Chapter 774: Conductivity

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studion/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

While everybody was staring at him, Electrician Wu’s face turned completely red.

Even if he faked an electric shock, it would not work…

“That’s strange. What’s going on? It was leaking electricity yesterday at home…” He was doubtful as he bent down and looked at the heating rod through the glass of the tank.

The heating rod stayed at the bottom of the tank. The orange light was on, indicating it was working properly.

Switching the rod was impossible. The store owner picked up the heating rod and inspected it, but Electrician Wu was keeping his eyes steadily on it. The owner could not have possibly made a switch in front of his eyes, unless he was a part-time magician.

“There… There was, indeed, an electricity leakage at home…” he mumbled to Snowy, wanting to prove that he was not lying.

Snowy had nothing else to say.

She had already chosen to believe that Electrician Wu’s heating rod was leaking electricity. Could he have wronged the store owner?

“How’s that, grandpa? Is the heating rod leaking electricity?” The store owner fought back a smile. “If it’s not leaking, should you compensate us for making us look bad? Of course, since you are already old, we won’t take your money, as long as you apologize in front of everybody.”

Electrician Wu was humiliated and furious. His brain was about to explode. His face and body were both covered in sweat.

It was too humiliating. Did he really become a professional blackmailer in the crowd’s eyes? If so, he should have listened to his wife and stayed home to spare himself such embarrassment…

His grandson was concerned as he walked over, and he wanted to grab his grandpa’s hands. But Electrician Wu waved his hand vigorously, asking his grandson not to get close. He looked at the heating rod, then at the plug and wire, searching for an explanation.

“Weird… Really weird…”

The owner said to Snowy, “Pretty girl, you promised to be the witness for us earlier. Now that the heating rod is not leaking, should he apologize to us?”

“Well…” Snowy looked at Zhang Zian with hesitation.

Zhang Zian had already figured everything out. He stepped up and told Electrician Wu, “Grandpa, get your water out of the water now. It’s useless to keep it in there. It’s still cold these days, so it’s totally not worth it if you end up getting rheumatoid arthritis.”

“But… The heating rod is leaking…” Electrician Wu stomped his feet anxiously.

Zhang Zian nodded. “I know that, but you can’t figure it out if you test it this way.”

“What?” Electrician Wu paused and stared at him. “Then how should I test it?”

The store owner frowned. “Handsome dude––be careful what you say.”

Zhang Zian ignored his warning. He pointed at the empty water cylinder in the corner of the wall and said, “Did you forget? Pure water does not conduct electricity.”

The water in the water dispenser cylinder was purified water, not mineral water!

The words suddenly woke him from his dreams!

Electrician Wu withdrew his wet hands out of the water and tapped his forehead. “I’m really getting old! How could I forget about this?”

Although he was an experienced electrician who had been working in a factory for over 30 years, he dealt mostly with weak and strong currents within the factory, not with water. Most of the water in one’s daily life contained impurities and was not as clean as the purified water in the cylinder.

Zhang Zian said, “You just mentioned that you have a saltwater tank at home. This is where the difference is––saltwater is rich in electrolytes, such as calcium ions, magnesium ions, sodium ions, etc. It is a good conductor of electricity. If you have freshwater fish, even if the heating rod leaks, you may not notice it. This is because the saltwater is 1,000 times more conductive than the fresh water is in rivers and lakes.”

Snowy suddenly understood everything. “This means that the heating rod is actually leaking?”

“Very likely.” Zhang Zian glanced at the store owner. “If you would like to test it, we can get some saltwater from the first floor… But I suppose this won’t be necessary.”

The owner lowered his head like a defeated rooster. “There’s no need to test.”

Electrician Wu’s spirit was suddenly boosted as if he had been dosed with a stimulant. As he was about to revenge himself for the humiliation he had experienced earlier, Zhang Zian stopped him and asked, “Grandpa, please recall it carefully. When you were buying the heating rod, did you mention that it was for a saltwater tank?”

“Well…” Electrician Wu thought about it. “I didn’t. When I bought it, I had not yet decided whether I was going to have freshwater or saltwater fish. What’s the matter?’

Zhang Zian paused for a moment, then took a mutual standing. “When you bought the heating rod, you didn’t specify that it was for a saltwater tank. The saltwater is not only highly conductive, but it is also highly corrosive to metals. Generally speaking, the heating rods for saltwater and freshwater tanks are not interchangeable. Glass heating rods should be used in saltwater tanks. But if you specified that it was for a saltwater tank, and he still sold you a stainless steel heating rod, it would have been his mistake. But since you didn’t specify this…”

Electrician Wu had not thought about everything Zhang Zian said when he had decided to own fish. He had only decided what fish to keep after he bought all of the equipment. Even if he had decided on saltwater fish in advance, he would not have thought about the conductivity and metal corrosion of saltwater.

Then Zhang Zian said to the owner, “As for you, you are making a bigger mistake. Since you know that pure water doesn’t conduct electricity and that saltwater is a good conductor, even if the customer didn’t specify about saltwater fish, you should do your due diligence and remind them when selling them heating rods.”

The owner’s little scheme and trick hadn’t fooled Zhang Zian. He became very embarrassed and nodded repeatedly.

“In my opinion, both of you have made some mistakes. You should meet each other in the middle,” Zhang Zian tried to persuade them. “All electric equipment will wear out eventually. The biggest problem between you two is the pre-sale communication.”

As a fellow pet businessman, Zhang Zian was more or less sympathetic towards the owner. It was not easy to own a store. Therefore, he spoke some words of truth to help him out.

At the end of the day, the key issue was Electrician Wu’s tank of saltwater fish. If he had freshwater fish, the heating rod might not have broken at all. Even if it had leaked, it would have been too insignificant to be felt by the human body.

After experiencing an emotional roller coaster, Electrician Wu was becoming less angry. He nodded in agreement. “Okay. I didn’t specify, indeed.”

After seeing the customer’s inclination to reconcile, the owner was very happy and refunded the full amount right away. He also wanted to give a glass heating rod of the same power to Electrician Wu for free.

Yet Electrician Wu shook his hand and refused. “I’ll pass on this one. I can’t trust the quality of your products here.”

The owner smiled bitterly and took back the glass heating rod in embarrassment.

Electrician Wu sighed and asked Zhang Zian, “Even if I use a glass heating rod, the leakage is not completely avoidable, right?”

Zhang Zian nodded. “Indeed so. Equipment wears out faster in saltwater. Nobody can guarantee that their heating rod will not leak for sure.”

Electrician Wu rubbed his grandson’s head and said with determination, “I’ll listen to my wife and not keep fish any longer. Even if I do, I’ll have freshwater fish instead.”

If he had to choose between his own hobby and the safety of family members, then he would choose the latter and sacrifice the former.