Traveling back to 1977

Chapter 610 Installing Air Conditioning

August 10th, Thursday, Qixi Festival (Chinese Valentine's Day).

As Zhou Yali dragged her suitcase out of the airport, she immediately spotted Chen Fan and his two companions not far away. She rushed over and, once they were in front of her, she abandoned her luggage and pounced on them with open arms, exclaiming, "Brother, I've missed you so much!"

Chen Fan remained calm in the face of danger. He grabbed her arm with one hand and pressed the back of her head with the other, turned around and pushed her into the van with the back door open. "Go."

Then, with a gesture, Jiang Tiantian and Jiang Lili got into the car with smiles on their faces and closed the car door behind them.

Chen Fan first dragged the suitcase to the back and put it in the trunk, then went around to the driver's side, opened the door, got in the car, fastened his seatbelt, and drove away.

Zhou Yali sat in the chair, looking around curiously. "What kind of vehicle is this? It looks a bit like the Volkswagen T2 minibus, but smaller. Hmm... it looks more like a small work vehicle."

Jiang Lili sat with her in the middle row and introduced with a smile, "This is a minibus. Xiao Fan said it's a transliteration of 'minibus,' and it looks a lot like bread, so we named it that."

Zhou Yali's eyes darted around slightly. "The name he chose?"

Jiang Lili nodded and smiled, "Yes, he designed this car."

Upon hearing this, Zhou Yali's eyes widened instantly. She grabbed the back of the front seat and leaned closer. "Brother, you can design cars?"

Without turning his head, Chen Fan gently slapped her forehead and said, "We're driving, sit tight."

Zhou Yali immediately rubbed her head, then turned around and grabbed Jiang Lili's arm, "You must know, tell me quickly."

Jiang Lili took her hand and cheerfully told her about the origin of the car, "That was more than half a year ago. At that time, the leaders of the machinery factory came to Xiao Fan..."

Jiang Tiantian sat in the last row, listening to her younger sister introduce Zhou Yali, a smile involuntarily appearing on her lips. Her cousin had asked the right person, or rather, the right question. If it were anything else, her younger sister wouldn't be so enthusiastic, but when it came to Xiao Fan, her favorite thing to do was to introduce Xiao Fan's achievements to others.

I reckon we'll have plenty to talk about along the way.

More than half an hour later, when the car arrived at her doorstep, Jiang Lili had barely finished recounting half of Comrade Chen Fan's glorious deeds.

Chen Fan glanced at the rearview mirror. Well, none of the three women seemed inclined to get out of the car, so he got out to open the gate and then drove the car in.

The three of them opened the car door and filed out.

Zhou Yali, not bothering to get her luggage, grabbed Chen Fan, who had just gotten off the bus, and looked him up and down as if he were an alien. "Aren't you going to be honest? Tell me, which planet are you from?"

The two Jiang sisters stood together, their eyes filled with confusion as they looked at her.

Chen Fan dragged someone around, first closing the courtyard gate, then taking the luggage from the trunk, and then walking home. At the same time, he explained to the two sisters, "In 1947, someone in Roswell, USA, claimed to have discovered a flying saucer, which was said to be an alien spacecraft. It was later named UFO, which means unidentified flying object."

Since then, the UFO craze has remained strong, and speculation about extraterrestrial life has never ceased.

Upon hearing this, the two sisters understood what Zhou Yali meant and looked at her and laughed.

Zhou Yali didn't take it to heart. She simply let go of his hand and exclaimed, "I thought you knew enough, but I didn't expect you to know how to design cars too."

She suddenly laughed happily, "Now I officially declare you to be abnormal, so I don't have to feel inferior anymore!"

Chen Fan turned to look at her and asked curiously, "You've ever felt inferior? That's rare."

Zhou Yali made a face, too lazy to pay attention to him, and dragged her luggage into the guest room on the first floor, while shouting, "I'll stay here, no need to climb the stairs."

He then walked out, looked around, and frowned slightly. "Brother, are air conditioners still available for sale in China?"

Chen Fan exchanged a glance with the two sisters, raised his eyebrows smugly, and then said, "Well, air conditioners are a household appliance that's not difficult to make. How could they not be available? You want to buy an air conditioner?"

Zhou Yali nodded repeatedly, "I can't sleep at home without air conditioning."

Chen Fan snapped his fingers. "Follow me."

Before they could even sit down, the group was already driving off again.

When they returned, they were followed by a light truck and several installation technicians.

Watching the installation workers split into two groups and busy at work, Chen Fan stood under the shade of a tree, feeling quite indignant. "Dollar is so tempting. Just pull out a check, and you can have as many air conditioners as you want. If you don't have enough, they can produce more right away. They even install them faster than others. They skipped the scheduled appointments and came here to install them first, and they even have two groups."

