I met my whole family through Baidu Tieba.

While Shen Kang was laughing and joking with the two unlucky seniors, students were constantly coming and going from the dormitory management station.

Chen Shi was one of them.

This is a very ordinary college student. He has an ordinary appearance, ordinary clothes, and an ordinary figure. His only distinguishing feature is that his facial skin is slightly dark.

As he passed by, he glanced at the group, wondering what they had been doing.

He had heard a lot of noise from afar and thought people were arguing. But when he came in, the noise stopped, and he saw three boys talking, who didn't seem to be arguing at all.

However, Chen Shi did not stop walking. He quickly withdrew his gaze, walked straight through the dormitory management station, and headed towards Xiaodong Street.

He had no interest in watching the excitement; his mind was preoccupied with something else entirely, and his feelings were a complex mix of excitement and trepidation.

With these mixed feelings, Chen Shi arrived at Xiaodong Street with a clear goal: home and the laundry room. Before he even reached the shop, he had already grabbed his phone and several SIM cards.

The laundry and home services at this location are a bit crowded.

When Chen Shi went in, there were five students inside, lining up to get their clothes.

After taking a look, Chen Shi didn't go in to compete with them. Instead, he stood outside for a while, looking into the laundry shop and carefully examining the environment inside.

"Where is the pickup location?"

As Chen Shi watched, he silently pondered these thoughts.

He knew about Jiahe Laundry, but he had never used Jiahe Laundry to wash his clothes because he felt it was not worth it—clothes that he could wash by himself with just a little detergent were practically free, so why spend money to wash them here?

So this was the first time he was actually going into the house and the laundry room.

The layout of the laundry room is quite simple and clear.

Furthermore, with several students ahead of him picking up clothes and demonstrating, Chen Shi immediately understood: there was a counter on the left, and behind it, a large cabinet against the wall with numerous small compartments—that must be the pick-up point…

Jiahe Laundry is quite efficient.

In less than two minutes, the students had taken their clothes away.

Chen Shi finally went inside.

Instead of immediately going to the pickup point on the left, he went to the cashier and said, "Hello, I bought something on Huanhuan.com. It said it had been delivered and sent me a text message asking me to pick it up. Is this where I pick it up?"

The cashier behind him glanced at him and asked, "Yes, did you bring your student ID card?"

"I brought it."

Chen Shi hurriedly took out a Beiming prepaid card that he had been holding in his hand.

Perhaps due to excitement and nervousness, Chen Shi's palms were sweating even in the dead of winter. In just a short while, his Beiming IC card was slightly damp.

Upon seeing this, Chen Shi quickly wiped the card dry on his clothes before handing it over.

The cashier didn't accept the payment, but simply pointed to a device next to the cash register, saying, "You can just swipe it yourself."

"oh."

Chen Shi blushed slightly, feeling a bit like a country bumpkin. He quickly took his student ID card and swiped it on the device next to him.

He just got this Beiming prepaid card this morning.

It all started this morning.

……

This morning, Chen Shi and his classmates were all in their dorm without classes.

"Oh dear, I already told you, she is my sister... What, you asked my mom? I don't have a sister? How do you have my mom's phone number?... I didn't finish my sentence. She really is my sister, but she's my adopted sister. My mom doesn't know about this..."

Li Wei was sitting at the desk on the right side near the door, holding his phone to his ear and talking on the phone.

This was a guy dressed head-to-toe in Nike, fairly handsome, and from the wealthiest family in Chen Shi's dorm. He was also a playboy.

Chen Shi lay in bed, listening, thinking to himself, "It seems Li Wei's girlfriend won't last long either."

On the right-hand side near the door is the most "bulky" desk in the entire dormitory.

The reason it's "bloated" is because there's a desktop computer here, with the main unit at the bottom and the monitor on the desktop. It's a huge, bulky monitor, also known as a CT scanner.

