Chapter 1 (1/2)

Translator: Dragon Boat Translation

Editor: Dragon Boat Translation

“Waste collection… Waste collection…”

Under the setting sun, on the street basked in the afterglow of dusk, a handsome young man was riding a creaking, shabby tricycle along the streets and alleys, yelling constantly.

“Xiao Ming, here…” A lady with curly hair heard the voice and waved at the young man, holding a bag of bottles.

“Alrighty!” The young man was overjoyed and strenuously rode towards her on the creaking tricycle.

“Auntie Li, plastic bottles are one cent each; 32 bottles would be three yuan and twenty cents. An oil drum is two yuan, so it’s a total of five yuan and twenty cents.”

While talking, the young man took out a crumpled five-yuan note and two ten-cent coins from a heavily mended pouch and handed them to the curly-haired lady.

“Just five yuan.” The curly-haired lady was also very generous, and charged only five yuan.

“Thank you.”

The young man bowed and thanked her, collected the two ten-cent coins, then waved goodbye and rode away on the tricycle.

The young man’s name was Jiang Ming. He was 25 years old this year with an education level of grade school. As for his profession… to be euphemistic, he could be called an ‘urban waste recycling personnel’. To be more direct, however, he was a ‘rubbish collector’.

Jiang Ming glanced down at the two ten-cent coins in his hand, and let out a self-mocking laugh. “In the past, I wouldn’t even bow down my head when there was a dollar coin on the ground. But now, I have to swallow my pride for a mere twenty cents. Such is life.”

He was originally a professional gamer. At the age of fifteen, he started going to the Internet café and played many games such as WOW, Red Alert, CS, Crossfire and Glory, making considerable achievements in each of them.

In order to play at competitions, he often stayed up late eating instant noodles. At the age of sixteen, he became famous in school. At seventeen, he won the championship in the final season of the League of Legends, and was invited to enter the Yama Guild which ranked tenth in Hualong Country.

In just five years, he led the members of the Yama Guild to stand on the top of the entire Hualong Nation.

Twenty-three years old…

Jiang Ming shook his head. He placed the twenty cents back into his pocket, then took out a pack of cheap cigarettes and lit up one. While puffing out smoke and humming a little song, he pedaled the tricycle, and continued to shuttle through the streets.

What’s the use of heaven and earth? They can’t be used as bed and quilt. What’s the use of wind and moon? They can’t be used as food and drink.

What’s the use of dust? It encompasses everything in the world. What’s the use of change? The laws of nature will form and exist by themselves.

What’s the use of facing the wall? I can’t see the surging river. What’s the use of reprimanding with a stick? Only a big bump on the head will form.

What’s the use of me being born? I can’t laugh as I wish. What’s the use of killing me? My unabated arrogance remains.

No matter where we come from, we all live in the same world, so let’s sing together with joy and travel to all corners of the world.

If you can’t find what you want after treading thousands of miles, how about meeting with me and smiling at each other?

Wearing straw sandals and bamboo hats, walking for a thousand years, crossing the boundaries of time and space, I came here for a tour.

Walking with the sound of singing, I forget everything in the world, and I also forget myself.

Ha! Ha! Ha! Free and easy… I don’t care about god!

…

This song came from a book by the famous writer Jin Hezai. Although it was an old song and many years had passed, Jiang Ming had a special love for this song.

He especially yearned for the kind of unconstrained, free and easy life.

But now, although he was indeed free, he was not unfettered. In this society, without money, one will starve to death. He was still bound by money, so he was not really unconstrained.

In fact, there were reasons why he chose to collect waste. The first was that the job was more free, although he would suffer looks of disdain when he shuttled in the streets and alleys. The second was that his hands were no longer able to exert strength, even holding the mouse for a short while would cause pain. No company was willing to accept him at all.

But for this job, he only needed to use a wheeled equipment to do the job, and he did not have to use a lot of strength.

“Sigh… business is so bad today.”

Seeing that it was getting dark, he looked back at the ‘cargo’ on the tricycle and shook his head helplessly, lighting up another cigarette.

After riding around for a while more, the business was still bleak, and he had no choice but to sell the ‘cargo’ on the tricycle. Listening to the ‘melodious’ creaking sound of the tricycle, and eating two steamed buns bought for one dollar, he pedalled towards the slum area.

…