While walking on the road, Lu Ning would see some corpses from time to time.
Some bodies were dumped randomly on the roadside.
Some hang themselves from trees, apparently committing suicide.
He passed by a village and found what looked like the bodies of a family of three hanging on a tree, which had long since dried.
Sometimes you will encounter wild dogs that eat corpses.
As soon as the wild dog saw Lu Ning approaching, he ran away.
None of the trees we encountered along the way were in good shape. All the trunks had been peeled off, and only the dry leaves were still hanging on the treetops.
There is no green, cracked earth, and yellow sand blowing.
A desolate place.
As we get closer to the county seat, people begin to appear in twos and threes.
The khaki city wall is somewhat dilapidated. The city wall was eroded by wind and sand, causing huge cracks. Traces of history can be seen from above.
This is said to be a county town, but in fact there is only one street that is relatively prosperous.
Most of the shops along the street are closed, and only three or two shops are still open.
Business is sluggish.
You can see several old people with sallow faces and skinny muscles on the street, as well as skinny men with ribs exposed.
These people were either lying limply on the street corner or walking in a hurry.
As for children, there is none.
As soon as Ahua arrived in the county, she had already covered her head with a rag.
Outsiders only saw Lu Ning carrying a child on his back, but could not see the child's face clearly.
Lu Ning walked slowly around the county, but the dilapidated appearance here was worse than he imagined.
I passed some big houses and the doors were closed.
Some sounds can be vaguely heard from inside.
When Lu Ning walked back, several old people on the street corner had disappeared.
He even found that several pairs of eyes were already staring at him.
Perhaps to be precise, he was eyeing the little A-hua behind him.
Lu Ning took Ahua to a shop that was still open.
There were two men with guns standing at the door of the store, and there was a waiter inside.
These two men with guns should be maintaining order in the store.
Different from those dry men, these two men were tall, thick, and powerful. The biggest difference was that the whites of their eyes were slightly reddish and had more red bloodshot eyes.
When Lu Ning arrived, the two of them just looked at him briefly and ignored him.
In addition to the waiter and the man with the gun, there were a few scattered customers sitting in the store. They just glanced over curiously, and then lowered their heads to eat on their own.
The guy came forward.
"Is there anything to eat?" Lu Ning asked first.
"Soup, steamed buns and meat soup." The waiter looked Lu Ning up and down and replied.
"How much?"
"A bowl of steamed buns with soup costs ten cents, and a bowl of meat soup costs five cents."
Meat soup is cheaper than soup buns.
But thinking about what he saw on the road, Lu Ning quickly understood what was going on.
"Bring me a bowl of soup and steamed buns."
All the money he found from those people added up to exactly one dime.
When the waiter heard that Lu Ning wanted to drink steamed buns in soup, he looked at him with confusion.
As long as he can eat enough now, Lu Ning would rather spend more money to eat soup and steamed buns.
"Bring the money first." The waiter waved his hand politely.
Money must be collected first.
Some people want to be a starved person and dare to come to eat even if they don’t have money.
Lu Ning took out ten cents and put them on the table.
The clerk counted the money and took it all away.
After a while, the waiter brought over a bowl of watery steamed buns in soup.
Soup steamed buns, as the name suggests, should be soaked in steamed buns.
Somewhat like porridge.
However, the amount of a bowl is very small, only half a bowl in fact, and most of it is water.
"Eat."
Lu Ning put Ahua down and asked her to sit next to him. Then he pushed the soup bun in front of her.
Ahua's head was still covered with rags, with only a pair of eyes exposed.
She looked at the soup buns in front of her and kept swallowing her saliva.
She glanced at Lu Ning in disbelief. She didn't know if this was true, or if Lu Ning would give her a good meal now and sell her later.
She hesitated until she saw Lu Ning smiling at her. She couldn't help it anymore and picked up the bowl and drank.
Gudonggudong.
After a few mouthfuls, Ahua stopped. She glanced at the half-empty soup bun in the bowl and pushed it in front of Lu Ning.
She glanced at Lu Ning, and the look in her eyes spoke for itself.
"I'm not hungry, you can eat everything."
Lu Ning pushed the bowl in front of Ahua again and smiled at her.
Ahua looked at Lu Ning for a few seconds, then slowly stretched out her hand to hold the bowl again.
Within a few seconds, she drank all the soup buns in the bowl, and she didn't forget to lick them clean with her mouth.
She put the empty bowl on the table, and it was clean.
She felt as if her whole body had come alive.
A smile appeared on his face.
Just then, Mrs. Ya walked in outside the door.
She has an inextricable relationship with this shop. She will come over whenever she has something to do, and drink some meat soup by the way.
Unexpectedly, I saw Ahua who had just finished drinking the soup bun.
She was deeply impressed by Ahua.
"Okay, you little darling, you still dare to enter the city, let me catch you this time."
"See if I don't sell you to the human flesh market!"
As soon as Ya Po saw A Hua, she didn't care that Lu Ning was sitting next to her, and went straight over to hold down A Hua's neck.
Ahua was frightened when she saw Yapo coming, her face suddenly changed, and she suddenly shrank to Lu Ning's side.
"Go away."
Lu Ning pushed Ya Po away with her hands.
You don't need to think about it to know that this is probably the saleswoman, and Lu Ning doesn't like her.
Ya Po suddenly lost her balance and was about to fall. She instinctively grabbed Lu Ning's sleeve, and then directly tore off the strip of cloth tied to Lu Ning's left hand.
She sat down on the ground holding the strip of cloth.
The golden bracelet on Lu Ning's wrist was immediately exposed.
The guests nearby who were watching the excitement all stared at the gold bracelet on Lu Ning's hand.
A few people looked greedy.
One of the thin men took one look at him and quickly stood up and left.
"Oh, it turns out he is a rich owner."
Ya Po also saw the golden bracelet on Lu Ning's wrist, and a smile suddenly appeared on her face.
It seems that the small flowers can be sold at a good price.
She patted her body lightly and stood up: "I don't care what your relationship is with this little girl. I still have her deed of prostitution in my hand, and I don't want more money from you. Twenty yuan.
I’ll give you the deed of prostitution of this little girl with a flower in her mouth, what do you think?”
Deed of sale.
Twenty dollars.
Lu Ning frowned slightly when he heard this.
He glanced at Ahua who was huddled next to him. At this time, she covered her head with a rag again, but her shivering body showed that she was extremely uneasy now.
"Twenty dollars, okay, I'll give it to you tomorrow."
As Lu Ning said this, he took the rag from Ya Po's hand and rewrapped the golden bracelet on his left wrist.
"Tomorrow? You're fooling me, Mrs. Ya. Give it now. If you don't give it, you won't let me go."
Yapo stopped at the door.
In a day like this, what's the use of guarantees? Maybe I'll run away tomorrow.
Lu Ning carried Ahua on his back, walked to Ya Po, and said coldly: "I said I would give it tomorrow, now you get out of my way."
"Oh, you, a homeless man, still dare to be arrogant in front of me. Xiao Liuzi, you saw it, why don't you do something?"
Yapo called to the waiter inside.
The clerk in the store glanced at Lu Ning and winked at the two men at the door.
The two men with guns understood and immediately approached Lu Ning, then raised their guns and pointed them at him.