Soon, the two arrived at the entrance of Tiantian residential area, and Shang Jincheng happily bid her farewell.
"Then I won't see you in. I have some things to attend to, I'll be going now."
Tiantian smiled, "Okay, hurry up and go to the mall to prepare gifts. Dress handsomely, it's all up to you tonight!"
The two laughed heartily, and Tiantian got out of the car.
As she took two steps towards the entrance of the residential area, she noticed two security guards arguing with a tall man, cursing him vulgarly. The man was being pushed and stumbled.
Tiantian was not one to gossip or cause trouble. She glanced at them casually, intending to bypass them and go in.
Unexpectedly, the man, who looked tall and strong, a head and a half taller than the security guards, was pushed to the ground by them.
The man was dressed in rags, with a look of misery on his face. He lay on the ground, clutching his leg, and said to the security guards,
"Aren't you just watchdogs? Who do you look down on? Is a person no longer a person because their leg is lame? Does a lame leg mean they don't even have the right to go in and see a friend? You're bullying me too much!"
Tiantian's attention was successfully captured, and she looked at the man's face.
Seeing his extreme pain and sweat under the scorching sun, she thought he was injured and looked at the security guards.
"What's going on?"
The security guards were familiar with Tiantian and explained to her respectfully.
They said this person had never been to the residential area before. Today, he suddenly said he wanted to find a resident and asked him to show his pass. When he couldn't, they asked him to call the resident to confirm his identity, but he refused and kept trying to force his way in. For safety reasons, they stopped him, and he started cursing.
Remembering that Chen Dongyang had also been stopped by them before, and that the security guards did have a tendency to look down on the poor, Tiantian didn't say much and reached out to help Dong Jian up.
"Are you alright? Are you injured? Let me help you up."
Dong Jian was half a head taller than Tiantian, and it took her a lot of effort to pull him up.
Dong Jian, looking injured, complained to her.
"Is a lame leg not a human leg? I'm looked down upon and bullied everywhere. Even a security guard dares to hit me. What kind of world is this?"
Tiantian smiled at him gently.
"They are just doing their jobs, they don't mean any harm, don't be too angry. Who are you looking for? Give him a call. The security in this residential area is like this. For the protection of the residents, they have to confirm identities. It's the same for me to go in."
Dong Jian said, "If I had his phone, I would have called, but we've been out of touch for several years."
"..."
Tiantian looked at the security guards again, "Why don't you check the resident's phone number and call him to confirm the visitor's identity? Everyone has a hard time, be a little more humane."
The security guard didn't want to bother with the lame man, but seeing Tiantian speak for him, he asked him to wait a moment and turned to go into the security booth to check the resident's phone number.
At this moment, Dong Jian said sadly that he wouldn't look anymore.
"Forget it. A tiger fallen into the plains is bullied by dogs. Even a security guard looks down on me. They might not want to be friends with me now. I won't bother them. I'm leaving."
Saying this, he pushed Tiantian's hand away and walked out.
However, his leg seemed to be seriously injured. He took a step and almost fell again.
Tiantian hurried to catch him, "Are you really not injured? I saw your leg..."
Dong Jian, sweating profusely and with a pained expression, said,
"To tell you the truth, miss, my leg hurts a lot. I have no money to go to the hospital, and I have no money to pay rent. The landlord said he would kick me out if I didn't pay today. I had no choice but to think of finding an old friend."
"..."
Tiantian didn't know what he had been through. Such a young, well-featured young man had made himself like this.
Thinking that everyone has difficult times, and if she could help, she would help. She softly asked Dong Jian,
"Where do you live? How much money do you need? How about I lend you some first?"
"Miss..."
"It's okay. In this life, who hasn't encountered difficulties? You can return it to me when you have money. How much do you need?"
Shang Jincheng was about to turn and leave after seeing Tiantian enter the residential area, but he saw people arguing at the entrance.
Someone fell, and Tiantian couldn't help but step forward to help.
Seeing that the situation outside was a bit complicated and he was worried about Tiantian, he also got out of the car.
He walked over and saw Tiantian talking to the man and taking out her phone. He quickly asked what was wrong.
Tiantian explained the general situation. Shang Jincheng was worried about her casually giving money to strangers and stopped her.
"It's not good for a girl like you to casually give out contact information. I'll give it to him. I'll scan you, five thousand, is that enough?"
Dong Jian thanked him gratefully, "Enough, enough."
Shang Jincheng scanned his payment code, transferred five thousand yuan, and said, putting his arm around Tiantian's shoulder,
"I didn't expect to encounter something like this at your residential area entrance. I'll escort you in. It's not safe, let's go."
As the two were about to leave, Dong Jian spoke again.
"Sir, excuse me, could you trouble me one more time?"
"My leg really hurts badly. I'm afraid I can't walk much further. You've done a good deed, can you take me home?"
Shang Jincheng hesitated a little, after all, he was a man and didn't have much sympathy for another man.
But Tiantian couldn't bear to see human suffering. Hearing him say that, she cast a sympathetic glance at him.
Dong Jian took the opportunity to pull up his pant leg to show them.
"Look, this leg of mine was crippled by someone years ago and is no longer presentable. I fell again just now, and it hurts terribly."
His right leg, due to the disability, could not exert force and had atrophied significantly over the years, appearing noticeably thinner and more twisted than his normal leg.
Tiantian averted her gaze with just one look.
To be honest, it was a bit scary, she couldn't bear to look.
She gently tugged Shang Jincheng's clothes and said,
"Let's give him a ride. You've done a good deed, you won't be short of time for this, right?"
Shang Jincheng, for Tiantian's sake, took pity on him again.
"Where do you live? Let's go."
Dong Jian was happy, "If you're worried, let the young lady accompany me. If something happens, there'll be a witness. I swear I'm a good person."
Tiantian thought that she had nothing else to do anyway, and after dropping him off, she could accompany Shang Jincheng to pick out gifts, which would also be returning a favor.
"Okay, I'll go with you."
The three got into the car and headed in the direction Shang Jincheng mentioned.
Ever since he sold his family's house, Dong Jian had been living in a dilapidated shack in an urban village.
It was called a shack, but it was built on someone's abandoned vegetable patch. Since it was idle, the owner rented it to him for 150 yuan a month.
The area had very poor security, inhabited by unemployed vagrants or people from the lowest strata of society.
Forget about surveillance, basic hygiene couldn't even be guaranteed.
In the middle of summer, garbage lined both sides of the road, flies buzzed everywhere, and the roads were narrow and dark. As soon as you turned in, a strong stench assaulted your senses.
Shang Jincheng didn't want to drive further in, but Dong Jian didn't say to stop and looked ahead with anticipation, so he had to endure it.