On the streets, the mood of the lower-class people who were watching the mutants taking the exams became increasingly high, and exams had already begun in all 10 exam rooms.
The commentators in every examination room were shouting hard. When some commentators saw the excitement, they stood directly on the table, raised their hands and cheered.
Yincai walked slowly towards an alley, and the bustling sound behind her gradually faded away. She hadn't seen District 67 so lively for a long time. This low-level district in the northwest, near the Western Industrial Zone, had been here all year round just to watch.
Get old people and children.
Most young people basically work in factories all year round and only come back occasionally. Yincai will return to the place where he was born every once in a while. The houses and streets are still the same as they were forty years ago. Nothing has changed, except that they have become
Even older.
There used to be a lot of children here, but now there are fewer. Most of them are old people, and there are some familiar faces. Yincai did not take the initiative to say hello to these people, because she knew very well that if she did, it would be difficult for her.
Got away.
When he came here, Yincai asked the local business officers not to follow him. This happened every time, so every time Yincai came here, these officers were very sensible and didn't make any noise, but they would still do it.
Invite Yincai to dinner, Yincai will go there from time to time.
However, many times Yincai likes to wander around this area alone, not because she misses anything, but because she wants to take a look. She may not know exactly what she is looking for.
When the Western Industrial Zone was built a long time ago, there was no birth control and there were many children. Yincai still remembers that the streets at that time were full of children. As time went by, the grown-up children left here and were not very well.
I am willing to come back. If I have family, I will come back occasionally. If I don’t have family, I will basically never come back.
Although every district opens up reproductive rights every few years, many parents in many poor districts at the bottom have voluntarily given up their reproductive rights. There are many districts at the bottom like District 67, where there are only old people with broken candles in the wind.
The future will die little by little.
This time I came here, the pungent metallic smell in the wind was a little lighter. Yincai walked on a winding stone path between the houses, walking upward little by little, and in the distance I could see a building standing on the top of a hill.
Above, a large building is dilapidated and about to collapse.
The original white dome has been covered with black and gray. This facility built during the war has been used as a temporary residence for homeless people in the past years.
It was eventually converted into an orphanage. The land was worthless in a place like this. Yincai stopped and looked at the damaged wooden door on the left. There was a small piece of metal tied to it, with a line of small words engraved on it.
Zhang Lin, if you go home, remember to find us at your uncle's house in District 89. We will be waiting for you.
This is the 30th time I have seen the rusty metal sign in Yincai’s memory, and no one has ever touched it.
Yincai once checked and found that there are 15 people named Zhang Lin in the city, but none of them were born here, and their age is not right, so this person named Zhang Lin should be a gangster. In the past, there were many criminals and illegitimate persons.
, as well as people who were expelled to the barrier area and returned to the city through the ravine area that was not yet fully formed at that time. There were even many people who were unwilling to pay taxes and chose to hide when the population information was registered.
Became a gangster.
With the virtualization of currency, these black accounts gradually surfaced. When Niya took office 20 years ago, there was a crackdown, but now there are still some black accounts at the bottom. Many of them are in a dilemma and can only rely on some
Local powerful gangs help manage wallets and live off their meager income.
Among them, after the birth control was implemented, more children were born, and Yincai was once a black family.
In front of me is a broken bridge. In the nearly 5-meter-deep ravine, you can still see some rusty metal spikes and some scattered bones. This was originally a fortress on the top of a mountain, with ravines on the outside.
and a city wall nearly 10 meters high.
A large section of the city wall on the right side of the front has collapsed. The main building inside is the tall dome house that could be seen before. It has a total of 8 floors. It is surrounded by large and small houses. The nearby area is no longer inhabited.
.
The bridge was more than 20 meters long. Yincai jumped across it in a half-crouched position and landed on the fallen metal gate. Memories began to come to mind again.
When she was 14 years old and walking out of here, an old worker who often worked at the construction site felt sorry for her and took her to the construction site.
The days when she was a gangster are the most profound in Yincai's memory. She had to constantly avoid people in the business department and had to pay a certain amount of money to local organizations on a regular basis.
In the past, in order to warn against the large number of remaining gangsters, the criminal department usually sentenced those who arrested gangsters to five years in prison. When Yincai was 18 years old, she was arrested and had to either work in the eastern grain base to serve a five-year sentence, or leave the city directly.
.
At the age of 23, Yincai was released from prison and obtained level 3 citizenship and a labor fee of 2,000 yuan. At that time, Yincai was shocked. She never thought that after she was released from prison, she would still have a sum of money to support herself temporarily.
money and no taxes will be paid in the next 3 months.
