NOVEL NEXT Chapter 71 - The Concept of the City's Electricity Consumption
Chapter 71: The Concept of the City’s Electricity Consumption
After Uncle Wayne finished explaining the rules, the human, the cat and the dog were all mesmerized except for Alan and Abraham.
“Have you all understood the rules? If so, shall we play two rounds?”
Wayne’s eyes were filled with anticipation.
Lolita hurriedly nodded, indicating that she wanted to play.
When she looked at Alan again, his expression was a little conflicted.
“I think I’ll pass. I will let Ai Xiaohei play. She understood the rules just now. I will need to open the shop in a while.”
Alan resolutely refused. It was not that he was afraid of losing, but he was a businessman now, and he needs to tend to his shop.
Thus, a few of them worked together to move the mahjong table to a corner.
Ai Xiaohei sat on one side, while the remaining three sat on the other three sides.
Uncle Wayne said with disdain, “If Xiaohei loses, how will she pay?”
In the end, Alan made the decision. Ai Xiaohei will be his substitute to play the game. If she loses, the loss would be on him; if she wins, her earnings will be confiscated to pay off her debts.
When Ai Xiaohei heard the first half of the sentence, she was initially overjoyed. However, upon hearing the second half of the sentence, her mood sank to the bottom.
That day, every customer who came to the tavern to drink was attracted to this novel invention that appeared out of the blue. They gathered around the corner to watch three humans and a cat stacking walls with the mahjong tiles. Alan felt a pang of helplessness. Today’s business had been affected by this mahjong table…
Ever since mahjong appeared in the tavern, every customer who came to the tavern wanted to try the new game. In order to get the opportunity to play the game using the one and only mahjong table, many people rushed to line up outside the entrance of the tavern before Alan opened the shop for business.
As time passed by, more and more customers became addicted to mahjong. Eventually, Alan set a rule that every four people would only play for one round. As long as someone lost the last chip, the game will end and the next four people will get to play.
Gradually, mahjong became popular in Rock City. When someone heard that the person who made mahjong was Wayne, there were always people gathering outside the door of the blacksmith’s shop, asking Wayne to help them make a mahjong table.
When Uncle Wayne happily informed Alan about this, the latter’s expression instantly became dark.
Alan began to regret bringing mahjong into this world. After all, this game has a detrimental impact on people as it has an element of gambling in it and it was very easy to become addicted.
Alan had a serious discussion with Uncle Wayne and came to a consensus. The least they can do is to limit the number of mahjong table to only one and not to increase anymore. Those who wanted to play mahjong can only come to the tavern and they need to follow the rules.
Under Alan’s strict control, despite the fact that mahjong became the most popular entertainment game in Rock City, it did not have an adverse effect on the citizens. Many people felt that they had to queue for a very long time, and those who were lucky enough to play the game were satisfied with just playing one or two rounds.
After a few days of liveliness, Alan gradually got used to it.
As the sun rose early in the morning, Bart had woken up but Alan was still sleeping.
There was a series of banging on the door of the tavern. Alan reluctantly got up and went downstairs to open the door.
The short and stout dwarf man stood there, his face was full of excitement but his appearance was disheveled. Alan was startled as he looked as if he had just fled from the wilderness..
“What… What’s wrong with you? How many days have you not slept…”
Alan asked in surprise, any signs of sleepiness he had were already gone.
“Alan, don’t worry about me. Look at this, is this the incandescent lamp you have always imagined?!”
Bart’s excited look made Alan perk up. This time, they could really use the electric lamp!
He let Bart into the tavern.
Alan lit up the magic lamp in the hall.
Bart stared at the hall which was still a little dim after the lights were turned on. He looked on with disapproval because according to Alan’s description, when this incandescent light was lit, the light that appeared would be daylight white. When such a light will to be lit in a dark place, it will make it seem as if it was daytime.
Alan brought out the generator from the backyard, and the two of them began to fiddle with it.
“How do we connect the circuit? Do you have the blueprint?”
They had both the generator and the light bulb. The only thing left was to connect the circuit and let the electricity run.
However, Alan was completely clueless about the wiring. It would be terrible if Bart did not remember it..
Bart patted his chest and said confidently, “Don’t worry, the blueprint is in my head.”
Then Alan watched Bart deftly connect the circuit.
The two looked at each other and saw the nervousness on each other’s faces.
“Bart, turn it on!” Alan said in a deep voice.
The two stared at the switch that was pressed. In that moment, the light bulb lit up.
“Success!”
Although Alan’s reaction was not as animated as when the generator was successfully activated last time, the gratification he felt in his heart was not reduced at all.
“Bart, I need to ask you to help me with something,” Alan said to him.
“Alan, don’t worry. No matter what it is, I will definitely help you!”
Bart did not even ask what kind of help he needed and immediately agreed to his request.
Alan said seriously, “I hope that you can help me change the lighting facilities of the tavern into electric lights. If the manufacturing process is fast enough, I have another plan!”
“No problem, Alan, don’t worry. I will immediately go back and change the lighting of the tavern. I will produce all the necessary items.”
Bart wanted to leave quickly after saying that. It seemed that he wanted to go back and finish the things that Alan wanted.
Alan pulled Bart back and reminded him, “You can take your time. You should go back, tidy yourself up and have a good rest. After that, you can start doing it. I’m not that anxious.”
After Bart left, Alan felt a little excited. After the generation of electricity, it would be the era of mechanization. Modern life would not be too far away.
Although Alan told Bart to rest well after he went back, it was obvious that he did not heed his advice.
The next morning, he went to the tavern again. This time, he brought some things with him. He wanted to directly plan and lay the groundwork for the lighting facilities of the tavern.
Alan was planning to wait until his own tavern was remodeled before he go round to educate his neighbors. He wanted to start from the surrounding shops and slowly but gradually turn the entire Rock City into a nightless city.
After all the shops and residents’ homes at the back street had been installed with electric lights, he will propose to the governor to collaborate with them and ground the electric poles along the streets.
After completing the groundwork for the surrounding areas from his shop, he would use the Elf Tavern as the starting point to ground the electric poles one by one, and gradually integrate the entire city into the power grid.
This was Alan’s plan for completing the fifth mission.
On the first day of changing the power supply to the tavern, the customers who came were all stunned. After all, this was something new to them, just like when mahjong had first appeared. Everyone was very curious about this and were discussing about the lamp while drinking.
It was until the electric lamp at the entrance of the tavern had been changed that everyone knew the benefits of incandescent lamps when they left the tavern late at night.
The news of incandescent lamps became more and more widespread and the residents became receptive to it. As a result, it was easier to promote the idea of changing the lights in every household.
Alan was satisfied with the recent changes. The tavern had fully used electric lights and electricity.
Even at night, the tavern became as bright as day. However, Sofia had not once come again. Alan began to worry if something had happened to her.
He was thinking that he should go to the Elf Tavern due to the popularity of electric lamps, . Moreover, he was also very curious about what had happened to Sofia as she did not come by to drink anymore.