Chapter 22 Prologue

  The TV in the living room was turned up very loud, and it went around those old villagers who were sitting in the living room watching TV. The man didn't even greet them, and he walked straight to his own room.

  So tired...

  The man walked into the room and fell onto the bed.

  "Xiao He, what's wrong?" asked a middle-aged man lying on the other bed reading a magazine, turning over and asking with concern.

  "It's nothing, I just feel tired." The young man called Little He lifted his face and forced a smile.

  "Want me to help you ask for two days off from work?"

  After hesitating for a moment, Xiao Hei shook his head, "Forget it, two days off means two days of lost wages, and we'll also have to deduct the 200 yuan full attendance bonus, not worth it."

  "Mom, if I hadn't almost finished the project and still hadn't received my wages, I would have changed jobs long ago. Now it's hard to find workers on construction sites, and with skills like mine, you'd think there's no shortage of money to be made? But this crappy company, supposedly with a big-shot boss, is always delaying payment! And when they do pay, they're so stingy! Deductions left and right!" The middle-aged man fumed.

  "All crows in the world are black, you can't guarantee it's better elsewhere. I've heard many construction sites only pay wages once every six months, some not until the end of the year. What can you do to them? They're the ones with the money, we're just migrant workers trying to make a living in the city, having work to do is already good enough." Little He gets up, takes off his shoes, lifts up the quilt, doesn't even change clothes and lies down to sleep.

  A middle-aged man cursed a few words, threw away the magazine in his hand, and shouted towards the door: "You guys turn down the TV volume! Three rooms plus a living room, ten people live together, eight of them don't know the rules!"

  As soon as the middle-aged man's voice fell, a harsh shout also came from the living room.

  The middle-aged man suddenly got up from bed, opened the door and rushed into the living room.

  Insults flew back and forth, quickly escalating into a physical altercation.

  Curses and shouts, voices urging restraint, the sound of tables being overturned.

  "Bang." The timid people hid in their rooms and closed the doors.

  "Cough, cough...".

  Xiao He opened his eyes and felt a tickle in his throat, so he coughed lightly a few times, then couldn't help but burst into violent and intense coughing.

  "Ah...... it hurts, I'm going to die......!" Xiao Hei suddenly cried out in agony, clutching his stomach and rolling around on the bed.

  No one heard Xiao He's miserable cry, and in the living room, the big men were still pointing at each other's noses and scolding.

  "Ow! So painful... Help... me... help..." With a thud, Xiao Heo rolled off the bed, clutching his stomach and struggling to crawl towards the door.

  Note: This article was written around 2006, and the situation of migrant workers' wages being withheld has improved significantly since then, with many places now struggling to recruit enough migrant workers.