Chapter 2
It was raining, and the rain that had been brewing all night poured down in the early morning.
Jiaojiao, who was curled up and sleeping in the corner of the living room, seemed to sense the cold and curled up even tighter.
At dawn, the long rain had not yet stopped. Jiaojiao, drowsy from his sleep, propped himself up and sat up. He moved his short legs, which were numb from sleep, and sat there in a daze for a long time before he woke up.
After waking up, he reached out and put the bottle that looked like a baby bottle beside him on his back. After supporting himself on the ground and standing up, he ran into the narrow bathroom with his short legs and began to take care of his physiological matters clumsily.
After pulling up his pants, he looked up at the tall sink in a daze, stretched out his hand to measure the height between himself and the sink, then turned around to push the stool beside him.
"Squeaky——"
The harsh sound of stool legs scraping against old tiles was heard.
"What are you doing making a fuss so early in the morning, you bastard?"
"You little bastard, you have no parents and you eat my rice for free every day. If I didn't think you could fetch a good price, I would have drowned you in a water tank long ago..."
A sharp curse rang out, and the woman, whose sleep had been disturbed for a moment, rushed in angrily with her hair in disarray. She raised the broom high in her hand, but when she met the child's innocent eyes, she couldn't bring herself to swing it down.
"Forget it. If it's broken, I can't sell it for money."
The woman said this and dropped the broom in her hand. She stretched out her skinny dark hand and poked Jiaojiao's forehead fiercely: "You damned bastard, what are you doing so early in the morning?"
Jiaojiao, who was sitting on the ground, looked up blankly after being poked by her, and pointed at the sink: "Ahh~"
Jiaojiao, wash your face and hands.
Seeing him speechless, the woman's suppressed anger flared up again. She impatiently reached out and grabbed his collar and threw him out the door: "Go pick up the bottles!"
Jiaojiao, who was thrown out of the door and fell hard on her butt, was slow to notice the pain. She sat on the ground for a long time without getting up, tears streaming down her face, crying so pitifully.
Jiaojiao was interrupted by her rumbling stomach, and she stopped crying. She looked down at her rumbling stomach, patted it with her little hands, and took out the small steamed bun she hadn't finished eating yesterday from her pocket in front of her belly.
Looking at the small steamed bun in front of her, Jiaojiao swallowed her saliva, and was stunned for a long time before opening her mouth and taking a careful bite. Then she turned her head, closed her eyes, and put the rest of the steamed bun into the pocket in front of her belly.
If you don’t watch, you won’t want to eat.
After putting the steamed bun into his pocket, he opened his eyes and patted his still rumbling belly with his little hands. He turned around, put down the bottle behind him, and slurred his saliva while holding it.
After doing all this, he picked up the rag bag on the ground, stood up with his hands on the ground and his butt sticking out, walked to the stairs and started going downstairs.
It was drizzling, and there were far fewer children on the main street of the chaotic area than usual. Apart from those wild children who were rummaging around for food, there were almost no children on the street.
The rain in the outer city was different from that in the inner city. Without a complete purification barrier, the rain falling from the sky in the outer city was black and slightly acidic. Although it was not very harmful, it still made people feel uncomfortable.
Therefore, even people living in chaotic areas rarely let their children go out on rainy days, because catching a cold in chaotic areas is very troublesome. You know, the medicines in black clinics are very expensive.
Of course, except for some children from poor families who have been tough since childhood, and wild children who have to find work everywhere to support themselves, this little rain cannot stop them from going out to find work.
Yin Zheng was inexplicably thinking about these things in his mind, and when he passed the main street for the second time, his eyes subconsciously swept towards the trash can at the entrance of the alley.
When he realized what his behavior meant, he subconsciously frowned, squatted on the street, lit a cigarette, and thought while smoking.
Why does he care so much about that kid?
It’s not possible that just because someone calls him dad, he will really think of himself as that person’s dad, right?
