Taking Orders

Wu Chen did not give it much thought, though. After all, there were plenty of people in the world who looked alike.

But good-looking people like you, the reader, were few and far between.

An hour later, Wu Chen checked the results and found that the restoration had turned out extremely well.

The water stains on the original photo had all disappeared, and the algorithm had filled in the details of the blurry areas, making it look as though the photo had been restored to its original state.

After adding a watermark, Wu Chen sent the photo over.

"Dear customer, the restoration is complete. If you're satisfied, please click to confirm receipt, and I'll send you the original file."

"Got it."

The customer called "Jiang Jiang" seemed to have been waiting there the whole time. She replied the moment she received the message and promptly confirmed receipt.

As the payment entered his account, the system in Wu Chen's mind sent him notifications at the same time.

[Monetized technology for 69 yuan. Gained 0.069 skill points]

[Host's first successful technology monetization detected. Reward: 10 skill points]

There was a bonus like that?

Wu Chen had been a little dejected when he discovered that one yuan was worth only 0.001 skill points.

But the extra skill points made him smile with delight.

He spent six skill points to upgrade his Qiming No. 1 Youth Edition to the full version.

It was the tool he made his living with, so he had to max out its specs.

[Currently available production blueprints: Qiming No. 1 Youth Edition -> Dawn No. 1]

[Current skill points: 4.069]

Perhaps it was because a boy who smiled often would never have terrible luck, but Wu Chen soon received another order.

The depressing part was that it was another funeral portrait restoration.

But having already tasted the rewards, Wu Chen no longer felt creeped out when he looked at that kind of photo.

What could be scarier than being poor?

Qingchun Road Campus, Second Affiliated Hospital of Zhejiang University, Hangzhou.

Jiang Nan rubbed her eyes and rose from a chair in the corridor.

Her normally clear eyes, with their distinct whites and dark pupils, were red and swollen from staying up all night, and her smooth hair was a mess. If anyone who knew her had seen her there, they would never have recognized the goddess who was always so clean and elegant.

But Jiang Nan had no mind to care about her appearance. Carrying her computer, she walked quietly into the hospital room.

As soon as she entered, she heard a voice full of vitality.

"Nannan, has the photo been restored?"

"It has... Grandma, take it easy! The doctor said you can't sit up!"

Jiang Nan looked toward the voice and saw that her grandmother, who had been bedridden by illness, had slowly sat up and was smiling at her, her face rosy.

She hurried toward the bed, but at the same time, a phrase suddenly burst into her mind.

A final burst of vitality before death!

When she realized this, her legs went weak, and she nearly fell to the floor.

Her mother, who had been keeping watch from a chair beside the bed, woke up too.

She opened her eyes and seemed just as shocked by the sight before her.

The scene reminded her of when her own father had passed away.

"Mom!"

The old woman in the hospital bed, however, saw nothing wrong.

She merely chuckled. "I just dreamed about your dad. He said lots of people were waiting for me and told me to make myself look pretty..."

"Mom, don't say things like that..."

Jiang Nan's mother stepped forward and held her hand, choking back sobs.

But the old woman only smiled and beckoned Jiang Nan over.

"Xiao Nan, bring my photo over and let me have a look."

Jiang Nan's heart ached.

She had already known that her grandmother would leave them in the next day or two.

But when the moment truly came, she realized that no amount of mental preparation was any use.

She opened the computer and showed her grandmother the photo on it, but turned her own head away, her eyes red.

The old woman in the hospital bed looked at the screen and nodded in satisfaction.

It was none other than the photo Wu Chen had restored.

"Good, that's the one. It goes well with your grandpa's photo. I thought it couldn't be restored. Technology these days is amazing, so much better than the Soviet Union's, and our country has more and more talented people..."

After getting a clear look at the photo, the old woman seemed to have laid a worry to rest.

The last breath she had been hanging on to was slipping away, and her words no longer followed any logic, wandering from one thing to another.

