Ask for peace of mind

Chapter 29

The door of the dusty old wooden house was opened, and a boy of fifteen or sixteen came out with a washbasin in his hand.The boy was not tall, with messy hair and a dirty coat. With his left hand, he scooped water from a large water tank to wash his hands.

After washing up, the boy kept taking out the cooking guy from the wooden house, cooking and cooking on the simple stove outside the house.The boy's right arm was drooping weakly, and he could only help to fix the position of the vegetables when chopping vegetables, but his left hand was quite agile, and he was familiar with everything from chopping vegetables, washing rice, and stirring the fire.

When he was almost done cooking, he heard the wooden door slam, and a big man with the same disheveled hair came out yawning.

"So early?"

The young man was stirring porridge with a spoon in his left hand. Hearing this, he raised his head and said with a smile, "Morning, Brother Zhang. I want to visit the train station in the morning." The train station is in the West District, far away from where they live. To seize the opportunity, you have to start early.

"Oh." The big man nodded, "What's for breakfast?"

"Hot and sour cabbage and white porridge, steamed buns are full. There is meat at noon." The boy put the lid on the pot and picked up the kettle next to him to draw water.

"Is the porridge ready?"

"Ah."

The big man didn't say much, and helped the young man take the pot off the coal stove, took the teapot from the young man's hand and put it on.

"You eat first, I'll wake them up when it's almost done, I exhausted my brothers last night." The big man didn't dislike it either, and quickly washed himself with the facial cleanser that the boy had just used.

The boy filled a bowl of porridge to dry, then took a steamed bun with white noodles, and started eating with two chopsticks.While eating, he asked, "When did you come back yesterday? I didn't even hear it."

"I didn't come back until one or two o'clock this morning. Alas, this job is really not done by humans. It's a good thing you weren't picked up by Lao Huang at the time." trick.

The boy smiled and said, "It's not a job, a salary. A month's salary here is more than a year's income from farming at home."

The big man rubbed his head, and immediately laughed: "That's right, after another year of working, the money saved can build a few bungalows for the family, and find a good wife by the way."

The young man smiled, picked up the porridge that was about the same temperature, drank it in two or three gulps, then wiped his mouth, and said, "Brother Zhang, put the rice bowl in the pot to soak after eating, and I'll come back at noon to wash it."

"Okay." The big man, that is, Brother Zhang, filled a bowl of porridge, put the bowl on the ground, chewed the steamed buns in his mouth, seemed to think of something suddenly, smiled, and squeezed his eyes, "Well, buy me two when you are free. Ben that! I'll give you the money later."

The boy pushed out an old bicycle from the debris pile next to the wooden house. He also smiled when he heard this, waved to the big man, got on the bicycle and set off to the station.

The boy is naturally Xu Wei'an, he has been out for more than a year.

At that time, he went to a toy factory in Nanguang City with his uncle who had working experience in the same village.But half a month after bringing him to the factory, the uncle disappeared. Xu Wei'an didn't think much about it at first, thinking that the uncle was sent by the boss to do other jobs.About two months later, he found out that he had entered a black factory.

Xu Wei'an had just arrived, and when his uncle said that every factory would suppress the wages of employees for three months, and then repay them when the employees left, he thought it was true.He was a newcomer, and few of the old employees would take care of him. After the uncle left, he knew intermittently from the employees' complaints that he had entered a black factory.What is even more infuriating is that he found out that the unit price of the toys he made was half that of others, which was also calculated on a piece basis.When I found the boss's theory, the boss looked at him arrogantly and said, "I feel bad for recruiting you, a cripple. Xu Dahu (the uncle who brought him into the factory) brought you here, and I gave him a commission of 100 yuan. If you don’t make enough money, you can just work for me here honestly.”

One sentence made Xu Wei'an so angry that he wanted to go up and kick him twice, but thinking that he had no money and power now, if he really fought with him, he would be the one who would suffer in the future.

Xu Wei'an cursed in his heart that these capitalist vampires would die badly in the future, but in fact there was nothing he could do.Now I don’t have any money, and if I can’t find a job after going out, I have to go hungry.Although there is no food in the factory, at least food and shelter are included.I can only wait to save some money in my hand, and then find a chance to leave.

Although the toy factory works on a piece-rate basis, workers are also required to get up early and go to bed late every day. They must work thirteen hours a day, otherwise their wages will be deducted.The wages are paid once a month, but the factory suppressed the wages for the first three months, saying that they will pay them after they leave the company.After he had worked for four months, the company paid him one month's salary, 36 yuan, which was much better than farming in the countryside. This is why he didn't know that he had entered a black factory at first.

After finding no results with his boss, he started saving money again and prepared to run away.

