Chapter 32 29 The Old Man Selling Shiitake Mushrooms

Walking in Warsaw, the capital of Poland, you can see many beggars with broken hands and feet. I walked past them and saw a middle-aged man without legs.His sharp eyes seem to be able to see into the depths of my heart.At that moment, I felt a pain in my chest and felt so uncomfortable, I walked away from him as if I wanted to escape. Three days later, I was riding a small road in the forest, and I saw a figure in front of me, who seemed to be a peddler selling shiitake mushrooms.Autumn is getting deeper, some villagers went to the woods to pick shiitake mushrooms, and sold them on the side of the road.Those shiitake mushrooms were surprisingly delicious, like a mix of matsutake and koji mushrooms.I seem to be addicted and buy it every day. "Let's add it to miso soup tonight." I thought about it, but the man who approached the road was shocked.It was a middle-aged old man.It was nothing, but he rode on a strange bicycle with three wheels and pedals at the front.That structure seems to be moved forward by hand.On closer inspection, he was missing a leg.

—Is it a beggar? That's what I thought at the time.He still has stubble on his chin, and his clothes are tattered, but there are shiitake mushrooms neatly placed in front of him, which is really touching.He is different from other disabled people in this country, relying on picking mushrooms to survive on his own!I took out a ZLOTYCH copper plate (equivalent to 40 yen) as usual, pointed at his shiitake mushroom with a smile on my face, "give me a zloty share." Unexpectedly, when the old man saw that I took out the copper plate, his face became very angry, and he said firmly: "Nie! Nie! (No)", and then kept talking quickly.Probably saying, "That little money is not enough to buy my shiitake mushrooms!" I was a little disappointed, although I was very moved just now.It must be very hard to step on such a tricycle to pick mushrooms in the woods, but you can usually buy a lot of mushrooms for one zloty, and his tough attitude is too hard to avoid...

At that time, probably out of cheap sympathy, I took a five-zloty note out of my wallet.But the old man roared even more excitedly: "Nie! Nie!" Then he took out the wallet from his pocket, as if asking me to "see clearly", and deliberately took out a few banknotes in front of me.I felt a chill run through my body. —Do you want me to take out a little more money? The old man put the banknotes he just took out into his wallet and kept putting the mushrooms into the bag. I quickly stopped him, but he still kept saying something quickly in Polish and didn't stop at all.At this time, one word in what he said flashed by my ears.

"Present."—Huh? The old man pushed the dirty plastic bag full of shiitake mushrooms in front of me. "...a gift for me?" When I said that, the old man nodded vigorously.His firm eyes seemed to be telling me something.At this time, I finally suddenly realized.In the beginning, the old man was eager to tell me, "How can I get money from you, a poor traveler?" And just now he showed me the money in his wallet to show me, "I am not a beggar" . I was trembling all over, thinking, how noble his self-esteem is, and how generous he is... mixed with all kinds of complicated thoughts, I just felt a warm current in my heart. I didn't know how to express my current mood, so I had to say Speak the only Polish he can speak.

"Thank you." He showed a determined expression and nodded slightly. Although I rode far away, my boiling thoughts still lingered.Through the forest, the brilliant light of the setting sun shines on the face.Bathed in such light, I can only say "thank you" silently in my heart again and again.When my tears flowed down, I couldn't stop them anymore.