Chapter 643 - 604: Do Not Despise the Young for Being Poor! _2
Here, all kinds of people were mixed together.
In the furthest part stood a thatched cottage in disrepair, its decrepit door hanging nearby. However, the yard was swept spotlessly clean. A little girl around seven or eight pushed the door open and, seeing her brother return, joyfully sprinted towards him. Her eyes shone like stars as she looked delightedly at the books he was holding, her voice filled with excitement, "Brother, brother, are these all for me? Are they all for me?"
Xiang Yang glanced around, then at the books in his hands, reassured that this was not a dream, but reality. He nodded vigorously, "Xiao Xing, these are all for you, bought by your brother."
Xiang Xing was shorter than other children her age and quite thin, which made her eyes appear even larger. Although her clothes were worn, they were clean. Her joy gradually faded, and she felt uneasy, "Brother, did you spend money? Didn’t you use the money from selling scrap to buy medicine for grandma and dad? We should return these, we can’t use the money to buy books, it’s too wasteful..."
Xiang Yang’s heart ached. He wanted to pat his sister’s head but, unfortunately, his hands were full of books. Quickly stepping towards the house, he said as he walked, "Xiao Xing, your brother got a job."
"Really, brother, you got a job? What are you going to do? Will they accept you? Didn’t they say they won’t hire you because you are too young?"
Although nowadays many children started working right after finishing junior high, Xiang Yang had never found a suitable job. What’s more, places that took in apprentice workers were becoming fewer. Off to work at several construction sites, he had been sent back after just a few days. It was frustrating; he was too skinny, malnourished, and the labor on the sites was both exhausting and demanding. If anything went wrong, both the foreman and the contractor could be implicated.
These past years, he had made a living by collecting and selling scrap and occasionally helping others with odd jobs.