721 Home Installation
However, the girl that Xia Zhe was going to marry was Qiao Mei! If the bride was Qiao Yu or another girl, they would think that Xia Zhe’s taste was quite normal. Although Qiao Yu was average-looking, her father was a village tyrant and Qiao Yu’s second sister-in-law, Wang Qin, was an accountant who controlled the village’s funds and work points. If a man married Qiao Yu, he would be able to gain a firm foothold in the village.
Over the years, there had been many families who proposed marriage to Qiao Yu, but it was Qiao Zhuang’s plan to “sell” Qiao Yu for a good price.
Although he was old, he was not a muddle-headed person. With his status in the village, he would want to receive a lot of betrothal gifts when he married off his daughter. He became even more pompous, especially after seeing the betrothal gifts Xia Zhe gave Qiao Mei. He felt that Qiao Yu was better than that fatty Qiao Mei, which was why it led to that matter with the Guo family.
“This is a simple matter. I’ll arrange it for you now. Not long ago, we added new pillars to our courtyard and we have a few spare ones. You can take them to set up the phone line, but you have to tell me how many pillars you want and how long the phone line is. I have to find someone to arrange it for you,” Chen Hu said.
Currently, the only phone in the village was in the village office. Qiao Mei had already estimated that if she wanted to redirect one of the phone lines, she would need four pillars and a 200-meter phone line to reach her house.
“Uncle Hu, bring four pillars and a 200-meter phone line. That’s about all I need. I don’t have a phone yet, so I’ll have to trouble Uncle Hu to help me buy one. I’ll give you the money when we meet,” Qiao Mei said.
She knew that these things would cost a lot of money. She did not want ordinary wood pillars, but the type that was coated with a layer of fireproof coating so that there was no risk of spontaneous combustion even if there was thunder or rain.
Only Chen Hu would be able to get his hands on such things. She knew that one piece would cost 80 dollars. This kind of pillar was thick and tall, and it was not easy to get fireproof coating, so that was why it was so expensive.
There were only pure wooden pillars in the village now, the kind that one could get by going up the mountain. She was not at home most of the time and would only come back a few times a year. If she wanted to do the installation, she had to do it in the safest manner.
“Why are you being so polite to me! Is it an issue of money? Leave this matter to me. Don’t worry about anything else and just wait for my news at home.” Chen Hu hung up after saying that.
Coincidentally, his wife had also instructed him to bring Qiao Mei a lot of things for pregnant women. He did not have the chance to send them over yet, but now he could do so this afternoon.
Qiao Mei looked helplessly at the phone speaker with a busy tone and smiled. This was how Chen Hu was. He did things for Qiao Mei without collecting money or asking for any returns. She could only find other ways to repay him.
There were still gloves at home that she had knitted for Xia Zhe. She decided to give them to Chen Hu first, then make a new pair for Xia Zhe. She would also give him some pickled vegetables and two to three pieces of cured meat.
“Mei Mei, are you going to install a phone line?” Wang Qin asked obsequiously.
Qiao Mei immediately had goosebumps all over her body. Wang Qin had never addressed that way before, or even called her “Mei Mei”! Why did it sound so disgusting coming from her mouth!
Wang Qin spoke like this because she wanted to take advantage of the situation. When Qiao Mei redirected the phone line, the line would pass by her house. If Qiao Mei could allow her to tap on it, she would be able to install a phone too.
The reasons why so many people in the village did not direct the phone lines to their houses were because firstly, the phone bill was really very expensive and secondly, the application procedures were very complicated.
Under normal circumstances, if one wanted to install a phone line, one had to go to the county city’s Power Grid Bureau to apply for it. One had to fill in an application form and write down all the information about one’s family. It was already difficult for most people at this step. They were mainly illiterate, and some people even replied that they did not know their exact addresses.
The Power Grid Bureau had staff to help them with these things, but if they themselves could not provide the information, how could the staff help them?
After the application was approved, there would be people coming to do field inspections, draw blueprints and design the routes. It would cost five dollars for the design fee and it would take more than a month for the designer to arrive.
After the design was done, the staff would tell the villagers how many pillars they needed and asked them to prepare it themselves. The pillars sold by the government were pillars with fireproof coating. Not only were they expensive, but they also took a long time to be installed.
Therefore, no one was willing to get a phone line. It was time-consuming and costly. They might as well buy more clothes and food with this amount of money!
No one was willing to spend money on these things that they could not see or touch. Anyway, their loved ones were all by their side and there was no need to contact them by phone.
