That morning, compared to the quiet streets where pedestrians were hurrying along, a vegetable market not far away was already a bustling world.
Separated by an iron fence, the inside and the outside seem like two different worlds.
Han Xiaoxiao still remembers the day he insisted on eating his mother's fried chicken and cumin-fried pork. His mother agreed to his request, but only on the condition that he accompany her to the market to sell fruits and vegetables and be responsible for carrying things.
Han Xiaoxiao finally got out of bed and followed her mother to the vegetable market with sleepy eyes.
Even at the market, hearing people shouting about radishes being 5 yuan for three pounds and live chickens being safe, he still couldn't muster up any energy. He'd been up almost half the night before, playing games with his friend, and had forgotten about getting up early the next morning.
"How much is this?" asked the mother, looking at the row of fresh potatoes.
"Ten yuan for five pounds, hurry up and get it. These are the goods we just brought in." The other party replied.
"Cheaper, six pounds." Mother touched the potato and looked at it carefully.
"Okay, okay, hurry up, grab the ones in the pile, don't be picky. All of mine are good." The other party said hurriedly, turning his head from time to time to look not far away.
Han Xiaoxiao and her mother didn't notice the stall owner's absent-mindedness.
Han Xiaoxiao just wanted to stand there and take a nap while her mother was picking vegetables, while her mother was happy that she had gotten a bargain as soon as she arrived.
"How's it going up ahead?" While the mother was picking vegetables, the stall owner asked the stall owner selling green peppers next to him.
"Who knows? The old lady insisted that she was molested. She was in her seventies or eighties, and she still cried out that she was molested? Who would believe it?" said the stall owner selling chili peppers with some disdain.
"Alas, that old lady was indeed bitten by that young man. He immediately pounced on her," said the woman selling vegetables and tomatoes on the other side. "Anything can happen these days. It's really bizarre."
“Ahhhhh…”
In the far corner of the market, another scream was heard. The miserable sound was so loud that it almost pierced the eardrums, and everyone in the market trembled with fear. Some people with clumsy hands and feet lost their grip and dropped the fruits and vegetables in their hands.
"What's that noise?" The potato vendor frantically looked around, trying to find the source. He'd been feeling panic since the early morning when he'd been wholesale vegetables, and this inexplicable panic had continued until now, only to grow stronger. Hearing the screams, some people suggested the old woman was trying to extort money, but he disagreed.
There are indeed one or two elderly people in the market who like to scam people and try to get a small bargain of a dozen dollars. However, I don’t see any elderly person who likes to scam people having such a big lung capacity. They are almost like they are shouting for their lives.
"Ahhhh..." Listening to that sound, it wasn't extortion at all, it was clearly a scream!
The potato vendor wore a small white hat, a colorful vest, and a neat black long-sleeved shirt underneath. The anxiety on his face even infected Han Ma, who was concentrating on picking vegetables next to him.
Seeing the potato vendor's anxious expression, Han Ma thought he was going to go back on his offer of 10 yuan for 6 jin (approximately 600g) of potatoes. She quickly picked up a large bag of potatoes, filled it up, and handed it to him, "Quick, weigh it."
"Ten pounds and three ounces." The potato vendor glanced at the scale next to him and quoted a price. "Twenty for you."
"We just agreed, ten yuan for six pounds. I'll add two more." Han's mother quickly took two large potatoes and put them on. The scale changed again, reaching thirteen pounds.
Every day she lived in fear, but each day, the flame within this woman grew brighter. She wasn't a particularly intelligent woman, nor one with life skills. Life's trials and tribulations had already afflicted her enough, and she was almost resigned to her fate. Everything would eventually become ordinary, and she could only accept herself as an incompetent woman. But this sudden disaster had instantly erased all that had weighed on her. Like a goldfish with a seven-second memory, she forgot everything that had once weighed on her.
The instinct of survival and the mother's instinct gave her only one belief, which was to survive with her child.
She stockpiled food and followed the news. Fortunately, the relevant reports in the news let her know that she was not infected, but it also made her more distressed. This epidemic seemed to be more serious than she had imagined.
The invisible things are always easy to be filled with fear, and the exponential increase in the number of people makes it even more difficult to breathe.
From that day on, she developed a new habit: she would pull open the curtains and observe the situation outside the window. Many people who walked out were bitten and became infected before they even left the community.
This also dispelled her idea of taking her son out. She knew that her skills were limited. If she couldn't fight or drive, she might not be able to leave this yard.
"What should I do?" She asked herself this question every day. As Han Xiaoxiao watched his mother grow increasingly haggard, the curtain in his world seemed to suddenly open, allowing him to see his own world and his own position clearly.
It turns out that the image of myself playing games all day long like a child who never grows up, shouting, killing and doing whatever I want in the game world is really an illusion.
What is the truth? The truth is that he suddenly realized that he was too incompetent and had no ability to protect his mother. In fact, the mother and daughter were just small screws in this society, and he might not even be considered an accessory.
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