Chen Zhe traveled with that wandering singer through city after city. At first, he was just a "cashier," following his older brother around to get a meal.
But later, the guy with the ramen noodle hair discovered that he could actually play the guitar, and quite well at that, so he simply handed the guitar over to him.
He crossed his legs and started working as a cashier in the back.
Chen Zhe really didn't want to be a beast of burden while he was wandering, so one night, he left without saying goodbye, taking the few loose banknotes from his older brother's bowl, and embarked on his journey alone once again.
He slept under overpasses, slept in parks, snatched cardboard boxes from homeless people, and stepped on aluminum cans.
Having eaten leftovers and rummaged through trash cans, he seemed to have become a true homeless person.
He lay in the stinking, unfinished building.
I listened to all sorts of gurus around me boasting about their glorious past when they were young.
This one owns a factory; the other is a programmer who used to earn tens of thousands a month. The other one is a womanizer who has dated countless women.
Without a cell phone, falling asleep to their "legends" is like listening to an audiobook.
Just as he was about to fall asleep, someone who smelled even worse than him came over and touched him.
"Hey buddy, what about you? Don't you have a story to tell?"
Chen Zhe has been living here for almost half a month, and everyone is quite familiar with him, but Chen Zhe has never told his story.
The man with the exposed belly, who used to own a factory, grinned with a mouthful of yellow teeth; "Oh right, young man, you haven't told us yet. What did you do before? Looking at you, so young, with all your limbs intact, and with such a fair and tender appearance, you didn't used to be a 'gag' (a type of sex worker), did you?"
After the man finished speaking, everyone around him burst into laughter.
Chen Zhe also laughed.
"almost."
He used to work as a masseur, serving many wealthy women. In the eyes of some of these women, he might be that kind of person.
"Hahaha, you're just bragging!"
Those people burst into laughter again.
"If you really did that, how could you be doing this well? It sounds fake. I used to know a guy whose income was really high. I heard he made over 100,000 a month. That's fucking lucrative."
"It's quite lucrative, but my body can't handle it," Chen Zhe said.
"Hahaha, I can handle it!! I'm not afraid of seven or eight rich women coming at me!!"
"That's what the guy with the yellow teeth said."
"Give me a break, with your looks, you'd be too scary to be a security guard."
Did I fucking ask you to say anything?
The two started joking and bickering, creating a joyful atmosphere around them. Chen Zhe laughed along, but as he laughed, he suddenly felt out of place with these people.
He wanted to live freely and to untangle some knots in his heart.
However, he discovered that no matter where he went, those who seemed free were not necessarily truly free.
Even street performers need to make a living. He seems free, but no one gives him any tips, which makes him very angry.
Those beggars on the overpass seem to be able to sleep as late as they want, but if they sleep too late, their cardboard boxes and cans will be taken away, which makes them very unhappy.
The experts around them seem to work one day and rest for half a month, but in reality, they are lazy to the core. Forget about freedom; the lazy atmosphere here is more like a cage that has firmly trapped them, leaving them with no freedom whatsoever.
Without further hesitation, he stood up, walked through the crowd, and went outside.
"Hey! Where are you going in the middle of the night?"
A voice suddenly asked from behind.
"Of course I'll go work at the salon, after all, that's what I do."
Laughter erupted behind him; no one believed him.
...
But Chen Zhe wasn't just talking. He went to a public restroom to wash himself clean, used the money he had saved over the past few days to buy himself a new set of clothes, and then went to a club to apply for a job.
His skillful techniques and good looks quickly landed him a job as a massage therapist.
“We don’t have a base salary here, but if you’re new, we can make a slight exception. You’ll get a base salary of 1,500 for the first month, and then we’ll split the profits 50/50. For the 268 package, you’ll get 134 in commission after you complete it. Is that okay?”
"No problem!"
"Alright! Without further ado, since you've done this before, you should know some of the rules. Go and wait there. When your number is called, you can start your shift."
"clear."
The manager led Chen Zhe to a small waiting room where about seven or eight technicians were waiting. When Chen Zhe came in, they only glanced at him and didn't pay much attention to him, focusing more on their phones.
"Hey Zhang, are you coming over tonight? I'm waiting for you."
"Brother Li, where are you? I've been waiting for you for half an hour and you still haven't shown up."
"Hello, would you like to come for a massage tonight?" (voice message sent to a group).
...
Most of the technicians here are women, and they each solicit their own clients; no one wants to pay attention to Chen Zhe, who has just arrived.
Chen Zhe sat there, and time quietly passed.
The technicians went on their shifts one by one, and in the end, he was the only one left.
After waiting for almost two hours, Chen Zhe was finally called over, but less than two minutes later, the man sent him away.
He heard the man curse as he came out.
"Damn it, give me a guy! This shitty place, I'm never coming back!"
He couldn't help but feel a surge of emotion.
If he were still working as a technician at Linglong Club, things would definitely not be like this now. His services would certainly be in high demand. The situation is completely different now compared to before. However, for some reason, Chen Zhe actually has a sense of being grounded.
I worked here in a daze for half a month.
The phrase he heard most often was "find another one." Occasionally, a few people would accept his services and, although they gave positive feedback on his skills, they would never come back to him again.
"Indeed, different perspectives reveal different problems."
Chen Zhe didn't stay there for a full month; he resigned. But after leaving, he didn't immediately deny his own abilities.
He knew very well that he hadn't been able to make money here because of the difference in environment.
He doesn't regret having this experience, because life is about experiencing things, and looking at things from different angles can make a person's perspective on life much richer.
He went to another city, but he stopped looking for massage work because there were very few places like Linglong Club that were suitable for him. He started working as a food deliveryman, riding his electric bike through the rain from one place to another.
This wasn't his first time delivering food; he had done it many times as a part-time job during his university years. It didn't matter if he wasn't familiar with the routes; he would deliver a few packs of cigarettes to the top-performing customer at the station and treat him to a couple of meals, and soon he knew the area inside and out.
Communication among people at the bottom of society is very simple. Although the other party may not be genuinely trying to help you, they don't harbor too many bad intentions either.
Becoming the top singles player wasn't what Chen Zhe wanted; he just wanted to truly experience this city.
Perhaps... he once fantasized that, in some building, in some apartment, he could personally deliver a takeout order to the girl he longed for day and night, and then sincerely say to her, "I'm sorry."
...
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