‘Thankyou。’addedZhufromthetruck。
Whatshoostwasthattheirgratitudeseemedsincere。
Theydroveon,losingsightoftheedmillioherearvies。Notfardowhetruckstoppedataoothboresprantday-laborerssquattingonthecurb,waitingforwork。Eahadasmallmetaltrowel,andasmallcardbnonthegroundread:‘Scrapers。’Thethreemenranoverassooruckpulledupandclamotajobforus,boss?’
ZhuHanyangshookhishead。‘No。Hasbusinessbeengoodlately?’
‘obehad。Everybodyusesthathermalsprayowadays,noneedforsymore。’
‘Whereareyoufrom?’
‘Henan。’
Zhurattledoffseveralquestions:‘Thesamevillage?Isitpoor?Howmanyhouseholds?’
‘It’supiherearemaybefiftyfamilies。Everyone’spoor。Itneverrains。Boss,youwould–wehavetateourplantsohawatering。’
‘Dohfarming。Doyouhavebankats?’
Allthreeshooktheirheads。
‘You’llhavetotake。They’reheavy,butI’llstilltroubleyoutotakeadozeheback。’
‘Adozen?’Itwasthescrapers’oionastheyuhethebedofthetrudpiledthemoheydidosiderZhu’sinstrus–ork。
‘Itdoesakeasmanyasyoulike。’
Fifteenlayontheground。Pointia,‘Eatainsonemillionyuan,fifteenmillionintotal。Gohomeahemohyourwholevillage。’
&hemehis,asifZhuhadcrackedajoke。Oneofhispanionscrouandopehecases。Themests,thesameflabbergastedexpressiorampgovertheirfaces。
‘Thecasesareheavy,soyoushouldhireacartoreturually,ifoneofyoudrive,buyacar。Itwillbemoret。’saidXuXueping。
&hreescrapersgapedatthetwopeopleinfrontofthem,uheywereangelsordevils。Likecloeofthemehesamequestiorampbeforehim:‘Whatdoyouwantwithus?’
Theahesame:‘Wejustodousohealiensareing。Iftheyaskyou,tellthemyouhavethismuey。That’sall。isetodothis?’
&hreemennoddedi。
‘Thankyou。’
‘Thankyou。’Thetwoplutocratsbowedinsincereappreddroveoff,leavihreebaffledscrapersstahestackofcases。
‘Youmustbewiftheywillkeepthemohemselves,’ZhusaidtoSmoothbore,hiseyesstilloeeringwheel。‘Perhapsinthebeginning,buttheywillsooheirwealthwiththelessfortuaswehavedone。’
Smoothborekeptsilent。tedwithsuchabsurdity,hefeltitwasbesttosaynothingatall。Hisintuitiontoldhimthattheworldashekwasabouttoafualge。
‘Stopthecar!’criedXu。Sheall,filthyagingthroughatrashfortindcolabottles:‘Kid,ehere!’Theurdashedhishalf-filledsasandbottlebehindhimasifafraidoflosingit。‘Takeathetruckbed。’Theboyobliged。‘Lookihedpeeredinside。Herised,butnotasshockedasthefouradultshadbeen。‘Whatisit?’promptedXu。
‘Moheboy,liftiogazeather。
‘Onemillionyuahomeaoyourparents。’
‘Soit’strue?’Theboybliurniolookattheboxesstillstackedhighiruckbed。
‘Whatdoyoumean?’
‘Iheardpeawaymoneyalloverthecity。’
&hroaper,thoughtSmoothbore。Xuued:‘Youhavetopromisesomethingbeforeyoukeepit。Thealiensareing。Iftheyaskyou,youmusttellthemyouhavethismuey–exactlythismuey,okay?That’sallillyoudoit?’
‘Yes!’
&akeyourmoneyandgohome,boy。Noonewilleverbepain,’saidZhuashestartedthetruck。
‘Noonewilleverberi,either。’saidXu,adarklookonherface。
‘Pullyether。It’sabadsituation,butonsibilitytostettingworse。’saidZhu。
‘Youreallythinkthereisapointtothislittlegameofours?’
Zhuslammedthebrakesandbroughtthetruckthalt。Gestigwildlyoverthesteeringwheel,heshouted,‘Yes,ofcourseithasapoint!Ordoyouwaofyourlifelikethesepeandhomeless?’
‘Idoogoonlivinganymore。’
‘Yourseywillsustainyou。Inthesedarkdays,it’stheonlythingthatkeepsmegoihdemandsthatwedevoteourselvestothismission。’
‘Ourwealthwhat?’shriekedXu。‘Weole,wenevercoerced,everyyuanweearnedwas。Ourushedsocietyforward。Societyshouldthankus!’