Rebirth 08: Equipment God

Chapter 185: Long and Difficult Sentences All Originate from Life
As autumn gradually sets in on campus, Zhai Da and Lu Wei stroll leisurely.

Zhai Da raised his right hand slightly, revealing a ring, or rather a matte metal band, on his ring finger.

With a slight flick of his wrist, a Joker playing card appeared out of thin air in his hand. He casually tossed it out, and the metal card traced a graceful arc in the air before returning to Zhai Da's hand.

Great, the official version 1.0 of the "Wrist Card Dealer" is now complete.

If you pry open the "ring" on your ring finger, you can see that there is a silk thread attached to the bottom, which slips out and then retracts into your sleeve.

Version 1.0 adds a trigger mechanism to enable one-handed operation. A pull ring can be worn on the finger like a ring, and the device can be launched with a small amount of force by simply raising the wrist.

The greater the range of motion, the greater the launching force. If you want to launch with maximum force, you need to pull with your other hand, or you can bite with your teeth, but that's not very elegant.

He believed that as long as he persisted in making these small things, he would one day be able to manufacture the equipment himself.

Classes have been in session for a week now, and Zhai Da has been busy but organized, largely returning to his previous study routine from when he was in the wool textile middle school.

Working from 8 am to 8 pm, exhausted to the bone.

As Zhai Da gained a deeper understanding of the intensity of university coursework, he realized that if he wanted to reduce the time spent on basic courses as originally planned, he would have to choose the "skipping classes" approach.

It's not that he can't endure the hardship of five or even six long classes every day, but rather that he wants to achieve higher efficiency.

For individual subjects, you can quietly turn on the cheat code yourself; there's not much need for it during regular classes.

For subjects like "Modern History" and "Ideological and Political Education," you can get a good grade by copying and memorizing and cramming at the last minute. There's no need to spend an hour and a half every week until the end of the semester.

There are also some courses such as "Advanced Mathematics" and "Linear Algebra", which can be done solo by Lu Wei. The custom-made large desk from Shenzhou Zundi has arrived, so I can happily play duo queue with Xiao Mutou again.

However, this would require the teacher not to deduct points from his "regular performance score," and Zhai Da felt that having his dedicated counselor, Jiang Xiaobai, coordinate the matter shouldn't be a problem.

Otherwise, how can the principle of "one policy for each person" be reflected?
This matter has been handed over to the other party for inquiry. It's a troublesome matter. Even with the school leaders' instructions, we still have to confirm and smooth things over with each of the subject teachers one by one.

Zhai Da tossed the playing cards around in a whirlwind, and they finally swirled back into his palm, all with effortless ease.

Lu Wei stood gracefully, holding her books. Today, instead of wearing a ponytail, she had her hair tied up in a large bun at the back of her head, a hairstyle she had gotten from her morning run with Zhai Dachen.

Both of them attracted a lot of attention, drawing the gaze of many people.

My phone vibrated slightly in my pocket; it had received a text message from Wu Yue.

"Are you free to go out tonight? We need to talk about something."

This guy has been appearing and disappearing mysteriously lately; even though we live in the same neighborhood, I've only run into him a few times.

"My last class ends at eight o'clock."

"It's okay, the later the better."

Zhai Da replied, "Send it."

A while later, an address was sent to my phone.

Zhai Da glanced at it and saw it was a bar called "OPEN." He wondered what Wu Yue meant by it. Did he want to have a drink?
------

After the last get out of class that evening, Zhai Da took Lu Wei home, then rode his old bicycle to the place Wu Yue had mentioned.

Ride a bike to the bar, save where you should and spend where you should.

"OPEN Bar" is not far from Harbin Institute of Technology; to be precise, it's located entirely within a commercial area. If you come out from the side gate of the campus, it's about one intersection away.

Zhai Da usually enters and exits through the main gate, so he is not familiar with this place. From a distance, the street looks brightly lit and quite lively.

Big cities are different; they definitely have a nightlife.

Among the long list of signs, there are many KTVs, bars, and foot massage parlors. Although these characteristics seem somewhat incongruous with the upright and righteous Harbin Institute of Technology, the world does not revolve around schools after all. As an old urban area, it is normal to have this density of commercial districts.

I reckon the students from the school are also regulars here.

Zhai Da parked his old bicycle on the side of the road, deliberately parking it in front of the security booth.

Although to the average person, the value of this old-fashioned bicycle might not even be as high as the top-of-the-line bicycle lock that Zhai Da used.

But what if? What if the thief has brain damage?

"OPEN Bar" is a high-class bar with a bar counter, bartenders, and music, nothing more. There are no dancing girls or a DJ who frantically presses all eight buttons in a second.

There was no waitress who pretended to provide normal service, played dice with you, and then demanded 300 yuan when it was time to pay the bill, even though she had drunk your own wine, making you think, "If I had known I would be charged, why would I have bothered playing dice?" Long and complex sentences come from life; without even a single word, Zhai Da couldn't explain it clearly.

