The story is fictional; any resemblance to actual events or persons is purely coincidental.
After making ten yuan last time, I felt that this so-called physical labor could also earn money. What the astronaut expressed upon returning to Earth was: it feels good.
Next week, on Sunday, I plan to do it again.
Everything started off smoothly; my heartbeat seemed to calm down a bit, and there was no feeling of anxiety. Everything was going too well, and it felt off, but there were no signs.
Just like last time, we were moving rebar in the tunnel.
A bright light shot towards us from behind. What’s going on? Don’t move!
My heart raced, adrenaline surged, and I told my brother to drop the rebar and run with me. We took our flashlight and started to speed up our escape. We kids were nervous but quick, and we were almost at the second exit. I noticed another light shining towards us, and I thought to myself, we’re done for. Caught in a trap.
I recalled there was a recessed area in the tunnel where we could hide, so we continued to retreat. I turned around and circled behind my brother, telling him not to be afraid and to follow me. We found that recessed area where the pipes intersected, creating a wider space. We quickly hid behind a large pipe with the flashlight's light, but the pipe couldn’t cover us completely, and there were no other objects to shield us. So we lay head to head, close to the pipe, trying not to be discovered.
Voices came from afar; they wouldn’t escape. Keep an eye on all the exits.
I felt tense, but it was expected. If I were them, I would do the same—simple and effective.
The sounds of movement got closer and closer, and the tension rose. This game of hide and seek was likely to fail, leaving us with no way out. The walls were made of red bricks, but I wasn’t Wolverine with claws to just claw my way out.
No, no, no, Wolverine is used for killing. A waste of talent.
Thinking and fearing, a beam of light had found us, and it flickered a few times before stopping.
Found you, here, two of you.
After a while, another person came, one of them said to let us come out, but we didn’t want to be caught; getting caught would be troublesome.
He crawled in, his rough hands like a pair of pliers, firmly grabbing my wrist, causing a moment of pain. He dragged me out from under the pipe, and I felt uncomfortable.
I said I would go along, not run away. I let my brother come out too.
That person was still worried and didn’t let go. In the tunnel, it wasn’t so wide, making it hard to walk, so he had to loosen his grip, crawling in front, while his coworker followed behind, sandwiching us in the middle.
We didn’t make a sound, a group of four, exiting the tunnel from the middle exit. Next to this exit was a basketball court, and there was another coworker waiting at the exit, immediately grabbing my wrist with his hand, fearing I would run away. We were led, one in front and one behind, to their temporary living quarters.
In the quarters, there was a person who seemed to be the foreman; he didn’t mention the rebar incident, probably already aware of the situation.
He asked me which school I attended, and I made up a nearby elementary school. He asked what company my family worked for, an oil company.
What’s your dad’s name?
Li Huohuo. I looked at my brother when I said it; the name was also made up, trying to create something my brother could understand. My brother hesitated to speak.
What’s your mom’s name?
Wang Shui Shui.
The foreman laughed, water and fire don’t mix?
I said it might be.
What’s the company’s phone number?
I changed two digits of my home phone number and told him. 3266379.
He said okay, he would contact my family to come pick us up.
In about five minutes, that person came back, saying it wasn’t the oil company’s phone number and couldn’t reach my family.
He told us to tell the truth, or we wouldn’t be going home. When we heard this, we both cried. We kept admitting our mistakes, saying we wouldn’t dare again. We would study hard and not do bad things, sobbing.
That person wasn’t used to it and didn’t want to hear us cry, but he didn’t stop us either; he lit a cigarette and went outside to smoke. We cried for a while in the room, feeling like no one was watching or listening, just wasting tears, and we didn’t continue crying.
The shed wasn’t big; it had a sleeping area, a cooking area, and a place piled with some tools. There were no windows. The only escape route was that door, making it hard to escape; it was better to behave.
After about the time it takes to smoke two cigarettes, that person came back in, looked at us, and then said to me, you’re the older brother, right? Your brother stays here; you go home and call your parents to come. I’ll wait here.
When I heard this, I wanted to cry again, but crying wouldn’t help. I nodded and went out the door.
I felt a bit happy, but more sad. I wanted to go home, but I didn’t want to. When I got home and saw my mom, I told her everything, the whole story. My mom scolded me again, saying she had to tear her face to save us.
My mom is small-minded and worries a lot about things.
Listening to my mom’s nagging all the way to the middle school gate, that old man seemed not to recognize us. I saw my brother and the others already in the security room. As soon as my brother saw us, he burst into tears. My mom said, how can you still cry? Doing such sneaky things and still having the face to cry? I tell you every day not to stir up trouble, and you don’t listen. Now you’ve been caught red-handed.
The foreman said, it’s fine to educate the little kids. Just fine them a bit.
My mom asked, how much?
The foreman said 500.
I was stunned. A ten yuan item fined 500.
My mom said she had no money. That was about her monthly salary. Where would she get the money for the fine? Just call the police and send us to a juvenile detention center.
Then she started arguing with the foreman. The foreman cared about his reputation and didn’t want to argue, especially since there were many onlookers at the entrance.
The foreman said if you don’t pay, you won’t be released. No more discussion. My mom said fine. She just left. My brother and I cried loudly.
We stayed in the security room, sometimes seeing familiar faces nearby, some of whom were teachers at this school. We hid so they wouldn’t see us; otherwise, it would be embarrassing if they asked.
When it was time for dinner, the foreman asked me to go home and call my mom, saying we could discuss it further.
I didn’t ask what the conditions were. I just went home to call my mom. When my mom saw me, she scolded me again. It might have been reasoning mixed with scolding.
At the school gate, the foreman said if there really was no money, a guarantee letter would also work. It needs to be stamped with your workplace’s official seal.
My mom said the guarantee letter could be written. The seal couldn’t be stamped; it was the kids’ education, and it had nothing to do with the company.
These two kids hadn’t eaten for a day. If something went wrong, you would be responsible.
Seeing there was no way out, and not wanting us to spend the night, he was also illegally detaining us.
He wrote a guarantee letter for us to sign. We were allowed to go home.
When we got home, my mom cooked, and we were punished by kneeling.
But I thought about how to avoid failing next time instead of washing my hands of it.