Chapter 20 A Fire in Winter

Lin Xi didn't move.

He just unhurriedly put on a pair of knitted gloves.

Then, he raised his head,

his gaze piercing straight at the middle-aged man who was making the most noise in the crowd.

Engineer Dai, an engineer from the base's power room, was notorious for being nitpicky and stingy.

"This comrade," Lin Xi spoke, his voice not loud,

"did you just say this is a piece of junk?"

Engineer Dai pushed the glasses on the bridge of his nose and snorted:

"Young comrade, it's not that I look down on you guys."

"This thing uses electricity, right?"

"Those coils inside are resistance wires, right?"

He pointed at the heating tube with the air of an expert who had seen through everything:

"This is just an electric stove!"

"The power is at least a thousand watts!"

"Leave it on for a night, and that electricity meter will spin like a fan! This isn't heating; this is burning money!"

"I have a coal stove at home; it's cheap and practical. Who would want to be a sucker for this?"

As soon as these words were spoken, several people who were originally interested immediately pulled their hands back into their sleeves.

"Yeah, it uses too much electricity."

"Who can afford to live like that?"

"Engineer Dai really knows his stuff; I almost got fooled by this youngster."

Public opinion shifted instantly.

Sun Erga's face turned as pale as paper, and Liu Guihua didn't dare to shout into her megaphone anymore.

Lin Xi, however, was amused.

He walked up to Engineer Dai in a few steps. Instead of being angry, he started clapping.

"Well said! Professional!"

Lin Xi gave a thumbs up, "Engineer Dai, your calculations are quite shrewd."

Engineer Dai was just about to brag a bit.

Lin Xi's tone shifted as he threw out a soul-searching question:

"But let me ask you one thing—the electricity bill for our base, does it come out of your pocket?"

Engineer Dai was stunned: "Well, no, the base covers it..."

Before he could finish, he suddenly choked on his words.

Lin Xi didn't give him any chance to react.

He turned around abruptly to face the crowd, his voice suddenly rising as his presence filled the space:

"Folks!"

"Our base has rules; electricity in the residential area is a benefit!"

"It's a privilege the state gives us aerospace workers!"

"Lighting a bulb is a benefit, and using a heater is also a benefit!"

"The electricity cost for this Red Star Little Sun, here with us—"

Lin Xi raised his index finger and made a sharp horizontal slash in the air, speaking with absolute certainty:

"It. Is. Free!"

Boom—!

Those few words were like a bomb, instantly clearing the mental blocks of everyone present.

Lin Xi didn't give them a moment to breathe as he pointed at Engineer Dai:

"You say burning coal is cheap? Let's do the math again!"

"Coal costs thirty cents a night; that's nine yuan a month! A winter starts at thirty yuan!"

"And that's not even counting the labor of getting up in the middle of the night to poke the stove and clear the ash!"

"Buying coal requires coupons, hauling coal requires borrowing a cart, and lighting the stove fills the whole room with soot. If you're unlucky, there's even the risk of carbon monoxide poisoning!"

"But my machine!" Lin Xi patted the hot casing,

"Just plug it in and it works, without costing you a single cent in electricity!"

"That's literally wrapping the state's benefits around your body to keep warm!"

"Would you rather waste money to suffer, or would you rather get it for free..."

"Cough, enjoy the state's free electricity and let your wife and children spend the winter in warmth?"

The logic was airtight.

In this era, nothing stimulated people's nerves more than "taking advantage of the public's share."

Engineer Dai's mouth hung open, the abacus in his head clicking and clacking, but he couldn't come up with a single reason to object.

"It seems... that makes sense?" someone in the crowd began to waver.

"No need to buy coal?"

"Save over thirty yuan a year?"

"Then this machine isn't expensive at all!"

"It's more than just not expensive."

"It's like spending one year's coal money in exchange for free heating forever after!"

Seeing the wind change direction,

Engineer Dai felt a bit embarrassed and tried to find fault again:

"That... that's still not okay!"

