Chapter 2 The first quarter into the beggars

I can finally be a reporter, but I am faced with a dilemma.Which newspaper should I go to? These two newspapers are urban newspapers that have just entered the market.Before that, I had never heard their names when I worked in the county.The newspapers I read before were all "XX Daily", which were full of large and empty articles.At the end of each year, the unit will order two newspapers, one is a provincial daily and the other is a municipal daily, which are all about the activities of leaders at all levels.The money for subscribing to these two newspapers is earmarked by the Bureau of Finance, while subscribing to the rest of the more readable newspapers and periodicals, you have to pay for it yourself.

When I was hesitating which newspaper office to report to, a small young man who claimed to be a veteran of the newspaper office said that the former newspaper office had a future and gathered the elite people of the city; generally.I listened to the words of this senior person and entered the previous newspaper office.This senior man also took the exams for two newspapers, but I have not seen him since.In my impression, he is short in stature, wearing glasses, eloquent and boastful, with his head held high when he speaks, with an expression of pointing out his words. In my later working life, I met many reporters like the little man.They speak lotus flowers at the mouth, and they seem to be very talented, but their writing is far from the topic, which is not as good as the composition of junior high school students.

My fate took a turn from here.From now on, I'm going to start a whole new life. At that time, I only had a few dimes on me, which was not enough for me to take a bus in this city.I came to report to the newspaper office with the few cents in my pocket. I put the few cents in my trouser pocket, and my hands sweated out. Fortunately, the newspaper office not only did not charge various complicated fees, but also arranged board and lodging for free.The newspaper office has a cafeteria, where you can eat freely; the newspaper office also has a dormitory, which provides free accommodation for journalists.In the dormitory, there are brand-new bedding sheets, electric kettles, washbasins, and even towels.This newspaper office is like home. From the first day I stepped into the newspaper office, I fell in love with it.

There were three people living in the dormitory of the newspaper office. Besides me, there were two other people who also came to this city from other places.We are all journalists who have just entered the newspaper office.As for the rest of the editorial staff, some were born in this city, and they have houses in the city; some feel that the environment of the newspaper dormitory is not good, so they rent a house outside. Many years later, until now I can still remember the scene of my first meal at the newspaper office.That time I ate noodles with fried sauce. The master had just scooped up a bowl of noodles for me. I turned my back and swallowed the bowl of noodles before I got to my seat.The master smiled and picked up the second bowl for me, and jokingly said: "Eat slowly, don't worry, there are too many, see how much you can eat?" I tried my best to suppress my appetite and the saliva that kept coming up, sitting On the stool, he picked up the rice bowl and ate a few more bites.This time the master was surprised. He served me the third bowl and looked at me suspiciously.I took my rice bowl and walked slowly to my seat. In less than a minute, the third bowl of noodles was finished.This time I tasted the aroma of Jajang, and felt something warm in my stomach.When the fourth bowl of noodles was served, many people looked at me curiously, but I didn't feel it. I was still engrossed in eating the noodles in front of me with relish.I was engrossed in eating, and I didn't know that there were several people standing behind me, and they looked at me like a monster... That day, I ate six bowls of noodles at once, and that was the only full meal I had in the past ten days .Many years later, when my colleagues got together, they would still talk about my gluttony that day, and I always remember the happy feeling I had when I ate that day.

The next day, the newspaper office assigned me the task of unannounced visits to beggar communities. Many days later, I asked the director of the department, why did he choose me to be an unannounced reporter and arranged for me to infiltrate the beggars?The director said: "When you first came to the newspaper office, you were dark and thin, with a dull expression and a sickly look. People who didn't know you would really regard you as a beggar...and the scene of you eating that day." It turned out that the director was standing behind me when I had dinner on the first day I came to the newspaper office.He said that when he saw me eating, he was so sad that he almost shed tears.

Over the past ten years, I have made unannounced visits to all kinds of gray industries and dealt with people of all kinds, and every time I can get in smoothly, and reach the core area.I think it might be because I was born with a popular face, a look of indifference, and the appearance looks honest and honest, dull and dull, which makes people relax their vigilance. Life is full of too many accidents.I was discovered by the director because I was devouring fried noodles, and the director arranged for me to make an unannounced visit.For the next ten years, I have lived under the most dangerous of undercover reports.Because of the unannounced visits, I became the most mysterious person in the newspaper office. Even some colleagues in the newspaper office did not know that I did those unannounced visits full of dangers and twists and turns; , I became the "most heroic person" in the legend of the press; also because of unannounced visits, I stepped up to today's position step by step.

