Chapter 5

（Thank you to the supporters "Hmm Hmm Hmm," "A Bit of Autumn Wind and Fallen Leaves," and "Death God of the Tomb" for your generous donations. I bow to you! During the new book period, I will ensure at least two updates per day, with additional updates at irregular intervals. Starting from today, if there are donations, I will definitely add an update unless something unexpected happens. Also, a new week has begun, and I humbly request every recommendation vote and click you have. I know many of you are waiting to binge-read, but it wouldn't hurt to add this to your collection, right? So don't forget to add it to your collection!)

After the classmates left the classroom, the students responsible for cleaning began sweeping, and the classroom was soon filled with dust.

Wang Xiaorui hesitated for a while before finally mustering the courage to say, "Chen Mo, um... the computer textbook...?"

Chen Mo finally came to his senses when he heard this. He looked around and saw that only a few students were left to clean. He was taken aback for a moment, then realized something and turned to Wang Xiaorui, apologizing, "I'm really sorry for making you wait so long. Here's the computer textbook, thank you."

Wang Xiaorui took the computer textbook with a sense of relief and smiled, "It's okay. It's getting late, and I need to go home. Chen Mo, you should go home early too."

Chen Mo nodded with a smile. After Wang Xiaorui left the classroom, he muttered to himself, "Computers... are they really that amazing?"

During dinner, Chen Mo's mother noticed he was somewhat distracted. She patted his arm and gestured to him.

Chen Mo smiled and said, "Oh, I'm fine, just thinking about a difficult problem."

His mother smiled when she heard this. Although she was illiterate and mute, she had given birth to a very intelligent son. Since elementary school, Chen Mo had always scored nearly perfect marks on his exams. With a son like Chen Mo, Mr. and Mrs. Chen were highly motivated and had been working hard to earn money, saving for their underage son's future marriage.

After dinner, Chen Mo, as usual, took over the task of clearing the dishes from his mother. Once everything was done, he started doing his homework at his desk.

Chen Mo spent over half an hour finishing his homework, then went upstairs to the storage room to tinker with the broken TV motherboards.

Today was different from usual. Chen Mo was usually very focused, but today he made several mistakes, even burning a hole in a TV motherboard with his soldering iron. If he hadn't reacted in time, he might have injured his hand.

Chen Mo was using the soldering iron to remove the faulty electronic components from the TV motherboard. The motherboard had a high level of integration, and only professionals could handle this task. Chen Mo spent a long time gradually mastering the techniques.

On a normal day, he wouldn't have made such mistakes, but tonight Chen Mo was distracted. While his hands were working, his mind was filled with the content from the computer textbook he had seen in the afternoon. It was no wonder he made mistakes.

The storage room was soon filled with the smell of burnt plastic. Chen Mo looked at the TV motherboard with a large hole in it and felt a sense of regret.

After a moment, he put the motherboard on the ground, opened the window to ventilate, and leaned on the window, looking at the night sky, muttering, "I haven't felt this way in a long time..."

The "feeling" Chen Mo referred to was the restlessness and desire in his heart. He remembered when he first started repairing TVs, he had the same feeling. Later, he became almost obsessed, spending every free moment in his room, exploring the intricacies of TV repair.

After reading the computer textbook, Chen Mo's long-dormant heart became restless again. He was initially indifferent to computers, but now he was very curious about this new technology.

Chen Mo pondered for a while before going to bed. As he lay in bed, the thought kept recurring in his mind: If I get the chance, I must learn more about computers!

Over the next two days, Chen Mo would always read the computer textbook he borrowed from his classmates during class. He could have paid 20 yuan to join the computer course, but the class only met once a week. With the high school entrance exam approaching, other subjects' teachers would likely often occupy the computer class time. From now until the end of junior high, he would probably only have about five computer classes. Chen Mo felt it wasn't worth spending the money.

The computer textbook was an additional textbook provided after payment. Chen Mo was "copying" the book—memorizing it. After two days, he was almost done memorizing the content, which would save him 20 yuan.

For Chen Mo, saving money for the family was a given. His parents worked so hard; how could he spend money on something that wasn't worth it?

By the fourth day, Chen Mo no longer borrowed books from his classmates. He started daydreaming in class again.

As the high school entrance exam approached, tests and quizzes became a daily routine. Major exams happened every week, and minor quizzes were almost daily. While his classmates were struggling with the constant barrage of tests from their teachers, Chen Mo was thinking about something completely unrelated to exams—how to earn enough money to buy a computer.

Chen Mo had once asked his teacher about the price of a computer. When he learned that even the cheapest computer cost several thousand yuan, he was almost speechless.

He had mentally prepared himself, but the price was still exorbitant for him. As a student, where could he earn that much money?

Of course, with his parents' doting love, if he asked them, they might give him the money to buy a computer. But Chen Mo didn't want to do that. He understood his parents' hard work and wouldn't make such a request.

Chen Mo quickly decided to earn the money himself. However, while the idea was brave, reality was harsh. He was still a student and had no time to work. Even if he could find some part-time jobs during the summer, he could earn at most a hundred or two hundred yuan a month. How could such a small amount of money help? By the time he saved enough to buy a computer, he might have already graduated from high school.

Chen Mo was troubled by this for a long time. One day, he found a seemingly feasible method by chance.

It was Sunday, and Chen Mo, as usual, went to help at his father's electrical repair shop. This had become a weekly routine for him, and for several years, he had spent every Sunday at his father's shop.

At 9:30 in the morning, when Chen Mo arrived at the shop as usual, he saw a large truck parked outside. Two workers were loading the old electrical components that his father had replaced into burlap bags.

Next to his father stood a middle-aged man with a scruffy beard, who was taking money out of a waist pouch.

Chen Mo immediately understood: This was a scrap collector.

(Do you think he would go out to collect scrap? Ha ha! Of course not!)