CH 34

Lu Yong directly dragged Shen Wenqiu, who was only halfway through his speech, to the side. He lowered his voice—he was so anxious that he could not control his viciousness and taught him a lesson, “Xiao Baa, stop it. Working as an assembly line worker in the factory and helping me at home are completely different.”

“You won’t be able to stand it.”

Shen Wenqiu blushed when Lu Yong said that.

Shen Wenqiu also didn’t have the confidence in his heart, he just said it on impulse. Usually, he would be lazy when asked to do more work, but now he was obsessed. The more Lu Yong didn’t let him be, the more stubborn he became. He said to Lu Yong, “Are you looking down on me? Am I so delicate?”

Lu Yong said firmly, “Yes, you are a delicate young master ah!” 

Shen Wenqiu didn’t expect Lu Yong to be so impolite, since Lu Yong spoke so confidently. The point was that he couldn’t refute it at all. He didn’t say it in a contemptuous tone—he was just stating the facts, and Shen Wenqiu was speechless at that moment. He was so dizzy with anger that he couldn’t figure out how to win against Lu Yong in this quarrel. 

Lu Yong was usually so slow-witted, yet he was so eloquent now.

Lu Yong evened out his breath and realised that his tone was too aggressive. A flower in the greenhouse like Shen Wenqiu would definitely be frightened, so he calmed down and coaxed him, “Not only is it tiring and hard, but it’s also dangerous. I promised your father to take care of you. If something happens to you, what should I do?”

Shen Wenqiu tugged on the shoulder bag strap, but he still didn’t give up. He glanced at Lu Yong and was unconvinced, “What’s scary about… Th-then I’ll call my dad now, and I’ll ask him personally.”

In front of Lu Yong, Shen Wenqiu took out his colour-screen mobile phone—when black and white mobile phones were popular back then, the color-screen mobile phone he used was already the most expensive and best—he called his father.

“Hey, Dad, um, Lu Yong and I are here.”

“We found a factory, and I also want to apply for a winter vacation job with Lu Yong…”

“I will pay attention to safety. If there is any danger, I will quit. What else can I do?”

“Uh-huh.”

Shen Wenqiu handed the phone to Lu Yong: “My dad wants to talk to you, he agreed.”

For real?

With a gloomy face, Lu Yong took over the phone, “Hello, Uncle.” He really heard Father Shen’s approval, and Lu Yong’s face suddenly became even darker. After the phone call ended, he still didn’t give in.

Shen Wenqiu said triumphantly, “My dad doesn’t care about me, so why do you care?”

Lu Yong took a deep breath and said, “I got it.”

So the two entered the factory together to work on basic tasks.

They worked for two weeks on a daily wage basis.

Since Lu Yong was a disabled person and only had one hand, he was not assigned to work on the assembly line at first. They felt that he was not competent and asked him to do some rough work. Instead, Shen Wenqiu was taken directly to the assembly line to do dismantling work.

Unlike the advanced and developed electronic waste recycling methods that Shen Wenqiu found on the Internet, there were not many high-tech machines. Everything was dismantled roughly. For example, when he was dismantling a TV, he would first remove all the screws. Then, he would lift the plastic cover to separate out the circuit board, electrical lines, speakers, regulators, and transformers. Other parts were separated and placed, and the follow-up processing was also very rough. A skilled worker needed only ten minutes to dismantle a TV.

Of course, Shen Wenqiu was unskilled. Later, Lu Yong volunteered to try it, and Lu Yong was faster than him with one hand.

They then worked together again.

After the parts that could metallurgically be refined into precious metals and the parts easily that could be processed for second-hand renovation were selected, and the rest were piled together.

Lu Yong asked, “Can’t it be sorted out more? I think we can still sort out more parts that can be used.”

The other party smiled and said, “What’s the point? We don’t have that technology and it’s not profitable.”

On the assembly line, they went to work at 8 AM and got off work at 8 PM every day, but it included their meals and accommodation. They had half an hour to eat in the morning, noon, and evening, but the food in the cafeteria was quite unpalatable and unsanitary. Shen Wenqiu couldn’t swallow even though he was hungry, and he felt that the grains of rice were grinding his throat.

The factory was in a very remote place, and even if he had money in his pocket, there was no place to buy food. The two went to the nearest small supermarket and bought a lot of food like instant noodles, ham sausage, biscuits, and small loaves of bread. He relied on these for three meals.

