12: Chapter 12: The King of Soldiers Goes to the Countryside to Repair Appliances? The Whole Village Loses Power, and I Become the Only Technical Advisor!
As night fell, the Su family courtyard was brightly lit.
Su Pingan squatted on the threshold, smoking a pipe one after another; the swirling smoke could not hide the cloud of worry on his face.
"We're done for… We're truly done for this time…"
He muttered this phrase repeatedly, his eyes glancing from time to time at the small building next door that had lit up.
A dozen or so sturdy men were unloading iron crates covered with canvas from a truck, their movements uniform and synchronized; even their footsteps sounded like they were cast from the same mold.
This wasn't the Telecommunications Bureau; it was as if an entire platoon had been stationed right next to his house!
"Dad, stop scaring yourself."
Su Che leaned against the doorframe, looking carefree.
"Isn't it just a signal observation station? They're even paying rent."
"What the hell do you know!"
Su Pingan turned his head abruptly and roared in a low voice.
"Have you ever seen anyone from the Telecommunications Bureau with eyes like knives? Have you ever seen anyone who repairs electrical wires walking as if they're standing at attention?"
"That just goes to show that their company has good management and a strong corporate culture."
Su Pingan was so choked up by his son's words that he almost couldn't catch his breath.
He pointed at Su Che's nose and cursed, "You… you will ruin this family sooner or later!"
Lin Waner stood to the side, watching the father and son bicker.
"Uncle Su, Su Che, it's getting late, I… I should go back now."
She made an excuse and hurried away, but couldn't help turning back to look at Su Che as she left, her eyes full of worry.
Captain Li Jun arranged his subordinates and strode over.
His icy face appeared even more unapproachable under the dim yellow light of the Su family courtyard.
"Uncle Su, sorry to disturb you. From today on, we are neighbors."
He handed Su Pingan a thick stack of brand-new red bills.
"This is the rent for the house next door for half a year, plus some compensation for the trouble caused to your family. Please count it."
Su Pingan looked at the thick stack of money, not daring to take it, and just waved his hands repeatedly.
"No… no need, Leader. You are working for the country; it's only right, it's only right…"
He had already started using the word "Leader."
Seeing this, Captain Li Jun did not insist and stuffed the money directly into Su Che's hand.
"Take it, it's the rules."
Su Che weighed the money in his hand and chuckled.
"Manager Li, you're too kind. If you have any problems with wires or pipes in the future, just let me know, and I guarantee I'll fix them perfectly for you."
The corner of Captain Li Jun's mouth twitched, but he ignored his comment.
"Also."
He looked at Su Che, his tone serious.
"During the establishment of the observation station, to avoid unnecessary signal interference, neither you nor your vehicle may leave this village."
"Any items that need to be purchased from the outside must be reported to me and approved before they can be bought."
"Do you understand?"
These words were spoken very politely, but the meaning was clear.
You are under house arrest.
The smile on Su Che's face faded.
"Fine."
He nodded.
"As long as you don't delay me from receiving my express deliveries."
The next day, just as the sky was beginning to brighten.
Captain Li Jun's elite soldiers, in order to play the part of "telecommunications repairmen" convincingly, actually each carried a toolkit and wandered around the village.
Their first target was Grandpa Wang's small shop at the entrance of the village.
"Grandpa Wang, I heard your TV signal isn't good? We're from the Telecommunications Bureau, here to provide free door-to-door service."
A young man, six-foot-three and with muscles almost bursting out of his work uniform, grinned, revealing a smile he thought was friendly.
Seeing this, Grandpa Wang waved his hands repeatedly.
"No… no need, it's fine, it's fine, as long as I can watch the news broadcast…"
"Don't be polite! We're here to serve the people!"
Without another word, the young man squeezed into the room and started fiddling with the ancient color television.
He knew nothing about TV signals; he just unplugged and replugged various jacks behind the set-top box.
Suddenly, with a "zzzt" sound, a wisp of blue smoke rose from the back of the TV, accompanied by a pungent smell of burning.
Grandpa Wang's face turned green instantly.
Within half an hour, the entrance to Captain Li Jun's "temporary office" became lively.
Grandpa Wang sat on the ground, clutching his still-smoking television with a mournful face, kicking his feet a few times.
"Manager Li! Oh my god! You have to stand up for me!"
"Didn't your people say they were helping me adjust the signal? Well, that's great, the signal isn't fixed, and you've sent it straight to the grave!"
Soon after, Village Chief Wang Fugui also came knocking with a dark face.