But Jiang Nan and her mother simply listened in silence, letting their tears fall.

"...The country is getting better, and we should get better too, but I still haven't seen Nannan get married. You're so pretty, and you're a teacher at Xiaoheshan University of Technology. You're bound to find a wonderful young man..."

By the end, the old woman's voice was as faint as a mosquito's whine.

The adrenaline faded, and her brief liveliness was like a night-blooming cereus, destined to wither.

A moment later, her voice faded away completely, and her aged eyes finally closed, slowly.

"Mom!"

"Grandma!"

After the two cries that would never receive an answer, their sobs could no longer be held back and rang throughout the hospital room.

Seven days later, dark circles under his eyes, Wu Chen stepped onto campus again at eight in the morning and once more ran into Liu Ping outside the School of Computer Science building.

Once again, neither greeted the other as they hurried past.

That fucking Wang Hongfa.

Cursing Wang Hongfa in his heart, Wu Chen made his way to the dean's office on the fourth floor.

To his surprise, Lavrov was still there, discussing something with Wang Hongfa.

The moment Wu Chen entered, the two stopped talking.

Wang Hongfa glanced at his face and frowned.

"Haven't you been sleeping well lately?"

"Yeah, there are some research problems."

Wu Chen answered casually.

In truth, the only reason he had not been sleeping well was that he had too many orders.

Taobao was still fairly pure at this point, with its rankings not entirely determined by paid bids, so his shop easily attracted a large number of orders thanks to its prices.

Although he had earned plenty of money and skill points, he was exhausted in both body and mind.

Wang Hongfa, however, became interested. "Is it about SNNs?"

"Yes, but I haven't made any progress yet."

"Professor Lavrov and I are both considered experts in this field. If you have any questions, just ask. There's no need to hide anything, understand?"

Wang Hongfa said.

Wu Chen nodded, but sneered inwardly.

These two were experts my ass. They just wanted to leech more research results off me for free.

But Wang Hongfa also thought it impossible for Wu Chen to have made any new progress in just a few days.

He changed the subject. "You're coming with us today to meet Boss Jiang of Jiangdong Pharmaceutical Factory. He's very interested in that camera sample of yours and may invest in a project at the university, so make sure you behave yourself. Don't say anything you shouldn't, understand?"

"Understood."

Wu Chen nodded.

It seemed his earlier guess had been right after all.

Those two bastards, Wang Hongfa and Lavrov, really were using his "Vengeance No. 1" to swindle people.

By "don't say anything you shouldn't," he presumably meant that Wu Chen should not mention Vengeance No. 1's flaws.

But if it did not ruin their scheme, did it deserve to be called Vengeance No. 1?

More importantly, if Wang Hongfa obtained research funding from Jiangdong Pharmaceutical Factory, he would not apply for a top-down research project led by the university or the state.

And Wu Chen had to make Wang Hongfa take the state's money.

Given that bastard's usual habits, could he resist embezzling the funds once he got them?

If he did not embezzle anything, how could Wu Chen report him?

Jiangdong Pharmaceutical Factory was located in Yuhang. Originally a state-owned enterprise, it had once been on the brink of collapse due to poor management.

After it was privatized during the reforms, the new boss had miraculously turned its losses into profits. He had not only saved the factory workers' jobs but also expanded and strengthened the business, developing several new drugs and turning it into an important enterprise in Hangzhou.

Wu Chen had assumed they were going to the factory site in Xiaoshan, but instead they went all the way to Xianlin Cemetery.

Only when they got out of the car did Wang Hongfa explain the situation to him.

"Old Director Jiang's wife died of illness last week. Her memorial service is today. Keep a solemn expression in there, and don't grin and fool around, understand?"

"Understood."

Wu Chen nodded.

But when they reached the mourning hall, he still almost failed to keep a straight face.

Wasn't the funeral portrait on the altar the very first photo he had restored?