The Beginning
Chapter 26: The Nineteenth Cycle of Time (II)

Mr. Jiao sat in the bus with his eyes blankly wondering where he could go to spend the night.

The site where he used to work had a major accident and was unable to start work. Three months ago, the workers were paid their last wages and left to fend for themselves.

It was hard to replace work in the city, he was already in his forties, and although he was a strong man, people wanted younger men. Not to mention the fact that he is a dumb speaker and every time the recruiter asks him more questions, he stammers.

Some of the workers who worked together on the site found it too difficult to make a living in the city, and some had already gone back home, while others advised him to go back too, rather than spend his time in the city.

His wife died young and the family is now relying on the elderly to look after the land, and he has a daughter who is studying at home.

His only daughter, who has been a good student since she was a child, is now attending a secondary school in the county, but the only problem is that the cost of living and accommodation is a big expense for him.

In order to keep his daughter from dropping out of school, Mr. Jiao had to grit his teeth and continue to work in the city.

Older local houses sometimes rent out their garages as ordinary houses. These garages have no windows but are of a decent height, so you can put a bed and a cupboard in it, and once the roller shutter is pulled, you have a separate cabin.

The garage is cold in the winter and hot in the summer, with no ventilation and no separate toilet.

Mr. Jiao felt that he could save a little until he found a new job, as the "severance pay" was not much.

I have been looking for a job for more than a month, and I have lost a pair of shoes, but I have not found a reliable job. I was looking for a job, but I couldn't replace any reliable work, so I decided to ask Mr. Jiao to join me.

But he had to buy his own battery car to run the takeaway, and he had to get a good phone with software. Although his workmate said he could give him an obsolete phone to use first, the problem of the battery car had not yet been solved.

If you don't buy a battery-operated car, you can rent one for the first time, but it costs 500 yuan a month just to rent the car. If you don't earn much money in the first few months, after deducting the rent and food expenses and the rent of the battery-operated car, it's a good thing that you don't have to pay back, and it's a problem if you don't have money to send back home.

Mr. Jiao's previous work was cost-free and required only effort, but this was the first time he had to do something so "big" that he had to hesitate for a while.

The landlord didn't dare to rent out the garage anymore, and gave him a refund for this month's rent. His landlord was afraid to rent out the garage again and refunded his rent for the month and told him to leave.

Probably because he felt sorry for Mr. Jiao, the landlord gave him his son's old gym bag when he left, so that he could use it to collect his things.

The province's large plastic bags are carried in small plastic bags and look more and more desolate.

In fact, a man like Mr. Jiao has nothing to lose.

A few clothes and a few pairs of shoes, plus all the sundries that could be stuffed into the bag to take away, all together filled the gym bag, which was all he had.

Without arguing with the landlord, he took the few hundred dollars and walked out of the garage with his old gym bag, Mr. Jiao with mixed feelings and a bewildered face.

Happy that the landlord has refunded a few hundred dollars for the first month's car hire for the takeaway.

If he rents another apartment, not only will he not be able to replace one that is so cheap, but the few hundred dollars he has just received will be taken as a deposit and he will not be able to do his work.

Mr. Jiao was hesitant to get on the bus to Jiangbei with all his belongings, and started to think about whether to sleep in the park or at the train station for the next few days.

"Or we sleep in the park when it's sunny and at the train station when it's raining ......"

Mr. Jiao thought indifferently, "Both places have toilets and free water to wash up, so I'll make do for a while, and then replace a proper place to stay when the takeaway job runs out."

He was so absorbed in his thoughts that he completely missed the fact that two young men stood up in the car, not to mention that one of them was standing in front of him.

It was only when a large shadow appeared in front of him that he looked up as an afterthought and saw a young man wearing glasses.

Before he could say anything, the lad knelt down beside him and handed him a half-page of paper.

"I don't ......"

He had seen such things before, some of them were small advertisements, some were selling things, and although it was the first time he had met one on a bus, he subconsciously thought of this Boy as a "promoter" selling something.

But the young man in front of him made a "shhh" gesture and held the piece of paper firmly in front of his eyes, indicating that he should read it.

On the piece of paper is a line of Thucydides, written in a very neat handwriting that is very easy to read.

But what is written on it is pretty much bullshit.

Hello, I'm a plainclothes police officer. I'm getting on a train to carry out an official task and I need your assistance. A middle-aged woman in the back of the car wearing a flowery shirt is carrying a bomb and a dangerous knife, which could detonate at any time and endanger the safety of the passengers on board.

Mr. Jiao's eyes twitched when he saw this, and he looked at the young man in front of him with an odd expression.

"You ......"

He pointed to the words "plainclothes police" on the piece of paper and looked suspicious, "Young man, you're not lying, are you?"

Don't think that just because he's from the countryside that he's a good liar, nowadays you have to take a medical check to become a police officer, this young man wears glasses and is so skinny, how does he look like a plain clothes police officer?

Not some new scam that preys on honest people!

The young man seemed to have guessed that he would have such suspicions, so he simply came up next to him and whispered softly, "In your bag, there are two pairs of canvas shoes, an old blue towel, army green trousers, a few pairs of insoles, a stainless steel bowl and stainless steel chopsticks wrapped in a red plastic bag, oh yes, and an unopened packet of drawing paper, the cottage ' Heart to Heart', with that word in the middle for want."

