The repair shop, which was initially bustling, gradually became quiet. The employees also gradually realized that benefits weren't so easy to obtain.

If you want to reap the benefits, you have to wait. This also shows the severity of bottlenecks for larger factories.

Repair shops are different from individual shops; they have spare parts in stock, so you can get them anytime.

The factory's repair department only has staff and a shop. As for spare parts, they're all in the warehouse.

The disassembled appliances weren't reassembled; they need to wait for the parts to arrive before putting them back together, to avoid having to disassemble and reassemble them repeatedly. Xing Baohua was too lazy to repair many of the appliances, and they had accumulated quite a few.

In his words: "Since there are no parts anyway, I'm worried about missing parts if I take it apart and put it somewhere, so I might as well not take it apart."

Before he could even get the chip warehouse order, he received a magazine and a letter from Zhang Xuebao.

Besides greetings and another invitation to work in the provincial capital, the letter also included the blueprints for a multi-disc continuous ink supply system that Xing Baohua had given Zhang Xuebao. They had developed it, and it worked very well.

The provincial electronics company will award him 200 yuan as a reward, which will then be transferred to him via wire transfer.

"200 yuan, that's disgusting," Xing Baohua thought to himself, pursing his lips. At the same time, he made up his mind that he really couldn't cooperate with domestic manufacturers; their greed was too blatant.

He doesn't have the ability to bargain, and he hasn't registered any patents or anything, so if they don't give him a single penny, there's nothing he can do.

This frustration can only be swallowed; I'll wait for an opportunity to take revenge.

He wanted to go fishing, not expecting to catch a big fish, but a small, medium-sized one would do! Who knew he would catch a loach instead.

Xing Baohua rode his bicycle to the post office (the general term for the post office and telecommunications bureau before they were separated) to make a long-distance call to Zhang Xuebao. The short call cost him more than a dollar, which pained him greatly.

I exchanged a few simple greetings, saying that I had received the letter and magazine, and that I should not wire the money yet, but use that money to buy some electrical components.

He said it verbally, and Zhang Xuebao wrote it down, saying he would mail it to him in a few days.

Everything is slow these days, but people have gotten used to it.

Xing Baohua leisurely rode his bicycle back, took out paper and pen, and started writing an article to submit to the computer magazine. He wanted to earn some small royalties first.

His goal was modest; he didn't want to achieve great things overnight, but rather to first build his reputation in the magazine.

He gave himself the pen name "Electronic Madman." You can tell from the name that he's incredibly arrogant.

Let's start with my current perspective on the system: a comparison between command-line and window-based systems. Which is more convenient, more practical, and which will enable the rapid popularization of computers?

Business at the repair shop is very slow. Whether they're busy or not, they still make the same amount of money. Who wants to work? Everyone'd be happy if the warehouse was empty of parts. Nobody really knows if they have any at all.

Sipping tea and listening to music, the sound quality was indeed distorted at low volumes. If it were before, Xing Baohua would have thrown this piece of junk away long ago.

A tape recorder was a real novelty in those days. A young man carrying one of these things down the street would attract attention like a beacon.

When three or five close friends get together, we sing and dance (young friends together are happier than anything else, swaying and laughing, hehehehe).

This was the joy of this era. Of course, there were also a few mischievous friends who would lock themselves in a small room and dance, which was not allowed at the time and was considered illegal, even a form of hooliganism.

Of course, there were also dance halls and various large clubs during this period, and dancing in public places was perfectly acceptable. For example, the Municipal Machinery Factory Club would hold music and dance parties every now and then, such as disco, two-step, three-step, and four-step ballroom dances.

"Hua Zi, what are you doing sitting there? Let's play cards." Xu Shuai walked up to Xing Baohua and saw him half-lying on the chair listening to music. He looked half-dead and gave the first impression of being very lazy.

"No, you can play with Liu Quan." She slightly opened her eyes and said to Xu Shuai.

"What's the point of playing with just the two of us? We've already played several rounds of Run Fast," Xu Shuai said, pursing his lips.

"Then let's play chess, Go, or Gomoku. Any game is fine," Xing Baohua said.

"Hua Zi, is something on your mind? You haven't seen Su Ya for several days, and you feel uncomfortable here?" Xu Shuai pointed to his chest and said.

"No, really no, I'm not interested in young girls," Xing Baohua said.

"Not interested? I don't believe you for a second. Back in the day, who would drag me to the cotton mill after get off work to squat on the curb and whistle at the young girls and wives leaving get off work?" Xu Shuai said with a sarcastic smirk.

"That was before. Now, I'm focused entirely on my work."

"Let's go dancing at the factory club tonight. Su Ya might be there too. You should ask her to dance," Xu Shuai suggested.

"No, it would be so awkward to meet there!" Xing Baohua was referring to the place where Su Ya had rejected her. Her tone was misleading, implying she didn't want to go to that painful place.

"Alright, how about we go play pool at Xu Fei's place tonight?"

"Don't just think about having fun, we need to think about how to work. The refrigerator and washing machine are such a great opportunity! You and Liu Quan should take them apart and put them back together, and figure out every single part thoroughly," Xing Baohua said earnestly.

"You know my personality; I only get enthusiastic for a short time. Let's talk about the refrigerator parts later. Wait a minute, Hua Zi."

"What's wrong?" Xing Baohua asked, turning her head to the side.

"It's been several days, it's hard to believe the warehouse hasn't received any new goods. Is something wrong?" Xu Shuai asked worriedly.

"Who cares if he has something to do or not? Let him come whenever he wants. If he comes early, we still have to work. If he comes more often, we have to work more. But we won't get paid for doing more work," Xing Baohua said.

"But if we just sit around doing nothing, people will laugh at us!"

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