Shape

When the bus arrived at the city passenger station, Li Yichu said goodbye to Deng Qing and went to buy a train ticket.Deng Qing——No, it should be Mr. Wu. He was recruited by Liang Changpin's friends. Mr. Wu lived in France for a long time, and he will go back after helping them.

During the journey of more than three hours, Li Yichu didn't even dare to go to the toilet. He was carrying a suitcase and a schoolbag. He was afraid of losing his things by accident, so he would rather sit vigilantly in his place.

It was the first time that Li Yichu came to a completely unfamiliar place alone. When the train arrived at the station, everyone on the train stood up to carry their luggage with relief, but he just sat there and waited until the people on the train had almost left. Follow the team and get off the train.Before blending into the flow of people leaving the station, Li Yichu looked back at the place name on the train wall. These two words have nothing to do with him from now on.

Xiangyang County is located on the border, and further south is the mountain range.When Li Yichu came out of the station, he asked the people around him how to get to No. [-] High School, and they pointed him in the direction. He thought that a county town would not be too big, and he could just walk there.

Just after the college entrance examination, there are not many students in the school. There is a big display board at the door, and all the announcements are posted.Li Yichu looked at them one by one, and after finding the reviewer's registration announcement, he read it carefully.The announcement stated that high school repeaters had to bring their test admission tickets to register on August 8th. The registration fee was 10 yuan, and the registration fee for repeaters who passed the first line was 0 yuan.Li Yichu's English score was 2000, and he couldn't pass the first line no matter what. He only brought [-] yuan when he came out. He thought it would last a long time, but now it seems that he has to find a job as soon as possible.

There is no formal enterprise in the county that would recruit underage students like him. Walking along both sides of the street, I saw that the recruiting signs were either restaurants or Internet cafes.Li Yichu looked back and forth, and when he came to the door of a restaurant that stated that there was room and board included, he stood outside for a while, hesitating and not knowing how to speak.He had never done such a thing before, and the self-esteem of a young man made him muster the courage several times before retreating.The proprietress in the store saw someone standing at the door, and thought it was a customer who came to eat, but when she came out, she saw a young man with a suitcase, and asked, "Is there something wrong, my little classmate?"

Li Yichu blushed: "Boss, boss, do you want to recruit people here?"

The proprietress looked him up and down. She was tall and thin and fair. He looked like he had never worked, but he looked exquisite. Being a waiter was more pleasing to the customers, so she readily listed her own conditions: "We are short of people now. However, there are two conditions that depend on whether you are satisfied. First, we don’t want people with unknown backgrounds. Do you have an ID card? Second, our location is good and the business is busy, and the waiters in the store have no spare time. No, can you bear it? If you leave within two weeks, you won’t be paid.”

Li Yichu quickly assured: "I can persist, and I have an ID card, I, I am not a bad person."

The proprietress laughed and said, "I didn't say you are a bad person. You look like a student. I'm afraid you ran out because of a temper tantrum with your family. If you can't do it for two days, you'll drop the picker. Then my efforts are not in vain."

Li Yichu almost raised his hand to swear: "Something happened in my family, I... I have no relatives, so I came out to work."

The proprietress nodded: "Okay, you can register with me later, and I will arrange a dormitory for you. I will provide three meals a day and accommodation, one thousand a month. The hotel business is busy, so my salary is higher than other places. ,what do you think?"

Li Yichu knew that this salary was considered high for the service industry in the county, especially for food and lodging, which could save a lot of expenses.He said happily: "OK."

This restaurant is located at a three-way intersection close to the shopping mall, and the flow of people coming and going is very large. The boss has reserved two floors, the first floor is for business, and the second floor is the staff dormitory.The dormitory is very simple, with eight people sharing a room with bunk beds. There is a row of safes and wardrobes near the door for them to store their things.

After the proprietress completed the registration, she asked a boy named Ma Xiaotian to take Li Yichu to the dormitory. Ma Xiaotian had a thick head and a thick head, and was dark like an African boy.Li Yichu entered the room and looked around. Although it was crowded with eight people sleeping in one room, it was still clean and bright.

Ma Xiaotian took him to the innermost place and pointed to the upper bunk: "There is only one vacant bed left. You will live here. Did the proprietress tell you the password of the safe? You can put valuables in it. The toilet is at the corner of the stairs." , take a bath in the pool on the balcony to catch the water, and usually wash clothes there.”

Li Yichu looked at the balcony. There were two or three clotheslines in the air, covered with all kinds of towels and clothes. In the corner below, there was a faucet and a square pool made of cement. There were many plastic washbasins and buckets on the ground.Although he only planned to stop working until school started, he still asked curiously, "Where do you take a bath in winter?"

Ma Xiaotian: "There is a bathhouse, have you ever been there?"

Li Yichu shook his head.

Ma Xiaotian saw that he was white and clean, and said with a smile: "Are you still in school?"

Li Yichu nodded: "I just finished the college entrance examination."

Ma Xiaotian said happily when he heard it: "Then you can understand a lot of books? There is something I don't understand, can you teach me?"

Li Yichu: "What?"

