Noon. The sun hung high in the sky.
Lusen City, at the construction site for a new food processing plant.
With a bellowed cry of "Lunch break!", the workers, in twos and threes, put down their tools and gathered in the shade to eat.
Most construction sites didn’t provide meals, and the on-site canteen was expensive, so the workers usually brought food from home.
But today was different.
"Whoa, what’s that smell? It’s incredible!"
"What kind of meat is this? Why’s it so red? And man, it smells good."
"Braised pork! So much braised pork!"
"..."
Under the shade of a tree.
Dozens of workers crowded around several stainless-steel vats, staring hungrily at the tantalizingly fragrant meat inside.
"Shut the hell up! Keep yapping and I’ll feed this to the dogs before I give you bastards a single bite! Believe it!"
In front of the crowd.
Sun Zhigang, the foreman and owner of the company, stood wearing a white hard hat. He stuck out his potbelly, lording it over them in front of the vats of braised pork while gesturing at the surrounding workers.
His words silenced the crowd.
Seeing this, Sun Zhigang cleared his throat. Then, a look of dissatisfaction crossed his face as he announced:
"I’m in a good mood today, so the site’s giving out free meat. Line up! One scoop per person!"
’Free braised pork?!’
At these words, the dozens of workers instantly erupted into a commotion, their faces beaming with surprised delight.
It was 2002. Although most people had gradually escaped poverty and had enough to eat, their three daily meals were still mostly vegetarian. They ate meat dishes from time to time, but they were far from having the freedom to eat meat whenever they wanted.
As for the migrant workers on construction sites, many of them—not just now, but even in later years—would choose to fill up on staples for lunch and skip the meat due to a warped sense of frugality.
Let alone something like braised pork; right now, some of them didn’t even know what it was!
And now...
"All-you-can-drink braised pork!"
Sun Zhigang declared with his hands on his hips, clearly in high spirits.
A young worker in the crowd couldn’t help but correct him. "Foreman, the expression is ’all-you-can-eat.’"
Sun Zhigang froze, then glared at him, flying into a rage out of embarrassment. "I fucking know that! Do I need you to remind me?!"
He didn’t waste any more words and said bluntly:
"But!"
"After you eat my meat, you’d all better work your asses off this afternoon! Don’t you dare make me file for another deadline extension! And I want quality work, no more of this half-assed, cutting-corners bullshit!"
The workers were already dying of hunger and shouted in unison, "Got it, got it!"
"Then serve the food!"
With a wave, Sun Zhigang personally took up an iron ladle and began to serve. Dozens of workers swarmed forward boisterously.
In a corner.
Having just finished her cleaning duties, a short, heavyset woman with dark, rough skin named Zhao Li swallowed hard. She was wearing rubber boots and stood on her tiptoes to peer into the crowd.
After a long wait, it was finally her turn.
Sun Zhigang glanced at the woman—the same one he had just yelled at yesterday—then plunged the ladle to the bottom of the vat and scooped up a heaping portion.
PLOP!
A massive scoop of meat covered the contents of her simple lunchbox.
"Eat up and work hard. Don’t think I won’t smack you just because you’re a cripple!"
Sun Zhigang cursed. "Now scram! Don’t hold up the line."
Zhao Li looked at the meat in her box and pressed her lips together, a sense of contentment washing over her. She said nothing in response to the scolding.
She walked to one side, but instead of eating right away, she closed the lid of her lunchbox and started walking away.
Someone saw which way she was headed, and their eyes lit up. They hurried to catch up.
"Zhao, are you going to see your kid too?"
A skinny female worker came up beside her and said with a smile.
"My son forgot his lunch money yesterday, so I have to go deliver it to him now. Want to go together?"
Zhao Li smiled. "Sure, let’s go together."
The school wasn’t far from there; it was less than a twenty-minute walk. The two women quietly left the construction site.
Meanwhile, back where the food was being served.
By now, nearly all the workers had a portion of braised pork and were squatting in corners, gobbling it down.
