Chapter Eighty: Collecting Rent from the Sewer

  Xiao Xiao bid farewell to Gai Shi, riding a bicycle along the edge of Tianjing City towards Nongda.

  The sky has darkened and the streetlights have come on.

  In the city of Tianjing, the streetlights installed in areas closer to the city center are bright white incandescent lamps, while those installed in areas farther away from the city center and towards the suburbs are dim yellowish lamps.

  Damn it, this heartless city is so cruel, no need to mention that people are divided into three six nine classes, even the streetlights are damn well classified according to terrain.

  The streetlights shone on the road, casting a warm yellow glow. This warm yellow light stretched out the sparse shadows very long.

  He wandered through the city like a lonely traveler.

  "Damn it! Getting up early, rushing to the evening gathering." Xiao Xiao had a cigarette in his mouth, straddling two long legs, riding a bicycle, leisurely and slowly heading towards Tianjing Agricultural University.

  Originally, after signing with Xie Zhan, I could have arrived at Nongda in the afternoon. Who would have thought that there would be another twist and turn like this? Almost lost my money. Anyway, it's already dark outside, whether I return early or late, it's all the same. So I didn't rush to hurry back, instead I rode my bike slowly and took a look at this city.

  Always observing the surroundings with a child's mindset is Xiao Xiao's innate personality.

  "Oh no!"

  Xiao Xiao was riding his bicycle forward when he suddenly heard someone shouting nearby. He immediately squeezed the brake, looking around left and right. There wasn't even a ghostly figure in sight. Where did the voice come from?

  "Don't look anymore, move the car a bit." Another voice came over, sounding somewhat hoarse.

  "Huh? Is it down there?" Xiao Xiao looked down in doubt, and saw that the bicycle wheel was pressing on a manhole cover of a sewer. The manhole cover wasn't closed tightly, and from the gap between it and the ground, two bright eyes were shining out from the darkness.

  "My god! Is someone there? No way, how can there be someone in the sewer? It's damp and dirty inside, full of stinky smells, how is that possible?"

  Xiao Xiao himself had been to the sewer of Changhai City once. How can I describe it? It was filthy and nauseating, too disgusting to elaborate on. In short, it was twice as dirty as the dirtiest scene people could imagine.

  Even he himself, a little monster who could eat razor blades, was unwilling to go down again.

  But looking at that pair of eyes, shining brightly, it's indeed someone. Since they can't stay here, maybe they're workers cleaning the sewers, or not necessarily.

  But there are no warning signs around this wellhead either, isn't it against the rules? Isn't it against safe operation?

  "I'm a good kid, don't delay others from doing the right thing." Xiao quickly backed away with her bicycle, retreating one meter. Her eyes were fixed on the manhole cover.

  The manhole cover of the sewer was moved from underneath, and a head floated out of the dark well mouth.

  "My god! A floating corpse." Xiao Xiao was shocked in his heart. He had encountered a criminal case, he must report to the police. He thought, taking out his mobile phone.

  "What's a floating corpse? A living person with a nose and eyes, gasping for air, can't you see?" The head from the well cover gradually extended outwards with shoulders, and a person crawled out of the sewer. Standing beside the well mouth.

  That person looked to be in his early twenties, wearing a vest with a large cross strap and loose-fitting pants. He had a cheap cigarette dangling from his mouth, was not very tall, had short hair, and was fairly good-looking. However, due to poverty and hunger, his face looked listless and dejected, despite being at an age when he should have been full of energy.

  He slanted his eyes at Xiao Xiao across from him, his eyes dull and wary.

  "This little guy is from the underground? What's he doing? Doesn't seem like he's here to clean the sewers either." Xiao Xiao muttered softly, somewhat suspicious of the little guy's identity, wondering if he was up to no good, stealing manhole covers or something.

  I hate those who steal manhole covers the most. After stealing them, they would set up warning signs around the area, allowing people to safely avoid it and even earning praise for being a thief with a conscience.

  But they secretly stole the well cover, without any defense, and if one is not careful, they will be caught off guard.

  My god, no professionalism at all.

  Sighing to himself, he decided that if he ever encountered someone stealing a well cover, he would immediately report it to the police. But then he thought again, since you can steal from above, you can't come out from under the ground, right?

  "Who's the one who cleans the sewers? This is No. 18, Four Treasures Street, it's a residential area, I live here!" The little brat stood facing Xiao Xiao with no fear at all, and brazenly pointed to the sewer entrance beneath his feet.

  "Number 18 on the Fourth Library Street? Haha, even manhole covers have numbers like houses now? How interesting." Xiao Xiao heard this number and thought it was unbelievable.

  "Is that interesting? We call it the 18th of the Four Libraries Street. Look, not far away, that's the 19th. And there's the 20th." The little guy pointed to two or three manhole covers in the distance.

  Xiao Xiao glanced sideways with his fingers and saw that the well covers in the night were not covered very tightly, obviously leaving a gap for ventilation.

  If no one comes out from inside, nobody will know there are people living underground.

