There is nothing new in the old vegetable market. On Xizhi Road near People’s Square in Lanshan District, Linyi City, Shandong Province, from south to north, only about 300 meters, surrounded by residential areas and several schools, people pick up and drop off their children at work and pass by here to buy food, the only eye-catching thing may be the 18 garbage cans around, there are only five or six on other streets – this place can almost meet daily life The only eye-catcher might be the 18 trash cans around the area, compared to the five or six on the other streets – a place that almost meets the needs of daily life and creates a lot of trash. The solution to these troubles is an orange-uniformed sanitation worker, who comes out every morning before 4 a.m. to clean the street on time, and by the time people leave for work, the road is back to life, the garbage is gone, and the street is clean and tidy.
The company’s main business is to provide a wide range of products and services to the public. Who can not drag the garbage, he always want to give a hand. The nearby seafood fry store opened twenty years, the boss lady saw a crop of sanitation workers, but remembered the old man, some sanitation workers will be because of the merchants littering arguments, but he “never quarrel with merchants “.
On December 29, 2020, it snowed for the first time in winter in Linyi. The local meteorological bureau called this day “the most intense and wide-ranging low-temperature rain and snowstorm since 2020” and issued three warning signals in a row. People’s attention was focused on the snow: the Xizhi Road food market looked a bit more chaotic than usual, with trash cans full of debris and roadside garbage piled everywhere, all covered with snow and turned into large and small white mounds.
The most northern edge of the garbage cans in the food market, more than a long pile of “snow mounds”. Some residents rushed through the snow, throwing away the waste in their hands, thinking that it was the garbage that had not been cleaned up – the next day, the residents learned that there lay the sanitation workers who had fallen in the wind and snow when clearing the garbage.
Old Liu’s home
“The one who swept the garbage”
The people of Xizhi Road tell the experience of the deceased between the snow, “that sweep the garbage” face only from blurred to clear, was a little bit carved restoration. The nearest people to him did not know his name and called him “Old Liu”. The door was closed with a bang and Lao Liu went out. The sanitation workers officially go to work at 8 a.m., but because of the huge workload, they generally work between 2 a.m. and 4 a.m. to get off work at 5 p.m.
The butcher’s store on the south side of Xizhi Road Market is facing a large row of blue and green garbage cans, which is Lao Liu’s “territory”. The owner’s wife went to open the stall at 5:30 a.m., and Liu had already swept the leaves and snow from the door into a pile of small bags. She couldn’t help but tease: “You sweep also sweep for nothing, scraping the wind. “Old Liu eyebrows light, squinting eyes, he smiled, fleshy cheeks extruded a few folds, and began to clean up a new wave of fallen leaves. Disabled right leg and coughing problems make old Liu dry not fast, his workers and daughter recalled, especially into the winter, his cough aggravated, a not too long sentence always interspersed with a few coughs. His throat was muddled with phlegm and he spoke with a grunt.
Around 7:30 am, old Liu finished a wave of work, back to the rented bungalow, the workers saw him, behind the tricycle is empty, the upper body wearing a few days ago just bought a dark blue woolen collar cotton jacket, the style is young, the size of the body, “people old heart is not old “, everyone had flirted with this outfit. A workmate said, old Liu was called to help shovel snow in front of the school, just returned.
Worker Ma Juncai rented bungalow less than 20 meters from the old Liu home, he also just finished a round of sweeping, went home to rest for a while, rushing to return to the street again at about 8:00, about 8:10, called old Liu back to the post together: “Go? “”Go! “Lao Liu said.
About a minute or two, old Liu returned to the Xiju Road vegetable market.
Han Benxiang, the owner of the butcher store, can be seen every day at this time. He always fills the whole street with garbage into a large garbage can, by the way, picking up waste cartons, old bottles and flyers, small ads, yards in the dark red tricycle, waiting for 10 a.m. to finish a round of work vacant, sold the rags for meal money. The workers and the hotel owner recalled that Lao Liu these scraps can be exchanged for 2 or 3 pieces every day, 1 yuan to buy two steamed buns, on some pickles is his lunch; occasionally a luxury, to bowl of sheep soup, the cheapest 20 yuan, Lao Liu begged to 5 yuan, “the soup put some sheep blood on the line. “Every time you pay, old Liu open a polished iron box, the size of a cigarette box, and then unlock the white transparent plastic bag inside, counting out a few dimes.