Compared to a flat LCD monitor, the CT monitor is square and has a huge back of its head, so Chen Shi and his colleagues also call it "Big Butt".

This is Zhao Lei's computer.

Zhao Lei got up early in the morning and is now sitting in front of his computer, playing Warcraft 3 on the HaoFang platform. It's the classic LT TMPL map, and he's really into it.

The fist-sized speaker I bought was placed aside, and sound effects kept emanating from it.

"Ya, l!" "am yu!"...

Zhao Lei is playing Orc today.

Chen Shi lay on the bed, listening to the Sword Saint's voice, silently thinking—he was mainly listening to Zhao Lei's movements as well.

At the desk on the right, Wang Hongyu was quietly packing his books into a bag, then got up, grabbed his water glass, and prepared to go outside.

Zhao Lei glanced at him briefly, then asked, "Hongyu, want to go study?"

Wang Hongyu grunted in agreement and continued walking out.

Zhao Lei looked conflicted; his mind was no longer on the game in front of him.

Seeing Wang Hongyu about to step out of the dormitory, Zhao Lei hastily made up his mind, "Wait for me, Hongyu, I'm coming too!"

Li Wei, who was still explaining to his girlfriend, glanced at her in surprise.

Wang Hongyu also stopped and turned around in surprise, thinking that Zhao Lei was joking.

Zhao Lei, however, made up his mind to quit the game, exit the platform, log out of his online account, shut down his computer, and then grabbed a few books, preparing to leave with Wang Hongyu.

They finally fell for it.

Chen Shi lay on the bed, thinking silently, and then casually said, "Zhao Lei, I need to use your computer to look something up later."

"OK."

Zhao Lei casually agreed and pulled Wang Hongyu to leave, saying, "Let's go."

Wang Hongyu seemed lost in thought, turning his head and looking up at Chen Shi's bed.

He said, "Why did Chen Shi suddenly ask me to do him a favor last night? When I go out to study today, please walk slowly."

Although Wang Hongyu didn't know why, it was something he could do easily, so he agreed.

So this morning, Wang Hongyu packed his books about three times slower than usual: he put the books into his bag one by one, unscrewed his water bottle to check the water level, then screwed it back on, and spent a long time rummaging through the table looking for a pen. The whole process took almost two minutes.

Zhao Lei was in the middle of a team fight when his Sword Saint was being ganged up on by the enemy. He glanced at the scene out of the corner of his eye while clicking the mouse.

Wang Hongyu was still packing.

Zhao Lei's Sword Saint is dead; the countdown to his resurrection has begun.

Wang Hongyu finally got up and walked towards the door.

Zhao Lei's attention began to split: the countdown on the screen, and the backs of students studying at the door.

Wang Hongyu walked to the door.

The countdown in Zhao Lei's mind was faster than the one on the screen.

The Sword Saint has ten seconds left to respawn.

But Wang Hongyu only needs to walk three more steps before leaving the house.

Which of these two men is more likely to stir his heart?

At that moment, Zhao Lei made a decision that he still finds unbelievable to this day.

He withdrew abruptly.

"Old Chen's got some skills."

Wang Hongyu stared at Chen Shi's bed, his gaze seemingly able to penetrate the iron frame and bed board, seeing Chen Shi lying on the bed, pushing up his glasses with his hand.

However, he imagined Chen Shi to be too carefree.

In fact, when Chen Shi was lying in bed and heard Zhao Lei say, "Wait for me, Hongyu, I'm coming too," he almost burst out laughing.

Zhao Lei and Wang Hongyu went out.

As Zhao Lei was going downstairs, he remembered something and asked, somewhat puzzled, "Hongyu, why are you dawdling so much today?" His tone carried a hint of complaint.

If Wang Hongyu hadn't been so slow and kept distracting me today, I'd still be happily playing against someone on the HaoFang platform. I wouldn't be going downstairs to study with Wang Hongyu because of pangs of conscience and inner turmoil.

