In the afternoon, Luo Ming and Rong Mu made a trip to the computer mall together.
When buying a computer at a computer mall, you absolutely have to know your stuff; otherwise, there’s only one outcome—you’ll get severely ripped off.
In Luo Ming’s previous life, back in 2021, he went to a computer mall to buy a computer.
Luo Ming had studied computer science, but most people in that major focus on the software side, while computer configurations fall under hardware.
Of course, having used computers for so many years, Luo Ming wasn’t completely clueless about them either.
If he bought parts online and assembled a computer himself, he could manage that too. But at the time, it was during the pandemic, deliveries couldn’t get through, and his current computer was on the fritz. Helpless, Luo Ming had no choice but to check out the computer mall.
And yet, even Luo Ming—who wasn’t exactly a newbie—still got taken advantage of.
The computer he bought at the mall had the following specs: 12100f CPU, 3060 GPU, 1TB SSD, and 16GB dual-channel RAM. At first glance, the configuration seemed fine, but there were way too many hidden tricks. First, the motherboard—the model the boss had promised was quietly downgraded, with the Wi-Fi module removed.
The 3060 wasn’t even a legitimate 3060 graphics card; it was a modified 3060 stripped from a laptop.
The fans and cooling system were all downgraded a notch. The only two components that matched what was agreed upon were the 12100f CPU and the SSD.
Luo Ming didn’t notice any of this at first—after all, who would immediately tear apart a brand-new computer right after delivery? He just turned it on, confirmed the benchmark scores looked fine, and started using it.
But after a week, Luo Ming began to feel that the computer wasn’t performing quite right. The first issue was the cooling—the CPU and SSD temperatures kept spiking to 70 or 80 degrees Celsius.
So Luo Ming decided to take the computer apart. The moment he opened it up, he was stunned—everything except the CPU and SSD was different from what had been promised.
Even more absurd, the thermal paste on the CPU wasn’t even decent quality, and they hadn’t even bothered to attach the thermal pads for the SSD.
Luo Ming went back to the computer mall that very day. The boss played dumb, claiming ignorance about everything, and refused to accept returns or exchanges. When Luo Ming threatened to call the police, the boss simply said, “You’ve already used it for a week—who’s to say you didn’t swap out the parts yourself?”
After a round of back-and-forth arguing, the boss reluctantly coughed up a brand-new set of cooling fans and a small tube of thermal paste. Luo Ming knew he wasn’t going to get anything more out of him, so he had no choice but to swallow the loss.
This time, they weren’t buying just one or two computers—they were for company use, so they couldn’t afford to be careless. Luo Ming and Rong Mu called up a senior who was an expert in computers and headed to the mall together.
They spent the entire afternoon visiting over a dozen stores before finally settling on the computers.
In total, they bought 20 machines, all equipped with the E3-1230v3 CPU—famously known as the “dark horse” of the market—and GTX 660ti graphics cards. For 2013, this configuration offered incredible value for money.
Of course, in Luo Ming’s eyes, this setup was basically electronic junk.
By the time he traveled to 2023, this configuration wouldn’t even be worth 200 yuan, but now, a full set cost them 6,000 yuan.
Over the next few days, Luo Ming and Rong Mu were busy setting up the company. Zhao Ningyuan also came by to help out.
By Sunday afternoon, the office area was finally sorted. The remaining minor decorative touches wouldn’t interfere with the company’s normal operations.
It’s worth mentioning that only Luo Ming and Rong Mu had their own private offices.
Rong Mu had recently been teaching himself accounting.
Rong Mu’s mother had been an accountant for decades, and under her influence, Rong Mu placed great importance on financial matters. He felt that no matter how big the company grew in the future, the finances had to remain firmly in his and Luo Ming’s hands.
Luo Ming wasn’t interested in that side of things, so Rong Mu took on the responsibility.
Fortunately, Rong Mu had a great mother. After studying under her for a while, he’d made considerable progress.
Luo Ming felt reassured leaving the company’s accounts in Rong Mu’s care.
That evening, after getting everything at the company settled, Luo Ming and Rong Mu went out for a good meal together.
Luo Ming had initially wanted to invite Zhao Ningyuan as well.
But Zhao Ningyuan said he already had plans with Professor Li and would be having dinner at his place that night.
Since Zhao Ningyuan couldn’t make it, Luo Ming and Rong Mu didn’t go anywhere fancy—just a hotpot restaurant near the company.
Back home that night, Luo Ming called Lin Shuwen.
Lin Shuwen had been waiting for Luo Ming’s call all along. It was Sunday, and tomorrow marked the start of a new week. Luo Ming had mentioned before that the most likely arrangement for them would be to swap bodies once a week.
Lin Shuwen fully agreed with that idea, so she had come home early that day, ready to go over the upcoming week’s matters with Luo Ming.
“Luo Ming, how’s the company coming along?” Lin Shuwen got straight to business as soon as she picked up the phone.
Luo Ming paused for a moment, then filled her in on the company’s status.
“So starting tomorrow, I’ll be going to work, right?”
“Yeah. My office is the innermost one. When you get there, just let everyone know that you’re working on a new project plan and that you shouldn’t be disturbed unless it’s urgent. Then just head into the office and stay there.”
“What if your Senior Zhao wants to discuss work matters with you?”
“For major issues, have him write up a report and send it over. For minor things, tell him to use his own judgment.”
Lin Shuwen hummed in acknowledgment.
“What about you, Wenwen? Anything you need me to do over there? Record songs?”
“I finished recording ‘The Original Dream’ yesterday, so you don’t need to worry about recording anymore. But I did take on two jobs—one is appearing as a guest on a variety show episode, and the other is performing as a supporting vocalist at a concert for a senior artist from our company on Saturday night.”
“A variety show? Which one?” Luo Ming quickly asked.
“This show has quite the pedigree—it’s a program organized by CCTV that promotes traditional culture. The theme for my episode is ‘Splendid Tang Dynasty.’ Following the show’s usual format, we’ll dress in Tang Dynasty clothing and perform some segments.”
“That’s it?”
“Pretty much. It’s mainly about the costumes and segments that fit the cultural theme—things like reciting Tang poems and singing a song that matches the program’s requirements.”
Luo Ming let out a sigh of relief: “Oh, that’s not too bad. I should be fine with reciting poems. By the way, Sister Shan really has some connections—she managed to get you a spot on a CCTV show.”
“Ahem! Well, actually… this opportunity wasn’t something Sister Shan secured for me. My parents helped arrange it.”
Luo Ming jumped in surprise: “Your parents? Wait, does that mean I’ll have to meet them? Wouldn’t that blow our cover for sure?”
“My parents are in Japan attending an infectious disease symposium. They won’t be back until next month.”
“Why didn’t you say so earlier! You scared me half to death.” Luo Ming said, wiping his forehead—he’d actually broken out in a sweat.
“Tsk, tsk~ You really can’t take a joke, can you?”
“You did that on purpose? Come on, that’s not something to joke about.” Luo Ming said with a hint of helplessness.
