Chapter 10

Liu Ming's face turned red. He was in his twenties, yet he had been taken aback by the antics of an eighteen-year-old kid, and he couldn't even keep his cool as well as the other guy.

"Alright, then I'll give you the money from earlier," Liu Ming said, embarrassed.

Zhang Chen waved his hand, "Brother Liu, no rush. I'll check this afternoon if I can bring in another customer. We can settle everything at that time."

Liu Ming thought for a moment and said, "That works. I wish you success."

Zhang Chen grinned and said, "I wish us both success."

In the afternoon, Zhang Chen found three more customers by staking out. One of them had significant doubts about the compatibility of the machines and, after visiting Liu Ming's small stall, felt even less reliable and didn't make a choice. The other two were attracted by the low prices. One of them, a middle-aged man, specifically instructed Zhang Chen to issue an invoice and write a higher amount. He was buying a computer for his company.

These two computer orders kept Liu Ming and Zhang Chen busy. Liu Ming was busy with procurement, payment, and packaging, while Zhang Chen was busy with installation and system setup, and also gave the customers some precautions.

They were busy until 6:30 PM, when it was already dark. They finally finished the orders just before the electronics market closed.

Zhang Chen and Liu Ming had been running around all afternoon and were finally able to catch their breath. They both slumped in their chairs, not saying a word. They exchanged a glance and burst out laughing.

In just half a day, thanks to the three customers Zhang Chen brought in, the two of them, after deducting the cost of goods, made a total of 11,800 yuan.

Liu Ming felt it was unbelievable. Even after splitting the earnings with Zhang Chen, what he earned in one afternoon was equivalent to what he used to earn in over half a month.

Liu Ming slowly took out the money they had earned and directly gave Zhang Chen 6,000 yuan. Zhang Chen didn't hesitate, took it, and put it in his jacket pocket. Zhang Chen put on his coat, wiped his face with a towel, and said to Liu Ming, "Brother Liu, I'm leaving first. If I come back too late tonight, my mom will worry. I'll come over again tomorrow morning."

"Wait, wait, leave me your contact information. If I need to find you urgently, I'll know where to look," Liu Ming said, still a bit uneasy. He had seen Zhang Chen's sales ability and potential in just half a day and was afraid Zhang Chen might find other partners.

"Alright, I'll leave you my home phone number," Zhang Chen thought for a moment and left his home phone number.

Zhang Chen's family had just installed a phone last year. At the time, his parents hadn't taken early retirement, and their financial situation wasn't as difficult, so they followed the trend and installed a phone, which cost over 2,000 yuan for the initial installation.

After saying goodbye to Liu Ming, Zhang Chen fetched his bike from the parking lot and rode home slowly.

Zhang Chen was actually far from as relaxed as he appeared. He had been highly nervous all day. On one hand, although he believed his sales strategy of staking out in front of brand-name computer stores was correct, sometimes it also depended on luck. On the other hand, being reborn 20 years ago, even after a few days, still felt surreal. He felt that this world was both familiar and strange, and he was more like an observer.

In February in Bin City, it was already completely dark by 7 PM. The windows of the residential buildings along the road were already lit up. Looking at the lights in the thousands of homes, Zhang Chen felt a profound sense of loneliness.

When Zhang Chen got home, it was almost 8 PM. Su Wenjin scolded him again, as the family had already finished dinner. Grandmother, fearing that the food would get cold, had kept it warm in a steamer. Eating the family's food, Zhang Chen felt a sense of belonging to this world.

After dinner, his parents and grandmother were watching TV in the small living room, and Zhang Chen returned to his room to review his lessons.

In his previous life, Zhang Chen wasn't a very diligent student. Although his grades were good, it was mainly due to the urging of his parents and teachers, and he lacked strong self-motivation.

After being reborn, Zhang Chen was determined that even with the advantage of being reborn 20 years earlier, he couldn't slack off in his studies. While there was the expectation of his parents, more importantly, his future life experiences had made him understand the significance and utility of learning more than most of his peers.

To achieve true success, relying solely on the opportunities brought by being reborn was not enough. There were many opportunities that, even if you were reborn, you might not have the ability to seize. Only by continuously improving your abilities in all aspects could you avoid watching opportunities slip away.

After doing three math tests, Zhang Chen's grandmother, who was old and couldn't stay up late, went to bed first. Zhang Chen turned off the fluorescent light and turned on the desk lamp to continue working on problems.

After a few days of review, Zhang Chen found that his progress was much faster than he had expected. It might be that an adult's IQ is indeed higher than that of a teenager, and with an adult's soul in his current body, his logical thinking and broader perspective were far superior to those of a teenager.

Adults often say that after the age of 25, learning anything becomes slower. This is not because their IQ has declined, but because it is difficult to focus on learning as they did in their youth. Adults need to consider making money, survival, dating, marriage, career, and their boss's opinions, among other things. With more distractions, their learning efficiency naturally decreases.

In terms of IQ alone, an adult's IQ is definitely higher than their IQ in their youth. A large amount of research data supports this. The famous psychologist Raymond Cattell believed that IQ is a comprehensive measure of intelligence, which is divided into fluid intelligence and crystallized intelligence. Fluid intelligence is the ability to perform intellectual activities that one is born with, which depends on innate endowments and improves with the maturation of the nervous system, such as perceptual speed, mechanical memory, and the ability to recognize graphic relationships.

On the other hand, crystallized intelligence is the ability to apply previously acquired knowledge and experience, such as vocabulary concepts, verbal understanding, and methods of problem-solving.

Previously, psychologists believed that fluid intelligence was not affected by education and culture, but more and more research has shown that fluid intelligence can be developed to different extents, and thus its upper limit can vary.

In other words, although everyone's upper limit of fluid intelligence is different, most people haven't even reached their own upper limit.

At the same time, fluid intelligence peaks in early adulthood, while crystallized intelligence continues to grow steadily throughout most of adulthood, only beginning to decline after the age of 60.

Zhang Chen's current state was the best. His fluid intelligence had not yet reached its peak and still had the potential for further development. His crystallized intelligence, enriched by a lifetime of experience, far exceeded that of his peers. Therefore, it was normal for him to find his review progress much faster than expected.

In his previous life, Zhang Chen was better at science than at humanities. Now, as he reviewed, he felt more at ease, especially when he drew a relatively elegant auxiliary line to solve a difficult problem, he seemed to appreciate the beauty of mathematics.