Carrying a Jurassic on me
Chapter 923 - 504: The Computer That’s Worth the Price

Chapter 923: Chapter 504: The Computer That’s Worth the Price

When the technology market was established just a few years ago, the first impression it left on laypeople was absolutely hilarious.

Day or night, there were scenes around the market that would make "insiders" smile without a word and leave "outsiders" completely baffled: a sneaky-looking young guy would stealthily pull aside a passerby and whisper, "Brother, want some CDs? I’ve got every kind you could think of?"

When he said he had every kind, this sneaky fellow would inevitably flash a "you know what I mean" kind of smile.

If the approached youngster was also "in the know," they’d clearly state their request, "You know, do you have that kind?"

"Got it, all kinds." The sneaky one would perk up immediately, opening his jacket to reveal an assortment of items. "Japanese or Western, take your pick?"

This was not an uncommon occurrence, and there were no shortage of deceits.

Some shamelessly thought they knew their way around, buying pirated CDs with titles like "The Story of Seven Men and a Woman," only to get home and find it was actually the well-known animated series Calabash Brothers—such incidents did happen.

Yes, those were pirated CDs.

Whether it was the latest films from Hong Kong or Bay, or music albums, including grand Western productions, if you wanted it, they had it.

For just a few bucks, you could enjoy any show you desired, including the adult-only kind.

To say that this was completely bad wouldn’t be right either. In fact, it was the pirated CDs that allowed ordinary people, especially the youth, to come into contact with things they had never encountered before.

Take for example people living in small towns and rural villages, who might have scarcely visited the county town, suddenly learned about a man named Shawshank who, after being unjustly imprisoned, magically used his specialized economic knowledge to become a celebrity within the prison. Then he spent twenty years digging a tunnel to escape using nothing but a small rock hammer, eventually tasting the air of freedom.

They also learned about a hitman named Leon, who went on the run with a twelve-year-old girl, accompanied by a potted plant she always held in her arms.

They got to know a foreigner named Gump who was adept at running and incredibly inspirational...

People came to know the names of many Westerners, such as Michael Jackson, Sylvester Stallone, Audrey...

Many youths constantly talked about First Blood, discussing time travel, The Terminator, Alien, and other terms most had no clue about, sometimes breaking into an absurd space dance, and they were ridiculously proud of it...

Some things really can’t be labeled as simply good or bad. In an era of inadequate information, these omnipotent pirated CD peddlers truly became unintentional civilizational ambassadors.

Take Sancha River Township, for instance, where watching TV depended on the "outdoor antenna" in the yard. It was a pole topped with an aluminum antenna of various designs.

This "antenna" was also adjustable; you had to constantly rotate it to watch TV programs. If a strong wind twisted the antenna, you’d lose the signal completely.

The TV programs you could watch were very limited. There were situations where, in the middle of a program, a gust of wind would knock the antenna out of position and someone would have to dash outside to readjust it.

One advantage, though, was that you could tell if a household had a television the moment you set foot at their front door—the "outdoor antenna" was said to be better the higher it was. Some would purposely buy a thick bamboo pole to prop up the antenna really high. Even if they didn’t buy a special pole, they’d put the antenna up as high as possible.

That led to a certain situation: if a home had two stories, in order to place the antenna high enough, they’d install it on top of the second floor. Since the TV was generally in the living room on the first floor, if there were issues requiring antenna adjustment, it would create an extremely "amusing" scenario.

A person would stand on the second floor, cautiously rotating the antenna, constantly asking, "Is it good now, is it good?"

Another person would stand at the entrance to the living room on the first floor, eyes fixed on the TV, shouting back, "That’s good, too far? Turn back a bit, a little more, oh, too far again..."

If a person wanted to watch TV alone, then they would have to turn the volume up loud, run upstairs to adjust the antenna while listening to the sound. As soon as the sound was clear, they’d race back downstairs—tragically, sometimes the sound would be crystal clear, but the screen would just show snowflakes. Therefore, sometimes you had no choice but to adjust the antenna, then run downstairs to check the screen...

In short, it’s all just tears when talking about it!

At that time, the most-watched movies were from Central TV Channel 6. However, most of the time, you couldn’t just watch it whenever you wanted; it all depended on luck.

In places like Sancha River, where you relied on an antenna in the yard to catch the Central TV Channel 6, not many could do so.

And a better chance to watch foreign blockbusters came every Sunday afternoon, right after Zhengda Variety and during the Zhengda Theater segment—anyone who watched knows it was a huge tragedy. Because from the fifth grade in primary school, all the way to high school, there were evening self-study sessions on Sundays.