NOVEL NEXT Chapter 21
Chapter 21: Ye Qingyi
Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations
Out of gratitude to the saleswoman, Feng Jun grinned at her. “Thank you, thank you very much.”
After the word “thank”, he added “you” to show sincerity.
The saleswoman flushed a little. She then hesitated and said in a low voice, “You can leave me your WeChat ID. Um, I can help you with the appraisal.”
Feng Jun was startled. To his surprise, his appearance became so attractive now that a beautiful woman would want to strike up a conversation with him.
In the service industry, especially in the business premises of this kind of high-end goods, there were few people with bad looks. This saleswoman was about 1.6 meters tall, slender, and was definitely prettier than Xiao Li.
Seeing that her face was a little red, Feng Jun feared that she would feel embarrassed, so he immediately took out his newly-bought mobile phone, opened his WeChat QR code, and let her scan it.
Fortunately, he bought a new phone! If he still used the old phone in front of a beautiful woman, he would be utterly ashamed.
In fact, Feng Jun also had a good impression of this girl. He hadn’t had any sex life for so long, and it was time for him to find himself a girlfriend.
However, the next second, his mind was occupied by the adventure again. When the saleswoman finished scanning the code, he smiled at her. “Thank you very much… Ye Qingyi?”
“It’s my real name.” The saleswoman smiled, and her face returned to normal. “Li Dafu will serve you wholeheartedly as always.”
Feng Jun smiled and sent her a red envelope on WeChat. “Have a good day.”
The saleswoman shook her head. “Thanks, but I can’t accept it.”
“We’re friends now, and it’s not a big deal.” Feng Jun waved the phone in his hand.
The saleswoman hesitated for a while. She then clicked open the red envelope. There was 6.66 yuan inside.
She raised her head and wanted to say something, but she only found out then that Feng Jun had walked out.
Her mouth moved a little, but she still said nothing and simply sent Feng Jun a smile emoji.
Ten minutes later, Feng Jun walked out with disappointment from the antique shop next to Li Dafu while carrying a small gourd-shaped pendant in his hand.
He couldn’t believe every word in web novels.
There were many types of jade and a lot of antiques in the shop, but he still didn’t find the feeling he wanted.
The black-dragon jade indeed wasn’t cheap. Even a simple pendant of the worst quality cost several hundred yuan, and the shop owner kept recommending it.
Feng Jun couldn’t stand it and opened Ye Qingyi’s WeChat account. “Qingyi recommended your shop to me just then.”
The shop owner was a thin, middle-aged man in his early forties, and he smiled once he heard that. “Why didn’t you tell me earlier? The price of black-dragon jade is always rising, so I can’t sell it to you at a low price.”
After stopping for a second, he took out the jade gourd from the drawer behind him. “This is barely considered jade. Outsiders can’t tell whether it’s good or not, and you can take it away with a hundred yuan if you want.”
Feng Jun was actually reluctant to buy it because he was poor.
Nevertheless, both Ye Qingyi and this shop owner left a good impression on him, so he paid the bill in the end.
He didn’t have any interest in turning back to her for the appraisal.
Feng Jun wasn’t in a good mood after finding nothing valuable in the jewelry store. When he returned to the door of the factory, he saw that the factory was completely dark, and there was no street light at the door. He was in an even worse mood now. “This old man is really mean!”
The old man indeed was very mean. He saw Feng Jun generating electricity by himself, so he refused to turn on the main switch. It had been more than 20 hours since last night until now.
In fact, it had nothing to do with money, but the old man wanted to defend his dignity.
He didn’t need to pay for the electricity, and he actually couldn’t live a comfortable life if the switch was turned off all the time.
However, he must teach those who stole the electricity a lesson that he was in charge of the wires.
Although Feng Jun was innocent and had to pay for the diesel generator on his own, the old man didn’t care about it at all.
If Feng Jun thought the cost was too high, he could stop using the generator.
Feng Jun tried to talk about it with the old man, but he found that the old man couldn’t understand him, so he left to have dinner.
He could also charge himself in a restaurant for free, but he must find a private room in order not to attract other people’s attention. Unfortunately, a restaurant with a private room wouldn’t provide a cheap meal. Besides, he couldn’t charge much electricity during a meal.
