Rebirth: He Decides to Lie Flat
Chapter 274 - 274 271 Stutter Summary

Chapter 274: Chapter 271 Stutter Summary Chapter 274: Chapter 271 Stutter Summary Zhang Guotang ran an external trade company, mainly exporting children’s products such as strollers and kids’ beds, with children’s bicycles and mountain bikes being the majority.

As for electronic products, to be honest, I’ve never dealt with them.

The reason Jiang Yan wanted Zhang Guotang to venture into some new products was mainly because he remembered a university classmate from his previous life. Right after graduation, that classmate, through connections, had joined a rather large stroller factory and worked as a salesman in the export department.

His classmate was responsible for the European market, which coincidentally was where several of Zhang Guotang’s major clients also came from.

But a few years later, exporting bicycles to Europe became less feasible. Since the cost in China was low and the export prices were cheap, the bosses of European bicycle industries simply gave up on manufacturing in their own countries and turned to importing from China.

This was both convenient and profitable, but the negative impact was an increased unemployment rate in their own country. In order to control the import of Chinese bicycles to Europe, customs there specifically targeted China with an exorbitantly high import tax.

Consequently, if China wanted to continue exporting bicycles to Europe, it would be forced to share the burden of this extra tax with the customer. They could also choose not to take on this burden, but then they could only watch helplessly as their clients turned to Southeast Asia and Island Country for manufacturers since taking on the full tax themselves was indeed unprofitable.

Thus, within a few years, bicycle exports to Europe gradually decreased.

It’s now 2002, and Jiang Yan remembered that the tax in Europe peaked around 2006. His classmate had told him that in that year, the export of Chinese bicycle factories suffered a huge blow, and many went out of business.

So, getting involved with new things in a timely fashion was also a way of creating a backup plan for oneself.

Zhang Guotang wasn’t conservative. He himself had a sharp instinct and was already trying to tap into the markets of South America and Southeast Asia. But he was still very open to Jiang Yan’s suggestion, agreeing to visit an electronics factory together one day. He was also amazed by Jiang Yan’s newly installed ultra-thin and small laptop!

….

At four in the afternoon, Jiang Yan stood outside Ma Zheng’s hospital room, looking in through the glass window in the door.

Probably due to pain from the surgical wound, Ma Zheng lay in bed, shedding tears like falling beans. Shu Wan was beside him, wiping his tears and softly consoling him, while Ma Jiandong added honey to a cup and stirred it with a spoon before handing it to Shu Wan. He then took a tissue and took over wiping Ma Zheng’s tears for her.

The little guy’s head was swathed in bandages, having been fully shaved before surgery. Jiajia had come by last time and said that his head was particularly round, much rounder than when his younger brother had shaved his head.

Jiang Yan stood outside for a while, and seeing that Ma Zheng’s tears showed no sign of stopping, he had no choice but to knock on the door before pushing it open and entering.

Seeing Jiang Yan entering, Ma Zheng froze, his pale face still streaked with tears, his eyes carrying a mix of surprise and grievance as he just stared blankly at him.

Jiang Yan looked at him and clicked his tongue in disdain, “How old are you, still crying like that? Are you a girl?”

Ma Zheng immediately became agitated upon hearing this and blurted out, “You, are, a, girl?”

After saying it, he paused, blushingly covering his mouth.

He now couldn’t control his own mouth with his mind. Although he knew how to respond in his heart upon hearing someone speak, what came out was an echo of what the other person had said.

Jiang Yan looked down at him and snorted coldly.

Shu Wan and Ma Jiandong, who were by the side, breathed a sigh of relief seeing Ma Zheng stop crying as soon as Jiang Yan came in. They just watched the back-and-forth without interfering.

Jiang Yan carelessly placed the black bag he was carrying on the hospital bed, leaning toward Ma Zheng, “For you.”

Curious, Ma Zheng struggled to sit up. Shu Wan quickly set down the cup she was holding, and together with Ma Jiandong, they helped him sit up and lean against the headboard.

“What, what?”

Jiang Yan didn’t make a sound, waiting for him to open it himself.

The bag was just slightly thicker than a regular black plastic bag, which they would casually grab from the stores where they purchase parts, not the least bit eye-catching. Once the mouth of the bag was stretched open, one could see what was inside.

Ma Jiandong and Shu Wan, seeing such a black bag, didn’t pay much attention at first, thinking that Jiang Yan had casually picked up a small toy for him on his way over.

Not until Ma Zheng opened the bag and pulled out a rectangular, shiny black, and thin object did the three of them freeze.

“This, this, this is…?”

Ma Zheng couldn’t recognize it as a notebook at once. His family had a computer, but it was a desktop. He had seen a laptop at his uncle’s house, but it was much bigger and thicker than this one. Back then, watching his cousins play with it felt really impressive.

Now this thing, so light and thin, couldn’t possibly be a laptop too, could it? He had never seen such a small one.

Ma Jiandong and Shu Wan, after all, were university professors. Though they had never used a laptop, they could tell at a glance what it was.

Shu Wan fell silent for a moment, then looked towards Jiang Yan, “Laptops are expensive, why did you buy him…”

“I assembled it myself,” Jiang Yan interjected before Shu Wan could finish, “I got the parts wholesale from the computer mall. It didn’t cost much when I put it together myself.”

Hearing that he had assembled it himself, Ma Jiandong looked at Jiang Yan in surprise. Already assembling computers in his freshman year?

And it was such a novel and ultra-thin little computer that one couldn’t even find on the market.

In this moment, Ma Jiandong had to admit that he had been wrong about him in the past, thinking that someone like Jiang Yan, who always got into fights and caused trouble, certainly wouldn’t end up well. He was afraid that Jiang Yan would drag Shu Wan down, which is why he always acted like he didn’t want Shu Wan to have any contact with him.

But what was the result?

The person whom he thought had no prospects not only got into Beijing University but also showed a talent far beyond the ordinary in his freshman year…

Ma Zheng had no idea about his father’s regrets and inner conflict. When he heard his mother say it was a laptop, he was so happy he nearly flew up in the air.

Gingerly, he opened the folded laptop, looking at the mirror-like shiny screen, excited yet disbelieving, and asked Jiang Yan, “Bro, bro, for, for me?”

Jiang Yan rolled his eyes in disdain again, “Didn’t I say I was going to give you a gift? Don’t you want it?”

Upon hearing the last sentence, Ma Zheng hastily hugged the laptop to his chest, both happy and nervous, “Want, want, want…”

Jiang Yan snorted lightly. Why wasn’t he repeating his last three words this time?

Seeing that Jiang Yan had no intention of taking the laptop back, Ma Zheng carefully loosened his arms and lowered his head to look at the computer as if it were a rare gem.

After examining the keyboard for a while, with Ma Jiandong’s guidance, he powered it on. As the pleasant sound began, Jiang Yan told him, “There are some animated shows downloaded on it; see how to open them yourself.”

After a pause, just as he was about to say he needed to go, he saw Ma Zheng look up excitedly and ask, “What, what, which… animated shows?”

With that excitement, the brain could control the mouth again.