Zhou Yali was drinking mung bean soup, looking at him with a puzzled expression. "I paid extra. Five air conditioners, $100 each, and another $100 each for expedited installation. And this is your house."

Chen Fan fell silent, realizing he had been too excited and too impulsive, and needed to change.

A moment later, an experienced craftsman came over, and Chen Fan immediately took out a cigarette to greet him. "Master, is there something you need?"

The experienced man took the cigarette, picked it up and looked at it. Wow, it was a Zhonghua cigarette with a filter tip. That's rare.

He immediately took Chen Fan's outstretched hand in his hands, lit it with a lighter, and grinned, saying, "Nothing else, it's just that you installed 5 air conditioners at once, so the wiring definitely needs to be replaced."

Chen Fan frowned slightly, "Then I don't have time to contact the power supply station now. Why don't you guys..."

Before he could finish speaking, the experienced craftsman waved his hand to interrupt him, "You don't need to look for them. We have experience. We already informed them before we came, and someone should be here soon."

It's just changing the wiring, it won't take much effort. What I mean is, since your family is so well-off, you must have a refrigerator, right?

Chen Fan immediately understood and nodded repeatedly, "I understand. The refrigerator needs to be unplugged, and easily meltable items need to be disposed of promptly."

The experienced craftsman chuckled and nodded, "Yes, that's exactly what I mean."

Chen Fan turned to Zhou Yali and said, "Go tell Lili to bring out all the mung bean soup so the chefs can cool off in the heat."

"okay."

Zhou Yali ran outside without saying a word.

The old craftsman then slowly waved his hand, "Oh, no need, no need, really no need."

Chen Fan's lips twitched slightly. "The person's already gone, why are you still dragging them along?"

After exchanging a few polite words, the old master craftsman, seeing that Chen Fan seemed quite easy to talk to, asked in a low voice, "Is that young lady a relative of yours overseas?"

Chen Fan smiled and nodded. "How did you know she came back from overseas?"

The old craftsman chuckled, "The clothes they wear are different from ours, and their mannerisms are different too. How could you not tell such an obvious difference?"

He paused for a moment and then said, "Those of us in this line of work have met quite a few overseas Chinese. When they come back to visit relatives, many of them go on a shopping spree. Televisions and washing machines are not uncommon, and many people also buy refrigerators and air conditioners."

He chuckled as he spoke, "Many of them, like your relative, don't want to wait, so they pay extra to pick up the goods and pay extra for installation. That's how we learned this trick."

Chen Fan nodded as if he suddenly understood. "I see. You guys are quite knowledgeable. I didn't know this." The old master seemed very proud. He stood up straight, puffed out his chest, put one hand on his hip, and held his cigarette high with the other. "Actually, it's nothing. It's just the nature of the industry. If you work in a foreign-related store, you'll be used to it."

At this moment, three women came out carrying trays, each containing a large bowl of mung bean soup made of coarse porcelain. The chefs, seeing how polite they were, quickly expressed their gratitude.

They expressed their gratitude, but didn't seem overwhelmed by the gesture. They remain the senior workers, retaining their inherent pride.

Chen Fan then gave each of them a pack of filtered Zhonghua cigarettes. The old master immediately patted his chest to assure them that the quality and quantity were guaranteed and everything was fine.

Sure enough, not long after, people from the power supply station also arrived.

The two electricians were busy replacing some of the wiring.

After they finished their work, Chen Fan quickly served the remaining mung bean soup and a pack of cigarettes to each person.

The two craftsmen were about to leave, but seeing how polite the host was, they decided to stay and take a break.

The older master craftsman first finished his mung bean soup in one gulp, let out a satisfied burp, then took the cigarette Chen Fan offered and thanked him with a smile. "Actually, the wiring for this building was done by my apprentice and me last year. I never expected it would be sold to you later. It's quite a coincidence that we're here today to rewire it."

Chen Fan laughed and said, "It's all fate, it's all fate."

The experienced craftsman nodded, "That's right, that's right."

He paused for a moment, glanced at the small villa, and said, “Comrade, I think you’re a good person, so I’ll give you a heads-up. Although you’ve installed five air conditioners all at once, it’s best not to turn them all on at once. During the day, you can turn on one or two at most, and at night you can turn on one or two more, that’s enough. If you turn them all on, I’m afraid that even if you change the wiring, it still won’t be able to handle it, and the circuit breaker will trip.”

Chen Fan nodded repeatedly, "I understand, I understand, I promise I won't go all out at the same time."

Zhou Yali's room definitely needs one air conditioner, and her own room also needs one during the day. The two sisters don't need one, so at night they can sleep together. That way, at most three air conditioners will be running at the same time.

