Chapter 9 The Story of Big Nose.1

Among the three million people in "Great Shanghai", our protagonist here is considered the "lowest". Sometimes we caught a glimpse of him sneaking into the black oiled iron gate of some "square" or "village" on the third floor of the "new sanitary equipment", crawling beside the large cement trash can, and together with the wild dogs, digging out there Moldy "baby" in a cement box.He would snatch a piece of fleshy bone from a wild dog, and when he got it, he would take a closer look and feel that the dusty bone was really useless, so he had to throw it back to the wild dog who was stronger than him.Occasionally he picked up a rotten apple or half of an old turnip, which the wild dogs sniffed and turned away, and he was so happy that his thin black fingers trembled a little.As he ate, he squeezed into the pack of dogs more bravely to dig in the cement box. He also fell on the ground like the dogs, and his thin, black face would slip into the small hole under the cement box. go in the door.Maybe he will see something shiny inside the cement box—maybe it is an old wine bottle or a toy that the young masters and ladies have broken, then he will temporarily forget that he is hungry, and he stretches his forearm to go. Grabbing and digging, I wish I could get into the cement box.However, often at this moment, he got a heavy kick from a rough cowhide boot on his ass: from experience, he knew that this kick was rewarded to him by the inspector of the "village" or "workshop".So he had no choice but to sneak out of the big black iron gate with those wild dogs with their tails between their buttocks, and then went to other places to carry out his "adventure" business.

Sometimes when his luck came, he was able to escape the watchful eyes of the gatekeeper and come to the back door of a family with "new sanitary equipment" on the third floor, and it happened that the back door of that house was open, and the aunt who cooked the rice was cooking overnight. Pour the leftovers and cold rice into the "slop bucket", and then he will speak; his voice is so weak that he can't understand it--it doesn't matter if you don't understand it, anyway, the aunt who cooks understands him At this time, he either got half a bowl of sour porridge, or just rolled his eyes, or even a sympathetic word that was of no benefit to him: "Go, I can't give it to you! Someone gave out the wallet for the slop! "

The above things probably happened every morning when the young masters and ladies were still sleeping in the fragrant blankets. From now on, we may see him on the bustling street corner behind the gentlemen with big bellies and the ladies with snake waists, long cheongsams and high heels, calling in a trembling voice, "Master, madam, be kind." At the foot of the concrete and steel Dayang Bridge across the Suzhou Creek, perhaps we saw him suddenly emerge from the crowd like a mouse, jump to the side of a rickshaw on the bridge, and help the driver to pull it up the bridge; As he pulled, he pleaded to the driver in the carriage: "Sir, (or madam,...) Be kind!" He was exchanging his labor for food, but what he got at most was a copper coin, or nothing at all.

His "selling labor" is also a kind of "adventure business".When the patrolman saw him, he would teach him with a stick.Sometimes the police officers will "show good intentions" and pretend not to see him, but at both ends of the bridge, there are colleagues who are in the same situation as him but are older and more qualified than him, but they are not accommodating, they will scold him, beat him, He is not allowed to have such freedom to "sell his labor"! Even in such "adventurous business", some people divide the territory and "arrange", and they each have their own backstage bosses, so they are not free to operate freely.

But our protagonist also has moments of great pride. This is usually when red and green "neon lights" are shining on the bustling roads, but in the secluded alleys there is only the cold light of a street lamp at the entrance of the alley.Our protagonist, at this time, perhaps by chance, joined five or six or even a dozen comrades of his age to guard in this secluded alley.So I kept watch, and at the entrance of the alley, I found a meal burden, which was also carried by a child of only twelve or thirteen years old, and he came back from some small shop.This is a burden of eaten food. In the bamboo basket in front there may be only empty bowls and plates with a thin layer of oil and water left, and in the copper rice bucket in the back there may be only cold rice that is not enough for one person, but maybe luck Well, in the bowls and plates there was still affordable oil soup or a few bones and a few leprosy leaves, and the cold rice in the bucket was enough to feed a healthy dog; at that time, because the advantage was in our On the side of the protagonist and his comrades, the children who have nothing to eat are usually non-resistance.Our protagonist is partially satisfied with this, and after licking the greasy plate, he roars away.

However, our protagonist's "routine meal" is still scolded, sticked, and booted after all; his life is more difficult than that of wild dogs.