During the past five years, Yincai worked on the farm every day during the day and learned to read at night from an old woman in her cell. When she was working on the construction site, she found that people who could read seemed to be paid more.
Looking at the 8-story cylindrical building in front of me, it is about to collapse. It has been neglected since more than 30 years ago.
On the ground that has been corroded by a large amount of harmful metal substances and turned black, there is a lot of garbage randomly arranged. Inside the wall, in a lower place, you can see some colorful graffiti, as well as a series of faded stains that can no longer be seen clearly.
Notes, Yincai walked over and pressed one hand against the wall. These notes were painted by her before, together with the oldest boy in the orphanage.
This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading! More and more things emerge from the memory. Yincai has been looking for the children in this orphanage over the years. More than ten are missing, and the rest are unknown.
Already logged on the death list.
This orphanage is quite big. When Yincai was younger, there were nearly 100 children in the orphanage. The director worked hard to maintain the operation of the entire orphanage. He relied on a factory he ran to go back and forth every day.
In several districts, donations were collected everywhere.
But it was difficult to feed so many children. Children often died due to illness, and the only way for the dead children was to burn them and throw them into the gully.
Yincai once asked the dean if he wanted to bury them, but the dean often said that although the sunlight was very weak, this was a mountain and the sun could reach it, and he wanted to let the children sleeping in the ravine bask in the sun.
What the dean often tells the children is that as long as they grow up and have strength, they can live, and as long as they are still bathed in the sun, they can live.
It's just that the factory run by the dean eventually closed down. Yincai still remembers that the dean was still thinking about countermeasures at that time. She saw the dean come back from outside several times, empty-handed and sad, but after returning, the dean was happy again.
Laughed.
There are fewer and fewer children. Some children are lucky and are accepted by other welfare institutions. Some more beautiful children are adopted. In the end, there are fewer and fewer children left, and those who are born thin and have...
Children who suffer from diseases will eventually die here without exception.
The dean is still running outside every day.
"Where are you going? Allen."
Yincai will always remember that day. The remaining children were tortured by hunger and illness every day and were cared for by 16-year-old Allen and 14-year-old Yincai.
However, when there were still nine children in the orphanage, Allen chose to leave.
"Follow me in Yincai, and the two of us should be able to survive."
"Didn't you say that you are the father and I am the mother, to them!"
Allen left the orphanage without any hesitation, and Yincai did not pursue her. She knew very well that if she left, the remaining children would die.
Finally, the dean came back. This time he came back with a desperate expression and no longer had a smile. The dean persuaded Yincai to leave as well.
Over the years, what Yincai has thought about most is that she left in the end. If she had not left at that time, she might have died here. After leaving for a period of time, she made some money and wanted to come back. This can be called
It’s a place called home, but the reality is cruel.
Click
Yincai stepped into the door of the building in front of her. When she raised her head, she seemed to have returned to the time when she was 15 years old. The rotten knots were still hanging on the beams and the dean committed suicide.
There was a sound of footsteps
"Yincai!"
There was a voice from behind. Yincai's eyes widened, but she did not turn her head. She was a little confused and turned around with a slight smile. The man behind her was wearing an ordinary white T-shirt, black jeans, and a smile on his face.
He smiled, but his face was slightly pale, his features were straight, and his hair was short.
But Yincai seemed to be confirming something. She seemed to have seen the man in front of her somewhere before. The man smiled at Yincai, approached slowly, and took out a key from his pocket. Yincai stared at her immediately.
Big eyes.
"You are...Ellen!"
The man nodded and placed the rusty key with a unique shape in Yincai's hand. There were many irregular serrations on both sides of the key, and there was a plum blossom pattern on the key handle.
Yincai was still staring at the man in front of her. She didn't believe it immediately, although the man's outline did look familiar. The man who called himself Allen walked past Yincai.
"Follow me."
Yincai held the key in her hand and hesitated for a while, but she still followed quickly. Everything in the hall of the building was very messy, with a lot of waste piled up.
Allen walked to the stairs with Yincai. After going up a certain distance, the stairs were divided into left and right sides. Allen stopped at the middle staircase, then reached out and pressed on the stairs to sweep away the accumulated dust. Soon
A small metal piece was exposed, and he opened it to reveal a keyhole.
Yincai looked at Allen with some surprise. Only she and Allen knew the location of the keyhole. There was a relatively large bunker below, but it had been abandoned long ago and there was nothing in it.
"Want to go down and have a look! I haven't been back for many years."
To be continued...