Manual labor is exhausting.
And when you’re that tired, your body feels an extreme hunger. Every cell seems to be screaming at you to eat.
In a situation like this.
When a mouthful of fatty and lean braised pork filled your mouth, followed by a bite of a fluffy, soft white steamed bun, chewed thoroughly and then swallowed down hard, you could feel the satisfying fullness spreading through your belly.
In that moment, everyone on the site felt a satisfaction they had never known before.
"Foreman, why are you in such a good mood today?"
One worker asked with a laugh as he ate.
Hearing this, Sun Zhigang, who was sitting to the side eating the same meal, retorted gruffly:
"Why do you care so much?"
"Just eat. All of you look like you were starving ghosts in a past life. Talking while you eat... Be careful you don’t suffocate to death!"
"If you die on my site, I’ll feed your corpses to the dogs!"
Hearing this.
The same young worker from before couldn’t resist. After swallowing his food, he retorted again.
"Foreman, you mean ’choke,’ not ’suffocate.’"
Sun Zhigang fell silent. A moment later, his face flushed with embarrassed anger, and he pointed at the worker with his chopsticks.
"You’re the one who talks too much! I fucking know it’s ’choke’!"
...
...
"Zhao, you’re always so reluctant to eat or buy new clothes... what’s the point of earning all that money just to spend it on your kid? You should at least get your leg and back treated..."
"It can’t be fixed. It’s an old problem. I’ve been everywhere, but nothing helps."
"My life is what it is. It’s enough for me if my child can have a better life than I did..."
Meanwhile.
On the side of the road, the skinny worker Wang Fen walked and talked with Zhao Li.
As she spoke,
Zhao Li seemed to have come to terms with it. A gentle smile appeared on her face as she said warmly:
"Lele makes it easy for me. She doesn’t waste money, gets good grades, and doesn’t get into trouble. Now I have something to look forward to no matter what I’m doing."
"Right now, I’m just thinking about buying an air conditioner. That way, her hands won’t get cold when she’s writing in the winter, and she won’t have to study while drenched in sweat during the summer."
"Then she’ll get into a good university, and she won’t be uneducated like me, forced to sell my labor on a construction site..."
Women weren’t a foreman’s first choice on a construction site.
Biologically speaking, women have less strength and stamina than men, and construction work is all heavy labor.
For the same pay, men were a better deal.
Women were only given priority for jobs like ’site cleaner,’ which paid less and didn’t require much strength.
To say nothing of someone like Zhao Li, who was physically disabled and found it nearly impossible to get a construction job.
"How much is an air conditioner? Zhao, how much have you saved up?"
Wang Fen asked, a little surprised.
"A brand-name one costs over three thousand, but a used one that’s still in good shape is only eight hundred."
Zhao Li had clearly done her research, having visited many appliance stores.
Wang Fen said, "Your daily wage is so low, and you have to support your kid... Can you even save that much in half a year?"
"We’ll get by and see better days eventually."
Zhao Li wasn’t worried, though; she was quite content.
She didn’t have any grand ambitions. It was enough for her child to grow up safe and sound.
The air conditioner was expensive, but if she saved a few yuan a day, she’d get there eventually.
The road was hard, but as long as she was willing to work and endure, she could reach her destination.
’She’d done the math. By next month, she would have saved enough. She’d have it installed secretly, and when her child came home for the holidays and saw that thing hanging on the wall...’
At this thought,
A smile couldn’t help but spread across Zhao Li’s face. Just then, she and Wang Fen came to a stop.
They had arrived.
Before them was Lusen City’s No. 18 Middle School.
The entrance was a retractable iron gate with a security booth to the left. Looking through the gate, one could see the main entrance of the main building, with a tall flagpole at the center, a flag fluttering high in the air.
At that moment.
Before the two women stood countless vibrant, young figures in matching uniforms, walking and chatting along the paths.
Zhao Li stood in front of the security booth, rose onto her tiptoes, and knocked on the window.
