By the time everyone had made it back to the tree house, showered, and changed into dry clothes, it was already time to head back to school. Though the mood was a little subdued, the two days and one night had still been fulfilling, and everyone climbed onto the bus for the return trip. To make headcounts easier, the seating on the return bus followed the same arrangement as the trip out, so Qian Wei ended up sitting beside Lu Xun again. Everyone else chattered away cheerfully, snacking, but Lu Xun sat quietly, leaning his head against the window, scrolling through his phone out of boredom. Though his expression remained blank as ever, Qian Wei sensed instinctively that his mood wasn’t great.
Lu Xun set his phone down, the screen still lit. Qian Wei glanced over — not that she meant to peek, but with her frustratingly sharp eyesight, she caught sight of his text messages anyway.
“Sorry, Lu Xun, I broke your external hard drive. I took it to a repair shop, but they said it couldn’t be fixed. I’ll buy you a new one.”
Probably from his roommate. Lu Xun’s reply was as brief as ever: “It’s fine, don’t worry about it.”
It dawned on Qian Wei — that must be why he was in a bad mood. His hard drive had broken, and it probably had quite a bit of data on it — no wonder he seemed a little down.
Lu Xun was her future boss, and he’d just saved her — Qian Wei had already been itching to find a way to repay him. Helping him win Mo Zixin over was a long-term project that wouldn’t show results anytime soon, so why not start with something she could do right now!
The moment they got off the bus and everyone scattered, Qian Wei dragged Qian Chuan straight to the electronics street near University A. Though it was a bit of a distance from campus, the quality and after-sale service for computer parts there were the most reliable around.
Qian Chuan looked baffled. “Can’t I just lend you my hard drive? Why do you need to buy a new one?”
“Don’t worry about it, just help me pick one out. You know something about this stuff, right?”
Though Qian Chuan was full of questions, he still helped Qian Wei seriously in the end. After comparing several shops, they settled on a store with a bigger storefront, where Qian Chuan helped her pick out a Seagate 2.5-inch portable hard drive.
“Give me the biggest capacity — the 500 gigabyte one!”
In 2009, a 500GB Seagate portable hard drive cost around 800 yuan — and 800 yuan back then was nothing like 800 yuan today, especially for a college student; it counted as a small fortune.
The salesman at the shop, seeing such a big sale coming his way, got excited. “What color would you like, miss? For girls, I’d recommend this red one.”
“No, it’s not for me. I’m buying it for someone else.” Qian Wei compared a few different colors before deciding on the safest option — black.
Qian Chuan blinked. “Not for yourself — so who’s it for? A guy?”
Qian Wei ignored him and paid straight away. “Wrap it up as a gift for me.”
Qian Chuan caught the scent of gossip. “Who is it? Are you seeing someone? Or about to?” He rolled his eyes, thinking. “Something this expensive — must be a birthday gift. Let me think who’s got a birthday coming up this month… Zhou Yingjie? No way, he’s shorter than you; Zhang Wenqiang? No, no, that gap between his front teeth is so big he whistles when he talks, you wouldn’t go for that; Wang Zitao? He talks a bit girly, but he cleans up all right…”
The salesman got curious too. “Miss, you’re buying this for a guy — is he your boyfriend?”
Qian Wei answered both nosy men at once. “He’s a guy, yes, but he’s not my boyfriend, and he’s not someone I’m interested in either, so Qian Chuan, quit guessing.” She thought of Lu Xun in the water saving her, and added, “Not a boyfriend, but I’d call him a friend, I guess.”
The salesman nodded. “Well, since it’s for a male friend — not a boyfriend, and not someone you like — let me throw in something extra on the hard drive!” He gave a sly little laugh. “This is stuff I’ve been keeping for years, real treasures — if you hadn’t bought this 500GB one, I wouldn’t share this with just anybody.”
“Movies?”
The salesman nodded, grinning. “Yep, all the best foreign classics. None of that domestic stuff — your friend will see for himself. And there’s some study materials too.”
Qian Wei thanked him, thinking to herself that she hadn’t expected this computer store salesman to be so studious — not only had he saved years’ worth of study materials, but he only watched imported classic films too, not even bothering with domestic movies. He must have unusually refined taste.
