At around 12 o'clock at noon, Cai Hongnu carried two large bags of clothes to the freight transfer station one kilometer away, signed the signature, and collected the money. Business was good this morning. Counting the money spent on moving the vegetables in the morning, she was already almost fifty.
, I felt so happy, and even my originally heavy steps became brisk.
Business is quiet at noon, so take the time to eat. It is best to find a cool place to sit for a while and take a nap.
There are many snack bars in the surrounding area, and the prices are very affordable. She is reluctant to buy meat buns for 1.5 yuan each. She eats a lot of food for manual labor, and two or three buns are not enough. The owner of the noodle shop she used to frequent is becoming more and more stingy.
, the two yuan a bowl of noodles is not enough, she didn’t eat enough yesterday.
After some hesitation, Cai Hongnu found a steamed bun stall and bought three large steamed buns for 50 cents each. The steamed buns were large enough to make a lunch with the jug of boiling water she asked for.
The taste is a bit bland. Cai Hongnv thinks that when she goes out tomorrow, she will bring a bottle of home-made hot sauce. Steamed buns with hot sauce are economical and affordable. Moreover, her hot sauce is delicious. Her mother-in-law's skill in making hot sauce is the best in the village.
As you can tell, she has never been tired of it in more than 20 years of marriage.
Thinking of hot sauce, Cai Hongnv couldn't help but start to miss home. A few years ago, the one in her family got seriously ill. She visited the county, city, and provincial capital, and finally left the three of them alone, kicked off her legs, and was like this.
went.
Not only did he spend all his family's money on medical treatment, but he also owed a large amount of debt.
The eldest daughter is sensible. She didn't even finish high school, so she dropped out of school on her own initiative and went south to work in Guangdong. She couldn't bear the burden of the family to fall on the shoulders of her daughter, who was not yet 18 years old at the time. I heard that people could earn money here with pole poles.
, just come over and give it a try, and a few years have passed in the blink of an eye.
In the past few years, she and her daughter have only gone home once during the Chinese New Year. Fortunately, the old man at home is still in good health and can help take care of the farm work and the young son who stayed at home. After several years of hard work, the debt owed was finally paid off last year.
She finally breathed a sigh of relief.
What makes her even more gratified is that her younger son is very ambitious. He has entered the second year of high school this year. His grades are very important in school. The teacher said that he is very hopeful that he will be admitted to a prestigious university in the beginning of the year.
Her son's future is her biggest hope at the moment. But she still doesn't dare to slack off. In the future, her son will go to college, find a job after graduation, negotiate for a partner, and buy a house, all without money! While she is in good health and can still work,
Save more money.
Moreover, the elderly at home are getting older day by day. What if one day...
That still costs money.
Whenever she thinks about these things, Cai Hongnu can't help but feel worried. The originally bland steamed buns become even more tasteless when she eats them.
"Sister Cai!"
A shout in the local dialect that didn't sound quite authentic interrupted her melancholy. She didn't need to look back to know that it was the woman she met in the morning.
This woman is very strange. She seems to have been hanging around all morning. However, she is quite knowledgeable. Whenever she has some free time, she will come over to talk to her, and her words are pleasant.
After the woman's repeated guidance, she finally remembered that the day before yesterday, there seemed to be a man wearing a hat and a mask who asked her about the pole poles on this street on a hot day. At that time, she felt that this man was a little strange.
I just said a few words casually. If it weren't for the woman's constant reminders, she would have forgotten about it.
However, this woman insists on saying that the person was her that day, and Cai Hongnv is still a little afraid to go into details. She can now roughly recall the woman who was wearing a mask that day. Although she couldn't see her face clearly, she looked quite young, and she was wearing
She is not like ordinary people, how could she be this rustic woman in front of her?
But since this woman said she had a nose and eyes, and knew her own name, she could only half-believe it.
"Sister Cai, you've already eaten! Just in time, I bought some meat buns, let's eat them together."
The woman smiled and brought a steaming steamed meat bun over.
Cai Hongnu smelled the fragrance and swallowed secretly. She said that she had not touched meat for almost a week. The pole business was uncertain. If she was lucky, she could earn one hundred and eighty yuan a day. If she was not lucky, she might earn 180 yuan a day.
It's only fifty or sixty, and after a month, it's just over two thousand.
She goes out alone, and has to pay for food and rent. She can't save on rent, and the place where she lives is the cheapest. A bed costs five yuan a day, which works out to one hundred and fifty yuan a month. She plans to save some money this year.
Twenty thousand yuan can only be saved from mouth.
"Sister Cai, come on, eat while it's hot!"
The woman sat down next to him, opened the bag and handed it to her.
"Then why are you so embarrassed? No, no, you can eat it yourself."
Cai Hongnu refused repeatedly and quietly moved to the side. There was nothing she could do about the carrying pole, especially in the weather like this. She would be covered in sweat every time she worked. When it got wet or dried, there would always be a smell on her body. That
Although the woman is dressed in ordinary clothes, she looks very clean. Although others don't dislike it, she has to know her own taste.
