Chapter 12: Shall I Give It a Try?
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Su Ruochu’s pretty face immediately flushed red.
“What nonsense are you talking about? Believe me, I’ll report you to Uncle Zhou the moment I get home tonight!”
“Wait, wait—I was only joking.”
The young man chuckled and took the initiative to extend his hand toward Chen Fan.
“Zhou Honghai.”
“Chen Fan. I’m Su Ruochu’s classmate.”
“Not bad, kid. This girl hardly ever leaves school with a boy.”
“Zhou Honghai!”
Su Ruochu glared at him angrily.
“All right, all right. I’ll stop.”
The young man put away his smile.
“You two here to use the computers? Find any seat you like. Just remember to put on the shoe covers.”
“Today’s on me. I won’t charge either of you.”
As he spoke, he bent down and rummaged through a drawer, pulling out two pairs of blue shoe covers.
Seeing the familiar things, Chen Fan was caught between laughter and tears.
When he had first taken computer classes at school, the teacher had required every student to put on shoe covers before entering the computer room.
Even now, Chen Fan still could not understand what those old, battered computers possessed that made them worthy of such careful protection.
“Go on and play.”
After casually ushering the two of them away, Zhou Honghai turned to the customer beside him.
“I’m sorry. Your computer may have a hardware problem. I can’t deal with that. I suggest taking it to an authorized service center.”
The customer was a young beauty dressed in a very fashionable manner. She wore a white dress, and her long hair fell over her shoulders.
At Zhou Honghai’s words, she frowned, looking rather troubled.
“There’s really no other way?”
Zhou Honghai smiled bitterly. “Sorry. Computer repair isn’t my specialty.”
The beauty asked with a frown, “Are there any other computer repair shops nearby?”
Zhou Honghai shook his head. “Not that I know of.”
“This is a small place, and computers are still a rarity here. Many people have probably never even seen a laptop.”
Seeing her disappointment, Zhou Honghai added, “Besides, your computer is far too expensive. Most people wouldn’t dare take it apart and repair it casually.”
“You’d better take it to an official service center.”
The beauty looked dejected. “Then I’ll have to go all the way back to Yunhai to get it repaired. But I need it urgently right now.”
Zhou Honghai shrugged, indicating that there was nothing more he could do.
“Brother Honghai.”
Su Ruochu called out softly. Zhou Honghai gave the beauty an apologetic smile before turning and walking away.
The beauty sighed. Unwilling to give up, she raised a slender finger and pressed the power button several times.
The screen remained completely unresponsive.
In the end, she could only accept reality. Just as she was about to close the laptop and leave, a voice came from behind her.
“Why don’t you let me take a look?”
The beauty froze. Turning around, she realized that Chen Fan was standing behind her.
“You are...?”
Chen Fan smiled and explained, “When a computer won’t turn on, there are usually only a few common causes.”
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“Either there’s a hardware problem—the memory module may not be seated properly, or the CPU may be overheating—or, if that isn’t the issue, the operating system may have crashed. In that case, reinstalling it might solve the problem.”
The beauty stared at Chen Fan with curiosity.
She was especially surprised that he was still wearing a blue-and-white school uniform.
“You... are you a student?”
Chen Fan smiled but did not answer. Instead, he said, “You can try checking those things.”
With that, he turned to leave.
“Wait.”
The beauty hurriedly called him back.
“You know how to repair computers?”
Chen Fan nodded. “I know a little.”
“Are you sure you can fix it?”
Chen Fan laughed. “Nothing in this world is one hundred percent certain. Besides, I haven’t even looked at your computer yet.”
The beauty hesitated, apparently torn.
“In that case, could I trouble you to check it for me?”
When Chen Fan did not move, she added, “Don’t worry. Whether you can fix it or not, I’ll still be grateful.”
Only after receiving that promise did Chen Fan walk over. He lowered his head and carefully examined the laptop in front of him.
After just one glance, his eyes brightened slightly.
