Chapter 2 Beggar Boy in Banana Alley

  Eternal Purity 2nd year, July, Guangzhou Prefecture.

  On the long street, countless pedestrians, merchants and vendors crowded the originally spacious road to the brim.

  Scholars in wide robes and large sleeves, Hu people with turned-up collars and narrow sleeves, commoners in short brown shirts, walking among them, bustling and extraordinary.

  On both sides of the road, there were Indians wearing shoulder cloths and earrings loudly hawking their sandalwood in clumsy Chinese. There were also Kunlun slaves from Southeast Asia walking barefoot on the street, peddling pain-relieving ointment made from aloe vera. Some people kept boasting that their cloves could make one's breath smell incredibly fresh.

  There were also Persians wearing small sleeve gowns and flower skin hats, selling Persian dates for cosmetics and safflower powder for perfume. Of course, the stalls also had the seasonings that Tang people liked: black pepper and thick cumin.

  Even the vendors who sell happy fruit nuts pushed their carts, opened their loud mouths, and shouted all the way that happy fruit nuts can make men tonify kidney and yang, women comfortable and happy, attracting countless women: Who doesn't want their man to be a great husband, whether it's outside or in bed.

  On both sides of the road, there are stalls selling goods. Behind them, there is a clear small river. Stone and wooden bridges span over the river. After crossing the bridge, you will see banana trees planted along the riverbank. Behind the banana trees are wine shops, from which wafts an irresistible aroma that mingles with the bustling scene on the main street.

  But the vivid and bustling world is, after all, not as good as the world in books. In books, you can erase everything you don't need, but in the real world, you can't. At any time, there are still poor people, a ragged little beggar is now running barefoot, desperately fleeing from two burly men who are chasing after him with menacing looks.

  The little beggar escaped into a small alley, finally exhausted, and was caught up by two strong men. After a beating with fists and feet, the little beggar hugged his head, curled up like a small dog, and was kicked flying again and again. He neither begged for mercy nor cried out in pain until he was kicked into the gutter at the side of the alley, where he let out a muffled groan and fainted.

  The two strong men put down their sleeves and walked away, muttering to themselves: "Stinky beggar, dare to steal things to eat, if I catch you again, I'll beat you to death!"

  The road is crowded with people, but no one pays attention.

  It wasn't long before a woman wearing a tattered dress, holding the hand of a little girl, slowly emerged from a narrow alley. The little girl saw the beggar lying by the creek and stopped in her tracks, seemingly having a small argument with her mother. The little girl won out, lifted up her own tattered skirt, and quickly ran to the creek's edge.

  The little girl squatted down to take a look at the boy who had fainted, then took a broken clay pot from her mother's hand and carefully fed him porridge. The little beggar was obviously starving, and although he was unconscious, when the rice porridge reached his mouth, he still made swallowing movements unconsciously and quickly.

  The little beggar slowly came to. When he opened his eyes, a sharp pain shot through them; one of his eyes was black and blue, swollen to the point where only a slit remained. After a wave of dizziness passed, his faintly open gaze settled on the little girl in front of him.

  The girl looked even younger than him, with a thin and dirty little face, messy hair that was slightly yellow due to malnutrition, but only a pair of eyebrows were thick and black. If such a pair of eyebrows grew on a boy's face, it would definitely look spirited and vigorous, while growing on the girl's face seemed too thick.

  The little girl was wearing a moon-white short jacket, the shoulder seam had been opened, and a faint patch of skin was exposed. Her lower body was a bamboo leaf skirt that reached her chest, and at this moment she was squatting in front of the little beggar, so the broken hole in the skirt revealed two shiny knees.

  The little beggar soon understood his situation and the identity of the other party. He didn't thank her, but instead stared blankly at the little girl. The little girl smiled at him with an open mouth, probably because she was in the process of losing her baby teeth, and her incomplete set of teeth made her look a bit ugly.

  The little girl tilted her head, thought for a moment, took out a bun from her pocket, carefully broke it in half, compared them, put the larger half into the little beggar's arms, and smiled at him again. Then she picked up the jar and stood up. The woman walked over, took the little girl's hand, glanced indifferently at the boy, and the mother-daughter pair walked away along the deep and narrow alley.

  The little beggar struggled to get up, his whole body aching all over. He pulled at the tattered remnants of his clothes and looked around blankly before subconsciously following the mother and daughter.

  The girl held her mother's hand, occasionally turning back to look at the boy who was not far from them. His situation seemed more difficult than that of the mother and daughter. He wore tattered clothes that barely covered his body, with an open collar revealing a prominent collarbone. His cheeks were thin and yellowish, with bruises and swelling on his face, new injuries overlapping old ones.

  The girl smiled at him again.

  The road became increasingly desolate, and a dilapidated temple with a half-collapsed wall appeared in front of me.

  The woman led the little girl into the dilapidated temple, and the beggar boy stood outside for a while before following them in.

