Chapter 608 - 623: Buying a Computer
When An Guoqing heard this, he was overjoyed. "That’s great!" he said, then immediately asked what An Ning wanted to eat.
"Iron pot stew with cornbread."
"You got it! Big bro will go butcher a pig for you!"
"Hey, hey, hey, wait—" BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP.
The line went dead.
An Ning was left completely speechless. ’He hung up so fast, just when I was trying to talk him out of it.’
’Butcher a pig? That’s a pretty high cost for some iron pot stew.’
An Ning didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. She thought about calling him back, but knowing An Guoqing’s personality, it would be useless. The pig was doomed.
’Oh, piggy, piggy,’ she thought, ’it’s not that I don’t want to save you, but fate is cruel.’
After hanging up, An Ning made a turn and headed off to look at the computer An Guoqing wanted.
At a famous electronics market in Beijing, An Ning parked her car and went to have a look.
Before she even made it inside, her hands were already full of flyers.
It was An Ning’s first time at an electronics market, and she passively accepted a thick stack of colorful flyers advertising all sorts of dazzling models of phones and computers.
By the time An Ning reached the actual entrance to the market, the people handing out flyers were skipping her. After all, no one could possibly hold that many.
Someone even cordially asked her, "Which company are you handing those out for? How much do you make a day?"
An Ning just smiled faintly and walked past them.
’What was she supposed to say, after all?’
Pushing aside the heavy plastic door curtain, An Ning stepped into the jam-packed electronics market.
First impression: booming business!
Second impression: aggressive!
So aggressive that someone grabbed her by the arm.
"Hey, miss, what are you looking for? We’ve got everything here! Phones, computers, flash drives, voice recorders, MP3 players... what can I get for you?"
"Looking for a phone? For school, right? I’ve got all the best-looking models right here. Come have a look."
"Whatever you’re looking for, we have it. It’s fine if you don’t buy, just looking doesn’t cost anything."
The female shop owners and staff from several stores rushed forward, pulling at An Ning. She managed to escape their fiery enthusiasm by repeating, "I’m just looking, I’m just looking for now," and made her way deeper inside.
With every step An Ning took, the vendors on both sides would inevitably shout a couple of lines: "What can I get for you?" "What are you looking for?" "We’ve got it all!"
The calls were endless, but at least no one else came out to grab her.
Witnessing this kind of scene for the first time, An Ning felt a little overwhelmed and wasn’t sure how to refuse them.
’No wonder Jiang Xia wants to get into the electronics business,’ she mused. ’It’s so popular, it’d be a crime not to make money.’
An Ning never had much of a concept of earning money. The interstellar source sent her so many gold and precious gems, and they would send more from time to time. An Ning felt her personal gold stash was about to rival the reserves of some countries.
Not to mention the patent fees and the dividends from Jiang Xia, Luo’s Pharmaceutical, the power company, and others. She truly had more money than she could ever spend.
As she walked, An Ning saw several deals being made.
After walking a bit further, An Ning slowed down and stopped in front of a shop specializing in computers, ready to take a look.
A young man came out, smiling broadly. "Looking to buy a computer? What for? I can give you some recommendations."
"For home use."
"Home use? Then get this one. It’s more than enough. Let me tell you, this machine has the latest system. It’s super easy to use."
The young man launched into his sales pitch, completely absorbed in talking it up a storm.
An Ning turned on the computer and fiddled with it for a moment.
"The latest system is Shenjiu. This isn’t the latest. And based on this computer’s specs, it can’t even run the Shenjiu system."
The young man, deep in his pitch, was cut short by An Ning’s words. He looked her up and down. "You know quite a bit, huh? Which family are you from?"
"I’m... from the An family. Does that have anything to do with me buying a computer?"
"The An family? Oh— You’ve got some nerve, coming here to mess with our shop! We haven’t gone looking for trouble with you guys. What’s the big idea?"
Clearly, the man had mistaken An Ning for a spy sent by his rival to check out his products and prices.
"I’m not from *that* An family. My surname is just An."
An Ning rarely bothered to explain herself, but the man was relentless. Who knew how the An family had offended him? He even started yelling for the neighboring shopkeepers to come and watch the show.
"Everyone, come look! This is how the An family’s computer business operates! They send spies to snoop around our shop! What kind of way is that to do business? You people are shameless!"
This was no longer an indirect jab; he was calling them out by name.
The surrounding shopkeepers crowded around, blocking An Ning’s way out. She was trapped in the middle, speechless.
The An family, having been openly cursed out, finally arrived on the scene.
"Zhang! Have you no shame? Why are you throwing all this shit at us? We didn’t do anything so unscrupulous!"
"Oh, give me a break! Of course it was you! If it wasn’t you, I’ll eat this computer! In this whole electronics market, your family is the most disgusting! Stop putting on an act!"
"You’re the one putting on an act! How can you falsely accuse people? You unreasonable little punk! Who are you cursing?"
"I’m cursing you! What are you gonna do about it?"
The situation escalated, and the two men were about to come to blows.
An Ning still couldn’t figure out how things had led to a fistfight when all she wanted to do was buy a computer.
In truth, it wasn’t her fault. The Zhang family and the An family were long-standing rivals with a deep-seated grudge. This was merely the fuse that happened to be lit.
"Stop—"
An Ning shouted, but the two men, Boss Zhang and Boss An, were still trying to lunge at each other while being held back.
"Come on, let them go. Everyone, step back. Let the two of them fight. If they break something in their own shop, that’s their problem. If they break something in someone else’s shop, they’ll pay for it. Why are you holding them back? They’re putting on a show for you! Back up, back up."
An Ning’s words made a lot of sense to the crowd, and they obediently stepped back.
The two men who were about to fight were left standing there awkwardly. ’Should we fight or not?’
’If they broke something, it really would be a painful loss.’
An Ning, standing between them, looked from one to the other.
"Well, gentlemen? Why did you stop?"
The two men looked at An Ning simultaneously. Boss Zhang snorted coldly. "You’re in this together. I’m not falling for it."
"Who’s in this with her? I don’t even know her," Boss An retorted.
Boss Zhang and Boss An exchanged a glance.
"You really don’t know her?"
"She’s not one of yours?"
"I don’t know her."
"She’s not from my family."
In an instant, all eyes fell on An Ning.
An Ning put her hands behind her back and shook her head. "I just wanted to buy a couple of computers. What a hassle."
Her gaze swept across the crowd, and she walked over to a shop that wasn’t caught up in watching the spectacle. She smiled and asked a couple of questions.
In less than five minutes, she had paid for and bought two computers.
"Thanks. Could I borrow this handcart? I came by car."
An Ning borrowed a handcart from the shop owner, loaded the two computers onto it, and pushed it past the quarreling vendors. She gave a friendly wave. "See? I told you I was just here to buy a computer. Goodbye."
After that day, the computer vendors in the electronics market learned a valuable lesson: don’t get involved in drama for no reason.