The Fool of the Gods

But the reality is far more miserable than imagined. When Cheng Shi followed Lao Jia back to the so-called home, he found out that Lao Jia had no job at all. When he was short of money, he would pick up rags and do odd jobs.

His clothes were all fake.

It was really fake.

This "home" was too shabby for Cheng Shi, who grew up in an orphanage. It was even worse than the attic storage room where he was often locked up.

There was no warm bed, no clean desk, no companion, only four walls, a bed, a table, and a missing corner of the table.

There was not even a single electrical appliance in the whole house, except for the light above his head that was sometimes on and sometimes off.

But strangely, when Cheng Shi saw this scene, he was not depressed, not even disappointed, but just asked calmly: "Where should I sleep?"

Lao Jia pointed to the dark kang head: "You sleep inside, I sleep outside."

"Oh."

Cheng Shi responded, without even taking off his clothes, he climbed onto the bed, pulled up the greasy quilt to cover himself, closed his eyes and fell asleep.

Lao Jia stared at the child blankly, then turned his head to look at the big sun outside the house, shook his head and smiled, closed the door for him and left.

But since this was Cheng Shi's dream, Jiang Wumei didn't know where Lao Jia went. He only knew that not long after Lao Jia left, the fox-like Cheng Shi woke up with his nose pinched.

He pricked up his ears to listen to the movement, then jumped off the bed directly, picked up his small schoolbag and walked out.

This is a village in the city. The road to the village is so winding that even the ranger himself almost forgot it. But this kid just followed in once with his head down, and then walked out along the original road like an old horse who knows the way.

It seems that little Chengshi has no intention of living with Laojia.

"Run away? Interesting."

Jiang Wumei followed little Chengshi like a ghost. When they just stepped out of the village in the city, they found Laojia in a supermarket at the entrance of the village.

Little Chengshi immediately stopped talking and stood against the wall, and then heard the voices of the clerk and his "father" coming from inside.

"Hey, Lao Jia, you've made a fortune, so you can afford to buy ham?"

"If I'm not rich, I won't eat it, but my child will."

"Ah? When did you have a child? Did you pick one up?"

"Don't talk nonsense, it's my own, it's not good for the child to hear."

"Okay, let's go, let's go, the smell makes me sick, it's so dirty with a child at home, be careful not to get sick, wash it quickly."

"I know, it's none of your business."

Lao Jia collected the things and walked back. Xiao Chengshi frowned at the foot of the wall, a look of hesitation flashed in his eyes, and then he sighed, and walked back with his schoolbag in a dejected manner.

But he walked faster than Lao Jia, so before Lao Jia went home, Xiao Chengshi just woke up from the bed.

"Awake? Come, eat, there's meat."

"Oh." Xiao Chengshi jumped off the bed, looked at the bare house, and pursed his lips, "How do I wash my hands?"

Lao Jia was stunned and scratched his head.

"Wait, I'll go borrow a basin."

"......" Seeing Lao Jia hurried away, Cheng Shi stood in the house and laughed, and he didn't know what he was laughing at. He picked up the ham sausage and took a look, and muttered inexplicably, "It's good, at least it's not expired."

This seems to be a not-too-bad start. At least the old and the young have accepted each other, and the young Cheng Shi has settled down in this poor home honestly.

But he never discarded his "tools". Although the family was not rich, at least he could still cheat some things to supplement the family income through his own hands, oh no, his own mouth.

Next door to them lived a rich man named Sun. He was not young, but he was well maintained.

No one knew why a rich man, especially a rich woman, would live here, but Jiang Wumei discovered that in fact, a large area of ​​houses in this urban village seemed to be her property. This was a rich and idle landlady.

Little Chengshi soon discovered this and began to go to Aunt Sun's house every now and then to get some food.

The woman surnamed Sun didn't dislike him, but her attitude was not very good, just like feeding a little pet.

