TL: Etude
After a moment of silence, Lin Wanqiu spoke again.
"Jianghai, if you don't want to go to work, I won't force you. If you want to start a business, that's fine too. But can you please stop associating with those people? I've heard that they're not into legitimate business."
Chen Jianghai paused briefly, then realized whom Lin Wanqiu was talking about.
"Mmm, I understand," said Chen Jianghai calmly.
"Jianghai, you…"
Before Lin Wanqiu could say more, Chen Jianghai suddenly grabbed her hand. His voice was gentle: "Wanqiu, I know what you're worried about, but rest assured, from now on I'll never let you suffer. I'll give you a good life!"
Listening to Chen Jianghai's heartfelt words and feeling the warmth and strength of his grip, Lin Wanqiu suddenly felt a surge of emotion and an urge to cry.
Wasn't this exactly what she wanted—a man who could cherish her and be reliable?
Yet all this seemed to happen so suddenly that she hardly dared to believe it was real.
After Chen Jianghai had dozed off, a long sigh echoed in the quiet room.
When he woke up, Chen Jianghai sat up, rubbed his sleepy eyes, and saw that Lin Wanqiu had already left. On the table was a bowl of white rice porridge and a boiled egg.
Full of determination, Chen Jianghai immediately got out of bed, washed up, finished the sticky porridge, ate the egg, and then took out the radio he had acquired yesterday.
He had bought it for two yuan; it couldn't be wasted.
Efficiently taking it apart, he found that the reason the radio didn't work when turned on was simply a minor issue—the integrated power switch had oxidized.
This was a minor problem. Chen Jianghai used a file to gently scrape away the oxidized layer. He then used chopsticks to apply some vegetable oil as a makeshift lubricant.
After wiping away the accumulated dust inside and outside the radio and reassembling it, he plugged it in and turned it on.
Accompanied by the familiar melody of "Singing the Motherland," crisp sound emanated from the radio.
"Central People's Broadcasting Station, now it's time for news and newspaper summaries. Comrades listening, good morning. Today is July 25th, Thursday, lunar June 14th…"
The radio was repaired.
His initial plan of mortgaging his property for startup capital was obviously not viable.
If he dared to mortgage the house, he had no doubt that his wife would really go to extremes with him.
He didn't want to ruin the goodwill he had just established in front of his wife.
God helps those who help themselves.
No money for starting a store didn't mean he couldn't use his resourceful mind.
Chen Jianghai got busy. He found a half-meter-long thin cardboard and wrote two lines of large characters with chalk:
Professional Home Appliance Repair. No Fix, No Fee.
Buying Discarded Home Appliances!
Additionally, he wrote two smaller lines:
Radios, Tape Recorders, Pagers—Starting at 50 cents.
TVs, Refrigerators—Starting at 5 yuan.
Chen Jianghai was not just a "repairman" but also a "scrap collector."
He hung the sign on his bicycle and filled his bag with repair tools like wrenches and screwdrivers.
With skills in hand, he had no worries for food and drink.
He planned to roam the streets and lanes to make some quick money this way.
This pricing was much more reasonable compared to professional appliance repair shops.
Those who lived through that era would certainly find this scene familiar.
The shouts of street vendors echoed through the long alleys.
"Buying hair…"
"Sharpening scissors, sharpening kitchen knives…"
"Collecting junk..."
The voice was melodious, but it was steeped in a heavy local accent.
...
For Chen Jianghai, stepping into this line of work meant picking up the memories he had once left behind.
Just as he arrived at the entrance of an alley, he was stopped by a familiar figure. It was the old man who had asked him to fix his radio yesterday.
"Ah, young man, I've finally found you!"
The old man wiped his sweat, his tone tinged with urgency.
Chen Jianghai looked at him, puzzled. "What's the matter, old man? Did your radio break again?"
The old man hurriedly waved his hand. "No, no, a friend of mine has a broken fridge at home. Can you go have a look?"
Without waiting for Chen Jianghai's response, the old man pulled him in a particular direction.