It's just that Zhou Yali had too much money and was spending it recklessly, and Chen Fan didn't care, so he let her buy 5 air conditioners at once: one in the first-floor room, one in each of the three rooms on the second floor, and finally one in the large study and music room on the third floor, so that she could enjoy the air conditioning while reading.

As for turning on 5 machines at once, that's generally impossible.

Seeing that Chen Fan was easy to talk to, the old master said again, "It's rare to meet someone as reasonable as you."

He flicked his cigarette ash, looked at the air conditioning technicians busy on the exterior wall, and said softly, "Shanghai is a big city. Ever since I started working as an electrician, it has always been short of electricity. When the country was first established, the requirement we were given by the higher authorities was to ensure that the people 'have access to electricity.' Later, when electricity was finally widely available, a new requirement was put forward: 'enough electricity.'"

He took a drag of his cigarette and exhaled a cloud of smoke in frustration. “But how can that be enough? We’re just a power supplier. We don’t have any electricity from the power plant. Where are we supposed to get electricity for the residents?”
So, from the beginning until now, there's never been enough electricity. Besides, ensuring electricity for production is the top priority. What can we do when there's a power shortage? We can only cut off the power. One area will be without power today, another area will be without power tomorrow. Everyone takes turns using it and just makes do.

The ability to guarantee electricity supply at night is only possible because most factories shut down their machines at night, and the extra electricity is then supplied to residents.

Even so, I still get yelled at every time there's a power outage.

Chen Fan was very curious and asked, "To your face?"

The old master craftsman raised his chin proudly and said, "Who dares?!"

Chen Fan shrank his neck. "That's true."

Even he wouldn't dare.

The old worker sighed and flicked his cigarette ash. "Although no one dares to curse him to his face, we know that he writes letters to newspapers and to the power company. It's tough."

Chen Fan was also at a loss. In order to solve the electricity problem, Lujiawan went to cooperate with Qingshan Commune to set up a small hydropower station, and almost made a big mess of it. What way could he possibly solve the electricity problem for such a big city as Shanghai?

I'd better wait until the installers finish installing the air conditioner and then stay home to calm down.

Window air conditioners are relatively easy to install; you just need to make a hole in the window and embed the air conditioner in it. There is no outdoor unit.

However, the windows also need to be modified at the same time.

These days, air conditioner installers naturally understand this process, so they also bring along carpenters who can modify windows.

(Window air conditioners still have a large market in Hong Kong today because they don't take up much space and don't require an external unit. The disadvantages are that they consume a lot of electricity and are noisy.)

After working for most of the day, the air conditioner was finally installed. After testing each unit and confirming that there were no problems, the technicians prepared to leave.

Chen Fan politely invited them to stay for dinner, but the chefs politely declined. After going through the proper procedure, he saw them all out. Closing the courtyard gate, Chen Fan put his hands on his hips, looked at the large, protruding rear end sticking out of the window, and nodded in satisfaction.

He then waved his hand and said, "Let's go, let's go enjoy the air conditioning."

Zhou Yali ran into the house first, followed by the two sisters, their eyes full of anticipation.

They had all seen the air conditioner Chen Fan had installed in Yunhu, but they had never used it, so they were quite curious.

When they entered the guest room on the first floor, Zhou Yali had already turned on the air conditioner.

Amidst the buzzing noise, a sharp, cold wind soon blew out, quickly dissipating the heat in the room.

The four of them brought in chairs and sat down. Jiang Lili felt the cool air from the air conditioner and exclaimed in amazement, "So summer can be this cool!"

Jiang Tiantian didn't say anything, but she was already thinking about how to write an article about her first time using air conditioning.

Regardless of whether it can be sent out, things that can pique people's interest must be recorded.

Yes, this was taught by Chen.

Chen Fan leaned back in his chair, crossed his legs, and thought to himself, "I have a computer and air conditioning, all I need is internet access, and then I'll have the basic conditions for a stay-at-home guy to escape the summer heat."

By the way, when was the internet invented?

It seems that Cisco's founder and his wife developed the multi-protocol router and built the world's first small local area network, which led to the existence of Cisco and the internet.

What were their names again?

Chen Fan scratched his head. He had used Cisco products before he transmigrated, but he hadn't really paid much attention to their founders.

Forget it, I'll talk to my uncle later and ask him to contact Stanford University to see if they can get the Chinese input method out of the way once it's developed.

Even if they can't save the company in the future, they can at least make a fortune and keep some shares in their hands. Before that, they can also facilitate technical cooperation with domestic universities. They might as well take advantage of this opportunity.

Just as he turned to talk to Zhou Yali about it, Zhou Yali also turned to him and said, "Brother, I don't think this air conditioner is very good quality. It's too noisy and there's no temperature control system. It's so cold and it's still blowing cold air. It's not smart at all."

"What do you think about opening an office in mainland China and importing American electronics? Would that be a viable business?"

(End of this chapter)