But eating for free is not a long-term solution. Many things that can be eaten and drunk in the orphanage have become a luxury for Lao Jia. So one day, the greedy little Chengshi finally couldn't help it. He picked up a bottle cap at the door, and with his skillful hands, he painted an identical "Another bottle" on the back of the bottle cap, and then ran to the supermarket with it to exchange for a drink.

The clerk didn't notice it at all, and he really let him exchange it.

But he was caught by Lao Jia as soon as he walked out of the supermarket.

Lao Jia had just come back from work and saw Little Chengshi gulping down Coke, and his eyes looked at him.He sank, said nothing, took money out of his pocket, and went to the supermarket to pay.

When little Chengshi saw this, he said nothing, lowered his head and followed him home.

This was the first time that Laojia got angry. No matter how little Chengshi explained, he never smiled. When they got home, he asked Chengshi to lie on the bed and not move.

Chengshi's temper also came up. Without saying a word, he lay on the bed and did not move.

He guessed what Laojia was going to do.

As expected, Laojia picked up the broomstick at the door and hit little Chengshi on the buttocks.

This was very painful, even Jiang Wumei felt the pain, but little Chengshi did not say a word.

Lao Jia was so angry that he trembled. He said, "People should be honest in this life. It is wrong to cheat people. Liars will not have a good end. Do you remember this?"

Little Cheng Shi tilted his head to the other side, holding back tears and said unconvincedly, "I always cheated when I was in the orphanage, and my life was much better than this!"

"..." Lao Jia choked, and he threw away the broom with trembling hands. After a moment of silence, he said, "So you met me. This is the retribution for cheating."

"..."

Now it was little Cheng Shi's turn to be confused.

The father and son stayed awkwardly for a whole night, without saying a word.

The next morning, Lao Jia went out. Cheng Shi was hit with a broom and couldn't get out of bed. He just lay there in a daze for half a day.

At noon, Lao Jia came back, sweating all over, and brought back a box of Coke, a brand new box of Coke.

Little Cheng Shi looked at the box of Coke with complicated eyes.

He didn't cry when he was hit with a stick yesterday, but he cried at this moment.

Seeing that Xiao Chengshi was crying, Lao Jia didn't say anything. He just spread out the lunch he bought and put it on his bed.

Xiao Chengshi sobbed for a while, and asked in a muffled voice: "Let's eat together."

Lao Jia laughed foolishly: "The construction site provides meals, I have eaten a long time ago, otherwise how can I have the strength to work?"

As soon as he finished speaking, his stomach gurgled.

"......"

Xiao Chengshi looked at Lao Jia's stomach in a daze. Lao Jia didn't even blush, and ran out while holding his stomach, saying as he ran: "Look, I've eaten too much and have diarrhea. You eat first, I'll go to poop."

"......" Xiao Chengshi looked at his father who disappeared, and pouted his lips in "disdain", "People, in this life, should be honest, it's wrong to lie to others... Who said that?"

But after muttering, he started crying again, crying and eating, not leaving a bite for Lao Jia, and not wasting a bite.

After Lao Jia came back, he looked at the plastic box that was cleaner than if it had been washed, and smiled with relief.

Since that day, the story in this dream is no longer exciting.

Because Cheng Shi no longer lies.

He seems to have found that the world can live well without lies, so he lives peacefully with his father.

The time that follows begins to fly. After Cheng Shi enters school, Jiang Wumei can get less and less fun in his dreams. He is like the third member of this family, witnessing the growth of little Cheng Shi, accompanying him from elementary school to middle school to high school, and then to college with a decent score.

But before entering school, this poor family finally ushered in the second problem, which is tuition.

Jiang Wumei knows too well what this family has, even better than the father and son, that the money in the pockets of these two people may not be enough for the travel expenses to go to college. In this case, there seems to be no other way except borrowing money.

But just when Cheng Shi couldn't stop worrying about this, one afternoon, Lao Jia brought back 20,000 yuan.

...