Era: Starting with the struggle to refuse being taken advantage of

Chapter 12 Turning Waste into Treasure?

The scrap metal collection stations today are still state-owned enterprises, under government management, and their buying and selling practices are not as free as they are in later generations.

Buying and selling items of dubious origin without authorization carries the risk of being arrested.

In this situation, scrap metal recycling stations are unwilling to do business with private individuals because the risks are too great and not worthwhile at all.

That's why Ji Yongyue had little interest in Wang Chengpeng and Wang Meiyan, and his first thought was to drive them away.

Facing Ji Yongyue's stern face, Wang Chengpeng didn't mind and asked again:

"Comrade, how much is this radio?"

Ji Yongyue rolled his eyes at Wang Chengpeng and said, "Fifteen yuan. If you can't afford it, then leave."

In fact, Ji Yongyue had no intention of selling the radio to Wang Chengpeng at all; he simply intended to ask for a high price so that Wang Chengpeng would back down.

Unexpectedly, despite the exorbitant price, Wang Chengpeng was overjoyed and said:
"Fifteen yuan? Comrade, I'll take this radio."

As soon as he finished speaking, Wang Chengpeng felt his clothes being tugged hard. When he turned around, he saw Wang Meiyan looking anxious.

In Wang Meiyan's opinion, spending fifteen yuan to buy such a good-looking but useless radio was a huge waste.

Could it be that my brother is planning to buy a mere showpiece as a dowry?
Sister Liu is such a shrewd person, she would never fall for such a trick.

Thinking about this, Wang Meiyan felt it was necessary to stop Wang Chengpeng before this unprofitable deal was completed.

Despite Wang Meiyan's obstruction, Wang Chengpeng remained unmoved.

With his experience repairing radios from his previous life, plus the Heavenly Reward System he had acquired, he was 100% confident that he could fix the radio.

Although the price is a bit high, as long as you can buy this radio, it's still a sure thing.

Moreover, Wang Chengpeng's purchase of this radio for export is also related to his other plans.

Seeing Wang Chengpeng agree so readily, Ji Yongyue shook his head slightly, thinking that Wang Chengpeng might have misunderstood something, and kindly reminded him:
"Young man, I think you may have misunderstood something and mistake this radio for something valuable."

"In fact, although this radio looks new, it is actually a broken radio that cannot be repaired."

Are you sure you still want to spend fifteen yuan to buy this?

Despite Ji Yongyue's well-intentioned reminder, Wang Chengpeng nonchalantly replied:

"Of course I know this radio is broken, otherwise it wouldn't be here."

"However, it looks almost brand new, so it's a real shame to throw it away as trash."

"I happen to have learned about radios in a book, so I can buy it and try to repair it. If I can fix it, it will be much more cost-effective than buying a new radio."

"Even if I'm not skilled enough to fix this radio, it would still be a very nice decoration at home, enough to make many people envious."

Most radios nowadays still use dry cell batteries, which are convenient and quick, but also increase the cost of use.

Therefore, although many people can afford to buy a radio, they may not be able to afford to use it. They rarely use it, and most of the time it becomes just a decoration.

In this context, Wang Chengpeng's statement is entirely correct.

Unfortunately, Ji Yongyue didn't believe Wang Chengpeng's explanation at all, and frowned, saying:
"Young man, who exactly instructed you to buy this radio?"

"To avoid any unnecessary misunderstandings, you'd better tell the truth."

"Considering you probably don't know, you might be fine."

There must be a demon in the abnormal situation!
In this day and age, spending a lot of money to buy an item that is clearly not worth the price will not make others happy; on the contrary, they will think there is something very wrong with it.

They might even suspect you of being an enemy agent, carrying out some kind of espionage activity, and being reported is a common occurrence.

As for Wang Chengpeng's claim that it could be repaired, Ji Yongyue didn't believe a word of it.

People who sell scrap metal aren't stupid; the radios sold here are basically unrepairable.

To believe that a mere child like Wang Chengpeng could fix this kind of radio is like believing that pigs can fly.

Ji Yongyue's performance surprised Wang Chengpeng, but it was also within his expectations.

