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"Look at the mess he made, right under your nose he swapped out the standard 256MB of memory for two 64MB ones, and the 80GB hard drive I wanted? Now it's just 20GB! The graphics card and CPU are all wrong too!" Kang Siyin said, slightly enraged.
"I... I just saw him opening one package here and another there..." Zhou Xueyin mumbled like a child caught doing something wrong, trying to make excuses.
"Then didn't you pick up the packaging and compare it to the specs I wrote down on the configuration list?" Kang Siyin said, hands on her hips, scolding Zhou Xueyin.
"I..." Zhou Xueyin, feeling guilty, "I don't understand hardware... If you hadn't gone out for some air, would this have happened... Would we have been cheated... Besides, didn't you say this was a booth run by someone you know? How could they still mess things up?"
"How was I to know the boss's wife wasn't there today! If I had known..." Kang Siyin began, but then she realized it was her haste in assembling the computer that had led to their being deceived, "Forget it, forget it, it's my fault today. I shouldn't have been so impatient... nor should I have left you there on your own..."
"...KK, teach me how to recognize hardware... To think that as a computer science graduate, I got scammed in Zhongguancun, it's just too embarrassing to talk about!" Zhou Xueyin thought, and realized that with her mediocre skills, dreaming about creating an internet-shaking community forum was more realistic in her dreams.
"Indeed embarrassing... Right! The forum must also have a section dedicated to avoiding being scammed when buying a computer!" Kang Siyin immediately went back to her computer and added this new section.
"Now that the electronics market is closed... First thing tomorrow morning, we'll go and argue with the merchant! It might be the startup capital for our business! But it's still money! We absolutely cannot swallow this loss silently!" Zhou Xueyin said determinedly.
She was mentally prepared to fight tooth and nail with the merchant to get her lost money back.
The next day, as soon as Zhonghai Electronics Market opened, Kang Siyin and Zhou Xueyin carried the mainframe they had purchased the previous day to the counter.
"Oh? Siyin? What's up? Bringing a friend to assemble a computer?" The one at the counter today was Sister Li, whom Kang Siyin was very familiar with, and she greeted them with great enthusiasm.
"Do you still remember me?" Kang Siyin asked Sister Li in surprise.
"Of course, I remember. You're the only girl I know who understands computers so well, of course my impression of you is strong!" Sister Li looked at Kang Siyin with a smiling face.
"Since you have such a strong impression, why did you give us a downgraded computer?" Zhou Xueyin said angrily.
"Ah? What are you talking about? I've been in this market for so long, ripping people off is absolutely something I would never do!" Sister Li frowned, not believing Zhou Xueyin's words.
"Just yesterday, KK... Siyin and I came to your booth to assemble this computer..." Zhou Xueyin pushed the computer case in front of Sister Li.
"This case certainly belongs to my shop, but I wasn't at the stall yesterday. I went to my daughter's school parent-teacher meeting yesterday afternoon and wasn't here at all!" Sister Li was also puzzled.
"Yesterday indeed wasn't you who assembled our computer; it was a skinny, bald guy with a pointy chin who did it." Zhou Xueyin described the man's appearance.
"Was that man about my height? Quite thin, with big yellow teeth? And does he have a mole here on his chin?" Sister Li seemed to know who it was, but still confirmed the details with Zhou Xueyin once more.
"Yes, yes, yes! That mole is not small, with a hair on it... It was so ugly, I remember it clearly..." Zhou Xueyin confirmed with a nod.
"Can't be wrong then! That bastard!" Sister Li pulled out her phone and dialed a number. She roared into the phone, "You shameless scoundrel! I don't care where you are now, but you better show up at my stall within half an hour and give back the money you scammed from these girls!"
"Don't give me any nonsense! I've got cameras here!" Sister Li didn't give the other person a chance to explain, "Let me tell you, don't mess with me, or I'll call the police and have you thrown in jail, then you'll come to your senses!"
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"Fine! Hurry up! No more nonsense! Hang up!" Sister Li's commanding presence overpowered both Zhou Xueyin and Kang Siyin.
"I'm really sorry about the two of you... Come, take a seat!" Sister Li took out two old chairs from behind the counter, "The man who set up the computers for you yesterday was my ex-husband."
It turned out that the stall was originally started by Sister Li and her ex-husband.
Both of them came to Beijing to make a living, and at a time when the electronics market was in great demand, they took a gamble and invested all their assets into starting the stall for computer assembly.
Fortunately, they hit a good time, and the couple quickly recovered their investment and even brought their daughter to live with them.
Later, Sister Li's ex-husband found out that many people who came to get their computers set up didn't really understand the business, so he started selling inferior products at high prices as if they were of good quality.
But Sister Li thought that this deceitful practice was very bad. Though it might increase profits for a while, eventually, everyone would recognize the stall as fraudulent and keep their distance, leading to a drop in reputation in the market.
Sister Li and her ex-husband argued about this issue many times, but her ex-husband didn't take it seriously and continued his deceitful ways.
In the end, Sister Li couldn't take it anymore and asked for a divorce.
Who knew that after the divorce, her ex-husband would still, from time to time, take advantage of her absence to deceive those who didn't know any better, and he got caught red-handed several times.
But the ex-husband was like a dog that couldn't change its habit of eating dung, constantly seizing every opportunity to cause trouble.
Sister Li had no choice but to ask the neighboring stall to keep an eye on hers when she couldn't be there herself.
Just by chance yesterday, the person who was supposed to watch the stall was away, and that let her ex-husband take the opportunity to deceive Zhou Xueyin and Kang Siyin.
Half an hour later, Sister Li's ex-husband finally appeared.
"The money! Hand it over!" Seeing her ex-husband's smug grin, Sister Li felt like punching him.
"Money... I spent it on cigarettes..." Her ex-husband grinned, revealing a mouth full of yellow teeth.
"You couldn't have spent all 3000 yuan on cigarettes! Cut the crap! Today, you have to return every last cent of that 3000 yuan to these ladies! Otherwise, I just need to give the stall's surveillance footage to the local cops..." Sister Li threatened her ex-husband.
"Come on, we were once husband and wife. Isn't this a bit too harsh? You don't want our daughter to have a father who's been behind bars, do you?" Her ex-husband still tried to smooth-talk his way out.
"Shame on you for bringing up our daughter! If you'd thought about her, why did you engage in fraudulent activities all those years ago? Now that I've kicked you out, you start using her as a shield? Too late!" Sister Li, fearless and contemptuous, glared at her ex-husband.
"Tch... Here..." Realizing he couldn't argue with Sister Li, her ex-husband dutifully took out his wallet from his back pocket and handed over the 3000 yuan they collected from Zhou Xueyin and Kang Siyin the day before to Sister Li.
"Apologize to the ladies!" Sister Li demanded, taking the money and simultaneously kicking her ex-husband in the shin.
"Pfft... Sorry then. But it's not just me saying this, you should be more careful. You might as well learn a bit about components from your friend, otherwise, I wouldn't have been able to cheat you, right?" Her ex-husband apologized reluctantly, while still managing to insult Zhou Xueyin in the process.