socalfunplaces Chapter 10 He had never seen a dead person, except for his own in his dreams.
Chapter 10 He had never seen a dead person, except for his own in his dreams.
Zhou Gangxun's cold eyes made Wang Fucai feel uncomfortable, and his smile made him feel uneasy.
He was forced to take two steps back instinctively, nervously touching his neck and forcing an awkward smile, "No...no, it's just that you and your sister-in-law are new here and don't know anyone..."
Zhou Gangxun gave a cold laugh and walked towards his own construction area.
Wang Fucai watched Zhou Gangxun's retreating figure. Despite the blazing sun, he felt icy cold all over, as if he had fallen into an ice cave.
"Could there really be something dirty in this place?" Wang Fucai recalled what the feng shui master the developer had told him before construction began: this land was yin and evil, and it was easy for things to be restless. The things underground were all hungry, and after 8 p.m., no one should stay in the construction area.
"Is it really that weird...? Anyway, the project is almost finished."
Thinking about it, he raised his hand and rubbed the back of his neck, which was covered in cold sweat. As he rubbed it, his neck started to ache slightly.
He wasn't sure if it was just his imagination, but the way Zhou Gangxun stared at him just now made it seem like... he wanted to strangle him.
Wang Fucai shook his head angrily. He wouldn't dare!
He vented his frustration on the migrant workers who were resting, putting on airs and urging them with curses, "You've rested enough, go back to work. Those who are lazy or slow will have a day's wages deducted."
"If you don't want to work here, pack your things and leave!" Wang Fucai deliberately raised his voice so that Zhou Gangxun, who was walking in that direction, could hear him. "Don't put on airs here. The construction site doesn't need you, and it won't miss you."
He wanted Zhou Gangxun to know that he was the boss of the construction site, and he was just a bricklayer.
With just a word, he could make Zhou Gangxun unable to even move a brick, and also make other places reject him.
When he becomes so poor that he can't even support himself, will his beautiful wife still stay with him?
We still have to rely on him to support us.
……
Ruan Zhijuan took the money and went straight to the market near her rented room, humming a song she had made up as she walked, "Peach, peach, fragrant and sweet peach..."
When he arrived at Wu's Fruit Shop, he immediately recognized the peaches inside as his own.
However, all the peaches were in good condition; none of them were broken or rotten.
Hmph, that scoundrel Zhou Gangxun bought him nothing but cheap, rotten peaches that had been disposed of.
"Boss, I want this beautiful big peach."
"Coming," Uncle Wu, who was watching the midday news inside, responded, turning down the TV volume. "In 1992, a total of four serial dismemberment and cooking murder cases occurred in Hong Kong..."
Upon hearing that he had come to buy peaches, Uncle Wu quickly grabbed a bag and rushed toward his big customer, Ruan Zhijuan. He saw Ruan Zhijuan squatting next to the peaches, talking like a rich young master. His face was flushed from the sun, and his thick, curled eyelashes were covered with condensation.
Her face is a little red; I wonder if it's sunburned.
However, Mr. Ruan's budget for today is only thirty yuan.
Uncle Wu said with a smile, "These peaches are 12 yuan a pound. Thirty yuan can buy about six."
The television continued broadcasting the news in a muffled hum: "In 1992, a total of four serial dismemberment and cooking murder cases occurred in the port city..."
"Then we'll have six..." Ruan Zhijuan looked at the dates next to the peaches, swallowed hard, and thought that if he had money, he would definitely turn bad.
He'd only been at the fruit shop a short time when he'd already fallen for someone else countless times...
"Uncle, is this a jujube? Wow...why is this jujube so big...?" Ruan Zhijuan stared wide-eyed, her little mouth babbling, "So big, so big, isn't it sweet?"
Uncle Wu, seeing how adorable the little girl was and how she kept licking her lips at the basket of dates, smiled and picked out two large, sweet red dates for Ruan Zhijuan to eat. "Are you from the same family as that one from last night?"
These expensive peaches have only been bought by two people so far.
One is the handsome guy who did hard labor last night, and the other is the pretty kid in front of me. How could they come one after the other if they weren't from the same family? To be honest, the two of them look quite like a married couple.
Ruan Zhijuan's eyes lit up as she contentedly munched on a jujube the size of three fingers, then shook her head in disdain, "No, not at all."
The boss is definitely talking about Zhou Gangxun.
Ruan Zhijuan immediately felt a sense of snobbery and contempt for the poor. Zhou Gangxun was so poor and filthy and smelly. Who knew what he was like last night? He must have been squatting in a cardboard box full of rotten peaches, just like a stray dog on the street, picking and choosing one by one. He might have even fought with a stray dog over picking peaches and bitten the dog's mouthful of fur.
That's why he doesn't want anyone to know that he and Zhou Gangxun are related. Anyway, he's already got the money and has enough to buy peaches.
Ruan Zhijuan, her eyes red, bit into a date, "Sweet...so sweet, so delicious."
He couldn't help but glance at the mangoes not far ahead, their bright yellow color reminding him of the ones he'd eaten at Ruan's house before, along with mango sticky rice.
Ruan Zhijuan felt like she had fallen into a rat's rice jar, wanting to take a bite of everything she saw.
Uncle Wu chuckled, picked out a perfectly ripe small Taiwanese mango, peeled it, and handed it to Ruan Zhijuan. "Little one, do you want to pick the peach yourself, or should I pick one for you?"
The peaches were fuzzy, and touching them made him itchy all over. He didn't want to pick them himself, so the rascal Ruan Zhijuan, while biting into a mango, pointed at Uncle Wu and said, "Boss Uncle, pick them for me. I want the pink ones, the big ones, and the pretty ones."
