Chapter 62 Chapter two

That winter, Jacky Cheung's songs filled the streets. The high school students in Siyi Middle School had their winter vacation, and I saw Ruolan and Zhou Xuan together every day, but I didn't see Ye Xiao.I squatted by the wall once, and heard Zhou Xuan tell Ruolan from a distance that Ye Xiao went back to his parents' house in Xinjiang to celebrate the New Year. On New Year's Eve, I hid under the eaves of the laid-off workers' house, covered with a broken quilt I picked up, added several layers of thick cardboard boxes, and pressed a few asbestos tiles to block the firecrackers set off by every household. .When I was so disturbed by the sound of firecrackers that I couldn't sleep, I heard a fierce quarrel coming from the window.The laid-off workers, their wives and daughters all hated me very much. They thought it was inauspicious and dangerous for a homeless man collecting waste to live outside the wall.From then on, the laid-off worker never dared to talk to me again, and his wife even went to the neighborhood committee to drive me out of her house.However, outside the walls of her house is a public place, and no one has the right to drive me away.I don't want to go back to live under the bridge, it's dark and humid and homicides always happen there, I just want to hide in this alley, and I can see Ruolan passing by every day.

On the first day of the Lunar New Year, it snowed heavily all over the sky. Wearing a military overcoat I picked up and running shoes stuffed with torn cotton, I walked to the door of Ruolan's house. She is making a snowman in front of her house. I stand quietly in the snow and look at her, not daring to approach her, as if there is something dirty on my body, and if I just take a step forward, this clean snowman will be dirty or let It melts instantly.Snowflakes gradually covered my hair and clothes, and I looked more like a snowman from a distance. She came up to me and called, "Are you cold?"

I have been homeless all year round, and I am used to sleeping on the streets in winter wearing single clothes and quilts, and I am not afraid of the cold. "No." "Why do not you speak?" Facing Ruolan's question, I lowered my head and really stopped talking. "Come and build a snowman with me?" Her initiative surprised me, and I slowly walked in front of her, brushing the snow from my hair and eyebrows. Half an hour later, she and I built a perfect snowman. When we each picked up the snow and put it on, the four hands happened to touch together—the hand that touched the snow looked cold, but in fact I felt very hot. My ears were so red that I quickly retracted my hand.

Looking at this beautiful snowman, Ruolan touched its eyes and said, "Thank you, Luo Haoran." I didn't expect that she could still remember the name that she randomly gave me: "Do you still remember?" "Of course, you stalker who stares at me every day!" "I'm sorry." I took two steps back in fear, for fear that she would call someone to catch me. "But you're not a bad guy—are you?" "how do you know?" "Because." She approached me slowly, "I trust your eyes." "Eyes?" I touched my eyelashes and stroked a freshly fallen snowflake.

"Goodbye, I'm going home for lunch." Ruolan showed a charming smile and waved to me, "Come on, big man!" She went home, and in the vast expanse of white snow, only the snowman I piled up with my own hands remained.Big shot?Is that hope or ridicule? In the next few days, I saw Zhou Xuan come to play with Ruolan. They went out to set off firecrackers together, visited other students' homes, and took the bus to go to further places.Whenever they are together, I dare not appear in front of her, looking at my dirty military coat and the brand new down jacket Zhou Xuan is wearing, I really have no face to come out.

Every night, when I was sleeping behind a concrete pier, I could hear the noise from the homes of the laid-off workers.Sometimes, his wife deliberately poured a basin of cold water outside, drenching me from head to toe, so I could only go to warm up and change clothes under the bridge hole where homeless people gather. If I was not young and healthy, I would have been sick and even died. On the fourth day of the Lunar New Year, the God of Wealth is greeted on this night, and there are fireworks and firecrackers everywhere.Although the laid-off workers didn't have much money, they put Gaosheng in front of their house and threw my quilt into the trash can.Now I was completely homeless, so I could only wander around along the base of the wall and came to the legendary "ghost building".

This small three-story building is at the deepest part of the alley. It is said that people in it committed suicide decades ago. Since then, there have been various haunted rumors, and no one dares to live in it anymore.I am also afraid of ghosts, otherwise I would have moved to this huge empty house long ago. I sat under the "ghost building" in a daze, feeling the cold wind blowing from the ground, but when I looked up, I found a faint light in the window on the third floor - the building has been cut off for a long time, where is it? What about the lights?Unless it's candles.

