Chapter 12 Eleventh round of prodigal son

morning. The teahouse is full of people, all kinds of people, waiting for all kinds of jobs. Aji was drinking a bowl of hot tea with both hands. There are soup dumplings and fried rice here. He is very hungry, but he can only drink tea.He had only twenty-three copper coins, and he hoped to have a job. He wants to live. Only recently did he realize that it is not easy for a person to live alone.The hardships of making a living were beyond what he could have imagined before. If a person wanted to sell his honesty and labor, he had to find a way. And he has no way. Plasterers have their own gangs, carpenters have their own gangs, and even porters and coolies have their own gangs. If they are not members of their own gangs, they will never find a job.

He has been hungry for two days.On the third day, he didn't even have the tea money of seven copper coins, so he could only stand outside the teahouse and drink the wind. When he was about to fall down, someone suddenly patted him on the shoulder and asked him, "Can you pick up dung? Five cents a day." Aji looked at the man and couldn't even say a word because his throat was blocked. He could only nod, and kept nodding.It was not until a long, long time later that he could express the gratitude in his heart at this moment. That is sincere gratitude.Because what this person gave was not just a job to pick shit, but a chance to survive.He finally survived.

This person is called Lao Miaozi. The old Miaozi is really a seedling. He was tall and strong and ugly and strong, and when he laughed he showed all his white teeth.His left earlobe is very long, and there are traces of earrings on it. He has been watching Aggie. During the lunch break, he suddenly asked, "How many days have you been hungry?" Aggie asked back, "You can see I'm starving?" The old Miaozi said, "Today you almost fell down three times." Aji looked at his feet, which still had dung juice on them. Old Miaozi said: "This is a very demanding job, I was worried that you would not be able to bear it."

Aji said, "Why are you looking for me?" The old Miaozi said: "Because I was just like you when I first came here. I couldn't even find a job picking manure." He took out a paper bag from his body, which contained two pancakes and a whole stick of salted radish. He gave one to Aggie. Aji took it and ate it without even saying "thank you". Old Miaozi looked at him with a smile in his eyes, and suddenly asked, "Where are you going to sleep tonight?" Aji said: "I don't know." Old Miaozi said: "I have a family, my house is very big, why don't you sleep in my house?"

Aji said: "If you tell me to go, I will go." The old Miaozi's big house is indeed not small, at least it is bigger than the pigeon cage.When they returned, an old woman with white hair was cooking in the kitchen. The old Miaozi said: "This is my mother, she can cook good dishes." Aji looked at the thick porridge cooked with vegetables and brown rice in the pot, and said, "I can already smell the aroma." The old lady smiled and filled him with a big bowl. Aji ate it without saying "thank you". The old Miaozi showed satisfaction in his eyes, and said: "His name is Aji, and he is a good boy."

The old woman tapped her son with a wooden ladle and said, "If I don't see it, I will let him eat it?" Old Miaozi said: "Can he sleep with us tonight?" The old woman squinted at Aji and said, "Are you willing to share a bed with my son? Don't you dislike him?" Aji said: "He doesn't stink." The old woman said: "You are a Han Chinese, and the Han people always think that our seedlings stink like hell." Aji said: "I am a Han Chinese, I smell worse than him." The old woman laughed and hit him on the head with the ladle too, as if she had hit her son.

She laughed and said, "Eat quickly, eat while it's hot, and go to bed when you're full, so you'll have strength tomorrow." Aggie was already eating, and eating quickly. The old woman said again: "It's just that you have to do one thing before going to bed." Aji said: "What's the matter?" The old woman said: "Wash your feet first, otherwise the baby will be angry." Aji said: "Who is the doll?" The old woman said, "It's my daughter, his sister." Old Miaozi said: "But she was supposed to be a princess. She was born a princess."

There were three beds in the back room, the cleanest and softest of which belonged to the princess. Aji also wanted to meet the princess.But he was too tired, and after drinking the hot vegetable porridge, his eyelids were as heavy as lead. For a big man like Lao Miaozi, although it was uncomfortable to be squeezed into the same bed, he fell asleep quickly. He woke up once in the middle of the night. In the dimness, it seemed that there was a girl with long hair standing at the window in a daze. When he looked again, she had already slipped into bed. When they went to work the next morning, she was still sleeping, curled up in the bed, as if she was escaping from an unknown fear.

