With the first month's salary being paid, the tense hearts of the two people were slightly soothed, and life finally got on the right track. Although the man is tired from work, he feels that he has indeed grown a lot, and this is indeed the life he wants, although he is tired, he can learn things.

Half a year passed, and in the second half of 2001, more than a dozen assistants who came at the same time as the man, some were tired and disgusted with the bad treatment, and some of the company felt stupid and lazy. According to the characteristics of each person and the opinions of the leaders of the probationary department, the company assigned these people to different positions, and the man naturally stayed in the strategy group. Turned regular, the man's salary has risen to 2,600 yuan, the position is still a planning assistant, and the job function is mainly based on Kee's needs to do some auxiliary work, but with the proficiency of the business and the familiarity with the planning work, the depth of the man's work is gradually intensifying.

Because Jiajia's unit is very close to home and she gets off work early, the two of them bought an electric wok and pots and pans to cook and eat in their ten-square-meter cottage. Because the house is too small, I am afraid that the smoke will be too big, and the two people have little stir-frying, so they mainly boil porridge, boil noodles, stew meat or something, and eat with relish every day. Ajima next door occasionally comes over to eat, but Ajima brings beer and roast chicken every time she comes, but she improves the food for the two of them, which makes the two of them embarrassed.

When the man came home in the evening, he found that the door was not open, and a note was posted on the door: "Man, I have urgent work tonight, and I have worked overtime when I go back to the unit. The man took off the note and was about to open the door, when the door next door suddenly opened, and Ajma stuck his head out and asked, "Brother man, you don't have anything to eat today, right?" ”

The man smiled and said, "Well, Jiajia is working overtime, I have made noodles myself, have you eaten them?" ”

"Nope."

"Oh, then come on, I'll have an extra bowl and eat together."

"You're welcome." Ajma walked in with a big grin.

The man opened the door and went to the kitchen with the pot to fetch water, and Ajma helped unfold the table to get the noodles.

The man came back and started boiling water. Because the room is small, after the table is unfolded and used as a stove, there is no place to maneuver, so the two of them have to sit side by side on the bed and watch TV. The man suddenly felt a little embarrassed, and in this small atmosphere, the lonely man and widow felt weird.

"How's your paper?" The man asked without words.

Ajima laughed and said, "Brother, it's October now, and I've graduated, did you say that the thesis was finished?" ”

"Oh, hehe." The man smiled awkwardly, "I forgot, you've graduated." The man scratched his head and quickly moved on to other topics, "Ajma, are you still working part-time?" ”

"Well, it's not been much lately, and after graduating, I want to start my own company."

"Oh my God, you just graduated and started your own business?" Entrepreneurship is a very distant thing for a man, he really didn't think about it, today I heard Ajima say that he wants to start a business, he was really shocked.

Instead, Ajima felt natural and nodded easily.

He then asked, "So what are you going to do?" What company to open? ”

"I used to work part-time as a model when I was in school, so I'm familiar with the industry, and I've met a lot of models and clients over the years. "I found that there seems to be nothing difficult about a modeling agency, as long as there are clients and activities, the money comes quickly, and it is all cash, so I discussed with a few sisters to open an event company, and I will register it soon." ”

The man listened quietly, and for a moment his impression of Ajma changed.

In fact, when I first met Ajima, the man didn't like this kind of girl very much, thinking that she was a little demonic, loved to drink, and smoked, which was unacceptable to a very traditional man and a man, how could a serious girl be like this. But looking at it now, Ajima actually has a stronger starting point and depth of contact with the society than the two of them, so they have the strength to start a company as soon as they graduate.

The man looked at her enviously, gave a thumbs up and said, "Admire, you will be the boss as soon as you graduate, and your future is limitless." ”

Ajma was in a good mood and laughed.

Ajima took a bite of noodles, looked at the man, and said very affectionately: "Ahem, I was in school to earn money, and I didn't fall in love, so I was very envious when I saw you and Jiajia." ”

The man smiled and said, "Ahem, it's nothing, you're so beautiful, your boyfriend won't worry." ”

Ajima wiped her mouth and said, "It's different, you see you and Jiajia, this kind of relationship is very deep, and when you come to society, you don't know which of those stinky men is sincere." ”

The man didn't know how to answer, so he had to laugh twice.