The windows on the third floor are covered with dust, and no one has lived in it for many years.But under the light of the candles in the window, a ghostly figure flashed by.I was so scared that I fled outside the "ghost building" and listened to the sound of firecrackers one after another to embolden myself. Suddenly, I saw a person walking out of the "ghost building", wearing a white down jacket and a jumper hood, making it difficult to see her face—is it her? I moved closer to get a better look, but I heard her scream, so it was really Ruolan! She didn't see my face, but turned and fled in another direction until she was no longer to be seen.

I looked back at the "ghost building" again, and the candlelight in the window on the third floor was extinguished.What is she doing here?Isn't it here to catch ghosts? Winter passed quickly.Ye Xiao came back from far away Xinjiang, and they entered the most difficult third year of high school, and the chance of meeting Ruolan alone was even less. I can only watch her go out every morning, and every time she sees me, she sends a smile.But after the spring blossoms, I never see her smile again.Occasionally, I get along alone a few times, but she went out to make a bottle of soy sauce on weekends, and happened to bump into me collecting second-hand goods.Seeing her always frowning face, I really want to ask her what happened, but I'm afraid that the more I talk to her, the more I can't help but say what's in my heart - I like her very much.

No, I can't say it out, I'm just a tramp collecting rags, any normal girl wouldn't like me, let alone such a beautiful Ruolan.Don't be too whimsical, let alone try to humiliate yourself.Maybe she'll tell the parents, and I'll be kicked out of the block, and soon she'll forget me, my face and my name. In the spring, I went back to the door of the laid-off worker’s house to spend the night. I tried to stay away from the walls and windows of his house, but I still heard his wife’s abuse.Until one night, when I was sleeping soundly, someone suddenly came to me—homeless people like us must stay alert every day when we sleep, otherwise we won’t know if we are killed.I grabbed the man's hand, only to find that it was a laid-off worker.He said to cool down tonight. Seeing that I was sleeping like this, I was worried about catching a cold, so he added a thick blanket for me.I thanked him gratefully and went back to sleep.