Aji only saw her long black and soft hair spread on the pillow like silk. It's not yet dawn, and the cold fog is still deep. They were walking against the cold wind, and the old Miaozi suddenly asked, "Did you see the doll?" Aggie shook his head. He only saw her hair. Old Miaozi said: "She is helping out in a big mansion, and she can't come back until everyone is asleep." He smiled and said again: "Rich people always go to bed late." Aji said: "I know." Old Miaozi said: "But you will definitely see her sooner or later." His eyes flashed with pride: "As long as you see her, you will definitely like her. We are all proud of her."

Aji could see this, and he believed that the girl must be an out-and-out princess. During the noon break, he was gnawing on the big steamed buns that the old woman gave him, when suddenly three people came over. Although their clothes were ragged, their hats were on one side, and there was a knife stuck in their belt. The knife wound on his body has not stopped, and it is still hurting. The older one among the three was looking him up and down with a pair of triangular eyes, suddenly stretched out his hand and said, "Bring it." Aji said, "What are you taking?" Triangle Eyes said: "Although you are new here, you should understand the rules of this place."

Aji didn't understand: "What rules?" Triangular eyes said: "I will share 30% of your salary, and I will collect it for one month first." Aji said, "I only have three copper coins." Triangle Eyes sneered and said, "There are only three copper coins, but you are eating steamed buns?" He slapped the steamed bun in Aji's hand, and the steamed bun rolled into the dung on the ground. Aji silently picked it up and peeled off the outer layer. He must eat this steamed bun with an empty stomach, so how can he have the strength to pick shit? Triangle Eyes laughed loudly and said, "I don't know what it's like to dip steamed buns in dung juice?" Aggie didn't speak. Triangular eyes said: "Do you also eat this kind of food? Are you a human or a dog?" Aji said: "I am what you say I am." He took a bite of the steamed bun: "I only have three copper coins. If you want it, I'll give it to you." Triangular eyes said: "Do you know who I am?" Aggie shook his head. Triangular eyes asked: "Have you ever heard of the name coachman?" Aggie shook his head again. Triangular eyes said: "The coachman is following Big Brother Tietou, and Big Brother Tietou is the little brother of the big boss." He pointed to his nose: "I am the coachman's little brother, will I ask for your three stinky copper coins?" A Zhan said: "You don't want it, I will stay." Triangle Eyes laughed, and suddenly kicked him on the scrotum. Aggie bent over in pain. Triangular eyes said: "If you don't give this kid some trouble, he won't know the heights of heaven and earth." The three of them were about to make a move, when suddenly a person came in and stood in front of them, a full head taller than them. Triangle Eye took half a step back and said loudly, "Old Miaozi, mind your own business." The old Miaozi said: "This is not an idle matter." He pulled up Aji: "this man is my brother." Sanjiao looked at his huge and rough hands, suddenly smiled again, and said, "Since he is your brother, can you guarantee that he will pay us as soon as he gets his wages?" Old Miaozi said: "He will pay." At dusk, they returned home full of fatigue and stench, and Aji's face was still covered with cold sweat, and that kick was really hard. The old Miaozi looked at him and suddenly asked, "When someone hits you, you never fight back?" Aji was silent, and after a long time, he slowly said: "I used to work in a brothel, and the people there gave me a nickname." Old Miaozi said, "What nickname?" Aji said: "They all call me useless Aji." The kitchen was warm and dry, and when they walked outside, they heard the old woman's happy voice. "Today our princess comes home for dinner, and we all have meat to eat." She smiled like a child: "Everyone can get a piece, a big, big piece." The old lady's laughter always makes Aji feel happy and warm from the bottom of his heart, but this time is an exception.Because he saw the princess. There are not many chairs in the small kitchen. When everyone is eating, they are crowded, but there is always a chair vacant.That's what they left for the princess, and now she's sitting on this chair, facing Aji. She has a pair of big eyes, and a pair of slender hands, her hair is black and soft as silk satin, her attitude is noble and gentle, she looks like a real princess.If this is the first time Aji sees her, he will respect and love her like everyone else. Unfortunately this is not the first time. The first time he saw her was in Grandma Han's kitchen, that is, next to the elephant, with her legs raised on the table, revealing