IWUAWP - Chapter 1
Chapter 1
It was another day for two jobs: 1
It was two o'clock in the morning when Fu Zhen returned home. He had recently changed jobs and now worked as a waiter in a bar. On a near-daily basis he would only be able to get home at this time.
The small living room was dark and silent. Fu Zhen knew that his roommates had already fallen asleep at this time. He lightened his footsteps, walked to his door and took out the key. He carefully opened the door of his room, then closed it lightly and softly, during which only a slight sound was heard, and no one was disturbed.
He went back to his room and immediately took off his work clothes. He didn't even turn on the light and collapsed directly onto the small single bed like a tired dog.
His breathing was particularly noticeable in the dark silence. Maybe he was too overworked these past two years, but Fu Zhen’s heart began to have problems during this period. Not long after he lay down, it began to beat violently. His breathing grew heavier as his heartbeat seemed to echo in the silence, filling the room with an unsteady rhythm.
After a while, his heartbeat finally returned to normal. Fu Zhen slowed his racing mind, took two deep breaths, then got up from the bed and turned on the light.
He was renting with others. This small house had a total of five people. His room was the smallest, less than five square meters. There was only a narrow single bed and a table cabinet, and nothing else.
Several buildings in this community were decades old, and the outside walls had been loosened. When there were windy days, a few pieces would fall down. Therefore, a sign with a skull and bones was specially erected outside the building to remind passers-by not to walk near the wall.
The interior of the residential building was also extremely dilapidated. The concrete stairs without corners extended to the eighth floor. On the yellowing walls, there were cartoon drawings drawn by children with various crayons, and small advertisements for broadband installation and interior decoration. It was said that the place would be demolished in a few years, and a university town would be built here.
The landlord was a local, but he did not live here. He only came to collect the rent on the 5th of every month. Here, the living room, kitchen, and bathroom were shared.
The rent was very cheap, only 400 yuan a month, but this amount was still a big burden for Fu Zhen. He was now working two jobs a day, but he only earned less than 4,000 yuan a month. Discounting the money for food, accommodation, and medicine, less than 1000 yuan were left.
In April of this year, he had a little accident on the construction site which wiped out all the savings he had scraped together last year.
Now, he had less than 3,000 yuan left on his bank card. He planned on using it to buy a second-hand laptop and drawing tablet before the Chinese New Year. The quality did not need to be too good, something around two or three thousand yuan should be enough.
Fu Zhen fiddled with his fingers, carefully calculating how to live the next day. Finally, with a deep sigh, he laid back on the bed and pulled out a pillow to cover his face.
He could only comfort himself. Once he got a computer and a drawing tablet, he knew he could improve his situation.
Fu Zhen reached out, turned off the light in the room, pulled up the quilt placed at the head of the bed, and covered his body. He fell asleep quickly.
He had a dream.
In the dream, he was lying on the cold ground, facial features twisted in a grimace from pain. He didn't need to look in the mirror to know that he was a mess. His father stood in the corridor on the second floor, his hand holding the exquisite silver railings, looking down on him as if he were looking at a pile of disgusting maggots.
Fu Zhen's leg ached badly. He looked up at his father and opened his mouth, trying to explain what had happened before. But when he looked at such a father, his throat seemed to be stuffed with cotton balls, and he could not make a sound.
The woman who hated him came up from behind his father, put a glass of clear water in his father's hands, and persuaded him, "Dad, please calm down.”
His father turned to the woman with a smile and said, "You've been wronged this time."
Fu Zhen felt as if he had fallen into an ice cave. His body was chilly and he was shivering. His teeth were chattering, and he could feel his pounding heartbeat as if someone was hitting his eardrums with a small hammer.
An expression of great disappointment appeared on his father's face, and he coldly said to him, "Leave here, and never let me see you again."
Fu Zhen opened his mouth, but could only let out a hoarse cry. His father frowned, and a servant came over and dragged him out of the Fu house. The servant threw him onto the street outside the community like garbage.
It was in this way that he was kicked out of the Fu family, and his home where he had lived for more than 20 years.
Fu Zhen woke up from his dream. He glanced at the alarm clock beside the bed. It was now five o'clock in the morning. He was not sure how he woke up at this time. But at the moment, his mind was extremely awake, and not at all sleepy.
He held the quilt tightly, and the coldness of the dream still lingered on his body. Just like gangrene of the bone, his leg suddenly began to ache, like there were countless small bugs lying on it, using their sharp teeth to bite his flesh and blood.
Someone was playing TV in the room next door, and the sound was quite loud. The sound insulation here was not very good. Fu Zhen could clearly hear every sentence and word from the TV.