"This thing is dangerous!"

"Look at how red it's glowing. What if a child at home knocks it over and sets the bedding on fire?"

"A coal stove is at least a heavy lump of iron; if this thing falls, it's a fire!"

"Right! Safety first!"

"It would be disastrous if it caught fire!"

The confident smile on Lin Xi's lips deepened.

"Everyone, watch closely!"

He suddenly raised his foot and violently kicked over the two machines that were currently working.

Clang! Clang!

The two machines fell to the ground, landing in the snow.

However, the expected sparks and fire did not happen.

The moment the machines tilted and hit the ground, the blinding red light extinguished instantly.

Dead silence.

Lin Xi bent over to set them upright again.

Click.

The red light lit up again, and the heat wave remained constant.

"Whoa! Incredible!"

The crowd erupted, "What technology is this? It turns off automatically when it falls?"

"Gravity-sensing power-off protection system."

Lin Xi's voice was calm,

"It's the same logic as the red star no. 2 satellite's attitude control."

"If it tilts more than 30 degrees, the power is cut within 0.1 seconds."

"This is what we call—aerospace standards."

The comments in the livestream went crazy:

[666! That kick showed the confidence of industry!]

[Hardcore sales! I give this stress test a perfect score!]

[Engineer Dai: Who am I? Where am I? Why does my face hurt so much?]

[This isn't just selling appliances; this is a total dimensional strike!]

[This safety configuration in 1980 is truly alien-tech level!]

The scene also went wild.

This wasn't just an appliance; it was practically a miracle!

"I want one!"

Engineer Dai, who was nitpicking just a moment ago, was the first to rush forward.

Any stinginess or stubbornness was completely melted away by that wave of heat.

"My wife just had a baby and shivers from the cold when she feeds the baby at night. With this, we won't have to worry!"

"How much? I'm buying it!"

Lin Xi's lips curled slightly as he looked at Liu Guihua.

Liu Guihua felt a jolt, took a deep breath, and raised her megaphone.

She shouted the ultimate incantation that was most lethal in this era:

"Thirty-eight yuan!"

"No Industrial Coupons needed!"

"No coupons! Just pay and take the goods!!!"

No coupons.

In this era where you needed a coupon even to buy a washbasin or a pound of cotton,

the power of the words "no coupons" was even more maddening than "aerospace standards."

It meant that as long as you had money, you could own this warmth and dignity.

Boom!

The crowd completely lost control, surging forward like a bursting flood.

"I want one!"

"Give me one!"

"Don't push! I was here first!"

"I'll give forty! Give me that sample!"

Dozens of hands waved banknotes, surrounding Lin Xi's small stall so tightly that not even water could seep through.

"Line up! Everyone line up!"

Wang Dapao stood in front, protecting the few machines.

Sun Erga held a wooden box, his hands trembling.

Money.

It was all money.

Crumpled one-yuan and two-yuan bills, and brand-new ten-yuan notes fluttered into the box like snowflakes.

"Hey! Sir, that's your change!"

"Don't grab it! This one belongs to this sister!"

Five minutes.

In just five minutes,

the ten machines they brought, along with the two kicked samples, were snatched up until not even a wire was left.

Those who didn't get to buy one had bloodshot eyes and refused to leave, surrounding Lin Xi.

"Little Manager Lin!"

"You were the one who fixed the 'man-eating machine' in the Fifth Workshop, right?"

"I recognize you! I want to pre-order one too!"

A man who looked like a workshop director squeezed in and slapped down two ten-yuan notes,

"Twenty yuan!"

"Count this as a deposit!"

"The first one tomorrow must go to me!"

"Otherwise, I'll camp out at your doorstep and won't leave!"

"I want to pre-order too!"

"And me!"

Lin Xi took out a notebook from his coat and began to register them with a calm expression.

The pen tip rustled against the paper.

The cold wind continued to howl, but on this small patch of open ground, the heat was overwhelming and hearts were burning hot.

This was the winter of 1980; a fire had burned through this cold night.