The staff dormitory was not really safe. Every time they came back after buying new snacks, some of them disappeared for no apparent reason. They didn’t know who took them, so they could only buy new ones.

After only a week, Shen Wenqiu lost weight, and almost every muscle in his body was sore.

It was cold at night.

Shen Wenqiu took the initiative to sleep with Lu Yong in the same quilt. He was already so tired that his back was sore and uncomfortable, and he wasn’t able to sleep comfortably either. Lu Yong would massage his arms and legs. After bearing the work for so many days, when he saw Shen Wenqiu’s haggard and tired face, he felt angry and distressed. He asked, “Do you regret it?”

As soon as he asked Shen Wenqiu, he became energetic and said stubbornly, “I don’t regret it!”

In fact, after the first day, he was afraid, but no matter how hard it was, he would still need to make the best effort. If he admitted it, it would mean that he admitted defeat.

Lu Yong always thought that he was delicate. He just wanted to prove it to Lu Yong.

Their workmates saw that they were together and said with a weird tone when they walked past them, “You two brothers have a really good relationship.”

Shen Wenqiu blushed and hesitated. He still wanted to sleep under a quilt with Lu Yong since it was too cold, although it was a little smelly… Gosh, it was not convenient to take a shower in the factory either. But Lu Yong was very warm, especially in winter. He was like a man-made stove—he didn’t mind Shen Wenqiu and hugged his feet in his arms to warm up.

At night, he whispered to Lu Yong, afraid of being overheard. The two of them were covered under the quilt, facing head to head.

Shen Wenqiu was actually scared for a long time, he thought to himself when he went back to school after the holiday, but he would never say it was hard. Studying was just a bit boring occasionally, and it was not even tiring compared to working numbly on the assembly line. No matter how fierce the teacher was, they were barely fiercer than the supervisor with his unintelligible accent.

When he thought that he would need to work for another week, he felt a blackness in front of his eyes and wanted to flee home quickly. He asked, “Dayong, do you have any findings from the investigation?”

Lu Yong pondered, “En… a little bit.”

Shen Wenqiu sighed and said, “I think it’s completely different from what I had thought.”

Lu Yong smiled, “What did you think?”

Shen Wenqiu described it with difficulty, “How to say it? I thought it would be like what I see in sci-fi works. Don’t you think the name ‘E-waste endpoint’ sounds a bit cyberpunk?”

“I know that our country is not as advanced as developed countries, but isn’t that too simple and crude?”

“It’s also very dangerous. When I saw them pouring the refined waste into the dissolving solution, it’d produce poisonous gas, but the workers didn’t even have qualified protective masks. So they just wore a simple mask. I was so worried that they would be poisoned.”

Lu Yong thought about it seriously, “Yes, wastewater is also discharged directly into the river. There are also untreated burials and incinerations, both of which pollute the land and water.”

This was also different from what Lu Yong thought before, but he was somewhat psychologically prepared. After all, he was engaged in related industries and had seen many colleagues greedy for profit.

However, in the past two days, he had also inquired about the workers who were familiar with the set. The nearby factories were more or less the same.

It was as expected.

There were no relevant policies in China. Since there were no regulations, how could there be legitimate and compliant manufacturers?

It was not surprising.

Shen Wenqiu thought of himself stupidly while asking the other workers why they didn’t treat the wastewater, which made them laugh at him for a while. He looked back and wondered who wanted to increase the costs for nothing if they could save money? Were they stupid? Even if the environment was polluted and the working environment was bad, the boss didn’t care either, and only the workers would get sick.

Shen Wenqiu said, “Is this what you want to do in the future?”

Lu Yong himself knew how ideal and naive he was. He recalled many shocking scenes he had seen these days and said solemnly and firmly, “With the rapid development of science and technology, there will be more and more e-waste in the future. Someone must do this.”

After thinking for a while, he said, “I think I can do it. This should be a very socially responsible industry. It shouldn’t be like this. If no one does it, it will get worse and worse.”

Shen Wenqiu said hesitantly, “I feel that if everything is in accordance with strict environmental standards, people can’t make much money…”

Faced with this problem, Lu Yong was not at all confused, “I just want to do it. I’ll just have to have enough money.”

Lu Yong considered his words for a while, then calmly and naturally said, “Xiao Baa, what do you think is the best way to spend one’s life?”

“Maybe I won’t make much money in my life, but I can’t think of anything more meaningful than protecting all living things.”

