Chapter 45: What Makes You Worth Nine Thousand Eight Hundred?

Qin Hongfei looked at this junk of a computer with a touch of nostalgia and said to the young man, "It's done."
The young man was overjoyed.
Old Zhang was dumbfounded as well. He had only meant to trick her a little, but she actually managed to fix it?
The young man happily tried restarting the computer, and sure enough, it worked perfectly. He breathed a sigh of relief. "How much is it?"
Qin Hongfei replied, "Five hundred."
The young man handed over the money without hesitation. A computer costs tens of thousands—what's five hundred in comparison?
Qin Hongfei took the money without ceremony and asked, "Are you planning to sell this computer?"
The young man looked at her in astonishment, "No, no, it's only been two years since I bought it. If I sell it, my dad will sell me! Are you looking to buy computers?"
If she was opening an internet café, she'd certainly need computers—and a lot of them.
Qin Hongfei had guessed he wouldn't sell, but asked casually, "Yes, do you have a source?"
The young man responded enthusiastically, "I can introduce you to someone. I bought this one from a relative—we got a discount. Now that you fixed my computer, I can help you get in touch."
Qin Hongfei was intrigued, "How much for one?"
The young man answered, "Not expensive, nine thousand eight hundred."

Even though Qin Hongfei knew computers were costly at this time, she stared at the machine, falling into deep thought.
With such a lousy configuration, how could it possibly be worth nine thousand eight hundred?
To open an internet café, she'd need at least fifty computers, which meant fifty thousand. Ah, so poor.
Clearly, Qin Hongfei didn’t have that kind of capital. "I can't afford it, not for now."
The young man could see that Qin Hongfei seemed like a pauper, unable to buy a computer, so he hesitated before asking, "Do you take old computers? Used ones—I can sell them to you cheap. They're from my family's old batch, which we don't need anymore, but they're broken, might not even start. We paid over ten thousand when we bought them."
Second-hand machines!
Qin Hongfei showed a bit of interest, "How much?"
The young man spoke cautiously, "Two thousand..." Was he being too greedy, selling broken ones for that price? "Ahem, you can come home with me and take a look before deciding. But I need to tell my parents first before bringing someone home."
They arranged to meet the next day.
The young man's home was in a residential compound, guarded by security at the entrance. Qin Hongfei didn’t think much of it, but once inside, she realized the young man’s family were government officials. No wonder!
How else could a family afford computers in these times?
"Mom, I’ve brought the repair technician."
The lady on the sofa put down her newspaper to greet them, but as soon as she saw Qin Hongfei, she cast her son a look that was hard to describe.

This little rascal's tricks for inviting people to play games were getting out of hand.
The child was so tiny—repair technician?
Did he think his mother was blind?
"Come here, sweetie," the lady said kindly, rising and taking her son to the yard. As soon as they stepped outside, she dropped the kind smile and scolded him fiercely, "You little scoundrel, every time your dad goes on a business trip, you turn the house upside down, huh?"
"No, I didn't..."
"Didn't you! Inviting girls over to play games now!"
"No, listen to me! It's not gaming."
"Not gaming? Then are you using the computer to try and woo the girl?" Unacceptable! The lady’s eyes flashed with murderous intent.
The young man was utterly shocked. "Heavens, Mom! Do you really see your son as so shameless? If you don’t believe me, you can see for yourself! She really does fix computers. Mine was fixed by her."
The lady glared at him fiercely. Fine, I’ll see for myself, you rascal. I’ll keep an eye on you and see how you try to talk your way out of this!