Chapter 8 "Puff Puff Puff"
An Zhi held his head, tried to raise his little face, and looked at the old cripple behind the workbench through the gap in his hood.
Her voice was not loud, but it was like a pebble dropped into a stagnant pond.
Old Kane was shocked and suddenly looked down at An Zhi.
go to school?
How could you think of this?
The old cripple was also stunned.
The sarcasm and mockery on his face were paused.
He was meeting a pair of clear, childish eyes filled with the most primitive desire for knowledge.
There were no lies or calculations in his eyes, only an almost innocent yearning for the distant word "going to school".
A young kid who grew up on a garbage planet and is not a hukou holder actually asked, "Can I go to school only after I get a hukou?"
The old cripple was silent for more than ten seconds.
He looked at An Zhishuang's eyes filled with desire, and then at old Kane's face full of wrinkles, embarrassment and a hint of pleading.
The muscles on his face twitched a few times.
He suddenly lowered his head, no longer looking at An Zhi, but said to Old Kane in a rough voice:
"What does he know about going to school or not?"
He scratched his sparse hair in annoyance and roughly picked up an instrument with a flashing blue light.
"Come here, cough her up and give me her information! Name, age! Damn it, you only know how to cause trouble for me!"
Old Kane finally woke up from his dream and quickly took An Zhi forward.
"Anzhi. An means safe, Zhi means tender. She's about three and a half? Four?"
The old cripple waved his hand impatiently:
"Alright, alright! Got it!"
He didn't ask any more questions. The data stream on the screen scrolled rapidly. As he operated, he habitually complained, "This is a crappy place. I'm lucky to have a stutter. I just keep thinking about useless things."
An Zhi lowered her head, wondering if she had asked a bad question.
"I will study hard, Grandpa. I will be able to earn money when I work. Only by studying can I earn more money."
The shed became even quieter, and An Zhi shook his head.
Well, she is not very good at speaking.
An Zhi closed her mouth and watched without blinking as the old lame grandfather held an instrument with a flashing blue light and hovered it above her wrist for a few seconds, making a slight buzzing sound.
"It's done."
He unplugged the instrument, fished out a thin chip the size of a fingernail from the depths of the drawer, threw it into a simple locket, and handed it to old Kane.
"Here, take it. I've entered all the initial information: name, age, I just randomly filled in three years and eleven months, and left my birthplace blank.
A scavenger settlement on the edge of Zone G-7 on the Garbage Planet. This is a shitty place to be born."
He scoffed. "It's just a 'chip.' If you want it to work on a reader, you have to go to the 'Civil Affairs Service Center' in the main city to input your biometric information and authenticate it online."
He glanced out the window at the gray sky. "It's a million miles from here, and the road is full of gangs and patrols."
Old Kane held the small locket tightly, as if holding a piece of red-hot charcoal, or as if holding a faint hope.
The old cripple was telling the truth.
The area where they live is just the most chaotic and marginal slum.
"Thank you."
Old Kane pushed the small cloth bag over.
The old cripple didn't even look at it. He swept the bag into the back of the drawer and waved his hand like he was shooing away a fly: "Hurry up and leave. Don't delay me from fixing things. Keep an eye on your kid. This place is humph."
He didn't finish.
Old Kane quickly took An Zhi's hand, which was still holding his little head, and whispered, "Baby, come home with Grandpa."
An Zhi said "hmm" obediently.
**
The way back seemed longer than the way there.
Old Kane walked in silence with his back hunched, his brows furrowed even tighter.
The small tooth locket in his hand poked his palm, reminding him that he had just spent his savings and what he got in return was just an illusory promise that could not be fulfilled for the time being.
He couldn't help but look down at An Zhi beside him.
The little girl was very quiet, trying to keep up with his pace with her short legs. Her loose old coat made her look like a small moving package, with the hood covering her, revealing only half of her face and a pair of eyes that occasionally turned and looked around.
There was no longer the bright expectation in his eyes that he had in the old cripple's shop just now, but a bit of confusion and loss.
Old Kane's heart felt like something was tugging at him. He stopped, squatted down, and gently stroked An Zhi's cold face with his rough hands. His voice was soft and gentle: "What's wrong, little one? Are you tired?"
An Zhi shook his head, tightening his hands around his head. A muffled voice came from under his hood: "Grandpa, is the main city far away?"
Old Kane choked up in his throat and looked into the child's innocent eyes, not knowing how to explain the cruel class and distance on this garbage planet.
He could only mumble, "Yeah, it's a little far. But it doesn't matter, baby, let's go home first. Grandpa and grandma are here, so don't be afraid."
An Zhi nodded, not quite understanding, and whispered, "I miss my grandma."
"Okay, okay, let's go home and see grandma."
**
The way back passed through a small market.
The narrow passages here are crowded with makeshift stalls made of rags or plastic sheets, selling various low-quality nutritional pastes, processed dried meat, small tools refurbished from garbage dumps, and some synthetic fabrics of questionable colors.
The air was filled with the smell of sweat, spices, frying oil, and the sounds of various vendors and quarrels.
There were more people here. An Zhi hugged his hood and looked at this "bustling" scene that he had never seen before.
All kinds of strange objects, people of different skin colors and ragged clothes filled her with a sense of novelty.
The small mushroom above the head seemed to have sensed the complexity of the environment, and the warm and tranquil fluctuations it emitted became a little more cautious, like a small animal with its ears pricked up.
At this moment, an extremely shrill and heart-wrenching cough came from behind a stall not far away.
The cough was rapid and violent, with a hoarseness like a broken bellows, as if he was coughing out the lungs, and the pain was heartbreaking.
An Zhi was frightened by the terrible sound, his body trembled, and he subconsciously grabbed old Kane's hand.
She looked in the direction of the sound and saw a skinny old woman huddled on a worn blanket behind a stall. Her face was pale, her eyes were cloudy and lifeless, and she was hunched over in pain, coughing violently, each cough accompanied by a rapid gasp, as if she were about to suffocate.
Next to her squatted a ragged, sad-looking middle-aged man, who was frantically patting her back.
The people around seemed to be used to it and walked by in a hurry.
In this place struggling for survival, disease and death are the norm and compassion is a luxury.
However, An Zhi is just a child, soft and sensitive at heart.
The old woman's face twisted in pain and her terrible cough pierced her heart like a needle. She was overwhelmed by a huge sympathy and a sense of sadness.
She forgot to hold her head, and her little hands unconsciously loosened the edge of her hood. She stared blankly in that direction, her eyes quickly filled with tears.
At the moment when An Zhi's mind was violently fluctuating due to empathy——
The small mushroom that had been quietly resting in her hood suddenly trembled, and a faint golden-green halo appeared on the edge of the white umbrella.
Then, the little mushroom "puffed" and spurted out a large bunch of translucent spore bubbles that emitted a soft golden-green light.
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