Xing Baohua was still completely bewildered. What exactly happened? Was something wrong or nothing?

He said to the girl, "It seems you're not right for me either."

"Huh?" Upon hearing this, Xing Baohua quickly realized and asked, "You're here for a blind date?"

Xing Baohua shrugged and said, "Goodness, you didn't even tell me you were going on a blind date, just a surprise attack. I was thinking you wanted to talk to me about something."

“What business could a teacher like me have with you?” Zou Wenjuan said.

"I get a lot of offers." Xing Baohua could clearly tell that the other party wasn't interested in his big, dark-skinned appearance, and he felt a little disappointed. Well, he had to show off a bit, didn't he?

He said, "I repair TVs, tape recorders, computers, and the like. Most of the people who come to me for repairs are TVs, tape recorders, computers, and so on."

"Oh, aren't you some kind of director? You can fix this? Can you fix speakers?"

"Speakers? Don't you even know who I sell my speakers to? I can not only repair them, I can build them too," Xing Baohua said magnanimously, showing off his abilities.

"Oh, I bought a speaker before, but it's not very good, the sound is very low. I don't know what's wrong with it, could you help me take a look if you can fix it?"

"Okay, bring it over when you have time. But let me make this clear from the start! If anything is missing, you can find a replacement yourself. We're not that close. I won't cover the cost of the parts for you." Xing Baohua was also straightforward, to avoid being accused of being stingy.

"I don't usually have time, why don't you come with me to get it? We'll just charge you whatever price it costs then." The girl's words were quite reasonable.

"Why are you here?" Xing Baohua asked.

"Riding a bicycle."

"Okay, I'll ride slowly." After Xing Baohua finished speaking, the girl thought Xing Baohua was riding very fast. But when she went outside, she saw that it was just a small electric scooter.

Aunt Xing and Granny Wang saw the two leave from outside the building. Aunt Xing said, "Why did you leave so soon? I was hoping to invite my daughter to stay for dinner."

Wang Po said, "He didn't even say a word before leaving. He must be going to the park or to see a movie, right?"

Wang Po could only guess, after all, these days couples just watch movies and dance together.

They quickly arrived at Zou Wenjuan's house, where the woman's family was also bewildered, especially Zou's father, who was somewhat dissatisfied, saying to himself, "What's going on? Who comes to a blind date with both families involved? Besides, you can't come empty-handed!"

Xing Baohua followed Zou Wenjuan to her small boudoir, which was very tidy. A tape recorder was placed on the desk, and next to it were a pair of wooden speakers.

Xing Baohua was delighted to see the pair of speakers.

"What are you laughing at?" Zou Wenjuan asked, puzzled by Xing Baohua's smiling expression.

"It's nothing, you just paid a little 'stupidity tax'. Just remember next time, never buy a passive speaker," Xing Baohua said.

What is a passive speaker?

"How can I explain it to you? It's because the speaker output doesn't have its own power supply, and its only power source is the current from the tape recorder. The voltage is very, very low. So it can't power the speaker, which is why the sound is low. It's not that it's broken, but that there's no amplifier to amplify the sound."

Xing Baohua was struggling to explain it to this novice.

"What should I do then? I wanted to use it in the classroom for large lectures, but I found that its volume is not as loud as the built-in speaker of the tape recorder."

"Didn't you try to return the goods to Factory No. 4?" Xing Baohua asked.

"Oh, you know about Wu Si Factory? I bought it through a friend's recommendation. It was cheap! My friend said it sells for over 100 yuan in the mall, but the factory only charges 50 yuan. I bought it because it was cheap. When I contacted my friend again, he said Wu Si Factory had moved. He didn't even know where they moved to! I thought it was broken!"

"It's not broken, it's just missing something," Xing Baohua said.

"Can it still be cleaned up?"

"It's practically the same as building it from scratch. The speakers and wood aren't worth much; the amplifier is the real value," Xing Baohua said.

Zou Wenjuan frowned slightly and asked, "About how much?"

“The wooden box will be ruined if we dismantle it; we’ll need to rebuild it. The speaker will work, but it depends on the effect you want to achieve. The better the sound quality, the more expensive it will be. Building one this size would cost around a hundred yuan,” Xing Baohua said, already thinking about modification options. What parts should he use to achieve high fidelity?

"So expensive?" Zou Wenjuan said, stunned, thinking to herself, "Is this guy trying to rip me off?"

"This is the cheapest one. The ones I've modified are no less than three thousand. If you don't believe me, you can go ask at the machine factory; you can find out all that information there."

Zou Wenjuan said, "I'd rather not, it's too expensive."

Xing Baohua nodded, then noticed another guitar in the room and said, "You want to play something?"

"I'm a music teacher, so I know a few musical instruments."

"Oh, what kind of music do you usually listen to?" Xing Baohua was just trying to make conversation.

As he spoke, he noticed a cassette tape on the table, picked it up, and saw that it was a blank disc.

"It's for recording. Sometimes when I'm teaching students to sing a song, and there's no textbook, I record it myself," Zou Wenjuan explained.

Can I listen to it?

Seeing Zou Wenjuan nod, Xing Baohua put the tape in the tape recorder, and after a moment, sound came from the recorder:

The moon travels through clouds that resemble white lotus flowers.

A cheerful song drifted on the evening breeze.

We sat beside the tall haystacks.

Listen to Mom tell stories of the past...

Xing Baohua felt a chill run down his spine and goosebumps all over his body.

He turned his head to look at Zou Wenjuan, wanting to say something.