Growing up in the mountains, Lushan people are used to seeing different places as different mountains. If they see the rows of high-rise buildings as dense trees and Minsheng West Road as bushes, the East China Sea is actually a forest. A steel forest made of cement and steel bars.
I walked along the alley of Minsheng West Road and bought a map of the East China Sea for five yuan at the newsstand at the intersection. I had seen rough maps drawn by old hunters before, but this map It was obviously much more complicated, and I couldn't understand many of the marks on it. I compared the map with the surrounding objects, and it took me more than half an hour to understand it.
Find Minsheng West Road on the map, which is the old town of Luohu Street and the most backward place in Baihui District. Lu Shanmin also found several such places in other areas on the map. Stepping out of Minsheng West Road and into Minsheng East Road is a completely different world. High-rise buildings, cars, shopping malls and office buildings abound. The roads and sidewalks are cleaner than the homes on Minsheng West Road. Pedestrians on the road are also dressed more fashionably and cleanly, and the greasy vendors in the alleys are almost invisible.
Lushan people are like hunters who plunge into the deep mountains and forests, observing everything around them with their eyes. Pedestrians on the road were all in a hurry. Some people were talking on their mobile phones while walking. Some people kept nodding and hunching at their mobile phones with smiles on their faces. Some people were looking at their mobile phones with frowning faces and angry faces. Their expressions were richer than those in the movies I watched in the village before. .
On the way, people looked at Lu Shanmin strangely from time to time. The look was like looking at animals in the zoo. At first, Lu Shanmin didn't know why, but later he found out that it was because of his clothes. Two fashionably dressed girls took two pictures of Lu Shanmin with their mobile phones. "Handsome boy, are you filming a TV series? You are too into it." Lu Shanmin smiled and continued to move forward. This area is where he will often stay in the future, and he wants to understand everything here as soon as possible.
On the way, I saw several shops facing the street with recruitment advertisements posted at the door, but I didn’t go in because the recruitment requirements were too far for Lu Shanmin. One of the shops selling mobile phones had the lowest requirements. , but they also need to graduate from high school. For Lu Shanmin, who only went to elementary school, when he sees these recruitment advertisements, there are only four words "no entry" in Lu Shanmin's eyes.
This is a very lively city, but Lu Shanmin can't feel any heat in his heart. He always feels that there is an invisible glass wall surrounding his body, isolating himself from everything around him, and he seems so... out of place. I can't help but think of Bai Ling. She is also in Donghai now. She is a college student at Donghai University. Maybe only people like her can truly integrate into this city.
Unknowingly, I walked to a tall building and looked up. The building towered into the clouds and its top was not visible. There are several big characters in the center of the building, "Wanhui Center". Lu Shanmin looked at the map. This should be the most prosperous place in Baihui District.
When I walked into Wanhui Center, I was filled with dazzling displays. The palace in ancient times was probably not so prosperous.The mountain man thought to himself. Lu Shanmin's outfit still attracted the attention of many people. He ignored those people's pointing and walked through various stores like a leisurely stroll. I originally wanted to buy a less dazzling piece of clothing, but after looking around, I found that the cheapest clothes cost over a thousand yuan. Lu Shanmin squeezed the two hundred yuan left in his pocket. He really couldn't figure it out. It was just a piece of clothing to keep warm. How could a shame cloth be so ridiculously expensive?
After walking all morning, my stomach was already growling. When I walked to the restaurant area on the third floor, the whole floor was filled with fragrance, and my stomach growled even more unsatisfactorily. After walking around, Circle, the cheapest bowl of noodles costs dozens of yuan a bowl. Finally, I had to let my stomach growl in protest.
After walking out of Wanhui Center and sitting on the steps, Lu Shanmin had to re-examine this steel forest. This is truly a forest unlike any other. In other forests, with the skills of a hunter, even if there is no one around, he will not be hungry. In this steel forest, even if there are people around, even if there is delicious food everywhere, if you don't have money, you will have to go hungry.
After walking around the prosperous areas of Baihui District, Lu Shanmin deeply understood what cousin Chen Kun said: There is gold everywhere in the East China Sea, but it has nothing to do with you. Looking at the map, Lu Shanmin directly skipped those prosperous areas and turned his eyes back to Minsheng West Road, Luohu Street. Maybe there would be a place for him there.
I still have some uneaten dry food left on the train. It is dried and pickled wild boar meat. It comes from Yaozi Mountain, but now it has arrived in the East China Sea, thousands of miles away. I drink it from the kettle. With boiled water, I barely filled my stomach and started walking towards Minsheng West Road. It was a cluster of low old buildings. Last night I only saw a small corner. Now when I walked in, I saw narrow lanes intersecting with each other like streets in rural fields. Various small shops are sparsely opened in the alleys for the consumption of people living in this area. There are grocery stores selling daily necessities, barber shops with only two or three square meters, hardware stores, and restaurants. We even saw several bars that Bai Ling mentioned earlier, but they were closed at the moment and probably wouldn't open until evening.