Ajima propped up the bed with her hands, looked at the man, and teased, "You, you're such a good man." ”

The man felt that the topic was a bit off, and he didn't know how to continue talking, so he quickly lowered his head and finished eating the noodles in the bowl, turned his head and asked Ajima: "Ajima, are you still eating?" There are still in the pot. ”

Ajma shook her head, touched her stomach and said, "Don't eat it, you'll gain weight if you eat too much." ”

The next day, the man went to work as usual, and when it was almost noon, he suddenly received a phone call. He took out his mobile phone and saw that it was a landline number in Beijing, very unfamiliar, "Hey, which one?" The man asked. The man on the phone could tell that the other end of the phone was very noisy, as if it was on the side of the road.

"Hey, man? It's me, Little Six. ”

"Little Liu?" The man was taken aback.

From graduation to now, they have not been in touch, Xiaoliu has signed a contract with the Northeast technology company before graduation, and went to the Northeast for training and study early, and has not heard from him since. Suddenly received a call from him today, and it was in Beijing, and the man asked very excitedly: "Xiaoliu, are you coming to Beijing?" You have no conscience, you haven't been in contact with anyone for so long, are you afraid that we will borrow money? There was a long silence on the other end of the line.

The man felt that something was wrong, so he asked, "Xiaoliu, what's wrong with you, are you okay?" ”

Feeling that Xiaoliu was in a bad mood, he said weakly: "It's not good, something happened to me and I just escaped." ”

"Escape? From prison? ”

"No, from the northeast."

The man was confused, but he knew that something must have happened to Xiao Liu, "Xiao Liu, where are you now?" ”

"I'm here at the train station, I called you at a newsstand, I didn't have a penny on me, and the newsstand owner asked me to call you for free."

The man got up anxiously and said, "Little Liu, which newsstand are you in?" I'm going to pick you up now. ”

"This is ......" Xiao Liu seemed to be looking for coordinates, and said after a while, "I'm at the kiosk under the overpass of the train station." ”

"Well, you wait for me, I'll go over to you now, don't walk around."

"Hmm." The man hung up the phone, quickly asked Kee for leave, and ran to the train station.

Arriving at the train station, the man ran up to the overpass, and when he looked down, a familiar thin figure was curled up in a corner of the newsstand, dozing off. When he got closer, he couldn't believe that the person in front of him was Xiaoliu.

Xiaoliu was unkempt, his clothes looked like they hadn't been changed for a long time, they were all dirty and stiff, his cheeks and eye sockets were sunken, and he looked like a little old man from a distance. The man couldn't help but feel a little distressed, he slowly squatted down and asked, "Little Liu?" What's wrong with you? Got a robbery? ”

Xiao Liu squeezed out a smile awkwardly and said, "No, I was fooled, the company we went to interview with was a pyramid marketing group." ”

At a ramen restaurant near the train station, Koroku gobbled up a bowl of ramen, and the hot ramen relieved his fatigue, and his face was somewhat bloody. The man looked at Xiao Liu silently, recalling the bits and pieces of the interview with Xiao Liu at that time, and piecing together the truth of the matter.

Seeing that Xiaoliu finished eating, the man asked, "Let's have another bowl, see if you are hungry." ”

Xiao Liuban lay on the table, waved his hand and said, "It's okay, my stomach will hurt if I eat it again." ”

The man didn't insist, he looked back, the hotel was past lunchtime, and there were few customers, so he turned around and asked, "Little Liu, what's wrong?" What has happened to you in the past year or so? ”

Xiao Liu picked up the cup on the table, took a sip of water, sighed and said, "Do you remember the ** trading company that we went to interview when we were about to graduate?" ”

The man nodded.

"That's a scam company."

"Ahem," the man pounded the table, "Actually, I felt weird when I came back from the interview, but seeing your excited appearance, I didn't say anything, and then you went to the Northeast?" ”

Xiao Liumu clasped his fingernails and began to slowly tell his story.

"Well, they said that they wanted to select the backbone to go to the Northeast to investigate and study, I was the first batch to be selected, and I was very proud at that time, more than 20 of us, singing all the way to the train to the Northeast. When we arrived at the place, more than forty so-called colleagues came to pick us up. We were divided into four groups, each group of five people, with local colleagues, and we were sent to different branches to study. Xiaoliu raised his eyes and looked at the man, and then said, "Actually, on the way to the branch, I already felt that something was wrong. ”

"What's wrong?" The man asked.

