buy. Not owning his own home was really quite troublesome.

Just as Chu Chen was about to leave, Aunt Zhang called out to him, "Xiao Chen, your Brother Zhang misses you and wants you to stop by his shop when you have time."

Chu Chen was taken aback for a moment, then chuckled, "Brother Zhang never calls me to his shop for no reason. It wouldn't be because he's acquired another batch of subpar raw stones, would it?"

The Brother Zhang Chu Chen mentioned was Aunt Zhang's son, Zhang Guosheng, who was thirty-five years old. He had a shop on the antiques street called Cuiyuan Zhai, specializing in jade business and also dealing in jade raw stones. It was precisely because Zhang Guosheng also did business on the antiques street that Aunt Zhang had heard about Chu Chen's misjudgment before.

When Chu Chen first arrived at Panjiayuan, he accidentally learned about the trade of gambling on stones. He heard many stories of sudden wealth and became tempted. Fortunately, he could control his desires, and the money he invested wasn't too much, but it was at least a few hundred yuan a month, and sometimes over a thousand.

The trade of gambling on stones could truly be described as "ten gambles, nine losses." People often thought about how much someone else made, never considering that some people lost everything, their families scattered. Fortunately, Chu Chen was good at learning and didn't act blindly, plus his luck was decent. Over the years, he hadn't lost too much, and he gambled on stones at Zhang Guosheng's shop.

Zhang Guosheng's business was quite substantial, but perhaps like mother, like son, he also had a personality that loved to get a good deal. Thus, he would acquire subpar raw stones once or twice a year. Surprisingly, there were indeed people who bought these stones, and Chu Chen was one of them. The common psychology of buying these stones was to bet small to win big.

Although some people bought them, there were still many. Often, by the time he acquired new stock, the previous batch hadn't sold out yet. At such times, Zhang Guosheng would invite them over under the guise of visiting and maintaining relationships, then sell off the previous inventory at a discounted price.

When they acquired the stones, they were already leftovers, and after customers picked through them, one could imagine the quality of the raw stones. Most of them were just brick material. However, there were still buyers, and Chu Chen himself had bought them a few times. The reasons were, firstly, they were cheap, and secondly, people always had a glimmer of hope, thinking maybe they'd get lucky and cut out a jade.

However, over the years, no one had ever seen anyone actually cut out a jade from that pile of waste stones.

"Well, you'll have to go and find out. I don't get involved in his affairs," Aunt Zhang said nonchalantly.

Chu Chen thought to himself, You still don't know your son's "plucking the feathers off a goose" personality. After all these years of patronizing his business, I've barely had a few cups of tea. If he didn't want us to come and clear out his stock, why would he be so kind as to invite me? Now that I have this ability, I'm not that interested in gambling on stones anymore. I just want to placate Aunt Zhang.

However, as his thoughts raced, Chu Chen suddenly wondered if his ability could also sense jade. Thinking of this, he couldn't help but get excited, wishing he could rush to Zhang Guosheng's shop immediately to test it out. But he restrained himself, as he had already used up his three chances for the day.

The first use of his ability was on that "Time Pot." Later, Chu Chen hadn't planned to go to the antiques market again that day, so on the principle of "not using an ability is a waste," he used it on two late Qing Dynasty furniture pieces in Zhu Dafu's reception room, leading to his current awkward situation. He felt like crying without tears.

But Chu Chen quickly adjusted his mindset, thinking, Anyway, the stones won't run away on their own. If someone else picks out a jade from them, there's nothing I can do. So he said to Aunt Zhang, "Okay, I'll go to Brother Zhang's place tomorrow after the broadband is installed."

Upon hearing this, Aunt Zhang immediately headed towards the telecom office, saying to Chu Chen as she walked, "Xiao Chen, you go ahead and do your thing. I'll go and hurry my friend along, tell him to speed things up."

Chu Chen was speechless, feeling a cascade of dark lines appearing over his head.

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

The next day, Chu Chen woke up at six as usual and practiced his boxing for a while. When he returned, he had breakfast along the way and then went home to tinker with the computer in the living room.

When he was on his way home yesterday, he received a call from Uncle Wu saying his computer was ready and asked him to come to the shop to pick it up with the staff.

