Blackstone Code

"Sir, would you like a newspaper?"

A half-grown man with a dirty peaked cap and a huge leather satchel appeared in front of Lynch.

The boy looked about eleven or twelve years old. He looked at Lynch expectantly, and opened his satchel, revealing the newspaper inside.

These children are all under the management of various "masketheads", which are not newspaper headlines, but the managers of those newsboys.

By virtue of certain relationships or means or some other means, they have firmly controlled the mobile newspaper sales market in certain areas. Here, only their own newsboys can sell newspapers, and others cannot come in, and the newsstands are not among them.

Every morning, they would gather outside the newspaper office to load the newspapers, which were still warm from the machine, on a trolley, pull them back to their "base", distribute them to these half-grown children, and drive them to the street.

Every child will have a sales standard, the lowest limit, if it is lower than this limit, they will be beaten or starved, and only after this standard is exceeded, they can enjoy food, but there is no reward.

Welfare homes and some poor families have taken away their wages for their work. All they have to do is work as much as possible in exchange for a shelter from the wind and rain and two meals of food to sustain themselves.

Some people may think this is hell, but compared to those who live in a more hopeless abyss, these children are like heaven.

Lynch took out a one-dollar banknote from his pocket, and chose two newspapers. Locally published newspapers were all fifty cents a piece, while nationally published newspapers were only one yuan a piece.

The newsboy kept thanking Lynch for his patronage, and even took off his hat and bowed. For Lynch, two newspapers for one yuan may be an unavoidable part of life, but it is also the salvation that the child most wants every day.

The child was about to leave, but Lynch called him back.

"Sir, is there anything else I can ask you for?" asked the half-old child.

Children like him are often better adapted to this society than those who have good family conditions and are still in school. Looking at that immature face that has been ripened by reality and full of smiles, Lynch was a little emotional.

These are the worst of times, but also the best of times.

"Want to make money?" he asked.

The child nodded immediately, "I want to be Mr. even in my dreams, but I don't do illegal things."

Where there is light, there will be darkness, and the darkness will make the light brighter, and on the contrary, the light will make the darkness darker.

Some people use children to sell newspapers, but some people use children to commit crimes. These are not top-secret rumors. In the process of this society's vigorous development, everyone is blinded by wealth.

As long as money can be made, there will always be someone to do it, no matter what the job is.

Lynch shook his head, "Do you have ninety-seven points?"

Although the newsboy was hesitant, he quickly took out ninety-seven cents from his pocket. There were some small change in his pocket, which were arranged by the newspaper head and put in everyone's backpack when he came out.

The money does not belong to them, and the masthead will count it when they go back. If someone loses money or has less money, they will go hungry or beaten. This also makes the children very sensitive to money.

Looking at the ninety-seven cents that the child took out—all coins, Lynch took out another dollar, put it in the child's left hand, and took ninety-seven cents from his other hand. point.

"Sir, there are three cents less here, I'll find it for you now..." The newsboy thought that Lynch wanted change. Urban transportation generally has two types of tickets, one for within five kilometers and one for travel within five kilometers. It's five kilometers away.

Whether it's the bus or the subway, there is no change. If you give fifty cents, they will only give you two tickets instead of one and change.

This also makes many people more or less prepare some small change on their bodies to avoid losses.

Lynch stopped the newsboy and asked repeatedly, "Do you want to make money?"

The newsboy hadn't realized it yet. It was the first time he could take advantage so openly and honestly, which made him a little uneasy. He hesitated for a while before nodding and said, "Yes, sir, even dreaming!"

The smile that gradually appeared on Lynch's face made the child feel as if he saw the sun just rising. It was not dazzling, and the light was very gentle, but it was able to tear apart the darkness and illuminate the entire sky!

"Do you have ninety-seven points?", he asked again.

After a moment of astonishment, shock and bewilderment, the newsboy quickly took out the ninety-seven cents in his bag and held them in his palm.

His face was flushed, and he could see that he was excited, nervous, apprehensive, and somewhat suspicious. His clear eyes looked at Lynch and what this guy in front of him was going to do.

Lynch took out another dollar, put it in the newsboy's hand, and took away the ninety-seven cents from his other hand. He asked with a half-smile, "Do you want to make money?"

At this moment, the newsboy was trembling with excitement, he nodded repeatedly and found out all the change that could make up ninety-seven cents, "It's all here, sir..."

Lynch counted twelve dollars and put them in his hand, and put all the change in his pocket, "It seems that you only have so much."

The newsboy was a little excited. Although he only exchanged fourteen yuan in change from Lynch, his own income was already forty-two cents, which was nearly half of one yuan.

You must know that no matter how good his current job is, he will not get even a penny, and the newspaper head will hand over all the remuneration to the orphanage.

This newsboy is a child who grew up in the orphanage. In the words of the orphanage, they should do something for the orphanage. After all, the orphanage has raised them so much without asking for anything in return.

Generally speaking, as long as you are over ten years old and have not been adopted, the chance of being adopted later is very small. Except for some girls, they are adopted for other reasons and purposes.

However, the orphanage will not take too much control. When the children are over fourteen years old, they can refuse to be adopted. At the same time, after they are over sixteen years old, they have to leave here and enter the society alone to survive.

In other words, boys over ten years old are basically considered "marginal people" in welfare institutions. It is difficult to earn adoption subsidies and adoption donations from these children, so they have to work.

They have to use work to compensate for the efforts of the orphanage to raise them over the years. As for whether it is right to do so, it doesn’t matter, because no one cares about it, everyone’s eyes are only on the people who are close to them. things that matter.

How to integrate into society as soon as possible after being kicked out of the orphanage and find a shelter is the most troublesome thing for these children at the moment.

If they can get some money before they leave, it doesn't need much, as long as they can survive for a short time, they have a chance of surviving.

Lynch's act of exchanging change led the kid to discover a bright avenue, just like he asked before-do you want to make money?

And his own answer - dreaming!

After collecting the money, the newsboy asked hesitantly, "Sir, will you be here tomorrow?"

Lynch nodded, "I'll be here until lunch, if I'm not here, I'll be there the next day!" He tapped his wrist with his fingers, "You still have enough time..."

These children who had started to get in touch with the society immediately understood what Lynch meant. About ten minutes later, a group of newsboys gathered around here, and people kept coming.