But Han Benxiang and old Liu’s only interactions are just daily greetings. At 8:00 a.m., Liu came back to turn over the garbage can as usual, he picked the edge of the barrel, Han Benxiang muttered: “So much snow still turn what ah! “
Suddenly, old Liu slowly fell backwards, his right hand holding a kitchen knife that he had just picked up, without making any sound.
“Down! Down! ” Han Benxiang shouted and ran over. After falling to the ground, Lao Liu’s eyes were slightly closed, his mouth was open round, spitting out white air, leaving a little white foam on his lips, and a fresh wound on his right cheek was slightly oozing blood. Han Benxiang called him, he did not speak, Han Benxiang immediately called 120.
The time was 8:42, old Liu returned to work for about half an hour.
Snow flakes kept hitting the old man’s already bruised face.
Merchants gathered around, hesitant to move him, afraid of cerebral hemorrhage, someone to his body covered with cardboard and plastic film, head covered with a foam box broken off side. The kitchen knife in Liu’s hand was taken away, and his arms were repositioned back to both sides of his body.
The snowy ambulance is slower than usual, 1.7 kilometers walked for more than 20 minutes.
Old buddy Ma Juncai ran over from the other way, “under a good deal of snow, I thought just click (slip) down, a piece of walking (out), people can not, too unexpected. “Ma Juncai said the doctor came down from the ambulance, turned over the old Liu’s eyelids and looked, and took out the instrument fiddled for a while, and finally waved his hand. He remembered the medical examination done half a month ago, the report said Lao Liu in addition to a little High blood pressure, no other major problems.
The crowd dispersed after the ambulance left. Old Liu’s body remained in place, waiting for the coroner and the funeral home car. When nearby residents passed by, they did not know what had happened here.
Two hours later, the coroner came and initially identified it as a myocardial infarction. The remains were put into a zipper bag and placed in a coffin-shaped metal box. Old Ma has been accompanying and sent the workers to the hospital morgue.
The sanitation workers usually have little time to chat. Only in the summer heat of the long night, will sit in the courtyard “Laquan” (chat) two sentences. Old Liu used to be a contractor payroll, before he got married will weave cloth, repeatedly told. Old Ma recalls that Liu is a capable person. He was able to build his own electric stove, and other people’s discarded mazas could look new in his hands; his pension was going up, and it was also Lao Liu who told him from the “dial kind of” cell phone. He did.
The day after Liu’s death, he was on the hot search. In the short video comments, netizens from all over the country felt sad for him, thinking that he was “too difficult” and “too little care”, and questioned the recruitment threshold and welfare mechanism of the sanitation department; many merchants and residents of Xiju Road saw the news and finally knew the name of “the one who sweeps the garbage” after sweeping it for more than three years: Liu Ruxiang, male, born in 1951.
The daughter of the old Liu recalls that he did not like to stay in his rural home, feeling no respect, in the first snowfall in Linyi in the winter of 2020, the old Liu died, and finally got the most respect he had ever asked for in his life.
“If you don’t go to school properly, you will clean up afterwards.”
Old Liu was not the first sanitation worker to have an accident. Seven or eight years ago, worker Lao Jiao cleaning, was run over by a large truck, he was responsible for the eastern section of Qiyang Road and Lao Liu responsible for the place crisscrossed, Lao Ma took over the sweep, a dry dry until now; two years ago, Lao Ma’s old companion to do sanitation, a car rushed into the non-motorized road, her leg was broken. “Doing our kind of work hit on the hit, a lot of life to slip. “Old Ma tone flat. He has now taken over the work of old Liu again, sweeping two roads a day.
The name is the least important. According to local staff, half of the sanitation group is the “old x”, responsible for sweeping the road; the other half of the The other half of the “small x” people, mostly responsible for attendance, sweepers and administrative, 9 to 5. The other half of the “little x’s” are mostly responsible for attendance, cleaning and administration, working from 9 to 5. “Old Liu of the vegetable market”, “Old Ma of Qiyang Road “.
