HLM – Chapter 912 Community Activity

Wearing just a T-shirt and oversized shorts, with a pair of flip-flops on his feet, Wang Bo stood at the entrance of the residential area, looking down at his outfit, a puzzled expression on his face. “Are you sure this is what I’m supposed to wear?”

Hani nodded. “Of course. What’s the scenario we set up for today? It’s that the mayor—you—take a walk around and see everyone littering, which then leads to introducing new recycling bins and a proper sorting system.”

Bowen also nodded. “Exactly. If you don’t dress casually but wear a full suit, it would feel too much like a staged show.”

Wang Bo felt their point made sense. He recalled news from back home where leaders participated in Arbor Day wearing shoe covers! Or when going for flood relief, they’d have someone carry them across puddles!

“I’m not like those corrupt officials, I’m not here to show off,” Wang Bo reassured himself, hands behind his back as he walked into the residential area.

Due to population growth, the town now had four residential communities. Initially, there were three: one was a Māori community, another a modular block community, and the third a self-built housing area.

The fourth, where he now stood, was an apartment community with over two hundred buildings of varying sizes, all constructed by Porter’s construction company, just like the villa areas.

The apartment complex was neatly organized, with straight roads dividing the community into orderly sections. Small gardens appeared every few steps, with green belts on either side and large lawns scattered throughout.

Maintenance of the residential area was handled by town-employed cleaners. Residents didn’t have to pay any property fees and enjoyed a comfortable lifestyle.

The sun blazed down in the sky. Walking on the hot concrete roads, Wang Bo felt the heat even more intensely.

Actually, the community had considerable greenery. Some areas even had small, refined artificial lakes, and many lawns had rotating sprinklers, all designed to cool the place down in the summer.

“Damn, it’s hot.” Wang Bo muttered, looking up at the blazing sun, then walked up to the entrance of one apartment building, leaning in to look inside the trash bins.

There were two bins here: one green, one blue. Green was for recyclables, blue for non-recyclables.

Peering in, Wang Bo noticed the sorting was quite decent. Most of the contents were plastic bottles that held food or drink—milk bottles, juice bottles, that sort of thing.

There were also plastic bottles for household cleaning liquids—laundry detergent, fabric softener, dish soap—classified as recyclable.

After a glance, he checked the other bin. Upon opening it, a foul stench hit him, and Wang Bo nearly vomited.

“Damn it!” he cursed.

Hani shouted from behind, “Boss, watch your language!”

Wang Bo glared at him. “I’m not cursing. I’m saying this trash bin is packed with dog crap! Real dog crap!”

“At least it shows the owner is hygienic. They didn’t let it end up on the street,” Hani said with an awkward smile.

Bowen ran over with a stick. “You’d better dig through it, not just look on the surface.”

Wang Bo sighed and started rummaging through a bin.

Soon, he pulled out ice cream containers, clear plastic lunchboxes, beer bottles, wine bottles, insecticide bottles, hair gel bottles, and so on.

Two kids holding skateboards ran over, curious about what he was doing.

A blonde boy asked, “Mayor, what are you doing? Are you picking up trash?”

Another boy nudged him. “Lillard, don’t talk nonsense. The mayor is definitely checking for some criminal evidence. That’s how police do it on TV.”

“Really?” the first boy asked.

Wang Bo forced a laugh. “Actually, I’m just checking the recycling. Where are your parents? Let them come out, I can’t explain this to you kids.”

The boy blinked his wide eyes at him and then ran off.

A couple soon came out. The man asked, puzzled, “Hi, Mayor. My son said you found criminal items in our trash bin?”

Wang Bo smiled wryly. “No, your son probably watches too much TV. Honestly, it’s best not to let kids watch too many crime or action shows—it’s not good for their development.”

“So?” the man asked.

Wang Bo shrugged. “Well, the town is implementing a new waste sorting plan. I just came by for a walk and thought I’d chat with everyone and introduce it.”

“Why don’t you come inside?” the man invited. “We have iced coffee. Talking about this over a cold drink on a day like this is perfect.”

Wang Bo happily agreed; standing outside in the blazing sun was no fun.

Hani shook his head vigorously, seeing Wang Bo follow them inside.

“What’s wrong?” Wang Bo asked silently.

Hani pulled out his phone and gestured to check a message. Wang Bo opened it. Hani was warning him not to go inside; he wasn’t just taking a walk—he needed to draw the residents out to see him.

Seeing this, Wang Bo got angry. He signaled the couple to wait, then whispered to Hani and the others, “Can you be more reliable? If we want the community to come see, why not call them out ahead of time?”

Hani shrugged helplessly. “Everyone’s doing this for the first time, so mistakes happen. No worries, next time we’ll know better.”

Back outside, Wang Bo had to make an excuse. “Forget it, we won’t go in. See, I’m walking with several others. If we all go in, I bet your iced coffee will be gone.”

“We also have iced beer I brewed myself. Maybe you’ll like it,” the man said optimistically.

Wang Bo said, “How about this—you bring out the iced beer, and we’ll chat in the shade? It’s just about implementing the new recycling system—really simple stuff.”

The couple agreed. The wife went inside to fetch a jug of iced coffee, while the husband brought a small portable fridge filled with beer.

The fridge was small, holding only eight bottles, similar in size to soda bottles.

Wang Bo called Anderson to bring over some chilled beer and asked nearby people to come out for a drink.

“Good idea,” a few young men with a basketball ran over, each grabbing a bottle of iced beer and drinking it.

Looking around the community, Wang Bo noted there was no proper sports field—only small open spaces behind buildings with makeshift basketball hoops.

Seizing the opportunity, he began to curry favor. “I noticed our town lacks sports facilities, like basketball and rugby fields.”