Daily Life in the Countryside After Being Reborn-Chapter 213 - 23: Premium Hami Melon

Girls reading this, whether it’s an official copy or pirated, hmm, please help do a survey on the direction of the story, right below~

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After a busy day, Zhuo Feng, who hadn’t exercised for a long time, was also thoroughly exhausted. He could only take Xiao Xian to a nearby fast-food restaurant for a simple meal of Guangdong Porridge. After dinner, the three of them walked home and, upon reaching the apartment building, Feng Xing remembered that this month’s utilities bill hadn’t been paid yet. He opened the mailbox and took a stack of mail back upstairs.

Living with Zhu Shijun for four years, Xiao Xian had also developed the habit of listening to the news. Luckily, Feng Xing also enjoyed watching the news, so Zhuo Feng went to take a shower first.

While listening to the news, Feng Xing casually started opening the mail. It wasn’t until the third letter that he noticed there was a letter not addressed to their home. As he was looking at it, Zhuo Feng came out of the bathroom, "How much was the water and electricity bill last month?"

"It’s not our bill, it’s Mr. Bai’s from downstairs," Feng Xing said as he was looking, not knowing that Zhuo Feng, upon hearing it was Old Man Bai’s, snatched it right away. After a quick glance, he couldn’t help but burst into laughter: "Old Man Bai’s name is Bai Juyi. No wonder I’ve never heard any of the neighbors call him by his name."

It’s no wonder Zhuo Feng would mock him. Although Old Man Bai’s surname was Bai, he wore dingy old clothes every day and spoke in a sharp and critical tone, which was worlds apart from the great poet Bai Juyi.

Looking more closely, Zhuo Feng was just as dumbfounded as Feng Xing, not because of Old Man Bai’s name, but because of the unusual number in his utility bill. "Weird, I see Old Man Bai being such a penny-pincher, and his home doesn’t have a fridge, air conditioner, washing machine, or anything like that. How come his utility bill is so expensive, more than double ours." freёnovelkiss.com

Xiao Xian didn’t have much concept of utility bills. In Ge Village, the village chief would collect the electricity fee from door to door. Besides, the Zhu Family didn’t have a TV, just a few lights, and the water they used came from the well. So when she heard that Mr. Bai’s household, by himself, had to pay more than three hundred yuan for utilities, she also found it strange.

"Could it be that someone is stealing Mr. Bai’s utilities?" Feng Xing thought about going downstairs to remind Mr. Bai. As a solitary old man, it was inconvenient for him to go up and down stairs. He certainly wouldn’t have noticed the water and electricity meters downstairs. A few new tenants had recently moved in on the second floor; perhaps they were the ones stealing Mr. Bai’s utilities.

"Don’t meddle in other people’s affairs. You’ll just end up getting cursed out again," Zhuo Feng said, irked, as he pushed Feng Xing into the bathroom.

"I think Mr. Bai is a nice person. It was he who gave us the scallions we ate last night," Xiao Xian knew that Zhuo Feng was typically stubborn, and having support from neighbors was a good thing.

Hearing that he had unintentionally eaten scallions from downstairs, Zhuo Feng was at a loss for words. Taking advantage of the opening theme of his favorite TV drama resonating from the television, Xiao Xian took the letter and went downstairs to deliver it.

The lights that went out last night hadn’t been replaced. The stairwell corridor was still pitch dark. Fortunately, Xiao Xian was prepared and focused, recognizing the stairs under her feet in the lightless corridor.

When she reached the third floor, she only saw a short figure on a step ladder, wobbling while trying to screw in a light bulb. Xiao Xian looked carefully, and the tuft of white beard under the chin of the figure was particularly striking.

"Mr. Bai, what are you doing changing the light bulb? Come down, I’ll help you change it," Xiao Xian noticed a common phenomenon that the older people get, the less willing they are to admit they’re getting old. Take, for example, her grandfather Zhu Shi, who, since coming back from the hospital, had better mobility and dental health. During village harvest time, the old man insisted on competing with Uncle San Gouzi and a group of sturdy young men, to see who could carry more grain. As a result, he suffered from sore legs for days. Even with tendons and bones enhanced by an elixir, you can’t just do as you please.

Time spares no one, but it’s the law of nature.

The same behavior was also seen in this old man named Bai Juyi. You’d think with no one at home to change a light bulb, he could ask for help from the neighbors, or at least change it during daylight. Using no flashlight in pitch darkness, climbing on a ladder without fear of falling—imprudent.

Xiao Xian suddenly remembered, last night after dinner on their way upstairs, it was already getting dark, the corridor was barely visible, and Zhuo Feng had grumbled a few times, saying that he would get Feng Xing to change the corridor light bulbs tomorrow. It seemed that Mr. Bai had heard from inside his apartment. Ah, living one floor apart, they all have a stoic manner but a warm heart, Xiao Xian chuckled to herself.

Indeed, Old Man Bai Juyi had heard it from inside. The man was stubborn, having lived in the community for decades, always adhering to the iron rule of "everyone should sweep the snow from their own doorstep." With a broken light bulb in his home, he had to take care of it himself, so disregarding the pitch dark and his blurry old eyesight, he wobbled on the ladder to change the light bulb.

This 𝓬ontent is taken from f(r)eeweb(n)ovel.𝒄𝒐𝙢