Smart medicine?

Chapter 10: Smart Pills?

"It's very expensive..."

?!

Suddenly, upon hearing this soft music, the uncle's mouth hung open, wide enough to fit a pear inside. He had been about to blurt out some words, but he quickly swallowed them back.

He hadn't expected Zhang Yuan to actually fix the radio, and he had done it in such a simple way!

After a few seconds of stunned silence, he hurried forward to inspect it carefully. Every screw had been tightened perfectly, and there were no leftover parts.

"How did you do it?"

After letting the radio cool down, he turned it on again. He repeated the process several times, and every playback was flawless. The smile on his face was impossible to hide.

"Do you know how to repair radios?"

Its value had skyrocketed; the flawed antique had become a perfect one. The initial skepticism had long since been thrown to the winds, as if it had never happened.

Zhang Yuan thought for a moment and answered honestly, "I haven't studied it, I just looked up some relevant knowledge on the internet before... If you think about it carefully, you can find the reason."

He then recounted the entire logic behind his thinking.

"...So I guessed that the previous owner of this radio might have removed these vacuum tubes while cleaning out the dust. Then, when they put them back, they got the order wrong, which caused this problem."

The uncle listened, only half-understanding, but it felt quite logical.

In other words, his nephew had thought about it for a while, then tinkered with it, and actually fixed it.

Thought about it for a while...

It sounded simple, but in reality, it was never a simple task.

Suppressing the urge to go brag to his friends, he smiled and said, "With the skill you just showed, you could open an antique repair shop and make hundreds of thousands a year without any trouble!"

"How could I... actually, I don't understand it at all."

"I'm telling you, I'm serious!"

In truth, what mattered wasn't the level of repair skill, but this ability to see the essence through the phenomenon.

The specific principles were simple to explain, but how many people could actually figure them out?

"So, Qingqing, you still need to study hard. If you don't even understand the principles and just repair things blindly, you won't be able to fix them."

Ye Qingqing, who was watching from the side, blinked, realizing she had been lectured again.

So infuriating! He actually fixed it.

The neighbor's kid really is a lifelong enemy that is impossible to defeat!

Terms like "vacuum electronic tube" and "radio frequency circuit" sounded so knowledgeable and persuasive, leaving her with a deep sense of powerlessness; she didn't even have a chance to interject.

She even...

Felt a faint sense of admiration.

Just think about what was inside her own head: 50% of her energy was spent longing for "romance," such as the looks of the school heartthrob, the class heartthrob, or the big star Cai Xukun; 30% of her energy was spent thinking about what to wear, what to eat, and whether she would get pimples; the remaining 20% was divided among other things, including novels, TV shows, and... studying.

It would be a miracle if she could learn anything well.

Her head couldn't help but droop.

The uncle was still thanking Zhang Yuan profusely, even trying to pay a repair fee, which made him feel quite embarrassed.

"If you went outside, the repair fee would be at least two or three thousand..."

"Uncle, how could I take your money... Money is of no use to me." Zhang Yuan was incredibly awkward.

Ye Qingqing just giggled on the side.

She suddenly felt that having a smart cousin didn't seem so bad.

At the very least, she could show him off to her best friends.

She could even drop the "cousin" part and just call him her brother; they grew up together anyway, so it didn't really matter. The identity of an astronaut was extremely valuable...

Thinking of the envy, jealousy, and hatred in her friends' eyes, Ye Qingqing felt more and more that this was cool—really cool!

When he walked out of his uncle's house, it was already three in the afternoon.

Before parting, his aunt had forcibly stuffed a large red envelope into his hand, containing a full ten thousand Federal Credits!

In truth, Zhang Yuan was not short on money; money didn't have much use for him anyway.

However, since it was a gesture of affection from his relatives, he accepted it. Mostly, he just couldn't refuse; after passing the envelope back and forth, he really couldn't win against the elders.

Walking along the bustling pedestrian street, Zhang Yuan was reflecting on his performance just now.

"99 points... I'm keeping the last point so I don't get too arrogant!"

An antique radio that made noise—the kind he had never even seen before—if it had been in the past, he would have been completely clueless.

This deep sense of satisfaction was like a rich cup of coffee, leaving a lingering aftertaste.

Without a doubt, his deductive reasoning and cognitive abilities had increased significantly!

In the past, even if he had such knowledge in his mind, he wouldn't necessarily have been able to derive the relevant conclusions, nor would he have possessed the ability to draw inferences about other cases from one instance.

Possessing knowledge and applying knowledge are two completely different levels of difficulty.

"But it's different now... Ha!"

This miraculous power filled Zhang Yuan with immense joy.

Not only that, it was as if he had regained the curiosity of a child, harboring a deep desire to explore everything.

Human curiosity and imagination are at their peak during childhood, but as one ages and the level of education increases, curiosity and imagination constantly diminish. This is the price paid for growing up.

Small children can play with boring toys for a long time and have an endless desire to explore the world. But once they grow up, that changes; they get bored easily, hate studying, and loathe using their brains.

In other words, he had regained a heart of innocence!

To put it plainly... he wanted to learn, whether it was mathematics or physics; exploring this world brought a vibrant sense of accomplishment.

Things that originally seemed incredibly dull had now become fascinating.

"I really want to go back and study non-stop... Have I become a freakish scientific giant?"

Zhang Yuan was quite curious about what the ingredients of that strange potion actually were, to be able to alter a person's level of thinking and their interests.

"On Earth... is there really such black technology?"

"Smart drugs?"

He casually checked his phone and was shocked—they actually existed!

???

Certain neurological stimulant drugs, including Ritalin and Modafinil, are known as "smart drugs." Many high school students preparing for college entrance exams, university students, and corporate executives take drugs similar to stimulants to temporarily enhance their memory and make their thinking more agile.

However, this type of drug belongs to the stimulant category; it has a certain level of addictiveness, and long-term use leads to dependency. It can even cause side effects like insomnia.

Zhang Yuan calmed his mind: "What the hell... these drugs are just stimulants; they have to be taken every day, and they couldn't possibly have such a powerful effect."

"Dad wouldn't give me something with side effects."

So, what exactly was it?