Chapter 75 – The Radio

No firewood, no coal, and it can boil water and cook food?

The residents of the courtyard found it magical—almost unbelievable. But the invention by the Yimin had already spread far and wide, even making the newspaper. Its fame preceded it, so it wasn’t their place to question it.

So, before the water actually boiled, everyone stood around watching, half skeptical and half curious.

Even Master Gu and the others, who were finishing up their work, couldn’t help but glance over.

Roughly twenty minutes later, the water in the kettle began to boil, bubbling nonstop.

Everyone except Zhou Yimin was amazed.

“Yimin, this thing is great! How does it work?” Luo Dapeng came over, curious, reaching out to touch it.

“Careful! It’s solar-powered. It uses focused sunlight to boil water. Our teachers talked about it back when we were in school. I told you to study, but you insisted on herding cattle instead,” Zhou Yimin said to him.

Someone else asked, “Yimin, how much does it cost to make one of these?”

Clearly, they were tempted.

After all, it doesn’t use firewood or coal and is pretty convenient. It just takes a bit longer. But time didn’t cost them anything anyway.

In the long run, having one of these was clearly a good deal.

“This one was made through the factory. They didn’t charge me anything. But our factory is planning to mass-produce them—you’ll all find out soon.

Actually, not every household needs to buy one. If our courtyard gets three, it’ll be enough—one for the front yard, one for the middle, and one for the back. Everyone can share.

Oh, and one more thing—our factory is planning to expand its hiring,” Zhou Yimin revealed.

That last bit dropped like a bomb. There were still quite a few unemployed young people in the courtyard! And everyone knew how good the pay and benefits were at the steel factory—who wouldn’t want in?

The news about the hiring expansion hadn’t fully spread yet.

Maybe Third Uncle had heard something, but it was all just rumors, so he didn’t alert anyone when he got off work yesterday. He planned to ask around at work today to confirm.

First Uncle, who worked in the infirmary, was even more out of the loop.

“Yimin, how many are they hiring?” First Aunt asked eagerly.

“I heard it’s 500 people.”

That was all Zhou Yimin could say—just passing the word along. He wasn’t planning to sell the job referral he had to anyone in the courtyard.

As soon as he finished speaking, several of the idle young men in the courtyard rushed out.

No doubt they were going to talk with their fathers to see if they could pull some strings or spend money to get into the steel factory.

Not long after, Master Gu and the others completed the finishing touches and asked Zhou Yimin to inspect their work.

He looked it over. It was great.

They had clearly put in a lot of effort, and the renovation result far exceeded his expectations.

“You all worked hard these past days. Here, take this meat—five jin in total.” Zhou Yimin pulled out a bundle of pork he had prepared earlier and handed it to Master Gu.

Master Gu and the others were overjoyed.

The moment he lifted it, he could tell—it was more than five jin.

“Boss, this is more than five jin.”

Zhou Yimin smiled. “Take it home and share it.”

Then he handed Master Gu a small bag of mung beans—about two or three jin—as a reward for giving him information about antique furniture.

Master Gu understood perfectly and accepted it without a word.

With their tools packed, they thanked Zhou Yimin again before leaving.

“Yimin, here’s the leftover sorghum,” Second Aunt said after learning that Master Gu and the others wouldn’t be eating lunch here. She returned what was left.

Zhou Yimin waved her off. “Second Aunt, you keep it! You’ve helped out a lot these past few days.”

“Well, thank you, Yimin!” Second Aunt said happily.

There were still two or three jin of sorghum left.

If Master Gu and the others had stayed for lunch, it would have been just right.

Next, Zhou Yimin returned to his room and brought out a basket of peanuts, going door to door, giving each household a generous handful—about half a jin each. The renovation had been a disturbance, after all.

“Yimin, you’re too kind.”

“Seriously!”

…

Zhou Yimin then packed up the solar stove, strapping it securely to the back of his bicycle. He also brought along the radio he had bought with a radio coupon and set off for Zhoujiazhuang.

He had originally made two solar stoves. According to his plan, one would be kept at the courtyard. But the other had been requisitioned by the factory director and had to stay there.

Just before reaching Zhoujiazhuang, he pulled out a ham.

As soon as he arrived home, Lai Cai and Lai Fang came running up to him, excitedly telling Zhou Yimin that they had gotten rid of a bunch of worms.

Zhou Yimin wanted to say—they really didn’t need to report that to him.

He knew full well how effective the deworming candy was—he had seen it firsthand in his past life.

Grandma, seeing her precious grandson home, immediately pulled up the bean sprouts. They could’ve eaten them yesterday, but since Yimin wasn’t home, she waited an extra day.

Lai Fu was dutifully watching over Qianqian. Whenever he wasn’t studying, he helped take care of the baby—an absolute little gentleman.

Zhou Yimin took out a few pieces of chocolate and handed them to Lai Fang and the others.

No one in Zhoujiazhuang had ever tasted this stuff. Even in the city, chocolate was a luxury item. Most kids never even got to see it, let alone eat it.

Lai Fang broke off a tiny piece to eat, then carefully wrapped up the rest and took it home. Seeing no one around, she sneakily opened a box, which was already full of little treats Zhou Yimin had given her.

She put the wrapped chocolate inside and carefully returned the box to its original spot, wiping away any trace.

Zhou Yimin, meanwhile, hung the ham in the kitchen. They could slice up a couple of plates for lunch.

“Grandma, I bought you a radio so you won’t get bored,” Zhou Yimin said as he took it out, inserted the batteries, and flipped the switch. A buzzing sound immediately filled the room.

He still needed to tune it.

In his past life, he’d even heard rumors that some radios could pick up foreign stations. He never tried it himself, so he didn’t know if it was true.

Just then, Grandpa came home.

He’d been walking around the village, but upon hearing that his grandson was back, he rushed home.

As soon as he stepped through the door, he saw his beloved grandson fiddling with some kind of machine.

“What’s that?”

Grandma proudly replied, “Yimin bought me a radio so I wouldn’t be bored.”

Grandpa had a wristwatch and loved showing it off. Now Grandma had her own “big-ticket” item. A radio—surely that was better than a watch, right?

Although he felt a little bad about Yimin spending money, he couldn’t help but feel happy.

“A radio?” Grandpa’s eyes widened as he hurried over, clearly intrigued.

It was a tabletop vacuum-tube radio, under 40 centimeters long, less than 30 centimeters high, and just over 20 centimeters wide.

To be honest, it was pretty bulky—much bigger than the palm-sized radios Zhou Yimin had seen in his past life.

The outer casing had a light wood grain finish. The front panel was covered in creamy yellow silk. In the upper right corner was a rectangular “cat-eye” indicator light to show signal accuracy. Below that were three yellow knobs—for power, volume, and tuning.

Zhou Yimin carefully turned the knob, and suddenly, a voice came through. He quickly dialed back slightly.

The sound became clear, though still a little soft.

Zhou Yimin adjusted the volume while explaining to Grandpa and Grandma how to use it.

Grandpa, Grandma, and even Lai Fu and the others were all amazed to hear voices coming from the radio.

(End of Chapter)