Since the beginning of the year, the yellow wind has been blowing from time to time.

It makes people unable to open their eyes and breathless.

It wasn't until March and a half, after a wet spring rain, that the gray Loess Plateau finally came alive.

The Dongla River thawed, and the river flowed in a hurry.

The goose yellow and tender green grass sprouts are rising in the cliff valley and mountain valley, the willow hangs silk, and the mountain peach blossom and apricot blossom are blooming one branch and one tree.

Many people in the village have taken off their thick and bulky padded jackets and begun to change into slightly thin clothes.

In the early years, the sufferers had only a padded jacket all year round, which they wore to deal with autumn, winter and spring. In the summer, take out the cotton wool inside and wear it as a single garment, and sew it again in late autumn.

As for the new and old clothes and styles, not many people pay attention to them.

I can't even fill my stomach, who cares about what I wear. Seventeen or eighteen-year-old women have no clothes to wear.

However, in the past few years, with the improvement of people's living standards, the suffering people have also begun to pay attention.

Many people will go to the bazaar to buy spring and autumn clothes, which look fashionable and generous. Of course, more people pulled the cloth from the supply and marketing cooperatives and took it home to make it themselves.

In the past two years, young people in rural areas have also gotten married, and there has also been a rise in "three turns and one ring", referring to sewing machines, bicycles, watches and tape recorders.

Wang Manyin's family also has a sewing machine, and Orchid has also learned tailoring, but he hasn't made clothes for several years.

Mainly, there is no time.

Since taking over the comic book assignment assigned by her husband, Orchid has been both excited and apprehensive. She had seen her drawings turn into logos and cards, and she was already incredible.

This is something that has never been thought of before...... I haven't been to school for a day, and now I'm ready to publish a book.

The more this is the case, the more the orchid wants to be the best in her heart.

Wang Manyin didn't expect that her mother-in-law would take the publication of books so seriously. I feel that she is a little stunned during this time, and she often cooks and sleeps thinking about drawings and brain teasers.

There are now more than 30 cartoon shapes designed for the six squirrels alone.

After eating at noon, as soon as she put down the bowl, Orchid moved the table to the side of the field and sat there thinking hard.

"Don't think about it, there's no rush in this matter, let's wait for the autumn harvest to finish." Wang Manyin brushed the bowl and returned, seeing her aunt's sad face, she couldn't help but persuade her.

At present, there is a big killer of cards, which is enough to maintain the popularity of six squirrels in the hearts of students.

And as early as the launch of the first batch of "Water Margin" character cards, Orchid has completed the second batch of ten character drawings. By the time it comes next month, it will be officially launched on the market. So the comic book he envisioned could wait until next year to be launched.

In addition, although Wang Manyin expected the popularity of the six squirrels to draw cards, he still underestimated the charm of the card drawing.

During this period, Qin'an City and Huangyuan area alone sold more than 20,000 catties of fried goods every day. Calculated to be a daily turnover of almost 30,000.

Of course, because of the activities, the profits are not high. After deducting taxes, a pound can almost have a net profit of three cents.

Even so, there are more than 3,000 pieces a day.

Now the name of the six squirrels has been completely launched, not only in the Huangyuan area and Qin'an City, but also in the Tongcheng area, Yushan area in the province, and the neighboring provinces on the other side of the Yellow River have dealers who have taken the initiative to come to the door.

These scattered things add up, and there are also three or four thousand catties of sales per day. For this reason, he had to arrange someone to be responsible for the daily wholesale affairs.

At the beginning of the year, Wang Manyin planned to spend a year to sell six squirrels to the entire Qin Province.

Now it seems that the goal will be achieved in half a year at most.

With the current manpower of the workshop, it is not a problem to produce 30,000 catties of roasted goods a day.

However, Wang Manyin has begun to take precautions, and is ready to wait for the construction of the new plant to be completed, and then recruit a group of people to prepare in advance.

"It's okay, idle is idle," Orchid shook her head and continued to look through the album in her hand for inspiration.

As soon as Wang Manyin was about to persuade again, he saw his son Wang Tao rushing home.

"Dad, Dad, you hurry up and go to the village, Brother Haitao has a quarrel with people and wants to fight. Uncle Manchu asked me to come back and call you! ”

"Fight, because of what?" Hearing this, Wang Manyin hurriedly stood up.

Orchid also had a little anxiety on her face.

There are no miscellaneous surnames in Jarzi Village, and I can't write two "Wang" characters in one stroke. But in real terms, there are also distant relatives between each family.

Take his own family as an example, he is a great-ancestor with Wang Mancang, Wang Manchu, Wang Manjun and others, and the relationship is naturally closer than other families. And Wang Haitao is Wang Mancang's youngest son, and he is also an electrician in the village, and Wang Manyin is called uncle according to his generation.