Just like walking in the mountains in search of prey, Lu Shanmin walked slowly and carefully observed every shop. After walking for about half an hour, I stopped in front of a grocery store selling hardware. The business of this store is very good. The boss is a middle-aged man in his forties or fifties. He is sweating profusely and keeps running around the shelves. He is very busy. There are four or five people waiting in front of the counter. urge. Lu Shanmin stood there quietly, as if he were lying quietly in the grass in the mountains, waiting for his prey to approach the trap. After waiting for more than half an hour, the crowd of customers gradually dispersed. The boss finally breathed a sigh of relief, sat at the counter, poured a pot of tea, and leisurely lit a cigarette.
"Hello, boss." Lu Shanmin walked closer.
The grocery store owner looked up at Lu Shanmin and looked around. The middle-aged man was also an outsider, but he had opened a store in this alley for more than ten years.I have seen too many perverted people. Looking at Lu Shanmin's rustic dress and the words "Hello, boss," someone who really wants to buy things would not talk to him so politely, you know what this person wants to do.
The grocery store owner blew out a smoke ring and waved his hand impatiently, "We are not short of people here, so hurry up and leave."
Lu Shanmin did not give up and said seriously, "Boss, I see that you are very busy here, and it is too hard for you to work all alone. I can do anything, and I am willing to endure hardships. How about you let me try?"
The grocery store owner didn't look at me. The outsiders have no sympathy at all, even though they were the same when they arrived in the East China Sea. He glanced at Lu Shanmin and asked, "What have you done before?"
"I have been a hunter."
The grocery store owner was stunned for a moment, then laughed, as if he had heard a funny joke. , shook his head, "Young man, I advise you to go back to where you came from as soon as possible. There are no preys for you in this city. Judging from your appearance, you are more like becoming someone else's prey."
Lu Shanmin smiled politely, turned and left without saying another word.
I walked around a few nearby alleys all afternoon, and also entered a few shops, but the results were similar to those of grocery stores. It was getting dark, although the flow of people on the road did not decrease but increased. signs, but for people who grew up in the mountains, dark means it’s time to go home.
Back at the rental house, Zhang Li and Huang Mei were cooking in the kitchen. Chen Kun looked a little ugly, sitting on the sofa and chewing a cigarette. The ashtray on the coffee table was already full of cigarette butts.
Zhang Li walked out of the kitchen and nodded to Lu Shanmin, "Wash your hands and eat."
The four of them gathered around the coffee table, with a plate of fried potatoes, a plate of fried cabbage, and a plate of fried potatoes. Pot of radish soup.
Chen Kun put down his bowl and chopsticks angrily after taking two bites, "We came to the East China Sea to become monks and nuns. We can't even see a piece of meat in a day."
Zhang Li said calmly. Said, "Vegetables here are more expensive than meat back home. Just the way we eat it, plus oil, salt, firewood, and rice costs more than 100 yuan a day. Now we can't survive for a month with the remaining money."
Huang Mei also pursed her lips and said gloomily, "What kind of world is this? Dozens of people are robbing a clerk who earns three thousand yuan a month, including several graduate students. When did college students become so worthless?" "
Zhang Li was not as optimistic as Chen Kun thought from the beginning. Donghai, the most prosperous metropolis in the country, attracts a large number of college students from all over the country every year. It is difficult to stand out here. Like ascending to heaven. But I didn't expect it to be so bad.
Today, the three of them went to a job fair in the talent market, only to discover that the reality is even crueler than they imagined. Throughout the job fair, there were countless graduates from 985 and 211 universities, including graduate students and doctoral students. They were all, and there were even many returnees. When they saw other people's resumes, the three of them were embarrassed to take out their own resumes. There are many companies and units with the lowest thresholdThe threshold is 985, 211 or graduate students. I am an undergraduate from a second university in a prefecture-level city, and they are not even willing to accept resumes. There are also a few companies that do not have such high requirements, but such positions often require dozens or hundreds of people to compete for each position. The three of them wandered around the job fair for a day, but found nothing.
The four of them ate in an unusually quiet manner. There was a strong sense of uneasiness in the air. Even Chen Kun, who was usually confident, had a worried look on his face. Lu Shanmin doesn't have too many worries. In his opinion, if you can't find a job today, you will continue to look for it tomorrow. If you can't find it tomorrow, you will continue to look for it the day after tomorrow. In such a big city, you will always find a way to survive.