a pair of slender feet.He didn't even look at her, but she was secretly watching him all the time.Later he found out that she was the youngest woman among Grandma Han's women, and she was also the one with the best business. Her name there is "Xiaoli", but everyone likes to call her a little fairy. The second time he confronted her was the night he was stabbed, in his cabin. He could never forget her smooth and soft body under the chiffon dress. It took a lot of effort to control himself to say the word. "roll". He originally thought that that was the last time they met, but he didn't expect to see her again now. That slutty and perverted little fairy is actually their doll, noble as a princess, and the only hope of their family. They are all his friends, feed him, give him shelter, and treat him as his brother. Aggie lowered his head.His heart was stabbing, the pain went to the bone marrow. The old woman has come to hold his hand, said with a smile: "Come and meet our princess." Aji could only come over and whisper two words: "Hello." She looked at him with no expression on her face, as if she had never seen him before, she just said lightly: "Sit down and eat meat." Aji sat down and seemed to hear his own voice saying, "Thank you, princess." Old Miaozi laughed and said, "You don't have to call her a princess, you should call her a baby just like us." He picked the thickest and largest piece of stewed meat for Aji: "Hurry up and eat meat, you can sleep well when you are full." Aggie didn't sleep well. It was very late at night, and the old Miaozi sleeping next to him was already snoring like thunder, and the doll on the bed beyond seemed to have fallen asleep as well. But Aji has been lying on the bed with his eyes open, dripping with cold sweat.It's not all because of the dull pain in his heart, the knife wound on his body is also hurting, it hurts like hell. Picking manure is by no means an easy job, and his knife wounds have never healed.But he didn't even look at it. Sometimes when the dung load was on his shoulders, he could even feel the edge of the knife cracking again, but he kept clenching his teeth and persevered. Physical pain, he doesn't care at all. It's a pity that he is not made of iron after all. This afternoon, he has discovered that several wounds have begun to rot and stink.As soon as he lay down on the bed, he started to feel cold all over his body, sweating non-stop, and then his body suddenly became hot again. In every wound, there is a flame burning. He still wanted to force himself to control himself and bear it, but his body was already convulsed with pain, and he felt that his whole body was sinking into a bottomless abyss of darkness.In a coma, he seemed to hear his friends exclaiming, but he couldn't hear them clearly.It seemed that someone in the distance was calling him, calling his name, so softly, so far away.He could hear it clearly. A down and out young man, a prodigal son whose tears have been shed, is like a fallen leaf in the wind or a duckweed in a water towel, without even a root. Is there anyone in the distance thinking of him and caring about him? ? Since he could hear that person's call, why didn't he go back, back to that person's side?What sorrow and pain does he have in his heart that he cannot tell others? The sun is bright and it is sunny. Aji was not in a coma all the time, he had woken up many times, and every time he woke up, he seemed to see someone sitting on his bedside, gently wiping his sweat.But he couldn't see who it was, because he fainted again immediately. When he saw this person clearly, the sunlight coming in from the window was shining on her soft black hair. Her eyes were full of care and sadness. Aggie closed his eyes.But he could hear her voice: "I know you look down on me, I don't blame you." She actually seemed very calm, because she was also trying to control herself. "I also know that you must have a lot of unspeakable pain in your heart, but you don't have to torture yourself like this." The house was very quiet, and no one else could be heard. Of course, the old Miaozi had already gone to work. He must never give up a day's work, because he knows that only with work can he have food. Aji suddenly opened his eyes, stared at her and said coldly: "You should also know that I can't die." The baby knew: "If you are going to die, you must have died many times." Aji said: "Then why don't you do your thing?" The baby said: "I won't go." Her voice was very calm, and she continued lightly: "From now on, I will never go to that place again." Aji couldn't help asking: "Why?" Wa Wa suddenly sneered and said, "Don't you think I'm born to like doing that kind of thing?" Aji stared at her, as if wanting to see through her heart: "When did you decide not to go?" The doll said: "Today."