novelraw Chapter 30 Friendship
Chapter 30 Friendship
Jiang Ran understood.
“This isn’t really difficult, it’s just…”
He scratched his head.
It just felt like the wish was too small.
Doing something so trivial really didn’t seem fair to Qin Feng.
After all, Qin Feng’s original wish had been to revive his father—and now, after compromising so much, it had turned into buying a circuit control board…
And it was all because of guilt.
Jiang Ran kept wanting Qin Feng to realize something big, something meaningful.
“Qin Feng, that’s club business—”
Cheng Mengxue was quick on the uptake.“Modifying the Positron Cannon should count as official club business.”
“If it’s club business, then don’t use up your personal wish on it… right?”
She shot Jiang Ran a look.
“Right, right.”
Jiang Ran caught on and smiled slightly.
“Qin Feng, Xiaoxue’s right. This wish counts as the club’s, not yours personally. We’ll handle it separately later.”
“Think again—see if there’s a purely personal wish. Opportunities like this are rare… you should at least get something out of it for yourself.”
However…
Qin Feng shrugged.
“Then I really can’t think of anything right now. I’ve always had pretty low material desires.”
But he didn’t want to dampen the mood.
“How about this.”
He glanced between Jiang Ran and Cheng Mengxue.
“How about… you give me two more days to think?”
“You suddenly asking me like this—I really can’t come up with anything. Better give me some time to consider it.”
“Two days from now, if I can think of a better wish, we’ll use the better one. If I really can’t think of anything, then we’ll just go with the control board wish. How about that?”
Jiang Ran gave a small nod.
“Okay.”
What Qin Feng said made sense.
The time-traveling text could wait. Let him think it over.
…
That night.
Because the School of Art had a performance, Cheng Mengxue went to the venue for rehearsal.
Only Jiang Ran and Qin Feng were left in the activity room.
Qin Feng continued tinkering with the Positron Cannon. Jiang Ran sat on the sofa.
After a long while, he finished the book.
Jiang Ran put it down on the coffee table and looked toward Qin Feng.
“What have you been working on this whole time?”
He sounded puzzled.
“The Positron Cannon is already pretty much perfect. What are you still busy with?”
“Perfect?”
Qin Feng chuckled.
“Not even close.”
He straightened up and stretched.
“Did you forget? Right now the Positron Cannon can only run for 0.7 seconds. In such a short time, we can barely send one message—seventy characters.”
“And every time it runs, the capacitor bursts and burns out. Replacing it is extremely inconvenient.”
“I’m trying to see if there’s a way to solve this—either let it run a few more seconds to increase fault tolerance, or just add a self-protection function that forcibly cuts power before the capacitor blows, saving some trouble.”
“Fair enough.”
Jiang Ran leaned back against the sofa.
Planning ahead was the right call.
For now, a seventy-character limit was more than enough—basically sufficient for any problem.
But if…
Someday they really needed to use a longer message…
Then the Positron Cannon would have to last longer, so they could send two messages in succession, or even more.
In short, firepower coverage was something you didn’t have to use—but couldn’t afford not to have.
“But it’s too hard.”
Qin Feng put down his tools.
“I don’t dare take apart the core picture tube. Just fiddling with the external circuitry… doesn’t really lead anywhere.”
“Honestly, I’m about ready to give up. This is a legacy problem of the internal structure—external tweaks can’t make up for it.”
Jiang Ran nodded.
“If it really doesn’t work, forget it. Chinese is rich and expressive—seventy characters is more than enough.”
“And don’t get any funny ideas about actually taking apart the ‘core component.’ That thing looks like a picture tube, but who knows what kind of structure it really has… once you open it, it’ll definitely be impossible to fix. That’d be losing the big picture for a small gain.”
“I’m not stupid.”
Qin Feng snorted.
“There’s only one of this thing in the world—an accidental product cobbled together from odds and ends. Of course it has to be protected.”
“Otherwise… I’d have taken it apart long ago.”
The clock ticked steadily, nearing ten.
The lights in the student activity building gradually went out, and the two of them prepared to leave.
After packing up,
Qin Feng suddenly turned back and looked at Jiang Ran.
“Want to go grab some beer?”
“Now?” Jiang Ran was a bit surprised.
“Yeah. Xiaoxue isn’t around anyway. It’s getting hot out—how about some late-night barbecue for a change?”
He had to admit.
The idea was extremely tempting.
What man could refuse barbecue and a couple of beers on a cool night?
“Let’s go.”
Jiang Ran waved his hand, and the two left the student activity building, heading toward the campus gate.
“Should we call […] Wang Hao […]?”
Jiang Ran suggested.
“The barbecue place is close to his school. We haven’t eaten together in a while.”
“Sure.”
Qin Feng agreed without hesitation.
“Call him. Let’s catch up.”
…
Wang Hao had been their high school class monitor. Not long ago, he’d even posted a class reunion notice in the group chat.
Over the past two years at university, Jiang Ran, Qin Feng, and Wang Hao had often met up for small barbecue outings. Their relationship was good.
Come to think of it,
Jiang Ran had known Wang Hao even earlier than he’d known Qin Feng.
They’d gone to the same middle school—Jiang Ran was in Class 1, Wang Hao in Class 3, and by coincidence, Cheng Mengxue had also been in Class 3.
Wang Hao had always been a “social butterfly,” calling everyone brother, with excellent people skills. He knew half the boys in Jiang Ran’s class and loved dropping by during breaks.
And with that connection going back and forth, Jiang Ran and Wang Hao became friends too.
“Don’t worry. Wang Hao lives for food and drink. If you call him for a meal, he’s more enthusiastic than anyone.”
Jiang Ran laughed as he took out his phone and called Wang Hao.
“No problem! I’m down! I’ll be there right away!”
Wang Hao agreed instantly.
“I’ve been super broke lately, so I’ll take the bus—I’ll arrive a bit later than you.”
“You two get there first and start drinking. Save me some beer! I’ll make it up when I arrive!”
Just as expected.
That was Wang Hao—one call and he came, one drink and he overdid it.
After hanging up, Qin Feng hailed a taxi, and they set off.
…
A twenty-minute ride.
The taxi stopped at the night market street. Jiang Ran and Qin Feng went to their usual spot, ordered drinks and food.
After a few cups, tongues loosened, and many heartfelt words came spilling out.
“I hope you don’t hate me.”
Jiang Ran set down his glass.
“I know you’ve always been generous, and I know I keep bringing this up, which probably makes me seem naggy.”
“But Qin Feng… I still want to say this. I hope you don’t end up disliking me because of this. I know what I did wasn’t exactly righteous, but—”
“What nonsense are you talking about?”
Qin Feng interrupted him, letting out a small laugh.
“How could I ever hate you? You’re my best friend for life. I’ll never hate you.”
He picked up his beer, drained it in one go, and set it down on the table with a thud.
“Jiang Ran.”
His voice dropped.
“Do you remember… how we even became friends in the first place?”