Having grown up in the mountains, Lushan people are used to seeing different places as different mountains. If they see the rows of high-rise buildings as dense trees, and Minsheng West Road as bushes, the East China Sea is actually the same. A forest is a steel forest made of cement and steel bars.
I walked along the alley of Minsheng West Road and bought a map of the East China Sea for five yuan at the newsstand at the intersection. I had seen rough maps drawn by old hunters before, but this map It was obviously much more complicated, and I couldn't understand many of the marks on it. I compared the map with the surrounding objects, and it took me more than half an hour to understand it.
Find Minsheng West Road on the map, which is the old town of Luohu Street and the most backward place in Baihui District. Lu Shanmin also found several such places in other areas on the map. Stepping out of Minsheng West Road and into Minsheng East Road is a completely different world. High-rise buildings, cars, shopping malls and office buildings abound. The roads and sidewalks are cleaner than the homes on Minsheng West Road. Pedestrians on the road are also dressed more fashionably and cleanly, and the greasy vendors in the alleys are almost invisible.
Lushan people are like hunters who plunge into the deep mountains and forests, observing everything around them with their eyes. Pedestrians on the road were all in a hurry. Some people were talking on their mobile phones while walking. Some people kept nodding and hunching at their mobile phones with smiles on their faces. Some people were looking at their mobile phones with frowning faces and angry faces. Their expressions were richer than those in the movies I watched in the village before. .
On the way, people looked at Lu Shanmin strangely from time to time. The look was like looking at animals in the zoo. At first, Lu Shanmin didn't know why, but later he found out that it was because of his clothes. Two fashionably dressed girls took two pictures of Lu Shanmin with their mobile phones. "Handsome boy, are you filming a TV series? You are too into it." Lu Shanmin smiled and continued to move forward. This area is where he will often stay in the future, and he wants to understand everything here as soon as possible.
On the way, I saw several shops facing the street with recruitment advertisements posted at the door, but I didn’t go in because the recruitment requirements were too far for Lu Shanmin. One of the shops selling mobile phones had the lowest requirements. , but they also need to graduate from high school. For Lu Shanmin, who only went to elementary school, when he sees these recruitment advertisements, there are only four words "no entry" in Lu Shanmin's eyes.
This is a very lively city, but the people of LushanBut my heart couldn't feel any heat, and I always felt like there was an invisible glass wall surrounding my body, isolating myself from everything around me, and seemed so out of place. I can't help but think of Bai Ling. She is also in Donghai now. She is a college student at Donghai University. Maybe only people like her can truly integrate into this city.
Unknowingly, I walked to a tall building and looked up. The building towered into the clouds and its top was not visible. There are several big characters in the center of the building, "Wanhui Center". Lu Shanmin looked at the map. This should be the most prosperous place in Baihui District.
When I walked into Wanhui Center, my eyes were filled with dazzling displays. The palace in ancient times was probably not so prosperous, Lu Shanmin thought to himself. Lu Shanmin's outfit still attracted the attention of many people. He ignored those people's pointing and walked through various stores like a leisurely stroll. I originally wanted to buy a less dazzling piece of clothing, but after looking around, I found that the cheapest clothes cost over a thousand yuan. Lu Shanmin squeezed the two hundred yuan left in his pocket. He really couldn't figure it out. It was just a piece of clothing to keep warm. How could a shame cloth be so ridiculously expensive?
After walking all morning, my stomach was already growling. When I walked to the restaurant area on the third floor, the whole floor was filled with fragrance, and my stomach growled even more unsatisfactorily. After walking around, Circle, the cheapest bowl of noodles costs dozens of yuan a bowl. Finally, I had to let my stomach growl in protest.
After walking out of Wanhui Center and sitting on the steps, Lu Shanmin had to re-examine this steel forest. This is truly a forest unlike any other. In other forests, with the skills of a hunter, even if there is no one around, he will not be hungry. In this steel forest, even if there are people around, even if there is delicious food everywhere, if you don't have money, you will have to go hungry.
After walking around the prosperous areas of Baihui District, Lu Shanmin deeply understood what cousin Chen Kun said: There is gold everywhere in the East China Sea, but it has nothing to do with you. Looking at the map, Lu Shanmin directly skipped those prosperous areas and turned his eyes back to Minsheng West Road, Luohu Street. Maybe there would be a place for him there.
I still have some uneaten dry food left on the train. It is dried and pickled wild boar meat. It comes from Yaozi Mountain, but now it has arrived in the East China Sea, thousands of miles away. I drink it from the kettle. With boiled water, I barely filled my stomach and started walking towards Minsheng West Road. It was a cluster of low old buildings. Last night I only saw a small corner. Now when I walked in, I saw narrow lanes intersecting with each other like streets in rural fields. Various small shops are sparsely opened in the alleys for the consumption of people living in this area. There are grocery stores selling daily necessities, barber shops with only two or three square meters, hardware stores, and restaurants. We even saw several bars that Bai Ling mentioned earlier, but they were closed at the moment and probably wouldn't open until evening.