"It was more than 9 o'clock in the evening, after the group separated, we first had dinner in a Northeast restaurant, the atmosphere was still very good at that time, there was a man who claimed to be the general manager of the branch, warmly welcomed us, and it was a drink and a homely meal, and I felt very hot." Xiao Liu held the hot water cup in his hand and took a sip of water, "In the middle, I went to the toilet, and a local colleague followed me all the time, and I went to buy cigarettes halfway, and he followed me, which made me a little uncomfortable." After eating, we got on a very broken minibus and said that we were going to the dormitory. After driving for almost two hours, I kept looking out the window, and I noticed that we went from the city to the suburbs, and after a while, it was obvious that we went from the suburbs to the countryside, and then I couldn't even see the countryside, and all around were desolate mountains, and I was scared at that time. Xiao Liu's mind seemed to have the scene at that time again, and a frightened expression appeared on his face.

The man hurriedly reached out and grabbed his arm and comforted, "It's okay, you go on." ”

"When I asked them why they hadn't arrived yet, the expressions on the faces of the old colleagues became weird, and they didn't smile at all, they just said they were almost there." Xiaoliu took a sip of water and continued to say to the man, "When I finally arrived at the dormitory, I got out of the car and saw that it was a lonely courtyard on the mountain. There was a young man from the northern city, who was relatively tall and strong, and after getting out of the car, he was clamoring to leave, and immediately four local colleagues came up, saying that they were persuading, but in fact they dragged him into the house. A few of us were afraid of being beaten, so we obediently went into the yard. There were several rows of houses in the yard, and I was pulled to the second row, opened the door and entered, startled. ”

"What's wrong?" The man couldn't help but ask.

Xiao Liu continued: "There is nothing in that room, the two rows against the wall are all floors, there must be more than forty people, men and women live together, and the room stinks. I was placed in the innermost position. I didn't sleep at all that night, my bowels were blue, and I was only thinking about how to leave. ”

While listening, the man imagined what happened to Xiaoliu, and his heart was sad.

Xiao Liu touched his face, and the man vaguely saw that there were a lot of scratches, he didn't interrupt Xiao Liu, and listened to him continue: "Since the next day, the company has started training." ”

"Training what?"

"It's all dreams, success or something, training for a while, and asking everyone to talk about their feelings, if they don't talk profoundly, they have to do games."

"Making games? And entertainment? ”

"Huh." Xiao Liu smiled bitterly, "What kind of entertainment is actually being beaten." There, the mind is not good, the company is not loved, the team leader is not listened to, and as long as there is any mistake, the game is made. They will make everybody line up in a circle, blindfold you, make you crawl in a circle in the middle, everybody will hit you while shouting 'play and help you succeed,' and everybody will be asked to push hard, but not on the head or face. If you don't work hard to make a game, you will also be made a game, so when you are beaten, you will have palm prints all over your body, and your back will be blue and purple. ”

After listening to this, the man's mouth opened wide, and he didn't slow down for a while.

"Have you ever made a game too?"

"Hmph, everyone has been beaten, of course I have been beaten, you see, I guess I haven't gone down now." Xiao Liu said and lifted his clothes.

The man saw that there were still some faint bruises on his back, but what surprised the man even more was that Xiao Liu's back had many red spots the size of a coin, and some of the feelings had begun to fester, "What are those red spots on your back?" ”

Xiao Liu put down his clothes and said, "It's dirty, in that place, there is no chance to take a bath at all, the house is full of fleas, and everyone is estimated to have skin diseases." ”

The man's heart was sour, his best friend back then was now tortured like this.

"Haven't you thought about running away?" The man hated his misfortune a little and was angry with him, he knew that Xiaoliu's character was a little cowardly.

Xiao Liu shot back: "Escape? You don't even have a chance, you don't even have a chance to leave that yard. As soon as I entered the yard, all my luggage was checked, and the pager, ID card, and academic certificate were collected on the spot. If you need anything, there will be a colleague on duty to buy it for you, but it can only be necessities, and other things that have nothing to do with your life are not allowed to buy. They are very experienced, there was a girl who went together for the first month I couldn't stand it, I couldn't find anything if I wanted to commit suicide, what mirrors, combs, belts were taken away as soon as I entered the compound, she later took advantage of people's inattention, hit the wall and committed suicide, she didn't die, she hit a big hole on her head, and she shed a lot of blood, just like that, the company leaders just bandaged her and continued to let her stay for training. Really, in that kind of place, people are going crazy. ”

"That, that," the man put himself in his shoes, as if he was trapped in it to figure out a way, "then why don't you pretend to have a good attitude, what they say, you just agree, and then look for a chance." ”

