Shuai cast a glance outside. It was the first snowfall this winter, he rubbed his shoe against the thick layer of snow, it felt so smooth. He decided not to go back for the night, he's staying in the clinic.
Wu sat on the bed cross-legged, took a breath and exhaled while murmuring to himself.
Shuai flicked his fingers on Wu's head, 'What are you doing?'
Shuai examined the back of Wu's hand, there was a patch of blue-black. Even though Wu didn't mention anything, Shuai was clear that he must have been bullied by someone out there, so he came back to meditate. But it's better this way, tolerance is better than heartless. He was angry, shows that he is reacting to others hurting him, he doesn't feel that being bullied is acceptable.
After a while, Wu said, 'I don't want to be a hawker anymore.'
Shuai looked at him, 'You feel indignity? You got no social status? It's not as respectable as your previous job?'
'No.' Wu sighed, 'I've just calculated, I worked for a week, I earned a total of $200. I even bought two second-hand tricycles, two stainless steel pots, and three soup spoons. I didn't even earn anything, to be honest.'
How is it possible to not have losses? It has only been a week, two incidents had happened. It seemed like being a hawker has its own risks.
'What else do you want to do then?' Shuai asked.
Wu replied after thinking for some time, 'A street performer.'
Shuai's face convulsed.
'I've thought of it, being a hawker needs to invest, a lot of preparation and the risks are too high. Being a street performer depends on your talents, you just need to showcase it and money will start rolling in.'
Shuai sneered, 'What are your talents?'
'My steelhead!'
'......'
In an isolated underground tunnel, it was packed with people. There were so many spectators, but the performance was the main highlight.
The old radio was switched to its highest volume, all that came out from it was radio noise.
The song was playing and there's a loud bang in the end, by hitting the brick at the head.
'Nice!'
The crowd applauded and screamed, some children were crying after getting shocked.
Wu was wearing a mask, only revealing his eyes. His eyes were darting at every place, staying alert and beware of the cops.
There were a lot of crumbled bricks at the ground. Wu picked a sack full of bricks by himself, and beside it was a paper box. Whenever someone threw in a coin, Wu will always thank them.
......
'There's no need to go inside the tunnel, its so cold and there's a lot of beggars down there.' The leader said to Chi.
Chi ignored what the leader had just said, he walked straight into the tunnel.
They heard songs playing form down there.
'Why is it so noisy today?' The leader was puzzled.
The two walked towards the crowd, Chi was quite tall so he could see what's happening among the crowd. The leader was quite short so he couldn't squeeze to the front, he asked the person in front him, 'What's happening in front?'
'Someone's performing steelhead!' The person turned his head back after saying.
The leader suddenly thought of the vendor who splashed the porridge and ran away, then he smirked, 'So street dancing is not the trend now, it's performing steelhead? I've met two this week alone...'
Chi's sharp eyes looked towards the centre, he immediately recognized that pair of black, sparkly eyes. I finally caught you now!
The leader almost wanted to shout to disperse the crowd, but Chi stopped him before he could.
The performance was at its climax, the crowd was hyped up, the notes were flying everywhere, Wu was also feeling adrenaline rush. He couldn't even spot the two cops among the crowd.
'There may be suspicion about the bricks, how about this, I'll let someone to examine the bricks for me...' His eyes were searching for its target, 'That bald guy at the back, it's you. Could you help me to check if the bricks are real?'
Wu pointed at the outstanding Chi.
Chi grinned, walked out of the crowd with everyone's eyes on him.
'Please take a look at this brick, please make sure that this brick isn't...'
The word 'fake' hasn't even left his mouth yet, Wu was dazzled by him.
He ran through the crowd with the brick on his hand...
Last time Chi had porridge all over his body, Wu was lucky enought to escape. Now he's wearing casual clothing, there were no resistance on his head, could he possibly let Wu escaped again? He split his legs and ran, grabbed Wu by his collar and pressed him onto the ground.
Wu smashed the brick onto his head, thinking of scaring Chi away with his trick. Unfortunately, the brick crashed with Chi's fist instead, crumbled on the ground.
Wu was speaking nonsense, as if his mouth were electrocuted.