Zhang San Li Si (1)

  As I walked down the stairs, I ran into our landlady, a middle-aged woman in her fifties, standing at the entrance of the staircase, sticking something on the wall.

  "Auntie—" I said, walking up with Gu Xue Lin to greet her.

  "What should I stick?"

  The landlord looked up and saw me and Guxuelin, smiled, "Nothing, this morning the municipal government issued a document, next month, electricity prices will be uniformly increased, from one yuan per degree to one yuan three per degree."

  "It's gone up in price again! We've only been here for over three months, and the electricity bill has increased twice, the water bill has increased twice. The big bucket of water went from 5 yuan to 7 yuan, and the knife-cut noodles went from 3 yuan to 4 yuan. Last night, even the small stall's egg pancakes all increased in price. If this continues, I'm afraid we won't even be able to afford northwest wind." I couldn't help but complain a couple of sentences.

  "Our school cafeteria's porridge has also gone up in price, from 50 cents to 80 cents." Gu Xuelin chimed in.

  "This can't be helped, turn on the TV and take a look, it's all over the world, natural disasters everywhere, one moment an earthquake, another moment a volcanic eruption, drought here, torrential rain there, people are worried sick. This will definitely lead to price increases." The landlord was very comforting.

  "Yes, in the past two years, there have been one disaster after another. At just over 20 years old, I've already experienced things that only happen once a century or once a millennium. It's not like I've lived in vain, it's not like I've lived in vain." As I shook my head repeatedly, I pulled Gu Xue Lin's hand and walked out the door.

  "Isn't this a bit too much?" came a voice from behind, belonging to the landlord.

  "Ah, many difficulties bring prosperity, many difficulties bring prosperity." I muttered to myself, while opening the umbrella in my hand.

  The scorching sun shines directly on the ground, baking everything on earth, and standing by the side of the road, you can feel the rolling heat waves emanating from the ground.

  Now, I stand on the side of the road, one hand holding the umbrella in my hand, the other hand pulling Gu Xue Lin, looking at the white flower-like sun, and suddenly feeling a little hesitant.

  "What's wrong?" asked Gu Xue Lin when she saw I didn't react.

  "Not much," I smiled, "Hmm, it's thirty-seven degrees today, right?"

  "There should be," Gu Xue Lin smiled, "What's wrong, worried about heatstroke?"

  "Hmm," I laughed, "I'm not worried about that. What I've been thinking is, over the past two years, because of the greenhouse effect, everyone has been shouting about low-carbon living and energy conservation, but how come I feel like the temperature is still rising, the environment is still deteriorating, and there's no effect at all?"

  "Oh, just look at all these cars rushing around on the streets and you'll know. Anyway, I feel like it's increasing rather than decreasing." said Gu Xue Lin.

  "Hmm, there's something that has been on my mind for a long time, but I still haven't figured it out." I held the umbrella with one hand and pulled Gu Xue Lin's hand with the other, walking towards a stall selling liangpi.

  "What's wrong?"

  "Let's get two bowls of liangpi first and talk while we eat." We walked to a small stall selling liangpi by the roadside.

  "Boss, two bowls of liangpi, one with less chili pepper and one without chili pepper. And also, two cups of iced sour plum soup."

  "Here you are," the vendor handed over two bowls of sour plum soup with a flourish, then pointed to the two empty stools beside us, indicating that we should sit down, before busying himself preparing the liangpi.

  I sat down with Gao Xuelin.

  I took a sip of sour plum soup and continued the topic from earlier, "Hmm, isn't there an 'Earth Hour' event on March 25th every year?"

  Gu Xue Lin nodded and looked at me with an uncertain expression.

  "This year on March 25th, I was in Beijing and saw the activity notice on the subway's advertising board. It said from 8 to 9 pm, turn off the lights for an hour. At that time, I was just thinking, is this activity meaningful?"

  "Of course it's a big deal, think about it, our environment is now being destroyed to this extent, we must take some protective measures to prevent the environment from further deteriorating." Gu Xuelin said with an air of obviousness.

  "I know what you mean, as long as each of us takes the initiative to protect the environment and reduce emissions, the world will become cleaner and more beautiful, right?"

  Gu Xue Lin nodded.