There was a flyover at Jiangcheng West Station.
The flyover provided shelter from the wind and rain, and there were a lot of people under it. The patrols were strict, and there were few homeless people and beggars.
However, there were exceptions to everything. Under the bridge of Jiangcheng West Station, there happened to be an old man in his fifties. He was carrying a broken bag that he had picked up from some trash can. He was limping around the area.
Although he was a beggar, he didn't put a broken bowl on the ground and wait for charity. He didn't ask anyone for money. Although he was a homeless person, he had no income and it was hard for him to move around. He often needed help from others.
"He used to be a contractor, which was … a job that made a lot of money. Later, he injured his back in an accident. The construction site didn't pay for the project, and the final payment wasn't paid to him. The developer ran away.
Most of the people who worked with him were his friends from the same village, or old colleagues who had worked with him for many years. He had no choice but to pay everyone's wages out of his own pocket. Then, he came here alone to find the developer. His back was injured, and he had to rest after walking dozens of meters. He came to Jiangcheng to collect the debt, but the developer left. He couldn't find him at all. "
"And then?"
"And then, there was no then. This is misfortune. It has nothing to do with the times, and it has nothing to do with hard work. It happened, and it happened."
Xu Qing stood in front of the roadside stall. He wanted to take Jiang He who was holding the chestnuts to buy some sugar-fried chestnuts. It was not the season to eat chestnuts, so he could only pick a sugar cane for the stall owner to cut.
The knife in the stall owner's hand was very sharp, and he easily cut the skin of the sugar cane. While waiting, Xu Qing looked at the direction of the West Station, his eyes calm.
"He begged at the municipal gate for a few months and even appeared in the newspaper, but it was useless. When he wanted to go back, his wife and children didn't recognize him, and his family moved away. He couldn't even get through to his phone."
The image of the man smiling and taking out the newspaper from his dirty backpack for him to read appeared in his mind again. Xu Qing suddenly sighed. "Oh, people …"
"How did you know?" Jiang He took the sugar cane cut by the stall owner, picked up a piece, and handed it to Xu Qing. He was curious about what he said.
"We were roommates for one night. He broke off half of the foam board he used to sleep on, saying that the floor was too cold and he would get sick if he didn't cushion it."
Xu Qing casually gestured, "It was such a big piece. It was a little big for him to use, but it was a little small if it was divided into two halves, and he had to bend his legs to sleep. I was very grateful at that time. It was almost winter, and it was quite cold at night. I took the only ten yuan I had with me to buy two bottles of wine and drank with him. We talked under the bridge for most of the night."
"So, you two know each other." Jiang He smacked the sugarcane, feeling very happy with the sweetness in his mouth. "What happened to him after that?"
"I don't know. I went there a few more times and treated him to hamburgers, but I didn't see him again. Maybe he went home."
"It's good to go home."
"Or maybe he's dead."
It was a warm afternoon at the end of March. Jiang He followed Xu Qing and ate a bag of sugarcane slowly. He carefully spat out the leftovers into another bag.
"Have you been a vagabond?" she asked.
"No, that's another story for another Brass Head Leather Belt."
Xu Qing walked along the familiar street, turned into a side street, and walked a few steps forward. They came to an old bookstore. He looked at the signboard of the store, paused, and walked in with Jiang He.
In this era, physical books had gradually declined, and this kind of small bookstore was not frequented by many people. Fortunately, the shop owner owned it. He only needed to pay electricity and water bills, and usually sold some exercise books to the parents of students in the surrounding schools, so he could still survive.
It was basically impossible to restore the lively scene of Xu Qing's childhood. Only those big bookstores would have people looking for books, and there would be more people.
The owner could not recognize Xu Qing anymore. He reached out to adjust his reading glasses, sat behind the counter, and greeted them. He did not get up and asked what they wanted to buy.
"Just looking around."
Xu Qing replied casually and paced around the small bookstore. Most of the books here were old and second-hand. In the past, there used to be a book rental service, but he didn't know how it was going to be charged now. Back then, he had freeloaded half of his Ancient Jin Collection in this bookstore. He had stood in front of the bookshelf and read "Jiang Hu" while he used the pocket money he had saved to rent the books back. Then, he hid under the wall with Qin Hao and enjoyed it.
The old bookshelf was not too dirty, just old. It could be seen that it was often taken care of. The books on it were arranged neatly. Only one side was filled with all kinds of old books, and the other side was filled with exercise books like the five-year college entrance examination. There was also a bookshelf in the corner with some professional books and various reading materials. The bottom layer was filled with comics and comic books.
"See if there is anything you like. Pick a few and bring them back."
Xu Qing said to Jiang He as he casually took out an old book that had turned yellow and flipped it open.
Books were the ladder of human progress. Jiang He's gains from reading books were much greater than his gains — provided that she could understand them.
In front of so many books in the bookstore, normal people would not choose books that they did not understand to pretend to understand. Jiang He was normal, so after browsing for a while, she found a book that she could understand and wanted to read.
The owner behind the counter saw that the two of them were quiet, so he did not disturb them. He leaned on the table and did his own work. More than half an hour passed, and the shadow of people shrouded in front of the counter. He then adjusted his glasses again and raised his head.
"These books …"
Xu Qing put the books in his hands on the counter, and then took a big stack of books from Jiang He. He flipped through them and looked at her. "I don't think this is necessary, right?"
He was holding "Twin of Brothers of Tang Dynasty." It was five thick books with small handwriting. It was an old pirated book.
Looking at the others, "How to Learn to Speak with High Emotional Intelligence", "Humor and Communication", "The Weakness of Human Nature" …
Fortunately, Xu Qing did not know if this kind of marketing book could produce some kind of magical reaction with Jiang He, who was like a blank piece of paper. Although it was all plain language, there was no harmful content — the whole book was a lot of common sense. From a certain point of view, this kind of book was suitable for Jiang He.
"Then I don't want this." Jiang He nodded. She originally just wanted to see what the novels of Tang Dynasty were like …
"A Brief History of Time?" The next book surprised Xu Qing. After thinking about it, he did not say anything and just handed it to the owner to settle the bill.
Needless to say, Jiang He definitely couldn't understand this thing. Even he couldn't understand it. It was only the word 'time' that attracted her.
If she liked it, she would buy it. Xu Qing took out his mobile phone and nimbly scanned the QR code to pay the bill. Even if she did not understand it, she could put it on the bookshelf as a small reference. It was not completely useless.
Anyway, she did not have to worry about waking up one morning and seeing Jiang He building a time machine with a hammer and a screwdriver in the living room.
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