He found the nearest Internet cafe, slapped the dozen dollars he had on the network administrator's desk, went to the front desk, grabbed the mouse, and started using the computer.
The network administrator was startled by him, and his body froze. He held the instant noodles in front of his chin, as if he had been robbed.
After a while, he calmed down after seeing Fang Pingxi also doing something extraordinary.
He spit out two instant noodles from his mouth and complained: "Brother, if you want to go online, you can tell me carefully and I will open a machine for you."
"Don't play at our front desk. There are accounts stored in this machine. The boss won't let us use this machine to access the Internet."
The network administrator also made up excuses, as if making the matter more serious would be more convincing to Fang Pingxi.
But the latter was still browsing the webpage attentively and ignored the network administrator.
Seeing him like this, the network administrator said angrily: "Brother, don't blame me for being rude if you do this again. I've called someone!"
Fang Pingxi still couldn't take his eyes away.
"Hey!" The network manager took out his mobile phone and was about to call the boss and ask the boss to call a few gangsters to deal with him.
"You're playing rogue with me, right? Well, I want to see if you can withstand a beating!" The network administrator looked for the number in the address book.
From time to time he would raise his eyes and say some harsh words to Fang Pingxi.
At this moment, Fang Pingxi suddenly cried.
It wasn't the kind of crying, but two lines of clear tears flowing from the corners of his eyes, and he looked like he didn't realize it, still looking at the screen blankly.
The network administrator was dumbfounded, "No, bro, what are you doing?"
He thought to himself, isn't this a mental illness?
Seeing that Fang Ping was looking at the screen even though he was crying, he looked over curiously.
On the screen was a news page reporting that a woman had died due to overdose on addictive drugs.
"No, why are you crying while watching such bizarre news?" The network administrator was puzzled.
Fang Pingxi confirmed the information revealed in the news over and over again, and finally he was able to completely confirm that the dead woman was the vicious woman.
He jumped up to the counter in ecstasy, looked up to the sky, smiled, and danced as if he was dancing to a god.
He kicked many of the furnishings off the counter, causing them to clatter on the ground.
Now the network administrator was really anxious. He called two cleaning staff and pushed Fang Pingxi to the ground first.
Even when Fang Ping's happy face touched the ground, he was smiling.
Afterwards, the network administrator counted the losses and found that Fang Pingxi broke a landline phone on the counter and dropped a dozen bottles of glass drinks. These must be compensated.
Seeing that Fang Pingxi was so poor, the network administrator asked him to help in the Internet cafe, make noodles and give bottles of water to customers, and pay off debts.
This is a good thing for Fang Pingxi. He just doesn't have a place to stay now. Although he works in an Internet cafe for free, he can occasionally drink noodle soup that customers don't want to satisfy his hunger.
The network administrator couldn't bear it when he saw it, so he ordered Fang Pingxi a portion while eating.
I also spent my own money to buy him some cleaner clothes.
Fang Pingxi was very grateful and worked even harder.
Fang Pingxi paid off the money he owed after a few weeks, but the owner of the Internet cafe saw that he was quick at work, so he kept him here and did odd jobs on weekdays.
Life goes on like this. Although Fang Pingxi's salary is not high, it is enough for him to buy a change of clothes and occasionally eat well.
But all his good luck seemed to have been spent before he was ten years old.
Half a year later, the Internet cafe closed down.
In other words, the Internet cafe was closed down.
The reason is that the surrounding gangsters charge protection fees.
Originally, they had accepted it before, but the boss thought he didn't have much money, so he just gave it away. And occasionally these gangsters can really scare and frighten stupid customers, so it's not a loss for him.
However, as time went by, these gangsters' appetites grew. The protection fee that was originally paid once a month became once a week.
Later it became three days. At the worst time, I came in the morning to finish the collection, and then came again in the afternoon, but with a different person.
The boss couldn't stand it, so he argued with them, and these gangsters just smashed the store. Fang Pingxi and several other network management brothers were so angry that they even had a fight.
After reporting the crime, the security officers arrived at the scene and took all the troublemakers back to the security station, including Fang Pingxi and others.
After understanding the facts of the case, the magistrate asked both parties to pay a fine.
Fang Pingxi was dumbfounded. Why did their victims have to pay the fine? The Sheriff said that they had beaten each other too hard and had to surrender.
Fang Pingxi looked at the boy who was pretending to be miserable and was so angry that he wanted to argue, but the boss stopped him and paid him.
After returning to the Internet cafe, the boss told them that he decided to close the shop.
Because the current turnover of the store is not enough to pay the protection fee, he doesn't want to worry about this store anymore. Anyway, there are other means of making a living.
Fang Pingxi saw that the safe haven he had finally found was about to fall apart, and wanted to persuade his boss to persist.
The network manager, who had always taken good care of him, in turn advised Fang Pingxi not to cause trouble to his boss.
He spoke earnestly and asked Fang Pingxi if he knew why he was paying more and more protection fees more frequently.
Fang Ping shook his head happily.
Because gangsters also have to pay protection fees. The network administrator left these words, patted him on the shoulder, packed his things, and went to find another way to make a living.
Fang Pingxi chewed the words left by the network administrator and felt nauseated for no reason. He ran to the toilet and vomited.
He remembered the security guard who deceived him when he was young.
He remembered the concerned tone of the security guard when he asked about his case.
He recalled the cold glance the security guard gave him when he was dragged away from the police station by his aunt.
The twisting feeling in my stomach got worse.
That day, he kept vomiting until there was nothing left to vomit, and he vomited until the sky was dark and the earth was dark.
Since then, he felt as if he was sick and couldn't muster the energy to work hard, so he wandered on the streets every day.
The severance pay given to him by the Internet cafe had long been spent, so he relied on going to the vegetable market to pick up the leftover rotten vegetable leaves for food.
Or occasionally go to the back alley of the 24-hour convenience store to pick up some expired food that they clear out.
His clothes were ragged again, his hair was tangled, and he seemed to have become a wild child again.
No, maybe we can just call him a tramp now, because he was an adult by then.
One day, Fang Pingxi was lying on the street and fell asleep.
Half asleep and half awake, I felt something hit me.
At first glance, he saw that they were two coins, tossed to him by a passerby.
He struggled to get up, picked up the coins, weighed his withered belly, searched all over his body, and found five dollars.
Then he wandered around the streets, looking for something to eat like hot tropical soup.
So I wanted to see if I could find a small stall and fulfill his small wish with these five yuan.
In the autumn afternoon, as he walked through the streets, pedestrians on the road cast strange looks at him from time to time.
