Chapter 26

An Xiaohai spent another two days resting on his hospital bed. Though his arm was still wrapped in thick bandages, he already felt much better. The surface wound looked severe but wasn’t too serious; the real issue was the bone injury in his arm, which would require months to heal completely.

Having lain in bed for nearly ten days, An Xiaohai felt it was time to start moving around. Just as he was about to ask a guard to take him to the reading room, Tian Qiaoguang arrived, as if sensing his thoughts. He had brought some items for An Xiaohai: the things his mother had sent, which he hadn’t yet been able to collect. Along with winter clothes and bedding, there was also 400 yuan and a letter. An Xiaohai put aside the other items and handed the money to Tian Qiaoguang, who accepted it without hesitation, as they had already arranged beforehand.

After a brief chat, Tian Qiaoguang escorted An Xiaohai to the reading room. Along the way, they passed many patrolling guards, whom Tian greeted, showing his good rapport with everyone. Since it was outside reading hours, the room was empty. As soon as he entered, An Xiaohai noticed a new computer set up on a table in the corner.

This was the latest model from Chuangxiang Computers, featuring the Chuangxiang 386 processor, an 80386 CPU, 4MB of memory, two 3.5-inch floppy drives, and two 5.25-inch floppy drives. Hard drives and graphic cards weren’t standard at this time. This configuration was considered top-tier, with the bulky tower case and a heavy 14-inch CRT display taking up most of the table.

Without hesitation, An Xiaohai sat down at the computer, inserted a system floppy disk into the drive, and powered it on. After the drive clicked and whirred for a while, the DOS system booted up. He asked Tian Qiaoguang for a blank floppy disk, loaded it, and began typing rapidly. Half an hour later, he had successfully created a simple pinball game.

As Tian Qiaoguang watched An Xiaohai run the program and saw him controlling a line to bounce a ball upward, he finally let out a long sigh of relief. He hadn’t considered an important question until then: could An Xiaohai really code? And even if he could, would he deliver on his promises? When the computer had been set up in the reading room, Tian Qiaoguang had broken into a cold sweat, realizing that if An Xiaohai couldn’t program, his elaborate setup would have been for nothing.

Now, seeing An Xiaohai so confidently at work, Tian felt reassured. An Xiaohai’s ability to code such a simple program quickly wasn’t due to any extraordinary skill but because he had written this exact program during college and remembered every line of it. An Xiaohai had studied information technology and had seen many scripts. Programming became one of his few hobbies after his release in a past life, so he had a vast mental library of scripts he could easily adapt.

“Take a break; I brought you something to eat. See if this suits you,” Tian said, placing a large plastic bag in front of An Xiaohai.

“Thank you, Officer Tian!” An Xiaohai replied with a slight smile. Tian’s attitude shift was sudden but not unwelcome, showing that he valued An Xiaohai now.

The bag was filled with high-calorie snacks, which An Xiaohai found slightly ironic, thinking Tian might misunderstand “nutritional food.” But he didn’t mind; he could request adjustments gradually. After taking out a box of wife cakes, he offered Tian two pieces before enjoying one himself, savoring the sweet, greasy flavor, a taste he usually disliked but found especially satisfying now.

After finishing his snacks, Tian pulled out a stack of circuit designs, saying, “These are the latest blueprints for an electronic door system. The diagrams are mostly complete. Take a look and see if you have any suggestions. The company promised to pay between 2,000 and 5,000 yuan if your improvements are valuable.”

An Xiaohai glanced at the diagrams, then frowned. “The functional design is a bit complex, especially with the integration into the surveillance system. I’ll need some time.”

“No problem!” Tian replied, knowing this project was indeed challenging, even after months of work from his brother’s company. Seeing An Xiaohai’s confidence, Tian’s respect for him grew. He considered that when An Xiaohai’s sentence ended, he might bring him into his brother’s company—an arrangement that would benefit both parties. Tian knew he needed to earn An Xiaohai’s trust further to ensure he would agree.

“Are you tired, An Xiaohai? You could rest for now.”

“I’m fine, really. Even back in my cell, I’d just be lying around. I’d rather rest here and start familiarizing myself with the computer,” he replied.

“Alright then. I’ll go grab us some food from the cafeteria.”

“Thanks, Officer Tian!” An Xiaohai’s smile was genuine. Tian’s gesture of leaving him alone in the reading room was a significant show of trust.

Tian was about to leave when An Xiaohai asked, “Officer Tian, if possible, could you bring some information on the prison staff? It’d help if I had a roster or something, just basic roles and responsibilities.”

Tian frowned but replied, “This… could be difficult. I doubt I can get permission, but I’ll check the front office. If I find anything simple, I can let you glance at it briefly, but you can’t keep it. Understood?”

“Understood. Just a quick look will be enough.”

With that, Tian locked the door and left, and the smile slowly disappeared from An Xiaohai’s face. Whether karma would come back around remained to be seen.