Outsider: The Fifth Young Master of the Kang Family

"Dad, dad, dad, mom, this is a big deal!"

At around 3 a.m., Da Lao Guang was banging on the door of Lao Dou's mother's room frantically. The shouting woke up everyone else at home before waking up Lao Dou's mother. Everyone surrounded Da Lao Guang and asked him what was wrong, but he didn't say anything and continued to bang on Lao Dou's mother's door. Lao Dou opened the door in a panic and saw that everyone was there and no one was in trouble. He calmed down and asked slowly, "What's the matter?"

"I just took a nap for a while, and the coal stove went out for no reason." Big Brother Guang said in a panic.

"It went out again?" The maid glared at him and said unhappily, "What's wrong with you? Why are you dozing off when I asked you to be on duty?"

Big Brother Guang explained: "I don't want to do that either. What can I do if my eyelids insist on sticking together?"

Kang Qirui stepped forward and said, "If it goes out, just light it up again. It's no big deal. Let's all go back to sleep. Second brother, call your cousin Bing tomorrow and ask him to get some twigs and pine torches from the countryside so that the fire can be easily ignited." He thought for a moment and said, "Oh, big brother, go buy a piece of iron tomorrow and make a furnace seal. If you don't know how to make it, Uncle Guan also uses a coal stove. You can borrow his furnace seal and follow his example."

Da Laoguang is very good at hands-on work. He basically does all the carpentry and plumbing work at home. Kang Qirui feels that something as simple as sealing a furnace with a piece of iron is absolutely no problem with Da Laoguang's ability.

This thing was relatively simple for Big Brother Guang. He went to Uncle Guan to take a look and remembered what it looked like. It only took him five minutes to make two at home, so he didn't have to worry about losing them.

"Aunt and uncle." In the afternoon, my cousin Bing came to Kang's house carrying a large hemp bag. "Great stuff, aunt and uncle."

"What good things can you give to honor your aunt?" the nanny said with a smile.

Cousin Bing first took out a few large sunflower fans from the sack, and then took out a few pairs of clogs. "Why did you take these out? No one wears clogs now." Cousin Bing brought out a pile of dust, and the nanny waved her hand and said.

"If you don't want to wear it, just use it to warm the stove. It's just sitting at home anyway." Cousin Bing smiled and introduced the other things he had taken out, such as pine torches and kerosene.

The mother of Lao Dou originally wanted to keep cousin Bing at home for dinner, but cousin Bing said that he had things to do at home and rushed home without even eating. Xiu Gu also came back today. After she finished cooking dinner, she found Lao Dou and said that her job did not include the coal stove, and she did not know how to do it.

Usually, Xiu Gu only cooked three meals a day and cleaned and washed clothes at Kang's house. Heavy work such as changing gas and water were done by Kang's family. Therefore, this time Xiu Gu said that she didn't want to go through the furnace, but her father didn't force her. Xiu Gu got the confirmation and went home after get off work.

"Now my cousin has brought a lot of materials for furnace penetration. I would like to take this opportunity to let everyone learn how to do it." The old man called everyone to a meeting again. He didn't want to be the one to do it every time.

“Ahhhhhhh?” The second brother responded immediately.

"What are you arguing about? I haven't finished talking yet." The old man asked everyone to be quiet first, and then said: "This is not only my opinion, but also your mother's opinion."

The nanny continued what the father said, "Let me tell you, before the gas price drops, we will use coal stoves for a long time. Do you think you will not eat when we go out? Xiu Gu's job does not include running the coal stove, and we can't add more work for her for nothing."

"You can order food." The second brother retorted.

Kang Qirui thought for a moment and said, "Since you are out, let Xiugu use the gas. We need gas to cook now, how much can we use?" He paused and said, "And wait for the gas price to drop? Our school has also been paying attention to the price trend of international crude oil recently. The professors and teachers of the School of Finance and Economics think that this year crude oil has a great chance of breaking through $80. It is only $64 now, and there is still a long time for it to rise."

"If we really want to wait until the gas price drops before using gas, how long do we have to wait? Those few dollars are really unnecessary." Kang Qirui glanced at Lao Dou secretly, and then continued: "Lao Dou and his wife, I have no objection to you using a coal stove, but there is no need to force everyone to use it."