Feng Jun thought for a while. He then went to dine in a small restaurant by the street and ordered a bottle of strong alcohol.
Even though he was good at drinking, he was a little drunk today.
It was past 9 pm when he finished dinner. He swayed back, planning to go back and get a change of clothes and find a bathhouse to sleep in tonight.
Anyway, there was no electricity in the factory. He could feel that his body was a bit sticky once more. He could also charge himself while sleeping if he could find a plug in the bathhouse.
When he reached the gate of the factory, he was surprised to see a group of people arguing there.
He listened for a while before figuring out the reason. The group of people came to ask the old man to turn on the switch.
Actually, the old man could make the decision by himself, and the group of people had no right to ask him to do that, but they claimed that the road was too dark without lights.
This was a problem left over from history. There should have been street lights at the entrance of the factory, but there was no wiring at that time. Senior leaders in the government then arranged for the factory to deal with the problem.
The staff members working in the factory also needed street lights when they were off work and went home at night.
Over time, this became a common practice. All the street lamps on this section of the road belonged to the streetlamp management office, but those within one hundred meters of the factory were managed by the factory. Even the electricity bill was paid by the factory.
A part of the road, which was more than one hundred meters, wasn’t very long. Zhengyang City was the capital city of the province, and there would be no shortage of lights at any time. The diffuse light could also faintly illuminate this section.
The old man turned them down and said, “Don’t fool me! It’s not rainy today, and the road is flat. You can walk on it with your eyes closed! I know your real intention!”
They actually wanted free electricity.
Someone pulled the old man aside, trying to persuade him to turn on the switch by offering him something good, but the old man still refused. He was quite stubborn.
After arguing for a long time, the group of people gradually left, and only two middle-aged women left and continued to criticize the old man at the gate.
Feng Jun turned on the flashlight of his phone and patted the iron gate. “Hi, please open the gate. I’m back.”
The old man opened the gate and let him in. “You won’t go outside again, right? It’s very late now.” He locked the gate right away.
Feng Jun gave him a glance and asked, “Is there still no electricity tonight?”
“Yes.” The old man was determined. “The main switch is broken, and it costs over two thousand yuan to repair it. I need to apply for the money.”
It was a total lie.
Feng Jun didn’t bother to point it out.
“How about tomorrow? Can it be repaired tomorrow?” asked Feng Jun again.
The old man smelled alcohol from Feng Jun’s mouth, so he stayed patient. “Hard to tell. If the district agrees to give us the amount of money, it can be repaired within one or two days. Otherwise, we have to wait for three to five months.”
Feng Jun frowned. “You told me I can have free utilities when I rented this room.”
The old man was displeased. “The main switch is broken! What do you expect me to do about it? Why don’t you pay the two thousand yuan for it?”
He didn’t want Feng Jun to pay for it; he simply used that excuse to make Feng Jun give up the idea.
“Well, I know it’s a total lie, and I can fix it alone. Can you let me try it?” said Feng Jun to the old man’s ears.
The old man made a cough to hide his embarrassment. “Alright, don’t say it aloud even though you know the real reason.”
He knew it was impossible to fool Feng Jun. “I can’t turn on the main switch today because the bunch of jerks must learn a lesson. Don’t worry, I can turn it on tomorrow.”
Feng Jun nodded. “I must tell you again that diesel power generation is very expensive. How about my loss?”
“You can use my electricity,” said the old man as he stretched out his hand to turn on a light.
The old man got an electric car for himself. From the battery of the electric car, he pulled out two wires and connected a light bulb with a pull box switch in the middle.
Feng Jun was amused. “This is 48 V direct current, but I need 220 V alternating current.”
The old man was confused. “Why? My light bulb is working well.”
Feng Jun said, “This is an incandescent lamp, and it can light up as long as there is electricity.”
“That’s not my problem,” said the old man. “I think 40 V current is enough.”
“Fine.” Feng Jun put on a wry smile. “I need to sleep in the bathhouse tonight.”
The old man felt a little embarrassed. “Couldn’t you stop working for a night?”
At this moment, a roar came from a distance, approaching at an incredible speed.
The next second, a few bright car lights illuminated the iron fence gate.