"Boss, the phone got water inside. Can you see if you can fix it?"
Ethan handed the phone toward the middle-aged man with a bald spot on top of his head.
The man merely raised his head slightly and glanced at Ethan. When he saw that Ethan still looked like a student, the smile that had been about to appear on his face froze there, and his tone also became somewhat listless as he said, "Dropped it in water? I'll have to see if it got burned out. If it did, there's no way to fix it."
"After it fell into the water, I didn't turn it on again, so it shouldn't be burned out," Ethan casually added, "But I'm in a hurry to get the data inside. Whether it can be fixed isn't important. What matters is whether you can get the stuff inside out for me."
"Oh, you actually know your stuff!"
When the man heard Ethan say, "After it fell into the water, I didn't turn it on again," he immediately looked at Ethan differently.
As he talked to Ethan, his hands didn't slow down at all. He quickly unscrewed the screws on the back cover of the phone, took a look, and said, "Why does this water smell so bad? It reeks of dead fish and rotten shrimp! Did you drop it in a toilet?"
"I went to the river to catch fish and accidentally fell in," Ethan casually explained.
"Fishing for crayfish in a stinky ditch, huh!", The man looked like he understood everything, but after carefully looking through the phone with a flashlight, he said, "With this kind of old-fashioned phone, the spare parts aren't easy to find. And even if I really fix it, I estimate it won't work for very long."
"Look at these places. The motherboard is already rusted."
"And since you dropped it into a stinky ditch, that dirty water will also corrode your motherboard. Even if it's fixed, I'm afraid it'll stop working again soon."
"Fixing this won't be cheap!"
The boss soon entered the stage of naming a price.
At a time like this, if the owner of the phone showed an attitude of being generous and determined to get it fixed no matter what, then the boss would naturally quote a high price.
And if the owner of the phone showed some hesitation, the boss would advise you to buy a second-hand phone, whose price might only be a little higher than the repair cost.
And if the owner of the phone showed that he had plenty of money, but didn't want to waste money on an old phone.
The boss would start recommending new phones to you.
But what new phones could there be in a second-hand phone shop like this? They were nothing more than things that had been pawned, or stolen goods and the like.
The good thing, though, was that the prices were usually a little cheaper than those at big phone stores.
"How much will it cost to fix?", Ethan asked with a frown.
"You absolutely have to get it fixed?", The boss also started acting along with him and said, "I won't ask too much from you. If you really want this phone fixed, I'll have to take apart a second-hand phone of the same model and use its parts to replace yours. I'm selling phones of the same model for three or four hundred right now, and once I take the parts out, it'll be useless."
"How about this? I'll just charge you for the parts, two hundred yuan!"
"Since you're a student, I won't charge you the repair fee. What do you think?"
"This…"
Hearing this, Ethan immediately pretended to change expression and said, "Boss, I don't have that much money on me! I have to go back and ask my family for some. How about this? Can you help me copy the stuff inside the phone first? I really need it urgently."
"Then leave the phone here with you to repair slowly. I'll bring the money and pick it up tomorrow or the day after. Is that okay?"
Although Ethan had two hundred yuan on him, but he didn't want to spend all two hundred yuan on repairing a broken phone, so he could only negotiate with the boss.
Of course…
Once he got the clues inside, Ethan naturally wouldn't come back for this phone.
"This…"
Hearing that there was money to be made, a trace of cunning immediately flashed in the boss's eyes.
But the boss still pretended to look troubled and said, "That works too, but you'd better bring the money over as soon as possible."
Ethan said seriously, "Of course. It's my phone, and I'm in a hurry too."
"There's not much in the phone."
As he spoke, the boss had already quickly removed the phone's memory and connected it to the computer.
Hearing this, Ethan also leaned his head over and discovered that his father's phone really was empty. Apart from a few phone numbers, there was only one image in JPG format.
"Boss, can you help me open this image?"
Ethan asked.
The boss tried it, but shook his head and said, "Can't open it, but it looks like it can be printed."
"Then help me print it. I'll pay you the printing fee separately."
"Two yuan a sheet."
"No problem."
Ethan nodded repeatedly, then took out a hundred-yuan bill and handed it to the boss.
The boss pressed the print button, then took the money Ethan handed over, his eyes carrying a puzzled look, as if saying, 'Didn't you just say you didn't have any money?'
"I need this to pay my school fees and buy books, so I can't give it to you," Ethan casually explained, "Anyway, you're holding onto my phone, so I can't run away. I'll bring the money over tomorrow."
"Ninety-eight. Here's your change!"
Only then did the boss, still half-convinced, give Ethan his change.
At this moment, the printer had also already started printing the image from the phone little by little. Ethan picked up the A4 sheet from the corner and took a look.
He discovered that the image was actually a family photo. Although the family photo was black and white because it had been printed, Ethan could still see the people in it clearly.
But the instant Ethan saw the family photo, he suddenly broke out in a cold sweat.