Chapter 22 The Children of the Poor Are Heads of Home Early
As I fumbled around, Zhou Wu's paper bag disappeared. I hurriedly put my face on the ground, turned on the light of my phone, and looked into the gap in the garbage pile.
That was an item Zhou Wu asked me to keep. If it wasn't important to Zhou Wu, he wouldn't have given it to me so solemnly.
And now, when I was about to dig through this garbage pile looking for it to no avail, I realized in a panic that the paper bag I had hidden was indeed gone!
"Don't panic, calm down and think about how this could happen!"
I fell to the ground, patted my forehead, and told myself to calm down quickly, something must have gone wrong.
After a few minutes, I calmed down completely and recalled everything that happened at the garbage station this morning.
Gradually, my eyes lit up, and the figure of the teenage boy who picked up garbage in the morning appeared in my mind.
I am extremely sure that when Zhou Wu personally handed me the paper bag, except for the boy who was far away from the two of us, not even the staff at the garbage station noticed either of us.
As I tried to recall, I remembered that the boy glanced at the place where Zhou Wu and I were squatting.
Also, when the police came to my door, I immediately stuffed the paper bag under the garbage pile and covered it with other garbage. The police never found the paper bag.
Since it is impossible for me to lose my memory, the only possibility is that the boy took away the paper package.
After all, he is a child. When he saw me and Zhou Wu squatting down, and then the police appeared, the boy would definitely become curious. As long as he squatted here, with his experience of picking up garbage, it wouldn't take long for him to discover that
gap.
"Absolutely!"
I suddenly realized it, got up from the ground, and directly found the garbage station worker who had fallen asleep.
This man has been collecting trash here for many years. When I mentioned that I picked up trash a few years ago, he immediately recalled me.
After some pleasantries, I gave this man twenty yuan and asked him to find out about the boy who came to the garbage station to sell scraps around eight o'clock in the morning.
The staff remembered the boy and said that his nickname was Gouzi and he lived in the north hut area not far from the garbage station. The staff did not know which room he lived in specifically.
I know that the north hut is an abandoned shanty area. The shanties living there were relocated many years ago. Only some homeless people will live in that leaky hut.
I had stayed there for one night before, when Zhou Wu left Xihe City, and I went to the grass shed area when I was in a hurry to find Brother Wu.
As a result, it rained heavily that night and I couldn't go home. I had to spend the night huddled in a thatched hut.
After coming out of the garbage station, I rushed to the straw shed area overnight.
I was alone in the suburbs at midnight, but I didn't feel any fear. This kind of thing like walking alone in the wilderness at night has been something I have experienced since I was six years old.
There is nothing wrong with saying that the children of the poor should become masters early!
Arriving at the shanty town to the north, the night wind was blowing, and the wind was filled with a strong smell of dampness and decay. I looked through the light of my mobile phone and saw that many thatched huts had collapsed.
Looking at this ruined and abandoned shed area, I felt a little uncomfortable.
Under the bright sky, it seems that there are high-rise buildings everywhere, and everything seems to be overflowing with wealth and enjoyment, but here comes poverty.
In this deserted night, there are at least a few poor people living in this area.
Each of them wants to live a life without worries about food and clothing, but the reality of poverty often forces them to bow their heads.
I even wonder why no one from the builders paid attention to this area, and why does this hut area still exist after so many years?
Of course, the purpose of my coming tonight is not to delve into these great principles, but to find the little boy.
I took a deep breath, calmed down all the emotions in my heart, and started looking for the first hut in the west.
After searching for more than ten minutes, I found someone living in a hut that was large enough for someone to lie down. But it was not the little boy I was looking for, but a beggar.
I didn't disturb the beggar who could sleep in this environment. He had his own difficulties and troubles, and I couldn't help him solve any troubles now.
After searching for a while, I found the little boy I had seen in the morning in another hut covered with old canvas.
He wasn't even asleep yet. He lit a candle and sat on the floor that looked like a doghouse, watching me walk in with curious eyes.
