In the year 1990, on the banks of the Three Rivers, at dawn—it's not quite dawn, since it’s only four in the morning. During this season, at this hour, while many people are still snuggled up in their warm beds, Feng Xiaotien has already gotten up.

Feng Xiaotian is an orphan. When he was six years old, his parents died in a car accident. Afterward, he lived with his grandmother, who was a very kind and loving person. For her beloved grandson, she would get up early every day to pick up trash to support their family. Unfortunately, five years ago, his grandmother also fell ill and passed away. So now, Feng Xiaotian is all alone in the world.

Feng Xiaotien wasn't without relatives, but those relatives were rather cold. Even when Feng Xiaotien passed away, they didn't come to visit him once. To be a person like this, one could say he had no family to speak of.

When Feng Xiaotian was very young, he learned to be independent. Compared with his peers, he lost his parents at a young age, which made him mature overnight. In his eyes, the world seemed to lose its color overnight, all gray and gloomy.

"Ouch!"

Feng Xiaotien got out of bed, the weather was too cold. As soon as he lifted the covers, the warmth inside disappeared instantly. Feng Xiaotien put on his tattered autumn clothes, with many patches sewn on them. Even so, Feng Xiaotien cherished them very much, because they were his only two sets of autumn clothes. Although both sets of clothes belonged to his father and seemed a bit big on him, under the current circumstances, having autumn clothes was already pretty good.

Feng Xiaitian quickly put on his coat. The army green coat was worn, but it kept him warm; the inside was lined with fluffy fur. After putting on the coat, Feng Xiaitian finally let out a sigh of relief.

After washing his face with icy cold water, Feng Xiaoxiao went out carrying a snakeskin bag. He was going to make a living—picking up scraps and recyclables.

Feng Xiaotian is fourteen years old this year. Picking up trash has become a piece of cake for him. He has been doing this every day for several years, come rain or shine, he has never stopped. Because if he doesn't, he won't have any income, and that would be unbearable.

Fengxiaotian took out a pair of black, cotton gloves from his snakeskin bag and put them on. After locking the door, he strode out onto the street.

It's very dark outside, whooshing. Even in this era, with streetlights, it's impossible for them to stay on all night. People's electricity consumption isn't even enough to meet their needs, so they couldn't possibly waste it like that.

Feng Xiaotien walked forward into the darkness, and soon he arrived at the first pile of garbage. Feng Xiaotien crouched down and rummaged through it for valuable things. Although he couldn't see clearly, with years of work experience, he could roughly sense what he was holding in his hands, which things could be sold, and which things could be kept for himself. Feng Xiaotien was very clear about this. Soon, the pile of garbage was swept clean by him, he only harvested two empty wine bottles. It seems that today's outing is not very lucky.

Feng Xiaoxian continued to walk forward, stopping at every garbage pile along the way to repeat his work of sifting through it. As time passed, the snake skin bag in his hand gradually swelled. By six-thirty in the morning, the snake skin bag was finally full and could no longer hold anything else.

Feng Xiaotien, with a heart full of contentment and a sack bulging with scrap metal, walked towards the secondhand goods purchasing station. Located on a slope near the vegetable market, this was Feng Xiaotien's old haunt for selling junk. As Feng Xiaotien arrived at the door with his sack, the owner was squatting under the wall in the yard brushing his teeth.

Feng Xiaotien pushed open the courtyard gate and walked in, smiling and saying, "Uncle Li, you're up so early even on such a cold day."

Feng Xiaotiān's Li Uncle was a man in his sixties, with messy hair and scraggly beard. People called him Lao Li, and few knew his real name.

Hearing Feng Xiaotiān's words, Lao Li rinsed his mouth and then stood up with a smile: "Where did I rush ahead? Aren't you even earlier than me? Xiao Tian, wait for me a moment, I'll wash my face and be right out."

Lao Li finished speaking and walked into the house. Feng Xiaotien replied with a smile and poured his morning harvest onto the ground. Then, he sorted the things into categories. When Lao Li came out, he smiled and said, "Uncle Li, come and weigh it for me."

Old Li smiled and nodded upon hearing this. He held a scale in his hand, first tying the scrap cardboard boxes and newspapers Feng Xiaotien had collected together. After weighing them, he said: "The scrap paper weighs five catties and four liang. Five cents per catty, so that's two-five for five catties. Four liang is equal to two cents, adding up to a total of twenty-seven cents."