"Sister Cai, why are you so polite to me? Eat, I bought more on purpose. Besides, I can't eat for myself, and it's a waste if I can't eat!" Cheng Hao is very good at talking.
"Then...where is your brother and his brother's partner?"
Cai Hongnu looked around, but she didn't see the man and woman who were with the woman before. She was a little puzzled at first. They didn't seem to be ordinary people, but they seemed to respect the woman.
When they chatted in the morning, she asked secretly. The woman told her that one was her brother and the other was her brother's girlfriend, the kind of guy who chased after her. No wonder the girl seemed to have always been very interested in this woman.
Being diligent and being brave is just flattering my sister-in-law.
She was quite envious of that young man. He was not tall and dark, but he was chased by a pretty girl, and he was chased by an unusually beautiful girl. If her youngest son would have this kind of thing in the future.
If you're lucky, you'll have less worry!
"They went shopping by themselves. I'm the only one now. I can only eat two, and the rest are all yours." Cheng Hao took two buns from the bag and held them in his hand, while the others were facing her.
He handed it over and said with a smile.
"Then you still buy so many, tsk tsk, it's a waste." Cai Hongnv looked at the five meat buns in the bag and said with a distressed look on her face.
"Sister Cai, please stop nibbling on that steamed bun of yours. Eat it while it's hot, otherwise it will be a waste."
Cai Hongnu hesitated for a moment, then took it, and nodded politely: "Thank you, sister!"
She didn't eat it right away, but put the half-eaten steamed bun into it, carefully tied it in a plastic bag, and put it in the cloth bag hanging with her. Because the meat buns have fillings, they are easy to spoil in such a hot day.
, the steamed buns are fine. The remaining two and a half steamed buns can be used as dinner today.
Then she took out a steamed bun and gestured to Cheng Hao. After Cheng Hao took a bite of the steamed bun in his hand, she started eating.
It’s been a long time since I’ve eaten such delicious steamed buns. One steamed bun was eaten in three or two bites, and Cheng Hao was stunned to see that the steamed bun was still chewing in his mouth after he had just taken a bite.
Cai Hongnu noticed the strange looks around her, and she was a little shy and said, "Sister, don't be ridiculous. In our line of work, sometimes eating is like fighting. If a job comes, you won't be able to grab it if you eat slowly."
arrive."
"oh."
Cheng Hao nodded, suddenly remembered, took out two bottles of water from his bag, handed one over, and said: "Sister Cai, drink water."
"I have water."
Sister Cai hurriedly picked up her big pot, which still contained more than half a cup of water. People who work on poles sweat more and drink more water. She has never been willing to buy this kind of mineral water that costs two yuan a bottle.
A meal is enough.
"Sister, take it, I bought this for you too."
Cheng Hao forced the bottle into her hand.
"Sister, how do you say this? You are a meat bun and a mineral water guy. I don't even know what to say." Sister Cai said with a look of shame.
"Sister, look what you said, don't be polite, I want to ask you something later." Cheng Hao said with a smile.
"Sister, I'm just a country boy and don't have much knowledge. If you have any questions, just tell me."
This was the first time that Cai Hongnu encountered someone offering her hot buns and mineral water. Moreover, the Hanzheng Street area was originally a mixed bag of dragons and snakes. Even if she was the lowest carrying pole, she would inevitably have to be cautious at all times.
At that time, when I heard what Cheng Hao said, I felt a little uneasy.
Cheng Hao noticed the wary look on the other person's face, and hurriedly explained: "It's no big deal, I just want to ask, can someone like me do a pole job?"
"You also want to be a carrying pole?"
Cai Hongnu was taken aback and said in disbelief: "Sister, stop joking, how could you do such a hard job like ours?"
"Why can't I do it? Sister, tell me first, why are you doing the pole?" Cheng Hao asked.
In the past two days, she had met a lot of people, but Cai Hongnv was the only one who looked kind to her, so she wanted to use this topic to take the opportunity to get to know Cai Hongnv.
"I can't help it. I have an old man and a young man, and I owed a lot of debt. Look at me. I have no education. If I want to make money, I can't do anything except sell my strength.
ah!"
"What about your man?"
"Alas, this short-lived ghost has bad luck. He got cancer. After a lot of treatment, he couldn't be cured. He left a few years ago."
"What's there to be sorry for? It's okay! To put it bluntly, it's all about life. You can only rely on my life. But fortunately, I still have some strength, otherwise I really wouldn't be able to survive this day.
.”
Cai Hongnu waved her hands openly, without any sadness at all, but showed a hint of pride.
Then, she seemed to suddenly remember and asked, "Sister, I don't even know your name yet?"
"Oh, my last name is..."
Cheng Hao paused mid-sentence, then smiled at Cai Hongnv and said, "My surname is Li, and my name is Li Baoli. Sister, you can just call me Baoli!"