Part of the story in this section is adapted from a documentary on the women's dormitory. Except for the names of the people, any similarity in the story is not a coincidence.
Aren't all the people living here poor? Otto looked at the harsh environment and subconsciously wanted to answer the poor people, but when the words came to his mouth, he forcibly changed his words for some reason: Are they some people with poor family conditions?
It seems you still have some sense. The curly-haired aunt looked at him with a strange look, and then nodded. Yes, the people living here are poor people, but they are all lower-class people who are poorer than you think, and even more marginalized than you think. people.
Otto looked puzzled: He was even poorer than I thought.
Although there was confusion and confusion in his tone, due to his life experience, his tone was more disapproving. He even secretly said in his heart: How poor can you be, no matter how poor you are? Are they lower class than the homeless people who dig through trash cans one after another on the road and sleep in the park?
His understanding of the people at the bottom is probably limited to digging through trash cans during the day and sleeping in the park at night.
The curly-haired aunt was keenly aware of his attitude, smiled and didn't care, but pointed to a lower bunk in the corner of the room with the finger holding her cigarette, and chatted about a seemingly unrelated topic: the name of the person living in that bed. Yu Mei'e first moved here when she was two years old. She has lived in this dormitory for almost thirteen years.
She is from a rural area and has a younger brother. When she was a child, her family felt that it was useless for a girl to go to school and that it was a waste of money, so she dropped out of school to help the family, saving money for her brother to go to school. When she grew older and was old enough to get married, she was married off to a man from the same village who was almost 20 years older than her at a good price. She used the bride price to pay for her brother's tuition and helped her brother change his destiny.
She has worked hard for most of her life with a man who is almost her father at that age, and her husband is also a bastard. He often beats and scolds her. Not only does he smoke, drink, whore, and gamble, he also spends all day doing nothing. She had nothing to do, didn't work, and didn't know how to discipline her children. She supported the family all by herself. When she was in her forties, she was kicked out of the house because she thought she was too old.
The curly-haired aunt spat hard when she said this, and even started to curse emotionally. Otto quickly comforted her after seeing this, and after seeing that her mood had calmed down a little, he asked curiously: What happened next? What if she is kicked out?
She glanced at Otto lightly and sneered, as if she was mocking his ignorance: Later? What can be done? Being homeless, she could only wander around and earn a living by doing odd jobs every day. Later, she found this dormitory and lived here for thirteen years.
A dark room with turbid, rotten and moldy air. I have lived in this damp and cold environment for more than ten years.
How could she live in this environment? Otto looked around at the harsh environment and realized the reason why she lived here before he finished speaking.
Because it's cheap. The curly-haired aunt dusted off the cigarette ashes and took over. After all, there are doors and walls here. It is safer and warmer than sleeping under the overpass or in the park. And for just money, you can find a bed to sleep for one night. As long as you pick up some other people. With the old bedding thrown away, they can settle down here.
Just imagine, how can a woman who has never gone to school, has no skills, and only a handful of strength in her body survive after being kicked out of her home?
Those who are young and have some strength may still be able to carry bricks on construction sites and do some hard work, but what about when they are old? How can people like Hu De'e, who is ten years old or even older, survive? The answer is here, she, or rather, their curly-haired aunt paused here, and drew a circle with her hand to indicate that the people who used to live in this dormitory went out to do odd jobs during the day, and did things that others were not willing to do. After all the dirty work, I come back here at night to pay for accommodation, eat some flower rolls and drink some tap water, which is just one meal. If you have a little more money, you might pick up some leftover or thrown away vegetable leaves at the vegetable market and pinch them off. Then use someone else’s stove to fry the yellowed vegetable leaves.
The curly-haired aunt plainly recounted the experiences of every tenant here. Every word she spoke was like a heavy hammer hitting Otto's heart, leaving him speechless and speechless.
Hu De'e, who has suffered for most of her life, is still being exploited by her children even when she is old. Most of the money she earns in daily life is taken away by her sons. Several times she thought about going home to help her son.
As a result, not long after returning home, she was kicked out by her son and daughter-in-law. Finally, she returned to this dormitory and found a job as a caregiver, taking care of the elderly and patients who were not much older than her.
Once upon a time, she also resented the injustice of fate and her own misery. Why did she end up in this situation even though she had never done anything evil?
After so many years, she has let go and looked away. She just wants to live. She can live day by day. Living well is her biggest resistance to fate. And without any social security, she had already planned the final path of her life. If one day she could no longer work, she would finally buy some rat poison to make herself happy, so as not to cause trouble to future generations.
