I heard from Shou Yuming that Hui Yinghong's father was originally a scholar. After coming to Hong Kong in 1963, he was defrauded of all his money. After that, he fell ill. In order to make a living, three-year-old Hui Yinghong was led by his mother in the Lockhart Road area of Wan Chai.
She sold chewing gum, playing cards, and Chinese chopsticks. She had no place to sleep, so she slept on the street, and she had no money to go to school. It was very difficult to survive at that time. She ran on the street for more than ten hours every day to sell.
Later, Hui Yinghong's father passed away, and her mother's life became even more difficult with her several children. Not long ago, she met Xiu Yuming. Unexpectedly, Xiu Yuming fell in love with her at first sight, so they started a family again.
"Congratulations, I didn't expect you to be married. I'm really sorry that I didn't go to your wedding." As he spoke, Shi Zhijian took out his wallet from his arms, took out three hundred Hong Kong dollars and handed it to Xiu Yuming, "Don't you have this money?"
If it’s more, you should consider it as part of the money I handed you, so please accept it!”
"No, no, no, this can't be done." Xiu Yuming waved his hands hurriedly, "I didn't have a banquet when I got married. I just had a casual meal with my family. I can't take this money."
Shi Zhijian was stunned. In the past, Shou Yuming was very demanding of money and often spent money in Shek Kip Mei. Why did he seem to be a different person after not seeing him for a few days?
Xiu Yuming scratched his head in embarrassment, "I know I was very bad in the past. I was always eating and drinking in Shek Kip Mei. Hong'er's mother taught me that in the future, I have to stand upright and eat as many bowls of rice as I need to work.
!Don’t take any money that’s not yours!”
Shi Zhijian smiled and put the three hundred yuan into his wallet again. When he saw Hui Yinghong looking at the drink but refusing to open it, he laughed and said, "I bought this for you, why don't you drink it?"
Hui Yinghong blinked her small black eyes and looked at Xiu Yuming.
Smelly Yuming said: "Uncle Shi bought it for you, just drink it."
Hui Yinghong said: "Mom said you can't just drink what others give you."
"Uncle Shi is not an outsider. He is my neighbor. We have known each other for a long time."
Hui Yinghong turned her face and looked at Shi Zhijian: "Uncle, can I really drink it?"
Shi Zhijian smiled, picked up the bottle of drink, clicked open the lid, handed it to Hui Yinghong and said: "Hey, this drink is very delicious. It is produced by my uncle's factory. It's called Rock Sugar Snow Pear. If you like it, my uncle will take you with me in the future."
Go to my factory and let you drink enough!"
Hui Yinghong was happy, so she held the drink in her hands and took a sip, her little eyes narrowed with joy, "It's so sweet!" Then she handed the drink to Xiu Yuming, "Abba, you can try it too, it's sweet.
very!"
Shou Yuming laughed, looked at the rock sugar snow pear, swallowed his saliva, and pushed the drink to Hui Yinghong, "Hong'er, just drink it. I'm getting older and I can't get used to drinking sweet things!"
When the food came, Shi Zhijian handed a pair of chopsticks to Xiu Yuming, but Xiu Yuming handed the chopsticks to Hui Yinghong, and took another pair from the chopstick tube. Then he said to Shi Zhijian: "Thank you first!"
Shi Zhijian nodded, but had no appetite for food. He took out a cigarette from his pocket, squeezed it, and it became flat, but he finished smoking it.
Seeing this, Xinyu, who was eating, ignored the fact that he was still chewing something. He stood up and took out a box of crumpled cigarettes from his pocket. He chewed the contents in his mouth and swallowed them, and said to Shi Zhijian: "
If you don't mind it, just slap me."
Shi Zhijian took a look and found that the cigarette box contained the cheapest hand-rolled cigarettes of this era.
With no brand, no address, and no trademark, many Hong Kong smokers jokingly call it the "Three Nos" brand of Hong Kong-made cigarettes.
To put it bluntly, some private households smuggled tobacco leaves from outside and randomly produced low-quality cigarettes produced by a small workshop. The smell is pungent. The only advantage is that it is cheap. You can usually buy a box of it with a real "three to five" price.
A dozen packs of these cheap cigarettes.
Shi Zhijian didn't mind the good cigarettes either, so he took one out of the cigarette pack and bit it on his mouth.
Smelly fish was very happy to see that Shi Zhijian was willing to smoke his cigarette. He quickly took out the match from his arms, struck and struck it, and helped Shi Zhijian light the cigarette. Then he carefully put away the half pack of cheap cigarettes, fearing that the cigarette inside would break.
After arranging them one by one, he put them into his arms again, but he couldn't even bear to smoke one.
