Su Mingzhe vaguely heard the sound of the fire alarm in his sleep. At first he thought he was dreaming, so he turned over and ignored it, but the sound of alarms continued to reach his ears.
This is not a dream!
Realizing this, Su Mingzhe suddenly sat up from the bed and listened carefully, but his own alarm went off.
Suffer!
My parents are still downstairs!
"Fei Fei, Fei Fei, wake up! Wake up! It's on fire!"
Wu Fei, who was woken up by the shock, opened her eyes in a daze. At this time, she also heard the alarm sound downstairs. After waking up, she hurriedly got up. However, it was really not convenient to get up with a big belly, so she did not get up for a while.
Seeing this, Su Mingzhe quickly stepped forward and pulled Wu Fei up. The couple hurriedly grabbed some clothes, put them on and ran downstairs.
She ran downstairs in a panic, and when she was halfway there, she ran into Zhao Meilan, who was wearing an apron and holding a spatula with an anxious look on her face. The moment she saw Su Mingzhe, Zhao Meilan seemed to have suddenly found her backbone, the anxiety on her face
Her expression could not help but soften a little, but her tone of voice was still a little hasty.
"Mingzhe, Mingzhe, what's going on in your house? I was just cooking, and the machine downstairs kept ringing. Your dad is looking for a ladder to turn off that machine."
The young couple looked at each other with expressions of helplessness, mixed with a hint of happiness, as it was a false alarm.
"Mom, I blame me for not making it clear to you. That machine is a smoke alarm. Every household here in the United States has one. Once the smoke concentration reaches a certain concentration, it will alarm. When we cook, we not only have to open the doors and windows for ventilation.
, and also use a plastic bag to cover it, otherwise it will definitely call the police.”
When Su Mingzhe learned the reason, he felt relaxed and lost the urgency he had just now. He explained to Zhao Meilan in a leisurely manner.
Zhao Meilan looked a little flustered and said in surprise: "Ah? What! Call the police! I didn't call!"
Su Mingzhe stroked his forehead, smiled bitterly, and continued to explain patiently: "This machine is connected to the Internet and will automatically alarm. The fire brigade will probably be here soon. I will explain it to them then."
Having said this, Su Mingzhe paused. This might be an opportunity.
The fire brigade in the United States is a private enterprise. Not only that, but even prisons and the tax bureau are private companies. Since it is a private enterprise, as long as it is dispatched, it is of course impossible to ignore returns like in China. In the United States, not only do you need to pay a firefighting fee every year,
Moreover, every time the fire brigade makes an alarm call, whether it is true or false, there is a fee.
If the fire brigade really puts out the fire, the fee will be higher, otherwise it will be lower. If the house is insured, the money will be paid by the insurance company. If there is no insurance, the household owner will bear it alone.
Su Mingzhe's current annual income is about 300,000 U.S. dollars. Naturally, he has bought insurance. Even if he didn't buy insurance, police expenses ranging from a few hundred to a thousand dollars are nothing to him. But Zhao Meilan doesn't know this.
, a few hundred dollars would undoubtedly be a lot of money in her mind, and her monthly retirement salary was only that much.
If she knew that she had lost hundreds of dollars due to her mistake, she would feel guilty to a certain extent. She would probably consult herself before doing anything in the future. Su Mingzhe's status would gradually increase.
Invisibly, it has risen a lot.
Of course, Su Mingzhe would not have thought of so much. Li Jie analyzed these for him one by one. How to influence a person quietly, Su Mingzhe alone would definitely not be able to do it.
"But, Mom, you should be more careful in the future. Firefighting in the United States is different from that in China. Firefighting here is all private companies, and they cost money. Even if the trip is in vain, you still need to pay. A car costs eight
A hundred swords."
Wu Fei was a little strange. He didn't know why her husband explained it so clearly. This was not in line with his label of a filial son. His mother-in-law must have felt distressed after saying these words. Then he looked at Su Mingzhe with questioning eyes. Su Mingzhe shook his hand.
He shook her hand and shook his head slightly, indicating that he would explain to her later. Wu Fei blinked to show that he had received it.
When Zhao Meilan heard that she would be charged eight hundred dollars for a police call, she was immediately shocked. Naturally, she was so anxious that she failed to notice the little moves between Su Mingzhe and his wife.
"Eight hundred dollars, eight hundred dollars, wouldn't it cost four to five thousand dollars at home?" Zhao Meilan muttered something in her mouth, then raised her head and looked at Su Mingzhe as if asking for help, "Mingzhe, can you fix it now?
Ah, how about we dismantle that alarm?"
Su Mingzhe shook his head and pretended to be serious: "Mom, it's useless. All alarms are connected to the Internet. If you are found to have dismantled the alarm, the punishment here will be more serious. It's not a problem, but it's only a few hundred dollars."
That’s all, what’s important is that you and dad are fine.”
"By the way, Mom, let's go down first and tell Dad that there is no need to find a ladder. The first floor is quite high. It is still a bit dangerous for Dad to climb a ladder at his age."
All Zhao Meilan could think about now was 'eight hundred dollars, eight hundred dollars'. She had no other thoughts at all. She subconsciously obeyed Su Mingzhe's words and followed him downstairs obediently.
Su Daqiang finally found the utility room, and then he immediately ran towards the kitchen with the ladder. He noticed that several people were already standing on the road outside the house, gathering together and pointing at the house. It was all caused by this broken machine.
Yes, Su Daqiang hurriedly put the ladder under the smoke alarm, and was about to climb up and turn off the machine, when Su Mingzhe's voice suddenly came to his ears.
"Dad! Dad! Wait, stop climbing. This thing can't be turned off unless it's dismantled. Just let it ring."
Su Daqiang was not an independent person to begin with. His wife always told him what to do, and finding the ladder to turn off the alarm was all ordered by Zhao Meilan before she went upstairs. He turned around and looked at Zhao Meilan's expression, and found that she was in a state of wandering mind.
Outside.
'Since Mingzhe said so, let it go. Anyway, I don't understand. Even if you are to blame in the end, you can't blame me.'
Su Mingzhe then took care of his parents for a few words, and then walked outside the door to explain to the neighbors that there were many Chinese in the community, and everyone had experienced this situation at one time or another.
After apologizing to his neighbors, Su Mingzhe took advantage of the situation and invited everyone to come to his house for a party on the weekend. He did it so well that no one could tell that he didn't come. After all, it was just a false alarm and no damage was caused.
Woo! Woo! Woo!
After a while, two fire trucks arrived one after another. The firefighters got out of the car and saw that there was no fire. They thought that most of the people living here were Chinese. This has happened many times.
Even if it was discovered that this was a false alarm, the firefighters were not very angry. After all, they were paid. Isn’t it nice to get paid without doing any work?
The fire chief communicated with Su Mingzhe in a business-like manner for a while, then waved his hand and the two cars drove away again.
Inside the house, Zhao Meilan quietly moved to the window and secretly observed how many cars were coming outside, because she felt that more than one was coming just by the sound.
The two fire trucks in her sight were no longer cars in her eyes, but just money. Zhao Meilan lowered her head silently and did some rough calculations in her mind, and quickly came up with the amount.
'More than 1,600 knives, more than 10,000 yuan!'
After experiencing this fake fire alarm incident, the aura of taking charge that had just arisen in Zhao Meilan's heart could not help but dim a bit.
‘Why is America like this? You have to charge even if you don’t work. More than 10,000 yuan has been wasted like this. There are too many rules. Capitalism is really evil. It seems that you must ask clearly before doing anything in the future.’