He heard that a bank in Xiling District had a robbery last night. The murderer carried two toys and robbed 300,000 yuan. An adult goods store was opened around Century Elementary School, which was reported by parents and it had to be rectified. There was also news that a woman was engaged to the eldest master of the Qin family.
In order to express his blessings to his cherished daughter, the head of Fu family transferred 5% of the company's shares to the woman's name as her dowry.
And her elder brother built a fairy-tale-like castle for the couple's future child /OR family's little princess . There was a swan lake and a playground in the castle.
Everyone was envious.
Fu Zhen felt some pain in his throat, probably because of the cold. He lifted the quilt from his body and sat up on the bed. Then, he shivered due to the cold. He put on his slippers and limped into the living room. He picked up a glass of clear water and sat on the old sofa in the living room.
He held the glass in his hand and took a small sip. The cold water ran down his throat all the way down into his stomach, causing a spasm.
There was no change in the expression on Fu Zhen’s face, and it seemed like he didn’t feel any pain. There was a smell of instant noodles in the air. He could hear all of the small sounds within the darkness, as well as the whistle of cars on the streets outside.
He put down the glass in his hand and leaned back onto the sofa. Somehow, he suddenly remembered his childhood. He was sitting on the lawn outside the villa in blue trousers and white shirt, holding the small red ball that his father had just bought for him. Golden sunlight passed through the thick branches and leaves, leaving a mottled shadow on the lawn.
With a few barks in the background, his brother came back from school. He walked over and squatted down, lifting Fu Zhen onto his back, and carrying him home.
Fu Zhen gradually recovered from his memories. When he was just kicked out of the Fu family, he often thought that maybe all of this was just a dream. When he woke up, everything would return to its original state. . .
But now, Fu Zhen understood that even if this was a dream, he would not wake up from this dream until he died.
He didn’t even dare to appear in the bustling areas of the city now. His big brother had threatened him -for the sake of that woman- that if he dared to appear in front of them again, his right leg would end up as useless as the left.
Fu Zhen wanted to laugh a little, but found that he couldn't. He looked up at the ceiling above him. In the dark he could see nothing. There were countless red and green light spots floating in front of his eyes, gradually blending together.
You see, nothing was impossible in this world.
After a long time, Fu Zhen got up from the sofa and returned to his room. Tomorrow morning, he would have to go to the construction site to move bricks. He could sleep for a while before the sky brightens.
At half past seven, the alarm beside the pillow rang. Fu Zhen got up from the bed, put on his work clothes skillfully, and arrived at the construction site before eight o’clock.
It was winter now. Every time this season came around, Fu Zhen’s legs would hurt badly. He has taken too many painkillers before, and has developed a resistance. Cheap painkillers have little effect on him now, but no matter how advanced, he cannot afford the medicine at his current income anyway.
After a while, the weather would become even colder. At that time, he would not be able to work outside, and his income would be reduced by more than half. Because of this leg of his, Fu Zhen could only work on the construction site for six hours a day, and he couldn’t even get half the wages of other workers.
In the past two years, his hands had developed a thick layer of calluses. Who would have thought that the beloved young master of the Fu family would one day have such a miserable appearance? He felt like the punchline to a cheap joke.
Nevertheless, the most important thing now was to stay alive. After working for most of the day at the construction site, Fu Zhen bought a boxed lunch and hurried to the bar after having a couple of bites.
It was already evening. The sun was setting and the dusk was heavy. Half of the sky in Pinghai city was covered with grey blue mist, and the other half was immersed in the red sunset. The rose-colored glow reflected on the glass walls of high-rise buildings was like a prairie fire. Fu Zhen was pulling at the hand railings on the bus. He was a little listless, squinting his eyes and feeling sleepy.
The no.309 green bus rattled like a lazy tussah silkworm, wandering through the city. A school bag-carrying pupil ran through the crosswalk in front of the bus with no warning, and the driver stopped the bus with a sharp brake.
Fu Zhen stumbled, and the whole person jerked forward. His mind was blank, nothing left.
But the expected pain did not come. He collided with a warm chest, and the other person held his back so that he did not fall completely. Fu Zhen sniffed and his eyes were burning. At this moment, he missed his brother a little.
Fu Zhen took a breath. Holding the seat beside him, he carefully stood upright and raised his head. The man in front of him was almost a head taller than him. He was wearing a dark green windbreaker, and he could not see his appearance clearly against the light. He could only see a circle of black stubble on his chin, his appearance a little slovenly.
Fu Zhen whispered a thank you to him.
The man nodded, said nothing, and looked indifferent.
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