bestfiction Chapter 478 Cao Gang!
Chapter 478 Cao Gang!
In a large courtyard deep in a hutong in Xicheng District, just as dawn was breaking, around six o'clock in the morning, the courtyard was already bustling with activity.
One by one, people in each household got up. The creaking of doors opening, the rush of washing and brushing hands, and the sounds of stirring the stove and lighting the honeycomb briquettes, all mingled with the crisp morning air, marked the beginning of a busy, ordinary day for the residents of the courtyard.
It's full of the warmth and life of everyday life!
At the far eastern end of the courtyard, there is a particularly eye-catching "building"—a solitary "watchtower."
This thing occupies at most four or five square meters, yet it's stacked up to over ten meters high, dwarfing the low rooftops of the surrounding bungalows. Among the drab gray walls and tiled roofs, it stands out strangely and incongruously.
This is where Cao Gang and his family of four live now. Last year, he almost risked his life and used all sorts of connections to finally bring his wife and children back to the city of Beijing, which they had always longed for, from their rural home in northern Shaanxi.
I thought things were finally looking up, but this year has been a bittersweet experience. Sometimes, when I think about it in the quiet of the night, I even feel that it was not as good as when I was in northern Shaanxi. Although it was tough, at least I had a job and a spacious cave dwelling to live in, and I was not so anxious.
In the capital, his family already had many siblings, plus his parents, making a total of seven people.
Although the two younger sisters are married and no longer live here, there is an older brother who is also married with two children. The family of four also has no other place to live and has been crammed into this old house.
There's also an unmarried younger brother living below. The room, which is only about ten square meters, is already incredibly cramped; you're afraid of bumping into something if you turn around.
Last year, when he brought his family of four back, there wasn't a single place left. But they still needed a place to sleep. They couldn't possibly sleep on the streets with their wife and kids, could they? Or sleep under a bridge?
Later, when he was truly driven to desperation, Cao Gang gritted his teeth and, with a determined spirit, built a "tower" himself right under the wall in front of his house, using broken bricks, cement, old planks, asbestos tiles, and other materials that he had managed to obtain with great difficulty.
At first, the neighborhood committee officials naturally disagreed. They considered it an illegal structure, and it was so tall, too dangerous. His eyes turned red, and he stubbornly shouted.
"You disagree? Fine! Then my whole family of four will move into your neighborhood office and sleep on the floor today, let's see who can outlast whom!"
He erupted in anger, pointing his finger at the officials and cursing them.
"This is outrageous! Back then, you were the ones who beat drums and gongs, urging us teenagers and young people in our twenties to go to the rural areas of northern Shaanxi, thousands of miles away, to be sent to work as sent-down youth."
We went there and stayed for over a decade. What hardships didn't we endure? What suffering didn't we suffer? Now that we've finally come back, we don't even have a place to sleep? Are you trying to drive our family to our deaths?!
"We're all native Beijingers, not outsiders. Why don't we even have a place to live?!"
After such a commotion involving crying and cursing, although the neighborhood committee did not give a firm yes, they also did not send anyone to forcibly obstruct the process, which can be considered turning a blind eye and tacitly approving.
That's how this habitable "blockhouse" came to be.
The bed had two levels, each only about two meters high. It was custom-made by a carpenter, the dimensions were perfect, otherwise it wouldn't have fit at all. If you lay down on it and turned over, you would have to rub against the cold wall.
But no matter what, at least my wife and kids now have a place to shelter from the wind and rain and a place to lie down and sleep.
Housing is a minor issue; the most critical problem is work.
After he returned to the city, the neighborhood committee had already given him instructions. There were too many educated youth returning to the city, and they simply couldn't accommodate them all. Many people were eyeing the job; his family had no connections or background, so he had no chance. He shouldn't count on getting a job.
His wife was even worse off; she was a typical rural woman who barely knew any characters. What kind of work could she possibly find in Beijing?
Before, when I was alone, to put it bluntly, I could endure going hungry for a few meals. Now it's different; I have a family to support, four mouths to feed.
The meager savings he brought back from northern Shaanxi had long been depleted in the past year. His parents were getting old and in poor health, so how could he have the face to ask for money?
Life was incredibly difficult; they couldn't even afford the tuition for their two children's schooling. They had to swallow their pride and ask the school to pay later. The teachers would press them every few days, and the children would run home crying, saying the teacher had told them that if they couldn't pay the tuition by tomorrow, they wouldn't be going to school anymore.
At school, he was also ridiculed by other students as a "student who owes tuition fees." Cao Gang, a grown man, felt like his heart was being torn apart when he heard the children crying and saw their aggrieved little faces. He was helpless and felt like he was living a truly failed and pathetic life.
He didn't know what came over him that day. He was probably really driven to the brink of despair. In a moment of anger, he did something reckless. He pushed his old, broken bicycle, which rattled everywhere except for the bell, into the street, hoping to find a seemingly easy-going car to stage an accident and extort some money to tide him over. But his luck was "too good." He bumped into an acquaintance, Zheng Tong. At that moment, Cao Gang really wanted to find a crack in the ground to crawl into. He had lost all face.
In the end, it was his elderly father who shakily pulled out a crumpled few dozen yuan from under his pillow to pay for the child's tuition. For the past few days, he had been cooped up in this cramped and suffocating "blockhouse," not wanting to go anywhere. When he woke up, he was drowsy, as if trying to escape reality.
"Cao Gang! Cao Gang!"
A slightly hesitant and unfamiliar voice came from downstairs calling out to his wife.
"Come down quickly! A...a friend is here to see you!"
friend?
Cao Gang was dazed for a moment in his daze. He had been away from the capital for more than ten years and only returned last year. His old friends had long since faded from his memory.
Now that I'm in this sorry state, people are avoiding me like the plague, so what "friends" could I possibly have left?
He rolled over and ignored me!
"Cao Gang! How old are you? Still sleeping in? Get up right now!"
It was another man's voice, his tone slightly teasing and nonchalant.
This sound...
Cao Gang felt a shiver run through him; he knew it all too well!
Unable to sleep, I abruptly sat up on the makeshift wooden bed, not even bothering to put on my shoes, and rushed barefoot to the tiny window on the wall, straining to see what was inside.
In the courtyard, a tall, imposing figure stood on the dusty ground, carrying a bulging net bag, looking up in their direction.
Who else could it be but Zhong Yuemin?
"Yuemin?!"
Cao Gang could hardly believe his eyes. He shouted at the top of his lungs, utterly excited.
"You...how did you get here?!"
"I came to check on you, come down quickly!"
"Okay, okay!"
Cao Gang hurriedly dressed, rushed downstairs, and went to the courtyard, repeating the process...
"Yuemin, why are you here?"