Chapter 1: The Newsboy

  In the late afternoon, the rain that had been falling all day showed no signs of stopping. The streets were empty, with only a few people passing by in a hurry, as nobody wanted to linger outside in this weather. However, there is always an exception, and at this moment, a young man was standing on the corner of the street, next to him was a tricycle filled with newspapers and magazines, clearly he was a newspaper vendor.

  Xiao Ping covered the tricycle with a raincoat to prevent the newspapers and magazines from getting wet, but he himself got soaked in the rain. However, he didn't mind it at all, after all, it was summer now, even if he got completely drenched, it wasn't a big deal. Xiao Ping had always been an optimist and wouldn't worry about such trivial matters.

  But in such weather, no one would come to take care of Xiao Ping's business, and instead, they would look at him with a mixture of strange and contemptuous eyes. It's no wonder they would look at Xiao Ping like that, after all, he was only in his early twenties, why did he have to sell newspapers? He really lacked ambition.

  But Xiao Ping was calm and collected, with a nonchalant expression. Six years ago, his grandfather, who had been dependent on him for survival, suddenly became paralyzed in bed due to a cerebral hemorrhage. At that time, Xiao Ping had already received the university admission notice, but he gave up the opportunity to continue his studies and started selling newspapers as a street vendor. Initially, it was to earn some medical expenses for his grandfather, and after his grandfather's death, it was to make a living for himself. Over the years, Xiao Ping has become accustomed to people's strange glances and didn't take it to heart at all.

  Knowing that waiting any longer would not bring in any business, Xiao Ping began to pack up his newspaper stand and prepare to head home. When Xiao Ping was standing still, it wasn't apparent that there was anything wrong with him, but now that he was busy around the tricycle, it became clear that his movements were slower than those of a normal person by half a beat. Even so, after being busy for a while, Xiao Ping's breathing would start to become urgent and he would need to rest for a moment before continuing to work. He had been weak and sickly since childhood due to congenital heart disease, and couldn't even do ordinary jobs, nor did any boss dare hire him. It was precisely because of this that Xiao Ping could not find other work and had no choice but to rely on selling newspapers to make a living.

  Xiao Ping put all the newspapers and magazines under the plastic sheet, without hesitation covering his raincoat as well, muttering to himself: "When people get wet, they can just wipe themselves dry, but when books get wet, they become worthless."

  He packed up his small newsstand and pedaled his tricycle against the wind and rain to hurry back home. In recent years, the city has developed rapidly, and many villages that were originally in the suburbs have been incorporated into the urban area. Only a few villages have been preserved for various reasons, and these villages surrounded by high-rise buildings have a very fitting name - "urban villages".

  At that time, in order to treat his grandfather's illness, Xiao Ping sold the ancestral house in the city without hesitation and now lives in a village in the city. A healthy person can ride a tricycle from where Xiao Ping sells newspapers back to his home in at most 20 minutes, but Xiao Ping needs an hour. Although riding a tricycle for two hours every day is tiring, optimistic Xiao Ping never complains.

  Xiao Ping pedaled his tricycle against the wind and rain, still humming a soft tune. A sports car sped up from behind, sending up a splash of water that almost splashed onto him.

  "Audi TT, huh? In the future, even if I have money, I'll buy a sports car and sit next to a beautiful girl... Ah, awesome!" Xiaoping gazed at the blurry taillights of the sports car with extreme envy.

  Xiao Ping, who has been used to a hard life since childhood, yearns for the luxurious life of the rich and never gives up his efforts. When he sells newspapers on the street during the day, he studies university courses whenever he is free, and at night, he also learns various useful and useless knowledge online, more seriously than regular university students. Xiao Ping knows that opportunities only favor those who are prepared, and what he needs to do is to be prepared at all times and seize them firmly when they come.

  About an hour later, the heavy rain finally stopped completely, and Xiao Ping also arrived at the village entrance. As long as he crossed the small river in front of him, he would be officially entering the city's village area. There was a narrow concrete bridge over the river, and all the villagers going in and out relied on this bridge. When Xiao Ping came to the front of the bridge, he got off his tricycle and was about to push it up onto the bridge with force when several young men who looked like thugs blocked his way.

  "Bad luck!" Xiao Ping looked up and saw these people, and couldn't help but sigh in his heart. These people were all village rascals, the leader was a guy named Zhao Yong, who relied on having a cousin who was a police officer in the local station to do whatever he wanted. He liked to extort money from small vendors and tease passing girls, of course, bullying Xiao Ping was also one of their "entertainment activities".

  Zhao Yong deliberately opened his collar, revealing the thick gold chain on his neck and the wolf head tattoo on his chest. He looked at Xiao Ping with a sly smile and said: "You're out doing business in such heavy rain, you must have made a lot of money! Hand over the cash, my brothers and I want to buy some cigarettes!"

  Xiao Ping didn't want to confront Zhao Yong, so he quietly pulled out a few crumpled bills from his pocket and said: "It's raining today, I only made this much..."

  Zhao Yong took the money and said dissatisfied: "Is this all? Let me see what's in the car!"

  Zhao Yong said as he opened the raincoat and plastic sheet on the tricycle, carelessly flipping through the magazines and newspapers on the car, and casually throwing these things to the ground. The ground that had just been rained was still very wet, and the new magazine fell to the ground immediately got wet, and could no longer be sold.