Of course, no one in life is so clear.

Especially after the package is delivered to the household, each family lives its own small life. The two families live close to each other, and their daily interactions will be more intimate. On the contrary, there are many brothers who do not speak face-to-face.

Wang Manyin also saw his brothers turn against each other, both of them were beaten and hospitalized, and finally died of old age and never got along.

Perhaps from an outsider's point of view, the countryside should be very simple, and the relationship between people should be very good and peaceful. In fact, those who say this kind of thing either don't understand the countryside, or they just look at things with a filter.

Rural people are also human beings, especially nowadays, when disputes arise from various interests. The root cause is that they are still "poor" and noisy.

Because they are poor, they care about a lot of things.

It was only after a few decades that the rural people became truly prosperous and the neighborhood seemed to be very harmonious.

"It seems to be ......because of money," Wang Tao said unclearly. He originally wanted to stay at the scene to watch the excitement, but he was assigned back by Wang Manchu, and he didn't hear what happened at all.

"You wait and ask what the reason is, if you can persuade you, if you can't persuade you, don't do it." Without waiting for her husband to leave, Orchid hurriedly advised.

"Don't worry, I'm not stupid." Wang Manyin responded.

At most, I will persuade the fight, and I will definitely not join the battle.

Even if you persuade the fight, you have to talk about a bowl of water, and now everyone in the village has people working for Wang Manyin, and there is really no way to say which one to go to.

"Forget it, I'll go too" Orchid was not at ease in the end, and hurriedly caught up with her husband.

As for Wang Tao, he was even more reluctant to miss the lively scene.

When the family of three arrived near the restaurant, they saw a large group of people in the open space from a distance. On the grinding plate next to him, Wang Yanqiang was holding a big bowl and feeding his grandson.

"Man Yin is here, is it full of hoarding branch books?" When Wang Yanqiang saw him coming, he turned his head and said hello.

"Uncle Yanqiang, what's the matter?" Wang Manyin asked rhetorically.

"What can it be, it's not the electricity bill, Wang Haitao's fingernails are getting longer and longer, last year he only charged a month for electricity of three, and after the New Year this year, it has grown to more than two."

Wang Yanqiang sighed and replied, and in and out of his words, he was also dissatisfied with Wang Haitao.

Wang Haitao said that he was a village electrician, but in fact he was a meter reader appointed by the township electricity management office. He is mainly responsible for collecting electricity bills from door to door every month, and then handing them over to the electricity management office.

This job is not established, and it is not a regular job, the only advantage is that it is relatively easy. In addition, the township electricity management office gives a salary of 60 yuan a year, which is 5 yuan a month.

After listening to Wang Yanqiang's story, Wang Manyin knew the reason why Wang Haitao was so hated.

It has not been a year since the electricity was turned on last summer, and the average electricity bill shared by each household has been increasing. At first, everyone thought about the villagers, and they were so-so.

As a result, Wang Haitao charged each family two yuan for electricity this month, which immediately aroused everyone's dissatisfaction.

If Wang Yanqiang hadn't taken care of Wang Manho's face, he would have gone up to make a noise at this time.

Speaking of electricity, it was originally a good thing, but it was quite speechless.

From the end of the Chinese New Year to the present, several villages near Shibijie Township have returned to the era of kerosene lamps.

It's not that the wires are stolen, it's that many families feel that the monthly electricity bill is too much, so they simply throw it away.

Mainly, the electricity bill is too opaque now. The whole village shares a meter, and the electrician says as much as he wants.

In fact, Wang Haitao's electricity bill is already low.

As far as Wang Manyin knows, some villages have to pay almost three yuan a month, and more than five cents a kilowatt-hour of electricity.

Even the people of Jarzi Village feel that the price of electricity is high, let alone the villagers of other villages. More than thirty yuan a Chinese New Year's Eve, and it is not enough to buy kerosene.

When Wang Manyin walked to the periphery, he was immediately seen by the sharp-eyed villagers and greeted him one after another.

Wang Haitao, who was surrounded in the middle of the crowd, said eagerly: "Uncle Man Yin, you came just in time, give me a comment." I don't understand how to say it, but I didn't wronged me for stealing everyone's electricity bill. ”

"You kid is not wronged at all, how can we use so much electricity with two light bulbs in our house......"

"It's like, you think everyone is stupid, you went to school alone? I asked someone about it, and a 15W light bulb can be turned on for eight hours a night, and it is less than four kilowatt-hours of electricity. Who can drive for eight hours at night without sleeping? Wang Fugui responded dissatisfiedly.

He has been the team's accountant for many years, and he is very sensitive to numbers, and he directly grasps the loopholes in his words.

