Appreciation of Zhang Qiang's Prose in "Working for a Job"

I'm from Shandong province. During my four-year career studying in the south, the experience of that summer vacation was the most precious and unforgettable in my life. The school is in Gannan, which is thousands of kilometers away from home. At that time, my family was poor, so I couldn't go home during the winter and summer holidays every year, so I had to stay in school. First, it saves the road fare to and from home, reduces a lot of expenses, and lightens the burden for poor parents; Then you can avoid the twists and turns of buying tickets, crowding cars and congestion on the way back and forth; Also, you can feel free to do something at school. I didn't go home that summer vacation because I had another plan: the school is more than 4 kilometers away from Guangzhou. At that time, Guangzhou was already a frontier metropolis of reform and opening up. It was a legendary land and gold, and it was a paradise that people yearned for. Why don't I use my summer vacation to go to Guangzhou to earn some money? One is to solve family difficulties, and the other is to take the opportunity to do some sightseeing, which is also a kind of exercise for yourself. Why not do it?

With this golden dream in mind, I bought a ticket on the second day of summer vacation and embarked on a journey to work in Guangzhou.

at 7 o'clock that morning, I got on the bus to Guangzhou. Sitting in the car, while browsing the beautiful scenery of the southern midsummer outside the window, the excited heart has already flown to the southern capital hundreds of kilometers away, thinking that there will be unique scenes, unexpected gains, and perhaps meeting a shy Jiangnan woman ... How exciting it is to think of this!

the bus galloped smoothly and arrived at Guangzhou bus station as scheduled at 3 pm.

There are people coming and going in the station, bustling and jostling with each other, and the cries of vendors and the noise from the crowd are one after another. The traffic on the street is endless, mighty and surging. I didn't come to Guangzhou to visit relatives, so naturally there is no place to go. I think the best place for me to stay is the restaurant, which belongs to my refuge. I looked around the buildings on both sides of the street.

When I walked into a small shop with a sign saying "Southern Restaurant", a chubby boss-like man was busy with something, so I went to inquire.

The other person looked at me and asked, "Where did it come from?"

"Ganzhou." I replied.

"students?" The other party asked.

"Yes, I use my summer vacation to work." I answered.

when the price was agreed to hire me, the other party suddenly asked to see my ID card. I can't get it out. It turned out that when I went to school, because I had to move my hukou, the public security bureau didn't give us a group of students ID cards when I entered school, so I became a "black household" without ID cards.

because there is no ID card, things are so "yellow".

so, I found a second and a third restaurant ... because of the ID card problem, none of them would hire me.

I lament that a part-time student can't fit in such a big Guangzhou city!

The sun is about to set, and the setting sun makes people's shadows grow old. The earth roasted by the sun sends out a smell of fishy smell, which penetrates into people's spleen and stomach and makes people want to vomit. I don't know when my stomach began to "purr", but at this time I found that I had breakfast at school before I left, and there was not a grain in my mouth. I quickly turned to the restaurant for help. In the case of hunger, people are often desperate. I looked at a restaurant, and saw that there were still leftovers on the dining table that customers had not cleaned up, which could solve my hunger problem. I got the permission of the restaurant master, found a small box to put on, and wolfed down the hunger problem.

what about staying at night? This is the problem again. Living in a hotel, I bring very little money, which is not enough. Besides, without an ID card, even the humble small hotels of self-employed people will not let them live.

I finally wandered to Yuexiu District. In a quiet street, there was a small shop that had closed, and the sign hanging on the top could be used as a cover. I have to sleep in this street tonight. I decided. The night is already deep. In the distance, people who spend the summer in the city are vaguely seen drinking wine and punching; In the surrounding square, the sound of singing and dancing came from time to time. This capital of reform and opening up is different from other cities, and people's nightlife is very rich. At that time, Guangzhou led the tide of reform and opening up in China. Everything here is at the forefront of the country. But at this time, I seem to be out of this craze.

I took out my carry-on blanket, put my luggage under my pillow, and spent the night half asleep and half awake. It was the first time in my life that I spent an extraordinary night alone in a corner of the street in a distant city.

I have to look for a job the next day. I won't go to a restaurant this time. I'll go to a construction site. Can I always be a construction worker? I am young and strong. I thought to myself.

I found a construction site under construction. Fortunately, a middle-aged man who seems to be a contractor seems to be interested in me. I was secretly pleased. But in the end, I asked about my "ID card", and I tried my best to prove my simplicity and student status. But he said, how do you prove that you are a legal citizen? Without an ID card, it is unreliable. What if you are a fugitive? The other person's words left me speechless.

"Evil ID card, how important it is at this moment!" I can't help but blurt it out.