Wang Hongyu walked on, hesitated for a moment, and finally said, "Chen Shi told me last night to walk slowly this morning."

"..."

Zhao Lei stopped in his tracks and fell silent.

But two seconds later, he started walking again and caught up with Wang Hongyu.

Now it was Wang Hongyu's turn to be puzzled: "You're still going to study?"

Zhao Lei nodded silently, "Go, why not go? We're already out here."

For a fleeting moment, after realizing he had been tricked by Chen Shi, he genuinely wanted to rush back to his dorm and abandon his studies.

However, Zhao Lei immediately thought of something.

Chen Shi frequently used his computer, and inevitably, he left some things on it.

Zhao Lei once accidentally discovered that Chen Shi had created an encrypted folder in one of his computer's folders.

Zhao Lei was quite pleased with this. He secretly developed a cracking software and, on a dark and windy night when no one was in the dormitory, he cracked the encrypted folder and opened it.

Inside the folder, there is another folder and a C document in the same directory.

The document is titled "Chen Shi's Grand Ambitions".

The filename piqued Zhao Lei's interest, prompting him to open the C document.

The document's content was very simple, seemingly implying that Chen Shi's grand ambitions were also simple, consisting of only three lines:

First, buy a computer with a webcam so my mom can see me.

Second, I'll eat at Pizza Hut by myself, without taking any leftovers home.

Third, pay Zhao Lei a year's worth of QQ membership as hush money.

"..."

Zhao Lei fell silent at that moment.

Then I silently closed the document and didn't go into that folder again, pretending I had never discovered it.

Old Chen has it tough too; he's still waiting for his year-long QQ membership...

Zhao Lei silently thought to himself, and then he and Wang Hongyu went to the library instead of returning to their dormitory.

Page 408

After the two of them left, the dormitory room became quiet.

Only Li Wei's voice echoed.

"...I already told you, she's my god-sister, god-sister, god-sister! Why won't you believe me?...The purple dress is really charming, if you like it I'll buy you one too...You're just being unreasonable, I can't be bothered arguing with you anymore!"

Li Wei finally hung up the phone and there was no further news for a while.

Chen Shi finally calmly sat up from the bed and then got out of bed.

He didn't get out of bed to turn on Wang Hongyu's computer the moment Wang Hongyu left the dormitory; that would have seemed too hasty.

To avoid appearing hasty, after getting out of bed, Chen Shi first took a basin to the bathroom to wash up. As he passed by Li Wei, he saw Li Wei looking down and constantly pressing buttons on his phone, seemingly sending a text message to someone.

Actually, there are four people in their dormitory. Li Wei also has a computer, a Dell laptop that costs over nine thousand yuan and has pretty good specs.

However, every time I asked Li Wei to borrow his computer to play games, Li Wei would lend it to me, but he always liked to say some random things.

After a few times, Chen Shi had long since given up on borrowing Li Wei's computer to play games.

Whether it was him or Wang Hongyu, they always borrowed Zhao Lei's computer when they needed to use it.

After washing up, I had just returned to my dorm room when I saw Li Wei rushing out.

Chen Shi casually asked, "Going out?"

Li Wei grunted in response, said nothing more, and went out.

Chen Shi returned to his dormitory, put down the washbasin, and then leisurely sat down at Zhao Lei's desk, turned on the computer, and began to enjoy his first and happiest time online.

Without a computer, and feeling it would be a waste to spend money on internet cafes, Chen Shi naturally wouldn't play online games like "Tian Long Ba Bu" or "World of Warcraft" in his spare time.

In real-time strategy games like Warcraft III, he didn't have a computer, so his practice time was far less than those who had computers and had been practicing for two and a half years. As a result, his skills didn't improve, and he didn't like playing or seeking out challenging games.

Therefore, Chen Shi's biggest hobby online was chatting on QQ and browsing web pages.

