Current fluctuations
The night was thick and heavy, hanging down over the city.
Zhou Jianxing was riding an electric bike. The evening breeze was cool, but it couldn't blow away the heat in his heart.
The toolbox in the basket made a slight bumping sound as the car was bumping, just like her heartbeat at the moment.
The porch light at Wen Lingyi's villa was on, casting a warm yellow glow in the deep night. Zhou Jianxing took a deep breath and rang the doorbell, trying to look professional and calm.
The door opened. Wen Lingyi stood inside.
She was wearing a deep burgundy silk suspender nightgown tonight. The silky fabric was like a second skin, fitting her exquisite figure and emitting a dim luster under the light from the porch.
Over the nightgown was a loose silk robe of the same color and equally light texture, with the collar unfastened and left open casually.
The big waves are lazily draped over the shoulders, with a few strands of hair sticking to the cheeks, making the skin look whiter than snow, and the eyes appear deep and blurred in the night.
"Master Zhou, good evening. I'm so sorry to trouble you to come here so late." Wen Lingyi stepped aside and motioned Zhou Jianxing to come in.
"It's okay, Mrs. Wen, this is work." Zhou Jianxing deliberately reminded himself.
She carried the toolbox and asked directly, "What's the specific situation with the water heater?"
"It's still the unstable water temperature. You'll know if you go over and take a look." Wen Lingyi led her to the corridor, keeping a few steps away. The hem of her silk nightgown swayed gently with her steps. "It's similar. The water temperature will suddenly become colder for a few seconds without any warning, and then return to normal. It feels more frequent this time, which is really disturbing."
Wen Lingyi did not lie to Zhou Jianxing this time, the water heater was really broken.
"I understand." Zhou Jianxing responded and quickened his pace.
The shower room was still spacious, but the residual water vapor and the fragrance of shower gel seemed to still linger in the air, instantly awakening Zhou Jianxing's memories deep within his body.
She forced herself to ignore it, put down the toolbox, and quickly took out the multimeter, screwdriver and other tools.
Wen Lingyi did not follow in this time, but just leaned against the door frame, a few steps away, his eyes fixed on her focused back.
Zhou Jianxing blocked out the presence behind him and started working.
She skillfully removed the inspection cover under the water heater, put on insulating gloves, and used a multimeter to carefully measure the voltage and current stability and check the line connection points.
"Master Zhou, is it the aging of the pipeline or the problem with the control panel?" Wen Lingyi's voice sounded at the right time. She was not completely ignorant of technology.
"At present, the contact between the circuit and the sensor is good, and the voltage is stable." Zhou Jianxing answered without raising her head, her voice steady, "I will test the current waveform under working conditions." She took out a portable oscilloscope, connected the probe to the main power line.
On the screen, the green waveform jumps regularly as the heating rod starts.
Wen Lingyi didn't say anything else, just leaned quietly against the door frame.
On the oscilloscope screen, the previously stable current waveform suddenly exhibited a tiny, irregular spike, which then returned to normal. The amplitude was small and the duration was short, but it was enough to cause disturbances in precise control.
Zhou Jianxing frowned. The problem wasn't with the water heater itself.
She moved the probe to check other sockets and devices on the same circuit, her eyes following the line until they landed on the pre-buried pipes in the wall leading to the next room.
"Mrs. Wen," Zhou Jianxing raised his head. "The signal from the water heater control panel is experiencing intermittent current interference. The problem might lie in the circuit it's on. Is there any important electrical equipment in the next room connected to this circuit?"
Wen Lingyi seemed to be brought back to reality by her voice, and her eyes focused on her: "Next door is the audio-visual room... Speaking of electrical appliances..."
She paused, the weariness in her eyes seeming to deepen. "That old-fashioned record player in the audio-visual room...sigh, it broke a long time ago."
She sighed slightly. "It's from my mother. I've had a few people look at it before, but they all said it's hard to fix, or that even if it's fixed, it wouldn't last long, so they ended up leaving it unfinished. Tonight... I don't know why, but I felt a little down, and I thought about it again. I tried to open it, but it's still the same, no movement at all, not even turning. It must be completely scrapped..."
Wen Lingyi looked across the wall towards the audio-visual room. "I felt even worse after turning it on, and I forgot to turn it off. Could it be causing the interference?"
At that moment, Zhou Jianxing caught the sadness in Wen Lingyi's tone and her cherishment for old things.
"…Possibly." Zhou Jianxing put away the oscilloscope and nodded. "I need to go over and confirm its current status to see if it's generating any abnormal current load or interference signals."
·
The door to the audio-visual room was open. The lights were dimmed, and the atmosphere was quiet.
Before a massive curtain, an elegant, heavy, vintage record player stood silently. The tonearm remained unraised, the turntable motionless. Only a tiny indicator light on the bottom of the machine indicated it was powered on.