Today, the only ones who know that those thrilling and perilous unannounced interview manuscripts were written by me are only the boss and department director of the newspaper. My real name was never in the press.This is done in order to prevent revenge from the evil forces that I visited unannounced.Over the years, I have been cautious and fearful everywhere. Every time I walk into the newspaper office, I have to look back to see if anyone is following me behind me; The life of unannounced visits is full of crises, but I never tire of it and have no complaints or regrets. Ten years ago, professional beggars appeared in the provincial capital city.They formed gangs and demanded forcibly, and the citizens were disturbed, but there was nothing they could do.At that time, the citizens generally believed that beggars were forced by life, just like the traditional concept that prostitutes were forced by life.

On the afternoon of the day I received the task, the newspaper office paid me 100 yuan in advance as "event expenses".I came to the field of vegetable farmers in the southern suburbs and walked into a thatched shed.At that time, the local farmers had learned to enjoy themselves, and they leased their vegetable fields to farmers from Henan and Sichuan to enjoy the rent.In the thatched hut, there was a Sichuan farmer smoking dry tobacco, his complexion blending into the darkness of the hut.I recognized him only by the rising smoke. I said I wanted to buy a suit of his clothes, the more worn out the better.He looked at me puzzled, and kept saying: "What? What?" I said it several times before he understood, and asked me suspiciously how about the set next to the bed.The suit is relatively new, without a single patch, which is not to my liking.I found a pair of trousers and an undershirt piled on the floor, both with several holes, which he probably intended to throw away.I said I wanted to buy these two pieces for 20 yuan.He was overjoyed, and quickly said: "Yes, yes." Before going out, he also gave me a pair of yellow rubber shoes with bare toes.

I went back to the newspaper office, changed into the suit of clothes and shoes, and after the photographers took photos for me, I walked out of the newspaper office and started begging. Over the years, I have met many well-known journalists who made unannounced visits, and learned from the conversation that they all started late in unannounced visits.Ten years ago, newspapers in many provinces and cities had not yet become market-oriented, let alone unannounced visits to reveal the truth of society.Therefore, I believe that I may be the first group of journalists in China who made unannounced visits to special groups in cities, and I may also belong to the first generation of unannounced visits reporters in China.

Years later, I can still clearly remember the unannounced visit that day.The blazing sun shone on my shoulders, and also shone on the hot asphalt road.Above the high-rise buildings, there are long pigeon whistles passing by, like bamboo slices across the frozen river, which sounds extremely mournful.That was my first interview, that is, an unannounced visit.I don't know who I'm going to meet, or where I'm going to sleep tonight, or if I'm going to get beaten, or get some terrible disease from the beggars.Beggars are socially disadvantaged groups. Most of them have no fixed place to live and have no food to eat. Viruses are also most likely to infect them, including hepatitis, AIDS and other diseases with names and unknown names.Their emotions are also the most unstable, and many of them suffer from various mental illnesses: irritability, irritability, destructive desire, desire for revenge, hatred of the society, not knowing how to attack... I am about to enter such a group, and I am about to be with such a group I didn't deal with people, but I wasn't afraid at all that day. My strong survival instinct made me forget my fear.I told myself that I had to survive in this newspaper, I had to stand out, no matter how much I paid.

