# Chapter 044: Another Old USB Flash Drive
Once the installation was finished, Xiaoye restarted the old computer first. The child called out for Daddy again from nearby. She scooted her chair forward, waiting for the screen to light up. Ye Yan had promised to look for the old work USB drive today, and she wanted to go see it as soon as possible too. But first, she had to get this computer ready for the buyer to take away.
The picture came up, but there was no sound. The buyer frowned and said it turned out there was no need to set this up separately. Ye Yan checked the markings on the motherboard, and Xiaoye looked again for a matching driver. The one she’d installed earlier wasn’t suitable, so they had to remove it and make adjustments.
The buyer sat for a while, then went out to buy cigarettes. When he came back, he wanted to find the software he was used to, but it was no longer on the desktop. He asked if they could put it back the way it was.
Wu Chunhua reminded him that the original settings had been removed during this reinstall. Little Yezi pointed out the commonly used programs now installed; for anything else he wanted, they’d need the installation materials to set it up again. The customer muttered a couple of things, reached out to move an icon, couldn’t put it where it had been before, then tried moving it again himself.
When the sound finally came on, Little Yezi first turned to call Ye Yan. Just then, he leaned over from the other side, and they almost bumped into each other.
“Listen, it’s working now.” She turned the volume up a little.
Ye Yan laughed and pressed a finger back toward her. “I didn’t go all the way across the street.”
She laughed too, turned the volume back down, and continued testing the remaining items. He stayed nearby to check the startup and ports; she handled the rest of the reboots, program tests, and cable connections, and by then she had worked up a bit of a sweat.
In the afternoon, the customer sat down and used the computer for a while. It started up normally, and the commonly used programs ran too. He took out the USB drive and reopened the two files they’d retrieved earlier to make sure nothing was missing, then shut down the computer. He still found the new desktop unfamiliar, but as they packed up the computer, he urged Junzi to find him a big bag, saying he still had to get somewhere else.
He paid the forty yuan in full on the spot. Junzi counted it, entered it in the Xinyu shop’s ledger, and helped support the bottom of the computer case. The drive inside the computer and the USB drive in his bag both went with him.
“If you find the stuff over there, remember to let me know,” he said, turning back after he’d gone out the door.
Wu Chunhua agreed, saying only that she’d get in touch. Once he was gone, she leaned against the counter and let out a long breath, rubbing her shoulders.
“When he couldn’t find the icon just now, I almost lost my temper. First he said to redo everything, then once it was done, he wanted it to look exactly like before at a glance.”
Junzi straightened the price list that had been pinned under the bag and said forty yuan wasn’t just for pressing a button. She heard him and couldn’t help laughing, then put away her own paperwork. This time, she didn’t have to keep watch over an unfinished pickup slip.
Ye Yan didn’t leave that old work USB drive until tomorrow either.
After finishing with another computer, he went into the back room to look for the old tool box. When he first took it out, it was full of adapters. He rummaged through them, but there was no sign of it. Little Yezi crouched beside him, holding the edge of the box for him. She was about to ask if he’d remembered wrong, but Ye Yan lifted the stiff cardboard lining at the bottom of the box.
There was a small pouch underneath the cardboard. Inside lay a scuffed USB drive, its cap loose and caught on the short cable beside it.
He pinched it and examined the connector, then smiled. “This is it. The cap kept falling off, so I put it together with this cable.”
The child was already sleepy, but still refused to go sit with Wu Chunhua first. She leaned over Ye Yan’s back and asked what Dad had found. Ye Yan set the pouch on the counter, then turned and let her feel the empty box, telling her there was nothing left inside. Only then did Wu Chunhua lead her away. Little Yezi brought over two stools and moved hers beside him.
The old folders on the test computer’s USB drive opened up. Ye Yan recognized the set he’d saved separately back then. His finger moved down the list to the wallet file, then stopped.
“I backed this one up too,” he said. “I kept thinking about those two things in the counter and forgot about this.”
Little Yezi leaned closer, almost asking how much could be in it. But Ye Yan didn’t open the wallet on this USB drive. First, he copied the file in full to a separate empty folder on the test computer.
He safely ejected the original USB drive and put it back in the pouch. He didn’t open any more of the family or shop folders; the newly retrieved old backup remained on the screen.
Little Yezi waited until he’d put everything away, then slowly released the hand she’d kept on the edge of the table.
Ye Yan moved the mouse between them and turned the screen slightly, showing her the old location he’d identified. This time, she didn’t ask about a single number. She dragged her stool closer, and the legs of their stools touched lightly.