Ma Xiaotian took out a book from under his pillow, opened it and pointed to a math problem and asked him: "I read the answer to this, but I still can't understand it."

Li Yichu turned the cover of the book over and saw that it was a guidance book for the adult college entrance examination. He looked at Ma Xiaotian: "Are you going to take the adult college entrance examination?"

Ma Xiaotian: "Yes, I just turned 17, and I can take the exam in the second half of this year."

Li Yichu walked to the table, wrote a few steps next to the question, and explained it to him in detail, until Ma Xiaotian understood it thoroughly, and then returned the book to him.Ma Xiaotian looked at him with admiration: "You must be good at studying, will you be admitted to a good university?"

Li Yichu originally wanted to say that this question was too simple, even if he didn't ask him, he could just find a student on the high school campus to explain it clearly, but he looked at Ma Xiaotian's smiling face and said with a smile: "I didn't perform well, and the test was very low. So I’ll have to repeat it in a few months.”

Li Yichu put the file and bank card into the safe, changed into work clothes and followed Ma Xiaotian downstairs to the yard behind the restaurant.As a newcomer, the boss asked him to work in the back kitchen to get acquainted.Li Yichu squatted in the corner of the yard to choose vegetables, and it would be an hour or two before the meal time. Now the waiters in the restaurant gathered together to handle the vegetables.

Most of the employees are young people, and they are quite enthusiastic about Li Yichu, a newcomer. Seeing that he is slow to move, they teach him skills.Li Yichu wanted to remove the roots and rotten leaves from a basket of small green vegetables. These vegetables are very fresh, almost no rotten leaves, and the roots full of water are easy to pick up. Li Yichu sat up straight after picking out the whole basket, and immediately let out a cry Shout out.He had been bent over for nearly an hour, but when he sat upright now, his waist seemed to have been cut off.

The chef yelled at the group of vegetable washers inside: "The guests are here, and the washed vegetables will be brought in quickly."

Li Yichu didn't have time to move his waist, so he quickly pulled the water pipe to pour water into the big plastic basin, and put the vegetables in it to scrub.When the chef urged him for the second time, he put a basket of washed vegetables on the shelf next to the gas stove.

As soon as the meal time came, the waiters who had gathered at the back to wash the vegetables rushed to the front to order and serve the guests.Only Li Yichu and another girl were left to wash the vegetables in the back kitchen.Li Yichu divided the work with her, one squatted on the floor and kept washing, while the other loaded baskets into the back kitchen.

When all the dishes were delivered to the back kitchen, Li Yichu didn't even want to sit down, his waist was sore and swollen, it was more comfortable to stand.

The two of them only rested for less than 5 minutes, and the waiter's dining cart pushed the dirty tableware that had just been removed to them.The girl sighed, looked at Li Yichu and said, "Let's wash it."

So they started squatting on the ground to wash the dishes in front of the big plastic basin.

It was summer, and restaurants generally didn't close until after twelve o'clock at night, and it was already one o'clock in the morning when Li Yichu finished washing all the dishes in the back kitchen.He and a few employees greeted the boss and went upstairs.

Some people in the dormitory are taking a shower, some are talking on their mobile phones, and some are listening to music on the radio.Li Yichu went to the closet and rummaged through his pajamas, preparing to take a shower before going to bed.It's a pity that he didn't know this group of people well, so he was embarrassed to sit on their bed, so he leaned against the wardrobe to rest.The tallest man in the dormitory walked up to him: "Why are you standing here?"

This man was called Yang Jun, and he spoke very loudly. Li Yichu remembered that he was the chef in the back kitchen, so he smiled politely: "Stand for a while, and go take a shower later."

Yang Jun grinned and said, "Lao Liu is washing there. The place is very spacious. You can go in directly."

Li Yichu declined, "I'll wait a little longer."

Yang Jun said, "What's the embarrassment of being men? Let me tell you, we have to take a bath and go to the toilet together here. If you want to wait until there is no one else, you will definitely get sick."

No matter what, Li Yichu was unwilling to stand naked with strangers in the shower, but the current conditions did not allow him to be hypocritical, and this was the scary thing.Li Yichu took his pajamas and walked to the balcony, constantly building himself mentally, but when he passed by his own bed, he turned around and climbed up. He would rather wait until everyone had finished washing before washing.But the one who took a shower had to do the laundry, and it was already 02:30 when the other seven climbed into bed. The sweat on Li Yichu's body was all dry. He smelled the sweat on his clothes, and crawled down from the bed.

There was only one faucet on the balcony to run cold water. Others either used cold water to shower directly, or mixed half a bottle of hot water. But he came here for the first time today and did not buy a hot water bottle, so he could only pour cold water on his body.Without soap, Li Yichu soaked his whole body with cold water, then quickly dried himself and ran into the room, shivering and climbing onto the bed.

He was either on the road or working today. Logically, he should be very tired, but when he lay down, he suddenly didn't feel sleepy at all.There was a faint pain in the fingertips, and he touched the painful place in the dark, probably because he had picked too many vegetable roots, and the skin was swollen.Li Yichu turned his head inward, and his fingers unconsciously stroked the wall, just like many nights in the past, he would touch the wall to sleep.

