Courtyard House: Starting as a mediocre engineer

Speaking of driving, after making his fortune, Zhuang Zhongchen's greatest passion was long-distance driving trips, and he even participated in several amateur off-road vehicle races. His driving skills were first-rate, almost reaching the level of an amateur expert.

How come it's only level 1? Not even level 2 or 3? Are the skill level requirements really that high?

不过从lv0升级到lv1，需要1技能点；lv1升级到lv2，就需要10技能点。自己的技能点根本就不够，只能无奈放弃。

So all that's left is foreign languages. Being at level 0 in foreign languages ​​is equally baffling. In a way, before transmigrating, I seemed to make a living using foreign languages; I was practically a professional player, right? How come I'm still at level 0?

Forget it, if I can't figure it out, I shouldn't think about it. I've decided to increase my foreign language learning.

Foreign Language Level 0 - Foreign Language Level 1

Suddenly, Zhuang Zhongchen felt a flood of foreign language knowledge pouring into his mind. After absorbing all of this knowledge, he opened his mouth in surprise and couldn't help but reveal a silly smile.

It turns out that foreign languages ​​are not just English, but a whole package of foreign languages.

This includes ten commonly used foreign languages, such as English, French, German, Japanese, Russian, Spanish, and Italian. It also includes five commonly used dialects, such as Cantonese, Haidu dialect, Minnan dialect, and Sichuan dialect.

Holy crap! Bro, I've suddenly become a language superman!

Level 0 is like a beginner, similar to babbling. Level 1 allows for daily conversation and some basic reading and writing skills.

According to this standard, my English level should be between level 3 and 4. It's just that this is a foreign language package, so it only looks at my overall level.

In that case, these life skills are extremely important, and skill points are quite valuable. They should not be wasted casually, and exchanging them for shopping vouchers is simply not worthwhile.

There's also the Skill Shop. It unlocks when you reach level three, allowing you to purchase new life skills.

However, the price is quite expensive; a single life skill requires 30 skill points.

Is it possible to learn new life skills through self-study? Would this save a lot of skill points?

You could definitely give it a try, since you're just killing time anyway.

Currently, it seems that combat skills and medical skills are the two most important for survival. Mastering these two skills would allow one to better...play it safe in this era.

At this point, Zhuang Zhongchen felt that he had finally gained a foothold in this vibrant era. It was time to make some preparations for the future.

I don't need to become incredibly wealthy, but I should at least enjoy life. Only someone with a screw loose would force themselves to endure hardship!

If you want to enjoy life, you definitely need money, and a lot of money at that. Having creditors all over the world is truly a headache!

Thinking of this, Zhuang Zhongchen lay lazily on the kang (a heated brick bed), racking his brains for ways to make money.

However, after much thought, he couldn't find a way in. His previous experience in making money was completely useless. His status as a "state employee" already imposed a complete ban on earning extra income. Unless he resorted to drastically enacting criminal law.

Even a front man is impossible. Leaving aside the question of whether they have such reliable confidants, they are still walking a tightrope under criminal law. Do they really think the crime of speculation and profiteering is a joke?

Then we can only rely on this broken system.

But the cost-effectiveness of doing good deeds is just too low. Five elderly women... and a bunch of naughty kids for just one shopping voucher? That's only 5 kilograms of high-gluten flour? If you put all your energy into sweeping the streets, and then have to snatch food from the jaws of vicious Young Pioneers? It just seems so stupid, doesn't it?

If I happen to see it and do it on the spur of the moment, that's about right.

The skill points earned from contributing to construction are not going to be wasted on shopping vouchers.

So all that's left is to change your fate. But changing your fate is incredibly random, isn't it? Brother, I don't like gambling. I'm sworn enemies of drugs and gambling!

At this moment, Zhuang Zhongchen was filled with worries, and he tossed and turned on the kang (a heated brick bed).

Finding several magazines beside his pillow, Zhuang Zhongchen casually picked one up and opened it. The night is long, let's pass the time... Huh? Hmm?

A dozen minutes later, Zhuang Zhongchen excitedly jumped up from the kang (a heated brick bed). He rummaged through the house and finally found more than a dozen books and more than forty magazines.

These books were mostly textbooks from the original university. The dozens of magazines were also publicly published professional publications, covering everything from mechanical engineering and electronics to industrial technology and agricultural technology—a real hodgepodge.

This shows that the original owner was not a literary youth at all; he was not interested in literary works.

However, the original owner of this body probably really enjoyed showing off, especially being proud of her status as a college student and engineer. Even though she couldn't understand these professional books and magazines, she would still buy them in large quantities. And she would even keep them by her bedside for "studying"?

Regardless of whether you understand it or not, you have to pretend you do!

You have to understand, books were very expensive back then, especially professional books and magazines. These must cost several hundred dollars, right?

Holy crap! So that's how it is. The original owner was willing to take on debt everywhere just to show off? Would you die if you didn't show off?

However, when Zhuang Zhongchen saw that many magazines were soliciting articles, he couldn't help but have a gleam in his eye.

Indeed, there's a wealth of knowledge hidden in books! So this is where the opportunity to make money lies!

……

In this day and age, almost all sources of extra income are illegal. The only exception is—manuscript fees!

The government absolutely encourages publishing articles in one's spare time. Of course, in a few years, when the political climate changes, even royalties may be completely eliminated. But that will be four or five years from now, and it won't affect earning a little money now.

Of course, creating artistic works is out of the question. Zhuang Zhongchen is neither that kind of artistic idiot nor that stubborn. That would be called deliberately courting death.

But natural science papers won't be affected, right? Like those on "Postpartum Care of Sows"... Okay! Papers like those are highly unlikely to be affected, right?

Furthermore, Zhuang Zhongchen added a double layer of protection. He couldn't even write his own academic paper. After all, his reputation as a "fake engineer" was widespread, already establishing a fixed impression on others. If he suddenly changed, it would definitely arouse suspicion.

However, in Zhuang Zhongchen's eyes, which were practically glued to his wallet, he had a keen eye for a niche market – translation!

Yes! It's about directly translating the latest foreign scientific papers. Let me ask you this: I admit I'm not a top-tier translator, but I can translate, and my forte is theoretical discussion. That should make sense, right?

Furthermore, in this era, there are still some master translators in China who can translate foreign literary works.

But translations of scientific and engineering papers? Those are relatively few. Even the few that exist are mainly in Russian. English translations are extremely rare.

Moreover, how many scientists who studied in the West have returned to China? These people all have more important jobs and cannot be full-time translators.

Those who understand technology don't understand English, and those who understand English don't understand technology. Those who understand both technology and English simply don't have the time.

Isn't this the one that suits me best?