"Brother, I knew you would definitely find me."
The little boy was not timid at all. When he spoke, he faced me directly, his eyes did not dodge at all, and he took out a paper bag from his arms: "In the morning, I saw you and another brother wearing a mask being mysterious, and I knew you There is a situation between the two of them."
I smiled and didn't rush over to grab the paper bag. Instead, I sat down on the spot without disdain.
The ground was cold, but my heart was warm. From the friendly eyes of this little boy, I seemed to see my past self.
"After the police left, I went to find this paper bag." The little boy saw that I was not restrained here, and he smiled happily: "I opened it and saw that it was a worthless counterfeit jade pendant. I know that although it is not valuable, But it may be very important to you, brother. I was worried that someone would take it away later, so I took it home."
He called this thatched hut, which was so dilapidated that even a mouse would dislike it, his home!
I felt a little upset after hearing this, so I took out all my cash from my trouser pocket, which totaled less than one hundred yuan. I handed it to the little boy: "Son, brother, thank you for your kindness. This jade pendant is indeed very important to me. It's not much money, so I'll just treat it as my brother's thanks and go buy some meat buns to eat in the morning."
The little boy shook his head and refused: "Brother, I don't want your money. I can see that it was not easy for you before, brother. You can call me Gouzi. My parents died early and I was born so cheap that I have forgotten my own name."
I stretched out my hand to rub the little boy's head and took the jade pendant from his hand. I didn't say anything to encourage Gouzi, but it was obvious that he didn't need such encouragement.
Gouzi now is a shadow of my former self. I didn’t need others to pity me before, because Gouzi and I both know that we can only rely on ourselves to survive!
I didn't linger much, said thank you to the dog, got up and got out of the hut.
When I left, I quietly used a stone to put the fifty yuan worth of the largest ticket in my cash under a stone.
Fifty yuan is not much, but as a thank you to Gouzi, if he refuses to admit that he got the jade pendant, I can't do anything to him.
I cycled directly from the shantytown back to the wedding room. Han Xiaoyue was still sleeping soundly. I returned to the guest room, turned on the lamp and carefully observed the jade pendant in the paper bag.
This jade pendant is about the same size as one worn on an ordinary person's chest. It has no rope to pull it, and it is bare and has no lines.
I have been picking up garbage for many years, and there are many genuine and fake items that can be identified at a glance. After repeated confirmation, I found that it was indeed a fake jade pendant that was worthless and uncarved.
To be precise, this is a piece of plastic so-called jade pendant. I looked at it over and over for a long time, and I couldn't figure out why Zhou Wu would give it to me for safekeeping.
"Forget it, I don't want to think about it anymore, it's too big to think about. Anyway, Brother Wu will contact me when the time comes and I will return the jade pendant to him."
I rubbed my temples and did some stretching exercises, then wrapped the jade pendant in a cardboard box and placed it in the middle of the mattress in the guest room.
On Monday morning, I got up very early and made breakfast for Han Xiaoyue in the kitchen, hoping to ease the tension between the two of us.
After Han Xiaoyue got up, she didn't appreciate it. She didn't even look at my breakfast. She just took her bag and left after washing.
I had to finish breakfast alone. While eating breakfast, I thought about the jade pendant again and thought it would be better to wear it close to my body. Although it was only worth one yuan, it was entrusted to me by Brother Wu after all.
I took out the jade pendant from the mattress. On the way to the piano store, I spent five yuan in a small gift shop to make a red rope and hung the fake jade pendant around my neck.
I arrived at the music store before nine o'clock and started cleaning. When Ding Qian came, I found that Boss Ding looked at me with a cold expression.
I didn't think much about it, thinking that Ding Qian was dissatisfied with me for not coming to work for two consecutive days.
After I finished cleaning, Ding Qian walked up to me, gave me two hundred-dollar bills, and then said to me: "Small shops don't support great people, I'm sorry, you'd better find another job!"