The look of amazement on Mr. Jiao's face increased with every word Boy said, especially when it came to the "Heartwarming Seal", and he opened his bag in disbelief and quickly searched for it.

He was dumbfounded when he pulled the packet of drawers out of his bag and saw "Heartwarming Seal" written in the middle.

He had packed all these things in a hurry this morning, when he was drowning in the terrible news that he would 'soon have no place to live', and his mind was so blank that he shoved many things in without looking at them himself.

For example, he had no recollection of whether the plastic bag wrapped around the rice bowl was red or white.

He also took back this "Heartwarming" paper, which he had never opened, when he saw that it was a pity that he had not opened it during the lunch break at the foreman's place.

It's been a few months, who remembers what brand it was?

But this young man not only knew every single thing in his bag, he could even give precise details of the contents of his bag, which is definitely not by hoodwinking.

Despite his robust and fierce looks, the older man was essentially an honest and simple man, and when he saw the situation, his mind couldn't help but wander.

"I've heard there's a type of police officer who specialises in technology and can check everything, all high achievers, is this chap one of those tech cops who sweeps through our luggage with something that shines into people's bags?"

The thought of this gave him another shock.

"It's over! If they can sweep out what everyone is carrying, is there really a bomb in this car?"

At the thought of a bomb in the car, Mr. Jiao almost jumped out of his seat and his face turned pale.

"But, but do the police need the help of ordinary people in their cases too?"

Following the lad's mysterious example, he also lowered his voice and asked in his ear, "Don't you know to send up more men?"

"We are afraid of spooking the grass ......"

The young man in glasses said bitterly, "leading to a shortage of staff now and having to ask passengers on the bus to help."

"So, what is that going to help with?"

After what the young man had just "shown", Mr. Jiao subconsciously felt a sense of awe for the young man in front of him, "I don't know anything!"

The young man smiled but did not say anything and turned the piece of paper over.

It is also written on the back of that page.

[The middle-aged woman in the back row wearing a floral dress is carrying a pressure cooker with explosives in it, which will explode if the pressure valve is removed. We need you to join us in controlling the woman, grabbing her hands or arms and making sure she can't touch anything. She also has a fruit knife on her person, which is dangerous in the process of subduing her, so care must be taken and it is best not to give her the opportunity to pull out the murder weapon. After seizing the pressure cooker, we will throw it out of the vehicle.]

Mr. Jiao read the whole paragraph with trepidation, staring at the glasses on the young man's face, and felt a chill running down his back.

It was fine to subdue a middle-aged woman with a police officer, but the point was that this woman was not only armed with a knife, but also with a bomb!

There were so many people in the car, and this young man was the first one to approach him, what was he capable of?

"Uncle, do yourself a favour ......"

The young man's eyes were full of pleading, "After all, this matter concerns the safety of the whole car, this car of passengers old and young, like you both robust and reliable few, after all, is ahem ......, if something really happens, none of the people on the car can escape... ..."

"I, I don't think I'm right, can't you replace someone else ......"

Mr. Jiao rubbed his hands together nervously, woefully avoiding the pleading gaze of the "plainclothes policeman".

"It's not that I'm not willing to help, my parents at home are old, my wife died young, there is a daughter at home who is in school, the family depends on me, in case something happens to me ......"

With each word he spoke, the hopeful light in the young man's eyes dimmed a little, and even his crouching movements showed a little bit of pity.

"I got it ......"

He slumped his shoulders like a big dog that had been refused to be taken out of the house and tried to continue to convince him, "You, you can actually think again, it's saving lives, it's a great thing ......"

But as he talked, he couldn't go on himself.

It is easy to say that a man with an old man and a young man, who is the backbone of his family, should put his life on the line to subdue a gangster, but it is like moral abduction.

Xiao Heyun is not a saint, but looking at his white washed jacket and trousers, and the hesitant look on his face as he clutched his bag, he could not continue to persuade him.

"OK then, I'll look for ......"

He was about to stand up when his shoulders were held down.

"Young man, I've heard that if you 'do something brave', you get some kind of bonus, don't you?"

Mr. Jiao, as if suddenly remembering something, had a certain eagerness in his eyes and took the sleeve of the young man in front of him, with shame and blushing.

"Ah, there it is. ......"

The guy with the glasses seemed to be a bit confused as he didn't expect Mr. Jiao to ask this question.

"How many are there? A thousand there?"

Mr. Jiao's heart is bleak when he thinks of how he will soon be living on the streets and how he will be forced to go back home to farm if he cannot afford to rent a new job.

Worse than death, is poverty.

When he heard that Mr. Jiao wanted money, the young man with the eyes was visibly surprised, but he quickly snapped out of it and pulled his wallet out of his trouser pocket.

"Yes there is, I'll give you a thousand now."

He quickly counted out ten red cheques from his wallet and slipped them into Mr. Jiao's hand.

When he saw the real money in his hands, Mr. Jiao gritted his teeth.

"OK, that's a favour, I'll do it!"