Exorbitant Water Bill and the Invisible Faucet

When Wang Jianguo received the water bill, he initially thought it was a misprinted joke. On the off-white paper, in neat standard font, a string of numbers was clearly printed: 39,390 yuan. The payment deadline was next Wednesday. He read it three times, then checked his phone calendar again. Yes, it had only been eighteen days since they moved into this new home, into which they had poured half a lifetime's savings.

Eighteen days, thirty-nine thousand three hundred ninety yuan for water. Wang Jianguo wasn't naive; he was a middle-aged man who had worked hard in this city for twenty years. But he simply couldn't fathom what kind of water usage could, in less than three weeks, consume enough water to fill a small swimming pool and incur such an astonishing fee. He even wondered if he had misread the decimal point, or if the unit was "fen" instead of "yuan." Yet, there it was in black and white, clear as day.

This house was the symbol of years of struggle for him and his wife, the vessel for their future life. From the bare shell to the renovation, they handled every detail personally. The pipes were newly laid, top brand; faucets carefully selected, water-saving certified; the toilet also the latest siphon model, claimed to be powerful yet water-efficient. Since moving in, they had been cautious, afraid of scratching the new walls and floors. They were even more frugal with water, following old habits, using vegetable-washing water to flush the toilet, timing showers with a stopwatch. How was it possible?

His first thought was a leak. That afternoon, he took half a day off work and inspected every corner of the house. Under the kitchen sink was dry as ever, no water stains on the bathroom floor, the washing machine connection on the balcony was also fine. He then turned off the main water valve and stared at the water meter for half an hour; the red pointer didn't move an inch. There was no leak.

So, was the meter broken? Or did the meter reader make a mistake? These seemed the only possibilities. The next morning, Wang Jianguo, clutching the heavy water bill, went to the water company's service hall.

The service hall wasn't crowded, and the air conditioning was running strong. He took a number and sat waiting on a plastic chair. Most people around him were expressionless, handling their own business. Some were paying bills, some reporting repairs, some making inquiries. Everything seemed so routine and orderly. This sense of order, paradoxically, made the exorbitant bill in Wang Jianguo's hand seem even more jarring and absurd.

It was his turn. He went to the counter, explained the situation as calmly as possible, and handed over the water bill and a copy of the property deed. Behind the counter sat a young female employee with neat makeup and a formulaic tone. "Sir, your water consumption really is this much, the system record is very clear." She tapped the keyboard a few times and turned the screen towards Wang Jianguo. The numbers displayed were identical to those on the bill.

"But we've only lived here for eighteen days, how could we possibly use so much water?" Wang Jianguo raised his voice, attracting glances from people nearby.

"The system shows it's like this. Maybe your house has a leak, or..." she paused, seemingly searching for an explanation, "or perhaps your water usage is quite high?"

"We checked, there's absolutely no leak. And we are very frugal with water!" Wang Jianguo felt a surge of helplessness. "Can you send someone to check the water meter? Is there a problem with the meter?"

"Checking the meter requires an application. You need to fill out a form, then wait for our engineer to contact you. However, according to regulations, if the test result shows the meter is normal, you will need to pay the testing fee." She handed him a form.

Wang Jianguo looked at the form; the dense clauses and fine print made him dizzy. He took a deep breath and picked up the pen to start filling it out. Name, address, contact number, reason for appeal... In the reason column, he wrote in detail, pouring out almost all his experiences and doubts from the past two days. When finished, he felt like he had completed an important legal document.

"Okay, you can go home and wait for notification. It will probably take about a week." The employee took back the form, stamped it, her tone still unruffled.

A week. Wang Jianguo calculated inwardly, the payment deadline was next Wednesday. If the problem wasn't resolved after a week, should he pay this money or not? If not, would the water be cut off? Would it even affect his credit score? He dared not think about it.

Walking out of the service hall, the summer sun was blindingly bright. He felt an inexplicable fatigue, as if he had just fought a losing battle. The opponent wasn't the staff member, not even the water company, but something vast, vague, intangible. A monster composed of numbers, systems, regulations, and procedures.

In the following days, Wang Jianguo was like a startled bird. The first thing he did every day after coming home was to check the water meter and record the reading. The numbers increased slowly, only zero-point-something cubic meters a day, completely normal. He started frequently calling the water company to inquire about the inspection progress. The calls were always hard to get through, either busy or transferred to different departments, each time requiring him to repeat his ordeal. The customer service representatives' answers were always similar: "Sir, we have received your application, it is being processed, please wait patiently."