Good luck, a big job right out of the gate!
Chen Jianghai calmly said, "Old man, if it's broken, it's broken. Why the rush?"
The old man shook his head. "Ah, you don't know. His son is getting married in a few days, and they've bought a lot of seafood that's stored in the fridge. Now that the fridge is broken, the seafood will spoil quickly, and that would be a big problem."
Now, Chen Jianghai understood why the old man was so anxious.
You see, seafood is indeed hard to preserve in the scorching summer. If not refrigerated, it will spoil quickly.
Moreover, the old man was one to penny-pinch...
Though they could afford a refrigerator, they hesitated to spend a hundred or so on repair fees.
The old man led the way, bouncing along until they reached a small courtyard made of brick and tile.
"Old Hu, Old Hu, are you home?"
The old man knocked hard on the tightly closed door and shouted.
"Old Jiang?" A voice came from inside, sounding somewhat irritable. "I have something going on, no chess today!"
The one called Old Jiang shouted, "Ah, I know what's going on. Your fridge broke, right? I've found a repairman who might be able to fix it for you."
The house fell silent. After a moment, the door opened.
A tall, grey-haired old man stepped out, looking anxious. "There's a repairman? Where is he?"
As for Chen Jianghai standing beside Old Jiang, he was completely overlooked.
In Old Hu's mind, anyone capable of fixing a refrigerator would be an experienced repairman.
This young man, who barely had facial hair, could not possibly be reliable. He didn't even consider him.
"Well, it's this young man. He fixed my radio yesterday," Old Jiang pointed at Chen Jianghai. "And he's cheaper than the repair shops."
The main point was that he was cheap.
Old Hu looked skeptically at Chen Jianghai and blinked. "Him? Can he do it?"
Chen Jianghai was not surprised by the reaction and said confidently, "Old Hu, no charge if I can't fix it."
Old Hu frowned and countered, "What if you make it worse?"
Chen Jianghai confidently replied, "I'll compensate!"
Old Hu raised his eyebrows, glanced at Old Jiang, and finally nodded, leading the two inside.
Old Hu's house was decently off. The large courtyard was full of plants and flowers, and the main room, though a bungalow, was quite spacious—probably around 200 square meters.
After all, in this era, who else could afford a refrigerator?
Once inside, Old Hu pointed to the fridge next to the sofa. "The cooling is ineffective now; see what's wrong."
Chen Jianghai said nothing and quickly went to examine it.
Wow, it was the latest Haier fridge.
Between the late '80s and the '90s, Haier appliances were among the leading brands in the country.
Especially after 1985, when Haier's Chairman Zhang Ruimin smashed hundreds of substandard refrigerators, setting the standard for quality.
From then on, Haier remained a leading brand, dominating the appliance market along with Gree and AUX.
Chen Jianghai first touched the fridge to hear if the compressor was working.
The compressor is the core component for cooling in a fridge.
After listening for a bit, the compressor was working normally, so the problem likely lay in the evaporator.
Upon asking Old Hu for a screwdriver and opening the fridge's back cover, Chen Jianghai immediately saw where the issue was.
A thick layer of frost covered the evaporator, blocking the airflow and severely reducing the cooling effect.
The cause was a broken heating tube.
All that was needed was a replacement tube to fix the issue.
Unfortunately, Chen Jianghai didn't have a heating tube; he would need to purchase the part for the repair.
"How is it? Can it be fixed?"
Old Hu couldn't resist asking upon seeing Chen Jianghai's efficient disassembly.
"It can be fixed, but I'll need to buy a part first," Chen Jianghai stood and said.
"You guys wait here; I'll go see if I can find the part!"
With that, Chen Jianghai hurried out the door in search of a heating tube.
Buying parts wasn't like the future where you could easily find anything on Taobao.
Even common parts were only available at specialized repair shops.
Such shops were rare, especially in the small county town where Chen Jianghai lived.
But with memories from his past life, he quickly thought of a place.
There was a component factory in the county town, where he had a good chance of finding the heating tube he needed.
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