But now, the person on the other side of the wall is no longer Liang Xuan.

The restaurant doesn't do breakfast business, so the employees in the store don't go downstairs to work until after ten o'clock in the morning.Someone got up at eight o'clock. Li Yichu was awakened by the movement. He opened his eyes and was about to sit up, but the moment he stood up, he fell back reflexively.

There is no place in the whole body that is not painful.

Li Yichu gritted his teeth and kneaded his waist with his arms, trying to relieve the pain.

Ma Xiaotian exposed half of his head by the side of the bed, knocked on his side of the bed and asked, "Brother Yichu, are you awake? I have a few questions for you."

Li Yichu sucked in his breath and sat up. Seeing his pain, Ma Xiaotian ran to his closet and found a piece of plaster and handed it to him: "Do you have back pain? Putting this on will make you feel better."

Li Yichu subconsciously wanted to refuse, but Ma Xiaotian had already climbed up the railing, and soon sat at the end of Li Yichu's bed: "You turn your back to me, and take off your clothes."

Li Yichu: "..."

Yang Jun leaned on the opposite bed pole to watch Ma Xiaotian help Li Yichu apply the plaster. Li Yichu's exposed half of his waist was white and thin, forming a beautiful curve with the rotation of his body.Yang Jun watched unscrupulously, and when Li Yichu turned his head, he curled his lips and lowered his eyes.

The human body has endless potential. Every night before going to sleep, Li Yichu felt that he might not be able to wake up from this sleep, but he would wake up on time at dawn the next day.The fatigue of the body is also decreasing day by day, and it seems to be getting used to the daily overload operation.

The time before ten o'clock in the morning is the free time for this group of wage earners. Most of them go to the Internet cafe facing the street to play games. Only Ma Xiaotian and Li Yichu stay in the dormitory.Li Yichu was reading comic books on the upper berth, while Ma Xiaotian was quietly reciting books on the lower berth, standing up and asking Li Yichu when he encountered something he couldn't understand.The two gradually got to know each other. Li Yichu only knew that Ma Xiaotian had no father or mother. He started working in a restaurant when he was 12 years old. He lost his first job when he was 13 years old. Now the proprietress of the restaurant saw him as pitiful, so she left him to do odd jobs in the restaurant. , he works quickly and actively, and he is very popular with the boss and his wife, so he has been working for so many years.But Ma Xiaotian didn't want to stay in a restaurant and work for others all his life, and he didn't want to be an illiterate who couldn't even understand the news broadcast. He wanted to get a diploma and find a job based on his knowledge.

After Li Yichu learned of his life experience, he couldn't tell what it was like. Every unfortunate person has his own misfortune. Facing that simple but positive face, Li Yichu couldn't say anything to comfort him, but just passed his tutorial book The content redraws the learning context in an easy-to-grasp manner.

This day Li Yichu went back to the dormitory to read after breakfast as usual, Ma Xiaotian strangely stopped reading today, instead he kept persuading Li Yichu to go out for a walk.

Li Yichu wondered, "What are you doing out there?"

Ma Xiaotian winked at him: "You heard me right. Come down quickly."

Li Yichu didn't understand what his wink meant, so he didn't want to move.Yang Jun said loudly from below: "Since he doesn't want to go out, Xiaotian, you can go out alone. Let him... learn on the spot."

A few people standing below who were about to go out immediately burst into laughter when they heard this, and another whistled at Li Yichu with an unknown meaning.

Ma Xiaotian blushed slightly, patted Li Yichu's calf, and said anxiously: "Come down."

Li Yichu noticed the abnormal atmosphere in the dormitory, so he got out of bed and followed Ma Xiaotian out.After a while, several other people in the dormitory also came out.

When the two walked to the street, Li Yichu asked him, "What's the matter?"

Ma Xiaotian coughed, reluctantly said: "Yang Jun and Lao Liu are going to do that kind of thing, why are you staying in the dormitory?"

Li Yichu was stunned and did not speak for a long time.He touched his neck uncomfortably, for a moment he didn't know whether to despise this kind of debauched behavior in the public dormitory, or to shock the two men for being so open-minded... doing that kind of thing.

Ma Xiaotian: "Let me remind you, stay away from Yang Jun in the future, he is so dirty that he is going to die, and when he sees a passable guy, he wants to pull him into bed."

Li Yichu: "..."

Ma Xiaotian: "Lao Liu had a girlfriend before, and he was tricked by Yang Jun into taking a room with him less than three months after he came here, and he maintained this relationship with him later."

Li Yichu didn't have much interest in other people's private affairs, let alone such dirty things that sounded uncomfortable.Although he didn't understand why everyone in the dormitory had to make room for Yang Jun, he still chose to keep his mouth shut.

Ma Xiaotian didn't look at his face, and continued: "Yang Jun is the chef in the store, he has more status than us who serve the dishes, and his salary is higher. He is the boss in this dormitory. You have to come out. Even if you make a fuss with the boss, the boss will fire you and keep him, and if you say that the sixth child can just let him go."

Li Yichu understood that where there are people, there are ranks, and where there are ranks, there will be oppression and submission, even if it is only a small restaurant.