Rarely Confused

Out of gratitude to the waitress, Feng Jun flashed her a grin, "Thank you, thank you very much."

After the word "thanks," one must add "you" to truly convey sincerity.

The waitress blushed slightly, hesitated for a moment, and then spoke in a low voice, "You can leave your Liaoliao ID... um, I can help you appraise things."

Feng Jun was stunned for a moment. Is my current image—my aura—that good? I'm actually being hit on by a beauty?

In the service industry, especially in establishments dealing with high-end goods, it is rare to find someone who isn't good-looking. The waitress was about 1.6 meters tall, slim, and her looks were at least an eighty out of a hundred; she was definitely better-looking than Xiao Li.

Seeing the slight flush on her face, Feng Jun was afraid she might feel embarrassed, so he immediately took out his newly purchased Maolin Phone, opened his Liaoliao QR code, and let her scan it.

It's a good thing I bought a new phone! In front of a beauty, if I were still using that old-timer phone, not to mention whether it would be embarrassing to take out, the slow loading speed alone would have been enough to make him want to crawl into a hole.

In fact, Feng Jun also had a good impression of the girl. He had been celibate for so long; why not... find a girlfriend to fool around with?

However, the next moment, his thoughts were pulled back to his strange encounter. After she finished scanning the code, he smiled at her, "Thank you very much... 'Ye Qingyi'?"

"That's my real name," the waitress smiled, her complexion returning to normal, "Li Dafu will serve you wholeheartedly."

Feng Jun smiled as well and casually sent her a red packet, "Wishing you a good mood."

In the domestic service industry, tipping is not encouraged. The waitress shook her head, "Thank you, I can't accept this."

Feng Jun smiled slightly and raised his phone, "We are friends now, aren't we?"

The waitress hesitated for a moment before opening the red packet, which contained 6.66 yuan.

She looked up, about to say something, but found that he had already turned and was walking toward the door.

Her lips moved as if she wanted to say something, but in the end, she didn't speak, simply raising her hand to send a smiley face emoji on her phone.

Ten minutes later, Feng Jun walked out of the antique shop next door, looking dejected, holding a small gourd-shaped pendant in his hand.

You really can't trust webnovels!

This shop had plenty of jade and antiques, but he still couldn't find the feeling he was looking for.

Black Dragon Jade isn't cheap; even the pendant with the worst clarity cost several hundred yuan, and the shop owner kept pushing it on him.

Feng Jun finally couldn't help it and opened Ye Qingyi's Liaoliao account, "Little Ye next door recommended me to come here."

The shop owner was a man in his early forties, thin, and upon hearing this, his face broke into a smile, "Ah, you should have said so earlier. Black Dragon Jade really isn't worth playing with, but I can't lower the price too much either. This stuff... well, it's going to go up in value."

After a pause, he reached into the drawer behind him and pulled out this jade gourd, "This thing... it barely counts as jade. Laymen don't understand it and can't tell the good from the bad. Take it for a hundred yuan."

Feng Jun really didn't want to spend that hundred yuan, since he was broke.

But whether it was Ye Qingyi or the shop owner, they both gave him a good impression, so... a hundred yuan it is.

He didn't even have the interest to ask Little Ye to help him appraise it; he just thought that when he made some money and met her again, he would have a topic of conversation—I went to that shop and bought something.

Having gained nothing at the jewelry store, Feng Jun wasn't in a great mood. When he returned to the factory gate and saw the factory pitch-black, with not even a streetlamp at the entrance, his mood soured even further, "That old miser!"

The old gatekeeper was truly stingy. Seeing that the college student was generating his own power, he simply refused to flip the main switch. It had been over twenty hours since last night.

Actually, strictly speaking, this didn't have much to do with money; the old man just wanted to maintain his authority.

He didn't have to pay the factory's electricity bill, and keeping the switch off was uncomfortable for him, too.

But he had to make others understand that how this line was used was up to him, and whether the switch was flipped or not depended on his mood.

As for the fact that the college student tenant was innocent and that the cost of diesel power generation was high, that was completely outside his consideration.

—You think generating power is expensive? You don't have to do it. I'm this old, and I've lived just fine without electricity, haven't I?

Feng Jun had communicated with the old man in the morning and knew this unreasonable logic, so he just turned around when he saw the situation. Fine, I'll just find somewhere to have dinner.

Restaurants could actually provide free charging, but that would definitely require getting a private room to avoid attracting attention. However, restaurants with private rooms weren't cheap, and how much could he charge in the time it took to eat a meal?

Feng Jun thought about it and decided to just find a cheap hole-in-the-wall eatery to fill his stomach. Everything had gone wrong today, so he ordered a bottle of Yang City white liquor.

The Yang City white liquor was forty-two percent proof. Even though he had a decent tolerance, after drinking a pound of it, he felt a bit dizzy.

Checking the time, it was already past nine in the evening. After paying the bill, he swayed as he walked back, planning to grab a change of clothes and find a bathhouse to sleep in for the night.