Laozi finished speaking, then put the scrap paper aside and picked up a cracked pot. After weighing it, he said, “This pot weighs two and a half jin. According to the calculation of three qian per jin, two and three make six, and half a jin is one and five, adding up to seven and five——and now let’s look at this plastic……”

Lao Li's business was very familiar. In less than three minutes, he finished counting the things Feng Xiaotien picked up. After calculating the price, he smiled and said: "Xiao Tian, you did well today. All these things add up to one hundred and sixty-three yuan. Here's the money, take it."

Fengxiaotian took the money, carefully putting it into his pocket. Then he smiled and said, "Thank you, Uncle Li. You continue with your work, I'll be going now."

Feng Xiaoxiao said something and turned to go outside. However, when he passed by the pile of scrap in the courtyard, his eyes were caught by a peculiar iron box among them. He stopped and lowered his head to examine the box carefully, his black eyes unwavering.

Lao Li seeing this, smiled and said: “This thing I got back last night from the university town area, a security guard sold it to me. He said it was… what exactly is it? — It seems like it’s some kind of equipment that the school had discarded. I don't understand either.”

Fengxiaotian heard this and opened his mouth to say, “Uncle Li, how much did you spend on this thing? Could you… sell it to me?”

Wind Laugh Heaven was rather excited at this moment because he knew what this iron box was. This kind of thing he had only seen in books, and it was the first time he saw it in reality.

Old Li, upon hearing this, blinked his eyes in confusion and asked, "Xiao Tian, what do you want it for? I think it's just like scrap metal. So when it was recycled, the price was calculated according to the price of scrap metal, a total of... two pieces, right? What? You really want it?"

Feng Xiaotian nodded upon hearing the words, suppressing the intense excitement in his heart, he said: "Uncle Li, can you sell it to me?"

Feng Xiaotian was afraid of Lao Li raising the price, so he tried to make his voice sound as calm as possible. Lao Li looked at Feng Xiaotian and then at the iron box. After a while, he smiled and said, "I'll sell it to you, but this thing I dragged back from the university city, over twenty miles, it really tires me out! So let me add a little labor fee, 2.5 yuan for you, how about that?"

Feng Xiaoxiao pretended to hesitate upon hearing this, and after a moment's pause, he pulled out some money from his pocket. After counting it carefully, he handed the money to Lao Li and said, “Uncle Li, here’s the money. Please check it.”

Old Li made a small profit and laughed repeatedly, "No need, Xiao Tian, when have you ever been wrong?"

Old Li's face blossomed with joy. Collecting scrap was all about buying low and selling high, making a profit on the difference. This iron box had come back with other items. He said it took effort to transport it – that was just a way to raise the price. He bought two for two dollars and sold them for two fifty five. Calculating by profit margin, it was quite substantial. Old Li had been in this business for many years, so he naturally understood this well, which is why he couldn't help but be happy.

Happy people are often oblivious, only to hear Lao Li continue: "Xiao Tian, besides this thing, we also brought back two other things. Would you like them?"

Feng Xiaotian's eyes lit up when he heard this, but soon he feigned confusion and said, "Oh? There's something else? Can I take a look?"

Maybe Lao Li still wanted to make a profit on Fengxiaotian, so he seemed very enthusiastic. He smiled and said, "The stuff is in the house. Why don't you come in and have a look with me?"

Feng Xiaotien followed Lao Li into the room, already guessing what the two things were, but he didn't show it on his face. When Lao Li pointed at the two things in the room and spoke to him, Feng Xiaotien could no longer hear any words.

This is a computer. The iron box outside is the computer's mainframe, and the two things inside are the computer monitor and the keyboard, of course.

In this era, computers were quite rare in the country. Many people had never even heard of such a thing. However, Feng Xiaoxiao was well-versed in computer knowledge because he once found a book about it while scavenging for scraps. It was a book about computer science titled "Computer Programming Language and Programming".

Feng Xiaotien was still a child, and naturally very curious about new things. When he found this book, he was immediately drawn in by the title - Computer? Could this actually be a book about computer knowledge?

This book was ultimately kept by Feng Xiaotiān. Every night, he would flip through it. His curiosity about computers had reached its peak. What amazed him most was: how exactly did computers execute instructions? And how did people give computers this magical ability?

After learning from Feng Xiaottian, he finally understood the principles behind it. He also developed his own unique insights about computer programming in theory. Today, when he saw a computer host, his strong curiosity was instantly heightened to its peak. If he could have a computer, wouldn't that allow him to translate theory into practice?

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(Editor in charge:fiction fantasy novels)