light, short, scattered

Chapter 109 "The Value of Art" Part [-]

I barely said any rhetoric and put the bag in my pocket.

After carrying the baggage prepared by my mother and leaving the village, I didn't even look back.

I knew my parents would be watching me at the door, and I was afraid that when I looked back, I would never be able to leave again.

I could feel the hot tears rolling down my nose, but I didn't look back or stop.

The road out of the village leads directly to the county seat. I don't know how long it took.

Because I didn’t understand anything, I walked in the middle of the road.

A large cattle truck behind me honked its horn and startled me.

Then the driver stopped next to me and rolled down the window. He smiled and shouted: "Young man, where are you going? Do you want me to take you with me?"

I shook my head and said, "I'm going to town. No need. I can walk slowly."

"The nearest town here is more than 60 kilometers away, about 63 kilometers away. Where are you from nearby? Why are you here?" the driver said doubtfully.

I ignored it and went around to the right side, following the road and continuing forward.

The driver drove to my left and honked the horn again and stopped the car. He moved to open the passenger door on the right and waved to me.

I hesitated for a moment and got into the car. This was also my first time riding in a car.

The driver seemed to know that I was a layman, so he reached over and closed the right door himself.

I had only heard about cars in the teacher's class before.

The driver smiled and reached out to help me fasten my seat belt. I was shocked when I saw the seat belt tied around me.

He struggled to pull away, but the driver defended himself.

This relieved the embarrassment and made me feel that not every driver is a bad person.

The driver asked me a lot of questions along the way and also talked a lot about himself.

It's quite informative, for me who doesn't know anything.

"How much money do you have? Want to go to the city?" the driver said with a smile.

I thought for a moment, then said with an eye on it: "I don't have any money."

"It's difficult if you don't have money. I estimate that I need at least [-] yuan to live frugally in order to stay in the city." The driver said with a smile.

"Why do you need so much money?" I asked puzzledly.

"It's expensive. A small bowl of noodles costs more than ten yuan. It's not enough to eat, let alone other things. Besides, you have no money and no one to take you. The most I can do is take you to the town." the driver said.

"So how much does it cost to go from town to city?" I asked.

"It depends on which city you go to. The best ones are average." The driver said with a smile.

"What's the best?" I said without hesitation.

"The best city is Beijing, so you must take a plane. That thing is much better than a car, and a trip costs a thousand yuan. You definitely don't have the money, and it will probably be even harder," the driver said.

I lowered my head and thought about the plane and the best things about Beijing that the driver said.

The driver thought for a moment and sighed and said: "Don't be sad, if you really want to go to Beijing. I can first send you to the factory where I transport goods, a slaughterhouse that specializes in killing cattle. I don't know if you are willing to be a slaughterer. I estimate that I have enough money to travel back and forth to Beijing in a few months.”

I almost nodded my head and said with a smile, "I do."

Three hours later, the driver arrived at a small factory.

He put me aside and then entered the venue to chat with people for a while.

A man with glasses came out, stared at me for a moment and said, "What's your name? How old are you?"

"Jock, 23," I answered.

"This name is quite foreign? Have you ever used a knife when cooking at home? Do you know how to cut animals?" The man with glasses pushed up his glasses and said with a smile.

"No, but I can learn." I said.

"Do you have your ID card?" the man with glasses asked.

I took out my ID card from the bag I carried with me, and almost as soon as I took it out, the man with glasses held it in his hand.

I stretched out my hand to take it back when the man with glasses said with a smile: "I'll keep this for you. The apprentice will first learn for three months without any money, but food and accommodation will be included. After graduation, the salary will be 1500 yuan a month, but in the first five months you will have to pay 3750 yuan per month." I will give you half of it every month as the entry fee. That is, after working for eight months, you give me [-] yuan and I will return your ID card to you. Now I will give you a choice, see if you want to do it or not."

"Why do I have to pay you entry fee when I come to work?" I said angrily.

Glasses smiled and said, "If you can't bear the hardship, don't work here. I don't know if other places will accept you."