I tried several construction sites, but I was not accepted. I secretly feel sad, disappointed and annoyed. I wandered around the streets of the city. Mao Ning's song is playing on the street again and again:

Take away a fishing fire and let it warm my eyes/Leave a true feeling and let it dock at the Maple Bridge/I have alienated that helpless one ...

I want to go back to school, and there is no money in my pocket, so I need to find a way to earn money before I can go back to school. At that time, it can be said that "every day should not be called, and the ground is ineffective." At that time, a young student was out of town, unable to find a job, and had no money to eat. His embarrassment was unimaginable.

"where is the return date? Where is my home? " I read silently in my heart. Listening to Mao Ning's song "The Sound of the Waves Still", I thought: Yes, the situation of the hero in Mao Ning's song is a little far-fetched with me, "we are both unhappy -- to the sky's end". Helpless, I have been alienated by the city of Guangzhou and abandoned!

I walked aimlessly in the streets of Guangzhou, and suddenly I passed dozens of places with dense garbage cans. I found that where there were garbage cans, people were looking for things over and over again: old cartons, old scraps of paper, empty wine bottles ... all these things were taken to waste collection stations to sell money. This has inspired me. Why don't I learn from them, pick up garbage, and Taobao sells money to solve practical problems? The urgent task is to survive!

now I'm enlightened. I left my luggage temporarily, looked for a place with a trash can, and began to get busy.

Trash can, a disgusting place. You will feel it personally when you have been there. Especially in summer, mosquitoes and flies fly and stink, and with the turning of garbage, the stench rolls in. Fortunately, seeing me coming, the flies and mosquitoes left angrily, and I was able to do it. I persisted in enduring the strange smell in the trash can, sorting out the waste paper boxes, old newspapers, old clothes, old shoes, old plastic bags, old empty thermos bottles, blank wine bottles, empty beer bottles, cans, empty cigarette cases, used household appliances, scrap iron, rotten copper, scrap aluminum and so on, sorting them out, packaging them, and finally sending them to the nearby waste purchase office. When you get there, check-weigh-collect money. I happily took the hard-earned "hard-earned money" and had a bottom in my heart. Gradually, I also got used to "working" beside the trash can. Not bad! Busy, dirty and tired, you can always earn a few dollars. This is also a kind of harvest, and it is also worthwhile. Then, pick up the trash cans in this area and clean them up, and then find another trash can in other places.

So I found a "permanent job" in Guangzhou-picking up garbage.

in this way, I also have the security of life. During the day, pick up garbage and sell it by the trash can, and go to a nearby restaurant to eat noodles or fried dough sticks with the money; At night, sleeping in a corner of the street, counting the stars and falling asleep under the city lights. Although it is not decent, the accommodation is not so glamorous, but at least it solves the problem of accommodation. Although I have never met a beautiful woman in the south of the Yangtze River, I am slowly saving my way back to school.

I'm living the life of a big city. I sigh: the work of "picking up garbage" is also quite nourishing. Some jobs can't be done, but you can do other things! I can't help sighing: God closed this door and opened another window.

but things didn't go smoothly. As the saying goes, there are rules in the line and rules in the road.

my work in the past few days obviously touched some people's "cheese". The local "beggar leader"-a five-year-old man with a broken leg, attacked me and beat me up on a rainy day. And ransacked all my belongings and drove me away.

I was at my wit's end for a while, and then I went to the wall.

heaven never shuts one door but he opens another. My friend in my life, who is also a brother of the Beggars' Sect, came forward to help me out after knowing my situation. He is the eldest brother Zhan. He has been in Guangzhou for many years, collecting garbage for a living, and he is a kind-hearted man. He often likes to fight against injustice among beggars. Whoever is bullied will definitely help him settle it when he knows it. After understanding my situation, he subdued the beggar five. Tell him to be careful in the future. If you touch me, you'll kill him.

under the protection of brother Zhan, I worked hard. I "worked" in Guangzhou for a month and a half, and I also saved a sum of money, which was enough for the trip back to school and the short-term living expenses at school. School is just around the corner, and my life of "breaking into Guangzhou" will soon end.

Today, more than 2 years have passed. Now that I think about it, I am moved by the dreams I had at that time, by the impulse of the lush years, by the hardships I suffered, the tiredness I suffered, the torture I experienced and the valuable help I received in difficult times. With the cycle of the years, there have been several fate tricks in the later life, and only the past of the South China that year is unforgettable.

One always has to go through some special stages and things and meet certain people. Looking back at that year, those things, those people, and the kind of dreams and emotions that I had at that time always touched my heart, which made me cherish it and dare not forget it for a long time.

I have been studying in Jiangnan for many years, and there is no room for returning to my hometown. The city is bustling and it is difficult to find an official.

thinking about the past, recalling that year, the sun set. Shedding tears on the street and scouring the edge, chasing dreams is already comparable.