The whole machine exudes a sense of silence, abandonment and loneliness.
Wen Lingyi did not follow closely, but walked to a large single sofa a little further away, sat down with a somewhat tired posture, and crossed her long legs.
Zhou Jianxing noticed that there was a thin blanket of the same color on the sofa.
Wen Lingyi rested her elbows on the armrest of the sofa, her fingertips gently pressing on her temples, her eyes fixed on the record player, not knowing what she was thinking.
Zhou Jianxing placed the toolbox on the workbench next to the record player and carefully opened the heavy wooden cover, revealing the sophisticated mechanical structure inside.
Under the beam of the work light, she saw the problem at a glance: a key gear on the drive motor connecting shaft was severely worn and deformed, jamming the transmission mechanism.
There are also several obvious signs of disassembly and assembly nearby, as well as belts that have been replaced but the models do not seem to match completely. These are obviously the "scars" left by previous unsuccessful repairs.
"The drive gear is severely worn and deformed, and it's stuck," Zhou Jianxing said softly. "The previous repair... maybe they didn't find a fully matching original part, or the structure is too delicate, making it difficult to handle."
Wen Lingyi just said "hmm" softly, her eyes still looking at the record player a little out of focus.
She hadn't held out much hope that the record player could be repaired.
Zhou Jianxing started working, first cleaning away the mismatched parts and residues, and carefully cleaning them with a dust blower and precision tools.
As she carefully removed the worn and deformed key gear, her eyes fell on an inconspicuous corner on the base of the movement.
There was a yellowed note paper fixed there with transparent tape, with elegant penmanship writing on it: Happy birthday to my beloved baby Aling.
Zhou Jianxing stopped moving and then let go even more gently.
After carefully checking the accessories box, Zhou Jianxing luckily found an original gear carefully wrapped in oil paper in an inconspicuous compartment. It looked brand new and unused.
"We found the original replacement gear." Zhou Jianxing's voice broke the silence in the room with a hint of excitement.
Wen Lingyi finally withdrew his gaze from the void and looked at the small gear in Zhou Jianxing's hand.
The replacement process required immense patience and precision. Zhou Jianxing concentrated, sweat dripping down his forehead. Wen Lingyi watched quietly, without interrupting.
When the last screw was tightened and Zhou Jianxing carefully checked that everything was correct, she took a deep breath and pressed the start button.
The drive motor emitted a gentle, steady hum. The metal platter began to spin slowly, jerky at first but then becoming smooth and steady. The tonearm automatically lifted, smoothly moving to the edge of the record, and the stylus gently lowered.
After a subtle rustling sound, the soothing, slightly raspy jazz piano notes flowed out clearly, steadily, and unimpeded, filling the entire audio-visual room. The sound quality was mellow and warm, with a texture that had been honed over time.
The moment the music started, Wen Lingyi slowly lowered her finger, which had been pressing on her temples. She leaned back on the sofa and slightly closed her eyes. Her long eyelashes cast shadows under her eyes, and the corners of her lips relaxed ever so slightly.
Zhou Jianxing also stood quietly beside the record player, watching the turntable spin steadily under the light.
After a moment, she looked at Wen Lingyi's profile, which had lost all its elegance and composure as she closed her eyes and listened, leaving only fatigue and a hint of real fragility. The string in her heart was quietly plucked.
The song ended. Wen Lingyi slowly opened her eyes and looked at Zhou Jianxing.
Her eyes were much brighter than before, and the deep sense of fatigue had faded a lot, replaced by a complex softness.
"It... really rang." Wen Lingyi said softly, "And... it was the same sound as when mother was still alive."
"Thank you, Master Zhou. Really... thank you."
Zhou Jianxing looked into her eyes and, almost subconsciously, whispered back, "It's itself... it wants to sing for you again."
Wen Lingyi was stunned, then turned her head and bit her lower lip.
Zhou Jianxing rechecked the circuit and confirmed that the source of the interference was the momentary sparking and current fluctuation caused by poor contact of an aging terminal on the socket in the audio-visual room, and the additional abnormal load generated by the record player failure exacerbated the interference.
She had it reinforced.
"The problem with the water heater should be solved in theory." Zhou Jianxing packed up his tools and resumed his professional tone.
"Thank you for your hard work, Master Zhou." Wen Lingyi looked at her, her usual smile returning. She picked up her phone and asked, "How much do you want tonight? Repairs, overtime, and home visits—you'll have to pay me the full amount."
She quickly calculated in her mind and quoted a reasonable figure: "Mrs. Wen, the water heater inspection and circuit repair fee is two hundred, plus one hundred for the evening overtime and twenty for the home visit fee, a total of three hundred and twenty."
"Okay." Wen Lingyi nodded and tapped the phone screen quickly a few times.