  The people of this city are all the same kind of person, but they live in two different worlds.

  "You say you live here? Can people really live here?" Xiao Xiao couldn't believe that someone could live in that filthy and dirty sewer well.

  "What's the point of being able to live here? You have to pay 50 yuan in rent every month just to stay." The little guy's words revealed the true face of Tianjing City, where every inch of land, whether above or below ground, was worth its weight in gold.

  "Rent? You have to pay rent to live in a sewer? I wouldn't live here even if you paid me." Xiao Xiao's curiosity about the fact that the sewer was rented out grew, and her mischievous nature flared up. Regardless of whether she knew the kid or not, she asked him: "Can I take a look at where you live?"

  That little guy took a couple of glances at Xiao Xiao, thinking that although he was dressed in an unconventional way, his eyes didn't seem to belong to a bad person. However, he felt somewhat put off by Xiao Xiao's earlier remark about not wanting to stay even if they found the money, so he spoke ambiguously: "You can take a look if you want, just be careful not to scare someone like you who has money."

  "Haha, how the hell did I become a rich man again?" Xiao Xiao didn't bother with that little brat and chuckled as he first locked up his bicycle. Then, he came to the wellhead, squatted down, with both legs deep in the well, and climbed down the water pipe along the steel wire ladder beside the wellhead.

  "Hey? I let you look, but didn't let you go down." That little guy thought Xiao Xiao would just stand at the well mouth and take a look below, but unexpectedly he actually climbed down. He immediately became somewhat worried, and promptly followed him into the sewer as well.

  The rustling sound came to the ground of the sewer, and suddenly felt a cool air, drilling into his body. The sticky hair in mid-air made people think of the greasy marks left on the leftover rice.

  Below there was no light, and we could only observe by the light of a lamp let down from the opening above.

  He took a glance at this space, about four or five square meters in size, with walls over two meters high. The walls were thickly coated with a layer of grime and embedded with many rusty drainpipes that looked like the city's intestines - the dirtiest drainage system in the city.

  On the water pipe, several gray soft-bodied tidal insects crawled over without eyes. The ground was covered with a dirty quilt, and some wine bottles and cola bottles were placed beside the quilt.

  A woman in her forties, dressed in coarse clothing, lay on the ground with a listless expression. Her two eyes gazed up at the dirty ceiling through the dim yellow light that came in from the well opening, her heart completely devoid of hope.

  The woman saw Xiao Xiao, a little yellow-haired kid, walking down and was startled. She hastily stood up and subconsciously protected the pocket of her pants, where she had all her savings, about 200 yuan.

  The space was already crowded enough, and now with Xiao's tall stature added in, it felt even more cramped.

  Xiao Xiao saw that the woman was so flustered and thought she might be a relative of the little boy from earlier, so he hurriedly smiled and greeted her.

  The woman saw, by the dim light of the lamp, that Xiao Xiao had a yellow afro and was wearing shiny earrings. This appearance must be one of the pawns from the well, coming to collect rent.

  She turned her gaze to her son and asked: "Aichuan, haven't we paid the rent?"

  "Mom, this isn't the rent collector, it's just a passerby. He wants to come down and take a look, see if there's still room. He also wants to find a place to live." The little kid named Aichuan hastily explained to his mother.

  Xiao Xiao never thought that Ai Chuan would take himself as a person looking for a house. He really can't think of it now, what is the feeling of living here?

  Will living here be cold? Damp? Disturbed by rumbling car noises?

  But these are all annoying rather than painful.

  What makes people suffer is staring at the dark ceiling, heartbroken, helpless, and desperate.

  "Oh." Aichan's mom, who lived just below the main street, was often visited by people who came to take a look. Having been looked at many times, she had developed immunity and naturally didn't find it strange anymore.

  He let out a soft sigh, glanced at this underground bedroom, turned around and climbed up the ladder.

  Aichan saw him coming out and also crawled out.

  Ai Jiang's mother saw Xiao Xiao leave, then lay down on the ground again, staring blankly at the ceiling in a daze.

  Xiao Xiao stood at the well and pulled out a cigarette, handing it to Ai Chuan, asking him: "How did you end up living here?" He hoped that Ai Chuan would tell him the real reason.

  Ai Chuan let out a sigh and said, "I'm from the south, my family lives in the countryside. Two years ago I graduated from high school, my father worked hard to save money for me to go to college, but unfortunately he got cancer due to overwork."

  I was originally admitted to Tianjing University, but because of treating my father's illness, I couldn't attend.

  In two years, in order to treat his father's illness, he spent all the family's savings and owed a lot of debt, but he still passed away last year.

  My mother and I decided to come to Tianjing to work, thinking that as a big city, we would earn more money. We also wanted to pay off our debts as soon as possible. But after arriving in Tianjing, our money was stolen at the train station.

  My mother and I wanted to find a place to sleep, but the basement costs 500-600 yuan per month. Living outdoors is free, but it can't keep out the wind and rain, and there's also the risk of encountering bad people, which isn't safe at all.