  This scene made Xiao Ping feel very heartbroken, and he didn't know where he got the strength from. He actually broke free from the two thugs and pushed Zhao Yong away, saying: "Don't touch my things!"

  Zhao Yong, who was pushed and stumbled, became furious and glared at Xiao Ping viciously: "Dare to lay hands on me? You'll pay for this today!"

  As they spoke, Zhao Yong punched Xiao Ping's face with a heavy fist, causing him to bleed profusely from the nose. Zhao Yong didn't stop there and rushed forward several steps, punching and kicking Xiao Ping. Although Xiao Ping tried his best to fight back, his weak heart made him no match for Zhao Yong and the others, and he was soon knocked to the ground. Zhao Yong gave a signal to the other thugs, and together they threw Xiao Ping's tricycle into the river, then burst out laughing triumphantly.

  "This is what happens when you go against me, see you once and beat you once!" Zhao Yong warned Xiao Ping with a vicious tone, and left with his men in high spirits.

  The water in this small river is not deep, only up to the knee. Xiao Ping's tricycle fell into the river, and newspapers and magazines floated away with the current, taking hundreds of dollars with them. Although this loss was great for Xiao Ping, he did not become discouraged. The word "give up" does not exist in Xiao Ping's dictionary; no matter how difficult the situation, it has never knocked him down, let alone such a small setback.

  "You push the car down, and I'll pull it up!" With this idea in mind, Xiao Ping took off his shoes and walked into the river, using all his strength to pull the tricycle towards the shore.

  Although Xiao Ping's body was weak, he had a very stubborn side to his personality. Once he made up his mind to do something, he would never give up. Although he had to rest for a while after moving the tricycle just a few inches, he slowly managed to get it ashore. Just as Xiao Ping was about to follow suit, his foot suddenly stepped on a strange object. The surface of this thing was smooth, with a flat and round shape that was very regular, obviously not formed naturally.

  Xiao Ping curiously dug this thing out of the mud. Although there was still a lot of mud on it, Xiao Ping could see at a glance that it was a small flat bottle with what seemed to be very delicate paintings on it. However, he was still in the river and didn't have time to examine it carefully, so he casually put the small bottle into his pocket and got ashore.

  Xiao Ping slowly returned to his residence, quietly opening the door and walking in. This was Xiao Ping's rented house, with a landlord couple in their fifties, Liu Jianguo and his wife Wang Fang. The couple lived on the second floor, while the three rooms on the first floor were rented out to three young people. The couple were kind-hearted, always treating the three young tenants with kindness, especially taking care of Xiao Ping who was not in good health. The relationship between them had always been harmonious.

  Xiao Ping entered the house when Wang Fang was busy in the kitchen on the first floor. Seeing his disheveled appearance, she asked anxiously: "Xiao Xiao, what's wrong with you? Why are you all wet?"

  "It's okay, I just forgot to bring an umbrella when I went out." Xiao Ping didn't want Wang Fang to worry about him, so he casually made up an excuse.

  But Wang Fang still worried: "Look at you, your body is all wet, what if you get sick? Didn't Auntie Wang say that you..."

  From Xiao Ping's past experience, every time Wang Fang starts with "It's not Auntie Wang saying you...", she will talk for at least 15 minutes before stopping. For Xiao Ping, this kind of nagging is completely verbal violence, but he knows that Wang Fang is indeed concerned about him and he can't just turn around and leave to make things difficult for her.

  Seeing Wang Fang bring out the freshly cooked dishes, Xiao Ping, who was in a dilemma, suddenly had an idea and took a deep breath, saying: "This dish is really fragrant! Auntie Wang, your cooking skills are getting better and better. Uncle Liu is so lucky to have married you!"

  Xiao Ping's words made Wang Fang extremely happy, and she smiled and said: "You little scamp really know how to talk, go take a bath quickly, come over and have dinner with us!"

  "Alright!" Xiao Ping secretly wiped away his sweat and quickly escaped from the kitchen.

  Xiao Ping took a refreshing shower in the shared bathroom and came out just as Li Wanqing was getting off work. This girl had just graduated from university this year and was currently interning at a company, also living in one of the rooms here, making her Xiao Ping's neighbor. The gentle-tempered Li Wanqing would smile before speaking whenever she saw anyone, and when she smiled, her beautiful big eyes would curve into thin crescent moons.

  Li Wanqing is now smiling and asking Xiao Ping, "What kind of nonsense have you been feeding Wang Ayi again? She's been praising you to Liu Shu as soon as she sees me, saying that you're very sensible!"

  "What's this nonsense about deceiving people? I'm someone who has never lied!" Xiao Ping defended himself seriously, then deliberately looked Li Wanqing up and down, saying: "Wow, just a few days without seeing you, and you're becoming more and more like a white-collar beauty!"

  Li Wanqing, having just entered society, couldn't take Xiao Ping's teasing and ran to her room with a slightly red face. Xiao Ping smiled faintly at her slender figure and went straight to have dinner with Wang Fang and her husband.

  After dinner, Xiao Ping voluntarily helped Wang Fang wash up and then returned to his own room, carefully examining the small bottle he had obtained from the river.