After walking for a while, public kitchens appeared on both sides. Everyone lined up with vegetable baskets to cook. There was no meat or eggs, only cucumbers, potatoes, cabbage...
It's relatively quiet outside, but the further you go in, the more noisy you get. There's the sound of erhu, guitar, drums, pheasants croaking, and wild wolves howling. Why is it such a messed up word?
"Your mother, you still bargain for 1 yuan a day. If you don't stop talking about it, I'll bully you..."
Passing by an open hut, under the dim light, a second-hand landlord who buried Gutai pointed at a pair of shivering half-grown boys and roared.
Tie Jun pulled the man's neck collar, handed over 100 yuan, and said calmly: "Brother, I'm from Sanyue, I'm looking for money, don't do it!"
"Ah? Hehe, no bb, no bb, here you go, 10 yuan, uncle, I didn't know he was your relative, you guys are nagging, hehe!"
The second landlord took the big ticket and left. Tie Jun ducked into the house and looked at the two disgraced children, his heart twitching.
"Uncle, write down your address and we will pay you back when we have money later. Thank you for saving us!"
A child handed over a ballpoint pen and was about to kneel down after saying that. Tie Jun stopped him and pushed them to sit on the broken board bed. He looked around and said, "Idiot!"
"I'm only in my 20s. I can't be your uncle. Call me brother. How old are you two? Why are you here?"
The two children looked at each other, and the one who had just spoken, the slightly taller one, opened his mouth to answer.
"Uncle, eldest brother, we are both 18 and from Sichuan. My name is Li Wei and his name is Wang Chunsheng. They come from the same village and graduated from an art school, majoring in dance."
Li Wei stopped, as if trying to organize his words, and looked at the two malnourished skinny monkeys in front of him. Tie Jun didn't know how long they had been suffering here.
"We followed the boss to do acupuncture. We took a bus from Guangzhou and performed all the way to Beijing. Just three days after the performance, the boss ran away and we didn't get a penny."
"How long have you lived here? What do you do for a living? Why don't you go home?"
Tie Jun asked three questions, which made the two children cry. Tie Jun scratched his head, as if he didn't ask any sensitive topics!
"We have no money, and we don't have the shame to go home. He has three sisters, and I have a brother and a sister. They even pointed us to send money home!"
"We have lived here for more than half a year. We go to the Xidan subway every night to break dance and catch up with the rich kids, so we can make more money."
Wang Chunsheng became more courageous and added some questions that Li Wei didn't answer.
"More than half a year? You two haven't even earned a train ticket, right?"
"earn......"
"We don't want to go home!"
As soon as Wang Chunsheng said a word, he was interrupted by Li Wei, who also pulled him down on the bed.
"Oh? It seems like you two can make quite a lot of money, am I just meddling in other people's business?"
"No, brother, don't stop me and let me speak!"
Wang Chunsheng crawled back and shouted loudly, Tie Jun wanted to laugh, feeling that all stubborn people were related to him, and this Sichuan boy was also very stubborn.
Li Wei is obviously more thoughtful than Wang Chunsheng. Tie Jun has made up his mind. To be honest, he can consider lending a helping hand and moral kidnapping. Hey, 90 is over.
"Brother, we have money, not much, and we can still afford the rent. We were robbed once, so we can only pretend to be poor. I'm sorry, we lied to you!"
After Wang Chunsheng finished speaking, he looked relaxed. He dug out a brick from under the bed, took out a plastic bag, and opened it. It looked like there were dozens of dollars in it.
Li Wei was very embarrassed. He didn't dare to look at Tie Jun or Wang Chunsheng, so he lowered his head and kicked his legs on the bed.
"Let me just say, 90 yuan won't make you kneel down, Li Wei, tell the truth, do you often kneel down?"
Li Wei didn't speak, but Wang Chunsheng hummed. Tie Jun patted Li Wei on the shoulder and paused.
"Li Wei, you know, there is gold under a man's knees. He must kneel to the sky, to the ground, and to his parents in the middle!"
Li Wei stood up, like a primary school student who had made a mistake, with his hands hanging by his legs and his head lowered at a right angle.
"I understand, you are making money here and sending it back to your hometown to support your younger brothers and sisters. You are making money with your own hands. This is not shameful!"
But if you take advantage of everyone's sympathy and kneel down to beg and pretend to be pitiful, then I will look down on you. You know, this is called moral kidnapping!"
"Brother, I'm sorry, I will pay you back now!"
Li Wei, who was lying low, also went to dig under the bed, and Tie Jun pulled him up.
"No need, I was reckless, you did the right thing, don't act pitiful, evil people will bully you.
But you don’t have to worry too much. The government has already proposed, ‘Use use to promote management, use holes to nourish holes.’ Someone will soon manage this place and make it standardized.
Sit down and tell me how big your cabin is?"
"5 square meters is the cheapest. There are 15 square meters. It costs 3 yuan a day. Bathing is free. We can only wash it once a week and it costs 50 cents."
Hearing Tie Jun's tone slow down, Li Wei wiped the sweat from his head and replied in a low voice.
In addition to the bed, the hut is just a small long table that I built myself. There is a small window for ventilation, but there is no light, so I can only rely on the small light bulb above my head.
There were centipedes crawling under his feet and burrowing under the bed, and there were mottled mold spots on the walls. Tie Jun even felt that the soles of his feet were cold and uncomfortable.
"Who lives here?"
"Waiters, vegetable sellers, newspaper sellers, musicians, and some of them work nearby, all trying to get a bargain!"
"Squeak!"
The door opened, and a lady in her forties put her head in. She was stunned for a moment when she saw Tie Jun.
"Ah, there are guests, Xiaowei, Auntie is making dumplings today. I didn't know you have guests. Let's eat a few of them each!"
"Sister, I've finished eating and will be leaving in a moment!"
Tie Jun hurriedly explained. The eldest sister smiled, leaned in halfway, and placed a large bowl on the long table.
"Auntie, thank you, I will send the bowl to you later!"
Li Wei stood up and replied. The eldest sister smiled, retracted her body, and closed the door.
"You two eat, brother really ate it!"
Tie Jun pushed the bowl inside, and neither of them moved, looking at Tie Jun together.
"Oh, I'm here to find someone!"
"Who are you looking for? There are 33 households here, and we all know them. Just ask us, haha!"
This is the truth. The two brothers have lived here for such a long time. Except for a few bad guys, they get along well with everyone. For example, the elder sister who delivers dumplings will bring whatever delicious food they have to her.
"There's a guy wearing a mask and carrying a guitar..."
"His name is Ah Chuan. He has been here not long and his singing is very nice. He just came back. Chun Sheng has a good relationship with him. Let him take you there."
"No, don't worry, just listen to what I have to say first."
Tie Jun stopped the two of them. Wang Chunsheng's face was a little worried, and his eyes looking at Tie Jun also changed.
"Brother, are you and Aguan friends or foes?"
Wang Chunsheng spoke, which also made Tie Jun laugh.
"Haha, he is my future brother-in-law. Would you say he is an enemy or a friend?"
"Oh, that's good. The day he first came here, he was beaten by the Northwest Wolf. Look at me, it's just a fight!"
Wang Chunsheng lowered his head, and Tie Jun saw a red purlin on the back of his neck.