In the dormitory, people like Hu De'e are not alone. The old woman whose children are stupid and whose husband died early and was kicked out by her husband's relatives, the single mother who lives in this collective dormitory with her three-year-old child, An old couple in their sixties still go out to pick up some garbage and sell it to make a living.
Most of the people who live here can no longer see the future and can only be trapped here forever. They are more marginalized than the conventional edge and even lower than the bottom. They cannot make much money, have no social security, and cannot wait. They can only rely on themselves for social assistance, and they even have to do their best to survive every day.
Time passed unconsciously, and Otto listened quietly to the curly-haired aunt telling the story of the tenants here: Then why don't they live here anymore?
As soon as the words came out of his mouth, Otto felt that he had asked a stupid question.
Because this old house is going to be demolished. The aunt took two deep puffs on her cigarette, her expression looking gloomy and solemn: the entire old community was going to be demolished to make room for the new building to be built. It doesn't have much impact on the residents. Even if the demolition money they get is not enough to buy a new house nearby, the worst they can do is move to a place with cheaper housing prices in the suburbs. Those who live in a house that is a little further away but still have a house to live in share or rent alone. Young people can rent somewhere else at most, but they
Nowhere to go.
The curly-haired aunt didn't clarify her words, but Otto already knew the answer.
They begged me again and again not to evict them, and they would accept to continue living here even if the price increased. The aunt put the unburned cigarette butt on the bed and put out the cigarette, but this matter was beyond my control. In the end, I made them give up and find a new place as soon as possible. The most important thing was that after that, they were also worried about this. There was a quarrel, but in the end they all moved away.
So where did they go?
Where can homeless people go? Street, park, bridge, or garbage dump?
The aunt glanced at Otto lightly: Even if I tell you, what can you do?
Well, he was a little speechless when asked. After hesitating for a long time, he replied: I just want to see if there is anything I can do to help them.
Humph, Auntie snorted, not sure if she was mocking, then shook her head and said: Even if you have the ability to help them, I still advise you to give up early, because I don’t know where they have moved now.
They moved away quietly from here without revealing their whereabouts to anyone, so no one knows where they went or where they will go, but I think they may still live in this city.
Because they can't leave this city
The sun sets in the west, winter nights always come very early, and the sky in Yandu has become completely dark just now.
Not long after the sky darkened, the curly-haired aunt slammed the door and left the community where not many people lived. At this time, a sneaky figure poked its head out of the green belt full of garbage.
Otto did not leave. He waited until the curly-haired aunt had packed up the room and closed the door to leave. He squatted in the cold wind for more than half an hour. After making sure that the landlord would not come back again, he sneaked into the dark corridor.
He tried to push the wooden door. Although the door made a creaking sound, the marble door lock worked faithfully, making it impossible for the door to be pushed open at all.
Looks like I need to pick the lock.
Otto thought to himself, but the matter of sliding the door and picking the lock is really not a problem for him.
For an old-fashioned pinball door lock like this, you only need to find a hard card and insert it into the crack of the door, and then brush it with a little force. With a snap sound, the door lock will be opened easily and quickly, accompanied by a delayed sound. The wooden door creaked slowly as it was pushed open.
Of course, if the door is locked, there is no way to open the door using this method. He has to find a key sharpener and wrap it in tin foil, and then poke and twist it into the door lock to open it.
The trouble is that it is a bit troublesome, but it does not require any technical skills to open this kind of door lock.
Isn’t it just that some people at the bottom couldn’t live anymore and moved out? The old guy also made a fuss and said that many people were missing. Forget it, let's just check it out and go home. Otto carefully closed and locked the door. Although he said this, he turned on the flashlight of his mobile phone and carefully searched the narrow room.
The room was still so damp and cold, and the air was filled with the smell of rotting wood and mold. Soon Otto made a discovery under a bunk bed. He focused the light of his mobile phone on the foreign object under the bed.
this is
It looked like an insect but was motionless. Otto found a broken broom and swept the thing out. Only then could he see clearly what the foreign object hidden under the bed was. It was an insect corpse. It looked like an insect corpse. It looks a bit like a spider, but its size is a bit too big, nearly thirty centimeters in size. However, now its inside has been completely eaten away, and you can see the growth inside from the split abdomen. It was covered with things that looked like plant roots, and there was a grave grass growing out of what looked like the head.
This thing is shit, isn’t it? Could it be that the old guy was right, is there really a supernatural force at work here?