Even if he really considered himself the child's father and wanted to support her, he probably couldn't do so with his poor living standard.
And that child must have a father, otherwise he wouldn't call him dad.
Worrying about nothing!
Finally, after summarizing his unusual behavior, Yin Zheng blew out a smoke ring, crushed the cigarette between his fingertips, threw it into the trash can beside him, and stood up to leave.
The wild kid who was watching this side out of the corner of his eye saw him leave, then he quickly rushed to the trash can, reached out to pick up the half-smoked cigarette in it, put it in his pocket, and ran away quietly.
Yin Zheng, who was fully aware of what was happening behind him, ignored it and walked away into the rain without a care in the world.
Just as he was about to leave the main street, he caught a glimpse of a child staggering towards the street corner, dragging a wet cloth bag.
He subconsciously stopped and looked.
The child's fluffy black hair was now wet and stuck to his forehead, making his skin, which had been washed clean by the rain, look even colder and paler. Therefore, Yin Zheng could see the redness and swelling on the little face and hands clearly even from such a distance.
The child's skin looked quite delicate. Yesterday, his neck and wrists were rubbed red by the rough clothing he wore. Now, with the acidic rain falling on this delicate skin, the consequences were predictable.
Looking at the child's big, watery eyes, filled with pain and confusion, and clearly not knowing why he felt uncomfortable, Yin Zheng clicked his tongue impatiently and turned to walk into the grocery store nearby.
Jiaojiao squatted on the ground, his eyes wide open after searching through another trash can. There wasn't a single bottle there today. He turned to look at the flattened bag, then stood up, propped up, and walked forward, carrying the wet bag.
As she walked, Jiaojiao raised her hand and touched her head. There was no rain on her head. She looked up at the sky and saw a black object.
“?” Jiaojiao tilted her head.
Yin Zheng, who was holding an umbrella, saw the kid leaning further and further back, and suddenly remembered the scene yesterday when he fell on his butt. He couldn't help but bend down and put his index finger on the back of his head.
Jiaojiao, whose head was pressed against the back, moved his head left and right, and found that there was still something pressing against the back of his head, so he looked back even harder.
His strength was almost nothing to Yin Zheng. Seeing the child leaning back with all his strength, he couldn't help but click his tongue and put his face closer to scare him.
After meeting Yin Zheng's gaze, Jiaojiao blinked in confusion, as if she couldn't recognize him because of the angle.
After a while, Jiaojiao's eyes lit up when she remembered who this face belonged to. There was no more confusion or discomfort in her dark eyes, only joy and happiness.
"Dad." A childish voice floated into his ears. When he met his eyes that were as bright as stars, Yin Zheng's hand trembled subconsciously.
'Baji'
Jiaojiao, with his head tilted back and his entire body weight supported by his fingers, fell to the ground immediately. Yin Zheng reacted quickly and put his foot to support the back of his head.
Because Yin Zheng was supporting her head and she was carrying a bottle of milk on her back, Jiaojiao, who didn't fall hard, was stunned for a moment before struggling to get up.
Yin Zheng, holding an umbrella, looked down at him as he struggled like a turtle with its shell turned over, without any intention of intervening to help.
Jiaojiao, who had finally struggled to sit up, gasped for breath several times due to exhaustion. Her already worn clothes were even more unsightly after being stained with mud.
After looking up at Yin Zheng, he wiped his hands on his worn clothes, then carefully took out the uneaten steamed bun from the pocket on his belly.
While swallowing his saliva, he stretched out his hand to pull Yin Zheng's trouser leg, raised the steamed bun that was not even as big as his palm and handed it to him: "Dad——"
Yin Zheng lowered his head expressionlessly and looked at the child who kept swallowing his saliva, and the moist steamed bun in his hand with teeth marks on it, which was obviously the leftover one.
Seeing that Yin Zheng didn't respond, Jiaojiao tugged at his trouser legs again and handed him the steamed bun she had left behind, which she was reluctant to eat: "Ahhh—"
Eat.