Chu Chen happily went to retrieve his computer, while also inwardly grumbling, Is heaven jealous of me having money? Otherwise, why would more than half of the fifty thousand yuan I just got disappear so quickly?

The entire computer cost over thirteen thousand yuan, but the price was commensurate with its configuration. He heard the CPU was the newly released Pentium 4, and it had a 40GB hard drive. It was much better than Uncle Wu's computer, making Uncle Wu incredibly envious.

The system was already installed when the computer was delivered, along with a few games like Monopoly and Command & Conquer: Red Alert. However, Chu Chen wasn't too fond of Red Alert. After the computer was set up, he started playing Monopoly. He wasn't interested in the foreign characters, though, due to his nationalistic tendencies.

Yesterday, Chu Chen played Monopoly until one in the morning, to the point of neglecting food and sleep. Fortunately, ever since his boxing technique broke through to the Minor Heavenly Cycle, his sleep needs had decreased significantly, otherwise, he wouldn't have been able to wake up at six today.

Just as Chu Chen was about to win with three more land plots, he heard a knock on the door. When he opened it, he saw it was the broadband installation staff. He checked the time; it was just past eight o'clock, which made him admire Aunt Zhang's influence. He figured Aunt Zhang must have pestered her friend so much yesterday that they achieved such efficiency.

Even with a connection, Chu Chen still offered the staff tea and cigarettes. As the saying goes, "When you accept someone's hospitality, you feel indebted." This had been Chu Chen's foolproof method during his years in Beijing.

As expected, the staff member, seeing Chu Chen's hospitality, installed his broadband both aesthetically and securely. He even gave Chu Chen some extra telephone and computer cables for emergencies. After finishing the job, Chu Chen gave the man another pack of cigarettes. It was a win-win situation, making him sigh, "Convenience for others is convenience for oneself," a sentiment that truly reflected the wisdom of the ancients.

With the broadband installed, Chu Chen eagerly went online. He first browsed a few forums related to antiques. Honestly, at this time, there wasn't much online information, and antique forums were few and far between, with varying quality.

After several comparisons, Chu Chen found the forum introduced by Uncle Wu to be the most popular and richest in content. So, Chu Chen registered an account on that forum and casually browsed a few sections.

However, most of the questions on the forum were from beginners. Chu Chen couldn't help but answer a few, and soon he was hailed as a master by several people, which made him feel a bit ashamed.

Chu Chen couldn't help but sigh at how important a good master was in the world of antiques. Fortunately, when he first entered the field, Uncle Wu guided him, and later provided hands-on instruction, saving him many detours, a lot of sweat, and countless amounts of money.

Thinking of this, Chu Chen felt even more grateful to Uncle Wu and vowed to treat him even better in the future.

The online world was vast, especially for newcomers. Everything seemed fascinating, and Chu Chen was no exception. Most importantly, he could communicate with collectors from all over the country, which he enjoyed immensely.

Moreover, Chu Chen's knowledge was already solid, and now with his photographic memory, he was not much inferior to some experienced masters when it came to porcelain. His answers were always insightful. Furthermore, he was humble. In just two to three hours, his reputation on the forum soared, and he even added several like-minded friends.

After exchanging some insights with his new forum friends, Chu Chen checked the time and realized it was already twelve o'clock. He couldn't help but wonder if this was considered neglecting one's duties for pleasure. He then bid farewell to his forum friends and shut down the computer to eat.

After lunch and a nap, Chu Chen, feeling refreshed, headed towards Zhang Guosheng's Cuiyuan Zhai.

On the way to Cuiyuan Zhai, he had to pass by the place where he often set up his stall. He hadn't been there for a few days and missed the environment, so he decided to stop by.

Regular market stalls, meaning fixed stalls, were very expensive and couldn't be secured without significant capital. Temporary stalls, in comparison, were much cheaper. Depending on the location, they cost between ten and twenty-five yuan per day.

Thanks to Uncle Wu's arrangements, Chu Chen could usually rent better locations at a lower price, and the locations were generally within a fixed range, making it easier for repeat customers to find him. As a result, Chu Chen had quite a few regular customers over the years.