Soon, Zhou Jianxing's phone vibrated in her pocket, indicating that the WeChat transfer had arrived. She took it out and saw that the amount was a full fifty more than the amount Zhou Jianxing had reported.
"Mrs. Wen, you've turned too much." Zhou Jianxing immediately pointed out, his tone a little anxious, "Fifty more."
Wen Lingyi chuckled softly. She looked at Zhou Jianxing with a look of helplessness and tolerance in her eyes. "Take it, Master Zhou. Last time I asked you to fix the water heater, you took the tools and ran away, not even accepting my money." Her tone was gentle but unquestionable. "Who does business like this? Are you stupid?"
"I..." Zhou Jianxing was choked by the straightforward word "fool". His cheeks felt hot instantly. Thinking of the embarrassment of escaping from the bathroom last time, he was speechless for a moment.
"Just take it if I tell you to. It's what you've earned." Wen Lingyi insisted, turning her gaze to the several records stacked next to the record player.
She pulled out a rare and out-of-print replica of a jazz collection with a vintage cover, which was the album "Autumn Leaves" that had just been played.
"This one," Wen Lingyi handed over the record, "please accept it. It's not a thank you gift, it's a sharing. Sharing the sound it can make."
Zhou Jianxing looked at the record handed to him, then looked at Wen Lingyi's earnest eyes, and was unable to say no.
She took the record silently, and her fingertips inevitably brushed against Wen Lingyi's fingertips again.
“…Okay. Thank you, Mrs. Wen.” She murmured, carefully placing the record into the net bag outside the toolbox.
"Be careful on the road." Wen Lingyi walked her to the door.
·
The night wind was even colder. Zhou Jianxing drove away from the villa, and the cool wind blew away the heat on his body.
The melody of "Autumn Leaves" echoed clearly in my ears, and in front of me was Wen Lingyi's profile, which was filled with sadness and comfort as she closed her eyes and listened, and the heavy words "It's the voice my mother had when she was still alive."
The sharp corners of the record in the toolbox's net bag were digging into the side of her leg.
A complex and indescribable emotion was stirring.
She seemed to have touched a soft and real corner in the other person's heart.
There's a saying: When you sympathize with a woman, you're about to fall in love with her, and you're doomed.
·
When I opened the door, the living room was silent.
Zhou Jianxing returned to the bedroom, took out the record and placed it on the desk. The cover looked particularly peaceful under the desk lamp.
She remembered that there seemed to be an old record player left by her grandfather at home, but after her grandfather passed away, the record player was forgotten in the corner of time.
But this is also normal. We have entered the technological age. Record players have been replaced by CD players, CD players have been replaced by MP3 players, and MP3 players have been replaced by smartphones.
What cannot be eliminated are the memories and emotions of the people that those old objects carry.
Zhou Jianxing decided to ask Zhou's father where the record player was tomorrow. She wanted to find it, fix it, and then play the album that Wen Lingyi gave her tonight.
The excitement that the last interaction in the bathroom brought to Zhou Jianxing still remained, but what occupied his heart at this moment was the warm melody flowing in the audio-visual room, Wen Lingyi's fragile and real profile when she closed her eyes and listened, and her choked words.
That elegant and aloof woman who seemed to be in control of everything actually had such deep longing in her heart.
Wen Lingyi's image has cracked deeper, revealing the warmth of a "human" with pain.
Zhou Jianxing took out his cell phone, pinned Wen Lingyi's WeChat to the top, and then set an exclusive ringtone for her, "Good Night" by Liu Yuhua.
·
Inside the villa, Wen Lingyi returned to the audio-visual room alone. The record player stood quietly under the light, the turntable stopped, but the indicator light was on.
She walked over slowly, her fingers brushing very gently across the smooth wooden shell, stopping at the place where the note was.
My mother’s gentle smile seemed to be right in front of me.
The clear flowing music was an unexpected but extremely precious gift that Zhou Jianxing brought to her.
That silly, shy young woman with nimble fingertips not only repaired the machine, but also was like a ray of light that briefly dispelled the haze in her heart and allowed her to touch the long-lost warm memories connected with her mother.
She picked up the other copy of "Autumn Leaves" and unconsciously ran her fingertips over the cover.
The cell phone vibrated and Wen Lingyi opened the chat room with Zhou Jianxing.
Zhou Jianxing’s WeChat nickname is “Xingxing” and his profile picture is a pot of flowers, giving people the impression of a middle-aged or elderly person.
Xingxing: "Mrs. Wen, the home visit fee is 20, and you gave 30 more." This was followed by a transfer of 30 yuan.
A gentle smile crept up Wen Lingyi's lips again, without her even noticing. After a moment's thought, she decided to collect the payment, lest this little fool sneak over to her doorstep in the scorching heat to "repay" her again.
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