It was actually a high-end A-series model made by IBM—the ThinkPad A20p.
This was genuine luxury hardware.
Even in China, it was not necessarily something one could buy simply because one wanted it.
And in this era, even among laptops, this machine was outrageously expensive.
At the time, laptops averaged between fifteen and twenty-five thousand yuan.
The official suggested retail price of the laptop before Chen Fan was forty-six thousand yuan.
One had to remember that in the small city where Chen Fan now lived, an apartment in a commercial development still cost less than one hundred thousand yuan.
This was an absolute luxury item.
Chen Fan could not help glancing up at the beautiful woman before him.
He muttered inwardly, “A little rich girl, huh?”
He tried pressing the power button. As expected, there was no response.
Then he reached into the nearby toolbox and picked up a screwdriver.
Just as he was about to begin, he seemed to think of something and looked up at the beauty.
After seeing her nod, Chen Fan finally began dismantling the machine.
He carefully removed several screws and opened the protective casing. Then he could not help clicking his tongue.
“That’s quite a bit of dust. How long has it been since you cleaned it?”
The beauty’s pretty face reddened slightly, and she looked embarrassed.
“I... don’t know how to clean it.”
In truth, she had never cleaned the dust since buying it.
Chen Fan failed to notice her embarrassment. Lowering his head, he examined the components while muttering, “I’ll clean out the dust first, then check the memory modules and the motherboard to find the cause...”
Watching his practiced movements as he disassembled the laptop, the beauty had already confirmed that Chen Fan was no amateur.
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She automatically set aside the fact that he was a student and said expectantly, “Go ahead and check it. You don’t need to ask me anything.”
Although the computer was a genuine luxury item in this era, in Chen Fan’s eyes—shaped by his knowledge of the future—it was little more than a toy.
Compared with the ultrathin laptops of later generations, this thing was as thick as a small suitcase and extremely clumsy.
It had 128 MB of SDRAM, a 20 GB hard drive, a built-in 1.44 MB floppy disk drive, and a DVD drive.
With specifications like that, practically any computer from the future could crush it effortlessly.
But in this era, it truly was the king of the hill.
Chen Fan had no intention whatsoever of treating the machine with kid gloves.
His fingers moved swiftly as he removed the memory module and wiped it clean. Then he took out the fan and CPU as well, his movements smooth and practiced, almost a performance in themselves.
In the nearby lounge, Zhou Honghai scratched his head awkwardly.
“Letting your classmate learn computers here isn’t impossible.”
“But... aren’t you two about to take the college entrance examination?”
“And my tuition isn’t exactly cheap...”
Su Ruochu pouted. “Can’t you give him a discount?”
“Oh? Looks like you really care about him.”
“And you still claim he isn’t your boyfriend.”
Su Ruochu glared at him. “Keep talking nonsense and I’ll go tell Uncle Zhou.”
“All right, all right. You win.”
Zhou Honghai smiled bitterly. “For your sake, I’ll give him thirty percent off. That’s the biggest discount I can offer. Satisfied?”
Only then did Su Ruochu nod in satisfaction.
“That’s more like it.”
“Then I’ll go ask whether he agrees...”
The two of them stepped out of the lounge and happened to see Chen Fan fiddling with the female customer’s laptop at the counter.
The sight gave Zhou Honghai such a fright that he nearly jumped.
“What are you doing?”
“Stop right now!”
He rushed over.
He knew exactly how much the computer cost. If this kid damaged it, he—the owner—would be dragged into the mess as well.
Zhou Honghai was genuinely terrified. In just a few strides, he reached them.
“Who told you to mess with it? You... uh...”
He did not even have time to finish scolding him before Chen Fan pressed the laptop’s power button.
The familiar startup screen lit up.
Zhou Honghai froze instantly.
Su Ruochu stared at the scene in astonishment as well.
Chen Fan straightened, dusted off his hands, and turned to smile at the beauty nearby.
“It’s fixed. Take a look and see if everything’s working.”