The cold winter of the end-apocalyptic rats came to 674 Les Miserables "Tell me what the cigarettes are for first, and these noodles will be yours." Having learned the lesson just now, Hong Tao didn't dare to show the slightest smile, and deliberately spoke with a straight face.
"for money, five sticks for ten cents" The little girl thought for a while, felt that the deal was fair, and finally told the truth. But when she took out the two hand-rolled cigarettes from her pocket, tears welled up in her eyes. Both cigarettes were broken, and the shredded tobacco was thrown away.
There was a moment of silence around the table. Although the tiger, ox, and pony did not cry, the muscles on their cheeks were all squirming. Their hearts were as strong as iron, and they killed people without blinking an eye, but they were all shattered by the little girl's silent tears.
"Don't cry, didn't you just say it, tell me what the cigarettes are for, these two cigarettes are yours!" As expected of a hero, Hong Tao still had no expression, took out two cigarettes and handed them over.
"Thank you uncle, I'm going back now, mom hasn't taken the medicine yet" The little girl licked her lips, raised her face and smiled at Hong Tao. Even with tears on his face, he still smiled sweetly.
Then he took out a small iron box that was exactly the same from his arms. After opening it, there were some shredded tobacco inside, which should have been removed from the cigarette butts. Judging from the color, she took it apart very carefully, without any trace of burnt. The two cigarettes were also carefully put in.
"Is your mother sick?" Hong Tao took out two more cigarettes and put them on the table.
"Well, she got very sick and vomited blood The grandpa at the grocery store on the street said that he would spend money to buy medicine. Mom has no money, and neither do I" This time the little girl didn't reach for the cigarette, even though her eyes Full of longing, he still stood up, put the noodles into a small iron box, and stuffed it into his arms.
"I like your small tin box that contains shredded tobacco very much. If you give it to me, I will give you some pills. Maybe it can cure your mother's illness!" Seeing that the cigarettes are not easy to use, Hong Tao thought again Out of the second transaction.
"" The little girl's logical thinking ability seems to be developing faster than her age, and she has not been fooled.
"" Hong Tao winked at the scalper.
"Can two iron boxes be exchanged for two I can clean the box!" When the scalper took out the anti-inflammatory medicine sold by the alliance from his pocket, the little girl's eyes suddenly lit up. She obviously knew the medicine, or had seen the packaging, and immediately took out the two small tin boxes.
"That's great, I just like a pair. It's just that you take the pills back, what if they snatch them halfway?" Hong Tao finally laughed, as if he had picked up a big leak in the antique market.
But soon he frowned again, and pointed behind him. There is no need to look back, Xiao Ma has already hinted with his eyes that the group of children did not go far, hiding in the shadow across the street.
"" This time the little girl really has no choice, or she is not old enough for her to think too carefully.
"How about this, we'll take you back home. When we get home, I'll give you the pills and the iron box, how about it?" Until then, Hong Tao came up with the only seemingly reasonable solution. The little girl was naturally caught in the trap, even though she was still reluctant to bring a stranger home, the temptation of two pills was too great!
"Hide halfway, follow those children" Hong Tao whispered in Tiger's ear when he got up to leave.
The little girl¡¯s house is really not close. It took more than 50 minutes to walk north from Fifth Avenue, which was almost 3 kilometers. This is Hong Tao's excuse to go back early to take medicine for his mother, and to hug her and leave quickly. If she used her short legs and physical strength to slow down, the time to get home would probably be doubled.
In addition to being far away, it is very broken! In fact, the further north you go, the dilapidated the houses that are inhabited along the road. This is not too surprising. The innkeeper introduced that the living environment in the Jinmen Port Industrial Zone is distributed in order from south to north, from rich to poor.
The area near the Haihe River in the south is the richest, where the families of the military, managers and skilled workers in various factories and their families live, and there are also many foreign merchants who do business here all the year round.
? With TEDA Plaza as the dividing line, to the north is the residential area for ordinary workers and their families. From Ninth Avenue to the north, it belongs to the slums, such as small merchants with uncertain income, temporary workers, refugees who have just arrived, old, weak, sick and disabled without care, and the bottom of society, etc. all live here.
