I have few friends, but many childhood sweethearts.

Chapter 158. I've been caught in the rain, so I'm going to tear the umbrella.
In early July, Zhang Chaoqun successfully returned from his advanced studies at the Party School and took up his post.

Before long, a special campaign to "purify the school environment and prevent juvenile delinquency" was launched in full swing throughout the port city.

Countless young students who had successfully or were about to complete their job changes were taken back to the police station by fully armed police officers who stormed into the school during the final ceremony, before the summer vacation had even officially begun.

Many delinquent teenagers who were just moments before arm in arm, chatting frivolously about where to go on vacation and picking up girls on motorcycles, suddenly found themselves with gleaming silver bracelets on their wrists, being pushed step by step by criminal police officers into police cars.

However, there was no sign of panic on their faces. The boys assumed that this time it would be the same as before: they would call their parents to give them a lecture and then leave.

Such an experience is actually a source of pride in their circle, so instead of being flustered, they all hold their heads high and imagine how they will brag to their companions afterward.

Unfortunately, due to their weak legal awareness, they were unaware of the difference between police officers and criminal investigators, and they never imagined that this trip would lead to them being promoted to a permanent position.

The army of will-o'-the-wisps was wiped out overnight. The streets of Licheng were no longer filled with the sight of modified motorcycles going against traffic and speeding around, nor were there any annoying roars.

Although all of this was caused by Xu Qingfan's extra comment, he, as the person involved, only realized it belatedly when he saw the relevant reports in the news at the end of August.

With my birthday over, June is coming to an end.

Wu Lingyu returned to Hong Kong, and Xiao Ruanwen also went to the place where her father worked to participate in a real-life summer military training camp.

The summer of 2008 was the most unforgettable summer vacation for Xu Qingfan, although he didn't think so at the time.

But in his previous life, when he was studying for his master's degree, he would always recall that summer whenever he was working himself to the bone in the lab.

The old-fashioned fan humming in my memory, the Xu Song and Hou Xuan songs playing on repeat in my playlist, the mouse and keyboard stained with the grease of spicy snacks in the internet cafe, and the endless rounds of QQ Speed.
Finally, he shook his head with a wry smile and said, "At the time, I thought it was just an ordinary thing."

The statement that people can never truly empathize with their childhood selves is also true in reverse. At least Xu Qingfan is genuinely bored right now, and he doesn't care who gets through this boring and long summer vacation!
"You've been playing games all day, aren't you tired of it?" Xu Qingfan nudged Xia Xiaoxiao, who was playing on her computer in her bedroom, with his elbow.

"Stop messing around, I'm busy!" Xia Xiaoxiao said, operating her B-class car, Excellence, without turning her head.

After crossing the finish line, the girl stopped what she was doing, turned to Xu Qingfan and asked, "What?"

"Go out and play! What's the point of playing games all day?" Xu Qingfan really couldn't understand where Xia Xiaoxiao, who used to bury herself in reading, doing homework, and attending tutoring classes during her previous life, had gone. How did he manage to turn such a well-rounded academic genius into a game addict?

Xia Xiaoxiao looked up at the window. It was three o'clock in the afternoon, the hottest time of the day. The phrase "feet steamed by the hot earth, back scorched by the blazing sun" mentioned in the book was exactly what it was like now.

"No, the sun is scorching. Can't you just stay inside and play games quietly?" Xia Xiaoxiao pointed to the computer next to him.

Because the girl always liked to come to his room to surf the internet, Xu Qingfan was forced to buy another laptop, even though Xia Xiaoxiao's family already had a computer.

"Playing QQ Speed ​​every day is so boring, aren't you bored?" Xu Qingfan closed his game page and turned to ask Xia Xiaoxiao.

The girl stretched and asked, "Why would I be bored?"

"Okay. You continue, I'm going downstairs for a stroll." Xu Qingfan shrugged, got up, and walked out of the room.

"Don't go scare the dog downstairs, it's so annoying!" Xia Xiaoxiao shouted from inside the room as she started another game.

Xu Qingfan rolled his eyes speechlessly, thinking to himself, "Am I that kind of person?!"
He took a can of chilled Coke from the refrigerator, took a hearty sip, and then carried it downstairs.

When I got downstairs, sure enough, several dogs were taking a nap under the shade of the trees.

"It's past three o'clock, Zhongqi, time for tea!" Xu Qingfan squatted down and tapped the red water ladle the dogs used for drinking water. The dogs thought Xu Qingfan had come to bring them food and leisurely got up and ran over.

He poured half of the Coke he had only taken a sip into the bottle. "Drink up, it's delicious."