I came to one of the busiest streets in this city, and spread a piece of paper prepared in advance on the ground, which said, "My wife is disabled and seriously ill. The husband and wife live here. Please kind people to help treat the illness." and so on.There was a broken bowl on the paper, and a gap was made on the edge of the bowl.I sat behind the paper, leaning against the wall, looking desperate and dejected.I dare not look at the passing crowd for fear they will read deceit in my eyes.I only looked at their shoes, a pair of leather shoes and sneakers, all beautiful and fashionable.I thought, people in the city are really rich, and these shoes cost a few hundred yuan at least, but I have never worn shoes that cost more than 50 yuan. A few minutes later, a mother and daughter came. The child was wearing white sneakers and the mother was wearing red sandals.The child probably just went to school. She struggled to read the words on the paper word by word, then took out a one-yuan coin from her pocket and put it in a broken bowl.I looked down at a pair of sneakers and a pair of sandals going away, and looked at the backs of the mother and daughter leaning together, feeling a pang of sadness in my heart.How can a kind and pure child know that the world is full of deceit and ugliness?We always say that we can only believe what we see with our own eyes. In fact, many times we can’t believe what we see with our own eyes. Under the surface of things, what is hidden is the truth that no one knows. By the afternoon, I already had an income of more than 20 yuan.Among the money, there are one yuan, five cents, and one or two cents banknotes.I pocketed the ones and fifty cents, and put only the dimes in the broken bowl, to convince the others that I never got the money. When it was almost dusk, my income had reached 50 yuan.And 50 yuan was the daily income of white-collar workers in this city at the end of the last century. The number of shoes on the street gradually decreased, and the lights of the shops were lit up one after another.Another day without eating, I was already so hungry that I pressed my chest against my back, and I was about to get up.Suddenly, a middle-aged man in a shirt and trousers came over.He kicked over my broken bowl.The broken bowl rolled far out on the concrete sidewalk and fell onto the tarmac.I looked up in astonishment, and saw the angry face of the middle-aged man.The middle-aged man scolded: "I've been paying attention to you for a long time, the fuck is begging here, who did you say hello to?" I stood up, anxiously took out a pack of Hongmei cigarettes that I prepared in advance from my pocket, took out one, and handed it to him with both hands.With a humble smile on my face, I bowed my waist, looked at the middle-aged man with a scar on his face and said, "Brother, brother, I just came here today, so I don't know the rules here. You always hold your hands high." The man with the scar held his cigarette in the corner of his mouth, and I struck a match and lit it.He leaned his neck back, squinted his eyes, and had an airy face.In the north, if you light a cigarette for the other party, the other party will stretch out his hands and fold his palms together, making a gesture of blocking the wind.Whether it is windy or not, this is an expression of respect and gratitude to the cigarette lighter.However, the scarred man had an ugly face and a tyrannical attitude, with his hands on his waist, he didn't even move.He expressed extreme disdain for me. He squinted at me and said, "This is my site. Without my nod, I can't work here." Now, he calls begging work. I never knew that begging required saying hello to relevant parties, and I didn't know that beggars actually have a place.When I used to work in a small county in the northwest, I only knew that the street gangsters there had their own territory. If someone started a fight on their territory, they would "come forward"; if someone did business on their territory, You have to pay protection fees to them.Two groups of hooligans often fight in groups, sometimes because one side crosses the line to collect money, and sometimes because one side wants to expand its territory.Now, these ruffian bosses have all become village chiefs or managers of several villages in Chengguan Township, and each of them is sitting on millions. I have repeatedly apologized to the man with the scar and apologized repeatedly.The man with the scar has always looked arrogant, and he found a great sense of superiority in me.Later, he still squinted his eyes and said, "Follow me!" He walked in front, striding forward, like a proud big rooster; I followed behind, step by step, like a weasel bound by hands.Walking a few hundred meters away, I came to an abandoned building. I climbed the steps and walked to the third floor. I saw several people lying or lying in the empty house on the third floor.They all had their faces smeared dirty, and their clothes were tattered, so they were obviously beggars. A beggar searched me, took out all my belongings, and put them on the ground: a pack of Hongmei cigarettes, a disposable lighter, more than 50 yuan, and a few colorful leaflets. The toilet paper I use for the toilet.The beggar took out cigarettes from the pack and distributed one to each of them except me. The man with the scar was smoking a cigarette, and asked me with squinted eyes: "Where is he from? How long have you been here?" I later found out that his eyes were originally squinted, and he always looked at people with squinted eyes.I misunderstood him before and I should apologize because the squint was not his fault.He also wanted to look at people straight in the eyes, but he couldn't "sight in the eyes". I said the name of our county seat.He said that he had been there, and then asked me in a tone of experienced Jianghu, what kind of buildings are on which road in the county town, and what is the name of each street in the county town.He asked very detailed questions, and even mentioned some well-known events in the county a few years ago, asking me who did it?Those people are either local hooligans who have been famous in the county for a long time, or big bosses who rely on audacity and shamelessness to quickly dig their first pot of gold by cheating and abducting after the reform and opening up.I answered fluently, he lifted his guard against me, patted me on the shoulder and said: "From now on, I will follow the big brother." It was only later that I learned that he had been married, and his wife was a woman from the suburbs of our county.Later, when his wife ran to the provincial capital with others, he came to the provincial capital to look for him. In the end, not only did he not find it, but he also became penniless, so he joined the ranks of beggars and became the "big brother". The eldest brother is not the leader of the beggar line, the boss is the leader of the gang, and the leader of the gang never shows up. It has been a week since I saw the leader.