Before dawn, there was a rush of footsteps in the alley.I sensed some kind of danger, turned over and jumped up to run away, but was firmly pressed to the ground by a few pairs of big hands, and a handcuff was hung on my hand at the same time. I saw three policemen, a laid-off worker and his wife. The woman said to the policeman, "That's him! He broke into my house in the middle of the night and stole money!" "I don't!" I defended myself loudly, but it was all in vain.The police found a passbook with the name of the laid-off worker in my pocket, and there were hundreds of dollars in laid-off wages in it—last night, he didn’t come to add blankets to me, but framed me and slipped the passbook secretly Into my pocket, just to drive me from the door, never to see me, the scourge. I have been collecting waste in this block for half a year, and I have never done a bad thing, and the neighbors in the neighborhood have a good impression of me.But since I was caught by the police, no one has said a good word for me.The police even told me that every household in the alley said that I was not a good person, that I looked like petty theft and dregs of society, and strongly suggested that the police deal with me seriously. I was punished for one year of reeducation through labor, sent to a reeducation through labor management center, locked up with a group of local hooligans and rogues, and was brutally raped by some animals because they said I was tender and beautiful——later I wanted Find and kill them, but in the vast sea of ​​people, they can no longer be found. A year later, I came out of the labor camp with many scars, and my appearance had changed a lot. I thought I was no longer a human, but an evil ghost. However, on the day I was released, I still went to the old house in the city center. I want to see Ruolan and tell her loudly that I like her—although I am a shameful "two laborer". However, Ruolan disappeared, along with her parents. I asked a lot of people before I got the answer - the day after I was arrested by the police, Ruolan's family left the city and moved to a certain place in the south.The house belonged to Uncle Ruolan's family, and her aunt was a vicious gossip who quickly spread the scandal. It turned out that in the spring of that year, Ruolan's parents found out that their daughter was pregnant.She never said who the father of the child was, and she refused to go to the hospital to have the child removed.She said that her homework was poor, and she might not be able to pass the university entrance exam. She might as well give birth to the child and go out early to find a job to support the family.Her parents shed tears for this, but they could not change their daughter's mind.In the end, the parents were ashamed to see others, and quietly let Ruolan drop out of school, and the whole family moved south overnight.In the autumn of this year, Ruolan gave birth to a boy in another place. I hate them!Hate the people who live in this old house!One day, I will demolish all the houses and build a large building, so that these seemingly proud city people, residents who have lived here for generations, who despise me, bully me and abandon me, will also taste the same as me What it's like to be homeless! I hate that family of laid-off workers even more, they despicably framed me.He had a prominent snub nose, which I recognized instantly after many years—and he never remembered my face until he was killed by me underground. "no, do not want!" "Luo Haoran, I am a policeman, and I represent the law. I cannot kill you." Seeing Ye Xiao put down the broken glass, Luo Haoran yelled loudly: "Are you afraid? You dare not kill me? Are you afraid of being found out? Are you afraid of being put in prison?" "no." "You really don't have to be afraid. Everyone here wants to kill me. Any survivor may be the murderer who killed me. No one will suspect you!" "Do you want to die that much?" "Ye Xiao, I know you want to kill me, your eyes are already full of hatred - please kill me." From the age of twenty to twenty-six, as a "two-worker", I suffered all kinds of suffering and humiliation, and there were many scars on my body and heart.I still live a wandering life, often fighting dogs for a meat bun.I also used the money earned from collecting trash to start a business. I opened small restaurants and grocery stores on the side of the road, but every time I was banned by the urban management, industry and commerce, and health departments in the name of illegal operation.Only then did I understand that a person who came down from the "mountain" has no background and capital, no matter how hard and smart he is, the possibility of success in starting a business is almost zero. During the Spring Festival ten years ago, I was in a city on the northern coast.Once again, I was severely beaten by the city management, and my last few tens of dollars were taken from me. I went to the beach in desperation, and was about to step into the cold water to end this humble life, but found someone struggling in the sea.I pulled the man up immediately, almost costing my life.It was a young woman, ordinary but not ugly, and a decent person judging from her clothes.She had choked on a lot of sea water and was dying. I tried various methods and finally woke her up. She opened her eyes, looked at my face, and the first words were: "Are you an angel?" I understood what an angel meant, so I blinked and said, "No, I'm an evil spirit." The face of her who almost died suddenly recovered, from pain to a smile, and then laughed loudly: "Okay! I don't want to commit suicide." I picked her up from the beach to the public phone booth and borrowed a dollar from a passerby to make a call.A few minutes later, a Mercedes-Benz car pulled up to the side of the road and took us to a five-star hotel.She opened a luxury suite, showered and changed, and bought me an Armani suit.To thank me for saving my life, she treated me to another western meal. After two days of starvation, I ate four steaks in one go. She looked at me in surprise and said, "Are you a starving ghost?" "Yes." I really didn't lie.I tried not to burp, took a sip of red wine and asked, "Why did you commit suicide?" "To wait for someone." "Who?" "you." She stared hard into my eyes.Although I'm poor and haven't seen the world, I'm not an idiot, and I know she's in love with me. "Ok." "I don't know your name yet." "My name is—" I wanted to say "Luo Haoran", but I remembered Ruolan's face, so I casually said another name, "Tangshan." "What a strange name." "Because I was born in Tangshan." "me too." Then, she told her own story.She was two years older than me and was born in a famous red family. Her grandfather was an underground worker of our party who broke into the Kuomintang secret service. He was later betrayed by a traitor and died in prison. During the "Cultural Revolution", her father was knocked down from a high position, and the whole family was sent to a military factory in the outskirts of Tangshan, where a major earthquake occurred.Her mother and three older brothers were killed, and the whereabouts of her newborn brother is unknown—I couldn't help crying when I heard this. She held my hand and whispered softly in my ear, "You are my angel." A few years ago, her father passed away, and there were many big names at the memorial service.Because of this relationship, she started to do business at sea, and she has hundreds of millions of assets at a young age.Her father's friends had arranged several blind dates for her, but she refused them all.She also met a man who pursued her crazily.Finally, once, she fell in love, and an actor swore to love her forever, only to find out that he was only after her money and power. After this blow, she decided to commit suicide. Looking at her face, I couldn't help but feel more and more kind.That night, she led me into her room, but I was determined not to touch her body, but escaped. I ran away not because I was afraid, but because I knew that once I was in her bed, I would never be able to be appreciated by her again.