"My house has a meal at night, and it closes early before going to bed, and it doesn't even go for two hours a day." Wang Shouchang followed the interface.

"How many times have I told you just now, the electricity bill can't be calculated like this, it depends on the actual consumption. Even if you don't use electricity, the wires will cost electricity. If you don't believe me, let's just look at the meter. Wang Haitao almost wanted to cry without tears.

"What is there to see in the meter, I have heard that the numbers can be adjusted, and it must be you, the coward, who has adjusted us."

Wang Fugui still shook his head again and again, not believing this at all.

From everyone's words, Wang Manyin finally knew where the real contradiction was.

He spoke up and said, "Uncle Fugui, here I want to mention Haitao to explain." The loss of the low-voltage wires we use is quite high, and it may take half a kilowatt-hour of electricity to be transmitted from the township power supply. Even if you don't turn on the lights at night, you're wasting electricity. ”

Last year, when Wang Manyin asked a few electricians to install wires from his home, he heard them talk about it once.

At present, the power supply facilities are backward and the transmission distance is too far, so the loss rate of low-voltage distribution lines in the village is generally 30 to 50 percent. In addition, the number of households curtailing electricity has increased, and the cost of electricity loss shared by the remaining people has also increased. If there is a short circuit in windy and rainy weather, it may reach more than 60%.

Therefore, the people in the village only count the electricity consumption of their own light bulbs, which is a bit taken for granted, and the real data is likely to double.

"Man Yin, you are talking to Haitao, why waste electricity if you don't turn on the lights?" Wang Shouchang didn't want to believe it at all. Wang Haitao also used this set of rhetoric just now, and he was violently scolded by people.

Electricity is something you can't see or touch...... Well, it's not untouchable. In many people's perception, what is invisible is not there, let alone consumed.

Regarding the misunderstanding, Wang Manyin can explain it clearly: "Basically every household in our village has a radio, does it use electricity? ”

"What's wrong with electricity?" Wang Fugui continued.

Wang Manyin asked again: "If there is a battery in the radio, even if it is not open for ten days and a half months, will it run out?" ”

"That's for sure, I put it for more than half a month again, and the battery is soft."

"The same goes for flashlights......"

The rest of the people responded with a lot of tongues, almost all of them having similar experiences.

After everyone finished talking, Wang Manyin spoke: "If there is electricity in the wire, it is the same as a radio flashlight, and it will continue to run electricity, especially the distance from our wires to the meter is not short, some people are two or three hundred meters, do you think about how much electricity will be wasted?" ”

"When Man Yin said this, I kind of understood, once the flashlight is long, it can also wear up two batteries." Wang Shouchang nodded, agreeing with this statement.

Wang Fugui still didn't give up: "Even if the wires are lost, why did each family pay more than one piece of electricity a month last year, and this year it became two?" ”

"That's right, what do you say about Manyin, you can't lose more and more, right?"

The others asked out loud.

The key point they are entangled with is here.

Wang Manyin turned his head to look at Wang Haitao, and he didn't know what the problem was.

Wang Haitao said with some grievances: "Everyone is from the same village, many of them are elders, I didn't want to say it." When the electricity was first turned on last year, each house used two 15W light bulbs...... Now ask yourself, is someone stealing the wire? Some press three bulbs, and some also have plug boards. There are also people who let their lights stay on all night. Don't these things cost electricity? ”

After listening to Wang Haitao, many people were silent.

As Wang Manyin mentioned before, although the whole village shares a table to save the entrance fee, there are many problems.

Some people turn on the lights for a short time at night, and some turn on the lights for a long time, but they end up paying the same electricity bill.

After a long time, there will definitely be people who are unbalanced in their hearts, and then breed all kinds of ideas.

The easiest way is to secretly change the 15W bulb to a 25W one.

The public is cheap, and it is not taken advantage of in vain.

Everyone, you look at me, I look at you, follow one by one, won't the electricity bill just go up?

Listening to his nephew tell the root cause, Wang Manchu had a headache. If you say it casually in the era of the big collective, it is estimated that many people will change.

Now, he can't speak well.

You can't let your nephew patrol the house every night, right?

"Since everyone thinks that I can't manage electricity, I will choose another person to be an electrician from tomorrow, and I will quit anyway." Although the matter has been explained clearly, Wang Haitao is still holding back his anger.

He works in a workshop and earns 50 yuan a month.

The errand fee of the township power station is not eye-catching at all. Before, he was willing to do it, mainly to listen to the persuasion of his second uncle.

After a long time, you may enter the township power supply station to work.

Now it seems that this work is really not easy to do, and it is better to work in the workshop yourself.

(End of chapter)