Chapter 17 Electricity Bill Collection

4 month 8 number.

Friday.

After returning home from get off work and having a simple meal, Wang Mengde sat in the living room, made a cup of jasmine tea, and was about to look up the Chinese medicine books from his previous life in the Golden Finger when he heard Yan Bugui's voice outside the door.

He listened carefully and found that it was the uncle who was collecting electricity bills from door to door.

Wang Mengde stood up and walked to the door.

At the gate of Jia's house, Yan Bugui, wearing glasses, holding a notebook and pen in one hand, took the electricity bill from Qin Huairu with a smile on his face. Jia Zhangshi watched her money being taken away and felt very upset.

After counting carefully, Yan Bugui said happily: "Your family has just the right amount of money. Okay, I'll go to the next one."

"Uncle, take care." Qin Huairu said with a smile.

After putting the money in the bag, Yan Bugui turned around and walked to the right. Seeing Wang Mengde standing at the door, he looked down at the notebook in his hand and said, "Mengde, this month's electricity bill is out, a total of 6 yuan.

There are 23 households in our yard, with a total of 49 15-watt light bulbs. The average price of a light bulb is 1 cents. If you have two light bulbs at home, you need to pay 4 cents. "

A few years ago, when the power grid was not yet formed, residents did not have electricity meters in their homes, and electricity bills were paid by the light bulb, commonly known as the "package system." A 15-watt light bulb cost 1 cents a month, a 5-watt light bulb cost 25 cents, and a 2-watt light bulb cost 5 cents.

Two years ago, the power supply department in Beijing installed electricity meters in the courtyards. One courtyard shared one total electricity meter, and each household shared the electricity bill equally according to the number of light bulbs.

The main electricity meter for Courtyard 95 is installed above the aisle in the front yard.

Every month, the meter reader will come to read the meter and collect the electricity bill on time. Before that, the third uncle will collect the bill from every household.

"Okay, Uncle, I'll get it for you right away."

Wang Mengde had already put all the money in the space, and as he spoke, he pretended to take out three cents from his pocket and handed it to Yan Bugui.

Yan Bugui took it and prepared to make change, muttering: "I'll take three cents from you, and I need 2 cents in change."

"Wait a minute, Old Yan, you must have made a mistake. There are clearly three light bulbs in his house. Why did you count them as two?"

Jia Zhang stood at the door of her house and became angry when she saw Wang Mengde. Driven by new and old grudges, her eyes rolled and she immediately had an idea in her mind, so she spoke.

Just as he was about to hand two cents to Wang Mengde, Yan Bugui paused after hearing her words.

He looked at Jia Zhang in surprise and asked, "Sister-in-law, are you mistaken? Meng De's house clearly has two light bulbs, one in the living room and one in the bedroom. Where did the third light bulb come from?"

Wang Mengde stood there quietly without saying a word, ready to see what trouble she would come up with next.

Jia Zhang looked at Wang Mengde with resentment. Five days had passed, but the blood marks on Banggeng's face had not disappeared and his eye sockets were still bruised and swollen.

Every time she saw the appearance of her eldest grandson, she felt so heartbroken.

This time, she planned to take advantage of Ran Xiaomei's absence and find an excuse to collect some interest.

"Isn't there a light bulb in the annex? Why doesn't this count?"

"Ah, sister-in-law, the lights in the ear room of Meng De's house have never been turned on since his parents moved out. This situation cannot be ignored." Yan Bugui pushed the frame of his glasses and explained in a friendly manner.

It's not good to be unfriendly. Jia Zhang is the kind of person who can blackmail people with any trivial reason. Old Yan has suffered from this before by accident.

Jia Zhang rolled her eyes in surprise and said loudly, "Since it's a light bulb, you have to charge for it. As for whether to turn on the light or not, that's his business. You can't blame others.

Old Yan, if you don't accept this money, I won't have to pay the electricity bill next month, so you have to pay for it."

When Yan Bugui heard that the Jia family had to pay the electricity bill themselves, he became anxious: "Sister-in-law, how can I pay the electricity bill for your family? Dongxu, Dongxu, come out and persuade your mother." He had no choice but to call Jia Dongxu when he saw that Jia Zhang was not going to listen.

After Jia Dongxu came out and learned what happened, he spread his hands and said expressionlessly: "Uncle, I think what my mother said makes sense. His family must pay for the three light bulbs.

Besides, who knows if he turned on the light in the annex room in the middle of the night."

After saying that, he looked at Wang Mengde with jealousy. If it weren't for Wang Mengde, he would be the most handsome guy in the courtyard.

"Who would stay awake in the middle of the night and secretly turn on the light?"

"Uncle, you can't say that. Can you guarantee that this won't happen?" Jia Dongxu argued.

Seeing that he couldn't communicate with the mother and son, Yan Bugui looked to Wang Mengde for help.

Wang Mengde sneered in his heart. He did not speak, but gestured to the third uncle, and then looked at the door of the first uncle opposite.

That’s right, Yi Zhonghai must be asked to step in and resolve this matter. Yan Bugui should go and ask for help immediately.

After a while, Yi Zhonghai appeared in front of Wang Mengde's house in the west wing, surrounded by many neighbors who had heard the news and came to watch the fun.

After understanding what happened, Yi Zhonghai pondered for a while, then said to Wang Mengde with a smile on his face: "Mengde, your family should just pay for the three light bulbs, so as to avoid quarreling over such a small matter and letting people outside the courtyard watch the fun."

"You are still young, so it is better to suffer more losses. As the saying goes, suffering losses is a blessing!"

As soon as Yi Zhonghai arrived, he started to smooth things over.

And they also bring out the perverse logic that suffering a loss is a blessing.

The neighbors around, especially the older ones, also spoke up to agree with him.

"That's right, the uncle is right. We should not be too calculative."

"Yes, people, be more generous."

"If you take a step back, you will have a broader horizon. Young people should give in to the elderly more."

After listening to everyone's words, Yi Zhonghai was very happy. It seemed that the moral level of the hospital had improved a lot thanks to his unremitting efforts.

It would be even better if young people could join in.

Wang Mengde thought to himself that he had come just in time. Ever since Yi Zhonghai used this trick to PUA Sha Zhu last time, he had been looking for an opportunity to carry out a counter-moral kidnapping.

"Master, is this really a blessing?"

"How could it be false? How could I lie to you? Everyone knows about this. If you don't believe me, just ask." Yi Zhonghai said righteously.

"I can testify to this. Every time something happened in the courtyard, as long as we listened to Lao Yi, we would be fine in the end." Aunt Li, one of the uncle's popular base in the courtyard, spoke from her own experience.

Xu Fugui hid behind the crowd, listened to the two people singing in unison, and curled his lips when he saw that most of the people around him were bewitched.

The tricks that Yi Zhonghai usually used could fool the simple residents in the courtyard, but they couldn't fool him.

It's just that exposing Yi Zhonghai would do him no good and it doesn't involve his own interests, so he has always maintained a non-interference attitude and has not gotten involved in any of the affairs in the hospital.

Another person who understood was Yan Bugui. He kept blinking his eyes, trying hard to calculate the gains and losses here.

Seeing that the fish had taken the bait, Wang Mengde prepared to start reeling in the rod.

(End of this chapter)