  "My mother and I came here, also accidentally saw that the underground can still be inhabited, found a manhole like this to live in. Usually pick up some mineral water bottles, exchange for money, live here at night, go out to find work during the day."

  Xiao Xiao heard about Ai Chuan's past and couldn't help but sigh in her heart.

  Ai Chuan lost his father at a young age, one of the greatest misfortunes in life. As a result, he also lost the opportunity to attend Tokyo University, which could have been a chance for him to rise from the bottom to become a white-collar worker, and lost hope for his career, which was an even more severe blow to him as a man. With his young shoulders bearing the heavy burden of supporting his family, he worked hard to make ends meet, without enjoying the carefree days of youth, leaving behind endless regrets in life.

  Why is heaven so unfair, giving him so much suffering?

  "So, who's collecting rent from you guys?" Xiao Xiao understood Ai Chuan's background and instead wanted to know who was in charge of this place.

  Ai Chuan brought over that cigarette, pinched it between his fingers and said: "Huo Jian, in his forties, bald head, wearing a gold chain around his neck, known as Brother Jian."

  Huo Jian manages this piece of Si Ku Street, and under his hands, he also supports a few people. Whoever wants to open a store or set up a stall on Si Ku Street, drive a black car, or do some underground business to make a living, must talk to him and give him a share of the money.

  He is not a Tianjing native either, but it's said that he has connections with the underworld in Tianjing City. It's said that his superior is a big brother named Yu Tong, who is from some Black Fish Gang.

  "Hei Yu Hui, Hehe, Yu Tong, Zhou Biao, are all the same kind of people, good, as long as they have a boss, it's fine." Xiao Xiao let out a cold laugh, pulled out a match to light Ai Chuan's cigarette and lit one for himself, taking a deep drag: "Huo Jian? Where is he? In this day and age, every single person is pretending to be a big shot. Damn it, collecting rent from the sewers, it's simply murder. Screw it!"

  He puffed on his cigarette, gazing wistfully at the distant Tianjing City's dazzling lights, and sighed: "When a man is poor, his ambitions are short-lived; when a horse is thin, its hair grows long. A single penny can't make a hero out of a Han. The poorer you are, the more you're trampled underfoot, unable to turn your life around. This lifetime, who knows when I'll have a chance to rise above?"

  Life is so ruthless, the more you lament it, the more it makes you lament.

  Xiao Xiao heard that Ai Chuan said he was admitted to Tianjing University, and thought he must be a top student. Now that he has fallen to this place, it's really like a dragon entering shallow waters, not as good as an earthworm.

  He thought of Akawa's mother in the sewer, living in such a broken place. Suddenly he remembered his own mother. As a son, he could understand how much pain Akawa must feel to let his mom live in this kind of place.

  He thought of this, opened his bag, took out 2,000 yuan and handed it to Aichuan, saying: "Don't live in the sewer anymore. With this money, you can find a house with a monthly rent of 200 yuan, which is enough for a year."

  "This." Aikawa didn't think Xiao Xiao would be so generous. He really needed the money, but was hesitant to take it due to his pride.

  The poor are poor largely because they are concerned about their dignity.

  "What's this?" Xiao Xiao frowned, shoving the money into his hand. Thinking of a place to stay, but what about food? He took out another thousand yuan and handed it over. But thinking again, he felt it was still not enough, so he took out two thousand more, making a total of five thousand yuan, half of which he handed to Ai Chuan. "Take it," he said. "I heard that the kind of house with a monthly rent of 200 yuan doesn't have heating in winter. Let's rent one with heating instead, so your mom can get through the winter comfortably. She's getting old and shouldn't be freezing anymore. We're not young either, we should think of ways to take care of our parents."

  "No, I don't want it." Aikawa was a bit suspicious of what Xiao Xiao's intentions were in giving him two thousand yuan. But he and his mother lived on the streets, with no money and no one to rely on. What could they possibly have to gain?

  Xiao Xiao took out 5,000 yuan and said it was for her to fulfill her filial duty. Ai Chuan's heart suddenly ached, and tears welled up in his eyes.

  This blond-haired explosive head, he just met himself hastily and gave himself so much money, he is really a rare good person in the world.

  "Don't worry, I don't want you to owe me. You can move out tonight, no, tomorrow. We've met by chance today, and that's all there is to it. My abilities are limited, so this is all the help I can offer." Xiao Xiao pushed the money back to Ai Chuan, slung her bag over her shoulder, unlocked her bicycle, and rode off towards Nongda.

  Ai Jiang gazed at Xiao Xiao disappearing into the distance under the dim streetlights, listening to the rustling sound of his bicycle, feeling grateful and with tears welling up in his eyes.

  He suddenly realized he had forgotten to ask the person's name, and if he had a chance to repay him in the future, how would he find him?

  He let out a disappointed sigh, looked down at the banknotes in his hand and said calmly: "Three thousand for my mom, the remaining two thousand, I'll gamble with."