The rich have an ugly duckling

The capital is a magical city, where there are not only the portrayal of the hardships of the people at the bottom, but also the sensuality of the upper class.

White-collar workers rush to write about this bustling capital, and the tears of Beijing drifters flow into this calm ocean. Living here, you are always forced to appreciate the variety of life.

This is an ordinary winter day.

The urban village within the Fourth Ring Road ushered in another unremarkable morning.

A black briquette was squatting on the corner of the street washing clothes against the cold wind.The hair of this black briquette is very long, and the bangs on the front of the forehead are like a dog gnawed, long and short, and paired with a small black face, it is really funny.

In fact, this dog gnawing bangs is the masterpiece of this black briquette.The head curtain is too long, blocking the eyes several times while walking and fell into a solid dog gnawing mud. I had no choice but to use the blunt scissors I picked up to wring it out by myself.The hair at the back is obviously long for a boy, but it can't be cut, it has to be grown long and sold for money.

"Little crow, hurry back, that old man of yours has drunk too much again!"

Heitan raised his head, looked at the person with dark eyes, and unconsciously lowered his mouth a little because of the bad news he heard, and said sullenly, "Thank you, Uncle Zhang."

Heitan's name is Chen Wu, who just turned seven years old last month. He is black and thin, with dry and yellow curly hair that curls up in all directions. It was a dark bird with the word "wu" in its name, so the residents in the shanty town called him Little Crow.

Chen Wu was carrying a plastic basin with missing corners. He had just returned to the small yard of his home, and before he had time to dry his wet clothes, he was used to a strong force.

The drunk man grabbed Chen Wu's hair and slammed it against the wall, cursing in his mouth: "I'll beat you to death, a money-losing bastard who doesn't come back for a long time, and wants to starve you to death?"

Chen Wu's scalp was so painful that he waved his hands and feet, wanting to resist, but he was born thin, and usually didn't have enough to eat, so he couldn't exert his strength at all.

Zhuang Weimin hiccupped, grabbed Chen Wu's collar impatiently, lifted him up with one hand, and inserted the other palm into Chen Wu's pants.Chen Wu's whole body was skinny and bony, except for some flesh on his buttocks. When he was stroked by the rough palm lines, it was like a piece of sandpaper being polished, and the pain was severe.

Chen Wu was terrified, he opened his mouth wide and bit Zhuang Weimin's palm.Zhuang Weimin didn't like cleanliness, and was used to rough work, his hands were fishy and smelly, and Chen Wu couldn't open his eyes due to the smoke.

He could only close his eyes and clenched his teeth tightly.Zhuang Weimin felt the pain, and kicked Chen Wu's waist. Chen Wu flew out in an instant and hit the ground heavily. Various organs seemed to be displaced, curled up in pain.

Zhuang Weimin's scarlet eyes were full of fierce light, and he kicked Chen Wu fiercely, and kept muttering: "Kill you debt collector! Pay me back!"

Seeing that he was still beating, Zhang Weishui from the next door quickly ran over and restrained him: "I can't beat him! I can kill him again!"

Zhuang Weimin went crazy after drinking, and when he got mad, he beat his own son with him. After the beating, he calmed down and went back to the room to sleep soundly, completely ignoring his son who was still lying on the ground.

Zhang Weishui helped Chen Wu up, and said regretfully, "I knew I wouldn't call you back! Another beating!"

Chen Wu's back was in excruciating pain, and with Zhang Weishui's support, he slowly stood up, his eyes were full of tears and he didn't cry, he just said weakly, "Thank you, Uncle Zhang, I'm going to cook."

Zhang Weishui looked at the thin back who was going away, shook his head and said, "It's a crime to ask a 7-year-old to cook!"

After Zhuang Weimin fell asleep, Chen Wu curled up and walked silently towards the messy little kitchen.

The shantytowns used public kitchens two years ago, and the women in the villages in the city gathered together to cook, but after the city issued an order not to burn briquettes, everyone dispersed and went back to their own houses to burn gas.But Chen Wu's family is poor, and his only relative is addicted to gambling and drinking. The gas subsidy given by the city government has been lost, and he still uses briquettes to this day.

