At Jiangcheng West Station, there is an overpass.
The underside of the overpass is sheltered from wind and rain, and there is a lot of people. This kind of place is usually patrolled strictly, and few homeless people and beggars are basically seen.
It’s just that there are exceptions to everything. Under the overpass of Jiangcheng West Station, there happened to be an old man in his fifties, carrying a broken bag he picked up from an unknown trash can, dragging his limping legs nearby. dangling.
Said to be a beggar, he didn't put a broken bowl on the ground and wait for alms, and he didn't pull people to ask for money. Said to be a homeless man, he has no money, no income, mobility is inconvenient, and he often receives help from others.
"He used to have a good career as a contractor, which is... anyway, a job that makes a lot of money. Later, he injured his waist in an accident, the construction site didn't pay, the project was unfinished, and the final payment was not sent to him. The developer ran away.
Most of those who worked with him were friends from the same village, or old workers who had been with him for many years. He had no choice but to pay everyone’s wages out of his own pocket, and then came here alone to find a developer—his waist was injured, He had to rest after walking tens of meters, so he ran to Jiangcheng to collect debts, but his family went to the empty building and couldn't find it at all. "
"and then?"
"Then, there is no more. This is misfortune. It has nothing to do with the times, and it has nothing to do with whether you work hard or not. When things happen, they just happen."
Xu Qing was standing in front of the roadside stall, wanting to bring Jiang He, who was holding chestnuts, to buy sugar-fried chestnuts, but now is not the season for eating chestnuts, so he can only pick a sugar cane and ask the boss to cut it into sections.
The knife in the boss's hand was very sharp, and he could easily split the sugar cane's skin. While waiting, Xu Qing looked sideways towards the West Station with calm eyes.
"He begged at the municipal gate for several months and even published in the newspaper, but it was of no use. When he wanted to go back, his wife and children didn't recognize him, his family moved away, and he couldn't even get through the phone."
The scene of the man smiling and showing him a newspaper from his dirty backpack appeared again, Xu Qing sighed suddenly, "Human..."
"How do you know?" Jiang He took the sugar cane cut by the stall owner, picked up a piece and handed it to Xu Qing, curious about what he said.
"We were roommates for one night, and he broke half of the foam board of his sleeping pad for me, saying that the ground was too cold, and he would get sick from sleeping."
Xu Qing gestured casually, "It's such a big piece, it's a bit big for him to use, but it's a bit smaller if he divides it into two halves, and he feels his legs bent when he sleeps. I bought two bottles of two-two-pack wine with the only ten yuan I had on my body, and drank dry with him, and talked for most of the night under the flyover."
"So you know each other." Jiang He smacked the sugar cane, feeling very happy with his mouth full of sweetness, "What happened to him afterwards?"
"I don't know. I went there a few times and treated him to a hamburger. I didn't see him when I went again. Maybe I should go home."
"It's good to be home."
"Or maybe dead."
In the afternoon at the end of March, the sun was warm, and Jiang He followed Xu Qing, eating slowly with a bag of sugar cane, carefully spitting the chewed residue into another bag.
"Have you been wandering too?" she asked.
"No, that's another copperhead story."
Xu Qing walked along the familiar street, turned to a side street and went a few steps forward, came to an old bookstore, paused while looking at the signboard of the store, and led Jiang He into it.
In this era, physical books have gradually declined, and there are not many people patronizing such small bookstores. Fortunately, the store is owned by the owner. He only needs to pay water and electricity to guard this place, and usually sells some exercise books to the parents of students in surrounding schools. I can still hold on.
It is basically useless to restore the lively scene of Xu Qing's childhood. Only those big bookstores will have people looking for various books, and the popularity will be more.
The boss could no longer recognize Xu Qing, so he reached out to help the reading glasses, and sat behind the counter to say hello, without getting up, and asked the two what they wanted to buy.
"just looking around."
Xu Qing responded casually, and paced around the small bookstore. Most of the books here are old and second-hand books. There was a book rental business in the past, and I don’t know how they are charged now. His complete works of Jin Gu were in this store back then. Half of the time spent in the house, standing in front of the bookshelf holding books to read the rivers and lakes, and the other half was renting the books back with the pocket money he had saved, and hiding under the wall with Qin Hao to read with relish.
The old bookshelf is not too messy, just old, it can be seen that it is often taken care of, and the books on it are neatly placed, only this side is a variety of old books, and the other side is a five-year exercise book For the college entrance examination and the like, there is a bookshelf in the corner, which contains some professional books and various reading materials. The bottom layer is comics and comic books.
"See if there are any you like, and pick a few to take home."
Xu Qing said something to Jiang He, then took out an old yellowed book and opened it.
Books are the ladder of human progress, and Jiang He's income from reading books is much greater than his income—the premise is that he can understand.
With so many books in the bookstore, normal people would not choose books that they could not understand to put on a show. Jiang He is a normal person, so after browsing for a while, she found a book that she could understand and wanted to read.
The boss behind the counter saw that the two of them were quiet, so he didn't bother him. He was lying on the table and doing his own thing. Unknowingly, more than half an hour passed, and the figure shrouded in front of the counter. He helped his eyes again and raised his head. Come.
"These books..."
Xu Qing put the book in his hand on the counter, then took a large stack in Jiang He's arms, flipped through it twice, looked at her and said, "You don't need this one, do you?"
What he was holding in his hand was "The Legend of the Double Dragon of the Tang Dynasty", five thick volumes with small handwriting, and it was a pirated old book from earlier times.
Look at others, "How to Learn to Speak 'High Emotional Intelligence'", "Humor and Communication", "Human Weaknesses"...
Fortunately, Xu Qing doesn't know if this kind of marketing book and Jiang He, an old woman who is like a blank sheet of paper, can produce some kind of wonderful reaction. Common sense repeated that, from a certain point of view, this kind of book was just right for Jiang He.
"Then don't want this." Jiang He nodded, she just wanted to see what Tang's novels were like...
"A brief history of time?" Xu Qing was surprised by the next book. After thinking about it, he didn't say anything, and just handed it to the boss to check out together.
No need to think about it, Jiang He must not understand this thing, even he can't understand it, it's just the word 'time' that attracts her.
If you like to read it, buy it. Xu Qing took out his mobile phone and quickly scanned the QR code to check out. Even if he couldn't read it, he could put it on the bookshelf and put a small comparison, which is not completely useless.
Anyway, don’t worry about waking up one morning and seeing Jiang He making a time machine with a hammer and screwdriver in the living room.