After opening QQ, Chen Shi first replied to a few historical messages, then browsed a few groups. After that, he opened a webpage and started browsing the Beiming Community.

When he was alone in his dorm, he liked to browse Mop.com, which had lots of awesome pictures.

However, Chen Shi later discovered that Mop was still somewhat conservative compared to Beiming Community.

In particular, the female bodhisattvas on the Beiming Community are all from Yangke University, and it is possible to meet and get to know them offline.

With this in mind, the pictures look even better.

It's the same this time.

Chen Shi was a seasoned gossip, so he first went into his personal space and looked at all the female followers he was following to see if they had posted any new posts. Then he started reading those new posts.

When Chen Shi saw a new post from a busty female bodhisattva named "Momo No Brains," he was filled with awe as he read it—a deep respect for her large head, not just her small head.

This post is as follows:

Title: My roommate wasn't home, so I secretly wore the purple outfit she recommended... and also shared some notes.

Contents:

Image 1

(A bird's-eye view shows a dark purple V-neck knit sweater stretched taut. A book titled "Administrative Aptitude Test" is spread out on the table. A half-cup of milk tea and a highlighter pen are visible in the lower right corner of the photo.)

Caption: This really makes my skin look fairer, but it's a bit tight... What do you ladies think?

Image 2

(Taking a selfie in front of a mirror, you can see the reflection wearing a purple knit sweater and a black pleated skirt. A canvas bag hangs next to the mirror, with the words "Pass all exams" printed on it.)

Caption: I spent the whole day in the library today, doing three sets of civil service exams. My head is about to go bald.

Image 3

(An open notebook with a handwritten "Universal Template for Essay Writing" on it, the handwriting neat and beautiful. But the focus of the photo is clearly not on the notebook—behind the notebook is a small mirror, reflecting a fair chin and a faintly visible collarbone.)

Caption: These notes were all compiled by myself. If you want them, type 1.

Image 4

(A picture from the internet shows a black Thnkpa T60 placed on a library table, its screen lit up, displaying the homepage of "Huanhuan.com".)

Caption: Lately, many people have asked me what computer I use for online classes. This is it! I bought it online for a little over 2000 RMB, and the Thnkpa runs incredibly smoothly. My old laptop was so laggy I almost smashed the screen. DM me if you need the link; you can get a 10 RMB discount with a Beiming prepaid card.

……

Chen Shi was filled with awe: I never expected that Momo would actually take the civil service exam! She is truly beautiful inside and out, a woman of both inner and outer beauty, and a woman of great capacity for tolerance.

There are already many comments below.

Because of the rules of the Beiming Community, the most popular replies are displayed at the top.

Momo's boyfriend (impersonating): Waaaaaah, Momo, you've fallen for evil!

Momo is clueless: ? ? ?

Tiger of the Biology Department: ? ? ?

The second most affectionate sentiment at Yangko University: ? ? ?

……

Chen Shi burst out laughing, feeling that these people were truly talented.

He had heard of evil degeneration, but this was the first time he had ever heard of good degeneration.

I also joined everyone in replying with "???" in the comments.

Then continue reading below.

On the Beiming Community, not only are the posts visually appealing, but the replies are also often quite interesting.

The replies under Momo's post are just like that.

"Introduction to Sociology: I'm Going All Out!" From a sociological perspective, this post perfectly presents the complex predicament of contemporary college students caught between consumerism, appearance anxiety, and pressure to move up the social ladder. Momo is both the observer and the observed; her purple battle robe is both a response to the male gaze and a testament to her own subjectivity…

Momo replied without thinking: Get lost after you're done fighting!

Purely rational critic: Get out of here after you're done fighting!

The food on the third floor of the cafeteria is really good: Get out of here after you're done!

……

Chen Shi remained silent, but commented below the post: "Get lost after you're done fighting."

……

Yang Keda's second most affectionate comment: Sofa! Momo's skin looks so alluring with those glasses today.

