In the evening, Catherine, who had been working all day, changed her clothes and set out on the journey home, refusing the offer of several suitors to take her on a bicycle and insisting on walking home.

The wind blowing on the face at night in summer does not feel too cool, but carries the last trace of fire and heat during the day, which makes people extremely irritable.

Catherine is a strong girl, and she doesn't show much of the slightest emotion, even though there may be something else in her heart.

She returned home before it was completely dark, and since she moved back to her own home, she never stayed on the street after it was dark.

It's not safe here, and sin comes when night completely covers the sky.

The sound of quarrels, fights, and even gunshots at night is commonplace here, including cries for help and sirens blaring incessantly.

As soon as the door was closed, Catherine felt a different atmosphere, and the atmosphere in the house today seemed to be a little heavy.

She changed her shoes, hung her five-dollar bag on a hanger, and headed for the living room.

Her father sat on the shabby couch he had snatched from the garbage heap, and her mother had a sad face.

The man didn't seem to hear the door open and close, and kept his eyes fixed on the TV, but it was Catherine's mother, who looked up at Catherine and lowered her head again.

"What's wrong?", Catherine asked, feeling that today the couple was not the same as usual.

The man was still watching TV, as if he hadn't heard anything, Catherine's mother had a sad and bitter expression on her face, and her voice trembled slightly, "Your father, he...... Unemployed. ”

This is a very normal thing, in fact, people have been mentally prepared since the second half of last year, many factories have begun to shut down, even if the union organized a workers' demonstration to demand the resumption of work, they did not dare to make too much trouble.

They even set the "strike" on the weekend, which became an international joke, but it also reflected how contradictory and acute the social problems of the time were.

Catherine's father's factory declared bankruptcy today, which is also a sign, they have stopped the introduction of raw materials since last month, in fact, they have long had this premonition, but they have been unwilling to face it, and they do not want to believe that bad luck will befall them.

Catherine was silent, her salary was not much, only two hundred and twenty-five dollars a month, just slightly above the minimum floor required by the minimum hourly wage law.

Before today, her father could get a salary ranging from 300 to 350 yuan a month, which was more than enough for two people to support the family.

But if Catherine only has the salary of one person, it is really difficult to support this family of three.

At present, the factories are basically not hiring, and even if the city hall asks the factories to add some jobs, they have not fulfilled the requirements.

When there is a lack of profits, every employee is like Marfa on the other side of the scale in front of death.

A thousand-person factory will pay hundreds of thousands of dollars a month just for paychecks, and if they don't have enough profits, just paying wages a month can bankrupt them, so no company will choose to expand at this time, even if the city hall asks them to do so.

This also meant that Catherine's father had a hard time finding suitable, long-term work at the job centre, perhaps short-term work, or even any work.

Not to mention Catherine's mother, she has no work experience, and even if she goes to study now, she will not have this opportunity, in other words, the burden of supporting the family will be backlogged on Catherine's body.

Her monthly salary of 225 yuan will be the only source of support for the family.

All three fell silent, and Catherine's father, who had been watching television, seemed to be stimulated to lock himself in a small world.

Catherine's mother, on the other hand, was sad, sighing from time to time, and worried about the future.

Catherine, on the other hand, felt tired, the only thing she had felt in years.

There had been such feelings before, but not so deeply, until this moment began, she felt a deep exhaustion.

She is not a girl without life and social experience, and she knows very well that the reason why she and her family are in the current situation is due to their family background, social class and education.

The latter is more problematic, if she could go to college, or go to accounting or some other full-time job after high school, she might have a very different job now.

The older young man who pursued her was because he studied accounting, and now he not only has a decent job, but also has a salary that is not low.

But she can only think about how difficult it is for a child born in an ordinary family to continue his education after graduating from high school.

Dinner was a little less than usual in the evening, and Catherine's father suddenly broke out at the dinner table, and he threw a tantrum and broke the plate, and then left in a rage.

In the man's opinion, because he lost his job, the women in the family no longer respected him, and he felt that he had been neglected.

The mother and daughter just accepted it all calmly and silently, and then cleaned up the mess.

Early the next morning, Catherine's father left the house to find some work on the street, and after a night he had come to terms with the fact.

Life has to go on, and if he really does nothing and lies in the house, at most for a month or two, they will sell the house and wander the streets.

It took him more than ten years to have his current life, and he didn't want to lose it so easily, he still had to persevere.

Catherine also faced life calmly and chose to work.

However, at noon, the young man found her again.

"I heard from my aunt that my uncle was unemployed......"

Catherine glanced at him, but did not give any reply, which made the young man a little embarrassed, and he began to stutter a little.

"What if...... I mean if, if I take uncle... Arrange to work in our mall... What do you think?", he said with a hint of excitement on his face, gnawing at his mouth.

He has a good relationship with the manager of the mall and will help with the manager's personal tax return, which allows the manager to save a sum of money every time he files his taxes, which is also the value of accounting.

In addition to the manager, the management side of the supermarket will rely on his profession to a greater or lesser extent, and personal tax filing also needs to ask an accountant to help, and the help needs to be paid accordingly.

Young people will also receive it, but they will receive very little, which makes him have a good popularity in the management.

Catherine's mother came to him in the morning, explained the situation, and asked if it would be possible for Catherine's father to work at the mall, even if the salary was lower.

In fact, for supermarkets at this stage, their business performance is much better than many people think, and they are even maintaining a healthy profit standard against the trend.

But they won't say that, and they also have to show the difficult side of business to win sympathy, to lower the salary standard, so as to free up more profit margins.

The young man talked to the manager, who offered to let Catherine's father work in the warehouse, where some manual workers were needed, and a basic salary would be paid.

So he came to Catherine to ask for credit, and by the way, he also hoped that through this incident, the contact between the two sides would develop by leaps and bounds.

Catherine didn't nod or refuse, but ended the conversation between the two with a discussion with her family.

But it made the young man feel that there was a chance that this thing would achieve his goal, and it was the first time in this time that Catherine had not directly rejected the idea he had proposed, which was a good sign.

After a boring day of work and a long ordeal or a short wait, Catherine refused to be sent home and returned home alone.

Her father had returned, and the man who had always had a certain self-confidence had become decadent at this point.

In a single day, there were only a few dozen jobs in the city, but thousands of people were waiting at the job center!

Catherine's father didn't have a resume at all, there were too many people who were more capable than him, and he didn't even get an interview, which made him realize that he shouldn't expect to get a job in a short period of time.

This made him very frustrated, and even doubted his own worth.

Catherine's mother was just as speechless, and she had not yet told her husband about the young man she had found, nor had she told Catherine.

She was going to wait for the young man to give her an answer.

Both were a little languishing, but Catherine was about to have a seizure.

She hung her bag on the clothes rack and returned home as usual, but her steps were a little heavier.

She went for a glass of water, then moved a chair, sat across from the couch, and reached out to turn off the TV.

This action made the eyes of both husband and wife focus on her, and there was no obvious anger on her face, only calm.

She looked at her mother, and in the same calm tone, asked a very sharp question, "How much are you going to sell me?"

One sentence made the man raise his head suddenly, and Catherine's mother's face also changed somewhat, but Catherine didn't give them much time to react.

"Roma found me at noon, and he gave me a hint that he would give my father a job as long as I was willing to accompany him, how much are you going to sell me?"

Obviously, she behaved very calmly, but it gave the couple a very heavy pressure, especially at this special time, when the family's life depended on Catherine's salary, which made her voice full of strength even if it was not so high!