I'm actually a genius

"Damn, they said it was 2,000 yuan."

"I've already spent nearly 3,000 yuan."

With all the paperwork done, Chen Yu grumbled all the way.

Originally, the broadband fee was 2,000 yuan per year, but that was just the broadband cost.

Apart from the broadband fee, there was also the cost of buying the modem, an account setup fee, and additional installation charges.

All in all, it added up to nearly 3,000 yuan.

But Chen Yu had no choice; it was 2001, and prices were like this.

If you wanted it cheaper, you'd have to wait another decade or so, and you could get everything done for a few hundred yuan.

However, if you waited that long, the opportunity might have passed.

"Chen Yu?"

On the way back home, a voice called out to Chen Yu.

Turning around, he saw his desk mate, Lu Xue. "Oh, it's Beauty Lu. Weren't you going to Xianjiyan for fun?"

"We're back. But what about you? You didn't join the group activity."

"I wanted to, but I don't have the money."

"It's only 30 yuan per person. You can afford that."

"30 yuan? Oh my, that's my breakfast money for a month. You rich people can't understand the hardships of us poor kids. Can I really tell you that I can't afford 30 yuan?"

This was, of course, just nonsense.

Although Chen Yu's family was not wealthy, they were far from being considered poor. Plus, with the money he had earned a few days ago, Chen Yu couldn't be called poor at all.

But Chen Yu was just talking nonsense, and his classmate, Lu Xue, didn't know that. When he said that, it struck a chord in Lu Xue's heart. She felt like she had hurt Chen Yu and couldn't help but say, "I'm sorry, Chen Yu, I apologize to you."

"Apologize?"

"I'm sorry; I shouldn't have pressured you to join the group activity."

"Uh..."

This little girl really believed it.

Well, forget it, no need to chat with her, there's still something to do.

"Goodbye, Beauty Lu. See you after National Day."

"Where are you going?"

"Back home to wash snails."

"Wash snails?"

"Yeah, when your family is poor, you have no choice but to sell snails to make a living."

"I..."

Watching Chen Yu's retreating figure, Lu Xue wiped her eyes.

Those words he said just now were heartbreaking.

"Mom and Dad, I'm going to help wash snails too."

Well, actually, Chen Yu was going home to help wash snails.

Although the snails they bought in bulk were already quite clean, Chen Yu's parents were planning to wash them a few more times.

"Xiaoyu, you don't need to wash them. Go back to your room and study."

"Mom, I can't just keep reading all the time; I need some exercise."

"We can handle these things."

"Come on, Dad, I really like eating snails. When you stir-fry them, I won't just eat a little, I'll gobble them up like a rice bug, right?"

"Xiaoyu, not bad, you've learned a lot in high school."

"Well, well..."

Chen Yu smiled awkwardly, and the family quickly finished washing the snails together.

...

"Is this the Chen family?"

"Yes, who are you?"

"I'm from the telecom company, here to install broadband."

"Oh, we haven't ordered broadband."

In the evening, a middle-aged man walked into the yard.

Chen Simian was a bit puzzled.

Chen Yu came out of the house at this time. "Dad, I went to the telecom company this afternoon to get broadband."

"You, kid, you didn't even tell us that you were getting broadband."

"Come, come, have a cigarette."

"Thanks, I'll help you install the broadband first."

"Do you need any help?"

"No need, it's quite simple; I just need to install a modem on your phone line."

In just over ten minutes, the broadband was installed.

"Thank you, thank you, Master."

"You're welcome, it's my job."

"I'm sorry; I didn't know the kid took my ID and applied for broadband."

"It's okay."

"By the way, how much is this broadband per year?"

"2,000 yuan per year."

"What?"

Chen Simian was about to take out his wallet but froze when he heard it was 2,000 yuan.

Over the past few days, he had spent nearly 10,000 yuan on opening the shop, and he didn't have much money left.

"If you add the account setup fee, installation fee, and modem cost, it's almost 3,000 yuan."

"So expensive."

"It's a bit pricey."

The installer nodded. "But that's the government's policy. To be honest, we're still losing money. Look at all the fiber-optic cables we've buried nationwide; we invest hundreds of billions every year. But there aren't that many households subscribing to broadband, so we've been running at a loss."

"Oh, I see. Can we cancel the installation?"

"Huh?"

The installer was stunned. "Cancel?"

"Well, I'm sorry; I didn't know it would cost so much to install broadband. I thought it would be a few hundred yuan. I didn't expect it to be this expensive. To be honest, I can't come up with 3,000 yuan all at once. Can we maybe delay the payment?"

"You didn't pay already?"

"We paid?"

"Yeah, didn't your son make the payment?"

Upon hearing this, Chen Yu realized he was in trouble.

Sure enough, after the installer left, Zhang Wenxiu took Chen Simian to Chen Yu's room.

"Xiaoyu, did you do something wrong?"

"No."

"Really?"

"Really."

"Absolutely?"

"Absolutely."

Chen Yu smiled wryly.

He thought he had fooled them with the old computer, but the broadband installation exposed the truth.

"Then tell me, where did you get 3,000 yuan?"

"I..."

"You can't say, can you?"

Zhang Wenxiu suddenly became extremely serious. "You little rascal, I've told you to study hard."

"What did you do?"

"Do you want to upset your mother?"

While speaking, Zhang Wenxiu pulled out a stick.

In Zhang Wenxiu's eyes, her son was still in high school and couldn't possibly have that much money. If he suddenly produced 3,000 yuan, he must have done something illegal.

If the parents didn't ask and inquire, Chen Yu's life would be ruined, at least that's what they thought.

"Mom, please calm down, don't get upset..."

Seeing her posture, Chen Yu was sure his mother was going to hit him.

"Mother, this is a misunderstanding."

Chen Yu was scared.

When his mother got angry, it was serious business. Chen Yu immediately begged for mercy.

"Mom, listen to me, it's not what you think."

"Really? Then tell us, where did you get this 3,000 yuan?"

"Let me think..."

"You need to think? I'll tell you..."

Seeing Zhang Wenxiu about to lose her temper again, Chen Yu touched his face and made up his mind.

There was no way to hide it anymore.

It was time to reveal his true abilities.

He said very seriously, "Mom, would you believe me if I said I'm a genius?"

"You're a genius?"

"Yes, I'm a genius."

"What kind of genius?"

"Mom, I really am a genius. Look, look, I've been teaching myself programming."

Pointing to the computer, Chen Yu showed his parents the program he had just written.

"What is this?"

"This is code."

"What is code?"

"Code is... in short, it's a kind of computer language. Through code, the computer can understand human instructions. I'm currently writing a calculator program. With this program, it's like having a calculator."

Realizing that his parents still didn't understand, Chen Yu continued, "Dad, Mom, wait a moment, I'll demonstrate it for you."

During his time in college, Chen Yu had learned some programming languages: C, C++, Java, PHP, and, of course, Photoshop, various database languages, and more.

He couldn't create large-scale software, but he could develop small programs, like this calculator.

After finishing the last piece of code, Chen Yu ran the program.

A calculator-like interface appeared on the computer desktop. Chen Yu operated it and said to his parents, "Dad, Mom, look, I can calculate with this calculator now."