At 6:30 in the morning, Xiao Mo habitually jogs along the river embankment in the park.
This is an unnamed small river, mostly dug manually, surrounding a green park that is also built artificially.
This green space park is quite large, covering an area of nearly two hundred acres. It was formerly a hollowed-out copper mine. It was later used by the local government to fill the land with harmless construction waste generated from various nearby real estates, and then scientifically treated it. After planning and designing the garden, we built mountains and forests, built bridges and paved roads, and introduced underground river water to build winding open river channels, finally forming this free open park in front of us.
The park was built only two years ago, but it already has the status of a local scene. Not to mention that nearby residents love it very much, even people living in the city center often drive here to have picnics or play.
When Xiao Mo bought a house in this suburb far away from the city center, it can be said that he was looking for this green park with mountains, water and forests.
The park is good in every way. The only thing that isn't beautiful is that in addition to tourists and nearby residents, it is also used as a temporary accommodation by some homeless people. When Xiao Mo was running, he often saw homeless people sleeping on park benches or in pavilions.
No, as soon as he turned a corner, he saw someone already lying on the long wooden chair where he usually rested.
Xiao Mo just wanted to run over, but after seeing the figure on the bench clearly, he slowed down, finally stopped slowly, and stepped back.
"Hey, wake up." Xiao Mo pushed the little body curled up on the bench.
The little thing was very alert. As soon as Xiao Mo's hand touched his shoulder, he quickly sat up.
"Kid, why are you sleeping here? Where are your adults?"
The child didn't answer, just stared at Xiao Mo expressionlessly.
Xiao Mo looked at the child up and down.
The child is not tall, about five or six years old at most. Probably because his body looks very thin, his head appears to be a bit too big. He was wearing a shirt that was a bit too long on his upper body, and a pair of jeans with his trouser legs rolled up several times on his lower body. He was dressed normally, but his clothes were a little dirty.
The child's hair is very soft, brownish, a little long, and has grown to the neck. The facial features are deep, the eye sockets are slightly sunken, the eyes are big but dull, the eyelashes are thick and long, the bridge of the nose is straight, and the lip line is clear. It looks a bit like Mixed race.
Seeing the child's eyes, Xiao Mo unconsciously touched his bare arm. The eyes were so dark, as black as ink, but there was no sparkle at all, just like... the eyes of a dead person.
"Hey, kid, you can easily catch a cold if you sleep outside without covering yourself. You..."
"Mind your own business." Before Xiao Mo finished speaking, the child glanced at him sideways, jumped off the bench and walked away.
Xiao Mo frowned and watched the child walk into a nearby public toilet. After thinking about it, he felt that he was being nosy. Maybe his family is nearby
After running out of the park, Xiao Mo bought a pair of pancake buns, fried dough sticks and a packet of soy milk at the community breakfast shop. After paying the money and leaving, he turned around and bought two mushroom and vegetable buns and two bamboo shoot and diced pork buns at the bun shop next door.
When I returned to the long wooden bench by the river in the park, I saw that the child was still there.
The child seemed to be looking at something intently.
Xiao Mo followed the child's gaze and saw a young man carrying a schoolbag standing by the river not far from them.
The young man stared blankly at the river, his expression seemed quite confused and hesitant.
Xiao Mo was stunned for a moment, right? It's not what he thinks, is it
Just when Xiao Mo was about to move, the young man left simply.
Xiao Mo breathed a sigh of relief, returned to the bench and sat down, casually pushing the plastic bag containing the buns to the child sitting on the chair with his legs bent.
The child didn't move, just turned his head and glanced at him.
Xiao Mo thought to himself: If you want to eat it, you can eat it. If you don't want it, I will take it back and eat it myself. While opening his own breakfast and eating it.
About a minute later, maybe because Xiao Mo's food was too sweet, there was a sound of swallowing next to him.
"Crash."
When he heard the plastic bag being opened, the corners of Xiao Mo's mouth raised slightly.
There was space between one large and one small room for one more person to sit, and they just ate their breakfast in silence.
After Xiao Mo finished eating the pancakes, he pushed the unopened soy milk to the child, stood up, patted his butt and left.
For Xiao Mo, this incident was not even a good deed. It was about the same as teasing a kitten or puppy.
He is compassionate and willing to help others, but only when he is able to do so. Buying two buns for a homeless child and bringing a strange child home to raise are completely different things.
Maybe he could contact the police to help the child find his parents, but he didn't bring his mobile phone, so he couldn't take pictures of the child, and he didn't think the child was willing to follow him. And who knew if the child's family was nearby? It would be bad if it causes misunderstanding.
When Xiao Mo went back to open the store, he still called the police station.
When the operator asked about the child's appearance, Xiao Mo was suddenly stunned. He found that he couldn't remember the child's appearance. How long had it been? And the child's mixed-race appearance should be impressive. But no matter how much he thought about it, he couldn't remember the child's specific outline. He only remembered that the child had a pair of eyes that were so dark that they barely reflected light.
