Chapter 18

This was simply not something a human being could do!

"No!" Tao Yan shook his head, his expression grave. "It wasn't that good."

Tao Yan knew perfectly well that although he was smart, he was only a little smarter than most people. The reason he had always ranked near the top in school and at work was because he spent all the time others used to relax, play ball, and date on studying. If he had truly possessed some extraordinary talent, he would have gone into academic research instead of becoming a trader on Wall Street.

Huo Baichuan laughed. "Good thing you didn't go into academia." Whether it was math or physics, either would make a person go bald. Tao Yan was so good-looking—if he really went bald, wouldn't that be such a waste?

Tao Yan glanced at Huo Baichuan without saying anything.

Only then did Huo Baichuan realize it. "Wait, you mean your memory got better after we traveled through time?"

Tao Yan nodded. He had just tested it again. The memories in his mind seemed to have become technologically enhanced images, every frame etched into his brain with remarkable clarity. When he did not summon them, they lay quietly buried in the depths of his memory. But once he recalled them, countless details emerged like melons and leaves on the same vine—even the veins on the leaves came back clearly.

"..." Huo Baichuan whistled, genuinely happy for Tao Yan. "With such a rich and detailed database stored in your brain, even if we only invest, we'll still make a fortune. We've taken another huge step toward becoming billionaires. That's such a good thing, so why are you frowning?"

Tao Yan shook his head. He could not explain it.

"Could our physical makeup have been altered during the time travel?" Tao Yan looked at Huo Baichuan in puzzlement. "Haven't you noticed anything strange?"

Huo Baichuan was thick-skinned and tough; he truly had not noticed anything. But he did not care much either. Holding a battered straw hat, he fanned both himself and Tao Yan as he said, "It's really hot today. I'm about to get heatstroke. Let's not take the bus back. We should hail a cab."

The taxis of this era were still Altos. By the time Huo Baichuan had memories, this kind of car had long vanished from the streets. He found them novel and especially wanted to ride in one.

Seeing the fine beads of sweat on Huo Baichuan's forehead, Tao Yan could not be bothered to dwell on something they had no way of verifying. "Put the hat on and you won't feel so hot. A calm mind brings coolness."

Huo Baichuan could not help rolling his eyes. "Why do you sound like my dad?"

Tao Yan chuckled. "Then go ahead and call me Dad."

Huo Baichuan snorted. "In your dreams."

The two stood by the roadside waiting for a car. Just as Tao Yan raised his arm, he suddenly remembered something. "Where's Little Third?"

Huo Baichuan froze. They had been so busy buying parts for Jingjing and her mother and assembling the computer that they had nearly forgotten the little brat.

"Come on, let's go check the market office." Huo Baichuan wiped away his sweat. A man had to keep his word. He had said he would take Little Third back to the orphanage with them—how could he go back on that?

Tao Yan laughed silently. Asking around as they went, the two made their way into the management office on Electronics Street. The security staff member was sitting at his desk drinking water. His old-fashioned enamel mug was nearly as big as a child's head, filled with cooled barley tea. One big gulp was refreshing and heat-relieving, more thirst-quenching than anything else.

When he saw Tao Yan and Huo Baichuan walk in side by side, the staff member was taken aback. "Why are you two here?"

"We came to pick up Little Third and take him back to the orphanage with us." Huo Baichuan glanced at the cooled tea in the enamel mug and asked with a smile, "Where is he?"

"He ran off ages ago." The staff member sighed, but he did not just sit there. He got up and poured each of them a bowl of tea. "It's nothing fancy. Have some to quench your thirst."

The two accepted the bowls and thanked him gently.

The staff member continued with a sigh, "It hasn't been easy for you two either. If anything happens while you're drumming up business here in the future, come find us. We can't help much with anything else, but keeping order on the street is what we're supposed to do."

Tao Yan and Huo Baichuan exchanged a glance, then thanked him again.

Author's note:

[Note] The introduction to Windows in this text came from Baidu Encyclopedia.

Chapter 18

After leaving the market office, Huo Baichuan looked at the fashionable young men all over the street—sporting side-parted mushroom cuts, floral shirts, bell-bottoms, boomboxes on their shoulders, and sunglasses beneath the blazing sun—and suddenly grew interested.

"Do you want to listen to some music?" Huo Baichuan nudged Tao Yan with his elbow and said eagerly, "The Cantonese songs they're listening to are pretty good."

Tao Yan looked Huo Baichuan up and down several times, smiling faintly. "Want me to buy you a few outfits?"

"Sure!" Young Master Huo perked up. "When in Rome, do as the Romans do! I think you should get a couple of fresh outfits too and experience this era's fashion trends."

Tao Yan was not interested in this era's fashion trends. But he did not want to spoil Huo Baichuan's mood. So the two changed direction and headed straight for the state-run department store across from Electronics Street.

This was also the first time they had gone shopping in a department store since traveling through time.

Boys had always shopped with clear goals in mind. As soon as they entered the department store, the two headed straight for the menswear section. Looking at the gaudy so-called fashion trends before him, Tao Yan found them painful to look at. He turned toward the businesswear section beside it and picked out two sets of white shirts and suit trousers—suits in this era were still foreign imports. They were designed and tailored entirely for Western body types, with no consideration for the skeletal frames, builds, or aesthetic differences of East Asians. As a result, they looked loose and ill-fitting when worn. They needed shoulder pads for decoration, or else the trouser legs had to be altered at a tailor's shop before they could be worn.

This awkward situation would persist until after the turn of the millennium, when the domestic economy developed and major international luxury brands began to recognize the potential spending power of China's high-end custom market, gradually bringing about change.

For now, these outdated, poorly fitted suit styles did not really suit Tao Yan's taste, but they would do for the time being.