Momo replied without thinking: These are special glasses for studying. Wearing them can increase your score by 10 points.

Biology Tiger: I love learning, and I want these glasses that will boost my exam scores! Of course, I want yours; I'm afraid other glasses won't work.

The second most heartfelt sentiment from Yangko University: You'd better truly love learning.

……

The Sword Saint died again today: Who taught you to post GG here?

Momo's Brainless: What GG? This is a product sharing post! I use it myself!

The Sword Saint died again today: Your behavior disrupts community order, I need to teach you a lesson. Here's your dorm room number.

……

Tiger Without Birds (banned three times): What's going on? I saw the first three pictures already showed his pants... never mind, let's not talk about that. What's with the fourth and fifth pictures? I feel like my physiological reaction was forcibly interrupted by a set of civil service exam questions! Momo, how are you going to repay what you owe me?

Momo is clueless: Using knowledge

……

Passerby A506: Who knows? I was going to close it after looking at the picture, but I ended up looking at the essay template for three minutes without realizing it! ...Now I feel like I can take the exam for a prefecture-level city.

Momo replied without thinking: Keep going, let's get to shore together!

Passerby A506: ? ? ? I came to see your pictures, and you're telling me about going ashore?

……

The food on the third floor of the cafeteria is really delicious: I feel that the content of this post is so complex that it cannot be described in words.

Downward Attack: +1. I read it over and over eight times, but I still can't understand what the topic of this post is. Is it a fashion tutorial? A civil service exam study guide? Or is it selling computers? It doesn't seem to connect with any of them! It's too abstract.

……

Manager Xizhilang: Momo, I checked, Huanhuan.com sells secondhand items. Are secondhand items guaranteed?

Momo_NoBrainer: It's guaranteed. They offer a six-month warranty. If there's a problem during that period, you can get it repaired for free. It's absolutely guaranteed. If you really want to buy, I can send you a link. Go through my link and use your Beiming prepaid card to get a 10 yuan discount.

Manager Xizhilang: Am I short of 10 yuan? I'm short of 2,000 yuan!

……

Chen Shi browsed through the replies, and as he looked, he scrolled back to the top of the post, to the pictures Momo had posted, staring at the Thnkpa T60 laptop in one of them.

More than two thousand? ...

Chen Shi thought for a moment, then clicked on the "GG" banner at the top of the Beiming Community—he had seen it as soon as he entered the Beiming Community, but he wasn't interested.

Seeing Momo's post now, I know that a T60 only costs a little over two thousand, and the website even offers a warranty service, so it seems they really have a lot of confidence in the quality...

To be honest, he was genuinely moved.

Chen Shi had always wanted a laptop, but his family's financial situation was average. Every year they would say they would buy it for him this year, but every year they would also apologize and say that someone else's debt was due and they had to pay it off, and they would buy him a computer next year.

Chen Shi was quite sensible. He might have felt a little wronged, but he never got angry.

And so, a year passed. When the family was in the same situation again the following year, Chen Shi stopped relying on his family. He started doing part-time jobs, wanting to buy a car with his own money. He even had a target in mind—the Lianxiang Xuri C466A, which cost over four thousand yuan.

He used to work as a weekend sales promoter, standing for ten hours straight in a tight shirt, yelling at the top of his lungs, "Buy a microwave and get a free steamer!" After two days, his heels ached so much he couldn't put any weight on them, and his voice was hoarse.

He used to work as a porter for Chinese New Year goods, getting up at 5 a.m. every day to unload, pack, and deliver goods to retailers by tricycle. His hands were covered with frostbite cracks and bloodstains from the packaging ropes.

When delivering the last batch of goods, the boss gave him an extra 200 yuan in red envelopes. Clutching the money, he stood in the cold wind, feeling for the first time that he was one step closer to that Lenovo Xuri C466A.