Wu Yue, sitting in the corner, waved to Zhai Da.

After Zhai Da sat down, he asked, "What's wrong? What happened that you're trying to drown your sorrows in alcohol?"

Wu Yue smiled and said, "Let's find a big shot to give us some advice and see if my idea is feasible."

Zhai Da glanced at the other person in surprise, then looked around the space.

"You're not thinking of opening a bar, are you?"

This is quite typical of situations where someone with some money on hand has nothing better to do than think they have a great business opportunity and invite friends to invest together, only to find out that a professional doesn't know how to run the business and they lose hundreds of thousands of dollars in just a few months.

Don't ask, the answer comes from life.
Zhai Da immediately threw a bucket of cold water in Wu Yue's face: "Don't touch it, you can't handle it."

“We don’t have this kind of thing in Dongyang County, so you might find it novel, or think that having your own little bar or coffee shop is very classy, ​​and hiring a few young and pretty waitresses or something, but these are all traps, one of the three major traps for the middle class.”

Wu Yue raised an eyebrow: "Although that's not the case, I'm very curious about what the three major traps are?"

Zhai Da: "Investing in opening stores, international schools, and helping third-generation individuals rise to positions of power."

Wu Yue said she didn't quite understand, but she made a note of it.

"I didn't actually want to open a bar, I just wanted to get your opinion."

Zhai Da looked in the direction Wu Yue was pointing and asked in confusion, "It's very big, but the clothes are a bit old-fashioned. And then?"

Wu Yue: "How much do you think it would cost to acquire it?"

Zhai Da frowned and said, "That's very disrespectful of you. If you want to get to know someone, you can politely strike up a conversation. Why would you directly ask how much it costs?"

Wu Yue was taken aback: "I meant that equipment. Where are you looking?"

When Zhai Da turned his head a second time, he realized what Wu Yue was talking about. In his mind, that thing was like a "background," no different from the tables, chairs, lamps, and cabinets on the wall.

It's definitely not that the auto-aiming system was turned on just now.

It was a craft beer brewing system, with three brass-colored metal barrels connected by various pipes, each with a volume of only a few cubic meters.

The equipment is behind the bar. Perhaps the owner thinks it also has a "decorative function," so he puts it openly on the side of the bar, taking up a considerable amount of space.

Zhai Da frowned slightly. He thought it was nothing out of the ordinary, but upon closer reflection, it was 08. This kind of thing should indeed be rare.

Seeing that the two were finally on the same page, Wu Yue began to explain the situation.

"I visited many places in Harbin this week, especially near Harbin Institute of Technology, where there are more than 40 bars of various sizes."

Zhai Da raised his hand to interrupt, "Wait, how many? Forty? Four, I guess!"

What does forty mean? Is this some kind of decadent, debauched life?

"No, it's more than 40, to be precise, 46. I'm not exaggerating. There are 7 on this street alone, and there are four other streets like this nearby. There are also quite a few scattered individual shops. Don't just think about Harbin Institute of Technology; this is also the old city area of ​​Harbin."

Wu Yue pushed a glass of dark beer, which Zhai Da considered ordinary, forward, gesturing for Zhai Da to try it.

"I've only seen this kind of craft beer in northern Beijing on my way here. It's a very trendy thing. It tastes really different. It costs more than 1.5 times the price of regular beer. And wherever it's available, most people choose to drink craft beer."

Zhai Da took a sip; it was very ordinary, slightly bitter, and a bit cloudy.

In fact, 90% of people can't tell the difference between good and bad beer; at most, they can only judge based on "personal habits," including Zhai Da.

He prefers flavors that are easy to drink and have a sweet aftertaste, but some people like flavors with special characteristics, such as fruity or woody notes.
Of course, many people use "pretentiousness" as the scoring standard, thinking that as long as it is pretentious enough, it is fine. Even if it has a murky and sedimenty taste, they can still insist that "good craft beer is like this".

This is similar to a customer who, due to improper storage, developed tartaric acid and insisted that wine gets better with age and has no expiration date, forcing him to drink a lot of sour wine.

Sorry, it's another long and complicated sentence.

Wu Yue became more and more excited as she spoke:
“My family owns a restaurant, so I know best how profitable alcohol is. It’s not the restaurant that makes money, but the distributors. My dad often says that those who supply vegetables earn their money through hard work, while those who supply alcohol make money off of nothing.”

“Previously, each brand had distributors in various regions, and neither the manufacturers nor the distributors would allow disorderly operation. But craft beer can break this regional distribution model and supply alcohol to others. It doesn’t even require complicated qualifications; a normal catering license is enough, just like this bar.”

"I think this has a huge market potential. It might even become the mainstream of high-end beer consumption, with going to bars to drink craft beer becoming the norm. Most importantly, you don't have to worry about distributors. It has a very promising future."

(End of this chapter)