Chapter 2: The Job of Accompanying People to Sleep

  The next morning, birds sang and flowers fragranced.

  When Tieniu heard a string of crisp bird language and smelled a faint scent of flowers, he sat up with a thud. This was the first time Tieniu had slept on a soft mat since he could remember, so this sleep was exceptionally sweet.

  He opened his vast and empty eyes, looking around but couldn't find the figure of Ye Qing, feeling a bit anxious, but more so confused. On the tea table there was a note and several 100-yuan bills. Tie Niu could understand the 100-yuan bills, but as for the note, Tie Niu was illiterate, so he couldn't read it.

  Tie Niu hastily put on his clothes, grabbed the note and rushed into the courtyard with a messy hairdo. A sweet smile immediately spread across Tie Niu's cool face as he saw half of the courtyard filled with fresh flowers, clusters of lilacs that were so lovely, all planted by Mo Caihe.

  In his own half of the yard, however, he planted all sorts of vegetables that they commonly ate. In the middle was a narrow path made of cobblestones that two people could walk on shoulder to shoulder. Last night it was dark and Tie Niu didn't take a close look, but now looking at it, it's really a picturesque place like a poem.

  "The door creaked open and a fashionably dressed woman walked in. Tieniu had heard Yeh's introduction before, so he guessed that this woman must be Mo Tsai-he, the madam of the Huahua Nightclub."

  Mo Caihe let out a sharp cry of "Ah!" and was about to run outside. Tie Niu hastily shouted, "Sister Caihe, I'm a friend of Ye Qing's!"

  Mo Caihe exaggeratedly patted her proudly standing chest and said, "You scared me to death! You're a friend of Ye Qing's, how come I don't know you? I know all of Ye Qing's friends."

  Tie Niu smiled and said: "We just met last night, he's my big brother!"

  "Big brother? Then what's your job?"

  Tie Niu lowered his head and pulled at his hem, saying: "I'm unemployed, I used to be a beggar, Ye Dage took me in out of kindness!"

  Mo Caihe's eyes showed disgust, and she no longer spoke to Tie Niu. She just coldly threw out a sentence: "Don't come over here if nothing is wrong!"

  Tie Niu held the paper in his hand, mumbling to himself as if he wanted to say something, but ultimately put it away. Tie Niu was a simpleton, naive, but that didn't mean he was stupid. Although Tie Niu couldn't read, he could fully understand Mo Caihe's expressions. It seemed that not everyone was like his own Ye Dagong, who spoke from the heart only to be ridiculed.

  Tie Niu remembered the lecture from Ye Da Ge last night, he must straighten his back and be a man, can't let people look down on him like a dog anymore. Tie Niu straightened his back, adjusted his collar, and walked out of the small courtyard with big strides.

  Tie Niu's current idea is to find someone who can read and help him understand the note. Tie Niu has decided to bid farewell to his past life of begging, and from now on he will never ask anyone for anything again, even if it means death.

  It's just that they can't read, now there are more people who can read. Tie Niu no longer believes in adults, so Tie Niu plans to find a primary school student to help. In order not to ask the primary school students for help again, Tie Niu went to buy half a catty of candies and planned to use these half a catty of candies as payment for reading the notes.

  Tie Niu sat at a secluded alley entrance, planning to wait until noon. When school lets out at noon, there might be some elementary school students passing by, and Tie Niu chose a secluded alley entrance so as not to attract other people's attention!

  This is a suburban area, much more affluent than the real countryside. Moreover, not far from here is the Mars Development Zone newly established by Xijing, where there are many factories, mostly Taiwanese-funded enterprises, and some of which are still under hot construction. So, most of the houses here are rented to outsiders or migrant workers, who call this village Xin Village.

  Tie Niu sat here for half a day, seeing many migrant workers coming in and out of the alley, but not a single primary school student. Tie Niu was indeed stubborn, why not just ask someone casually? But he insisted on waiting for a primary school student to appear.

  Just as Tie Niu was feeling anxious and flustered, he suddenly heard someone shouting "Oh no, murder!" Without hesitation, Tie Niu picked up a brick and rushed forward.

  Originally, there were two strong men chasing and beating a weak young man. Iron Bull didn't say a word, rushed up and knocked one of them unconscious. As the saying goes: "The soft are afraid of the hard, the hard are afraid of those who don't care about their lives!" And Iron Bull was exactly that kind of person who didn't care about his life. The other strong man didn't say anything and ran away.

  Tie Niu helped up the frail young man who was being chased and beaten, saying: "This big brother, why are they chasing you to beat you?"

  The frail young man's eyes flashed uncertainly as he said, "Thank you, big brother, for lending a hand. This isn't a place to talk, let's discuss it at my residence."

  This frail young man did not rent a civilian house, but rented a suite in the relatively high-end Maple Leaf Community. Iron Bull followed the frail young man to the Maple Leaf Community, climbed up to the second floor, and from afar, he smelled a bloody smell. As they walked closer, they could see that there was a door with blood splattered all over it, and on top of that, there were several bloody characters written on it. Unfortunately, Iron Bull didn't recognize any of them except for a few crosses.