Since there was no electricity anyway, he could feel his body getting sticky again. Besides, if he could find a power outlet in the bathhouse, he could charge his phone while he slept, as long as he was discreet about it.

When he reached the factory gate, he froze. Why were seven or eight people gathered there, making a scene?

Standing there and listening for a while, he learned the reason: these seven or eight people had come to demand that the old man flip the switch.

Technically, whether the switch was flipped or not was the old man's business, and these people had no reason to interfere. However, they had found a fault: if you don't flip the switch, this stretch of road is pitch black and hard to see.

This was a historical issue. There should have been streetlamps at the factory gate, but no lines were installed at the time. The leaders had suggested that since the factory was profitable, they should run a line out and install a few streetlamps at the gate.

Anyway, the factory employees worked night shifts, and having it brighter would be good for everyone.

Over time, this became a convention. The streetlamps on this road were managed by the streetlamp management office, but this stretch of over a hundred meters belonged to the factory, and the factory even paid the electricity bill.

A hundred meters isn't far, but it isn't close either. Yang City is a big city, and it's never short of light; the ambient light could vaguely illuminate this stretch.

The old man stood behind the iron gate and flatly refused them, "Cut the crap. It didn't rain today, and the road hasn't been dug up. You could walk this stretch with your eyes closed... your intentions are impure!"

Of course, their intentions were impure. Everyone was using the guise of public interest, but they actually just wanted to use the free electricity.

Someone pulled the old man aside to negotiate, probably offering some benefits, but the old man shook his head ruthlessly—he was truly stubborn.

After pestering him for a while, seeing that the old man was dead set on his decision, they gradually dispersed, leaving only two middle-aged women standing there, cursing loudly.

Feng Jun turned on the light on his phone, walked to the iron gate, and tapped on it twice. "Open up, Uncle, I'm back."

The old man opened the small iron gate to let him in, then quickly locked it again. "It's this late, you aren't going out again, are you?"

Feng Jun felt a bit tipsy, glanced at him, and asked directly, "Tonight... still no power?"

"No power," the old man answered bluntly. "The main breaker is broken. It costs over two thousand to fix, and there's no money, so I'm currently applying to the district office for it."

It was a blatant lie; all it would take was replacing a fuse and flipping the switch. He was just taking advantage of the neighbors' lack of information, using the district as a cover.

You don't want to wait? That's fine too, just cough up two thousand, and I'll get it fixed for you!

Feng Jun couldn't even be bothered to argue with him and asked again, "What about tomorrow? Can it be fixed then?"

The old man originally wanted to tell him it was none of his business, but catching the scent of alcohol on the other man's breath, he patiently replied, "When asking the district for money, how can you be sure about the timing? If it's fast, a day or two; if it's slow, maybe three to five months."

Feng Jun looked at him indifferently. "Uncle, when I rented this place, the agreement was that water and electricity were free, not that there would be no water or electricity."

The old man grew unhappy, his face darkening. "Young man, the breaker is broken, there's nothing I can do. How about this, you pay the two thousand in repair fees?"

He didn't actually want the other party to pay; he just wanted to scare off this kid who didn't know the immensity of heaven and earth.

"Uncle, you aren't being very honest!" Feng Jun lowered his voice and leaned in to whisper in his ear. "I can fix it myself... do you want me to give it a try?"

"Ahem," the old man coughed twice and replied in a low voice, "Alright, you know the truth, just don't go spreading it around."

He hadn't expected to fool this college student, so he admitted defeat quite readily. "I definitely can't flip the switch today. I have to teach those bastards a lesson. They've gotten addicted to taking advantage of public property, haven't they? Don't worry, I estimate I can flip the switch tomorrow."

Feng Jun looked at him with a dark face. "I must reiterate, diesel power generation is very expensive... how do you plan to compensate for my losses?"

"You can use my electricity," the old man said, reaching out to turn on a light.

His methods were truly ruthless; he had actually brought over an electric scooter, run two wires from its battery, and connected them to a lightbulb with a pull-switch in the middle.

Feng Jun shook his head, not knowing whether to laugh or cry. "That's 48-volt DC power, I need 220-volt AC power."

The old man looked at him, confused. "My lightbulb is lit, isn't it?"

It's terrifying to be uneducated. Feng Jun was speechless again. He shook his head. "That's an incandescent bulb; it lights up as long as there's power... wait, that's a 48-volt bulb."

"Then that's not my problem," the old man spread his hands, acting like a rogue. "Why can't you charge your things with 48 volts?"

"I'm truly a scholar meeting a soldier; there's no reasoning with you," Feng Jun said with a wry smile. "Fine, you're right, you're the boss. I'll go stay at a bathhouse for the night, is that alright?"

Hearing this, the old man felt a bit embarrassed. "Why bother? Would it kill you to work one night less? Why waste that money?"

Just then, a roaring sound came from the distance, approaching at an incredible speed.

The next moment, several blinding headlights shone toward the iron gate.