Police Chen Shu

"Here, there used to be a row of fences running sideways with big gaps. There were people from Myanmar selling things through the fence. They mainly sold handicrafts with local characteristics. It was quite lively. Many tourists liked to look for them. shopping."

Li Xia pointed to a row of border isolation belts about three meters high and sealed by very fine wires, and continued to introduce with a smile: "Travellers think that the things they buy from border residents are more authentic and must be foreign products. But they don't know those things. In fact, they are all produced in China, and after going around and around, they finally returned to our own hands. To be honest, these handicrafts only cost us a few yuan, and they were handed over from the border residents through the fence. It takes more than ten times.”

Although it was the second time for Zhang Yang and Xiao Zhao to come to the border, this time they were accompanied by Li Xia, who was considered a half-local, so they could hear a lot of interesting things.

Xiao Zhao turned to look at the armed police standing guard not far away and joked: "Brother Li, does cross-border transactions by border residents count as smuggling? Are we just sitting next to each other and the police don't care?"

When he heard the word "smuggling," Li Xia looked stern, but he recovered in an instant and said calmly: "The government turns a blind eye and doesn't care about the people who earn some money for food."

Zhang Yang, who has many years of interview experience, captured Li Xia's emotional changes, but she did not deliberately ask questions. Everyone has their own story.

"Brother Xia, do you see why there is a child squatting over there? Is he also selling things?" Xiao Zhao pointed to a small corner in the corner of the barbed wire fence that had been pried up. The gap was just enough for a child to put his hand in and out.

Li Xia glanced at it and shook his head: "Since the epidemic, the border residents selling goods have been driven away. This child should just be asking for money from us."

As he was talking, a call came from the other side of the barbed wire fence.

The squatting skinny boy said in broken Chinese: "Brothers and sisters, please give me some money. I have been hungry for several days."

Xiao Zhao had not seen a beggar for several years. When he heard the child begging, he couldn't help but get close to him.

A little boy with a loose shirt covering his body and pants covering half of his buttocks squatted on the other end of the barbed wire fence, wiping his nose with the sleeve of one hand and stretching out the other hand through the small hole.

"Brother, give me some money, I'm so hungry."

When Xiao Zhao took out the money, he was stopped by Li Xia: "Xiao Zhao, I know you have good intentions, but this will encourage this behavior, which is not a good thing."

The young Zhao Zhanger was confused.

"Brother Xia, why? Just give me some money. Why isn't that a good thing?" Xiao Zhao asked with confusion on his face.

"Most of these children have adults instigating them, and they are forced to come out to beg for money. If we give money today, these adults will think that letting children come out to beg is a profitable option, which will make more children fall into This dilemma.”

After a pause, Li Xia glanced at Zhang Yang, who was standing beside him. Seeing that his face was calm, he continued: "Do you remember those children in China who abducted and trafficked children in the early years, and then made them disabled to gain sympathy from others, and were used for their own purposes? Is there any news about making money as a beggar? There are so many people around here, but few give money.”

It was just about ten o'clock in the morning. There were many people coming and going near the port, including men, women, old and young, local business people and people traveling from other places. But no one was like Xiao Zhao, facing the children on the other side of the barbed wire fence. interested.

Perhaps those incidents of child abuse in the early years had too great an impact and consumed too much social sympathy.

"Brother Xia, I know everything you said. But after giving the money, I can feel more at ease. If not, this kid can have a full meal tonight." After listening to Li Xia's explanation, Xiao Zhao laughed easily. "Hey, Sister Yang taught me this."

When Li Xia heard this, he suddenly thought that they were still reporters and photographers, how could they not understand this kind of thing, and felt a little ashamed.

Xiao Zhao took out a twenty-yuan Chinese note and placed it in the child's little hand stained with black soil.

From the beginning to the end, Zhang Yang just watched without saying a word. When she saw the child happily grabbing the money and dancing, the corners of her mouth raised slightly, and then she quietly turned around and left.

"Deliberately making a child disabled to beg is cruel when I think about it. Fortunately, our country is now stronger and this phenomenon no longer exists." Li Xia felt a little emotional, remembering the miserable days when he was a child.

"And." Xiao Zhao replied seriously while squatting in front of the barbed wire fence, making faces and teasing the little boy opposite.

"There are still beggars now? It's impossible. I haven't seen beggars on the road for a long time. I don't see many beggars, old or young." Li Xia didn't believe it, squinting his eyes and making a judgment that normal people would make. , "To do this now is to arouse public outrage. With the intensity of our police, if caught, they will be thrown into a cage. The time is not short, and it is not cost-effective."

"It's not cost-effective, so they now rent disabled children door-to-door. Some who often travel will sign a contract with the child's parents in black and white, establish a so-called labor relationship, and pay wages on time. Finally, they have to sign and lick their fingers. Seal." Xiao Zhao stood up with his hands on his knees and patted the dust on his thighs.

For a moment, Li Xia felt that he had underestimated this young man before, thinking that he was just like those people who had enough food and drink and nothing to do and liked to run around.

At this time, seeing Xiao Zhao speaking calmly, it was natural that he had truly experienced it.

"Huh? Where's Sister Yang? Sister Yang, wait for me!" In a blink of an eye, Xiao Zhao chased Zhang Yang out in the direction he left.

"Thank you, big brother. I wish you good fortune every day."

The broken Chinese still rang in his ears. Li Xia looked down and saw the little boy holding the twenty yuan with a bright smile on his face. Although he spoke Chinese haltingly, he was not stingy with his gratitude.

When he was smuggling, he saw a lot of children from this country on the other side. They were precocious. There were all kinds of stealing, robbing, and disgusting. At the age of seven or eight, they knew to stand on the side of the road and pull adults from China to sell prostitutes.

But for some reason, this time when I followed Zhang Yang and the others, I actually felt that I had some cuteness that a child should have.

Is this a problem with my state of mind?

At this time, Li Xia vaguely recalled that China had made every effort to crack down on these illegal acts of trafficking and maiming children and forcing them to beg on the road. The cause was that a reporter from a southern newspaper first ignited the fire in public opinion, and then burned all over China.

I have to admit that when he first met Zhang Yang at a local law firm in Anxi, he thought that he was just like him, just coming to find connections to find his relatives trapped in northern Myanmar.

Later, after further understanding, he learned that the other party was a reporter from Donghai Province. This time he came all the way because he wanted to help a stranger find her only son.

According to Xiao Zhao, this is not the first time.

The man with "Xia" in his name still doesn't believe that there are such pure people in such a society where interests are paramount.

He was curious and wanted to see it clearly, so he volunteered to follow the team.

"Brother, money is not omnipotent!"

"Silly brother, of course money is omnipotent."

For some reason, Li Xia's mind suddenly popped up a conversation with his brother a few years ago.

He shook his head to disperse the memories and quickly followed.