sinovels Chapter 20 Huaqiangbei Tests Eyesight
Chapter 20 Huaqiangbei Tests Eyesight
The next morning, Lin Feng waited for Wu Wenjie downstairs at the guesthouse.
At 7:30 a.m. in Shenzhen, the sky was already bright. Steam rose from the breakfast stalls on the street, and the old lady selling rice noodle rolls worked quickly, opening and closing the steamer, and white steam rose up.
Wu Wenjie changed his clothes, wearing a dark polo shirt and carrying a black briefcase, and looked much more energetic than yesterday.
He handed me a breakfast: "Rice noodle rolls, with an egg. Eat them while they're hot. It's so crowded in Huaqiangbei, you might not be able to eat lunch on time."
"Thanks, Brother Jie." Lin Feng accepted the food, and the two ate as they walked towards Huaqiangbei.
Wu Wenjie pointed to several tall buildings not far away: "That's Huaqiangbei. SEG, Huaqiang, and Yuanwang are the three major markets. I'll take you to Yuanwang first; my stall is over there."
Lin Feng nodded and followed him in that direction. After crossing the overpass, the crowd gradually thickened.
Porters carrying woven bags, peddlers carrying black plastic bags, and salespeople holding price lists—all sorts of people mingled together, hurrying along.
Looking out at the entrance of the digital mall, a long queue had already formed. They were all wholesalers from various places waiting for the doors to open so they could grab the goods, speaking all sorts of dialects, including Sichuanese, Hunanese, and Chaoshanese.
Wu Wenjie led Lin Feng through the side door.
In the corridor, the stall owners were opening their doors one after another. The roller shutters rattled, and the lights came on one by one.
Wu Wenjie greeted people passing by, chatted with them in Chaoshan dialect, and then cursed them in Cantonese, handling everything with ease.
Upon reaching the entrance of "U-Best Electronics," he took out his key and unlocked the roller shutter door: "Sit down, I'll go make some tea."
Lin Feng sat down on the stool and looked around the stall, which was less than ten square meters in size.
There were more than a dozen display models on the counter, of various brands, some real and some fake.
Wu Wenjie brought over two cups of tea and handed one to Lin Feng.
"Have some tea first, and I'll take you around later." He pointed to the display models on the counter. "Take a look at these first; they're the models that sell out quickly on the market."
Lin Feng picked up his teacup, his gaze sweeping over the prototypes. He casually picked up a silver one and weighed it in his hand.
After nine o'clock, the market became more crowded.
After his stall's employees arrived, Wu Wenjie stood up and said, "Come on, let me show you around."
The digital mall was even bigger than Lin Feng had imagined. It had three floors, each filled with countless stalls, stretching as far as the eye could see.
Each stall had a glass display case showcasing all sorts of digital products, including MP3 players, USB drives, and digital watches. Overhead, a crisscrossing network of electrical wires hung with rows of energy-saving light bulbs, illuminating the entire market brightly.
"This area mainly deals in retail and small-scale wholesale. Further in, there are places that do large-scale wholesale," Wu Wenjie explained as they walked.
The two walked along the corridor. Each stall displayed similar goods, but the owners' ways of hawking their wares were all different.
Some smoke silently, waiting for customers to come in; some stand at the door, asking everyone they meet, "What kind of goods do you want, boss?"; and some hold calculators, typing away with customers, then shaking their heads and sighing.
Wu Wenjie would stop every now and then, pick up a prototype, and hand it to Lin Feng.
"Look at this one, it looks the same as the previous one, but it's a bit lighter." He flipped it over and pointed to the screws on the bottom. "The screws aren't stainless steel, they rust easily. This one is for customers who try to negotiate a lower price, it's ten dollars cheaper, but the quality is significantly worse."
Lin Feng took it and weighed it in his hand; it was indeed much lighter. He opened the battery compartment to take a look and pressed a few buttons.
"The controller chip isn't a 3410 anymore, is it?"
Wu Wenjie nodded: "This is a Taiwanese product, it's cheap, but the decoding isn't good, and there's static after listening for a while."
Lin Feng stopped in front of a new stall and took a liking to a streamlined MP3 player on the counter. Its design was more attractive than the one he had picked up on Taisheng South Road.
