Working on the "docks" is not an easy job, with a large number of goods unloading or loading every day, almost from dawn until late at night.

The salary of this job is very low, and the intensity is very high, so it is difficult to recruit enough people, which is why there is a breach of contract clause that requires 50 yuan to be paid in less than half a year. As for why it's half a year instead of a year, two years or even longer, there is also a reason. This kind of high-intensity work may only bring people a feeling of exhaustion at the beginning, but as the working hours increase, the physical aspect is no longer as simple as exhaustion.

Lack of nutritional supplements, no comfortable rest environment, and steam locomotives will pass by at night, and over time, these porters will more or less have some physical problems, such as "occupational diseases" such as bone deformities. According to the ideas of the capitalists, these sick workers can no longer take on the heavy work of porters, and it is already a loss to spend money to support them, to give them food, drink and shelter, and the only way out for these workers is to be kicked out.

But things can't go so smoothly because of the existence of trade unions. The trade union is something that makes all capitalists feel sick to their stomachs and want to vomit in a big gulp, they hate the trade unions, and they can't do without the trade unions, so they can only pinch their noses and try to make themselves feel better, and avoid certain rules under the dual care of imperial law and theocratic law.

For example, if an occupational disease is considered a work-related injury, either the station pays a lot of money to send the workers away, or they are supported until they are forty-five years old.

God is above, let alone feeding them, even paying an extra five cents is an act of cutting flesh that can make them feel pain for the capitalists, so the agreement at the station is signed every six months. After the expiration of the agreement, the station will issue a note to the workers who ask for a contract renewal, and they will only be able to continue the agreement after a medical examination to confirm that they are not sick or have skeletal deformities. As for those workers who have physical problems, they are directly thrown out, and after fulfilling the contract, whether these workers are sick from overwork or because of heavy physical work at the station, it has nothing to do with the station.

At that time, the unions will not have the power or excuse to fight each other at the station.

Of course, Dühring would not have known this, for in Mr. Crane's eyes he was a country fool who was thrown out at the end of six months and left to his own devices!

Dulin arrived at the station early the next morning, and there was already a hint of autumn coolness in the early hours of the late summer and early autumn. He rubbed his hands on his arms, bringing some warmth to his body. When I stood on the edge of the platform with oil lamps, there were already many workers around, ready to meet the first steam locomotive.

"New here?", a sturdy man-bear guy in his thirties wearing only a vest, with a cigarette in his mouth, took another one, and handed it to Durin.

When they were in the country, the brothers would sometimes steal Mr. Kersma's cigarettes, and each of them would take a puff, not necessarily for pleasure, but purely for a merry pastime. Faced with the cigarette handed by the stranger, he hesitated, but still took it, and thanked him for it, "Thank you for the cigarette, I'm Durin." ”

The man-bear took out a match and rubbed it on Durin's collar, and suddenly a thick white smoke rose. Both of them tilted their heads to avoid the puff of white smoke, which was said to be poisonous, before they reached the burning match and lit a cigarette.

The guy shook the match and threw it on the ground, stepped on it a few more times, ran it over, took a deep breath, and said while puffing on the cigarette, "Smoking is not allowed in the station, and it is said that there have been disasters in other places where smoking in the station caused the goods to be burned. He held out his hand and grinned toothlessly, "My name is Graff, and I'm glad to be your co-worker." ”

Durin reached out and shook Graff's hand, and suddenly felt a lot closer. That's the beauty of socializing, where a simple conversation and a sharing that might not be a gift can quickly bring two strangers closer together.

"I'm honored with that, sir. Duhrin was very polite, he nodded and took a drag on his cigarette, and then coughed.

Graff laughed loudly, he patted Durin on the back, and said with a smile: "Don't use the word sir, that's used by the big people of high society, just call me by my name." Besides, is it enough?", he plucked the cigarette from the corner of his mouth and held it in front of Durin with two fingers.

