Nine-year-old me and I stood under the eaves of a street-side store, watching the rain fall on the ground. I don't remember exactly.

We've been living in a hotel since the last time we were kicked out by our landlord, and now it's probably been more than a month. Since my father drove a taxi, after investing his daily income in hotel money and food money, there was basically not much left, so we couldn't pay three mortgages for renting a house, and we didn't even have spare money to pay one.

Just two days ago, we were discovered by creditors who locked the tires of my father's car in order to force him to pay back. But even so, no money is no money, and we can't take it out, so my father has no income in the past two days. As a result, we couldn't even afford to live in a hotel.

Since two days ago, we have not dared to stay in the hotel during the day, and we can only tiptoe back to our rooms to sleep when the front desk staff fall asleep late at night. As for the food, we haven't eaten for a day.

"Book, make a phone call to your mother and ask her for child support." My father was talking to me from the side.

I saw him take out his phone and dial the number and put it to his ear, so I walked silently into the distance, because I don't like to hear the sound of a fight, it will make me feel scared.

I watched my father on the phone from a distance, and the voice still came a little bit, and I put on my headphones to comfort myself with the little battery left on my phone. Seeing him put his phone back in his pants pocket, I stepped back on.

"Did she say yes?" At this point, I just want to have a hot pot of food that will fill my stomach.

"She called me on WeChat, but it took a few hours to transfer to the card, and soon, we went to eat as soon as the money arrived." Hearing him say that, I was a little happier.

In 13 years, online payment was not developed, and most stores could only use credit cards or cash payments, and WeChat payment, which had not yet begun to be popularized, naturally did not exist, and the time required to transfer to the card sometimes took several hours, especially at night, and cash withdrawals often had to wait until the next day to arrive.

In the meantime I glanced at the time, and I should be able to eat tonight.

This is half a day, and Baoshan District at 11 o'clock in the evening is far less lively than the city center, and there are few people on the roadside. I listened to music with headphones on, and I walked around alone in front of the ATM, while my father was by the machine to check if the child support had arrived.

I've been hungry for more than 24 hours, and I've been suffering from stomach pains in my abdomen.

"Why don't we find a store to eat and wait for the money to arrive while eating, or your stomach won't be able to stand it." My father came up to me and offered it to me.

Then I said yes and followed him into a chicken pot shop, where we simply ordered a small pot with some side dishes and most importantly, rice to really fill our stomachs.

The waiter brought the bottom of the pot up, and I picked up my bowl of rice and began to feast on it, while my father, who was sitting across from me, swayed and drank a bottle of beer and gave me half of his bowl of rice.

When we had our fill of food and drink, we sat back in place.

"I'll go see if the money has arrived, and if it doesn't, we'll sit a little longer." My father whispered to me.

Through the misty glass, I watched my father's figure fade into obscurity, and I felt terrified. Ever since my mother left, whenever I went out with my father, whenever he left my sight, I would be very afraid, afraid of being abandoned again.

Soon, however, as his figure became clearer, my fear dissipated. He went to pay the bill and took me back to the hotel, it was nearly one o'clock in the morning, the waiter at the front desk had already fallen asleep, but we still had to wake her up, after all, we had not paid the rent for two days, and our room card had long been unable to open the door.

After paying to reactivate the key card, we didn't grind and went upstairs to sleep, after all, we have been wandering outside for almost a day.