Chen Wu is young, so he doesn't know how to make complicated meals, he can only cook simple ones.He stewed the leftover cabbage bangzi picked from the Chengnan market with tofu, and cooked some rice in an aluminum pot.

About half an hour later, the cooking stove was turned off, and Chen Wu squatted down to see that the briquettes were gone, so he had to sniff and walk slowly to Uncle Zhang's house next door, holding his waist.

The woman who lived with Zhang Weishui was named Liu Biqin. When she saw Chen Wu coming over, she made a big face and asked, "What else do I need to borrow? I haven't paid back the salt I borrowed last time!"

Chen Wu's back hurt badly, and he stood leaning against the wall, not daring to look into Liu Biqin's eyes: "Aunt Biqin, my house is out of coal."

Liu Biqin saw how dark he was, and was timid when he spoke. She felt very displeased, and said with a straight face, "If you don't have any salt, you can ask for it at my house, and if you don't have coal, you can also ask for it at my house? My family owes you money? Where did you come from, you little bastard? Get out of here." Go back!" Then he hit Chen Wu with a broom.

Chen Wu shrank towards the wall, not daring to leave in order to borrow coal.

After all, Zhang Weishui was kind-hearted, so he stopped Liu Biqin, and gave all the briquettes piled up in the kitchen to Chen Wu: "I said, little crow, burning briquettes is not allowed in the fourth ring road now, you ask your dad to buy them." Let’s make a stove, if you are caught burning coal by the neighborhood committee, you will be fined.”

Chen Wu held a few pieces of black coal, nodded, said thank you in a subtle way, turned around and left with the coal in his arms.

As soon as Chen Wu left, Liu Biqin threw the broom in her hand on the ground and lost her temper: "How much money do you earn from working every day, so you can be proud of being poor and generous! You are still a shabby household and want to help others? You are really talented!"

Zhang Wei gave way to Liu Biqin when he was level, but the woman pointed her nose and scolded, and her expression was not good at the moment: "Just say a few words, let's live together as a partner, each of us has our own money, and we go back to our own homes during the New Year. Don't take yourself too seriously." thing!"

Liu Biqin was so angry that she gritted her teeth and threw the broom heavily on the ground: "Okay, I'm not your wife, I can't control you, if you want to sleep again, you can go to South Street to find chickens, or go back to the countryside to find your wife Go, don't look for me again!" After saying that, he went back to the house angrily.

Zhang Weishui shook his head indifferently, this woman is hot and rude, the two live together as a team, and quarrel at both ends for three days, if she really ignores her, she will come back crying every two days, after all, she came to Beidiao alone A woman with a low education background still wants to find someone to rely on.If it weren't for her plump body and good looks, he wouldn't bother to coax her.

Chen Wu went home and re-fired the borrowed briquettes, but unfortunately the rice was not cooked enough, and it became hard raw rice.Fortunately, Zhuang Weimin just woke up and slept well, he was in a good mood, ate half-cooked food, and didn't scold Chen Wu again.

Chen Wu felt pain all over his body and had no appetite at all. He couldn't eat after a few mouthfuls of cabbage soup.

Zhuang Weimin went out after dinner without saying hello to Chen Wu.Chen Wu was washing pots and dishes in the yard with bowls and chopsticks. His swarthy hands were red from the cold in the early winter.

Chen Wu knew that he had gone to the other side of South Street, and the adults said that there were many chicken coops there.What does chicken coop mean? Chen Wu didn't know, he only knew that every time Zhuang Weimin got drunk and went crazy, he would always run there to stay for a few hours, and his temper would be much better when he came back in the middle of the night.

Seeing that there were not many briquettes left, Chen Wu was reluctant to use them to heat hot water, so he stood in the yard and washed his face with a water pipe.

It was already very cold in November in the capital, and his five fingers were soaked in the water like needles. He washed his face indiscriminately, dared not wash his feet, and returned to his small room shivering all over.

The wooden bed in the room was hard and small. Chen Wu's back and waist were touched by Zhuang Weimin's feet.

The chilblains on his feet began to itch again, and Chen Wu couldn't reach his back pain with his hands, so he could only rub his swollen feet on the wooden bed.Painful, cold and itchy, he didn't fall asleep for a long time, and he didn't fall asleep until the middle of the night, and he heard Zhuang Weimin's voice coming back in a daze.