Chapter 3: Got fucked?
The year before last, the scene of the old man pushing open the glass door appeared in Cai Gen's mind.
A pair of torn labor protection cotton shoes, a green army coat with exposed cotton, and a wrinkled face covered with frostbite.
The hand holding the bean bag is also full of holes due to work, and I dare not pass it forward, as if I am afraid of being snatched. I just raise it to my chest to show it, as if I am holding some treasure,
"Boss, the bean bags I made myself cost 5 yuan for 10 pieces."
The old man's eyes at the beginning were shy, shy, and helpless, which Cai Gen could relate to.
So, I bought a series of bean bags.
Last year, the old man came again, his military coat had been replaced by a black cotton-padded jacket, and the price of bean bags had increased from 5 yuan to 10 yuan.
In the old man's eyes, he could still see the look of embarrassment because of the price increase. Cai Gen did not buy it, but agreed to give it to the old man in exchange for a meal.
This year, the old man’s brand-new mask, snow-white gloves, and sturdy woolen cotton shoes show that his life has improved.
Cai Gen saw nothing in the old man's eyes. If anything, it was only resentment at being rejected.
The old man on the ground saw that Cai Gen didn't seem to be paying attention to himself, and his pride was hurt.
He stood up stubbornly, dragged his twisted thighs, took a step forward, stretched out his blood-stained thread gloves across the bar, grabbed Cai Gen's neck, and yelled angrily,
< br>
"It's all your fault, you have to take responsibility, you have to"
Cai Gen was wandering in his mind, but he didn't move away from the old man's extended hand because he was distracted.
The neck was grabbed. The white gloves were sticky and the force was very strong. The pinch was painful.
After reacting, he instinctively grabbed the old man's wrist. The moment he caught the old man's wrist.
Cai Gen's consciousness was suddenly taken away from his body, and he suddenly appeared in the body of a young man without letting go of his hand.
Eyes full of darkness, unable to speak, unable to move, fully experiencing what the young man felt.
Moreover, that kind of empathy is not beautiful, very unpleasant.
Even every minute and every second made Cai Gen want to die.
The quartz clock on the wall was running fast and slow, letting time flow continuously. It didn't wait for Cai Gen, who was motionless in the store, and even ignored the old man selling bean buns who was also motionless.
I don’t know how long it took, but Cai Gen came back with a memory that didn’t belong to him.
Of course, the old man who came back with him was the old man selling bean buns.
After the old man came to his senses, he quickly released his grip on Cai Gen's neck and began to retreat desperately.
Because my thighs couldn't control the balance well, I fell to the ground.
He didn't even care about the bean bags in his hands. He quickly put his hands on the ground and stepped back hard. He didn't stop until his back was against the glass door and there was no way to retreat.
The eyes that had turned blood red just now due to excitement no longer had any anger, but were filled with fear. He asked tremblingly,
"Who was that just now? Where did I go?"
Cai Gen wiped the blood on his neck. It was very sticky. He rubbed his neck several times before he was relieved from the pain. Looking at the old man's expression, he felt more and more depressed.
I am not a dead person, who among us is afraid of whom?
Seeing that the old man was far away from him, which was already the farthest distance, he had calmed down from the panic of seeing a dead person for the first time, so he lit another cigarette and said calmly.
"The guy just died last month. He was only 24 years old. The gas in the mine exploded and he was trapped inside. The gas boiled the groundwater. He was soaked in the water for 9 hours."
The narrow space, the rocks on his body, the scalding boiling water, and howling desperately, every minute and every second was torture. Cai Gen experienced it for 9 hours.
He took a puff of cigarette and continued to recall,
"The young man was an orphan since he was a child. He suffered a lot in the past. My wife was eight months pregnant. I didn't want my child to suffer the same hardships as me, so I worked overtime to save money for the confinement nanny, but the result was not born."
The tenacious desire to live, the expectation for the unborn child, and the concern for his wife, along with the tremendous pain, tortured Cai Gen for nine full hours.