How to evaluate it, that is, it is a little more regular than the refugee area outside the Redeemer base, there is a street light not far from the main road, and there are still people who dare to wander outside after dark, and the rest are basically the same. The doors and windows of the houses are broken, the streets are full of sewage and muddy, and the smell of urine and raw feces is everywhere.
The tiger disappeared before leaving the market, and it is not clear where it is. The first one is Xiao Ma, and seven or eight meters diagonally behind is Hong Tao holding the little girl.The ox is at the end.
Seemingly random, this formation is actually the most advantageous form of defense in the city. The sight of the three people will not be blocked by their companions, and they can draw their guns to shoot at the front, back, left, and right targets at any time, and at the same time they will not be knocked down by intensive shooting from any side.
It's a pity that people here don't know much about goods. They stared blankly at these three men who obviously didn't belong here in their clothes and hugged a little girl who obviously belonged here. There was neither surprise nor doubt in their eyes, nor even curiosity.
"It's the second floor!" Fortunately, there is no need to go through too complicated and dark alleys and alleys. The little girl's home is above a house not far from the street. That's right, it's above, she said the second floor, but there is no building here, it's nothing more than a layer of iron sheets and wooden boards built on the roof, it can be called a pigeon cage.
"MomMomI have medicine" The stairs are hung outside the back of the house, which is a frame welded with steel pipes and angle irons and covered with wooden boards. The little girl struggled to climb up on her short legs, shouting as she climbed.
"You who have suffered thousands of knives, howling! Go back and tell your mother, don't live if you don't pay the rent. If you die, die outside, don't ruin the Feng Shui here. I I Who are you looking for! "
Before the little girl reached the roof, as the stairs trembled, a fat old man with an unshaven beard appeared at the top of the stairs, with his hips akimbo blocking the way, cursing loudly. Just as he was about to reach out to grab the little girl, he suddenly found someone below, and was immediately stunned.
"Looking for her mother Are you the landlord here?" The other party was obviously not a child, and he didn't need to be coaxed. Finally, Hong Tao was able to smile, and asked with a smile while baring his two half front teeth.
"Yes, yes Oh, no, I am looking after the house for the third master. Her mother may not be able to afford the money. No, she has not paid a penny of the rent for two months. Let me tell you, she is afraid No, coughing up blood every day, skinny"
This smile made the old man seem to see more darkness in the dark night, and he stuttered a bit when he spoke. Even so, there is nothing less to say. It can be seen that the problem of talkative tuberculosis really does not depend on whether the situation is urgent or not. The more nervous it is, the more severe it is.
"You have to see people when you live, and you have to see corpses when you die. This is the rule! Either you get out of the way, or you can lead the way. I don't have so much time to talk nonsense!" Obviously, the old man regarded himself as a debt collector, and Hong Tao also Don't explain, let's go down the donkey.
"It has nothing to do with me, it really doesn't matterGo, dead boy, lead the way!" The old man immediately retracted his body when he heard this, and stepped aside to get out of the way of the stairs.
"Come on, girl, take uncle to give your mother medicine!" The passage on the roof is very narrow, and the two people will stagger their bodies. Hong Tao didn't intend to go too deep, so he stood guard at the stairs. The scalper took out the medicine box and pulled the little girl in. The pony was even more ruthless. He simply went down the stairs and retreated into the shadows behind the house.
"What does this child's mother do?" Seeing the fat old man staring at the scalper's back and rolling his eyes, Hong Tao knew that he also recognized the medicine box.
"Hi, I'm a surrogate. When this child was born, the family didn't give me the final payment because it was a girl. Then I gave birth to another one. I had some money, and I went to work part-time in the factory. I was able to live a good life." The old man Hearing the question, he quickly closed his eyes, and after a few perfunctory sentences, he turned around and wanted to leave.
"Then what's wrong with her?" Hong Tao took a wrong step and just blocked the way in.
"This, this I don't know, anyway, I'm seriously ill"
"Mom, mom woo woo woo" At this moment, a little girl's heart-piercing cry suddenly came from inside the passage.