In the cold winter wind, this beggar, wearing a skeleton coat with half a sleeve, did not say anything, did not fight or make a fuss, curled up and continued to wander at the door of the stylus mill. Whenever a female worker passed by, he would raise the face with purple-red scars and stare at the other party, making people feel a little furious.

The next night, Sister Hong returned home early. I was reviewing my homework in the room. When I looked up, I saw Sister Hong pushing the door and walking in. I asked in surprise: "I am still going to pick you up at 11 o'clock, why did I come back so early?"

While taking off the thick cotton jacket, Sister Hong replied quietly: "It is said that the materials in the factory are not enough. Now every class has to be used evenly. Our quota is used up today."

"Every class is used evenly? It's better to have a centralized production in one class." I complained dissatisfiedly.

After hearing what I said, Sister Hong raised her brows: "Now we always charge for pieces of the car. You use other people's quotas for one class, and you have no work in other classes. What money can you get? How can you live?"

After hearing Sister Hong's words, I felt uncomfortable, so I changed the subject and asked casually: "Was that beggar still at the door when you came back?"

Sister Hong bit her thin lips and glanced at me: "He is not a beggar."

"He is not a beggar? You...how do you know that he is not a beggar?" I was a little surprised for a moment.

Sister Hong's long eyelashes trembled, and a faint red pink appeared on her fair cheeks: "He is not begging for food, how could he be a beggar?"

Sister Hong's answer made me say something for a moment. Yes, it was really weird. He didn't beg for food in front of the door, nor did he beg for anything else: "If you don't call Huazi, what should you call me? You call me a homeless man?"

Sister Hong began to lower her head to clean up the bed, smiled for a moment before answering: "He should not be a homeless man, he... should have a home..."

When I saw Sister Hong’s thoughtful look, I was curious for a moment and couldn’t help but chase him again: “How did you know that he has a home?”

"Everyone has a home, otherwise where did he come from?" Sister Hong prepared the bed, picked up the basin and went out.

Looking at Sister Hong's back as she went out, I felt a little melancholy, knowing that she might have missed Xiaozhuang in her heart. When Sister Hong returned to the house, I pretended to relax and suggested that she would take the time to go home in a few days to see Xiaozhuang. Sister Hong heard my comfort, and showed a lonely smile on her face and nodded silently.

In the following days, this "beggar" who was a little illegitimate, wandering around the factory gate from day to night, which made the female workers who were coming and going in and out of the door feel frightened. Several old ladies on duty chased him several times, and the "beggar" turned a deaf ear. In the end, the guard had no choice but to call the Chengxi Police Station. After the police station asked about the situation, he said that he had not beaten or scolded, stole money or destroyed things, and did not act like a hooligan and tease women. If he really wanted to contain him, he should ask the civil affairs department to solve the problem.

People entering and leaving the cotton mill were nervous and spent day after day. Just as people had adapted to the existence of "beggars", he suddenly disappeared one night. That day was just the night shift of Sister Hong. I was upset by two wild cats outside the house, jumping up and down on the surrounding roofs and walls, which made me unable to sleep well all night.

"Beggar" is like a mysterious flying saucer, coming and going without a trace, which makes everyone's heart suddenly empty. At noon that day, the people in the security class couldn't help but talk. Master Huang said that "Beggar" ran away by himself. Squad leader Xu said that he did not run away by himself, but the provincial leaders were coming to the city for inspection. In order not to affect the image of the county, he was taken to another place by the county Civil Affairs Bureau. He was dragged to another place by a car. Fatty Zhang was dissatisfied with Squad leader Xu's statement and said that "Beggar" was secretly beaten away by Xiao Li and his group of people. Xiao Li held a grudge that because "Beggar" suffered a loss, he did such a dirty thing in private. No matter what, the storm about "Beggar" finally passed, and everyone was relieved. No one mentioned it again after a few days.

After New Year's Day, the weather became colder, and the bitter north wind blew, like a knife ruthlessly crossing people's eyebrows and eyes, and the hissing pain penetrated into the heart. This year is different from previous years. Except for the beginning of winter, there has not been a decent heavy snow so far. As the saying goes: It does not snow in winter and it is difficult to cultivate in spring. Although people by the Grand Canal are frozen and shrunk their necks, they are still worried and hurriedly looking forward to the arrival of heavy snow.

That night, I went to the night school early. The homework for this semester has been completed and the final exam is about to be held. The teachers of each subject take turns to several classes to do the final tutoring before the exam. The teacher gave a class and the rest of the time we were self-study. The classroom was very quiet. The red-faced little fat man in my seat was smoking one by one. The smelly smoke made people dizzy and choked so that they just wanted to cough.

"You can't smoke two less?" Since I asked Sister Hong's advice to quit smoking, I have become a little tired of this annoying smell of cigarettes.

"This "Mechanics" is so hard. I didn't make a single question all night." Xiao Qi, blushing, took another hard breath, bent down and twisted the remaining half of the cigarette on the ground.

Just as I was talking to Xiao Qi, a girl sitting in the front row of us turned around and stabbed me in the arm. "Did that person come to find you?"

I raised my face and followed the direction of her fingers. I saw a face with a messy beard, squeezing my eyes at me through the glass on the door. Third brother! My heart twitched suddenly, and I quickly threw down the book in my hand, stood up, and urgently stepped over Xiao Qi's bloated body, and rushed to the door.

"Brother Third, when did you come out?" I opened the door and wanted to grab my brother's right hand, but I was stunned for a moment.

"Hey--it's lost." The third brother used his left hand to push the old cotton military cap covering his eyebrows, slightly pushing it up, and then fell down and patted my arm hard. "If I hadn't lost this arm, I would not only not be able to get out, but I might have died inside."

"Your hand...what's going on?" I was a little confused, still holding the soft cotton jacket sleeves.

"I won't talk about this. I'm here to find you so late, just to give you some food. I'm now penny and I'm not going to eat anything in a day." The third brother's tough face showed a hint of shyness that he had never felt before.
Chapter completed!