Even wearing the highest brightness of orange, the old sanitation workers still live in the “blind spot” of people’s vision. This year, after the New Year’s Day holiday, sanitation worker Lao Ma after lunch out of work, cleaning Qiyang Road, the trash cans of paper and plastic bags have been ignited. Old horse anxious, towards the road on both sides of the vendors shouted: “Do not throw again, it is illegal miles! “The vendors were busy tending to goods, greeting customers, no one responded, no one even looked over. “Before, there are people who have burned the honeycomb coal and cigarette butts thrown over the garbage can. “Old Ma said the dumpster often because of these fires, during the day to see can still be extinguished in time, once he went out to work in the morning, the garbage cans have been burned can not be used.
In the eyes of onlookers, sanitation workers is a lowly job. A sanitation worker recalls that some parents pointed at them and said to their children: “You don’t go to school properly, you clean up afterwards! The security guards in the neighborhood of Xizhi Road also look down on them, mentioning the deceased sanitation worker, bald security guards look away, arrogant tone: “He is cleaning, I look after the door Not a class with him. “
In fact, the normal operation of the city, the residents live smoothly, every neighborhood, green belts, roadside, etc., as long as there is garbage output, they can not be separated from the place. The daily garbage output of the vegetable market is huge, there are merchants to save things, directly to the middle of the road and other sanitation workers to pick up the garbage; community renovation of construction waste is difficult to clean up, there are people secretly dumped into the sanitation bucket. The most abrasive summer, the uniform is not breathable, a sanitation worker covered up with heat rash, often to the public toilet to wash their faces to relieve the heat, but also brought a large water cup to the merchants to ask for water to drink.
The 58-year-old Zhao Mingfu is responsible for cleaning the west side of Qiyang Road, there is an elementary school in the area, he is most afraid of students in front of the school to tear flyers advertising play, paper flying, for him each piece is a disaster. He also met a meat vendor, always throwing dirty water on the ground, leaves, pieces of paper and other debris are stuck to the ground, like a long plaster as difficult to uncover. “If you splash water again I will pour water on your door! “Zhao Mingfu and the other party fierce. After that, the other party did not splash water.
There are also sanitation workers who could not resist hands. Wu Zhuanfu is nearly 70 years old, he is responsible for the area, a district in charge of sanitation staff more than 50 years old, often dumped into his bucket of garbage to save things, “he pulled the empty bucket to go no longer have to get up early, I have to get up at three! “Wu Tsuan Fu said he had advised several times before, and found a new garbage, finally could not resist towards the other side of the door a punch swung over, the other side of the deficit, did not ask for compensation, and never dumped the garbage.
Few people know the harshness of the sanitation worker assessment. Last fall, Wu Tsuan-Fu did not finish his lunch, he received a call from the attendance officer: “You have three leaves not swept clean, immediately rectify! “He put down his chopsticks and rushed to clean up. According to the description of the sanitation workers, similar fines cost one to twenty dollars at a time.
The sanitation group income varies greatly: the old sanitation workers are mostly temporary workers, 1600-1800 yuan a month, more than 60 years old only a personal accident insurance; but the younger people are paid more than 2000 yuan a month, if it is an important position of regular employees, you can get 4000 yuan a month.
Many people have mentioned about the wage increase. Zhao Mingfu, who has two years left to turn 60, is the only sanitation worker with social security in several streets near Xizhi Road. He is responsible for the difficulty of cleaning up the school, the request for a pay rise was rejected and did not dare to go, his wife and son are mentally handicapped and depend on him for support, “dry to retirement life can be guaranteed, can get a pension. “Zhang Weimin, 66, who is responsible for the refuse collection point, began a strike for a week at the end of last year. Four years ago, the worker who was in charge of the refuse collection point resigned and he started to do two jobs to earn two salaries by himself. But more than two months ago, the new manager thought he could do it by himself, and gave him a pay cut of 600 yuan, “If you don’t do it, forget it! “
The new manager, who is responsible for cleaning the elementary school toilets, temporarily replaced the striking workers. at the end of 2019, he just worked for two months, his salary was reduced by 100 yuan, which earned a double salary, “I’m quite happy. “Xu Liangzhong said, double wages earned not long, soon there will be new people to come, “many people back to the countryside after the autumn harvest and then come back to clean the sanitation. “
The value of dying
Old Liu lived in a room of about 6 square meters, from the Xizhi Road vegetable market to the east in a minute or two, wooden beds covered with thin mattresses, covered with the newly issued orange cotton work clothes, workers said he had not worn; table boxes around the life of miscellaneous items, the most shiny house is to put the red lacquered iron box of cigarette rolls. In front of the door is a narrow yellow alley, the snow has not been cleared, by the ruts and footprints into a slippery ice road, mottled with earthy colors. Rusty iron doors and wooden doors are mostly hidden and cannot be fully closed. Two rows of bungalows are sandwiched in the low-lying area in the middle of the residential area of the building, which is the home of the sanitation workers, and the rent is only 100 yuan per month.