Patience. The word pricked him like a needle. That 39,390 yuan weighed on his heart like a giant boulder. He and his wife started arguing. His wife complained that he shouldn't have bought a house in this complex, maybe there was a problem with the pipes. He responded irritably that the problem wasn't the house, but "them." Who "they" were, he couldn't say.

The day before the payment deadline, the engineer finally arrived. An older master technician, around fifty, carrying a toolbox, serious-faced. He removed the water meter, attached a testing device, then reinstalled the meter, working for over half an hour. Finally, wiping his sweat, he told Wang Jianguo: "The meter is fine, measurement is accurate."

Wang Jianguo was stunned. "Then... then what about the water bill?"

"That, I wouldn't know. We're only responsible for testing the meter. Maybe there was a problem with the pipes before you moved in? Or... anyway, the meter is good." The technician packed his tools, left behind a test report stating "Tested, meter measurement is accurate and correct." Testing fee, 300 yuan, to be deducted from the next water bill.

Wang Jianguo held the flimsy report, feeling like he was holding a piece of waste paper. The last hope was shattered. The problem was back to square one, or even worse, because now he also had to pay the 300 yuan testing fee.

He went to the service hall again. This time, he directly asked to see a supervisor. After waiting in the lobby for nearly an hour, a middle-aged man identifying himself as a department supervisor met with him. The man's attitude was mild, but his tone was firm. "Mr. Wang, we understand your feelings very well. However, the system data is what it is, and the meter test was accurate. We have no grounds to reduce your water bill."

"But this is unreasonable! Absolutely unreasonable!" Wang Jianguo was almost shouting.

"We operate according to regulations." The supervisor spread his hands, a programmed look of sympathy on his face. "Why don't you check your internal plumbing again carefully? Or ask the developer? Maybe it's an issue with the main pipe?"

The ball was kicked back to him. Wang Jianguo felt a wave of dizziness. Standing in this bright, clean, orderly modern office building, he felt like K in a Kafka novel, facing a castle impossible to communicate with, impossible to understand. The castle's logic was self-contained, impregnable, and he was as insignificant as an ant.

The payment deadline arrived. In the end, Wang Jianguo paid the bill. He didn't dare risk having the water shut off, nor did he dare risk affecting his potential credit record. He used the money saved for buying a car. The moment he swiped the card and signed, he felt a part of his vitality drain away with those numbers.

It wasn't over. Wang Jianguo became obsessed, as if possessed. He began researching hydraulics, studying the city's water supply system, even went to the property management office, demanding to see the plumbing blueprints for the entire building. The property management staff looked at him as if he were crazy. He started suffering from insomnia, always thinking he could hear the sound of running water late at night, gushing, gushing, as if that 39,000 yuan was pouring out of an invisible faucet into an unknown abyss.

He even began to doubt himself. Had he really forgotten to turn off a faucet at some absent-minded moment? Or had he sleepwalked and taken showers for eighteen days straight? Absurd thoughts surfaced one after another, reason and chaos battling in his mind.

Until one day, he saw a message in a homeowners' group chat. A homeowner in another building had also received a similarly exorbitant water bill, the amount slightly smaller, but still over 20,000 yuan. The cause was found: a faulty valve in the rooftop water tank caused water to constantly overflow, and this volume of water was mistakenly allocated to several newly moved-in homeowners in that unit.

Wang Jianguo immediately rushed to the property management office, showing the phone screenshot, demanding verification. After some back and forth, the property management and the water company finally confirmed that his situation was exactly the same as the other owner's. A system error, combined with earlier oversights in investigation, had caused this absurd drama.

"So... can the money be refunded?" Wang Jianguo asked cautiously.

"You can apply for a refund, or have it credited towards future water bills. You'll need to fill out another form..." The familiar response echoed again.

Wang Jianguo stood there, feeling no anger, nor the ecstatic relief of a burden lifted. He just felt a profound weariness and emptiness. Had he won? It didn't seem like it. He had merely, accidentally, luckily, found the hidden "faucet." But in the process, the time, energy, money, and the inner torment and drain he had endured – who would measure or compensate for that? That vast and intricate system continued to operate, occasionally nodding off, or playing a cruel joke. And you could only pray not to be the unlucky one hit by the joke.

He slowly walked out of the property management office and looked up at his brand-new home. In the sunlight, the windows were bright, as if nothing had happened. But he knew, some things were different now. Like that invisible faucet, maybe it was tightened for now, but who knew when it might loosen again, in another unexpected place, silently draining away your life? He remembered the phrase "Concentrate on handling your own affairs well," and suddenly found it somewhat ironic. Sometimes, you just want to live quietly, but strange things always come knocking, forcing you to expend enormous energy dealing with absurdities that shouldn't be your burden to bear.