Xiao Liu closed his eyes and rested for a few seconds before replying, "That's what I planned. But those people must have seen too much, and it was too hard to get them. First of all, if you show a lot of love for the company and the product, the company will ask you to sell at least two sets of products, one set of 3,980 yuan, and the customer will have someone to send the goods to the customer. We asked to go out and sell our goods, but it was impossible but to call relatives, friends and family. ”

"What about you? Has it been sold? ”

Xiaoliu's expression became much heavier, and he whispered: "I started to endure it all the time, wanting to wait for the opportunity to run, but after several months, there was really no chance at all, in that demon cave, people were really about to have a nervous breakdown, there was really no way, I called my dad and said that I opened a restaurant with a classmate, and it cost 4,000 yuan." Speaking of this, Xiao Liu's tears flowed, "My father said that there is not so much cash at home now, can you wait to open a restaurant again." I really couldn't bear it, so I lied to my dad that I couldn't wait, the hotel business was very good, and I could return to the capital in two months, so I had to pay over immediately, otherwise the hotel would not be able to turn around. My father sold all the pigs in the family, borrowed some money, and scraped together enough money for me to transfer to the company's account. After saying this, Xiao Liu couldn't help but sob.

Of course, the man knows that four thousand yuan is also a huge number for Xiao Liu's family, and he knows what this money means to Xiao Liu's family. The man stretched out his hand, patted Xiao Liu's shoulder, and then took out a tissue from his bag and handed it to Xiao Liu.

Xiao Liu wiped his tears, calmed down a little, and then said: "After earning money for the company, their monitoring of me was relaxed a little, and on the day the money arrived, they also gave me a bowl of instant noodles." ”

"Instant noodles?"

"Well, that's the reward." Xiaoliu said with a wry smile, "We are inside, and we eat two meals a day, and each meal is steamed buns and boiled cabbage." Those vegetables are likely to be picked up in the vegetable market, and the kind that others can't sell out of is like feeding pigs. ”

Men and women don't know what to say to comfort.

The man suddenly remembered something and asked, "Since you can call home, why don't you want to call the police?" ”

"Call the police? When we call, at least two people are staring, and before you call, you have to tell them, who are you calling, what are you going to say, and the process of calling, if something is wrong, they will hang up right away, and then start playing big games for you. Xiaoliu looked at the man and said, "I actually can't remember a few phone numbers, I wanted to call you several times, but I didn't know how to say it, so I never called." ”

"Oh, in fact, you should have called me earlier, you can hint at me casually, I can definitely hear that there is a problem, and I can help you call the police."

Xiao Liu shook his head and said, "Of course I can hint at you, but do you know where I am?" Do you know how to save me? Even I don't know where I am. ”

When the man heard this, he was silent.

"So how did you get out? Still is? ”

"I ran away." Xiao Liu took a deep breath, "After I opened the bill, they began to relax on me, plus I have always pretended to be very submissive and love the company, and I persisted for many months, so they slowly trusted me a little." Xiao Liu picked the scab on his face and said, "Yesterday, another group of new employees were coming, and I was also sent to the train station to pick up the newcomers. ”

"What about the police, why don't you arrest them quickly?"

"Catch?" Xiao Liu sneered, "They asked me what the situation was, I told them all, they said it was a commercial dispute, let me go to the Industrial and Commercial Bureau to report the case first." ”

"Damn, this is too tricky, this is obviously a fraud."

"I also said, let them arrest, they asked me for the specific address of the company, and I couldn't tell. When I asked what the name of the leader was, I didn't know, and when they said they couldn't just say a word from me, they searched the whole city, saying that if I was lying, no one could bear the blame. ”

The man shook his head helplessly after hearing this.

Xiaoliu also sighed and said, "Ahem, in the end, the police still helped me, let me have a full meal, signed a note for me, and let me take the train to Beijing for free." When I see you, I feel a little more at ease. ”

Before they knew it, they had been chatting for nearly three hours, and the sun was about to set. The man looked at his watch and said to Xiaoliu: "Let's go, go to my house, and have a good rest." ”

Xiao Liu looked at his clothes crampedly and said, "I look like this, and I stained your house." ”

The man then remembered and said, "Oh, let's go, I'll take you to a haircut and shower first, and then we'll go home when we're done." After speaking, he took Xiaoliu and went straight to the barbershop.

