The man in red came back a while later. He saw several children gathered outside Uwa's door and shouted angrily, "Hurry up and eat. There is still work to do in the evening."
The children scattered when they heard the angry voice. Uwa saw him and shouted anxiously, "Uncle, where is my mother?"
The man in red thought to himself, "This child is naive enough, she is still looking for her mother. I will just keep lying to her."
"Your mother wants you to stay here. She said she will pick you up when you make enough money."
Uwa was very disappointed when she heard it, but she soon accepted the reality. She nodded and said, "Then I will make money here."
The man in red was overjoyed. He didn't expect it would be so easy to deal with this girl. This way, he had another tool to make money. He opened the iron gate and led Uwa through a long corridor. A yard appeared in front of him. The children just now were eating here. As the two came in, the children all looked up at them. The man in red lowered his head and asked Uwa, "What's your name?"
"My name is Uwa."
"This girl named 'Uwa' will join you today and go to the street to make money with you. If she doesn't understand something, please teach her," he shouted.
At this time, a boy stood up, walked towards Uwa and said, "My name is Rick. I just came here a month ago. I am alone now. I am willing to team up with you."
Uwa was very excited. She had never had anyone take the initiative to talk to her since she was a child. She was at a loss for a moment and looked up at the man in red beside her. The man knew that this girl was almost a fool, and now someone took the initiative to team up with her, which was also good, so he said for her, "Okay, then you two can be in the same team!"
After the man in red went out, Rick found a chair and asked Uwa to sit next to him. "Thank you!" Uwa said gratefully. As soon as the words fell, the five people at the table burst into laughter. A boy pointed at her and said, "Are you a boy or a girl? Your voice is so strange, like a man's voice." Rick beside her also bent over with laughter. After a long while, he said, "Uwa, are you a boy? You are wearing girls' clothes to deceive us." Another boy said, "We will know after we take off her pants."
"Okay!" Everyone rushed up and pressed Uwa to the ground. In order to prove that she was not lying, Uwa did not resist. When she was stripped naked, except for her genitals, she was almost the same as other boys, and even stronger. Rick was the first to apologize to her, "I'm sorry! You are really a girl."
Uwa put on her clothes and didn't say anything. She returned to the table to eat dinner. Seeing that she was so good-tempered, the other children felt guilty. After the guilt was over, they thought she was weak and could be bullied. Uwa buried her head in the food on the table. Today's dinner was two cassava per person. As soon as she tasted a little bit of flavor, they were gone. She didn't dare to ask for more, so she could only bear it.
After eating, everyone played in the yard. No one paid attention to Uwa when she first came. Twenty minutes passed, and the man in red came in again. He clapped his hands and shouted, "Okay, everyone has had enough fun. Let's follow the old rules. Tonight's task is to earn 20 shillings per person. Those who fail to achieve the task will not be allowed to eat tomorrow morning. Let's set off now."
The six people were divided into three teams. Rick walked to Uwa and said, "Let's go!" Everyone got on the car of the man in red. Fortunately, they were small and could squeeze in. Uwa was the last one to get on the car and sat by the window. The car drove for half an hour and came to a bustling street market. There were hundreds of shops here, and people came and went. The six people got off the car, and the man in red also got off from the front. "Old rules, gather here at ten o'clock. Everyone be on time."
Everyone nodded, and Rick took Uwa to a candy store. When they were close, he stopped. "You go over and ask them to give you a few shillings, and if they don't, you just stand there."
Uwa nodded and walked to the candy store alone. The shop was run by a couple. The boss was a tall man who looked fierce. He saw Uwa standing at the door of his house in tattered clothes and looking timid, and asked coldly, "Do you want to buy something? If not, get out!"
"Can you give me a few shillings?" Uwa finally said.
The boss was surprised to see that she was wearing girls' clothes but making a voice like an adult man. A woman came over and asked, "What's wrong?"
The boss pointed at Uwa and said, "This child is a devil, and she actually made a terrible sound."
The woman was kinder. She felt sorry for Uwa, took out three shillings from her pocket, and handed it over, "Take it! We are not very rich, so we can only help you with this."
Uwa did not dare to speak again, for fear of scaring the kind woman. She just nodded to her and turned back to Rick. Rick had just seen everything that happened. He was delighted and said, "You are really lucky. I didn't get it last time and was almost beaten by the tall man." The next moment he said, "How many shillings did they give you? Leave it here!"
Uwa showed Rick the money she had begged. He was a little disappointed to see that there were only three shillings, but he still took it all. Then they walked to the next store, this time it was a bookstore, which looked quite impressive. There were two beautiful girls standing at the door, shouting welcome words and nodding and bowing to the guests who came in. Rick said to Uwa, "Go in! This store is very rich, you should ask for more, so that we don't have to go hungry tomorrow."
Uwa bravely walked in. When she was inside the store, she found that it was very spacious and there were many people. She didn't know who to ask for money from, so she had to walk around for a while. At this time, she saw a fat woman sitting on a chair reading a book. She walked to her side and said timidly, "Madam, can you give me some shillings?"
The fat woman was reading a book and was suddenly startled by her voice, "Are you crazy? Why don't you get out of here?"
This time, Uwa hit a snag and had to turn around and leave. After walking for a while, she saw a mother with a little boy of four or five years old in front of her. Just as she was about to speak, the little boy was frightened and cried when he saw her face. The mother was furious and slapped her in the face without saying a word. Uwa covered her face and ran away quickly.
After two failures, she was deeply shocked. She wandered around the store for a while again. This time, she wanted to find a man to ask, but after walking around, all the men looked fierce and ferocious, and she didn't dare to speak. Rick waited outside for a long time and didn't see her come out, so he came in to look for her. When he saw her wandering around the store like a headless fly, he was furious. As he approached, he angrily said, "Fool! The boss here is on the second floor, what are you doing here? Even if you don't know, can't you ask someone?"
After hearing this, Uwa was still confused. She didn't know where to go up to the second floor. Rick had to take her upstairs and then waited at the stairs. Under his guidance, Uwa walked towards a man in his fifties. When she got closer, the man saw her, with a disgusted expression on his face, and angrily said, "Kid, what do you want?"
"Sir, can you give me some shillings?" Uwa tried to speak in a shrill voice to avoid scaring people.
In order to make her leave quickly, the man took out twenty shillings from his pocket and threw them on the ground, saying, "Take the money and leave quickly! Don't come here again in the future."
Uwa was overjoyed, bent down to pick up the shillings on the ground, turned around and walked towards the stairs. Rick saw her happy look and knew that she had got the money, "How much did you get? Give it to me quickly!"
Uwa handed it to him like offering a treasure. When Rick found that it was twenty shillings, he knew that his mission tonight had been completed. When he left, he left a message, "You continue to think of a solution, I'm going to rest first."
Uwa didn't know what this meant, she only knew that her mission was not yet completed. She followed Rick out of the bookstore, and Rick pointed to the front, "You go over there and try your luck. I'm leaving first. Remember to get on the bus at the meeting point at 10 o'clock."
"10 o'clock?" Uwa was confused again. But she remembered Rick's words, and she felt much more at ease when she knew she could ask someone else.