Although he seldom leaves the factory, he also knows that the price of goods in Nanguang City is soaring, and the price changes every day, which he cannot afford.Including the money from his grandmother, he only has a total of about forty yuan. If he lives outside the factory, it is not enough for him to spend a month.But he can't just go on like this, working hard for [-] hours a day, working for four months but can't support himself, let alone saving money for grandma's pension, and going to a big hospital to see his arm.

Xu Wei'an worked for another two months. After receiving his salary, he secretly packed his things and left the factory.He heard from other employees that unless they have worked for more than one year, the reduced wages will not be paid.Xu Wei'an didn't take any chances either, and the 200-odd quick bucks were used to buy ghost paper for the boss.

With only a hundred or so dollars on me, I can't do anything. A full breakfast costs one or two dollars, and a one-night hotel stay costs two or three dollars.Xu Wei'an was already reluctant to spend money, but seeing that everything he bought was expensive, he was even more reluctant to spend it.Find a random street corner to nest at night, buy a meal during the day, and save enough to eat for a day.Fortunately, it was summer and there were no hail and snow.In the city at that time, there were centuries-old trees everywhere, and they hadn't been cut down yet. Xu Wei'an hadn't been exposed to the sun even though he was outside the house.It's just that I suffer a little bit from the food. The food bought in the morning will go bad by the afternoon.But Xu Wei'an doesn't care about these, as long as he can fill his stomach.

It’s just that the lack of a place to take a bath has become a big problem. The south is not like the north where there are public bathhouses everywhere. Xu Wei’an wandered around and didn’t find any, but there are quite a few saunas. However, the consumption of these places is high, only Xu Wei’an’s little savings, Not enough to go in twice.

Within three or four days, Xu Wei'an's body began to smell.Since he hadn't looked in the mirror, he slept in a random nest, and soon a bird's nest was placed on his head, not to mention his face, which was summer and dirty after a few days of not washing.So it was no surprise that someone threw a fifty-cent bill in front of him when he was squatting on the corner of the street where he usually lived.

He didn't react at first, and when he did, he could only laugh or cry.Although he is disabled, he is not going to be a beggar.It's not that he looks down on beggars, he just thinks that the money earned from working is his own, and the other money belongs to others, so he doesn't feel at ease spending it at all.Of course, he wouldn't feel uneasy spending the money of two people, but now he seldom thinks about the two of them, for fear that if he thinks about them, he will cry and become weak.

Xu Wei'an met Lao Huang when he was struggling to find a job.

At that time, Lao Huang was recruiting garbage haulers. The salary was very high, [-] yuan a month, including food and lodging, which attracted many tall and strong migrant workers.Xu Wei'an also moved up, and Lao Huang pointed at him directly and said, "You can't do it, don't come over, you're blocking other people's way."

Xu Wei'an said loudly: "Boss, I don't want such a high salary, you can just give me one-third, and I will do a good job."

Lao Huang took a sip of the filter, curled his lips, "I don't want you for a third, you stay aside, don't get in the way."

Xu Wei'an didn't want to give up, so he planned to wait for everyone to leave, and then go to discuss with him. It's not a quarter, which is more than what the previous factory gave.

After a while, enough people will be recruited.When Lao Huang packed up the tables, chairs and small blackboard and was about to leave, he patted his head and said, "I almost forgot, I still need a chef, who of you wants to go."

As soon as he heard his words, several people among the crowd who hadn't dispersed immediately rushed to say to go.

"A month's salary is only 40 yuan, including room and board."

Someone bargained: "The boss will give you more."

Some people who were recruited as garbage haulers said: "Boss, I can cook, how about I cook, and my salary will be increased, okay?"

Lao Huang said: "After being recruited, you won't even have time to eat, so don't even think about it." Then he turned to the others and said, "I only ask for cooking, and the salary cannot be raised."

As long as a big man works hard and is willing to endure hardships, he can earn more than 100 points if he works in Nanguang City for a month.Although the chef is free, the salary is not high.Everyone came out of their hometown to make a living, just thinking about being strong, selling more and working hard to make more money. No one would do a job with low wages.So as soon as Lao Huang finished speaking, people stopped staying and the crowd started to disperse again.

Seeing that no one was competing with him, Xu Wei'an happily raised his left hand and shouted, "I'll do it!"

Lao Huang looked at the dispersed crowd, then at Xu Wei'an's drooping right arm, frowned and said, "Can you do it?"

Xu Wei'an hurriedly said: "I can do it, I can really do it. I cook at home. If you don't believe me, you can let me try it for two days."

Lao Huang couldn't help it. The garbage dump was not suitable for women, and he could only recruit male chefs, but no one would like to do the job with a salary of only 40 yuan. "Tsk, forget it, you go and try first. But as I said earlier, if you really can't do it, I won't pity you."

Xu Wei'an nodded yes, saying that I will definitely do it, and you won't regret it.

Lao Huang didn't say anything else, he found a truck and pulled the group of them to the garbage dump in the suburbs of Nanguang City.