Granny Qian cried and screamed at the top of her lungs, tearing a gaping hole in the tranquility and liveliness of the entire Qingshan Brigade with her shrill voice.
A new kind of excitement burst forth from the opening.
Li Aihua, along with Xiao Shuanzi and Zheng Xiaopeng, squatted in Xu Yan's yard waiting for the electricity to be cut. When they heard Granny Qian crying and wailing outside, they couldn't stay still any longer.
Xiao Shuanzi ran to the gate, glanced outside, and then shouted to the people in the yard, "It's Grandma Qian! She said that Xiao Qin, the educated youth, ran away with her money."
"What?"
Li Aihua suddenly stood up, almost falling over because she stood up too quickly, but fortunately Zheng Xiaopeng caught her in time.
"Little Qin, the educated youth, ran away?"
“That’s what Grandma Qian said,” Xiao Shuanzi said.
Xu Yan and Xie Zhuo were talking to the electrician about which room needed electricity when they overheard Li Aihua and Xiao Shuanzi's conversation. The two exchanged a glance and then continued talking to the electrician.
Although the workers usually enjoy watching the excitement, they still have to finish their work first. Today, their goal is to complete the work for thirty households.
It's only the eighteenth household so far, so we don't have the time or inclination to pay attention to other things.
"How many watts do you need for the light bulb?" one of the workers asked.
"How many watts?" Xu Yan glanced into the wooden box where he kept the light bulbs.
“We have 15-watt, 25-watt, 40-watt, 60-watt, and 100-watt models,” the worker said, adding, “The higher the wattage, the more electricity it consumes. The previous houses all had 15-watt models installed.”
Xie Zhuo stood aside without saying a word, leaving the decision to Xu Yan.
Xu Yan...
Xu Yan had no idea about any of this.
People in later generations no longer use these old-fashioned incandescent bulbs with tungsten filaments, and she hadn't really studied how many watts her home's light bulbs were.
She then turned her gaze to Xie Zhuo.
“You are the head of the household,” Xu Yan said. “You decide.”
Xie Zhuo chuckled, drawing slightly puzzled glances from several workers, who probably didn't know what was so funny about his words.
He certainly wouldn't explain further, he coughed to stop laughing, and looked around the rooms for a while.
Finally, Xie Zhuo said to install a 100-watt heater in the main room, a 60-watt heater in his and Xu Yan's room, and a 40-watt heater in the room with Da Bao and Xiao Bao, and a 40-watt heater in the remaining rooms.
The worker, who was about to take out 25-watt and 15-watt light bulbs, paused, looked at him in surprise, and thought he had misheard.
“Young man, you may not realize this,” the worker kindly reminded him, “but if you do this, your monthly electricity bill will exceed three yuan.”
“Yes,” Xie Zhuo nodded, “I understand. From now on, our family will be eating nothing but air while paying for electricity.”
Workers: "..."
Xu Yan: "..."
Xie Zhuo would occasionally throw out some abstract remarks, which Xu Yan still hadn't gotten used to.
Because of his request, the workers installed light bulbs in each of his rooms after they had laid out the electrical wires, and charged him for the bulbs.
Zheng Xiaopeng watched from the side, speechless. The third brother really knew how to squander money.
He and Li Aihua discussed it all morning and finally decided to install a 15-watt light bulb in each of their rooms and Xiao Shuanzi's room.
At night, the lights just need to be bright enough to see people; they don't need to be too bright.
Judging from the third brother's words, he wants the house to be almost as bright at night as it is during the day.
Xie Zhuo didn't think that much about it. If he wasn't worried that installing all 100-watt units would be too conspicuous, he really would have liked to install all 100-watt units.
Little did they know that, not only in the entire Qingshan Brigade, but even in the entire Qingping County, there were very few households that dared to act like that.
Everyone's thoughts were similar to Zheng Xiaopeng's; as long as they could see people clearly, that was enough, since electricity was ridiculously expensive.
Because the next house was Li Aihua's, Li Aihua didn't have time to join in the fun. While the workers were digging holes and planting utility poles in front of her house, she was craning her neck to look towards Qian Pozi's house.
Unfortunately, it was too far away, and we couldn't see anything.
Later that evening, the brigade leader, his face dark, summoned the men of the village and ordered them to disperse and search for Qin Li.
Xu Yan is correcting the test paper with Xie Zhuo.
Xie Zhuo has been making fewer and fewer mistakes lately. Once he has done a question once, he will basically not make a mistake when he encounters the same type of question again.
“Now I know who Da Bao and Xiao Bao take after,” Xu Yan said, resting her chin on her hand and blinking her beautiful eyes at him.
"Who?" Xie Zhu put the notebook away.
“It’s Uncle San,” Da Bao, who was diligently writing, put down his pencil and blurted out from the side, “Uncle San is just as smart as me and Xiao Bao.”
Xu Yan was amused by his words.
Xie Zhuo chuckled, "Who praises themselves like that? They're not humble at all."
“But we are very smart,” Da Bao pouted, “aren’t we? Third Aunt.”
"Yes, they are all very smart," Xu Yan was about to laugh when she heard the captain shouting from outside.
The men searched outside for several hours but couldn't find a trace of Qin Li.
Granny Qian's eyes were swollen from crying. She collapsed onto the road and knelt down, begging God to tell her where Qin Li was hiding.
Wang Ermazi had a gloomy face and bloodshot eyes, as if he could devour Qin Li alive as soon as he found her.
But no one could find Qin Li.
After finishing dinner, Xie Zhuo was summoned by the brigade leader to search for a long time, until it was completely dark before he returned home.
"Didn't find it?" Xu Yan gave Xie Zhuo some clothes and told him to go take a shower first.
"No," Xie Zhuo took the clothes, "We searched the mountains too, but didn't find anyone."
"Where could she go?" Xu Yan pondered slowly.
In her previous life, Qin Li went straight to university; she never expected to do so so early in this life.
However, without a letter of introduction from the brigade leader and without the college entrance examination, where could she go?
Having electric lights has indeed made things much more convenient. At least you don't have to take a bath in the dark anymore, and Xu Yan doesn't have to read by the flickering light of candles anymore.
only……
When someone insisted on doing certain things with the lights on, Xu Yan couldn't stand it anymore and pushed Xie Zhuo.
“No,” Xu Yan reached out to pull the light cord.
Before he could even touch the rope hanging by the edge of the kang, Xie Zhuo grabbed his thin arm.
Compared to Xie Zhuo's physique, even though Xu Yan has gained some weight, he still gives off the vibe of a big lion and a little kitten.
The lion crouched low on the kitten, not pressing down, but controlling it so the kitten couldn't break free.
"I want to see, Yan Yan," Xie Zhuo said in a low voice, which sent a tingling, dizzying sensation through Xu Yan's ears.
Xu Yan did not agree.
"What's wrong with you?" Xu Yan's face was flushed red, and she kicked him in the waist. "What's so interesting to see?"
“Never seen it before,” Xie Zhuo said.
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