(In a quiet place typing, someone holding a whip standing behind urging on, can't help but angrily pounding the keyboard.)

  Shanghai was like a popsicle that cost 50 cents in the old days, it melted away before Chen Ergou could even take a few sips, and he couldn't taste its flavor at all. Just as Chen Ergou sat up straight and was about to take a good look at the prosperous night scene of this big city, he heard his fellow villager's shout telling him to get off the bus. He suddenly came back to himself and realized that this stretch of road was not much different from the outskirts of Harbin, with low-rise buildings, chaotic electric poles, and small restaurants lined up along the road, or pink corridors with women dressed up like fairies standing at the entrance. It wasn't until then that Chen Ergou woke up to the fact that in this towering city, there were still some places that weren't too far away from him. He stood on tiptoes and looked around, and he could see some things after all.

  As the most successful and insightful model of Zhangjiashan, Chen Ergou is actually just a handyman in a Northeastern restaurant. The work introduced by a handyman is still a handyman, and it's the dirtiest and most tiring kind. But for Chen Ergou, having a place to settle down and not worrying about meals is already enough to make him feel grateful to this old fellow who can't stand anything.

  Live, and fellow villager huddle in a old shared rental house's second floor, the smallest room, twelve square meters, put down a bed and there is not much spare space; eat, leftover food from small restaurants, occasionally when the boss is in a good mood, he would take Chen Er Gou and fellow villager to have a meal with some meat; as for work, buying vegetables at the market, assisting the stir-fry chef, serving customers, pouring tea and water, plus sweeping the restaurant floor, Chen Er Gou is basically doing all-around labor, let alone the boss's wife who has a lot of flesh would occasionally tease Chen Er Gou, and also make this little service staff do some errands for her precious son, even her daughter's academic matters in junior high school are directly thrown to Chen Er Gou, implying that her daughter's graduation score will be directly linked to his already meager salary, when encountering eating "霸王餐" (a meal where everyone pays for themselves), they would also pull out the thin-armed and thin-legged Chen Er Gou to calm down the situation, after a month even fellow villager felt heartache, however as soon as he thought about how he used to work himself to death like a dead dog but now can afford to visit the corridors outside of town, he immediately threw this feeling into the sewer.

  Oriental Pearl Tower, Huangpu River, this was the place Chen Ergou wanted to go most before he came to Shanghai. After a month of hard work and saving every penny, he finally got his first paycheck, seven hundred yuan, and put five hundred into the bank with the twenty-five yuan he already had, then gave the remaining two hundred to his fellow villager as rent. With empty pockets, Chen Ergou thought it was time for him to visit the tower and river again next month.

  After working hard for the second month, he got eight hundred yuan in his hands. One of them was given by the boss's wife who secretly gave him an extra one because she thought Chen Ergou took good care of her son. As a result, after Chen Ergou cut his hair and bought some daily necessities with that hundred yuan, there was not much left. Adding to that, he also spent some money buying cheap fruits for a neighbor who had been taking care of him, Chen Ergou once again had empty hands. He couldn't help but tell himself that he would have to wait until next month to visit the pagoda and the river.

  Actually, Chen Ergou did not know that many migrant workers and gold prospectors in this city never had the opportunity to see that tower and river from start to finish.

  In fact, for the next six months, Chen Erdou was busy in that small circle, and this fly seemed to have gradually forgotten about it. After all, from the urban-rural fringe area to Huangpu River, Chen Erdou had spent 17 yuan on bus fares back and forth, which was too extravagant.

  At the end of winter, the weather gradually warmed up, and Chen Erdou, who had just adapted to the city's rhythm after spending his first snowless winter in his life, played a game of Go with Old Man Sun, his neighbor. Perhaps due to his mediocre math skills since childhood, Old Man Sun said that Chen Erdou was quite insightful, but Chen Erdou had never won against this old man before. Today, Chen Erdou finally saw a glimmer of victory, but he was still defeated by the old man's calm and steady play. Looking at Chen Erdou's frustrated expression, the old man with a head full of silver hair showed a hint of a smile on his weathered face, a smile that was as warm as the sunset and would never be dazzling. He said in a low voice, "Erdou, you'd better hurry up, I promised you that if you win against me one day, you'll find a wife, otherwise, it's going to be tough."