The child's eyes sparkled as he carefully took out the best thing he had from his belly pocket and handed it to him.
When Yin Zheng looked at the child, it seemed as if his heart and eyes were filled with his eyes, and a strange feeling spread from his heart very faintly.
He squatted down and looked directly into the child's eyes that showed no fear and his skinny face. He raised his hand and took the steamed bun that was only the size of his thumb from the child's hand, put it into his mouth, chewed it twice and swallowed it.
Seeing him finish the steamed bun, Jiaojiao curved her eyes, sniffed the hand holding the steamed bun, smacked her lips greedily, and then stood up.
He dragged the bag forward and pointed: "Ahh~"
Pick up bottles, exchange them for steamed buns, and support dad.
Although he couldn't understand what he was saying, Yin Zheng inexplicably saw a hint of heroic spirit in his bright eyes.
Maybe because he was bored today, Yin Zheng actually followed the child and watched him rummage through the trash can.
After searching two trash cans in a row without finding any bottles, Yin Zheng glanced at the child's confused eyes, frowned, and walked into a shop nearby.
Yin Zheng came out of the store and when the child walked to the third trash can, he raised his hand and threw the empty bottle in his hand accurately into the trash can not far away.
Seeing this, the wild child squatting at the entrance of the alley was about to step forward to pick up the bottle, but was stopped in his tracks by a fierce look from Yin Zheng. Only after Yin Zheng withdrew his gaze did he run away with trembling legs.
When Jiaojiao came to the trash can and picked up five bottles with great effort, her eyes lit up.
"Dad~" Jiaojiao pointed to the bottle in the cloth bag, then looked at Yin Zheng. Her dark eyes were so bright that they seemed to be filled with broken stars, which made people feel soft in their hearts.
After picking up the bottle, Jiaojiao's steps were different when she walked while dragging the cloth bag.
Yin Zheng, who was walking behind him with an umbrella, looked at his little butt swaying as he walked, and inexplicably understood what those people on the Internet meant by "cute".
The dark rain was drizzling down. On the wide main street, a man with a wild and fierce nature was walking on the street with a black umbrella. In order to accommodate the pace of the child, he would stop for more than ten seconds after taking a step, but there was no impatience on his face.
In the blink of an eye, it was dark. Jiaojiao, whose little face was covered with green ointment, was standing on the stairwell. She was gritting her teeth and trying hard to drag the bag in her hand up the stairs.
Yin Zheng applied the ointment on his face. However, he didn't control the strength well and poked Jiaojiao, who was tilting her face up while he applied the ointment, several times, leaving several more fingerprints on her face, which was already red and swollen due to the acid rain.
For this purpose, Yin Zheng also brought out a few fragrant and soft little cakes.
When the bald man came back with a pockmarked face after carrying bricks for two days, he glanced with his cloudy eyes at Jiaojiao who was gritting her teeth as she climbed the stairs. He withdrew his gaze, hunched his back, took the cloth bag from his hand, and went upstairs.
"Why are you back?" came the loud voice of a thin dark woman.
"I came back when there was no work. Ergou will come to call me when there is work." Laizi's voice came soon after.
Without the cloth bag, Jiaojiao found it much easier to climb the stairs and she reached the top in no time.
The thin, dark woman rolled her eyes when she saw the ointment on his face, and guessed that it was applied to him by that kind-hearted person, so she reached out and threw half a steamed bun over to him from the table.
Jiaojiao picked up the steamed bun from the ground and patted the dust off it. He was not hungry because Yin Zheng had fed him a few small cakes before he came back, so he carefully put the steamed bun in his dirty pocket.
After putting the steamed buns away, he walked to where he slept, sat on the ground covered with old clothes, opened his big dark eyes and waited for the time to go to bed.
The thin, dark woman glanced at his dazed look and frowned impatiently.
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