"I have quit smoking now. Hong'er's mother said that smoking too much is bad for your health." Xiu Yuming said coyly.
But Hui Yinghong said next to her: "Mom also said that not smoking can save money."
Xiu Yuming coughed hurriedly and picked up the chopsticks to pick up vegetables for her: "Eat the vegetables first! Eat more to grow taller!"
Shi Zhijian took a puff of the cigarette. The low-quality tobacco filled his lungs and made him cough. Then he asked Xiu Yuming, "Why didn't you stay in Shek Kip Mei and come to Kowloon?"
Xiu Yuming sighed, "It's hard to live in Shek Kip Mei!"
"Why?"
"No water!" Xiu Yuming picked up a piece of scrambled eggs with chopsticks and swallowed it, then wiped it twice with the back of his hand.
"The last time the Water Supplies Department cut off the water supply, they said they would store water for those ghost guys for Christmas!"
"Now that Christmas is almost over, but the floodgates haven't been opened yet, the whole Shek Kip Mei is about to dry up! Many people have to go far away to fetch water, and some directly spend money to buy water from the candle ghosts."
Through Xiu Yuming's narration, Shi Zhijian knew a little bit about the current situation of Shi Kip Mei.
Hong Kong has always been short of water. In order to draw water, the government has built many reservoirs, hundreds of large and small, for the purpose of storing water.
Unfortunately, although enough reservoirs have been built, the problem of water shortage has not been alleviated.
In May 1963, water restrictions began. At first, the water supply was four hours a day. After a month or two, it was discovered that the water was not enough, and the water supply was changed to four hours every four days. This caused many people's livelihood problems.
At that time, most buildings in Hong Kong were four-story buildings. When there was water downstairs, a large water pipe was turned on to collect water. There was no water at all upstairs.
Nowadays, even the "four-hour water supply system" is not working. Ever since Shi Zhijian and his friends moved away from Shek Kip Mei, life there has become even more difficult, especially in terms of water supply. The Water Supplies Department has been stuck in not providing water to the poor here.
Take care of those ghost guys.
At first, they said they wanted to store water for the ghosts to celebrate Christmas, but after the festival, they found reasons to say that the floors in Shek Kip Mei are too high and the current water supply system cannot keep up. If they want water, let them build a water tower.
.
The people who live in Shek Kip Mei are poor. Building a water tower costs at least HK$30,000. Who can afford it?!
"Hey, everyone can't live any longer now! The water money demanded by Huo Zhugui is getting more and more expensive, and he almost treats it as a business - the price of water is higher than the price of rice! We poor people have to spend every
Save the dripping water, use the water for washing clothes to wash your feet, and use the water for washing your feet to wash clothes. You can't even think about taking a bath, it's more expensive than going to a bathhouse!"
"Many people couldn't bear it anymore and moved out from Shek Kip Mei. I had no choice but to escape with my wife and children!"
Shek Kip Mei is uninhabitable and people have to flee?
Shi Zhijian was stunned.
"Then what are you doing now,"
"What can I do? As a grown man, of course I want to find a job to earn a living and support my family. I can't let Hong'er's mother support me!"
Shi Zhijian flicked the cigarette between his fingers, "I have a company here that is recruiting cleaners. If you can endure hardship..."
"I can endure hardships, of course I can endure hardships!" When Xiu Yuming saw that there was work to do, he immediately became excited, without caring about eating, he patted his chest and said, "You also know that I came from a poor family, and I have been able to endure hardships the best since I was a child!
Cleaner, I’m willing to do it!”
Shou Yuming was afraid that Shi Zhijian wouldn't believe it, so he took out some bottles and cans from the sack he was carrying just now and said, "I'm picking up waste now! I can even pick up waste, let alone cleaning."
carry!"
"Okay, I'll write you a note later. You can find the address and go there. If anyone asks, just say that I introduced you!"
"Thank you, thank you A Jian! Oh no, thank you Mr. Shi!"
"What's your name, sir? It's too confusing! Just call me Ajian!"
"Hey, A Jian!" Xiu Yuming smiled brightly and hurriedly picked up vegetables for Hui Ying Hong, "Hong'er eats vegetables. We are lucky and have met a great benefactor!"
"He is not a great benefactor, he is Uncle Shi!"
"Yes, it's Uncle Shi! Uncle Shi is our great benefactor and a great good man!"
At this time, Shi Zhijian was thinking about taking his elder sister Shi Yufeng back to Shek Kip Mei to visit those old neighbors in the afternoon.
If my elder sister Shi Yufeng knew about Shi Kip Mei's current situation, I wonder what she would think?!
