Han Leng reached into his locker and pulled out his phone. Its price was obviously nowhere near what Zhao Youyue had paid for her Fruit Eight, but for him, this device was perfect. The battery capacity was massive; even if he used it nonstop, the charge could last for more than thirty hours.
Of course, as a student—and the type who only dared to use his phone within the safety of the dorm—he would never actually use it for thirty hours straight. Every day, aside from spending about two hours typing out a new chapter, he didn't overuse the device. He even consciously conserved power, making sure that a single charge on Sunday was enough to last the entire week.
In fact, although this school was downright insane and cut off power to all dorm outlets to prevent students from playing on their phones, such measures were completely useless against students with flexible minds. There's something in this world called a universal battery charger. As long as you could pop the battery out, you could charge it anywhere. Some students even prepared several power banks, using one after another, then used their free time on Sunday to charge the phone and every power bank to full.
Han Leng simply found all that extra equipment troublesome. At the same time, the lack of power acted as a way to restrain his own impulses. That's why he couldn't be bothered with extra chargers or bulky power banks. Although he was obsessed with his writing, the general school's atmosphere forced him to care about his grades. The key point was that if his performance slipped, the teachers would definitely keep a closer eye on him and his parents would no longer grant him so much freedom. That's truly annoying.
He tapped the WeChat icon, navigated to his contacts, and prepared to add a new friend. But somehow, even though he had already firmly memorized her ID, his thumbs felt stiff as they hovered over the screen. It's as if the glass were suddenly electrified, making it hard to input that specific string. His face grew slightly warm. Only then did he realize that this's the first time a girl had ever proactively given him her contact information. And she was remarkably pretty.
Many people know deep down that they might just be being self-absorbed, yet there's always that strange, persistent illusion. Maybe it isn't self-absorbed after all.
Han Leng knew very well that what he had with Zhao Youyue was just a simple, cold transaction. But why had she looked for him specifically? He was indeed good at writing, but he believed there were definitely others willing to write a self-criticism for her for three hundred yuan. For a high school student, that's already a small fortune.
Does she like me? Am I special in her eyes? Did my cold, artsy vibe move her?
Han Leng clearly knew he was overthinking it, just like when he played League of Legends and always felt he could turn a losing game around. Now he had the same illusion that she liked him. He knew it's a fantasy, yet he couldn't help indulging in it for a moment.
Damn youth. Damn hormones. My soul will never be tainted by the sour stench of romance. This's all the fault of this useless, biological body.
"Yo, Ah Leng, playing on WeChat? Chatting with your girlfriend?" His roommate, Zhang Xin, had just stumbled back from the courts, smelling of outdoor heat and sweat. He took a long, satisfying sip of icy cola, glanced at Han Leng's screen, and joked casually.
Han Leng denied it immediately, his voice sharp. "Stop joking. How could I have a girlfriend? No woman can truly understand me. Women are all shallow creatures."
As he said that, Zhao Youyue's face inevitably came to mind. He felt that she wasn't shallow at all. She had depth, yet she kept it all hidden beneath the surface.
"Tsk, Ah Leng, with your attitude, you are destined to be single for life. These three years of high school are the golden girl-chasing period. You are a talented, artsy guy. If you don't make use of that advantage, it's really a waste," Zhang Xin advised sincerely.
Zhang Xin's family background was quite good; one could tell just from the way he dressed when he wasn't in uniform. Unfortunately, this lousy school required them to wear the standard outfits on normal days, so he could only wear his brand-name clothes on Sundays. At least there's no unified footwear requirement. Otherwise, he wouldn't be able to wear his basketball shoes that cost over two thousand yuan.
He had already made up his mind. He had to find a girlfriend during these three years. Otherwise, his youth would be nothing but a collection of regrets.
Han Leng curled his lip, seemingly disdainful of the idea of using his talent for such a pursuit.
Deep down, he was probably quite narcissistic. He always believed that the girl worth his time should be someone who could discover his inner depth and substance on her own. Unfortunately, most women in this world were stupid.
