Lao Jiao sat in the bus with blank eyes, thinking about where he could sleep at night.
There was a major accident at the construction site where he used to work, and the work could not start. Three months ago, the foreman paid the last wages and let them fend for themselves.
It is hard to find a job in the city. He is already in his forties. Although he is full of strength, others still want a young man more. Not to mention that he is still stupid, every time the recruiter asks too many questions, he stutters.
Workers who worked together on the construction site felt that it was too difficult to make a living in the city. Some of them had already returned to their hometowns, and others advised them to go back too, so as not to waste time in the city.
But when he returned home, he could only farm the land. His wife died early, and the family's land was now taken care of by the elderly. There was also a daughter who was studying at home. Farming alone would definitely not be able to pay for her to go to college.
It is said that the children of the poor have been in charge of the family early, his only daughter has been sensible since she was a child, and she is willing to work hard in studying. Now she has good academic performance and goes to a middle school in the county. The only downside is that the child's living expenses and accommodation are a fortune It is a big expense, and the whole family relies on him to work outside to earn money. This string is broken all the time, for fear of delaying the children.
In order not to let his daughter drop out of school, Lao Jiao could only grit his teeth and continue to persist in the city. The work shed was gone, so he rented a cheap garage to settle down first.
Local old houses sometimes rent out the garage as an ordinary house. Although this kind of garage has no windows, it is of a good height. There is a bed and a cabinet. When the rolling gate is pulled, it is an independent cabin.
The garage is cold in winter and hot in summer. It is neither ventilated nor has a separate toilet. Ordinary people will not rent it, but it is cheaper. There are always people who don’t care about these things in order to save money.
The "severance pay" paid by the foreman is not much. Before finding a new job, Lao Jiao felt that he could save a little bit.
After looking for a job for more than a month, a pair of shoes ran out and I couldn't find a reliable job. Fortunately, a worker at a construction site used to deliver food, and he made a decent income, so he also wanted to recruit Lao Jiao to work together.
But to do food delivery, he has to buy a battery car and a good mobile phone that can install software. Although the worker said he could give him an obsolete mobile phone to use first, the problem with the battery car has not been solved yet.
If you don't want to buy a battery car, you can rent one and use it first, but the monthly rent for the car is 500 yuan. If you don't make much money in the first few months, after deducting the rent for the room and food and the rent of the battery car, you can pay the rent. It's a good deal, and whether there is any money to send back to my hometown is a problem.
Lao Jiao's previous work was cost-free and only required effort. This was the first time he had to do such a "big job", and he had to hesitate for a while.
However, the house was leaking and it was raining all night. Recently, a garage caught fire, and the tenants in it had an accident. Now the old communities all over the city are holding up banners saying "Garage cannot be rented" and "It is illegal to rent out a garage to live in" Well, his landlord didn't dare to rent out the garage anymore, so he refunded his rent for this month and let him leave.
Probably because he felt sorry, when Lao Jiao was notified to leave, the landlord gave him his son's old gym bag that he didn't use, and asked him to use it to pick up things.
Carrying the large and small plastic bags in the province, it looks even more desolate.
In fact, where does a person like Lao Jiao have any wealth
A few clothes and a few pairs of shoes, plus all the sundries that can be stuffed into the bag and taken away, together fill this gym bag to seven or eight, which is all his property.
Without arguing with the landlord, he took the hundreds of dollars and walked out of the garage with his old gym bag. Old Jiao was mixed with joy and sorrow, and his face was full of bewilderment.
The joy is that the landlord refunded a few hundred yuan, and I have the money for the car rental for the first month of food delivery;
The worry is that he has no place to live. If he rents another house, not only will he not be able to find such a cheap one, but the few hundred dollars he just got will be put in as a deposit, and he will not be able to work.
The labor service company that recruited delivery riders was in Jiangbei District. Lao Jiao hesitated for a while, took all his belongings, got on the bus to Jiangbei, and began to think about whether to sleep in the park or the train station these days.
"Otherwise, sleep in the park when it's sunny, and sleep at the train station when it's raining..."
Lao Jiao thought nonchalantly in his heart, "These two places have toilets and free water for washing. Let's make a living for a while, and then find a decent place to live when the delivery work starts."
He was so engrossed in his thoughts that he didn't notice that there were two young people standing up in the car, let alone that one of them was standing in front of him.
When a large shadow appeared in front of his eyes, he raised his head belatedly and saw a young man wearing glasses.
Before he could speak, the young man squatted down beside him and handed him half a piece of paper.
"I don't… "
He has seen this kind of thing before, some are posting small advertisements, some are selling things. Although this is the first time he met him on the bus, he still subconsciously regards this little brother as a "promoter" to sell something.
But the young man in front of him made a "shh" gesture to him, forcefully held the piece of paper horizontally in front of his eyes, and motioned him to look at it.
On the piece of paper is a line of strong and neat handwriting, which is very correct and easy to recognize.
But the content written above is quite nonsense.
[Hello, I am a plainclothes policeman. I am getting into the car to perform an official duty, and I need your assistance. A middle-aged woman in a colorful shirt is carrying a bomb and dangerous knives in the back row of the car, which may detonate the bomb at any time and endanger the safety of the passengers in the car. I need your assistance. Please help me subdue her.]
When Lao Jiao saw this, his eyelids couldn't help shaking, and he looked at the young man in front of him with a strange expression.
"you… "
He pointed to the words "plainclothes policeman" on the piece of paper, with suspicion on his face, "Young man, are you not lying?"