At University A in 2009, even with internet in the dorms, the connection was so slow it could bring you to tears — trying to play a game, ages would pass before you even got into a dungeon. So most students downloaded movies and shows at home and carried them to school on portable hard drives. Since Lu Xun’s original hard drive had broken, he’d probably lost quite a stash. This worked out perfectly — she could give him a big-capacity hard drive and throw in some movies and study materials at the same time. Qian Wei thought she was really being a thoughtful little lackey.
Qian Wei happily packed up the hard drive, in good spirits. “Come on, I’m treating today.”
The electronics street wasn’t exactly close to University A — students there generally wouldn’t come this far unless buying computer parts — so neither Qian Wei nor Qian Chuan knew the local eateries well. After some discussion, they decided to just wing it and walked into a nearby pickled fish restaurant.
When the steaming basin of pickled cabbage fish was set on the table, Qian Wei couldn’t help exclaiming, “This is the real deal!” The fish was properly sliced black carp, the pickled cabbage crisp and refreshing, the broth neither too heavy nor too weak, seasoned just right, with plenty of toppings.
It was just past the dinner rush, and though this area wasn’t near University A and rarely saw its students, there were several electronics factories nearby, so the small pickled fish restaurant was nearly full.
“Why’s this pickled fish soup so hot? Trying to scald me? And these bowls and chopsticks — they’re not even clean! And there’s a hair in this fried silver fish with egg!”
Just as Qian Wei was about to dig in, she heard a commotion nearby. She glanced over out of idle curiosity — she wasn’t usually one to gawk — but that one glance was enough to spot trouble.
The one causing the trouble was a loud-mouthed middle-aged man, whose clothes suggested he didn’t hold a proper job — his face fleshy, his small triangular eyes brimming with cunning and pettiness. Standing before him, head bowed, was a waiter in the restaurant’s uniform. This kind of scene would normally be entirely unremarkable — except that the waiter’s face changed everything.
The waiter was none other than Li Chongwen.
Even in this position of being harassed, he remained composed and refined. “I’m sorry, but our dishes are all sterilized at high temperature, and the kitchen has two people who repeatedly check cleanliness — there’s no way what you’re describing could happen. As for the hair, our head chef is bald, and it’s simply not possible he left a hair in the dish while cooking; every server also wears a hairnet to prevent exactly this. As for the soup being too hot — when it was first served, you said it wasn’t hot enough, so we specifically reheated it for you.”
He remained calm and reasonable, his argument well-founded — but reason means nothing against someone determined to be unreasonable.
“Don’t give me that nonsense, your place isn’t clean at all. I ate here yesterday and nearly had the runs all day!”
Committed to the principle of not making trouble, Li Chongwen was clearly restraining himself, and remained polite. “If you had any discomfort after eating here, you’re welcome to go to the hospital to have it verified. If it turns out to be our fault, we’ll take full responsibility.”
“What do you mean, ‘if’ it’s your fault? It is your fault! Are you trying to weasel out of it?!”
The middle-aged man was clearly picking a fight on purpose — he flipped the table over with a crash, and the entire steaming basin of pickled fish spilled across Li Chongwen’s hands and chest. Qian Wei saw his brow furrow with pain the instant he was scalded, but he didn’t make a sound.
“Let me tell you, this place is a scam shop, the fish here isn’t fresh, eat here and you’ll definitely get diarrhea!” The man kept going, glancing around and now harassing other diners. Before long, two couples who’d just sat down without ordering yet got up and left because of the noise, and even the customers already eating had begun to show visible impatience.
Li Chongwen had been trying his best to maintain his humility toward a customer, but he was still young, and finally reached the end of his patience. “Have you had enough? You’ve been coming here to cause trouble for a week straight now. I’ve paid for the free meals you’ve mooched off us this whole week, and what more do you want? If the pickled fish here really wasn’t fresh and made you sick, would you keep coming back nonstop? Please stop causing trouble for no reason — you’re already breaking the law, disrupting this restaurant’s business!”
The middle-aged man picked at his teeth. “Sure, a top university student, sure knows how to talk. But how about you tell everyone here why I keep coming to find you every single day?” He raised his voice. “I come here because this fancy-looking college kid owes me money and won’t pay up!”