Changing Mobile Phones

After school in the afternoon.

The weather outside was still sweltering, yet Ye Shuang sat at the desk in the school infirmary, staring blankly at the contents of his phone.

There wasn’t much—just a few lines of chat history from a conversation with An Shiyu during lunch break.

An Shiyu: Let’s go to the amusement park this weekend!

Ye Shuang: Are you feeling okay…? Why suddenly the amusement park?

An Shiyu: It’s fine. It’s part of my final bucket list.

An Shiyu: Won’t be doing this again after. Getting bored of it.

An Shiyu: yawns.jpg

Ye Shuang: "……"

Final bucket list…

Hearing that phrase, Ye Shuang felt an inexplicable discomfort, as if his heart had been pricked by a needle.

As he stared at his cracked phone screen, he couldn’t help but wonder what An Shiyu really meant.

Her physical condition was just like this battered phone—no one knew how much longer it could hold on.

Suddenly, the screen went black, completely unresponsive.

"……"

Still dazed, Ye Shuang blinked before fumbling around for a charger. After plugging it in, the spiderweb-like screen remained lifeless. He turned it over a few times before finally setting it down.

The phone…

Was broken.

"Guess I’ll find a repair shop," Ye Shuang muttered, standing up and grabbing his car keys.

……

"How did you even manage to wreck it this badly?" The shop owner eyed the mangled phone in Ye Shuang’s hand and couldn’t help but mutter.

Did you run it over a few times?

Or maybe toss it into a washing machine?

"Just dropped it once," Ye Shuang replied vaguely, recalling how it might have gotten damaged during Alice’s kidnapping.

"Can it be fixed?" he asked.

"Nah. It’s not just the screen—the motherboard’s rusted in places. Definitely water damage." The owner placed the phone on the counter, then glanced at the car parked outside.

"Boss, with a ride like that, you’re still using a cheap phone? Shouldn’t you be rocking an Apple Pro Max or something?"

Ye Shuang picked up his phone and smiled faintly. "A friend sold this to me. Got used to it, so never bothered upgrading."

"Huh. How much?"

"Can’t remember. A few hundred."

"Not bad for the price," the owner said, swallowing the words "ripped off by a friend."

Ye Shuang scanned the phones in the display case. "Guess I’ll just get a new one, then. If this one’s beyond repair."

"Sure thing. Apple 15 Pro Max?"

"Not my style. Just give me the latest model from this brand."

"Oh, Blue Rice Phone? Let me check… Don’t have the newest, but there’s the Big Rice 14. Same parent company." The owner pointed at a phone in the case.

"Same brand?"

"Yep. Big Rice 14—Blue Rice’s daddy," the owner said matter-of-factly.

"How much?"

"Four-five."

Ye Shuang raised an eyebrow. "That much of a price gap for the same brand?"

"Hey, it’s different! The cheap ones are built to fail. Look at this—Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chipset. Like a person’s limbs and heart, top-tier stuff."

"See, the chipset’s the heart. A bad chip means a laggy phone, just like a bad heart means you can’t move your limbs."

The owner launched into a sales pitch, boasting how it could "punch Huawei and kick Apple."

Ye Shuang fell silent, not pressing further.

After getting the new phone, he synced his cloud data. All that was left was to back up his chat history from his computer.

Swiping through the screen, the smooth high refresh rate was undeniably better than his old phone, but it felt unfamiliar.

He’d long outgrown his youthful obsession with gadgets. The novelty had worn off.

As for the owner’s spiel about the camera’s prowess? Ye Shuang couldn’t care less.

His finger hovered over the specs page.

Gazing at the chipset details, he murmured, "The heart, huh…"

"…Sigh."

He opened the front camera and took a quick selfie.

"Compared to the old phone… Is the difference really that big?" He flicked through the photos before locking the screen and returning to his car.

Time to head back.

Nighttime.

Ye Shuang prepared a simple dinner—steamed shrimp, scrambled eggs with beef rolls, and stir-fried lettuce with pork. Nothing time-consuming, just quick blanching and stir-frying. His heart wasn’t in it.

"Brother, there’s a girl in our class named Tao Xiaotao. Her family seems really poor," Tang Keke brought up during dinner, recounting the day’s events.

"She even collects bottles to sell."

Bai Yuyou nodded beside her. "She… eats bread crusts. Doesn’t seem enough."

"Collects bottles?" Ye Shuang paused, then remembered something. "Actually, Yinshan Academy must have subsidies for financially struggling students. It’s mandated by the state. You could suggest she look into it."

"She… doesn’t want to get close to us," Bai Yuyou said softly.

Ye Shuang listened as they explained the situation, realizing Tao Xiaotao was the girl who’d bumped her head the other day.

"So, you gave her 100 yuan, but she seemed unhappy?"

"Yeah."

"That’s a principled kid. And collecting bottles… She must have a strong will," Ye Shuang mused. "She probably thought the money was lost by someone and didn’t want to keep it. Might even be worried about the owner."

"Tossing money into someone’s desk like that isn’t right. You could hurt their pride."

"Then what should we do?" Tang Keke scratched her head, while Bai Yuyou listened quietly.

"Let me think…" After a moment, Ye Shuang said, "Honestly, any out-of-town student who gets into Yinshan Academy is impressive. If she’s as diligent and strong-willed as you say, try befriending her properly."

"About the bottles—invite her to a meal tomorrow, apologize, and explain the 100 yuan."

Ye Shuang recalled the financially struggling students he’d sponsored before. If Tao Xiaotao was as described, she’d be an ideal candidate.

Though he no longer needed to sponsor students to cultivate future talent for his company.

Still, he’d be happy to see Bai Yuyou surrounded by more outstanding friends.