Wang Chengpeng gave his sister a reassuring look and said with a smile, "Comrade, I think you may have misunderstood."

"I wanted to buy this radio on my own initiative, without being instructed by anyone."

"How about this, lend me some tools, and I'll give you a demonstration right now." "If you still think there's something wrong with me, you can report me later."

Perhaps they were inspired by the confidence in Wang Chengpeng's eyes, or perhaps they felt that reporting Wang Chengpeng was making a mountain out of a molehill.

After hesitating for a moment, Ji Yongyue turned around, took out a simple set of repair tools, and placed it in front of Wang Chengpeng, saying:

"I'll be watching you fix it. If anything is even slightly off, don't blame me for being rude."

Unlike Wang Meiyan, who was trembling, Wang Chengpeng naturally took the radio and started fiddling with it, under Ji Yongyue's gaze.

Wang Chengpeng was very fast and incredibly agile. In no time, a complete radio was disassembled into countless tiny parts under Ji Yongyue's watchful eye.

After carefully examining the inside of the radio and fixing any potential problems, Wang Chengpeng reassembled the radio.

The disassembly and reassembly took only a dozen minutes, leaving Ji Yongyue, who was observing from the side, stunned.

Even though the structure of a radio is not complicated, to disassemble and assemble it as quickly as Wang Chengpeng does, one must be very experienced.

Otherwise, it's like taking apart an alarm clock out of curiosity when you were a child—easy to take apart, but difficult to put back together.

After fiddling with it for several hours, I was lucky enough that the alarm clock still managed to maintain its basic shape.
In most cases, they turn into a bunch of misplaced parts, only becoming obedient after being scolded by their parents.

Ji Yongyue picked up four discarded No. 1 batteries and handed them to Wang Chengpeng, saying:

"Try it quickly and see if it's fixed."

Compared to whether Wang Chengpeng was an enemy agent, Ji Yongyue was more curious about whether the radio had been repaired.

As the switch was turned on, a noisy electrical hum flashed by, and the radio ultimately could not be fixed.

However, compared to the radio that Ji Yongyue had at the beginning, which couldn't even produce a sound, it was now far superior.

I told myself I shouldn't have believed what that kid was saying.

However, the fact that the other party was able to repair this radio like this shows some skill, but it's not quite perfect, so they're probably not an enemy agent.

With that in mind, Ji Yongyue prepared to drive Wang Chengpeng away again.

It wouldn't be good if others saw Wang Chengpeng tinkering with things here all the time.

However, just before Ji Yongyue could speak, he discovered that Wang Chengpeng had once again disassembled the radio into parts scattered all over the floor.

The words that were about to be uttered were swallowed back down.

Even if he wanted to stop him, he would wait until Wang Chengpeng had put the radio back in before he spoke, otherwise he wouldn't know how to put the radio back in the first place.

Seeing that Ji Yongyue didn't intend to stop him, Wang Chengpeng finally breathed a sigh of relief, thinking to himself that things were indeed developing in the direction he had envisioned.

Failed to repair the radio. Skill level +1!

……

Failed to repair the radio. Skill level +1!

In fact, based on the system notifications that kept flashing in Wang Chengpeng's mind, he knew that the radio was not fixed.

However, if Ji Yongyue isn't given some incentive, he won't be in the mood to keep waiting for me to fix the radio.

The sound from the radio just now at least proved that he had some skill, which made him more patient.

"Failed to repair the radio, skill level +1!"

"Ding! Congratulations, host, your radio repair proficiency has reached 100. Your radio repair skills have improved to a certain extent."

With the improvement of his radio repair skills, Wang Chengpeng quickly connected these complex components into a circuit in his eyes.

After repeated checks, Wang Chengpeng finally identified the source of the problem.

After a simple repair, the disassembled radio was reassembled and restored to its original, intact state.

However, this seemingly unchanged radio, after being simply tuned by Wang Chengpeng, began to emit a powerful and resonant sound:

"Today we drink to celebrate our victory, for we will not rest until our ambitions are fulfilled. There will be many days to come, and we will show our skills and write our own history with our blood."

(End of this chapter)