Outsider: The Fifth Young Master of the Kang Family

It was December, and after leaving Xixili Group, Da Lao Guang returned to Ruhao Tea Restaurant to work, still doing his previous warehousing job.

Early in the morning, when Lao Dou's mother was about to go out, she heard the phone ring, and Lao Dou picked it up. After chatting for a few words, he hung up the phone and turned to Kang Qirui, Da Lao Guang and Ersao who were resting at home today and said, "The street will have a meeting at 10:, which is about garbage classification. Your mother and I are going to visit your third uncle, who is in the hospital. If you three have nothing to do at home, just find someone to go."

"Yes, just find anyone to go." The nanny also said something, and then went out with the old man.

The second sister-in-law rolled her eyes and said, "Uncle, what a coincidence! I have made an appointment with a master to dye my hair. It would be most suitable for you to go to this kind of meeting. Maybe you can even have a big meal after the meeting." After saying that, she stood up and went back to her room.

Big Brother Guang rolled his eyes speechlessly and said, "If there really is a dinner party, why don't you go? What are you talking about?" As he said that, he turned his head to look at Kang Qirui, who also had something in mind and said, "Ah Rui, you have nothing to do today anyway, and you are just sitting there waiting for dinner, why don't you go to the street meeting?"

The second sister-in-law also nodded and said, "Yes, yes, your school has meetings all the time anyway, you are used to it. The street meetings are definitely not as long as your school meetings."

Kang Qirui waved his hand, neither saying he would go nor not. The second sister-in-law and the eldest brother looked at each other, and decided to assume that Kang Qirui agreed, and went back to their own rooms.

At noon, when Lao Dou's mother came back for lunch, Lao Dou asked, "By the way, what is the content of the street meeting today?" The second sister-in-law and the eldest brother Guangjun were only busy eating, and Kang Qirui didn't say anything. Lao Dou then asked again, "Hey, hey, hey, I want to ask you guys, what is the content of the street meeting this year?"

The second sister-in-law and the eldest brother Guang both looked at Kang Qirui. Kang Qirui thought for a moment and changed the subject: "Dou, you and Nanny went to visit the third uncle today. How is he? Nothing wrong, right?"

The old man was not misled by Kang Qirui's words. He still insisted: "I am asking you now what the content of today's meeting is? Tell me."

"That's right, Master. He's going to a meeting." The second sister-in-law pointed at Kang Qirui and said, "Just look at him. He's going to a meeting. He'll tell you."

Kang Qirui shrugged and said, "I didn't go."

"What a waste, you mean none of you went, right?" The old man got angry when he heard it, "You can't even do anything well when I ask you to do it."

"In fact, the purpose of holding a garbage classification meeting today is nothing more than telling people not to litter. Our Kang family has done a very good job in this matter. If we admit that we are second, who else dares to claim to be first? It doesn't matter whether this kind of meeting is held or not." Big Brother Guang said so.

But my father disagreed and said, "You are wrong. Since Director Ye notified us to go to the meeting, it must be something important. If you don't go, you are not giving him face and not supporting him."

"Yes, don't underestimate garbage classification. We developed Western countries attach great importance to it. It is wrong for you not to attend the meeting." Diana also agreed with her father's opinion.

Kang Qirui was full by then, so he put down his bowl and chopsticks and said with a wry smile, "Dad, if Diana doesn't know, don't you know? How many years have we in Guangzhou been doing garbage sorting? Fourteen years! We started promoting it in 92, encouraged residents to implement garbage sorting in 99, and became one of the eight pilot cities for garbage sorting in 00, but so what?"

As early as three years ago, the garbage classification coverage rate in Xiguan District once reached 100%. Last year, the household garbage classification collection and sorting recycling project was listed as one of the 20 major environmental protection projects in the Shanghai International Studies University, and it is planned to form the basic framework of garbage classification regulations in five years.

However, all this is just a "utopian" dream.

The simplest question: what is recyclable and what is not recyclable? Most citizens can't tell the difference. For example, should batteries be put in the "hazardous waste" bin or the "other waste" bin?