"Boss, take a look at this one."
The stall owner was a chubby middle-aged man. When he saw that it was Wu Wenjie, he greeted him with a smile: "Brother Jie, bringing a friend to see the goods?" As he spoke, he took out a sample machine from the counter.
Lin Feng held it in his hand and weighed it; it was very light.
He pressed the power button, and the screen lit up with a blue backlight, displaying a clear image. He went into the settings to check the system information, which showed "Controller: ATJ2075, Storage: 128MB".
"You've got your eye on this one?" Wu Wenjie asked from the side.
Lin Feng asked the stall owner, "Boss, could you take the board apart and take a look?"
The stall owner glanced at Wu Wenjie: "Young man, we have a rule here: if you tear it down, you have to buy it."
"If the boards are straight after disassembly, I'll buy it," Lin Feng said firmly.
Wu Wenjie said, "Old Wang, take one apart and see."
The stall owner then took out a small screwdriver from under the counter, skillfully unscrewed the four screws on the back of the machine, and removed the back cover.
Lin Feng leaned closer to take a look. The motherboard was green, and the solder joints were fairly neat, but there was flux residue in some places.
The main control chip is indeed the Actions Semiconductor 2075, but the batch number on it has been ground off and is illegible. The flash memory is marked with "SAMSUNG", but the edges of the font are somewhat blurry.
"Boss, is this flash memory chip salvaged from a used device?" Lin Feng asked, pointing at the chip.
The stall owner's face darkened, and he chuckled dryly, "Young man, you have a good eye. But don't worry, although they're salvaged parts, they're all taken from good circuit boards, so they're definitely usable."
"What about the battery? What's its nominal capacity?"
650 mAh.
Lin Feng squeezed the battery; it was very soft. He then handed it to Wu Wenjie: "Brother Jie, this kind of battery is probably only worth about 400 volts, right?"
Wu Wenjie nodded: "Pretty much. Old Wang, that's not very nice of you, showing my friend this kind of stuff."
The stall owner chuckled, "Brother Jie, you know how it is with machines in this price range. We have better ones, but the prices are different."
As they left the stall, Wu Wenjie handed Lin Feng a cigarette, and the two stood by the aisle smoking.
"Wow, Brother Lin, you're quite something. I thought you were a recent graduate, but you're really skilled. Those few moves you made on the board just now, you're a pro."
Lin Feng exhaled a puff of smoke: "Those who work in this industry need to know a little bit. Otherwise, they'll be fooled with inferior products without even realizing it."
Wu Wenjie nodded: "Then what do you think? Would it work if you took those items back and sold them to college students as souvenirs?"
Lin Feng shook his head. "No way. The battery won't last long. The flash memory is from a salvaged device; it's prone to failure. I want to make a commemorative edition, so the quality must be top-notch. I can't ruin the brand."
Wu Wenjie flicked his cigarette ash: "Then the price will have to go up. Come on, let me take you to see some better ones."
The two then visited several more shops in the market.
Wu Wenjie is indeed well-connected; every stall owner knows him, and the goods they bring out are getting better and better.
Lin Feng examined each item carefully, asking very professional questions.
After browsing a few more shops, I came across a slightly larger stall. The stall owner brought out an MP3 player with a purple matte finish, which felt noticeably more solid in my hand.
"The main controller uses Sunplus's latest solution. The flash memory is a genuine Samsung chip, and the battery uses BYD cells, nominally 850, but actually over 750," the stall owner explained.
Lin Feng opened it up and inspected it. The board was clean, the solder joints were full, and the batch numbers on the chips were clear. The battery felt solid and had a good weight to it.
"What's the price?" he asked.
"360 for a single unit. 320 for fifty or more. 300 for one hundred or more." That's the stall owner's quote.
Lin Feng did the math in his head; the configuration and workmanship made the price of 300 seem reasonable. But he needed to add text to customize it.
"Brother Jie, are there any manufacturers that can make custom-made items of this quality and style?" He turned to Wu Wenjie.
Wu Wenjie hesitated for a moment: "Yes, there are, but..." He glanced at the stall owner, who tactfully walked away to attend to other customers.