"Manager Li! What on earth are you people doing? I was just about to cook, and as soon as I flipped the switch, 'bang,' the whole west side of the village lost power!"
One after another, several more villagers gathered around.
"My rice cooker burned out too!"
"My newly bought induction cooker! I just cooked an egg, and it exploded!"
The group of elite soldiers stood in a row behind Captain Li Jun, heads bowed, their faces flushed red, looking just like a group of elementary school students who had done something wrong.
They could kill a tiger with their bare hands and take down an enemy from a hundred meters away, but when faced with a tiny electrical wire, they were truly, damn it, helpless.
Captain Li Jun's face was as black as the bottom of a pot.
Looking at the villagers in front of him holding burnt appliances, he felt a massive headache coming on.
Just as things were in chaos, Su Che walked out of his courtyard, yawning and carrying a bowl of rice porridge.
He glanced at the messy scene, then at Captain Li Jun's face, which looked like it was about to drip water.
"Yo, Manager Li, quite lively, isn't it?"
He squatted at the entrance, slurping his rice porridge while speaking.
"Is this… a team-building activity?"
Captain Li Jun didn't speak, just glared at him fiercely.
Su Che finished his porridge in a few gulps, set the bowl on the ground, and stood up.
"Alright, alright, stop making a fuss."
He clapped his hands and said to the group of villagers.
"It's just some broken appliances, what's the big deal?"
He walked up to Village Chief Wang Fugui and looked at the burnt, pitch-black electrical switch.
"The neutral and live wires were connected incorrectly, and it shorted out; it would be weird if it didn't trip the breaker."
After saying this, he took a multi-purpose knife out of his pocket and reconnected the wires in a flash.
"Go on, flip the switch and try it."
Village Chief Wang Fugui ran back home, half-believing. A few seconds later, the lights in several houses on the west side of the village flickered on.
"It's on! It's on!"
Su Che walked over to Grandpa Wang, picked up the smoking television, and opened the back cover to take a look.
"The power board is burnt, small problem."
He pulled a soldering iron and a roll of solder from somewhere, tapped and tinkered with the circuit board, and within ten minutes, he had put the back cover back on.
"Take it back, plug it in, and you can watch it."
"Really?" Grandpa Wang looked skeptical.
"Believe it or not."
Su Che couldn't be bothered to talk nonsense with him. He checked the burnt appliances for the other villagers; he fixed what he could on the spot, and for those he couldn't, he took the money Captain Li Jun had given him yesterday out of his pocket.
"This one can't be fixed. Take the money and go to town to buy a new one yourself."
His systematic operation left everyone around him stunned.
In less than an hour, a "siege" by the villagers was resolved by him in a lighthearted manner.
The villagers left, thanking him profusely.
At the courtyard entrance, only Su Che and Captain Li Jun's group remained.
Su Che walked up to Captain Li Jun, looked him up and down, and spoke slowly.
"Manager Li, your skills… are not good enough."
"How about I find some time to open a training class, free of charge."
"I'll just teach you how to tighten screws and how to tell the neutral wire from the live wire."
The elite soldiers behind Captain Li Jun turned the color of liver, wishing they could crawl into a crack in the ground.
Captain Li Jun stared at Su Che, silent for a full half minute.
Finally, he squeezed a few words through his teeth.
"No need."
Su Che shrugged and turned to go home.
His father, Su Pingan, was leaning against the doorframe, watching him with a full face of smiles; that look in his eyes was one of unprecedented pride.
But the moment Su Che turned around, that familiar mechanical voice rang out in his mind again.
[Ding! New livelihood demand detected, main mission triggered!]
[Mission Name: The Tears of Rural Teachers Cannot Be Shed in Vain!]
[Mission Content: Backward educational methods are burying the future of rural children! Please develop a smart error-correction printer that can automatically identify incorrect questions, summarize knowledge points, and generate similar practice questions, completely solving the problem of unequal rural educational resources!]
[Mission Reward: 500 Skill Points, unlock [Artificial Intelligence] primary algorithm exchange permission, 300 exchange points.]
[Current host has accumulated Skill Points: 380, do you want to exchange?]
Su Che's footsteps paused.
A smart error-correction printer?
Isn't this the thing Lin Waner was worrying about for the children a couple of days ago?
The key is that this thing requires chips, sensors, and various precision electronic components.
He subconsciously turned his head and looked at Captain Li Jun.
And Captain Li Jun was also looking at him, his eyes seeming to say:
Just try buying a capacitor online and see what happens!