KNOCK, KNOCK.
SCHLICK!
The window slid open, and a security guard poked his head out. "Who are you looking for?" he asked.
Zhao Li opened her mouth. "I’m looking for—"
She didn’t get to finish.
BANG!!!
Suddenly, without any warning.
A sound exploded through the air.
Zhao Li froze. She turned her head, her gaze falling on the area in front of the main building, directly beyond the gate.
There.
Someone had smashed into the ground.
She had fallen from the building above, like a slab of pork... yes, like a slab of pork dropped onto a cutting board. There was no bounce, just a dead impact as she splattered into a heap.
Fresh blood stained her clothes a dark brown before seeping out, blooming outwards from her body.
One side of her face had slammed into the ground and was already ruined.
The other half of her face was covered in bruises and bloodstains. Her visible eye was dull and lifeless. Her mouth was agape, staring toward the main gate like a dead fish on a chopping block.
In an instant.
Everyone froze. Those closest hadn’t even processed what happened, still stuck in their conversational poses. Time seemed to have stopped.
At the main gate.
Zhao Li stared at the scene, completely stunned, rooted to the spot.
CLATTER!
The cheap plastic lunchbox fell to the ground. The lid popped open, and the now-cold braised pork tumbled out, becoming coated in dust and gravel.
...
...
「1:00 PM.」
Back at the construction site.
The workers were finishing their break and getting ready to start again.
Sun Zhigang turned his head and looked around, but he noticed two people were missing. He frowned.
"Where are Wang Fen and Zhao Li?"
"Where did they go? Anyone see them?"
Hearing this, the other workers glanced at each other, then shook their heads.
"Haven’t seen them."
Sun Zhigang’s frown deepened.
Even though things were better than twenty years ago, accidents still happened often on construction sites. It was unsettling when someone went missing.
"Go look for them first."
The workers began searching every corner of the site, but after a long while, there was still no sign of them.
Just as Sun Zhigang’s face was twisting with anger...
"Foreman... Foreman..."
A voice, choked with tears, grew closer. It was Wang Fen!
Sun Zhigang was about to erupt, but when he turned, he saw Wang Fen in her work clothes, stumbling toward the site from a distance, wiping away tears and sobbing.
He paused, waiting for her to get closer before asking.
"What are you crying for?! What happened?!"
"Someone... someone died..."
Wang Fen spoke between sobs, her voice thick with emotion, making Sun Zhigang anxious.
"Get your story straight before you talk!"
"Where’s Zhao Li? Where did she go? Why isn’t she with you?!"
Wang Fen cried, "Zhao and I went to see her kid, but her... her child is dead!"
"It looked like she was pushed from the top of the building! She fell to her death... Half her head was smashed in!!!"
’Dead... someone’s dead?!’
Sun Zhigang’s heart lurched.
"What about Zhao Li? Where is she?!"
Wang Fen’s crying grew more distraught as she blurted out.
"Zhao... Zhao collapsed, too! I don’t know what happened. She suddenly clutched her chest, her face went pale, and then she just fell to the ground."
"I wanted to leave, but the security guard wouldn’t let me go. I ran back here when he went to make a phone call..."
"Are you sure someone pushed the kid?" Sun Zhigang asked.
Wang Fen cried, "I saw a few heads looking down from the roof. There had to be people up there."
’Dead... someone’s dead.’
’Pushed off a building, splattered on the ground...’
’And it happened at No. 18 Middle School, for fuck’s sake. Zhao Li has worked for me for years, and now her life is on the line...’
’They’re messing with one of my people!’
Suddenly.
Sun Zhigang’s face turned ashen, a truly ugly sight. Veins bulged on his forehead. He clenched his fists so tightly his knuckles turned white, and his chest heaved violently.
The next second...
A furious roar suddenly echoed across the construction site, so loud it made everyone’s eardrums numb.
"Every last one of you sons of bitches who’s still breathing, grab your tools and come with me!"
"Don’t let those bastards get away!!!"