  Chen Ergou set up the chess pieces and smiled: "Don't worry, there are plenty of opportunities."

  The old man sat in a rattan chair, gently swaying back and forth, narrowing his eyes, saying: "You can take your time, I'm just afraid that this old man won't be able to hold on, one day he'll run out of breath, and your wife will run away."

  Chen Erdog was speechless, he actually wanted to know how the elderly treated death, the first and foremost thing in life, but he felt that no matter what, people like Sun Dage who were so open-minded should not be common. Listening to the old residents on this street say that Mr. Sun had also been glorious before, as for how glorious those people didn't say, I guess it's hard to say clearly, but when the old man was willing to talk, he would always mention things that were far away from this street and this circle.

  It's time to eat, no amateur chess players are watching the game, only a little kid holding a bowl of rice, looking very focused, just eating and then quietly watching Chen Erdog play chess, having a great battle, and then inevitably losing. Chen Erdog is too lazy to pay attention to this kid, who is the apple of the restaurant owner's eye, named Li Sheng. Who knows how the elementary school-educated owner found such an obscure word in the Xinhua Dictionary? The kid has just started third grade, but speaks and acts with a very "general-like" demeanor, not knowing his place, always causing trouble for Chen Erdog, either flirting with pretty girls at school or fighting with older kids on the street who collect protection fees. Letting Chen Erdog do some unpleasant things every day. After half a year, neither of them likes the other, but this kid has learned from Chen Erdog the bad habit of running wildly in the streets with a bowl of rice.

  The little kid finished eating and glanced at Chen Ergou with disdain, muttering under his breath: "This dog can marry a wife like that."

  The little kid had already gotten up and run away, not forgetting to turn back and give Chen Ergou a defiant look.

  A young girl was waiting for Li Sheng on the street, with a delicate face that wasn't stunning but had a certain charm. She stood tall and slender, and any man who took a second glance could tell she would be quite attractive once she matured. Although not as beautiful as the school flower, she was still more than enough to outshine those roadside flowers. Her name was Li Wei, and she was Li Sheng's younger sister. It was hard to imagine that such a lively girl was the product of the thin boss and the plump boss lady. People on these streets would often joke that this girl must be an adopted rich family's daughter. Every time they heard this joke, the boss lady would swing her astonishing buttocks and pat her chest, saying "I looked just like this when I was young".

  Chen Ergou likes Li Wei, and this toad never denies it. Li Wei is a quiet and elegant girl, gentle and considerate. Although her grades are average, she doesn't have the same academic talent as Chen Ergou's female classmates in high school, but Chen Ergou thinks that girls don't need to be too smart. If they're smarter than men by several streets, then both men and women will be tired. At least Chen Ergou won't try to win over intelligent women. However, even if he had the idea to do so, those spoiled girls probably wouldn't notice this jumping little toad.

  This old man, who was almost stereotypical in his daily routine and every move, seemed to be not stingy with smiles in front of this young northeastern farmer. He smiled and said: "That kid is okay, but he's not suitable for you."

  Chen Ergou was thinking about making a comeback with a sword, and said: "Grandfather Sun, whether it's suitable or not is secondary, the key is that they don't even look down on me, everything is in vain."

  Grandfather Sun held a chess piece "Jiang" between his thumb and index finger, quietly waiting for Chen Ergou's opening move, saying: "What's the hurry, it's up to us."

  Chen Ergou didn't speak, the greatest principle that farmers who grew up in Zhangjiashan understood was generally not to daydream. In Chen Ergou's impression, the rich and powerful always liked to say some words that their grandfathers had said to themselves. Before, he always pretended not to hear them, but now, thinking carefully, he felt more and more obscure. Chen Ergou roughly remembered one sentence: Under the land are buried bones, and also buried are wild ambitions.

  Ambition?

  Chen Ergou's deeply buried ambition in his chest is to take off Li Wei's clothes, this city girl.

  Grandfather Sun seemed to glance carelessly at the young man who liked to quietly do his work, never like others who boasted and bragged. His eyes, which had experienced over 70 years of ups and downs, shone with a smile, as if looking at his younger self.