  In the ruined temple, there wasn't just one beggar. An old beggar sat in the sunlight, having taken off his tattered clothes, revealing a skeletal body covered in skin, and was scratching fleas. Another beggar, who looked stronger, lay on a pile of hay, with his legs crossed, humming and singing a tune.

  The woman led the little girl to a spot in the dilapidated temple with a leaky roof and sat down, while the little girl started eating something, the woman grabbed a handful of soft wild grass and began weaving something.

  The little beggar seemed like a startled small animal, sizing up everything in the temple with some wariness, but he still stubbornly approached the mother and daughter. He rarely received kind treatment, and the little girl's kindness made him feel extremely close, and as an orphan, he instinctively wanted to get closer to things that felt warm to him.

  The little girl gnawed at the bun with her mouth, which was missing two front teeth, and gnawed for a long time until the bun was wet with saliva. She then bit down hard on it and swallowed it with relish. Looking at the boy, she asked in a soft voice: "My name is Niu Niu, what's yours?"

  The little beggar seemed somewhat dazed, after a while, a hint of bitterness flashed across his eyes, and he replied softly: "I... am called Ah Chou."

  "Ah Chou, sit down!"

  Niang Niang patted the straw beside her, Ah Chou looked at her and sat down gently beside her.

  Niang Niang bit her bun, tilted her head and looked at him, asking in a low voice: "How did you get beaten up like this?"

  He replied: "Because I stole their things to eat."

  "Oh! This is terrible, just begging for food would be fine, you'll always run into kind-hearted people."

  A'chu fell silent for a moment before speaking softly: "Begging... I couldn't do it... I... can't stretch out my hand..."

  Niang Niang's two front teeth had fallen out, and the steamed bun was so hard it was like a stone. She gnawed at it for half a day, getting her mouth all wet with saliva, but still couldn't manage to take a bite off. When she heard Ah Chou's words, she gave up trying to gnaw on the bun and opened her mouth wide in surprise, asking: "How can that be? Does stealing not bring shame?"

  He thought for a moment and replied, "I don't know, although stealing is also stretching out one's hand, but... it feels like they're just different. Stealing, I only need to prepare myself for the beating, while begging, I just can't stretch out my hand or say the words to beg..."

  Niang Niang blinked her eyes, looked confused for a long time, shook her head and said: "I don't understand!"

  He smiled wryly, slowly raised his head, and looked at the beam of sunlight that had fallen from the broken hole in the temple roof, and the light dust dancing in the sunlight, saying softly: "Actually, I don't understand it myself..."

  Niang Niang burst out laughing and said: "Ah Chou, you are indeed a strange beggar."

  "Ah Q insisted: 'I'm not a beggar! I've never begged for anything in my life!'"

  Niang Niang was very good-tempered and let the path go: "Okay, okay, you're not a beggar, you're a strange little thief, is that all right? Hehe."

  "Hmm!"

  Ah-Chou thought for a moment, then solemnly nodded her head in agreement with this evaluation.

  Niang Niang turned her head, pulled La La's mother's sleeve, and begged: "A Mu, can you weave a pair of shoes for Ah Chou?"

  She turned her head again, blinked and asked: "Ah Chou, are you willing to stay here?"

  “……”

  "Huh?"

  "Hmm!"

  Niang Niang smiled again with her toothless mouth, looking ugly.

  At this time, a pair of straw sandals was gradually taking shape in Niu Niu's hands...

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  Ah Chui is really a strange child.

  He insisted on not going begging and would rather go stealing.

  Because of his poor thieving skills, Ah Chou was often beaten until his face was bruised and swollen. If not for the support of Niuniang, he would have probably starved to death long ago.

  In the broken temple lived more than a dozen beggars, they all thought Ah Chou should be called Ah Dull, he must be stupid, only Niu Niu didn't think so.

  When Ah-Chou was full, he never sat in the sun like other beggars, taking off his shirt and scratching fleas while telling jokes. He always sat on the half stone mill behind the broken temple, propping up his chin and staring at the sky in a daze. Niu-Niu thought Ah-Chou must be thinking about something.

  Will Ah Chou think about it? Will others think so too?

  There was another time when Niu Niu secretly saw Ah Chou holding a tree branch, drawing something on the sandy ground. After he walked away, Niu Niu went over and compared it with the half stone tablet for a long time, recognizing that what Ah Chou wrote was indeed the characters on the half stone tablet. Recalling his smooth movements when writing, Niu Niu felt extremely envious.

  Can Ah Chou write? Can others?

  Ah-Chou would climb trees to pick bird eggs, use branches to swat dragonflies, and go down to the river to catch small fish. No matter whether it was bird eggs, dragonflies or small fish, they all ended up as delicious food. Although they were all burnt to a crisp, Niu-Niu ate them with great relish.

  During those days, Ah Chou's face was always bruised, while Niu Niu's lips were always black.

  In the days when Niu Niu begged for a living, suffered from cold and hunger, and was despised by others, the time she spent with Ah Chou became her most beautiful memory.