This is a relatively backward village, where both married and unmarried people yearn for the outside world. Apart from those who go to school and succeed, those who do not succeed enter society early. At the beginning, when transitioning from a student to a worker, I was quite excited, often humming little songs while working, but soon I was taught a lesson; the leader said that working like this is not acceptable, and if the boss hears it, he will think you are slacking off.

Everyone must not show any signs of happiness; otherwise, they will definitely be considered lazy at work, and then they will be burdened with more work. In severe cases, they may even be fired.

You must think this job is very good, right? In fact, it is quite the opposite; this is a small worker on a construction site, and even such jobs are unstable. When a project ends, it means the migrant workers are unemployed.

Without skills and a high level of education, one cannot enter good factories; they either do odd jobs in the market or work in small workshops. The odd jobs in the market are generally just some minor tasks on construction sites, which are very unstable, while small workshops are usually private family-run businesses that take on some tasks, often in poor conditions, and they may withhold wages, which could be unpaid for a month or even several months.

Twenty years ago, employment in China was not friendly to ordinary people; not only was it difficult to find work, but even when a job was found, receiving wages was a serious issue. Many small bosses would secretly run away after the project was completed, leaving a large number of workers' hard-earned money wasted.

At that time, the rule of law was not yet sound. When you called the police, they would refuse to handle it on the grounds that it was not within their business scope. If you reported it to the labor bureau, they would refuse to help you seek justice, citing insufficient evidence or the absence of a subject.

I had to drop out of school to go out, thousands of miles from home, doing the hardest work for that meager salary, and I met some grassroots workers.

These people wake up early and work late, putting in hard work. On their days off, the best they can do is improve their meals or have a little drink, and they feel very satisfied. Their desires for life are very low; as long as they have food and accommodation, even if the living conditions are poor and the food is bad, they can work hard. When they get paid, most will send money home to their wives, and then buy a chicken leg or something, which is considered an improvement in their lives.

However, even so, they still worry about their work. Every time before payday, they are anxious, fearing that the boss will be in a bad mood and not pay them. Every time, without exception, the boss would say that there are some difficulties in turnover recently and would delay payment until it could no longer be postponed, at which point only half of the wages would be paid. This was considered a conscientious small boss at that time.

They have no desire for self-improvement. Since leaving school, they no longer learn or progress. If they must read, it is certainly to read martial arts novels or something similar. In that era, entertainment was scarce, and with no popular short videos, they could only derive spiritual joy from reading novels. Of course, most people hated reading; they did not understand why they should read, seeing it as a waste of time, and did not understand why they should have ideals, asking if ideals can be eaten.

Even when these bosses deceive them, they still feel grateful, believing that the boss is their provider. No matter how hard or tiring it is, at the moment of receiving wages, they feel it is worth it. They would give a thumbs up to the boss who pays on time, thinking that the boss is conscientious for not running away.

Of course, there are more bosses without conscience. If they cannot run away, they will act shamelessly, always saying they have no money. If they can escape, they will quickly slip away. As a result, some people have no way to collect debts and can only take risks, either threatening to jump off a building or gathering a group of people to catch the boss. Regardless of whether they succeed in collecting debts, the police will immediately arrive and detain the workers on the charge of creating a disturbance. So, in a sense, this provides a certain level of protection for the rogue contractors. However, to this day, this phenomenon has become rare, mainly because more people understand the law.

However, I am not writing this article mainly to explain the social phenomena of that time, but to clarify that even in such an environment, there are still actions and spirits of self-improvement that have not been abandoned.

In pursuit of my ideals, I eventually left such a group, even though I encountered countless instances of unpaid wages and bosses running away. Later, I found a job with someone I met in the market, who believed that his knowledge would surely be useful.

The two of us chatted along the way, looking at job advertisements. We saw a big red recruitment advertisement, and my companion and I walked in. As soon as we entered the office, an elderly man who looked like a manager asked, "We need a deputy general manager here; are you here to apply?"

I hesitated for a moment, wanting to chat, but my companion quickly pulled me out, apologizing, "Sorry for the interruption, we can't do it, we came to the wrong place." I felt a bit disappointed.

I remained silent, but my companion kept talking, saying, "Dragons give birth to dragons, phoenixes give birth to phoenixes; we are not cut out for this..."

I sighed deeply, without responding, feeling lost about the future...

The next day, I went out by myself, unwilling to travel with yesterday's friend again. Although I am a bit introverted, I still longed to work in sales.

However, many sales jobs are basically just for making money. In that era, intermediaries would package and deceive for money, and the so-called workplaces were basically just harvesting leeks.

I found a job in beverage sales through an intermediary, thinking I could run business, but it turned out the beverages were fake; they were just colluding with the intermediary to scam the intermediary fee.

That morning, I got up very early and saw the girl who had also been deceived. This time, I followed her, and she stopped as well.

"Did you eat breakfast?" I asked.

"No, I don't eat breakfast," she replied.

I knew she didn't have much money, so when we passed a pancake stall, I bought a 5 yuan pancake and handed it to her, saying, "You eat it."

She wanted to give me half, but I declined, saying, "I'm not hungry; you eat it."

"Thank you..."

"Here’s 10 yuan, buy something to eat at noon. The boss said there might be drinks for the meeting."

"I'm not going; I'm selling books in the square now, and I can earn some money."

I saw her off to the bus, while I went to that beverage boss.

As soon as I entered, the boss got straight to the point, saying, "There’s been some trouble with the beverages that will take a month or so; do you have money? You need to pay a 1200 yuan deposit first."

It turned out he wanted to continue scamming my money.

The result, of course, was an unhappy parting...

Years later, after many twists and turns, I still chose to work in sales. Because I was diligent and eager to learn, my performance was outstanding. I summarized many sales methods and solutions, truly wanting to achieve something, but I did not understand workplace politics; I was merely doing the work for others.

In the quiet of the night, I pondered where would be the place to showcase my talents?

Just when I was about to be reused, I chose to resign due to the pressure of life and other development opportunities. I thought I could showcase my talents in a small company, but I overlooked that small companies also have politics, and reform is not easy.

Later, I focused on studying the internet. Through extensive learning and research, by chance, I transitioned from PC e-commerce to WeChat e-commerce, finally showcasing my talents on a certain platform, but I was still working for someone else.