Are you dizzy? You may not have experienced the horror of separating wet and dry food waste and breaking the bag to put it in. When putting food waste in, you must break the bag and pour the waste into the "food waste" bucket, drain the water, and then put the garbage bag into the "other garbage" bucket.

Once the "kitchen waste" bin is opened, all kinds of wet garbage will accumulate and ferment inside. I can't even imagine what kind of smell it will emit.
But these problems are not the real reason why Kang Qirui didn't go to the meeting. These problems can still be solved, but the core question is, "After the residents have sorted the garbage, can it be transported away in time? When it is transported, is it collected separately or mixed? When it arrives at the garbage treatment plant, to what extent can it be sorted and processed? Have you thought about these questions?" Kang Qirui looked at Diana and Lao Dou and asked. Diana wanted to insist, but Lao Dou, who is a Cantonese, already understood.

After the residents have sorted the garbage, the garbage truck still has to wait until the next day to take it away, and it dumps all the garbage together as before. This situation is a slap in the face for those citizens who have personally sorted their garbage. These problems have plagued Guangzhou for 20 years and are the main reason why garbage sorting has not been successful.

This is also the reason why the garbage classification coverage rate in Xiguan District reached 100% three years ago, but today the streets still need to hold garbage classification meetings. Everyone thinks that since you don’t classify even your garbage dump, then I won’t classify either.

"Diana should be asked to lead the meeting today. She is the most suitable person." The second sister-in-law also sorted garbage for a few months and knew that this kind of thing was impossible. Seeing that Diana was still insisting, she teased her.

"Oh, maybe the policy has been improved this time." Dad eased Diana's embarrassment. He thought for a moment and said, "Forget it, I'll call Director Ye to ask."

"Wait until after dinner. Director Ye also needs to eat." The nanny quickly held him back, but the old man didn't care about that anymore and walked to the dining room on his own.

The mother looked at his back helplessly, then angrily said to everyone: "You guys are really stupid. You know that your father cares most about the street work, but you don't care whether the garbage classification can be implemented. There is nothing to lose if you just find someone to hold a meeting."

As soon as the nanny finished speaking, the old man came back angrily. "What instructions does Director Ye have?" Kang Qirui asked.

"What are you talking about? Talking about the importance of garbage classification and environmental protection." The old man paused and said, "I don't care what others do, nor do I care what the garbage trucks do. Since the street now requires us to do garbage classification, then our Kang family must do it well. What others do is their own business, and we cannot not do it. Do you understand?"

"I got it, I got it." Everyone agreed. Kang Qirui didn't care about this matter at all. If his father wanted to do it, he would do it.

The next morning, my father walked into the kitchen and muttered to himself, "The garbage truck is here so early today. Let's clear out the garbage first."

Xianglan also got up early today. She was cooking soup in the kitchen and said, "Dad, don't worry. I'll pour it for you when I go to work."

"This garbage will stink if it's left there for too long." Dad waved his hand. He saw that the bottle of soy sauce in the spice rack was empty, so he took the bottle and put it in the garbage bag. Xianglan quickly stopped him and said, "Dad, this bottle can be recycled. It can't be put together with these non-recyclable garbage. Didn't you say that we need to sort the garbage?"

"Can this bottle be recycled?" The old man looked at the bottle in his hand and shook his head: "No, this is useless garbage and can be thrown away together."

"Dad, it's your business what others do. We in the Kang family have to sort our garbage." Xianglan is also a stubborn person. "This bottle can be sold for money after recycling."

"Don't I know? These bottles are very dirty after use. If I fill them with light soy sauce and sell them to you, will you eat them?" said my father.

Xianglan had no choice but to say, "I won't argue with you about this. Diana hasn't started work yet anyway. She knows the most about environmental protection. Shall we go ask her together?"

The two of them knocked on Azu Diana's door together. When they told Diana what happened, Diana smiled and said, "Dad, you are wrong. This glass bottle is recyclable garbage. We in Europe and the United States classify it this way."

"That's right, Dad. They will definitely handle it properly after recycling it. They will definitely not just put it in soy sauce and sell it." Xianglan said. (End of this chapter)