The Technician Takes the Stage, and the Difference Is Clear

"What?"

"What did you say?"

"You want to take responsibility for servicing that YETI full-suspension bike?"

Du Wei was utterly shocked. He immediately shook his head like a rattle drum and flatly refused.

"Don't mess around, Old Huang. That's a top-of-the-line downhill mountain bike, genuine American-made stuff.

"Look at that beast's setup: a FOX 38 fork, FOX FLOAT X2 rear shock, FOX dropper post, and a full SRAM XX1 drivetrain—

"If anything goes wrong, I'd be ruined paying for it."

"You won't have to pay. If any parts get damaged, I'll naturally cover it. I can afford that much."

Huang Chong curled his lips into a smile and walked straight over to the YETI full-suspension bike caked in yellow mud. He pushed it to the entrance and gave it a quick rinse with the pressure washer.

After wiping it dry with a towel, he secured it to the repair stand and began disassembling the entire bike.

Du Wei had wanted to stop him, but for some reason, he had an inexplicable sense of anticipation toward Huang Chong today. He felt as though the kid might give him a pleasant surprise.

Besides, Huang Chong had said he would pay for any damaged parts, though Du Wei would never actually make him compensate for them. After thinking it over, he gave Liu Chaoyang, the shop technician, a meaningful look and silently watched from the side.

Huang Chong picked up a professional wrench and, in no time at all, removed the wheelset, headset, handlebars, drivetrain, and other components one by one.

Experts watched for technique, while amateurs watched for excitement. As the owner of a bike shop, Du Wei did not handle technical work himself, but he certainly had an eye for it.

Watching Huang Chong take the bike apart, he saw how smooth and practiced his movements were, and he was already seventy or eighty percent convinced.

This kid really knew what he was doing!

What he could not understand was when Huang Chong had learned it.

Huang Chong had always worked in his shop. Before today, he had been a complete novice, so how had he suddenly become a professional technician in a single day?

And when it came to servicing the parts, Huang Chong left him even more dumbfounded.

Servicing a mountain bike did not just mean stripping down and cleaning the whole bike. Components such as the headset, hubs, fork, and rear shock also had to be fully disassembled, regreased, and oiled.

Yet Huang Chong handled every step without the slightest mistake.

He seemed like an old technician who had spent decades repairing bicycles, like an engineer who had come out of a top-tier bike factory.

Just over an hour later, Huang Chong reassembled all the serviced components into a complete full-suspension mountain bike. It looked brand new—not only spotlessly clean, but every strange noise had vanished. Du Wei and Liu Chaoyang were too stunned to speak!

"This—"

"This is fucking—"

The two of them stared at Huang Chong as if they had seen a ghost while he test-rode the bike outside, both of them struggling to find words.

Du Wei was delighted yet confused.

Liu Chaoyang, on the other hand, was shocked and uneasy.

The professional skill Huang Chong had displayed was simply too strong. He was even smoother and more fluid than Liu Chaoyang himself.

Of course Liu Chaoyang knew how to service and repair mountain bikes too, but there was no way he could operate as quickly as Huang Chong.

The latter was simply too efficient, as though he knew the design and structure of every single component on the bike by heart.

His techniques also seemed to have been honed through countless repetitions, reaching a level of complete mastery.

A profound sense of crisis suddenly rose in Liu Chaoyang's heart.

Was I going to get fired?

With skills this good, what would Du Wei need him for?

Huang Chong was Du Wei's sworn brother, while he was merely an employee who had been hired.

"Old Du, check the bike and see if there are any problems. I think it's completely OK, practically the same as when it left the factory."

After taking the bike out for a test ride on the street, Huang Chong pushed it back into the shop and handed it to Du Wei.

"Master Liu, you're the professional technician. Help inspect it and see whether there are any issues with Old Huang's service job."

Du Wei was the owner of the bike shop. Although he knew all about the latest popular road bike products, from the bikes and models used by UCI WorldTour teams to those of the next-tier PRO teams, he was not a technician after all. He decisively handed the inspection over to the shop's professional technician.

Though Liu Chaoyang felt somewhat uncomfortable, he was an employee, so he nodded and began inspecting the bike objectively in accordance with professional standards.

As expected, Huang Chong's service job was textbook-standard, absolutely flawless.

He acknowledged Huang Chong's skill. His tone was both admiring and faintly jealous as he slowly said,

"A true talent emerges in youth, Brother Huang. Not only are your technical operations incredibly smooth, but you also know mountain bike functions and settings extremely well. It's truly impressive.

"For example, the air pressure settings on this fork and rear shock are both just right.

"It seems the title of the shop's number one technician will have to go to you from now on!"

The moment Liu Chaoyang said that, both Du Wei and Huang Chong froze.

Though they were both young, their families were in business. Having attended all sorts of business social events with their parents since childhood, they had long been exposed to such ways of speaking and immediately caught the hidden meaning in Liu Chaoyang's words.

But the skill package Huang Chong had received from the system was merely an unexpected gain.

The reason he had shown off in front of Du Wei was indeed partly because he wanted a higher salary, but he had never intended to steal Liu Chaoyang's livelihood.

Besides, he had already decided to become a professional rider. There was no way he would remain a technician under Du Wei for long.

So he had no desire whatsoever to replace or compete with Liu Chaoyang. After thinking for a moment and exchanging a look with Du Wei, he smiled and said,

"Master Liu, you're giving me too much credit. I've indeed learned quite a bit about bike assembly and maintenance in private, but you've been in this line of work far longer than I have.

"What little skill I have is nothing in front of you.

"Besides, I'm going to become a professional rider next. I'll have a lot of training to do, and I'll definitely need to join a team or club in the future.

"Don't laugh at me, but I only learned bike repair so that if a mechanical issue happens halfway through training, I can fix it myself. Otherwise, every time my bike breaks down, I'd have to call Lalamove. The cost would be way too high!"

Huang Chong stopped there without spelling everything out, but both Du Wei and Liu Chaoyang understood what he meant.

Put simply, he had no intention of becoming a technician.

Hearing this, the sense of crisis in Liu Chaoyang's heart was naturally dispelled at once. At the same time, he could not help sighing inwardly. Huang Chong really knew how to conduct himself. He clearly had better skills than Liu Chaoyang, yet he was not arrogant. Unlike Liu Chaoyang, whose first reaction upon seeing Huang Chong's abilities had been jealousy.

After thinking it over, he finally laughed heartily and waved his hand, choosing to return the favor with some mutual praise.

"Brother, you're far too modest. I'd bet anything that with your skills, you'd be more than qualified for any boutique bicycle shop in the country—no, even as a technician for a professional team.

"But you're still young, so you have greater ambitions.

"Compared to being an ordinary technician, being a rider does indeed have a much brighter future. I'm really looking forward to hearing news of you standing on the podium and winning awards in future road races!"

Hearing that, Huang Chong laughed heartily and exchanged a few more pleasantries with him before finally putting Liu Chaoyang at ease.