He took another puff of cigarette and continued with a bit of sadness,
"The child was born prematurely this month. He is a son. The father and I have not seen each other for a month."
It's such a pity that a young life was lost just like that, and it was not recovered yet.
Not daring to approach the bar anymore, the old man began to want to leave. He didn't want to be in the same space as Cai Gen, so he tentatively said, "Boss, shall I leave then?"
Cai Gen seemed to be still thinking about what he just said, immersed in the regret of a young life that died so early, and without losing his mind, he answered,
"Well, let's go."
The old man opened the glass door and crawled out through the crack of the opened door as if he was running for his life. He climbed through the lights at the door of the restaurant and disappeared into the night.
The bell on the glass door was crisp and sweet, and it also disrupted Cai Gen's meditation. He touched his face, and it turned out to be full of tears.
Was he scared to tears by the old man?
No, I should feel sorry for that young man's experience. He was only a month away from meeting his son.
What's wrong with trying to live? What’s wrong with working hard to make money? What's wrong with trying to make life better for your son?
That's right, why endure that pain?
The young man persisted for 9 hours, and Cai Gen also experienced those 9 hours. In addition to a lot of reasons in his heart, there were only tears on his face.
Although he had not taken 9 puffs, Cai Gen still extinguished the cigarette butt impatiently. Was he experiencing a supernatural event?
The moment he grabbed the old man's wrist, he and the old man had the same feelings and saw the same scene.
Stretch out your hand, what's going on?
Everything happened just like that, without knowing why, even the explanation given to the old man and the young man's experience seemed to have been prepared in his mind in advance.
Was he being possessed?
Looking again at the ground where the old man had been sitting just now, the blood stain from his thigh was no longer there, and the milky white floor was neat and clean.
Look at the quartz clock on the door. It's 2:10. Two hours have passed. Could it be that what I just experienced was an illusion? It must be.
However, the black spot burned by cigarette butts on the bar shattered Cai Gen's rational fantasy. He wiped the black spot with his hand again, but he was still stubborn.
Follow the black spots and look at the two gods of wealth. Are you just pretending not to see them?
Cai Gen lit another cigarette to calm his mood.
I'd better call my wife over tomorrow to have a look. This scene is a bit scary.
"You have a new takeout order, please process it immediately. You have a new takeout order, please process it immediately."
The sudden sound of harsh music scared Cai Gen, and he hurriedly took orders on the computer next to the bar.
Looking at the address, I saw the Red Romance Hotel, room 8804, two Taiwanese braised pork rice, and two cans of beer.
I looked at the quartz clock again, it was 2:30, well, it was time to replenish my energy.
Cai Gen came to the kitchen with a cigarette in his mouth, skillfully turned on the gas, boiled water, put two bags of Taiwanese braised pork ingredients in the pot, and closed the lid.
Open the refrigerator, take out two portions of rice, put them in two microwave ovens, turn them on for 3 minutes, and start waiting.
He took a puff of cigarette and began to think about what happened just now. It must not be a hallucination.
Although Cai Gen is naturally timid, he has been running a 24-hour store for five years. Ordinary bizarre things can also be resolved with strong psychological quality.
But this time, it was a bit scary, not an ordinary thing.
The "ding" and "ding" reminders from the microwave interrupted Cai Gen's random thoughts again, and he put the cigarette on the ashtray.
Quickly take out the rice, take out the packet of ingredients from the pot, open it with scissors, and pour it evenly over the rice.
Cover the lunch box, put it in a plastic bag, and grab chopsticks, napkins, and spoons.
Tie the bag, put the takeout bag in, and when the cigarette has burned out, take the takeout bag to the bar.
The powerful and the powerful, the heroes and the tigers fighting, look at them with cold eyes, like ants gathering to get sick, like flies competing for blood; right and wrong arise, gains and losses arise, and they are treated with coldness, like smelting gold, like melting snow in soup. Quoted from "Cai Gen Tan"
(End of chapter)