Chapter 3: Dignity and Money
Silence, silence, silence! The atmosphere is like a world that is gradually frozen, from the hustle and bustle to the silence!
I once longed to meet the scene again, the wind was beautiful, the sun was shining, strolling through the lively streets, wandering in the alleys of the ancient town, I used to have too many things to say to her, but now I don't know where to start, and I don't know what to say.
Oh, yes! If there is no such thing, everything will gradually fade with the passage of time, and the hasty encounter may also leave in a hurry.
"It seems that you haven't changed much in the past few years", perhaps to ease the silent atmosphere, Xue Ruoya said.
"It's okay, you've changed a lot, you're much more mature, lively, and cheerful than before," I replied.
"So, I wasn't cheerful and lively before?"
"You said it yourself, I didn't say it."
After the short words, everything returned to calm, in fact, we are very sad in our hearts, life and death, maybe it really happened to us, in order to have a deep understanding of these four words.
"Xiaoyue is not in a very good state, I'll go up to accompany her first"
"Hmm"
As Xue Ruoya's figure disappeared into view, I lowered my head, put the cigarette in the corner of my mouth, and with a "pop~" sound, the flame came into contact with the tobacco, and a puff of white smoke slowly rose.
The smell of smoke is terrible, and I think it is, and I used to want to get rid of it, but I still couldn't quit it, and I thought, if a person can quit smoking, then he must be a person with extreme self-discipline and perseverance, obviously, I am not that kind of person.
I looked up at the distant sky blankly, thinking back to the past, my heart was full of yearning, but the carefree, chic and joyful days were gone. At this time, I didn't dare to think about the present, and I didn't dare to think about the future.
"Don't worry, it's nothing," I said to myself.
The anxiety and sorrow in my heart kept coming over me, and when I was alone, I was most likely to get cranky, and I thought I should walk around.
Out of the gate of the hospital, there was a wide avenue at the door, and there was a lot of traffic on the road, and I stood on the side of the road, not knowing where to go, and I wanted to cross the road to the opposite side, but the cars were so fast that they whistled past me like a gust of wind.
Sometimes, it's good to slow down! I smiled bitterly and shook my head helplessly.
When there were fewer cars, I walked quickly across the middle of the road and walked to the opposite side, not far ahead, surrounded by a group of people. I'm not a person who likes to watch the show, but at this point, I need the noise of human voices to replace the worry in my head.
"Say, how much money you want, I'll give it to you"
"Why do you talk like this?"
"Look at what you have knocked people into, and you can make sense"
Some people also shouted: "Call the police, let the police deal with it"
I walked through the crowd and saw a man about 50 years old sitting on the side of the road, with a few abrasions on his arm, oozing with traces of blood, and an electric car was lying next to him, and the melons, fruits and vegetables pulled on the car were scattered all over the ground, and next to the electric car, a black car was parked, and there were obvious marks of impact at the front of the car.
I looked up and saw that there were no traffic lights at this intersection, so there was no surveillance, but the people who saw it said that the electric car was moving forward, and the black sedan suddenly turned sharply, causing the two cars to collide. Some people also said that the person driving the black car was still on the phone when he came down, and he didn't mean to look at the person first.
When I looked at the driver of the car, he was in his early thirties, with a short flat head, a pair of glasses, a white watch on his wrist, a blue shirt, and a gold belt exposed, looking very much like a successful person.
"Whatever you see, it's all scattered," the driver of the sedan waved his hand to disperse the crowd of onlookers, then took out a wad of money from his purse, counted a few and threw them in front of the middle-aged man on the side of the road.
"That's enough for you to see a doctor, and the extra money should be used to buy your broken things," the driver of the sedan said, then returned to the car, and then drove away.
"Phew, what kind of person is this, it's a lot of money."
"People like this will get into a car accident sooner or later"
"If I were you, I would have to make him apologize even if I didn't want money, it was useless"
The onlookers scolded and scolded, and after a while, they all walked away one after another, leaving me standing alone.
"Nothing, right?"
"A little bruising, it's fine", the middle-aged man picked up the money on the ground and put it in his pocket, and slowly stood up.
I helped him pick up the fallen electric car, put the things scattered on the ground into the box on the car, and when everything was cleaned up, the middle-aged man said thank you and handed over a cigarette.
"Your injuries, don't you go to the hospital to see them?"
"This little injury is nothing, the child in the family is going to get married next year, so you can save a little", the middle-aged man took a deep breath of cigarette and slowly spit it out.
"You may not be able to sell these dishes," I regretted.
"This is a gift to someone, and the money given by the person just now, in addition to paying to others, is a lot more."
Before a cigarette was finished, the middle-aged man had already ridden away, and I looked at his departing back, and from him, I seemed to see the epitome of many people.
I didn't ask him, did he feel humiliated to take this money? I could tell from the look in his eyes that the answer was not that important anymore.
Some people may say that if a person does not even have dignity, he is just a walking corpse alive. But sometimes, a person lives more for others, for parents, for children, and for the whole family.
This reminds me of the story of a professor whose wife was seriously ill and needed a lot of money to be hospitalized, and this professor kept taking lectures and lectures, as long as he could earn money, he would do it.
Some people criticized him for completely ignoring the literati for the sake of money, but he said that if he couldn't even take care of his wife, what was the use of those fame and fortune.
In contrast, what can those who have no knowledge, rely only on their own physical strength, and earn money with their own hands, when faced with astronomical medical expenses?
I snuffed out the cigarette butt and didn't continue to think about it, because I didn't know what I would do, dignity and money, for ordinary people at the bottom, were completely biased in one side of the scale.
I think there should be such people who put dignity first, maybe that is also a very small minority.
The sound of cicadas that had been chirping suddenly stopped, and I felt a vague uneasiness in my heart, and I looked down at the time, it was four past eleven.
"Where are you?" At this time, Xue Ruoya sent a message.
"Go back right away!"
I didn't ask her anything, I didn't dare to ask her, and ran straight to the hospital, and the uneasiness in my heart became more and more intense.