Don't think that he's a countryman, it's just a lie. Now a policeman has to have a physical examination. This young man wears glasses and is so thin. How can he look like a plainclothes policeman
Don't be another new type of deception, which is designed to catch honest people and deceive them!
The young man seemed to have guessed that he would have such doubts, so he simply moved to his side and whispered softly: "In your bag, there are two pairs of canvas shoes, an old blue towel, army green pants, and a few pairs of insoles. A stainless steel bowl and stainless steel chopsticks wrapped in a red plastic bag, oh yes, there is also a pack of unopened tissue paper, the fake 'heart to heart', the word in the middle means "want."
Every time the little brother said something, the surprised expression on Lao Jiao's face became more and more serious, especially when he mentioned "Xin Xiang Yin", he even opened his bag in disbelief, and quickly searched for it.
When he took out the pack of papers from his bag, he was stunned when he saw "Xinxiangyin" written in the middle.
He packed these things in a hurry in the morning. At that time, he was indulging in the sad news of "soon there is no place to live", his mind went blank, and he didn't read many things himself, so he stuffed them all in.
For example, he has no impression of whether the plastic bag wrapped in the rice bowl is red or white.
There is also this "I want to print" drawing paper. When he was having a break-up meal with the foreman, he saw that it was a pity that he hadn't opened it, so he took it back and never opened it.
It's been a few months, who remembers what brand it is
But this young man not only knew everything in his bag, he could even tell the details of what was in his bag.
Although the uncle looks strong and fierce, he is still honest and simple in nature. When he saw this situation, he couldn't help thinking wildly in his mind.
"I heard that there is a kind of police who specializes in technology. They can find everything and they are all high-achieving students. Could it be that this young man is that kind of technical police who sweeps through our luggage with things that can be seen in other people's bags?"
Thinking of this, he was shocked again.
"It's over! If they can sweep out everyone's stuff, is there really a bomb in this car?"
Thinking of the bomb in the car, Lao Jiao almost jumped up from his seat, and even his face changed.
"Yes, but do the police need the help of ordinary people to handle the case?"
He imitated the young man's mysterious look, and lowered his voice to ask in his ear, "Don't you know how to send more people up?"
"We are afraid to scare the snake..."
The young man wearing glasses said with a wry smile, "As a result, there is not enough manpower, so we can only ask the passengers on the bus to help."
"Then, what is that going to help?"
After the young man "exposed" just now, Lao Jiao subconsciously felt awe of the young man in front of him, "I don't know anything!"
The young man smiled without saying a word, and turned the piece of paper over.
There was also writing on the back of that page.
[The middle-aged woman in colorful clothes in the back row is carrying a pressure cooker with her. There are explosives in the pressure cooker. Once the pressure valve is pulled out, the pressure cooker will explode. We need you to join us in restraining the woman, grabbing her hands or arms and making sure she can't touch anything. She also carries a fruit knife on her body, which is dangerous during the subduing process, so she must be careful, and it is best not to give her a chance to draw out the murder weapon. After the pressure cooker is captured, we throw it out of the car.]
The old man anxiously finished reading this long passage, staring at the glasses on the young man's face, feeling a chill down his back.
It's okay to subdue a middle-aged woman with the police comrades, but the key is that this woman not only carries a knife, but also a bomb!
With so many people in the car, this young man was the first to find him, what could he do? !
"Uncle, help me..."
The young man's eyes were full of pleading, "After all, this matter is related to the safety of everyone in the car. The passengers in this car are old and young. Few of them are as strong and reliable as you. After all, it's a cough... , if something goes wrong, no one in the car will be able to escape..."
"I, I don't think I'm suitable, can't you find someone else..."
Lao Jiao rubbed his hands nervously, avoiding the pleading eyes of the "plainclothes policeman" in embarrassment.
"It's not that I don't want to help. My parents are old, my wife died early, and I have a daughter who is going to school. The whole family depends on me. In case something happens to me..."
Every time he said a word, the hopeful light in the young man's eyes dimmed a bit, and even the movement of squatting there showed a bit of pitifulness.
"I see… "
He drooped his shoulders like a big dog that was refused to be taken out, trying to continue to persuade him, "You, you can actually think about it again, this is saving people, it's a great thing..."
But as he talked, he couldn't continue on his own.
It is easy to say, but it is like a moral kidnapping to let a person who is the mainstay of the whole family rely on his life to subdue the gangster.
Xiao Heyun is not the Holy Mother, but looking at the uncle's white coat and trousers, and the hesitant look on his face clutching the bag tightly, he can't say anything to continue persuading him.
"All right, I'll look for..."
He was about to stand up when someone pinned his shoulders.
"Boy, I heard there's a bonus for 'doing what's right,' isn't it?"
Lao Jiao seemed to have suddenly thought of something, with some eagerness in his eyes, he grabbed the sleeve of the young man in front of him, with shame and embarrassment.
"Ah, yes..."
The guy with glasses didn't seem to expect that Lao Jiao would ask this question, and he was a little dazed.
"How much? Is there a thousand?"
Thinking of the embarrassment that he will soon be living on the streets, and thinking of the ending that he will be forced to return to his hometown to farm if he can no longer afford to rent a battery car and find a new job, Lao Jiao feels desolate.
Worse than death is poverty.
Hearing that what Lao Jiao wanted was money, the boy with eyes was obviously surprised, but he soon came to his senses and took out his wallet from his trousers pocket.
"Yes, yes, I will give you a thousand yuan now."
He quickly counted out ten red bills from his wallet and stuffed them into Lao Jiao's hand.
Seeing the real money in his hand, Lao Jiao gritted his teeth.
"Okay, this is a favor, I will help!"