Back in the 1980s, hiking in the mountains was also a way of life

Chapter 1251 Be Cautious, Be Extremely Cautious

In the morning, Wang An got up early as usual to practice his martial arts, but he practiced in the backyard of the guesthouse.

There's no way around it; martial arts training is something that requires perseverance. Once you slack off, it becomes very difficult to pick it up again. So, unless there are extremely special circumstances, Wang An insists on doing it every day.

When Wang An finished practicing his martial arts and returned to his room, Wang Li and Mu Xueli were staring blankly at the television screen, which was filled with static. As soon as they saw Wang An enter, Mu Xueli couldn't wait to say:
“Brother-in-law, this TV isn’t as good as ours. I remember the TV sold by the supply and marketing cooperative in our county cost about 450 yuan. Why don’t we just pay them back?”

Wang Li also chimed in:

"Yeah, we didn't break it on purpose. It's more than enough to pay them for a new TV."

It's clear that these two are quite upset at this moment.

It's understandable that they're upset, since for the two of them, just because they watched TV half the night, they each had to pay more than 200 yuan in compensation. No matter how you look at it, it's really quite humiliating.

Wang An looked at the television screen, which was filled with static, and frowned, saying to the two of them:
"What are you going to compensate me for? The TV isn't broken. It's just that it's not time yet, the TV station staff haven't started work, so they haven't broadcast the program, and we can't watch TV. Do you understand?"

Television was a very rare thing in this era, so it was perfectly normal for Wang Li and Mu Xueli not to know anything about it.

After Wang An finished speaking, Mu Xueli and Wang Li exchanged glances, and then Mu Xueli said, somewhat bewildered:
"Brother-in-law, what do you mean? The TV is just sitting here, what does it have to do with the TV station? They didn't break it."

Wang Li also chimed in:

"Yeah, Fourth Brother, you don't need to comfort us. We'll take responsibility if we mess it up."

Before Wang Li could finish speaking, Wang An impatiently interrupted him:

"Holy crap, you two are seriously ill. I told you it's not broken, so it's not broken, understand?"

Seeing the two men's utterly bewildered expressions, Wang An continued:

"A television is similar to a radio. A radio has radio stations, and a television has television stations. A radio can make sound because the radio station is transmitting signals. If you want people to appear on a television, then there needs to be a television station transmitting signals."

After Wang An rambled on for a while, Wang Li and Mu Xueli finally understood. Once they understood what was going on, the two of them, who had been frowning since they woke up, finally smiled.

Wang Li, his eyes gleaming, watched the television and said:

"Fourth Brother, you have such a strong relationship with Brother Wu and Eldest Sister, could you just ask them to find someone and help you buy a TV ticket?"

As soon as Wang Li finished speaking, Mu Xueli hurriedly said:
"Two tickets, two tickets, I want to buy one too."

Wang An looked at the two of them with a smile and said:

"What's wrong? You two are addicted to watching TV?"

The two nodded in unison, and Mu Xueli said with a face full of anticipation:

"Yeah, this thing is so beautiful. I was thinking if I had a TV before I got married, I would be so proud in my village."

Wang An said with a smile:

"The TV tickets are easy to get, and the TV itself isn't difficult either, but there's something you should be prepared for."

Wang Li looked at Wang An with great confusion and asked:

"Fourth Brother, what's up?" Wang An replied:

"Once the TV is turned on, everyone in the village will have to come to your house to watch TV. Your house will be packed with people inside and outside every day."

"If you keep putting yourself in a difficult position and don't let the villagers come to your house to watch TV, then you won't be able to stay in the village anymore. You won't even be able to find anyone to help you with something as simple as farm work."

After a pause, Wang An continued:
"But if you let them watch TV, not to mention anything else, just the smell of smoke and the sour stench from those people who haven't taken a bath in years would suffocate you."

"In less than half a month, your bright white room will be scorched yellow by the smoke, and even the luggage and pillows on the kang (heated brick bed) will smell terrible."

Seeing the deep furrows on Wang Li and Mu Xueli's brows, Wang An continued with a smile:

"Besides these, you also have to worry about something else, which is those damn people in the village, especially those lazy bums who are always finding fault with others. They'll definitely be talking behind your backs and won't say a nice word about you."

What Wang An said was not alarmist talk or wild speculation, but something that actually happened in Kaoshantun in Wang An's previous life.

Of course, it wasn't just Kaoshantun; other villages were the same.

In any case, the families in the village who bought televisions first would inevitably suffer the things Wang An described.

The key issue is that there's still no good solution for this kind of problem.

Wang An clearly remembered that in his previous life, the village head Niu Yiqun's family was the first to buy a television in Kaoshan Village. However, because he was the village head, many people did not dare to offend him, so his family was relatively quiet after the television was installed.

But the second family to buy a television, the family of bricklayer Sun Xiangyang, suffered greatly.

Since they bought a television, their house has been packed with people every night—on the kang (heated brick bed), on the floor, in the outer room, and outside the windows—more than a bus during rush hour in later generations.

The main problem is that people in those days weren't very particular, and they would make a mess of other people's houses, leaving melon seed shells, dried fruit shells, cigarette butts, cigarette ash, and candy wrappers all over the floor and the kang (heated brick bed).

The worst part is that because most of the houses in the area have heated brick beds (kang), people sitting on them sometimes spit on other people's windowsills. The blankets and mattresses on the kang also become their go-to tools for wiping their noses.
In this situation, who wouldn't get angry?

So, after enduring it for more than a month, Sun Xiangyang's family simply stopped having a TV, and later even sold it.

But just because his family sold the TV, those bastards started gossiping about him behind his back and even doing bad things to him.

It has to be said that when people act on their own desires, they can be incredibly shameless and utterly despicable.

This is actually the main reason why Wang An never bought a TV for his home after the village got electricity.

After Wang An finished speaking, Mu Xueli frowned and said:

"What should we do then? Fourth Brother, if you say it like that, then we can't buy the TV?"

Wang An shook his head and said:

"Well, you see. Anyway, if you're thinking of buying a TV these days, you really need to be very, very careful."

Seeing that the two of them didn't look too good, Wang An suggested:

"Alright, alright, stop thinking about it. Let's go downstairs and eat first."

(End of this chapter)