……

Why is he usually so frugal, preferring to spend time and effort borrowing his roommate's computer to play on rather than going to an internet cafe? It's because he wants to save money to buy that Lenovo Sunrise C466A computer.

After so much hard work, Chen Shi has now saved 2165 yuan.

It's still half the price of that Lenovo Sunrise C466A, which costs over 4,000 yuan.

Chen Shi sometimes felt quite tired, which is why he liked to look at pictures of beautiful women—it could bring him joy and relieve his mental fatigue.

And it was at this time that the female bodhisattva he usually admired told him that the T60 only cost a little over two thousand.

That's a T60!

He was very familiar with both of these computers, just like the Lenovo C466A he wanted to buy.

First is the Lenovo C466A.

Every time he passed by the computer mall, he would go in and touch that demo unit. It had a silver-gray plastic casing, a 14-inch widescreen, a keyboard that felt a bit soft, and the left and right buttons below the touchpad felt a little loose. The sales assistant always said, "This one has a very high cost-performance ratio," and Chen Shi would always nod, then ask, "Can you make it a little cheaper?" The sales assistant would say no, and he would leave.

The Pentium Dual-Core T2370 had a 1.73GHz clock speed, 1MB of L2 cache, and a 533MHz front-side bus. This CPU, euphemistically called "Pentium Dual-Core," was essentially a crippled version of the Core 2—Intel cut the Core 2's cache by more than half, changed the name, and sold it to people with limited budgets. Every time Chen Shi saw the specifications of this CPU, he felt that Intel's marketing department should go into writing novels.

1GB RAM, 2GB hard drive, integrated NTL MA 3100 graphics card. This graphics card can only run Warcraft 3 on medium-low settings, and the frame rate drops when the Blademaster spins during team fights.

Regardless, this is a new computer. It has a warranty, a box, the screen is lit when turned on, the keyboard has an unused sheen, and there are no thumbprints left by the previous owner on the touchpad.

4200 yuan.

Chen Shi saved 2165 yuan. He still needed 2035 yuan. At his rate of saving two to three hundred yuan a month, it would take him eight more months. After eight months, his senior year would be almost over, and it would be too late.

Then there's the thnkpa t60.

The THNKPA T60 was the flagship business jet of 2006. Priced at 15,000 yuan at the time, it was designed for those who flew business class and stayed in five-star hotels on business trips. Its outer shell was made of magnesium alloy, and it even had a roll cage—yes, a roll cage, a design similar to that of a racing car.

Chen Shi had seen a review that said the T60 could be picked up and still be used after being dropped from a height of 1.2 meters onto a concrete floor. He didn't know if it was true, but he felt that even if it was an exaggeration, it took some confidence to make such a claim.

The processor is a Core 2 T5600, 1.83GHz, with 2MB of L2 cache and a 667MHz front-side bus. It's also a dual-core, but this is a full-fledged Core 2, not a stripped-down version. The L2 cache is twice that of the Lenovo processor, and the front-side bus is also faster. In industry terminology, this is called "structural optimization and performance improvement."

The 80GB hard drive is a bit small, but it's sufficient. The key is the graphics card—an AT MBLTY AN 1300 with 64MB of dedicated video memory. It's a dedicated graphics card, not integrated. This means that you can play World of Warcraft with all effects on this machine, and the Blademaster won't experience frame drops when spinning.

This is Chen Shi.

They didn't have any money, but they knew all the parameters perfectly.

Without a doubt, the T60 is the better choice between these two computers, if possible.

In particular, the T60 is even cheaper!

Of course, this kind of cheapness comes at a price, namely "second-hand" – nowadays, people, including Chen Shi, have a natural sense of suspicion and distrust towards second-hand goods.

Even though Momo said there was a warranty, it still couldn't completely dispel these doubts.

In particular, the T60 is selling for over two thousand! Even if it's secondhand, it still makes one feel uneasy, thinking that the price is too low and whether there's something wrong with the computer.

Take a look first.