Chapter 3: The Differences in the World

“Brother Wei and Weizi went to work in the north. A coal mine owner said they needed people to work in the mines, more than 10,000 a month.” Sitting on the side of the road, Shu Ming laughed bitterly, “They came back the first year and boasted about making money, but I heard they died in a mine accident in March this year.”

“They are only seventeen years old, how can they work in the mines?”

“I don’t know.” Shu Ming actually learned to smoke, “Brother, want one?”

Lu Li didn’t smoke, but he still took the cigarette and imitated Shu Ming to hold the cigarette and prepare to light it. Shu Ming suddenly smiled: “Brother, you don’t smoke normally, right? You won’t be able to light it like this. You don’t have to accommodate me.”

Lu Li took out the cigarette from his mouth and smiled bitterly: “I’m afraid of feeling distant from you.”

“Brother Lu, your words are enough. To be honest, when I first saw you before, I was really shocked like a peasant seeing an emperor.”

“So exaggerated?”

“Who in our low-rent area doesn’t know that Brother Lu has been promoted to Chuanhai No. 1 Middle School. Chuanhai No. 1 Middle School! That school is full of second-generation officials and rich second-generations! Everyone says that Brother Lu will be rich in the future.” Shu Ming smacked his lips, “When I was a child, I thought that Brother Lu was smart, courageous, and dared to do anything. You will definitely be more promising than us in the future.”

If Chu Xiaodong said this, Lu Li would not believe a word. But when it came out of Shu Ming’s mouth, it had a bit more absurdity, as if the spiritual Shu Ming in the past had died, and the current Shu Ming had also learned to flatter and be hypocritical.

“Mingzi, do you remember where the others are now?”

“Others? People from Renxin Primary School?”

“Yes.”

“Most of them have left. Only a few incompetent people like me are still here to make a living.”

Lu Li sighed and said nothing, but it seemed that he had said everything. The living conditions of minors in low-rent areas are much worse than imagined. In comparison, he is lucky. At least he has Zou Yameng and a sister who loves him.

“Can you tell me about your guardian?”

“ ... My guardian? I only met him once. Then he ran away with the subsidy. I almost starved to death on the street. In the end, a kind person sent me to the hospital and I survived. I was so embarrassed at the time. I held the grape water bottle as a treasure and refused to let go. A group of nurses surrounded me and didn’t know what to do.” Shu Ming thought of the “happy” things and couldn’t help laughing.

“Do you still remember what he looks like, his identity or his occupation?”

“I only remember that he is an uncle who speaks the Chuanhai dialect.”

Lu Li couldn’t help frowning and thinking.

He and Sister Yameng’s two irresponsible guardians are also from Chuanhai and speak the Chuanhai dialect. Is there any connection between them? After so many years, can we still find the scum who cheated the subsidy?

After chatting with Shuming for a while, Shuming learned that Lu Li came with a “mission”, so he volunteered to take Lu Li to find the remaining minors in the low-rent area.

Shuming pushed the cart home first and changed his clothes before setting off. The two walked deeper into the low-rent area. The deeper they went, the worse the environment became. The ground was full of garbage and dirty yellow liquid. Even sanitation workers would not go deep into this place. In the shadows of the alleys, a group of skinny people squatted or leaned, withered and haggard, lurking in the shadows like ghosts. This is the back of the city, the shadow of civilization, and the source of pain.

“Brother, be careful, they are all fans. Some people have mental illnesses, and when they see normal people passing by, they will suddenly go up and slap a handful of fans.” Shuming reminded.

“Yeah.”

After walking through a few streets, we saw an old residential building that looked like an unfinished building. Several bad boys were sitting in front of the residential building, smoking the same cigarette, and each of them took a few puffs before passing it to the next person. Seeing Shu Ming coming, the bad boys shouted:

“Xiao Mingzi, do you have a cigarette?”

If it was the Shu Ming in the past, he would have immediately bent over to hand over the cigarette after being called. But the current Shu Ming just raised his eyebrows and shouted: “Stop yelling, Brother Lu is back, I have something to ask you!”

“Brother Lu? Which Brother Lu?”

“Fuck, Lu Li!”

“Zou Yameng didn’t come?”

Lu Li found it funny to see the group of people looking around. When he was a child, he was famous in Renxin Primary School in the low-rent area because of his mischief, but Sister Yameng was different. Her reputation was “beaten”. From junior high school to first grade of elementary school, which child has not been beaten by Sister Yameng? The hooligans in Renxin Primary School couldn’t beat Zou Yameng, so they wrote “violent girl” on stickers and pasted them on Sister Yameng’s desk, hoping to anger Zou Yameng to death in this way.

Just kidding, even if Lu Li is an adult, if he really fights Sister Yameng, he will only be beaten by her one hand. Lu Li once thought, if he hadn’t met Sister Yameng, would Sister Yameng become a gangster?

Zhou Haiming, Chen Shiwei, and Ruan Qian. Lu Li looked at these three familiar yet unfamiliar faces, with mixed feelings in his heart. If he hadn’t been admitted to Chuanhai No. 1 Middle School, would he have become like them? Sinking to the bottom of this world, living a life of drunkenness and dreams, and not paying attention to human affairs.

“Lu Li, what do you want to talk to us about?” After all, they were former classmates, and Zhou Haiming and others sat slightly straight, which was considered to give Lu Li enough face.