  The frail young man was shocked at the sight of Tie Niu, and then casually comforted him, saying: "Brother, don't be alarmed, those are just dog's blood!"

  The weak young man let Iron Bull into his home, coughing, is this still a home? The whole house was full of trash and the smell of alcohol. Although Iron Bull could adapt to the mess, the mess was so casual that it made him frown.

  The young man with a weak appearance entered the house, lit a cigarette, and took out two cans of beer from the refrigerator. He tossed one can to Tie Niu and said: "I haven't asked for your honorable name yet?"

  Tie Niu listened to this frail young man, whose speech was elegant and refined, but when he looked at his lifestyle, it was too lazy, almost like a vagrant.

  Tie Niu, as usual, downed a can of beer in one gulp and said: "Not a benefactor, my name is Tie Niu! What's yours? What do you do for work? Why are they trying to kill you?"

  A frail young man slowly smoked a cigarette, took a sip of beer and let out a deep breath, saying: "My name is Liu Yang, I'm the department manager at Yingda Computer Company, with a monthly income of over 10,000 yuan. But I've lost it all to gambling. How can I accept this? So I borrowed money from that bastard boss's usury, not only was I chased by them, but they also splattered dog blood on my family's door. This is outrageous!"

  Tie Niu didn't quite understand what was going on with Liu Yang, but he said that as the head of a computer company's department, he must be literate. Tie Niu couldn't forget about finding someone to read the note, so he immediately took out the note and handed it to Liu Yang: "Big brother, help me read this note!"

  Liu Yang had just taken a sip of beer and almost spat it out: "Brother Tie Niu, can't you read? And what's with the bag of candies you're carrying?"

  Tie Niu smiled foolishly: "I make a living by my strength, it doesn't matter whether I can read or not. But Liu Yang, you have such a good job, it's better to quit gambling! I won't hide from you, originally I wanted to find a primary school student to help me read the note, this bag of candy is the reward I prepared!"

  Liu Yang nodded silently and said, "Mm, let me see what's written on the note. Oh, it's a message from someone named Ye Xiong for you!"

  Tie Niu stood up with a glare: "I know it's Ye Da Ge's message, I just want to know what the content of that message is, hurry up and read it out, you're killing me!"

  Liu Yang saw Tie Niu's anxious look, and leisurely took a puff of smoke, saying: "There's nothing urgent in the message, what's got you so anxious! It just says that within a month, you have to be able to do 500 push-ups in one breath, carry a load of 50 kilograms, and run 20 kilometers non-stop, that's all!"

  Tie Niu clenched his fists and said, "I have to go train now!"

  Liu Yang hastily stood up and said: "Don't be in a hurry, let's eat first before leaving!"

  When Tieniu heard the two words "eat rice", he immediately stopped in his tracks. The dozen years of begging had left him with the deepest impression, that of hunger, a pain that pierced through his heart, the burning pain of an empty stomach without a single grain of food, like a rusty machine suddenly starting up. This made Tieniu have an instinctual greed for eating.

  Liu Yang saw Tie Niu stop in his tracks as soon as he heard about eating, and suddenly felt a good impression of this simple young man. Originally, she was just grateful for his chivalrous help, but now she couldn't help but feel a little affectionate towards him.

  Liu Yang took out a large pear-shaped phone and casually pressed it, saying: "Maple Leaf Community, Building 2, Room 202, same as before, come in pairs!"

  Tie Niu Yan was staring at Liu Yang's beautiful mobile phone, thinking to herself: "When can I also have a mobile phone? Want to eat something, just pick it up and call, how cool is that!"

  Liu Yang rubbed his nose and said, "Brother Tie Niu, do you want to work or not? You can come work for me, pushing oil and pressing cars. After finishing the job, you can sleep. I'll provide food and accommodation, with a monthly salary of over 3,000!"

  Iron Bull jumped up from the sofa in surprise and said: "What? Three thousand?"

  Liu Yang thought Tie Niu was being too modest, so he said with a hint of embarrassment: "I'm just a small manager, working for others, my highest authority can only approve 3,000 yuan, and that's after overtime. But don't worry, brother Tie Niu, I won't let you lose out. As long as you go through my special training, you'll be promoted quickly, and within a year, I guarantee your monthly salary will exceed 10,000! Plus, there's a year-end bonus of over 10,000, several hundred yuan in phone bill subsidies each month... and your main job is to sleep. How about it?"

  Tie Niu's one muscle, thoroughly exposed, continued: "Sleeping, ten thousand?"

  Liu Yang rubbed his nose, somewhat displeased, and said: "Iron Bull brother, after all, you don't have any education background, this is already the highest salary I can offer!"

  Iron Bull finally came to from his extreme excitement and dizziness, saying: "Misunderstanding, Liu Yang brothers, I'm very satisfied, sleeping after a massage is so relaxing, when can I go back to work?"

  Liu Yang thought for a moment and said, "Tomorrow, let's set it for tomorrow then! By the way, when you have time, introduce me to that Ye brother too. Is he as robust as you?"