Chapter 168 Why is our family broke?

As the Lunar New Year approached, all schools began their winter break.

Jiang Haiyang came to see Jiang Jiani on his first day back, talking about his university experience with a dreamy look on his face:

"We have ten computers in our computer room."

He gestured exaggeratedly: "Can you imagine? This room is so big, with two tables in a row, and a computer on each table. There are five rows in total."

"My God, I was almost stunned when I first went to the computer room."

"I didn't expect there to be so many computers."

"Even so, it's still not enough. There are 32 people in our class, so three people can only share one computer during class."

He then frowned: "It's a pity there are too few computer lab sessions. There are only two sessions a week. If you want to touch a computer at other times, you have to buy a ticket yourself."

"Three yuan an hour is too expensive."

But there's nothing we can do about the high price.

When it comes to computers, theoretical knowledge of optics is useless if you don't actually get hands-on with them.

For example, in a programming course, even if you memorize the book and write it down a hundred times on paper, it's not as good as writing it on the computer once, running it once, and checking for any omissions.

Therefore, students who enroll in the computer science department experience a bittersweet experience when they go to the computer lab.

They were excited to learn new knowledge, but also heartbroken about the money they spent.

Learning this stuff is really expensive.

The money they spend in the computer lab in a month is more than their living expenses for a whole semester.

Unless someone comes from a very wealthy family, no one can stay in the computer room all day without coming out.

Therefore, computer science students almost always work part-time or find other jobs to earn more money so they can get to know computers better.

Jiang Haiyang has only been in university for one semester, but he has already experienced how difficult it is to be in financial distress.

"I heard there's a computer lab next to the school, with even more computers, twelve in total."

"I went with my classmates to check it out, sis, do you know how much they charge there?"

"My goodness, it costs twenty dollars to use a computer there for an hour."

"Twenty yuan, sis."

Jiang Haiyang felt a sharp pain, as if he were cutting off his own flesh: "My weekly allowance is only fifteen yuan."

These fifteen pieces of paper include three meals a day and various other daily necessities.

Yang Yuemei originally wanted to give forty yuan a month, but after being pressured by Jiang Haibing and Jiang Jiani, she ended up adding twenty yuan.

Such spending is considered acceptable for this era.

Not to mention that Jiang Haibing and Jiang Jiani secretly gave him 100 yuan each, which means Jiang Haiyang's living expenses for a semester were 440 yuan.

This amount of money was definitely a lot in those days, but he was used to being frugal and had virtually no other expenses besides living costs.

Even the airfare to the server room was bought with money earned from two months of part-time work.

Jiang Jianni suddenly remembered something: "Can you eat your fill on 15 yuan a week? You don't eat steamed buns, potatoes, and cabbage every day, do you? Do you remember eating meat at least three times a week?"

Jiang Haiyang is five years younger than Jiang Jiani.

I also experienced hardship when I was a child.

Therefore, when it comes to spending money, he doesn't have the same generosity as the younger Jiang Yanni.

When he first entered high school, he lived on campus. In order to save money, he once starved himself to the point of fainting in class.

The teachers and students in their class were terrified. When they were taken to the hospital for a checkup, it turned out that they were starving, to the point that it was affecting their growth and development.

The teacher was so angry that she called Jiang's parents to the school and gave them a good talking-to.

When Jiang Haibing heard about it after returning home, he beat Jiang Haiyang up again. He not only increased Jiang Haiyang's weekly allowance but also stipulated that he had to finish his food or he would be beaten when he got home.

Whenever Jiang Haibing was home, he would bring him food, such as meat and eggs, because he was afraid that Jiang Haibing would starve himself at school to save money.

After three years of supplementary treatments, the child's height increased dramatically during high school.

When Jiang Haiyang graduated from high school and went to university, he was already one centimeter taller than Jiang Haibing, who was 1.89 meters tall.

Jiang Haiyang was speechless: "Sis, we're talking about something, why are you bringing this up?"

Jiang Jianni sneered: "Looks like you haven't been eating properly. Take your clothes off!"

That brat's asking for trouble; he actually dares to talk back.

Jiang Haiyang quickly said, "No, no, no, I eat well, really. I have meat three times a week, either braised chicken, braised pork, or fish. Really, I'm not lying to you."

You only know the happiness of being full after you've been hungry.

Ever since Jiang Haiyang fainted from hunger during class, the embarrassment was a minor matter, and being beaten by his parents and brother was also a minor matter. The key issue was that the burning sensation of hunger was too unbearable.

Moreover, if you don't have enough to eat, you can't concentrate, and if you can't concentrate, you can't learn the knowledge you want to learn.

Most importantly, the doctor said that if he doesn't eat properly, he'll develop stomach problems at such a young age.

Once you have stomach problems, it's a lifelong issue, and you'll have to spend money on them for the rest of your life.

He's still young and certainly doesn't want to be a sickly person for life, so he obediently listened and ate properly.

At the same time, I listened to the doctor's advice and ate about ten peanuts every day, and tofu or soybean sprouts every two or three days to try to supplement my body with nutrition.

He didn't know if it was just his imagination or if it really worked, but in high school, he didn't show any other signs of growing taller. However, after half a year in college, he felt that he had started to build muscle and his body was much stronger than before.

Jiang Jianni then let him go, sneered, and said, "If you dare to lie to me, you won't want to know the consequences."

Jiang Haiyang shuddered as he recalled being beaten by Jiang Jiani when he was a child: "Okay, okay, I'll definitely eat properly from now on. Let's not talk about that, let's talk about the internet cafe."

"Those people go to internet cafes and just play games. It costs 20 yuan an hour, and they just play games. It's such a waste."

The computers in the school's computer lab don't have those big games; they only have three games that come pre-installed: Minesweeper, Spider, Solitaire, and Hearts.

Jiang Haiyang also went there.

However, he had strong self-control and stopped playing after understanding what was going on.

However, the computers in internet cafes are equipped with many specially developed games.

Although the art style is extremely rough, the variety is quite rich.

Shooting games, fighting games, King of Fighters, Super Mario Bros., and other games can all be played on the computer.

Go to an internet cafe and you'll see thirty computers, and thirty people are playing games.

Jiang Haiyang was heartbroken to see this.

Twenty yuan an hour! And you're using it to play games? Wouldn't it be better to learn some real skills?

Even if you can't learn computer skills, you can still learn to type.

If you know pinyin and practice typing it well, it can be a valuable skill at work.

Jiang Jianni was speechless: "...Do you think everyone is like you?"

One of her college classmates had a computer in junior high school, but she couldn't touch type at all. Even after graduating from college, she could only type with two index fingers, commonly known as "two-finger typing".

However, with two-finger typing, if you practice it well, you can write thirty or forty words per minute, which is enough to pass the computer exam in your first year of university.

Jiang Haiyang sighed deeply: "Let's not talk about this anymore."

"Sister, why is our family so poor?"

Jiang Jianni flew into a rage and slapped Jiang Haiyang hard across the head, sending him scrambling around, clutching his head: "??? You brat, do you want to die? Even a dog complains about its poor home, and you actually complain about our family being poor!"

Jiang Haiyang cried out, "Sister, sister, that's not what I meant! Let me finish! I meant..."