Daily Intelligence System: Financial Independence-Chapter 77: Old Man, Are You Revisiting the Same Place?

Chapter 77: Chapter 77: Old Man, Are You Revisiting the Same Place?

The cold moonlight shone on the demolition zone of Bai Gezhuang, like a wasteland bombarded several times by missiles.

It was still the same collapsed small building where Jiang Tao had once rescued Sun Xiaobao.

It was still the same floor slab, still the same person.

Sun Xiaobao was once again crushed by that same floor slab that had previously pressed him down.

Last time, when Jiang Tao rescued him, he left in a hurry.

Sun Xiaobao hadn’t even managed to take the dozen or so pounds of steel rebar he had collected.

After recovering, the more he thought about it, the more he felt it was a shame.

A dozen pounds of steel rebar, at the current scrap iron price, could sell for over ten yuan, losing it was a real pity!

So, Sun Xiaobao revisited the same place and returned there.

Fortunately, almost no one came to this place, and he easily found the dozen or so pounds of rebar he had lost last time.

Then, his itchy hands went to bend the rebars that hadn’t been bent last time.

And then...

Something familiar happened again.

With a loud bang, Sun Xiaobao was crushed again!

The posture was almost the same as last time!

These past two days, famished and cold, he was so hungry that he felt a little light-headed.

He even wondered if the last time Jiang Tao saved him was just a hallucination.

Maybe no one had ever come to save him.

Was it merely a vision before death?

How could one be crushed twice by the same floor slab in the same place!

The more Sun Xiaobao thought about it, the more he felt it was most likely a delusion, that no one would really come to save a solitary old widower like him.

Enduring the intense hunger in his stomach, Sun Xiaobao inwardly thought that his little life would probably end here.

As the saying goes, at sixty-six, a piece of flesh doesn’t fall off.

It seemed this was an ordeal fated in his life, one he couldn’t surpass at the age of sixty-six.

Reflecting on the past sixty-six years, Sun Xiaobao felt his whole life was filled with hardships; it was too bitter.

His mother died during childbirth, so he was born without a mother.

He was raised by his father with painstaking care.

At fifteen, his father died in a traffic accident.

At twenty-six, under the introduction of a clan elder, he got married.

However, his wife also died from childbirth complications.

He raised his son alone and even found a wife for him.

But his son lost over a million in stock trading and decided to jump off a building.

His daughter-in-law left a three-year-old grandson and ran away.

Sun Xiaobao supported his grandson through school for twenty years until he graduated from college.

On graduation day, the grandson died saving someone from drowning.

In sixty-six years, Sun Xiaobao sent off his mother, father, wife, son, and grandson.

The successive loss of loved ones left him without courage to live, making him despondent and sorrowful.

Sun Xiaobao drowned his sorrows in alcohol, becoming a well-known drunkard in Bai Gezhuang.

When Bai Gezhuang was still intact, even though he didn’t have much money himself, the family of the girl his grandson saved had wealth.

The girl’s father sent him a case of Moutai, some tea, and three packs of good cigarettes every month.

This continued for over ten years and still goes on now.

The cigarettes and alcohol from the earlier years were consumed by Sun Xiaobao himself.

It was only in the last three or four years, after realizing his mistake, that he started to quit drinking and smoking, accumulating quite a stash at home.

At his age, he wasn’t skilled at anything, nor did he want to be a security guard being treated like a grandson.

So, he resumed his father’s old trade and started collecting scrap again.

Though not a dignified job, it allowed him freedom.

He could earn four to five thousand a month, more than being a security guard!

In recent years, he also caught up with the demolition of Bai Gezhuang.

Sun Xiaobao’s old house was quite large, he was allocated five apartments and tens of thousands in cash.

In some way, Sun Xiaobao achieved what many young people seek: financial freedom.

The assets in his hands were enough for him to enjoy his old age.

However, born with a fate of hard work, Sun Xiaobao couldn’t sit still.

Once he idled, he felt headachy or feverish or missed those deceased loved ones.

So, although his life was worry-free, he persisted in doing his work.

Despite working early and late every day, unaffected by cold or heat, his health became better and better.

Look, after being crushed for two days by a 200-300 pound floor slab, he’s not only fine but even musing in this dire situation.

"Sigh... It’s fate!"

"This old man has finally finished suffering in this life."

"Hope in the next life, I can be born into a good family, with less suffering!"

Just as Sun Xiaobao closed his eyes in despair, ready to wait for death.

He suddenly heard the sound of footsteps getting closer.

It must be a hallucination again.

Who would come to this godforsaken place in the middle of the night?

Even hearing the sound, Sun Xiaobao was too lazy to call for help, thinking of simply dying here.

Suddenly, a strong flashlight beam shone on Sun Xiaobao’s face.

"Oh my, Uncle Sun, it’s you again! Are you revisiting the old place?"

Seeing Sun Xiaobao crushed under the slab, Jiang Tao knew it might be rude to laugh, but he couldn’t help it.

The place seemed more and more familiar; wasn’t this the spot where he saved Uncle Sun before?

He even suspected Uncle Sun might be trying to end his life by placing stones on himself on purpose.

"Huh? Who are you..."

Hearing Jiang Tao’s voice seemed familiar, making Sun Xiaobao open his eyes.

"Uncle Sun, it’s me! Jiang Tao! We met a few days ago."

Jiang Tao said as he walked over to Sun Xiaobao.

To Sun Xiaobao, this old man, the floor slab felt like the Five Finger Mountain.

But to a strong young man like Jiang Tao, who often did manual labor, it was nothing.

Bending down and exerting strength, Jiang Tao lifted the slab off Sun Xiaobao’s body, leaning it against a broken wall nearby.

"Quick, get up and see if you’re hurt anywhere, can you stand up, can you walk?"

In Sun Xiaobao’s confused state, Jiang Tao helped him up from the ground.

After a check, Sun Xiaobao found that apart from being weak from hunger, he suffered no major injuries.

Jiang Tao didn’t know whether Uncle Sun was lucky or unlucky.

If you say he’s lucky...

He fell in the same place twice, got crushed by the same slab, and both times almost lost his life.

But if you say he’s unlucky...

He triggered the same report involving him twice, and both rescue attempts succeeded.

"Oh my, it’s really you, Xiao Jiang! It feels like I’m dreaming!"

Sun Xiaobao finally realized it wasn’t a dream; he had been saved!

Jiang Tao chuckled teasingly, "I think you’re not dreaming, but just having hunger hallucinations!"

"Oh, now that you mention it, Xiao Jiang, do you have anything to eat on you?"

"My stomach’s about to be burned through by acid!"

After the excitement, a strong sense of hunger struck again, Sun Xiaobao felt his stomach burning with pain.

Missing six meals in two days, that sour feeling only those who experienced it would know.

"I do, I do, have some water first, I have a sausage here you can nibble on."

As Jiang Tao spoke, he handed over a thermos and a sausage from his pocket to Sun Xiaobao.