As he spoke, he moved Uncle Wu a little more space, and with a serious, stern face, he began to supervise him meticulously.
Uncle Wu chuckled to himself. This kid was picking peaches like he was picking a partner; the peaches had to be pretty. "What makes a peach pretty? Is this one pretty?"
The two of them then began to examine the peach closely, head to head.
As Ruan Zhijuan was browsing, she suddenly heard a complaint, "Oh dear, it's so hot today."
The voice sounded like that of an old woman, mixed with a helpless sigh.
It was quite hot, Ruan Zhijuan thought so too. She raised her hand to touch her flushed face, moved the parasol closer to herself, and stuck a few fingers into the freezer next to her. It was cool now.
Uncle Wu, whose body is half yin and half yang: "..."
The first freezer to store human body parts: "..."
But just as Ruan Zhijuan finished moving, another voice came, "Sigh, it's so hot today..."
This time, the voice felt like it was whispering right next to his ear, cool and refreshing, like a draft blowing straight into him.
Ruan Zhijuan rubbed her ears and turned to look around, but didn't see any elderly people.
Finally, his suspicious gaze fell on Uncle Wu.
The oblivious "middle-aged man..." Uncle Wu weighed the items in his hand, "Alright, that's about right."
He got up and placed the scales next to him firmly.
Ruan Zhijuan stared intently at the peaches Uncle Wu had picked out for her, placing them on the scale. Her face clearly said, "I'm watching closely, so don't try to fool me."
That posture looked quite imposing and impressive.
But he had no idea how to read it; the scale was covered in numbers and looked like a clock.
He learned all of this from Zhou Gangxun. When Zhou Gangxun was looking at houses, he would follow the real estate agent around, tapping and examining every corner of the rental property, as if he knew a lot.
He's just faking it. He's never rented a house before; he used to live in a mansion.
So Ruan Zhijuan followed suit and pretended to do the same, so that no one would lie to him.
But on that bewildered, pretty face, the words "I can't read this, you're just lying to me, and then you thank me after you're done" were practically written all over it.
"We sell things honestly and never shortchange anyone," Uncle Wu said with a smile, looking at Ruan Zhijuan's earnest expression. He pointed to the numbers on the scale and showed Ruan Zhijuan, "Look here, six pieces, less than two and a half pounds, 28 yuan, here's your change."
When Ruan Zhijuan heard that there was still money left, he felt that Uncle Wu must have made a mistake in his calculations. He willingly gave Uncle Wu the thirty yuan that he had been clutching tightly all the way.
Uncle Wu didn't have any change, so he went inside to find some for Ruan Zhijuan.
Ruan Zhijuan squatted at the peach stall, faithfully guarding his peaches.
His gaze kept drifting to the red grapes next to him, thinking... these must be delicious too.
"Little one, you like peaches, huh..." An old, aged voice suddenly came from the creaking rocking chair next to Ruan Zhijuan. It sounded like the same voice that had been complaining about the heat earlier.
"Grandma will give you another one, okay?"
Ruan Zhijuan looked over and saw an old woman with gray hair, wearing a black embroidered cloth hat and matching black embroidered shoes. Her feet didn't touch the ground, and she was grinning silently at him.
His complexion wasn't very good, it was bluish and dark, and his smile was a bit strange, not a genuine smile.
"Would you give me one?"
Ruan Zhijuan's mind was filled with the thought that she was going to give him one more, and his eyes lit up instantly. He didn't even notice when the old lady had suddenly appeared on the rocking chair that had been empty all along. He quickly nodded, "Okay, okay..."
The old lady didn't leave the rocking chair. Her stiff arm, hanging by the side of the chair, reached awkwardly towards the peaches, making a "crackling" sound as she touched and picked at them.
She wore a purplish-red, diagonally-fastened robe embroidered with golden bats grasping peaches, and a dark blue skirt embroidered with peonies and plum blossoms that covered her legs. The sleeves and trousers underneath were very long, completely covering her hands and feet.
It was completely covered up, not a single thing was exposed, making it feel suffocating for those who saw it.
"Sigh, it's so hot today..." The sigh, even clearer than before, squeezed Ruan Zhijuan's eardrums, as if she had exhaled her last breath and had no more air to swallow.
Like a dead man, a dead man who has been dead for several days and whose body has been buried.
But Ruan Zhijuan had never seen a dead person, except for his own in his dreams, so he never even considered it.
Ruan Zhijuan blinked at the old lady's clothes, thinking to herself, "How can she not be hot? She's wearing seven layers on top and five on the bottom, including both winter and summer clothes, as well as cotton-padded clothes."
It was more than all the beautiful clothes he had seen at the Ruan family's house the first time, and he had put on more of them at once.
He looked at the dress embroidered with gold thread, not daring to touch it with his hands, but only touching it with his eyes, blinking as he said, "Grandma, this dress must be very expensive, right?"
Otherwise, why would they be wearing such clothes when it's so hot?
The first time he wore expensive clothes, he was just as reluctant to take them off.
It was a pink dress, the fabric was smooth and soft, and it fit him better and was more comfortable than the clothes his parents had given him before. It was embroidered with several large pink flowers, and it seemed to be made with the same kind of gold thread.
Looking at it this way, the pattern and style are quite similar to the one the old lady is wearing.
On the day he was sold to the old blind man, he was initially wearing a tattered cloth shirt, but after he bumped his head, he saw himself wearing that new shirt.
He liked it so much that he never took it off, even sleeping in it.
But he died after his head was smashed, so how did he get dressed...?