Sanitation worker Lao Ma’s yard is full of cardboard boxes and plastic bottles, and he sits on a mat, stretching his sore legs a little to relax. His partner serves up a lunch of stewed cabbage, soaking a piece of pancake in it, pancake with cabbage, or with pickled vegetables, curd, almost every sanitation workers eat this way. The meager salary, the status of being despised, the danger of coming at any time, any one of them seems enough to make people retreat, but “how to eat without doing? “
The “food” is not only the dignity of self-reliance, more often than not, is the last remnants of these old people’s lives in their later years. “Anyway, it is useless to keep (money), children you must not help him? “Eat the cheapest, live the cheapest, they want to keep as much as possible for the family wages.
Sanitation worker Lao Liu was the same during his lifetime. The workers recalled that the money on his salary card was not moving, but only to the right number every month. He had allocated his savings, more than 30,000 cards to his son, more than 10,000 to his daughter: “earn and save money” sums up his life for his children.
Guo Yingxue, the couple next door to Liu, uses the money from cleaning to support themselves, because “the children need money to save up to buy a house or a car”. They clean during the day and pick up their young grandson from school after work, and their second son lives in a high-rise next to them, with a rent of 20,000 yuan a year. After Liu’s accident, his grandson called at 7:00 the next morning, worried about how little they were wearing; some old couples do sanitation work, not only to support themselves, but also to subsidize their sons, the youngest grandson is only 5 years old, just a few days of coughing will cost a hundred dollars. There are also almost 70-year-old sanitation workers in their hometown “there are even older people to support”, the old mother is more than 90 years old, even dare not take leave, because during the leave to compensate the money to replace the work of people The mother is over 90 years old, and she is afraid to take leave because she has to pay the replacement worker during the leave.
Zhang Shicai is 68 years old, only one head higher than the garbage can, do sanitation is unable to stand the daughter-in-law’s anger. The two had an argument, Zhang Shicai said: “If I die, who will watch your children? ” “You’re going to die and the earth will not turn? “
Zhang Shicai was angry and came out to work as a sanitation worker. But she still loves her children, leaving 1000 yuan to them every month, and only 700 yuan for herself. Work for five years, Zhang Shicai saved 12,000 yuan, think pension enough, “there is a good life, get sick and die, but also spend. “
In the eyes of many people, the “good life” is the old Liu just died. Xizhi Road, many people feel that the accident is really a lot of compensation, a restaurant owner said: “Old Liu will really die, die in this place. Dead home can not give money, dead on the road. “There are also merchants feel very affordable: “He did not earn that much money until he was 90 years old. “
Old Liu’s family’s memories, his face has long been blurred. Since my daughter can remember, old Liu is working outside, northeast, Henan, Shanghai, a year to see not two – no one remembers what his father loved to eat, granddaughter did not even know that grandfather was working as a sanitation worker, thought he was still watching the gate.
Two days after Lao Liu’s death, on the evening of December 31, 2020, the cremation of the 1 meter 8 tall, 160 pound torso was completed and the ashes were taken back home. The funeral was held on the morning of New Year’s Day, the chairman and manager of the sanitation company came to attend, and brought a gift of a thousand dollars. Old Liu’s daughter said: “Father’s face did not grow up in his life, but grew up after his death”. on January 4, Liu’s family got 620,000 compensation, including 20,000 This is the last money that old Liu “earned” for his family.
Near the Xizhi Road food market, the seventh day of Liu’s death, the snow here finally melted through. His broom was lying diagonally in the flower pond by the garbage can, and the garbage that was finally swept into a handful was finally exposed and cleaned up by the workers.
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