Compete for crossing

Ajie rented a small house nearby, and it took only seven or eight minutes to walk there.

It was rented by Ajie last week, and the purpose was also to be closer to the branch where he works.

He was dissatisfied with the house. First, it was too close to the city center, making it noisy at night and making it difficult to rest.As soon as the barbecue booth came out, the smoke continued to smoke upwards.

The second is that it is too close to the urban village, which is not owned by the aborigines, but by these refugees.It's messy and dirty, and you can encounter all kinds of unimaginable stupid things if you go home a little later.

But Ajie didn't want to pick any more, the unit gave him only two days to rest, he only had enough time to rent the house and make some adjustments, and he had to report to the unit the next day.So Ajie plans to live in it first, anyway, whether it is long or short, a year can be passed after a while.

The house is very small, just over 30 square meters.Single-room facilities, you can see everything as soon as you enter the door.A bed, a sofa, a desk, and a computer and piles of manuscripts and books next to the computer.

Ajie let the artillery sit on the sofa, and took out iodine and gauze from the cabinet.While bandaging, he chatted with the artillery.

During the chat, he knew that Huo Pao lived nearby, which was somewhere in the whole village in the city behind the Ajie community.

"I've seen you," Ajie said casually, "I saw you fight."

"Where is it?" asked Cannon.

Ajie glanced at him, shook his head, and said he couldn't remember clearly.

In fact, even if he remembered clearly, the artillery must not remember clearly.In addition to cheating and abducting, this group of people fought and made trouble. It is more appropriate to say "where" rather than "where".

In the memory of Ajie's parents, before the war broke out, Qiuling City was a fertile, peaceful and peaceful city, where the doors were never closed at night and the roads were never picked up.Working in the police station is the most leisurely thing. I go to work every day, drink tea and read the newspaper, and when the time comes, I can call it a day and go home.

Ajie's parents had originally thought about making him a policeman, but after all, it was more cost-effective to be a doctor.

Ajie's father is the little boss of the health system, and he has a little relationship with it. When Ajie grows up and graduates, it is no problem to arrange a leisurely and comfortable position for him in the hospital, but it may not be possible in the police station. So many connections.

So Ajie perfectly followed the wishes of his parents and went all the way to the medical industry.

But who knew that the war would come just like that, shattering all the dreams and plans together.

After the War of Independence, there were several years of coups.The current country is a new country. Although it still looks better and more stable than the neighboring small countries, in fact, only the people of the country know that their life is not even as good as it was decades ago.

All this happened when Ajie was in elementary school and junior high school. Although he was young and had no idea about these situations, he still had feelings.He remembered that when he was a child, it didn’t matter how late he came home from school. There was no curfew, and his parents would not say that it was dangerous outside, and there would be no one blocking the school gate or ambushing in the alley.

But it was different when he went to high school. After entering high school, Ajie was also charged protection money for the first time.

When he was in high school, Ajie’s country was experiencing the largest refugee wave in history. At that time, the school teacher had already told them to go home in time after school. The law and order around the school was not good, and it was safer to go back with the large army.

And that day, Ajie only solved one more problem, so who knows, it took an extra half an hour.

I remember that when I came out of the teaching building that day, there was no one around, and Ajie was stopped by the security guard before he walked out of the gate of the school.The security guard asked him to wait in the guard room for a while, Ajie was very strange, but followed him in.

Within 5 minutes of entering, three people rushed over.One person ran in front, and two people chased after him.The chaser still had a long watermelon knife in his hand, and he cut a line on the back of the first person from time to time.

These three people roared past the school gate, and before Ajie could react, they ran away.Only a little bit of trampled blood was left outside the iron gate, which was frightening.

The security guard seemed to be used to it, and after waiting for a while, seeing the three people running away completely, he asked Ajie to leave quickly.

From that day on, Ajie truly realized that the world around him had changed.He can no longer play outside until dark without going home, and those seemingly peaceful streets are actually not at all peaceful.

During the three years when Ajie was in high school, local residents merged with foreign smugglers and refugees at a speed visible to the naked eye.

From being isolated from each other at the beginning, to slowly reaching an agreement, and then making rules bit by bit, and finally making concessions to each other, seeking common ground while reserving differences to coexist.