After getting a haircut and taking a shower, the man bought a clean new dress for Xiaoliu at a clothing store on the side of the road, and after changing into it, Xiaoliu finally looked like a person. Xiaoliu also wanted to wash and take away the changed clothes, but when the man saw it, the clothes were no different from those who asked for food, and he couldn't wash them out at all, so he snatched them up and threw them into the trash.

When I got home by bus, Jiajia hadn't come back yet, and the man and Xiaoliu were sitting on the bed chatting and watching TV.

At about 7 o'clock, the door slammed open and Jiajia returned. As soon as she pushed the door, Jiajia was startled, there was one more person sitting on the bed, and she looked at it, it was Xiaoliu! Jiajia rushed over excitedly with a punch, which made Xiaoliu just want to stand up, and then fell on the bed with a punch, grinning with a painful expression.

The man hurriedly grabbed Jiajia and said, "Second goods, be a little harder, Xiaoliu is not in good health." ”

Jiajia noticed that Xiao Liu had lost a lot of weight, and hurriedly asked, "Xiao Liu, why did you lose weight like this?" ”

Xiao Liu coughed embarrassedly twice, and the man pulled Jiajia to his side and briefly told Xiao Liu's experience. Jiajia couldn't speak for a long time after listening to it.

After a while, Jiajia asked Xiao Liu: "Then what should you do next?" ”

Xiaoliu rubbed his tired eyes, and said after a while: "I haven't thought about it, I want to go back to my hometown first, my parents don't know what I've experienced this year, I'll go back to see them, let them rest assured first, and then find a serious job and go to work hard." ”

The man nodded and said, "Well, let's go home first, and when I get better, come to Beijing to find me, there are still a lot of job opportunities in Beijing, and it is not a problem to earn food." ”

At night, Xiao Liu lay on the same bed with the man and Jiajia, Xiao Liu felt that he had a skin disease, insisted on not taking off his clothes, and lay on the edge of the bed, not even turning over.

The man sighed, couldn't say anything, and gradually fell asleep.

When he woke up in the morning, the man saw that Xiaoliu had gotten up, sitting silently on the edge of the bed and looking out of the window motionlessly, not knowing what he was thinking. Seeing that the man woke up, Xiaoliu said hello softly.

"What time did you wake up?" The man asked in a whisper.

Xiaoliu said softly: "I don't know, I can't sleep, I get up early." ”

"Well, let's go wash our faces, pack up and go downstairs to eat."

Xiao Liu nodded, and the two of them tiptoed out.

came to the breakfast stall downstairs, ordered tofu brain and fritters, and the two of them ate it. As soon as Xiaoliu ate a few bites, he said to the man, "Man, I want to go home today." ”

The man put down his chopsticks and said, "Why are you in such a hurry?" You should at least go to the hospital to see your skin disease first, and when you get better and fatter, your parents will not suspect it when you go home. ”

Xiaoliu shook his head and said: "It's okay, it's the same when you go home, you just came to Beijing, it's not easy, I can't live in your house permanently, you have no opinion, your neighbors will be annoyed." ”

The man still wanted to save a few words, but Xiao Liu blocked the words back and said, "That's it, I'll leave when you go to work in a while, don't say it." ”

The man didn't speak, lowered his head and continued to eat his fritters, and Xiaoliu also silently began to eat.

When he was about to finish eating, Xiao Liu seemed to be talking to himself, and seemed to whisper to the man: "The train from Beijing to Beicheng is ninety-seven yuan, right?" ”

The man snorted, suddenly remembered something, hurriedly put down his chopsticks, took out his wallet and counted it, he still had more than 400 yuan, took it all out and handed it over and said: "Xiaoliu, you can use this money to buy a ticket, you have to transfer cars when you go to Northern City, and you can't have a penny when you get home, you can use it first." ”

Xiaoliu took it, calculated in his heart, took out two hundred yuan and returned it to the man, saying, "No need, two hundred yuan is enough for me to buy train tickets and bus tickets." ”

The man pushed the money over again and said, "Come on, you don't eat or drink on the road, you can use it wide and narrow, and you can't go out with money." ”

Xiao Liu desperately pushed back and said: "It's enough, I've calculated, plus enough food and drink, this money will be paid back when I ease up, you will definitely pay it back, you eat quickly, and you will have to go to work in a while." After finishing eating, he finished eating his tofu brain, wiped his mouth, stood up and walked in the direction of home.

The man looked at Xiaoliu's emaciated and slightly rickety back, and unconsciously recalled the scene of laughing and playing together in college, his heart was sour, and tears fell into his tofu brain. Take a bite, salty.