Just as I finished pouring it, I realized there was caffeine in the cola, which the dogs couldn't digest. I quickly pushed their heads away and said, "Drink, drink, drink! You'll drink anything! You'll drink yourselves to death! Don't you know it's poisonous?!"

After pouring the cola down the drain, he filled the tap water ladle again, clapped his hands, and left the Lotus Courtyard, leaving the dogs looking completely bewildered.

Dog: Family, does anyone understand?
Lin Wanning and Zhang Yiyi arranged to study painting together during the holiday, and they're probably still in class at this hour.

With nowhere in mind, Xu Qingfan wandered aimlessly through the streets and eventually arrived at the Zengjiang River.

He has many memories of this place. The small shop opposite the river police station was an illegal internet cafe. He spent a large part of his summer vacation after graduating from elementary school in his previous life here.

Internet access cost three yuan per hour. Back then, he wasn't well-off, so he could usually only play for one or two hours. He would then spend the rest of the time standing behind others and watching them play games.

[Since we're already here, we might as well go and take a look.] Xu Qingfan thought to himself.

In this life, he has no contact with any of his elementary school classmates from his previous life. He recalls the names of people he knew in his past life, wondering if they are currently surfing the internet in an internet cafe.

Xu Qingfan walked along the river for seven or eight hundred meters, and soon the familiar black internet cafe and convenience store came into view.

Sitting at the shop entrance was the proprietress's son, who looked to be about eighteen or nineteen years old. In his past life, Xu Qingfan had secretly downloaded Love Apartment to MP4 format on the computer, causing the internet cafe's network speed to lag terribly, and he had even been scolded by him.

Pushing open the door of the convenience store, Xu Qingfan found himself in an internet cafe separated by only one wall. Having prior experience, he turned the doorknob without saying a word, and a dark, gloomy internet cafe of about twenty square meters quickly came into view.

The room was packed with people, and many elementary school students who didn't have computers were either standing or sitting next to those playing. Nearly thirty people were crammed into the small room, and all sorts of unpleasant smells filled the air.

The smell of cigarettes, spicy snacks, and foot odor was unbearable for Xu Qingfan, who could only stand at the door for a little over a minute.

He truly admired his past self for being able to keep up in such an environment; once internet addiction takes hold, it's unstoppable.

He scanned the room and soon spotted his former elementary school classmates. However, since he didn't recognize any of them, he could only stand behind them and silently watch them swear while playing CrossFire.

Most of the people who come to this illegal internet cafe are elementary school students. Middle school students usually steal their parents' ID cards to go to legitimate internet cafes.

Xu Qingfan looked around and found that most of them were playing Lao Ma's three games: CrossFire, Dungeon Fighter Online, and QQ Speed.

Having passed the age of playing games, he genuinely didn't find these games fun at all, and even spent 888 yuan for a virtual Fire Kirin in the game.

He remembered that several boys in his class who were originally top students had their grades plummet because they were addicted to online games, and ultimately failed to get into high school.

Since they were already here, it would be a real shame not to try and bring these elementary school students, who were hopelessly addicted to the internet, back to the right path. Xu Qingfan suddenly had a very wicked thought: [Why not just call the police and report this illegal internet cafe!]
It's reasonable for someone who's been rained on to tear up other people's umbrellas too.

He muttered "Why is there no machine again?" and left the convenience store quite naturally.

After walking far enough, he took out his phone to call 110.

"Hello, how are you?"

"Hello, police officers. I'm a primary school student with a strong sense of justice. There's an illegal internet cafe operating in the convenience store across from the river police station. There are over thirty people standing in that small space of just over ten square meters, all of them my classmates. If it catches fire, the consequences will be unimaginable. I'm worried about my classmates' safety, so I called the police. Please come and shut this internet cafe down quickly, I'll help you hold them off. My name is Chen Wenzhe, please don't arrest me too!" Xu Qingfan said into the phone.

"Okay, okay, Chen Wenzhe, you did the right thing. Is this the riverside water police station at No. 132 Jigongling?" The operator asked carefully about the location.

"Uncle, wait a minute, I'll go check it out now!"

"Okay, little one, take your time, no rush."

"Whew~ That's right, it's No. 132 Jigongling, and the convenience store is No. 128!" Xu Qingfan said to the operator on the other end of the phone after reading it.

"Okay, thank you very much for the clue you provided, little friend. Uncle will send officers out right away."

"Yes, Uncle, you must be mistaken. I am Chen Wenzhe!"

"Good good!"