After being interrupted by his roommate, that little bit of inner struggle vanished. He suddenly felt a bit bored with the fantasy. He had to admit that the feeling just now had been rather wonderful while it lasted.
He finally sent Zhao Youyue a friend request with the brief remark: "Hao, friend?" It should be enough to prove his identity. After sending it, he couldn't help thinking that girls were usually very reserved. Even if she saw the request, she would probably delay accepting it for a few hours to play hard to get.
"I have accepted your friend request. Now we can start chatting."
Han Leng realized that Zhao Youyue had accepted his request instantly. Immediately after the notification cleared, he saw two WeChat red packets appear on the screen, marked with the traditional greeting: "Wishing you prosperity and great fortune." He tapped them open. One was two hundred, the other one hundred. A total of three hundred yuan entered his WeChat wallet just like that.
"Great writer, this is your payment. Do your best (*≧▽≦)" Zhao Youyue was a hardcore phone addict, and her typing speed was astonishing.
Han Leng felt even more strongly that Zhao Youyue was different from other girls. Just based on how straightforward she was with the money, he decided to finish the self-criticism as soon as possible. This is about returning the favor and giving each other face.
"Indeed very generous. I will complete the task as soon as possible. You can rest assured."
"By the way, great writer, what is your book's title on Qidian? (??ω??)?"
Han Leng didn't reply immediately. He felt that if he revealed the title, it would be too damaging to his image. Although his image in front of Zhao Youyue was already completely ruined, he inexplicably didn't want to ruin it a second time. Besides, Zhao Youyue really did make him feel special.
So after some thought, he replied, "You don't need to know. I write stuff for male readers. You girls definitely wouldn't like it."
When Zhao Youyue saw this reply, she gave a sly smile to the empty room. She opened her Qidian account, which bore the ID "Youyue." She took a screenshot of the remaining balance—over three hundred thousand Qidian Coins—and sent it over. Immediately after, she sent another message.
"Don't hesitate. Tell me the book title. I will immediately reward you with a League Leader (:з」∠)"
Seeing Zhao Youyue's Qidian Coin balance, Han Leng rolled his eyes. Reading novels on Qidian was actually very cheap. One thousand characters cost only five cents. He updated two thousand characters a day, meaning readers only needed to spend ten cents for his daily work. A full subscription for a month cost less than three yuan. And yet, there're still readers who chose to read pirated versions. In this world's China, piracy was just as serious, especially online.
For ordinary readers, topping up a few dozen yuan's already enough to read legitimate novels for a long time. Yet Zhao Youyue topped up coins in amounts of several thousand at a time. He was truly speechless at her spending habits.
This time, however, Han Leng firmly refused to be tempted by money and declined to reveal his book title.
Zhao Youyue shook her head helplessly. She didn't understand why Han Leng suddenly changed like this, but she didn't take it to heart.
===
Universal battery chargers were especially popular in the late 2000s to early 2010s, roughly around 2008 to 2013, before sealed batteries and fast charging became the norm.
These chargers were designed to work with many different removable phone batteries, mainly lithium ion ones. Instead of plugging the phone in, you took the battery out and clamped it directly into the charger. Most models had adjustable metal pins that you manually aligned with the positive and negative contacts on the battery. Because of that design, they were often nicknamed "frog chargers" due to how they looked when opened.
They boomed for a few clear reasons. Phone brands did not share charging standards yet. Every manufacturer had its own battery shape and connector. Micro USB was not fully universal at the time, and many phones still used proprietary ports. On top of that, removable batteries were common, especially in feature phones and early smartphones. If your phone cable broke or you lost it, a universal charger was a cheap backup. It was also useful for travelers, phone repair shops, and people who carried spare batteries.
However, they also had real downsides. Manual pin alignment was easy to mess up. Charging speed was slow. Safety features were basic, and cheap models could overheat or damage batteries. As smartphones moved toward sealed batteries, USB standardization, power banks, and faster charging technologies, the need for these chargers quickly disappeared.