Just like walking in the mountains in search of prey, Lu Shanmin walked slowly and carefully observed every shop. After walking for about half an hour, I stopped in front of a grocery store selling hardware. The business of this store is very good, the boss is aA middle-aged man in his forties or fifties, sweating profusely, kept running around the shelves, extremely busy, and the four or five people waiting in front of the counter kept urging him. Lu Shanmin stood there quietly, as if he were lying quietly in the grass in the mountains, waiting for his prey to approach the trap. After waiting for more than half an hour, the crowd of customers gradually dispersed. The boss finally breathed a sigh of relief, sat at the counter, poured a pot of tea, and leisurely lit a cigarette.
"Hello, boss." Lu Shanmin walked closer.
The grocery store owner looked up at Lu Shanmin and looked around. The middle-aged man was also an outsider, but he had opened a store in this alley for more than ten years. Over the years, he had seen all kinds of people. Duo, you know what Lu Shanmin wants to do when you look at Lu Shanmin's rustic dress and the words "Hello boss, no one who really wants to buy things would talk to him so politely."
The grocery store owner blew out a smoke ring and waved his hand impatiently, "We are not short of people here, so hurry up and leave."
Lu Shanmin did not give up and said seriously, "Boss, I see that you are very busy here, and it is too hard for you to work all alone. I can do anything, and I am willing to endure hardships. How about you let me try?"
The grocery store owner didn't look at me. The outsiders have no sympathy at all, even though they were the same when they arrived in the East China Sea. He glanced at Lu Shanmin and asked, "What have you done before?"
"I have been a hunter."
The grocery store owner was stunned for a moment, then laughed, as if he had heard a funny joke. , shook his head, "Young man, I advise you to go back to where you came from as soon as possible. There are no preys for you in this city. Judging from your appearance, you are more like becoming someone else's prey."
Lu Shanmin smiled politely, turned and left without saying another word.
I walked around a few nearby alleys all afternoon, and also entered a few shops, but the results were similar to those of grocery stores. It was getting dark, although the flow of people on the road did not decrease but increased. signs, but for people who grew up in the mountains, dark means it’s time to go home.
Back at the rental house, Zhang Li and Huang Mei were cooking in the kitchen. Chen Kun looked a little ugly, sitting on the sofa and chewing a cigarette. The ashtray on the coffee table was already full of cigarette butts.
Zhang Li walked out of the kitchen and nodded to Lu Shanmin, "Wash your hands and eat."
The four of them gathered around the coffee table, with a plate of fried potatoes, a plate of fried cabbage, and a plate of fried potatoes. Pot of radish soup.
Chen Kun put down his bowl and chopsticks angrily after taking two bites, "We came to the East China Sea to become monks and nuns. We can't even see a piece of meat in a day."
Zhang Li said calmly. Said, "Vegetables here are more expensive than meat back home. Just the way we eat it, plus oil, salt, firewood, and rice costs more than 100 yuan a day. Now we can't survive for a month with the remaining money."
Huang Mei also pursed her lips and said gloomily, "What kind of world is this? Dozens of people are robbing a clerk who earns three thousand yuan a month, including several graduate students. When will the universityLife has become so worthless. ”
Zhang Li was not as optimistic as Chen Kun thought from the beginning. Donghai, the most prosperous metropolis in the country, attracts a large influx of college students from all over the country every year. It is difficult to stand out here. God. But I didn’t expect it to be so bad.
The three of them went to the job fair in the talent market today, only to find that the reality was crueler than they imagined. The whole job fair was 985, 211. There are so many graduates from colleges and universities, including graduate students and doctoral students, and there are even many returnees. When they see other people's resumes, the three of them are embarrassed to show their own resumes. There are many companies and units where the minimum threshold is 985. 211 or graduate students, I am an undergraduate from a second university in a prefecture-level city, and they are not even willing to accept resumes. There are also a few companies that do not have such high requirements, but there are often dozens or hundreds of people competing for such a position. After wandering around the job fair for a day, they found nothing.
The four of them ate in an unusually quiet manner. There was a strong sense of uneasiness in the air. Even Chen Kun, who was usually confident, had a look on his face. A worried look appeared. Lu Shanmin didn't worry too much. In his opinion, if you can't find a job today, you will continue to look for it tomorrow. If you can't find it tomorrow, you will continue to look for it the day after tomorrow. In such a big city, you will always find someone who can survive.