And Ajie also didn't dare to stay in school when he saw people being beheaded in the first year of high school, learned to turn a blind eye in the second year of high school, and then habitually raised his head when the cadres of the third class came to extend his hand-"How much?"

Yes, in the third year of high school, even the protection fee is fixed.Ajie is also a member of the school, so he can't avoid it.It was like handover fee, the class cadres walked over one by one, and everyone took a few dollars out of their pockets.

Those who had no money gathered in the small sand pond opposite after school, probably because they were scolded a few times, and in the evening they were pulled over by some unnamed gangs to make up their money.

This is the first time that Ajie understands what it means to have money to contribute money, and to be able to contribute.

Ajie paid, ranging from five yuan to ten yuan a month.Ajie's family was in good condition, so five yuan was nothing, not even enough for his breakfast.

And every time I leave the school on the day after paying the protection fee, I will meet a regular person waiting in the milk tea shop at the corner of the school gate, collecting the class fees of all classes, ordering a little and putting it in my pocket .

Later, Ajie learned that these gangsters who collected protection fees were actually natives, young aborigines with no background.I didn't do well at first, and I couldn't study well, but I didn't have the awareness of gangs before, so I was idle and doing nothing, but I didn't get to the point of packing some meatballs in my bag or getting money from students.

But the influx of those refugees corrupted them, and they immediately found a sense of belonging, so they established a direction in life in time and had a goal to strive for.Elbows hugged the thighs of those outsiders at once, and turned to deal with the compatriots who grew up on a piece of land.

Although Ajie knew that a woman with a milk is a mother, but to be honest, he couldn't help but hate foreigners even more because of this.

So in just a few years, gambling shops, boxing rings, chicken shops, and noodle stalls grew at a speed visible to the naked eye, as if they were infected with a virus.

The city where Ajie lives is a small coastal city, and it is also the hardest-hit area with the largest number of refugees.

The police station in this city thought that the matter was not that serious. After all, this small town has always been known for its tranquility, so the authorities responded very slowly and did not take timely measures.

By the time they realized it, these gangs had split up and penetrated into various areas of Hill City.It is inappropriate to eradicate them in large quantities, as it will arouse gangs to retaliate and bring harm to the people, so the government can only repeatedly adopt a policy of appeasement.

And now, eradicating them has gone from "inappropriate" to "unrealistic".

Ajie is now bandaging the wound for this kind of scum, which is impossible even if you think about it on weekdays.

That night, Ajie knew that Huo Pao was indeed a stowaway, who had come here by plane a few years ago.

As soon as he heard about flying, Ajie guessed that at that time, he must also have a treasure that was more expensive than his life.

Refugees usually come in containers or trains by water. They have no tickets and no seats, and they also risk being squeezed under the wheels and crushed to death, or being caught by the water police and pushed into the river and drowned.

The artillery can fly, nothing more than swallowing a few gadgets in the safety suit.It's just that his friend was not lucky enough for him. The condom leaked right after landing, but the cannon was able to be taken out smoothly, and he has lived well until now.

Ajie asked Huo Pao to sit and rest for a while, and threw him another pack of cigarettes.

Huo Pao rubbed his hands in embarrassment, lit a cigarette and walked to the window to have a look.The small house is not big, and looking out of the window, you can see half of the street outside is dark and half brightly lit.

Cannon excitedly pointed at a dark place and said to Ajie, Brother Jie, you can see my house from here.

Ajie looked along the direction of the artillery, and saw the slums with only sporadic lights.

"You can still see that I'm older than you?" Ajie asked.

"I'm twenty." Huo Pao carefully guessed, "Brother Jie has... two, twenty—"

"25." Ajie said.

The smoke from the artillery drifted in the night, all the way to the dark slums.But his eyes are shining, and he has a joy and satisfaction that Ajie can't understand.

"Who else is here in your family?" Ajie asked casually.

"I, some fellow villagers, and my younger brother." Huo Pao said excitedly.

"Is your brother also selling discs with you or..."

"No, no," talking about his younger brother, the light in Cannon's eyes became brighter, and he said proudly—"My younger brother was admitted to a university last year, and it's just... that Hilly University."

Ajie couldn't help being taken aback when he heard that, he actually went to the same school as Ajie's younger sister.

It seems that the refugees have really integrated into the life here perfectly, which is a proud thing for the artillery, but in Ajie's view, it is full of sadness in Hill City.