Global Film Emperor

Chapter 302 "Finding You" 1
The house was a single-story building with no beautification on the exterior walls, let alone insulation. The red bricks were exposed, and light snow was falling outside the window. The couplets on the door were still bright red, but already showing signs of damage.

Getting up at 3:30 every morning has become an instinct for Wang Jian. His son was still sleeping by the bed. He gently tucked the dirty quilt around his son, got up, put on his cotton-padded coat that had already lost its cotton padding, and put on his orange sanitation worker vest over it.

His legs were a little inconvenient, and he walked with an uneven gait, but the pain was gone. He went to the back room, picked up some twigs, took out a matchbox with the character "囍" on it, lit a match, ignited a newspaper, and threw it into the stove.

The stove was emitting a lot of smoke, and the blower had been broken for months but had not been repaired. In the smoke-filled room, he lit the stove, coughed occasionally, wiped away the tears that came out from the smoke, took out a branch shaped like a slingshot to use as a pot rack, and placed the leftover rice from last night, a plate of shredded potatoes with chili peppers, and a few sweet potatoes on it.

After the food was heated up, he placed it on the stove, picked up a gourd ladle, scooped out the hot water from the bottom of the pot, poured it into a basin, added some cold water, tested the water temperature, and then, carrying the basin, limped into the bedroom.

"Shuangxi, get up and eat."

"father"

Wang Shuangxi rubbed his eyes and was picked up by Wang Jian. He put on a green sweater and cotton pants, and Wang Jian rinsed the not-so-clean towel and wiped his son's face. As for washing his hair and brushing his teeth, that was something he only did every few days.

Pulling the light cord didn't light up the dim room; you can't expect a light bulb with low wattage and covered in ash and soot to provide enough light for this pitch-black room.

In short, the two of them sat around the stove in the dimly lit little house, eating on small stools. Shuangxi seemed to be still half asleep, dozing off from time to time, with rice grains stuck to her face. When Wang Jian saw this, he laughed, reached out and picked off the rice grains, and put them into his own mouth.

The child ate slowly, dawdling for more than twenty minutes. Wang Jian was not in a hurry. Instead, he waited for the child to fully wake up. After the child finished eating, he threw the bowl into the sink, filled it with some water, and left it to soak without washing it.

The father and son went out, and Xi'er got on the tricycle by himself. He sat obediently in the corner, rubbing his little fingers, which had some chilblains and some black dirt under his fingernails. He gently picked at them and asked a question in a low voice.

"Is a garbage truck just for carrying garbage?"

"No! I still have to pretend to be you. Hold on tight, Dad's going to speed up."

Wang Jian was a rough man who hadn't been to school for long. He didn't notice the sadness in Shuangxi's words. The small figure held onto the edge of the truck, burying his head in his legs. He had heard other children say yesterday that garbage trucks were for carrying garbage.

So, what is he?
Snowflakes were falling from the sky. Wang Jian finally rode to the street sanitation office, signed and registered, and then rode all the way to the street he was responsible for. Shuangxi was very obedient and took a small broom to help Wang Jian sweep the snow off the road. He had been doing this job ever since he was old enough to understand things.

Before dawn, the snowflakes were clearly visible under the lights. After a quick clean-up, Wang Jian called Shuangxi to get in the car, and they began their extra-money-making scheme.

The streets they are responsible for are in the suburbs, and during the early morning hours, many large trucks disregard traffic rules, speeding and running red lights, causing disturbances to residents and resulting in several accidents.

The two were riding their bicycles on the pedestrian crossing when a large truck sped past. There was a pothole in the road, which the truck driver probably didn't notice, and he drove right over it with a loud crash, startling the father and son.

There was a crushed mineral water bottle by the roadside. Shuangxi, with her sharp eyes, spotted it immediately. Knowing that Wang Jian had difficulty walking, she quickly got out of the car, picked up the bottle, and returned to the car.

Regardless of who had drunk from it, he unscrewed the cap and blew into the bottle. Perhaps because the cap wasn't tightened properly, the bottle didn't leak. He blew the Double Happiness bottle open, then twisted it a few times vertically, put the cap back on, and put it in a burlap sack.

The garbage truck starts emptying the garbage bins at 5:30 every morning. Before 5:30, Wang Jian has to rummage through more than a dozen large garbage bins along the way, which is a considerable task.

He opened a trash can, ignoring the unpleasant smell, and rummaged through it with an iron hook. Inside was a tattered cardboard box, mostly soaked. The moment he lifted it up, a large rat darted out, startling Wang Jian and making Shuangxi laugh.

Children are innocent, and their sadness is always temporary. During childhood, children often see their fathers as too great, which leads them to show good-natured schadenfreude when their fathers are frightened.

What about Wang Jian? He only has a third-grade elementary school diploma and not much ability. He sees Shuangxi as the entire meaning of his life. When he sees Shuangxi smile, he smiles too.

He took off his worn-out work gloves, gently pinched Shuangxi's red cheeks from the cold, and smiled a little foolishly. He put the gloves back on, held the handlebars, put his left foot on the left pedal, pushed off the ground with his right leg, and the wheels slid for about five meters before he put his right leg on and pedaled the tricycle hard.

"Heh~ Pshaw, one five, one ten, fifteen, twenty. Twenty-three yuan and forty cents, just right, take it."

"Boss, I often sell scrap here. Could you round it up to twenty-four? I'll definitely come back next time."

"You can't calculate it like that. I collect so much junk every day, and if I add six cents to this and a dollar to that, I'll lose tens of dollars a day. I can't make up the difference. If you don't want it, you can take it."

