Jacking Up the Price
The motion-activated lights in the hallway turned on again at the sound of footsteps, and a middle-aged man in gray overalls stained with oil and carrying a heavy toolbox came up, panting. He glanced at the door number, then at Lin Feng leaning against the door, his eyes filled with a habitual, scrutinizing look, as if he were appraising a client.
"You called for a locksmith, right?" The locksmith wiped the sweat from his brow, speaking with a heavy local accent.
Lin Feng straightened up, nodded, made way for him, and pointed to the door lock. "The keyhole has been glued shut."
"Wow! Who's the scoundrel who did this?!" The locksmith leaned closer for a look and, based on his experience, immediately made a judgment, his tone exaggerated. He put down his toolbox, opened it, and inside was a dazzling array of all sorts of strange tools. He first took out a powerful flashlight, pretended to carefully shine it on the keyhole, ran his fingers along the edge of the keyhole, frowned, and made a "tsk tsk" sound.
"Brother, this is a bit of a problem." He shook his head, looking troubled. "This isn't ordinary glue; it's more like epoxy resin, very hard! Look how tightly it's blocked; conventional methods simply won't work."
Lin Feng watched his performance calmly without saying a word.
The foreman observed Lin Feng's reaction and continued, "Let me try first. If we can soften it with a chemical solution before taking it out, that would be best. If that doesn't work, we'll have to break the lock cylinder and replace it with a new one. This thing is time-consuming, laborious, and uses a lot of materials."
"Go ahead and do it. The price we agreed on online is 150 yuan for unlocking and replacing the lock cylinder," Lin Feng reminded him, his tone completely flat.
"Get it done first, price negotiable." The craftsman mumbled a reply, then began picking out tools from his toolbox. He first took out a small bottle, dripped a few drops of an unknown liquid into the keyhole, waited a moment, then switched to a long, thin crochet hook and began carefully digging. The whole process seemed exceptionally slow and difficult; he would stop from time to time, shake his hands, sigh, and mutter things like "too hard to do" and "the glue is too strong."
Lin Feng stood to the side, hands in his pockets, watching expressionlessly. He could tell that although the craftsman's technique was skilled, he was clearly just going through the motions, his only purpose being to raise the price later.
After nearly half an hour of dawdling, the mechanic finally let out a long sigh, wiped away non-existent sweat, and said, "Alright! It's working! But brother, the lock cylinder is corroded by glue, the structure is a bit damaged, it's not safe anymore, you'd better replace it with a new one." Without waiting for Lin Feng's agreement, he directly took out a lock cylinder that looked extremely ordinary and was wrapped in transparent plastic from the toolbox, and began to disassemble the old lock cylinder with deft movements.
The locksmith quickly replaced the lock cylinder, handed Lin Feng two brand-new, gleaming metallic Key, dusted off his hands, and said, "Alright, done. Three hundred yuan in total."
Lin Feng took the Key, his brow furrowing almost imperceptibly. He looked at the other man and said, "Sir, this isn't right. I sent you the details of my situation online, including photos of the keyhole being clogged with glue. We agreed on 150 yuan for unlocking and replacing the lock cylinder. Why are you asking for 300 yuan now?"
Upon hearing this, the locksmith's smile vanished instantly, replaced by a "you don't know anything" expression. His voice rose slightly. "Brother, you can't say that! Online is online, the actual situation is the actual situation! How was I supposed to know it was so clogged inside? How much time did you waste? The chemicals I used were special, expensive! Three hundred yuan, not a penny less!"
"I made it very clear before, and you confirmed that it could be opened. But after getting here, it's been so long and you still can't open it. Isn't it because your skills are lacking?" Lin Feng's tone remained calm, but the meaning behind his words was like a needle.
"What did you say?!" The locksmith's face flushed red instantly, like a cat whose tail had been stepped on, his anger rising. "My skills are lacking? I've been doing this for over ten years! Go find someone who can open locks faster than me! You're just looking down on me! If you think it's too expensive, don't call me!"
He became increasingly agitated as he spoke. Seeing that Lin Feng didn't immediately hand over the money, a glint of ruthlessness and self-righteous "industry rules" flashed in his eyes. He suddenly snatched the two new Key from Lin Feng's hand and, through the crack in the door, threw them directly onto the dark floor inside the room, making two soft "thuds." Then, he slammed the security door shut with a loud "bang!"
After doing all this, he turned around, crossed his arms, leaned against the security door, and looked at Lin Feng with an arrogant and mocking expression, as if he had him completely under his thumb.
"You think you're so capable? If you're so skilled, why don't you drive it yourself!"
Looking at the other person's shameless face, Lin Feng sighed softly, his expression unreadable. "What are you trying to do? Open the door right now."
"Open it?" The locksmith scoffed, holding up three fingers, then four and a half. "Fine, the price's changed again, four hundred and fifty! Let me tell you, kid, don't even think about finding another locksmith! We're all in this line of work, we have groups. If I just say it in the group—your address, your door—I guarantee not a single locksmith in the whole city will come for your job! Try me if you don't believe me!"
He smugly shook his head, looking like he had the whole situation under control, waiting to see Lin Feng either get angry or helplessly give in.
However, Lin Feng's reaction was beyond his expectations.
Upon hearing this threat, Lin Feng not only showed no anger, but instead revealed a smile on his face.
"Sure." Lin Feng uttered two words crisply, then took out his phone, "Four hundred and fifty, right? I'll scan it for you."
The locksmith paused, a hint of suspicion flashing across his face. He hadn't expected the other party to agree so readily. But when he saw Lin Feng actually open the payment app, scan the QR code hanging on his toolbox, enter the amount, and then hear the "payment successful" notification from his phone, his doubts were dispelled by the joy of the funds arriving.
"Hmph, why didn't you do this earlier? You're wasting everyone's time!" he muttered, his expression softening considerably as he picked up his tools again.
This time, his movements were astonishingly fast, showing none of the "difficulty" he had shown before. He simply took out a specially made hook and a tool resembling a small crowbar, inserted them into the crack in the door, and fiddled with them for less than ten seconds—
With a soft "click," he managed to open the door from the outside using a method that was almost technically skillful (or rather, violently pried open)!
"Alright, go in." The foreman opened the door, his tone relaxed after the transaction was completed, even carrying a hint of admonition. "Young man, don't be so petty in the future. We don't have it easy working for you either."
Lin Feng said nothing, not even glancing at the two new Key he had paid for on the ground. He walked straight into the house without looking back, slamming the security door shut behind him, completely shutting out the locksmith and his ugly face.
Leaning against the cold door, the room was pitch black. The smile reappeared on Lin Feng's face. He gently shook his head, as if he had just dealt with a trivial matter.
He muttered to himself, his voice clearly audible in the quiet room:
"Sure, no problem."
His gaze was fixed on the endless night outside the window, his tone calm yet carrying a strange undertone.
Anyway, Lü Yi will be out tomorrow.