Neighbor (novel)
(Kazakh) Akbar Mijiti
Smog
There was a knock at the door that day.
When he opened the door, there was an extraordinary gentleman standing in front of him.
You are...
The gentleman spoke: I am your downstairs neighbor, and your toilet leaked and spilled the roof of our house.
He sighed and said sorry, I'll go and see.
In fact, it is the first floor, and they still go to the elevator for convenience.
He wondered in his heart, downstairs this house rented to a beauty, every day noisy, now it is good, the owner appeared.
He went in with the owner, and he saw that about a meter above the top of the western wall, which was originally a living room, had been poured, showing a pale yellow water stain.
The gentleman owner shook hands with him and said, Well, you talk, I have something to do, just go out.
Now it's the lady boss who runs the beauty salon and him. The landlady said that I rented this suite, the whole decoration was done by me, and now this pour of water, I will suffer a miserable loss.
He said, I will definitely pay you compensation, you say, I will find someone for you to deal with it, or give you some money to lose yourself.
The landlady said, you lose money.
He said, yes, you ask for a price, how much is appropriate.
The landlady said without hesitation, take a hundred thousand.
What the? He was stunned for a moment, and lost 100,000 yuan on that one meter or so?
The female boss's tone was unmistakable, saying that one hundred thousand less than one point would not work.
He felt that he had met a stubble-seeker, and it seemed that there was no room for negotiation.
He thought it would be better to consult with the gentlemanly homeowner than to stay here.
He said to the landlady, well, I will discuss with the owner to see what to do.
The landlady said, go find it, it is useless to discuss with him, the decoration fee is my expense, I have the final say.
He felt a sudden blockage in his heart, turned his head and went out.
He went to his own house and first closed the leaking water source in the two guards, the decoration was too complicated, and he could not find the leaking pipe. He sat down to think about it, and found that he was rude, he had not left the owner's mobile phone number just now, and now he went to the beauty salon female owner to ask for it, and she would definitely not give it.
He thought to himself, "Love it." They'll come looking for it anyway.
So I was busy with other things during this time and forgot about it.
Suddenly, one day he received a summons from the court informing him that the defendant in the dispute over the water leakage of the house appeared in court a month after receiving the summons, and the year, month and day were clearly written.
His brain exploded, and he felt his blood pressure go up at once, his heart beat faster, his breathing was also short, and he could only describe his state at this time by the word "anger".
He felt that this was also too deceitful, and how could he sue the court for such a small matter?
He served in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau for more than thirty years, his heart is not very good, he has already built three stents, he subconsciously advised himself, must control his emotions, to calm down, otherwise the body can not stand, that is called an unworthy.
He soon regained his composure, which was also a strong psychological quality that he had cultivated over his years of military service.
At the moment, he was clarifying his mind.
Talk to the female owner of the beauty salon, that is a dead end. You can only find the gentleman's homeowner, but the big super city, the vast sea of people, how to find. He was momentarily trapped.
He was the first to think of the property, where there should be information for each homeowner.
When he arrived at the property, he was rebuffed, saying they could not provide information about the homeowner.
He came out in frustration and was smoking a cigarette outside the building, when his eyes suddenly lit up, and a handsome guy from the property came out and was starting a motorcycle. He walked over and handed the handsome guy a cigarette. The handsome boy had not yet put on his helmet, smiled and said, the eldest brother was polite, took the cigarette, and he took out a lighter to light it for him. After a few small talks, and without saying anything else, they said goodbye to each other.
The next morning, before going to work, he went to the property's small parking lot where he parked his vehicles and motorcycles, where he lit a cigarette and waddled like no one else.
Not long after, the handsome guy appeared yesterday riding a motorcycle. He greeted him with a smile and said that the little brother had come early, handed him a cigarette, took out a lighter and lit it. The handsome boy took a deep breath of smoke and spat it out a long time, with a smile on his face.
He took out a folded envelope and stuffed it into the palm of the handsome guy's hand, and the handsome guy smiled, squeezed it with his palm, felt the thickness of the envelope and put it into his pocket. He went with the flow and explained his bitterness to the handsome guy in two words. The handsome guy readily agreed to him.
At noon, he went to the small car yard where the property parked the vehicle and motorcycle, where he smoked two cigarettes with the handsome guy, and the handsome guy stuffed him with a note and said, it was all on it.
He didn't want to look at it there, and when he went home to take a look, he was immediately angry. Good fellow, the gentleman's homeowner was actually the deputy attorney general of the district prosecutor's office. A wave of anger came from the heart. But he refrained, and only met in court.
He didn't hire a lawyer, and he had confidence in himself. On that day, he arrived at the court on time, and the gentleman's homeowner was also there. After hearing the statement of the lawyer of the female boss of the plaintiff's beauty salon, the judge at the court offered to sentence him to 80,000 yuan in compensation.
He got angry on the spot and said foul language, Lao Tzu is also a person who came down from the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, don't deceive people too much! You, he pointed to the gentleman's homeowner, said, as the deputy prosecutor general of the district prosecutor's office, what is your income, you know in your heart, where do you get the money to buy such a four-bedroom and two-bathroom apartment, and dare to come to the court, you are not ashamed of me, I am ashamed!
The gentleman's landlord's face turned white at once. His eyes were on the judge in court, who seemed to understand and immediately adjourned the trial.
He was out of court for another busy day, and when he returned home in the evening, his father-in-law Xingchong told him that the neighbors downstairs were very good, and in the afternoon they came to the door, sent him two thousand yuan in red envelopes, and said that their roofs were repaired by themselves, so they wouldn't bother us.
He just felt that one of his two guards seemed to be no longer available.
(Originally published in Beijing Literature, No. 11, 2021)
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