Rebirth: He Decides to Lie Flat
Chapter 154 - 154 151 My Freshman Year (Part 3)

Chapter 154: Chapter 151: My Freshman Year (Part 3) Chapter 154: Chapter 151: My Freshman Year (Part 3) Elder Liu waved his hand dismissively, “It’s just a few bucks, really unnecessary.”

Grandpa Cheng was the elderly man previously diagnosed with dementia; seeing a repair shop open near the entrance of the community, he came over every day with his radio. Elder Liu explained several times that it was a computer repair shop to no avail; eventually, he just accepted the radio and had it fixed elsewhere.

Since it really didn’t cost much, Elder Liu didn’t charge him when Grandpa Cheng came to pick it up.

Little did he expect that the man’s daughter would come over to deliver a gift.

“Just a few bucks, really?”

Aunt Cheng didn’t insist on paying as they all lived in the same community, sometimes goodwill was worth more than money.

She placed the bag of fruit she was carrying on the table and smiled at the two men, “Then I won’t stand on ceremony with you two. The nanny told me that several times when my dad wandered out of the community, you guys stopped him. I really appreciate that. Here’s the deal, our factory is going to decommission a batch of computers next month. If you don’t mind, you can come and take a look, and if you’re interested, you can take them.”

Of course they were interested!

The smile on Elder Liu’s face was more sincere than before, but realizing it might seem too mercenary, he quickly tempered his expression.

“Then thank you in advance, Aunt Cheng, let me write down my number for you.”

Because of the shop, Elder Liu had specifically asked Old Man Liu to help install a landline, and he had also spent five hundred yuan on a second-hand mobile phone, originally intended for Jiang Yan, but he didn’t want it.

However, now Jiang Yan should consider getting a mobile phone himself, so if Elder Liu received a call from the school needing computer repairs, he could go straight there, saving time and effort.

Aunt Cheng had a chat with the two for a while longer and found them both quite interesting; Xiaotie, previously known as Little Baldy, was quite the talker, naive yet shrewd. Xiaojiang was a student from the Computer Science department of Beijing University, just eighteen or nineteen years old, but speaking with a seasoned and steady demeanor.

Not long after Aunt Cheng left the community, she got into the car parked by the roadside.

“Why were you gone so long?”

While buckling her seat belt, Aunt Cheng laughed and relayed the situation to her husband, concluding, “The two kids seem pretty good. Business is tough these days, if your factory is getting rid of computers, you should give them to those kids.”

“No problem with that, but they can’t make much money just by doing this, can they? You said one of them is a student from the Computer Science department of Beijing University?”

Aunt Cheng nodded, “Yes, so? Do you have another request?”

Her husband tapped his fingers on the steering wheel, then shook his head, “He’s just a freshman, and the formal coursework hasn’t even started, I doubt he’s up for it.”

“That’s not necessarily true. Just now, I saw how adept he was at setting up computers. While he was working on one, another was running programs; that alone is as good as anyone from our factory’s IT department. It’s obvious he’s learned and practiced a lot.”

Now interested, her husband said, “I’ll have to go have a look myself sometime.”

“Good, if he’s useful, you can prioritize him.”

….

After Aunt Cheng left, Jiang Yan looked at Elder Liu’s excited and smug expression, and suddenly asked, “Did you finish the books I got for you?”

They were two basic computer science books. After settling down in Beijing, Jiang Yan had gone to the bookstore to buy them and brought them over. He didn’t need to read them; they were mainly for Elder Liu.

There were also books Jiawen had selected on higher education entrance exams for adults in Chinese, math, and English, but they were still in the bag, untouched.

The two basic computer science books, on the other hand, had been taken out and placed on the nightstand, but…

“Whoa? It’s nearly six o’clock, what do you want to eat for dinner, bro? I’ll go see what veggies we’ve got.”

Elder Liu changed the subject and ran upstairs, leaving everything behind.

Jiang Yan snorted, “You might outrun the monk, but can you outrun the temple? When the winter break comes, I’ll see how you explain yourself to those old guys.”

The words of Old Man Xu before he left still echoed in his ears, and his reply was firm, “Don’t worry, Old Man Xu, I’m definitely getting into university next year!”

You’re definitely getting into university my ass!

The folly of youth is bottomless. Is that really how you blow your own horn?

At 8:30 in the evening, Jiang Yan found his way to Room 603 in Male Dormitory Building No. 6, following the directions and room number given to him by the second oldest.

The door was open, and the sound of boys making jokes and teasing each other came from inside—

“Jing Junyang, you’ve studied computer science for three years, and you can’t even fix this small issue?”

“What has he studied? He’s been chasing girls all this time.”

“Bullshit, I’ve never failed a class.”

“Haven’t failed a class? Wow, how impressive…”

Before even entering, Jiang Yan could smell the sour stench at the doorway, which was obviously coming from sweaty sports shoes.

Because of Song Jiawen’s dog-like nose, he now paid more attention to personal hygiene and the cleanliness of the dormitory. In their dorm, if anyone’s shoes smelled, they were thrown onto the balcony. They weren’t to be brought back in unless they were cleaned, and if they were left on the balcony for more than three days, they would be thrown away.

Even during the month of military training, they had to wash their pairs of yellow rubber shoes every three or four days.

Liu Wenhui was angry but dared not speak out about it.

Jiang Yan stood at the door and knocked a few times, and the three boys inside turned their heads.

“Who needs their computer fixed? I’m the owner of Xinyu Computer Repair Shop.”

One of the boys sitting in front of the computer looked at him, startled at first, and then his eyes suddenly lit up, “Is it you?”

Jiang Yan recognized him—the brother who had squatted with him outside the girls’ dormitory that day, the senior who had given him a Chinese cigarette but no lighter.

“Hello.”

Jiang Yan greeted him politely.

Jing Junyang looked surprised and asked, “Aren’t you a student at Beijing University? How did you become the owner of a repair shop?”

“Part-time job, who has the broken computer?”

“Mine, mine, over here. Come take a look. Jing Junyang, get up for a second.”

Jiang Yan was enthusiastically welcomed to sit down in the chair previously occupied by Jing Junyang, “I paid a lot for this computer when I bought it, but after just half a year of use, it would buzz on startup and take ages to boot. Then it would shut down on its own… Can you take a look and see what’s wrong with it?”

Jing Junyang squeezed in a question from the side, “Brother, what department are you in?”

“Computer Science, Jiang Yan. Wait a moment, let me resolve his issue and then we can chat.”

“Jing Junyang, don’t interrupt him while he’s working.”

Jing Junyang shut his mouth but was puzzled inside. Computer Science? Same department as me? How come I’ve never seen him before?

Twenty minutes later, Jiang Yan had reassembled the computer and plugged in all the cables and power. He asked the computer’s owner to turn it on.

The guy pressed the power button, and the computer boot up quietly. In less than ten seconds, the screen displayed that it had successfully started up.

“Damn! That was fast? It boots up even quicker than when I first bought it.”

The boy was pleasantly surprised and proceeded to open several websites and his QQ account, which all ran normally without any issues.

Jing Junyang watched from the side, also tried the mouse, and was left in awe.

Just now, he had tried to help fix it, but after tinkering for a long time, he couldn’t find any solution.

“Not bad, brother. What year are you? Senior? You don’t look like it. You shouldn’t be older than me.”

Jiang Yan just smiled faintly, “I’m a freshman.”