The bunk beds Kang Siyin mentioned were indeed hard to find; all the ones on display were popular models for the season.
The bunk beds set up in the experience area were mostly designed for children's rooms. The ones suitable for adults were really hard to find.
After wandering around, they finally found the type they wanted in a corner scene room, with a bed on top and cabinets below.
Zhou Xueyin immediately wrote down the item code and went to find the few staff members in the store to settle on a delivery time and location after checking the stock.
Once the major purchase of the beds was settled, Zhou Xueyin calculated the budget.
"This bed, one for 1200 ... four for 4800 ... it looks like we'll have to go simple with the computer desks," Zhou Xueyin said, looking at the list and worrying.
"Yinyin, it's okay. If it really comes to it, we'll just buy that one!" Li Jiniang pointed at a very ordinary-looking desk.
It was a table with only one surface, whose four legs were very easy to take apart.
"This desk might be cutting costs a bit too much…" Zhou Xueyin said with a mix of laughter and resignation after seeing it.
"I think this type of desk is great! Look, it's got plenty of desk space, and you can even fit the computer case underneath without it getting in the way. I really like it!" Kang Siyin said, walking around the desk several times and speaking contentedly.
"I'm fine with it. As long as it can hold my drawing board, any desk will do," Yao Shanshan said, having no particular requirements for her workspace.
"Then it's settled! We'll take this one!" Zhou Xueyin said, glancing at the price, "Is this desk really this cheap? 120? That's a whole zero less than the beds!"
"Isn't that obvious? Think about how much wood those beds use, and look at this," Kang Siyin teased Zhou Xueyin.
"Add four chairs, and we've got everything we need for working and sleeping!" Zhou Xueyin said, feeling satisfied.
The four of them continued walking through other sections, picking up a few decorative items that weren't strictly necessary, and then they went downstairs to pay.
A trip to IKEA ended up costing a total of 7000. It's neither too much nor too little. But since these were essential expenses, it made sense to save elsewhere where possible.
The next day, IKEA came to install the beds and the desk.
The third day, the four of them officially moved in.
The fourth day, Zhou Xueyin sorted out the broadband connection. She originally wanted to use the same broadband provider as at home, but unfortunately, only Kuancheng Broadband was available in this complex.
Having no choice, she had to sign up for a year of community broadband.
Luckily, community broadband was the cheapest option, which helped save a lot for the budget.
Once the internet was set up, Kang Siyin configured the router and all four could use the internet, and they even celebrated a little, relieved they no longer had to endure the snail-paced campus network.
However, the good times didn't last long…
Just when Zhou Xueyin had bought a forum template and found a free trial virtual host, ready for her first forum test,
Kuancheng Broadband started showing its temper!
"KK, did our router explode? Why can't I load anything?" Zhou Xueyin, who was halfway through testing the forum, couldn't connect to the internet at all, so she had no choice but to ask Kang Siyin for help.
"Don't even talk about you testing the forum; Jixiang and I can't even connect to the game server…" Kang Siyin also looked at Zhou Xueyin, at a loss.
"I'll call the community broadband and ask what's going on!" Zhou Xueyin picked up her phone and dialed customer service.
"Hello, this is Kuancheng Broadband. Press 1 for repairs and 2 for renewal…" Before the automated voice finished speaking, Zhou Xueyin pressed 1.
"Please enter the wrong command..."
"Wrong command???" Zhou Xueyin didn't catch on at first, "What wrong command?"
"Input timeout, returning to the previous level... Hello, this is..." The automated voice babbled on until finally delivering the message everyone was waiting to hear: press 0 for operator assistance.
Zhou Xueyin pressed the 0 key.
"Lines are busy, press * to return to the previous menu or # to continue waiting."
#!
"Lines are busy..." It was the same line repeated.
Zhou Xueyin, undeterred, kept pressing the # key, eventually hearing, "Waiting time exceeded, goodbye~"
"I TMD! Ah Xi Ba! What kind of crappy customer service is this! 10 minutes have passed, just waiting, waiting, waiting! Are they really that busy!?" Zhou Xueyin angrily hung up the phone, slumping into her chair.
"Yinyin, actually, it might not be that their business is too busy..." Li Jinian came over with a cup of coffee and handed it to her, "I have a classmate who interned at the broadband company. They told me that actually, many people, often don't want to take live complaint calls. So, they just put a little eraser or something on the handset, and then the calls can't get through..."
"I'm going! They're really good at slacking off, huh?" It was the first time Zhou Xueyin had heard of such a thing and she did not know whether to laugh or cry.
"So, it's still peak internet usage time now, it's normal that the call didn't go through." Li Jinian pointed at the clock.
Sure enough, it was 8 PM, just the time when office workers get home, have dinner, and start surfing the internet.
And the neighborhood broadband was the type where the whole neighborhood shares one broadband connection, there's only so much bandwidth, so when many people use it at the same time, some can get on and some can't.
"When will this get better... I just debugged half of this forum, and there are lots of features I can't handle locally. Ahhh!!!" Zhou Xueyin vented loudly in the room.
"Oh well, none of us can use the internet. We might as well take a break..." Kang Siyin suggested.
"How about we watch a DVD?" Yao Shanshan pulled out her DVD case and fished out a Sailor Moon disc, "Let's revisit Sailor Moon, shall we?"
"Sigh... that's really our only option..." The other three agreed and pulled their chairs up to Yao Shanshan's table.
The four of them started watching the DVD with great interest.
As expected, when doing something they enjoyed, time always seemed to fly. They didn't know how long or how many episodes they had watched when suddenly, the sound of a successful game login emanated from Kang Siyin's computer speakers.
"Hmm? Is the internet back?" Zhou Xueyin subconsciously glanced at the time: 11:30 PM!
Indeed, by this time, most office workers were almost ready to sleep, reducing the number of people online and hence, the bandwidth usage decreased.
"I think let's do this, how about I use the startup fund to buy a TV? That way, when the network is slow, we can watch TV?" Zhou Xueyin suggested.
"Watching on the computer is just as good!" The other three chorused their disagreement.
"Okay then..." Zhou Xueyin pouted, feeling deflated.
"Yinyin, Yinyin, how about we just rest every day after 8 PM and start working again after 11 PM?" Yao Shanshan proposed enthusiastically.
"Sure! We have no objections, but during that time we can't even go online for games... we could only watch DVDs." Kang Siyin and Li Jinian both expressed their helplessness.
"When will they ever upgrade the broadband... I really shouldn't have gone for this cheap option! But there's nothing more expensive available here, it's so annoying..." Zhou Xueyin thought about the future: it was supposed to be peak internet hours, yet she couldn't interact directly with online friends, feeling like something was missing.
Actually, this was just one of the downsides caused by the slow internet...