Chapter 11: Alarm Bell

“But the price was already agreed upon, how can they do this?” Sister Mei furrowed her brows, frequently glancing down at the pile of river sand below.

Lü Yang watched Sister Mei’s slim back and sighed quietly to himself. A pitiful woman, widowed and still trapped in memories of her old life. Lü Yang had been in contact with her for a long time and understood her well. He knew she was kind-hearted and lived very frugally, a solitary existence that was truly pitiful. Naturally, he sometimes helped her without worrying about payment, but others wouldn’t necessarily do the same.

It was already 5:30 pm, and the porters were still nowhere to be seen. Lü Yang’s workday was over, but seeing Sister Mei’s pleading look fixed on him, he had no choice but to stay. A woman without a man was like missing her backbone; she would even feel afraid to face the sand porters alone. Though Lü Yang was merely a tenant, at times like this, he had to stay and accompany her.

Lü Yang sometimes felt he was too kind-hearted, making his life tiring; it wasn’t a flaw easy to resolve.

Finally, as the sky was almost completely dark around 6:00 pm, five porters rushed over. It seemed they had been busy with other jobs or, possibly for other reasons, deliberately delayed until now. Sister Mei went downstairs to unlock the unit door for them. Lü Yang didn’t go down; he stayed upstairs continuing his electrical work.

The five porters immediately complained to Sister Mei about the low pay for carrying the sand, threatening to walk away and maybe come back tomorrow. Unable to withstand the clamor of the five men, seeing how dark and rain-threatening it was, and knowing it would be hard to find other porters on the street at that hour, Sister Mei worried they might leave and the rain would ruin the three tons of sand she needed moved. She had to relent and increased the pay to three hundred and twenty yuan.

The porters pushed harder, insisting they wouldn’t do it for less than three hundred and fifty. After some haggling, they settled on three hundred and thirty. But then the porters demanded drinks, saying it was hot; they wouldn’t work unless Sister Mei bought them drinks. Sister Mei had to go buy a whole case of drinks before they finally started work.

…

The ringing of a bell started up, sounding like the bell from the nearby school dismissing class, or perhaps like some kind of alarm. The noise seemed to pierce Lü Yang’s eardrums, irritating him intensely. Lü Yang grabbed a hammer and smashed one of the wall grooves open wider. Only after doing that did the ringing outside finally cease.

After the first round of river sand was carried up, the five porters started shouting again that it was too late, saying they’d come back tomorrow. Sister Mei panicked. She begged them to finish carrying the sand up before the rain came tonight, accusing them of going back on their word. They had agreed on a price, gotten a raise, received drinks, and promised to get the sand delivered tonight – and now they wanted to quit?

The five porters wandered aimlessly around the room, tossing excuses back and forth while avoiding going back down. Gradually, their words carried a hint of flirtation.

It couldn’t be blamed entirely on them. Sister Mei had a certain charm about her, the born older-woman type who could be a killer among migrant workers. Even a decent young guy like Lü Yang had entertained impure thoughts about her secretly, let alone those silly old guys hauling sand.

Besides, there was no male master in this house, only an electrician.

Seeing Sister Mei looking at him with a plea for help, Lü Yang, who was installing wiring into his newly bashed wall groove, shook his head. He had no choice but to walk over and reason with the porters, urging them to deliver the sand tonight. Otherwise, if it rained, the sand would get wet, become heavier, and be harder to carry tomorrow.

The issue, it boiled down, remained dissatisfaction with the pay; they wanted more. The moment Lü Yang spoke, they seemed to find an outlet for their frustration, completely ignoring what he said. Especially one bald porter, who pushed forward aggressively, waving his hands. “What the hell is it to you, electrician, whether we work tonight? Mind your own damn business!”

“I’m just stating the facts,” Lü Yang calmly replied to the bald porter, tightening his grip on the hammer. “We laborers should have basic integrity. Once conditions are agreed upon, we should follow through. Otherwise, no one will respect us.”

“Integrity? Hahahaha…” The bald porter arguing with Lü Yang walked over to the wall, pointing at the carved groove and the wiring inside. “Integrity? You, electrician, you’re running wire without conduit, using old cable too! And you talk to us about integrity?”

Lü Yang shook his head. There was nothing more to say. The reason for no conduit and using old cable Sister Mei provided? She wanted to save money, that was why. Circuit upgrades that should have cost over ten thousand yuan, she only wanted to pay one thousand. Lü Yang had no choice but to work out such a solution. Of course, he would do the job solidly; once the wires were in the wall, he guaranteed they’d last Sister Mei at least seven or eight years without trouble.

The wiring in this old flat Lü Yang rented from Sister Mei had no conduit either; the wires were directly buried in the wall grooves. It had lasted over a decade with no problems. Electrical wires ran alongside low-voltage cables for TV, internet, and phone without any interference, contrary to what people often claimed.

In Lü Yang’s view, the separation of power and signal cables, plus using conduit everywhere – well, it made repairs easier, sure. But it was mainly companies adding unnecessary steps to charge customers more. If Sister Mei had been willing to pay more, Lü Yang would have done it properly, adhering strictly to high standards. But explaining this to these porters was pointless, and he didn’t want to waste his breath.

“What’s with this electrician acting so high and mighty? We’re all just outside laborers. Who does he think he is, lecturing us? Brother here has done electric work, too, and I’m way better at it than him.” The other porters also came over, pointing fingers at the wiring on the walls.

“Three tons of sand, delivered upstairs, the standard rate is about three hundred yuan. Three hundred and thirty already exceeds that. You got drinks too. You promised her you’d deliver the sand tonight. You’d only better hurry up; the rain will be here soon.” Ignoring their remarks about the wiring, Lü Yang spoke sternly, urging them again.

“Old man here felt sorry for her and meant to help,” the bald porter jabbed his finger towards Lü Yang’s face, seizing on a righteous-sounding excuse. “But now? Listening to you, electrician, lecturing us brothers – that pissed me off! You made us angry! So tonight? Forget it! Blame yourself for shooting your mouth off!” With that, he signaled to the other four porters and turned to leave.

Sister Mei rushed to the door, pleading desperately for a long while. But the men insisted they had been willing to work tonight – until that damned electrician, Lü Yang, angered them enough to quit.

Lü Yang felt stifled by her words and frustrated. He hadn’t expected his attempt to help would end like this, getting blamed entirely. These past few days had been nothing but trouble. Yi Yi was gone, and he was already upset; now this happened. Lü Yang swung his hammer hard against the wall, smashing it repeatedly, as if releasing pent-up emotions.

Sister Mei failed to bring the porters back. Returning, her face was full of panic. She pulled out her mobile phone and called the owner of the building materials store, asking her to intervene on her behalf with the porters.

After talking to the porters, the store owner called Sister Mei back. She explained that the porters quit because the electrician at her place had offended them with his harsh words. Things being as they were, she couldn’t help anymore.