It took a while for Dulin to come through, he didn't dare to smoke this cigarette anymore, his face was a little pale when he coughed, "What the hell is in here?"

Graff seemed very happy and proud, "In addition to a small portion of the tobacco leaves, there were straw, shredded vine melons, and by the way, some blood orange peels and a little bit of pepper peel ground into flour." ”

"Leave that kid alone, Graff, who can stand that thing?", someone had already noticed the situation, and immediately a worker laughed and shouted.

Graff didn't care at all, put the cigarette back to his mouth, and glanced at them, "This guy can stand it!", he arched Durin with his arm, almost throwing Durin off balance and falling to the ground, "Do you think it's good to smoke?"

In fact, most of the cigarettes that workers smoke are cigarettes with something added to them, because they don't make enough money to qualify them to consume something as expensive as cigarettes. They usually pick up some cigarette butts that have about one centimeter left from the station, pour out the tobacco leaves, and collect them. If these tobacco leaves are simply rolled into cigarettes, they may only be rolled out of two or three cigarette butts for a day. But if you add a little material, you can roll out a pack more or less.

The upper class has the luxury of the upper class, and the lower class also has the survival wisdom of the lower society. After trying a lot of things, most people approve of sun-dried vine melon shreds and sun-dried blood orange peel. As for Graff's added straw and paprika...... , that's his personal hobby.

Durin looked at Graff's sincere eyes and the expectation in his eyes, and the kind and simple country boy could only take another sip, his face was about to turn white, "Yes, yes!", and coughed a few more times after speaking, which made Graff laugh.

Durin could see that Graff wasn't playing with him, but was laughing genuinely.

At this time, the steam locomotive in the distance began to whistle, and the workers began to pack up their tools, standing on the edge of the platform and waiting to unload.

When the steam locomotive arrived, Dühring discovered that the so-called "standard cargo" was not a package, a sack or a box, but many, many things. According to what he had learned in his dreams, there were almost four cubes. In fact, if you think about it, if you can give two cents just for running back and forth, I'm afraid that the station doesn't need to hire workers at all, and it will have been crowded with workers a long time ago.

Graff handed Durin two ropes tied together at both ends, and then helped him put his arms over his shoulders to form an X shape behind his back, "If you only use brute force, you won't have the strength to run five or six times at most, and use this rope to tie the two corners of the box, you can use the strength of your whole body, and it is relatively easy without hurting your body." As he spoke, he slammed his fist into Durin's shoulder, "You have more to learn, brother!"

The morning work was relatively easy, and there were not many steam locomotives to catch up with the night road, and it was only in the afternoon that Durin felt real fatigue. Steam locomotives kept coming into the station, and Mr. Crane came out of his office, scolding the workers while arranging the scheduling, and was busy almost from a little more than one o'clock until seven o'clock in the evening, before he had time to catch his breath.

Durin, whose arms had already begun to tremble, and who could not even clench his fists, sat on the edge of the table, holding a piece of bread in his trembling hands, and bowed his head to drink the broth placed on the table.

Today one day, according to the workers, he earned twelve points. If this progress continues, he can earn five yuan this month, which is already a good result for a novice.

Graff also came over with a bowl full of broth and a few loaves of bread, and he sat down beside Durin, and tore the bread so loudly that he couldn't even speak clearly, "Don't take a shower at night, take off your clothes and go to bed, don't do anything else, or tomorrow you won't be able to do anything." ”

Durin always believed what experienced people said, and Graff didn't say anything that struck him as ridiculous, just kept him from taking a shower. It didn't take long for Durin to believe Graff's advice, and he asked a question.

"Mr. Crane told me that in a few days the union people would come to me and tell me not to join the union, should I join?"

Graff immediately showed a look of contempt on his face, he glanced back at the lighted window on the second floor, and sneered, "Don't listen to that liar, if you don't join the union, who can guarantee the rights and interests of us low-level workers?

Durin nodded, drank the broth from the bowl in one gulp, and actually ate a piece of meat the size of a little fingernail.

"I see!"