After hanging up the phone, Xu Qingfan had a sly smile on his face. Chen Wenzhe was his good friend from elementary school in his previous life. However, this guy actually secretly wrote love letters to Xia Xiaoxiao without telling him. It was only when Xia Xiaoxiao threw the love letters back to him and asked him to return them that Xu Qingfan found out about this.

Chen Wenzhe thought that Xu Qingfan was behind it, while Xu Qingfan was angry that the other party had secretly written love letters to Xia Xiaoxiao. From then on, Zhongye severed all ties with Xu Qingfan.

Not long after, three police cars indeed surrounded the illegal internet cafe from the left and right. A group of elementary school students lined up and walked out of the building, holding each other's shoulders. Several elementary school students who tried to jump into the river by climbing out of the window were also caught by the police officers waiting outside.

A little while later, the urban management officers arrived and loaded all the computer equipment inside the house onto their vehicle.

[It's a joint enforcement operation?] Xu ​​Qingfan thought to himself.

This period coincided with Zhang Chaoqun's special campaign to "purify the campus environment and prevent juvenile delinquency." Xu Qingfan's phone call was like igniting a fuse, resulting in a powerful explosion.

The next step is to call the parents to come and pick them up. Don't ask how he knew.

As for the owner of the illegal internet cafe, he's probably going to lose everything. With so many minors caught, all his illegal gains will be confiscated, and he'll be fined the maximum amount of his illegal gains, up to five times the amount.

However, he had no sympathy for the other party at all. The junk dealer could assemble a machine for a hundred or two hundred yuan, but he charged three yuan an hour.

The cost of twenty computers is only four or five thousand yuan. During winter and summer vacations, the machines are almost always full. Each computer generates at least 40 yuan in profit per day, so twenty computers would generate 800 yuan.

You can break even in eight or nine days; it's even more profitable than selling duck necks.

After seeing that all his classmates had been caught, Xu Qingfan left whistling contentedly; he still loved doing good deeds.

Fortunately, the boys were probably beaten up by their parents and that was the end of it. Xu Qingfan couldn't help but recall the fear of being dominated by the Seven Wolves in his previous life.

Fortunately, there was no Thunder King's dojo in Licheng. The boys would probably just get a beating from their parents and that would be the end of it. Xu Qingfan couldn't help but recall the fear of being dominated by the Seven Wolves in his previous life.

Xu Qingfan also felt powerless when it came to helping people overcome internet addiction.

Last month, due to the spread of the "Zhang Ya" incident, online games have almost become synonymous with a monstrous threat in the minds of parents born in the 70s and 80s. As long as parents still have demand, these games will always have fertile ground to survive.

These are not problems that he can solve by writing a few shocking articles under the pseudonym "The Most Affectionate Person in Hong Kong".

Without affecting his own life, Xu Qingfan is already doing his best to change some things.

For example, the milk powder issue, which was originally expected to explode this year, was triggered three years ago with the help of Zhang Chunxue.

Xu Qingfan originally didn't want to get involved in this matter, but whenever he saw babies around him drinking problematic milk powder, he always felt uneasy.

Finally, after consulting Zhang Chunxue, he was told that there are some things that he doesn't actually need to do himself.

"Never do anything that harms others without benefiting yourself." These are Zhang Chunxue's original words.

Xu Qingfan asked her what should be done, and Zhang Chunxue replied, "Let the beneficiary do it."

Then Xu Qingfan watched as Zhang Chunxue packaged the information and mailed it to major dairy giants abroad via anonymous email and public networks.

Before long, the incident sparked huge international outcry. After all, deliberately using industrial products to contaminate clean milk sources is something that no conscientious, normal person could possibly imagine. Then the lid was finally blown off.

This incident also gave him a lot of inspiration. Xu Qingfan later asked Zhang Chunxue, "What if there is no beneficiary in a matter?"

Zhang Chunxue replied, "Then find a way to make more people the victims. For example, if the upstairs neighbor waters their flowers and wets the clothes drying on your balcony, you can just fetch a ladle of water from the kitchen and pour it downstairs. Then you can take your wet clothes and go upstairs with your downstairs neighbor to cause trouble."

It's unethical, but it's really useful.

Zhang Chunxue later taught Xu Qingfan a few more tips, such as Lu Xun's saying that Chinese people like to compromise, and that when you need someone's help, it's best to be the bad guy first.

In terms of interpersonal skills, Zhang Chunxue is indeed far superior to him, who has lived two lifetimes.

Xu Qingfan felt that if he had half of Aunt Zhang's emotional intelligence, marrying five wives wouldn't be a problem!

[Why five?] Xu ​​Qingfan was slightly taken aback, feeling strange about his own inexplicable thought.

He shook his head, banishing those offensive and vulgar words from his mind.

(End of this chapter)