Lu Yong’s tone was too bold, calm, and serious even though they were just simple words. If it were someone else, he would think he was talking big, but Lu Yong was different. Lu Yong was extremely serious.

Shen Wenqiu’s whole body was frozen, and he felt his heart beating fiercely.

He thought there was no cooler boy in the world than Lu Yong.

It took Shen Wenqiu a long time to calm down before he could breathe normally again. Fortunately, he was wrapped in a quilt, so Lu Yong couldn’t see him blushing.

Shen Wenqiu said, “I hope our country can catch up with developed countries as soon as possible. Then we can upgrade and invent better and more environmentally friendly recycling methods.”

Lu Yong seemed to want to say something. He smiled and said nothing.

It was the second to last day before they left the factory.

Two new trucks of junk arrived.

They all went to move things, and finally, it was time for a noon break. The other workers left first. They slowed down a bit and stayed until the end.

Shen Wenqiu was very tired and sat on an electrical appliance casually. He saw Lu Yong still standing, silently looking up at the mountain of garbage, the electronic waste reflecting a strange lustre in the winter sun. There was a strong metallic smell.

The light shone from the opposite side that was a little blinding, depicting the side profile of Lu Yong’s resolute and stern face. Lu Yong’s chest puffed up and down as he took a deep breath from his nose.

Shen Wenqiu didn’t understand what he was worried about at all and asked, “What’s the matter? What are you sighing for? Are you tired?”

Lu Yong shook his head, didn’t look back, and asked, “Do you know what is the real way to deal with the least amount of waste pollution?”

Shen Wenqiu said stupidly, “I, I don’t know. How can I know? I’m not a technical geek.”

“It has nothing to do with technology.” Lu Yong said, “The best way is to transport it to other countries and pollute another land.”

“These are all rubbish that the boss specially bought from foreigners or robbed from his peers.”

Shen Wenqiu was stunned for a few seconds. He sat up straight, thought about it, stood up, and silently looked at Lu Yong’s back.

Lu Yong approached the e-waste mountain. He was wearing dirty blue work clothes and his dark face was dirty. He picked up a metal part. The cold light of metal shone into his eyes, like a raging flame rising from a lonely mountain.

Lu Yong added, “Everything has its advantages and disadvantages. They worked hard to excavate precious metals to make these things. These resources are limited. As long as there are suitable methods, this is a free mine.”

…

Even after recalling it after many years, Shen Wenqiu still felt that his heart was getting hot and his heart was beating faster. He didn’t realise it at the time and only thought that Lu Yong had a kind of handsomeness that had nothing to do with an appearance that directly struck the heart. Now that he thought about it, he definitely already liked Lu Yong at that time.

There were too many, too many reasons, and not a moment. But in a certain moment, whether it was because of Lu Yong’s ambition, the two snuggled up to sleep on a winter night.

To be able to really sleep with Lu Yong here was like fulfilling a wish he has had for a long time.

I should be satisfied. In the morning, Shen Wenqiu woke up thinking. But he didn’t know why he still felt empty inside.

Why? Probably because it was not out of mutual affection, but because of his despicable seduction.

He was able to seduce Lu Yong to break his precepts because he didn’t want any dignity and self-esteem.

For an upright and principled person like Lu Yong to be tainted by him like this, Shen Wenqiu couldn’t help feeling guilty.

Last night, he was still under the influence of alcohol. But what should he do today?

Fortunately, Lu Yong was still sleeping. Shen Wenqiu couldn’t think of how to face Lu Yong. He had a headache and his body ached.

Lu Yong was hugging him gently.

Shen Wenqiu remained motionless and enjoyed Lu Yong’s embrace for a while before he gently got out of Lu Yong’s arms, picked up the pyjamas on the ground and put them on, and went into the bathroom to take a shower.

Sleeping with Lu Yong was not as good as he thought, and it was also very painful. He originally thought that he would be satisfied after sleeping with Lu Yong once, but now that he began to think again, when would he be able to cheat for the second time?

Shen Wenqiu faced the bathroom wall, turned on the faucet, and the hot water fell on his body. He deliberately adjusted it to be hotter, as if he could wash it more cleanly, burning all the dirt on his body to death, and stood for a while. He felt something leaking out from the inside, running down the inside of his leg with the water.

Realising what it was, Shen Wenqiu blushed with shame.

With weak legs, Shen Wenqiu held on to the side and wanted to clean it up.

Lu Yong’s voice came from behind, “Xiao Baa, I’m sorry…”