The driver walked up to me at this time and said: "This slaughterhouse is the largest in the town, let alone [-] a month in other places. I guess [-] or less is enough, these rules are really worth it."

I thought for a moment and said to my glasses: "You earn 3750 yuan in eight months, right? Then I can also earn 3750 yuan?"

The man with glasses said: "Yes, half for you and half for me. I will return your ID card to you later. I won't lie to you."

I nodded my head following my glasses and said, "I'll do it."

The driver patted me on the shoulder and said, "I can be your witness in this matter. I have known glasses for several years." I nodded.

Glasses beckoned and said, "Come with me."

I followed the glasses into the factory.

Sunglasses whispered: "You were brought in by driver Dahai. Don't say that I didn't take care of you with your ID card and money. From now on, when you go to the factory and meet people, just say you are my brother, and they won't embarrass you. Then this You learn from me for three months,"

For the next two months, I slept on the sofa in the glasses’ dormitory, and my work clothes were also old clothes that the glasses had worn.

Although they have food and drink, they kill cows every month while looking at their glasses.

He taught me the details over and over again, but after two months I was only allowed to kill one per day.

The one thing I almost couldn't do well was to curse a lot, but I could only endure everything and keep it in my heart silently.

I think about what my glasses have done to me, and I will repay them twice as much when I get my ID back in the future.

After three months of apprenticeship, I barely learned how to dissect a whole cow.

After that, I was forced to do it for another five months. During these five months, I still didn’t have a bed.

I can't even see my salary, but I heard it's all in the hands of my glasses.

And I don’t have any decent new clothes, which I think is dampened down by my glasses.

My clothes were taken away by my glasses, and my bed fee was probably saved and earned by him.

In the last month when I was about to get my ID card back, I planned to stop working.

That month, Spectacles took a week off to go back to his hometown, and I was able to sleep on Specs's bed.

The taciturn fat man with glasses seemed to have started talking.

Just chat with me when you have nothing to do, and then I know what’s really going on.

The glasses I always resented were a good guy.

This slaughterhouse only recruits master chefs, old employees who can kill cattle efficiently.

The reason why I say no wages for three months as an apprentice is because I am not considered an employee at all.

I bought two glasses of everything, and it took me three months to learn how to do it.

Later, in fact, there was no shortage of butchers in the factory. Since my so-called internship, I have only been sharing his working hours with Glasses.

Then the oldest butcher in the factory retired on the day I got my ID card back.

It was the so-called three-month internship, and then the five-month salary was actually half of the glasses he gave to me.

And these time constraints are all to wait for the oldest butcher master to retire.

Then I took the old butcher's place, so I still don't have a bed or clothes.

The so-called half of my salary was given to him. In fact, he gave half of five months' salary to me.

And even the team leader in the slaughterhouse hid this matter under his glasses.

If it weren't for the fact that the fat man was born with a big mouth and his glasses returned to his hometown.

I may not even know this on the day I leave.

When the glasses came back a few days later, I immediately rushed to apologize.

That night I told him the whole reason why I came, without any reservations.

Glasses and I chatted all night, and he kept trying to convince me to take over the old butcher's position.

But I said that my heart is always far away in Beijing.

Glasses said: "The old master is resigning soon, and you will take over at that time. One thousand and five dollars a month is really a lot in this town, why don't you want to quit?"

"I said I wanted to go to Beijing, and I wanted to do pottery. In the eight months since I came here, I have almost forgotten those things." I said with a smile.

The next day, Glasses went out early.

I came back with a new phone and he gave me his old phone.

They also bought me a new number, along with 3750 yuan and my ID card.

He also said that when you arrive in Beijing, don’t forget to call him.

That day, I made a small pottery man using the mud outside the factory.

He risked his life and borrowed the canteen to bake it and give it to the glasses.

"Who is this?" The pottery man holding the glasses said with a smile.

"Is it you? Why doesn't it look like it?" I said.

Glasses looked at Tao Ren and said, "Qiao Ke, maybe Beijing is really more suitable for you than here."

(End of this chapter)