When Lao Dou and his wife wanted to play with the coal stove, Kang Qirui was willing to take a shift at night to play with them, but he was not very willing to play with them. Lao Dou glared at Kang Qirui and said to himself: "What I mean is, whoever learns to play with the coal stove will not have to take a shift at night."

The boss' eyes lit up immediately, and he said excitedly: "That's different, I promise I can learn this kind of thing in no time."

Kang Qirui glanced at the excited Da Lao Guang and said speechlessly: "Boss, you just made two pieces of furnace sealing iron today. Remember to add coal to seal the furnace at night and burn it until morning. Why do you need someone to be on duty?" Da Lao Guang was stunned, and the others also reacted. Isn't what the old man said the same as not saying anything?

Seeing that everyone's enthusiasm had dropped, the nanny had no choice but to say, "Whoever learns to penetrate the furnace will have another reward."

"Mom, if you have a reward, why don't you teach Xiu Gu and give it to Xiu Gu as a bonus or overtime pay." Kang Qirui said. The mom snorted and stood up and said, "Oh, you just want to confront me, right?"

Kang Qirui pulled the nanny to sit down, fanned her, and advised: "I just think that since we have already hired a nanny, it is a waste of time to do the work by ourselves. It would be better to give Xiu Gu some extra money and let her be responsible for the furnace."

"It's better to use gas than to pay her extra money to let her use the stove." The old man glanced at Kang Qirui. He was considering it from a cost perspective.

Kang Qirui shrugged his shoulders and said slowly, "It's up to you to decide. In fact, you don't have to worry too much, old Dou and mother. Anyway, we have furnace sealing iron now, so it's no problem to keep the fire burning. A coal ball is only 20 cents."

Although Kang Qirui's words were reasonable, the old lady still went back to her room angrily. Da Laoguang and Xianglan looked at each other and chased after her. In order not to spoil the old couple's fun, they promised the old lady that they would take the responsibility of burning the coal stove when they were not at home.

"Mom, I told you we are smart, right? In just two hours, Xianglan and I have already learned how to penetrate the furnace." The big man learned for two hours and finally penetrated the coal stove. "What's the reward?"

"I'll give you two a bowl of sugar water each as a reward." The nanny said with a smile. Da Lao Guang and Xiang Lan didn't say anything. They were satisfied that Lao Dou and the nanny were happy.

The old lady, the mother of Dou, and the eldest brother Guang Xianglan each had a bowl of sugar water to eat, while the others had no portion and watched TV with empty hands.

"Uncle Kang." Director Ye from the Street Office knocked on the door outside, then walked into Kang's house, "Is everyone here? Haven't you had supper yet?" Director Ye greeted everyone, then said to his father, "Uncle Kang, I'm sorry to bother you. My mother bought a coal stove, but it won't light up at all. I don't know why. I'd like to ask you to help."

"Director Ye, my father doesn't need to go out for this kind of thing, I can help you with it. I'll go after I finish this bowl of sugar water." The big boss who just learned how to cook through the furnace looked very proud.

"A Guang, you can also cook through the furnace?" Director Ye sighed, and then said: "That's good, you take your time to eat, I'll wait for you."

In the next few days, many neighbors came to ask Da Lao Guang to teach them how to cook. Sometimes they were even called away while they were eating. After Da Lao Guang came back from helping another family, he sat down and said, "This is really annoying. I can't even have a good meal. I'm not saying I won't help them, but you have to let me finish my meal, right?"

He was just halfway through his meal when he was pulled away from the table. When he came back, everyone else was full and the food was cold, so he complained.

The second sister-in-law rolled her eyes and suggested, "You think he's annoying, right? This is very simple. Turn this annoying thing into money, that's the market economy. Where there is a market, there is an economy. If you think it's annoying, then put up a sign outside that says 'Furnace heating for customers, paid service', fifty yuan per person."

"Ah?" This is also possible? Everyone was surprised. Generally speaking, everyone might think that the best business person in the family is either Kang Qirui, the second brother, or Sachiko, but unexpectedly, the most business-minded person in the family is the second sister-in-law? (End of this chapter)