Seeing the boss's firm attitude, Wang Jian had no choice. He turned to look at Shuangxi, who was sitting in the car in a daze, nodded, and didn't forget to take the woven bag he had brought with him before leaving. He came to sell some scrap during his lunch break. How much he could get depended entirely on how much he could collect. Usually, he could collect five or eight yuan to earn enough for lunch, but today was a good day; he could save some money.

Back in the sanitation office's break room, Wang Jian watched with a smile as his colleagues, all of whom were older than him, teased Shuangxi. He picked up the kettle from the stove, filled himself a cup of hot water, and placed the aluminum lunchbox on the stove lid to wait for the fire to heat up.

He went outside, broke off a branch, and went to the bare lawn in winter. He used the branch to do simple addition and subtraction on the ground, muttering to himself.

"Twenty-four minus ten, plus two thousand seven hundred and thirty-two, equals two thousand seven hundred and forty-six. Rent and water fees minus two hundred and fifty, totals two thousand four hundred and ninety-four."

This bill is for Shuangxi's tuition. Shuangxi is almost four years old and will be starting preschool soon. Wang Jian is a local, but his home is in the most remote rural area of ​​the city. He came to the city, even though it's just the suburbs, so that Shuangxi could receive a better education.

A sanitation worker's salary is 800 yuan, plus a bonus of 200 yuan, and by picking up scraps, he can make a living of 1,200 yuan a month. After working as a sanitation worker for more than a year, he has saved up more than 10,000 yuan.

However, Shuangxi caught a severe cold at the beginning of winter, and the hospital treatment cost Wang Jian most of his savings. Now, all he has left is a little over two thousand yuan.

The kindergarten in the suburbs costs 800 yuan a month, including meals. But once the child starts school, they'll need some new clothes, right? All sorts of things, and the first month of school will probably take up half of our savings.

The tuition for the first three months was fine, but Wang Jian was worried about what to do about the tuition after that. Life would probably become extremely difficult during the kindergarten and preschool period. He thought things would be better once Shuangxi started primary school and completed compulsory education. By then, he could save up enough money for Shuangxi's high school and university education.

Having figured out his plan, Wang Jian stood up, rubbed the numbers off the ground with his leg, stomped his foot, and went back to the sanitation station to serve Shuangxi her meal first.

On February 27th, Shuangxi was going to school. When Wang Jian parked his tricycle at the kindergarten gate, many eyes were on the father and son.

The cotton-padded jacket was too expensive, so he didn't buy Shuangxi a new one. Instead, he gave her a new sweatshirt to wear underneath. As for the pants and shoes, Wang Jian didn't actually categorize them as new clothes. Clothes are clothes, what does that have to do with pants and shoes?
So before Shuangxi took off his cotton-padded coat, he was still a child dressed in tattered clothes. The only change that could be seen outdoors was that he had a blue Ultraman Tiga backpack, which was now being carried by Wang Jian.

These eyes were fixed on the father and son. Wang Jian was used to this scrutinizing gaze, but Shuangxi was not. She grabbed Wang Jian's trouser leg and stood behind her father.

In fact, the children who study here come from very ordinary families. They are either local families with low incomes or children of migrant workers from other places. But no matter what, their family conditions are much better than Wang Jian's.

There weren't many cars parked in front of the kindergarten, and they were mostly Wuling Hongguang and Jetta models. Electric vehicles were also parked haphazardly in front of the gate. But Wang Jian was the only one riding a sanitation tricycle.

Wang Jian pulled Shuangxi into the house, which was much cleaner than the father and son's home. He looked down at Shuangxi, who hesitated to go inside, and urged him a little. Shuangxi then quietly took off his shoes, which were already coming unglued, and stepped onto the floor with his socks showing his toes.

Shuangxi let go of her father's hand, grabbed the edge of the sock with the hole, stuffed the sock between her toes, and then put her hand back in her father's palm. She looked up at Wang Jian and pursed her lips.

The children were taken to the classroom, and Wang Jian followed a large group of parents to pay the tuition. Then he walked to the classroom door and peeked at the children sitting on the stools.

Shuangxi sat in the corner of the last row, deliberately far away from the other children. The teacher smiled in class, but the four-year-old looked melancholy.

After the short course ended, Wang Jian, like other parents, smiled at the teacher, hoping for more care. However, the teacher, who was sincere and warm towards the children, seemed somewhat perfunctory towards these parents.

As their parents were about to leave, the children, who were going to school for the first time, began to hug their parents' legs and cry. There were few exceptions, including Shuangxi, who clung to Wang Jian's leg, hoping that Wang Jian would take him away.

Wang Jian understood that Shuangxi's reason for crying was different from that of the other children. It wasn't that she was afraid of her parents leaving, but rather that she was simply terrified of this warm and innocent place.

"Pay attention in class, Dad will pick you up this afternoon."

He still managed to break free from Shuangxi's grasp. Facing Shuangxi's tear-streaked face, he gritted his teeth, hardened his heart, and walked out of the kindergarten's outdoor activity area. He watched as Shuangxi clung to the fence, like a little wild animal trapped in a cage.

"father!!!"

Ignoring the cries and screams, Wang Jian didn't even dare to look back. He exhaled a trembling breath, put on his gloves, waited for the electric scooter in front of him to pass, then pedaled hard and slowly disappeared from Shuangxi's sight.
"."

Since my maternal grandfather passed away, my maternal grandmother has been living with my mother's siblings. Today we picked her up and she will be staying with us for the rest of the time. Sorry everyone, the update is late.

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(End of this chapter)