The police station accepted the matter and said they would send someone to check it out soon. Xiao Mo also let the matter go.
After working for most of the day, and seeing that it was already past lunch time, Xiao Mo straightened up, rubbed his sore waist, and saw that the warehouse had become fresh and orderly again, and he felt a sense of accomplishment.
This is his business, a resource recycling bin.
Most recycling bins have two common and significant characteristics, that is, they are dirty and messy. This is why most people call resource recycling workers scavengers. Scavenging means picking up rubbish. In the eyes of most people, people who pick up garbage naturally represent dirty, messy and poor things.
Xiao Mo's resource recycling bin is completely opposite to ordinary recycling bins. Not only is it not dirty or messy, it doesn't even have much of a strange smell. If it weren't for the big words "Resource Recycling Station" hanging on the lintel, residents living nearby would have thought that Xiao Mo ran a second-hand store.
However, Xiao Mo does also run a second-hand store business. This is a very marketable business. Just like the resource recycling industry, you can make a fortune if you do it well.
Talking about the reason why Xiao Mo started this business, the bottom line is two words: impulsive.
That was six years ago.
Six years ago, Xiao Mo was twenty-six years old, a time when he thought he was very mature, wise, rational, and experienced, but in fact he was still very "childish".
Really, Xiao Mo feels that every time he gets older, even one day later, when he looks back at yesterday, he will feel that he was still ridiculously childish yesterday.
"Ding dong, ding dong."
The doorbell interrupted Xiao Mo's memories.
This is a sensor doorbell he installed at the entrance of his store. As long as someone comes in, he can hear it no matter whether he is in the warehouse on the first floor, the store on the second floor, or in the basement.
He converted the first floor into a warehouse, leaving only eight square meters of floor space, so his goods are mainly concentrated on the second floor.
Xiao Mo walked along the shelves to the glass door leading from the warehouse to the store. When he opened the door, he saw a junior high school student wearing a school uniform and carrying a schoolbag looking at the products in the glass cabinet.
Isn't this the boy who was in a daze by the river in the morning
Xiao Mo couldn't help laughing when he thought that he thought the boy was planning to commit suicide.
"What do you want to buy?"
Xiao Mo closed the glass door and walked to the simple sink next to the door to wash his hands. While washing, he turned his head and asked with a smile.
Hearing the greeting, the boy, who was about thirteen or fourteen years old, raised his head, his eyes full of bloodshot eyes, as if he had pinkeye.
Xiao Mo thought sympathetically: The poor student survived like this. I wonder if it was because of the upcoming final exam.
"They told me that you sell everything in your store." The boy tapped his fingers on the glass countertop and said a little nervously.
"Well, I can't say that I sell everything. At least I definitely don't have your school's final exam papers." Xiao Mo joked.
The boy didn't seem to buy his joke. He pointed to the stairs next to him and asked, "Can I go upstairs and have a look?"
"Look around. There are some furniture and electrical appliances upstairs, as well as some clothes and sundries. Oh, there are also sporting goods and books. They are all second-hand goods. There are many things. Take your time and take a look. If you see something you like, call me. Or you can just take it out and pay." Xiao Mo hung up the towel and walked to the counter.
The boy said "Yeah" and went up to the second floor with his schoolbag on his back.
Xiao Mo didn't follow. There are many students who come to his store. Most of them choose some sporting goods and books, and occasionally some electronic products.
Electronic products and small valuables are all in the counter on the first floor, while the second floor is full of large items or worthless things, not to mention cameras placed in the four corners for deterrence. Xiao Mo is not afraid that the goods upstairs will be lost. Of course, when there are many people, he will follow them and watch.
While the boy was looking at the goods upstairs, Xiao Mo turned on his computer and started to calculate the sales profits and losses for the first half of the month.
According to the list made in excel, it can be clearly seen that the profit from the retail sale of second-hand goods only accounts for less than one-tenth of his overall recycling business profit. His main profit is still in the wholesale of second-hand goods.
Speaking of wholesale business, it seems that he has not been to the university town for a few days. Looking at the time, the graduates have almost begun to deal with old books, old appliances and furniture. Maybe he should go check it out tomorrow.
"Clang!"
There was the sound of heavy objects falling to the ground upstairs, and Xiao Mo raised his eyes and glanced at the four-frame surveillance screen to one side.
In the picture, the boy seemed to want to take something off the wall. Xiao Mo zoomed in on the picture and found that what the boy wanted to take was the watermelon knife hanging on the wall.
Xiao Mo shook his head, got up and went upstairs.
"You want to buy a watermelon knife?"
The young man seemed to be so frightened that he turned around suddenly and stared at Xiao Mo with a wary look on his face.
Xiao Mo was shocked by his fierce reaction.
"Classmate, are you okay?"
The young man didn't answer, he just stared at Xiao Mo and took a step forward.
Xiao Mo naturally took a step back.