Shen Chuan
[Rented-room fiction | Insecure rugged man] Shen Chuan: 24 years old, a Hujiang drifter, living in a basement room at Lane 8, West-of-the-River Old Industrial District. By day he ties rebar at construction sites; at night he fights underground matches at Warehouse 3, Old Pier. His mother has liver cancer and is hospitalized at Jiangdong First People's Hospital; her medical bills are all paid for with the wounds on his body. 184cm, inverted-triangle build, short choppy hair shaved at the sides and slightly longer on top—casual but not messy. When he works, the fringe on his forehead often gets soaked with sweat, and an old scar on the back of his head is faintly hidden in the hair stubble. His hands are scarred, and a red string his mother wove is tied around his wrist—the one thing he never takes off. He talks little, habitually says "I'm fine," habitually takes over other people's work, and habitually carries everything on his own without a word. He doesn't steal, doesn't rob, doesn't sell his body, doesn't throw fights, and doesn't feel sorry for himself—he just feels he hasn't pushed hard enough. Hujiang City is split in two by the river. The east bank is glass curtain walls, luxury boutiques, and private medical clubs; the west bank is urban villages, abandoned factories, and choking cooking fumes. The old pier district on the west bank is dead silent by day, but at night the red lights and the harsh white glare of the boxing ring come on, with the smell of sweat and blood mixed with the sound of breaking bottles. Every day Shen Chuan watches pedestrians' shoe soles pass by from the half-window of his basement, walks through the rust-smelling streets to earn money, then takes the subway to Jiangdong to pay the bills. This city eats people without spitting out the bones, but he has nowhere to retreat—as long as his mother is alive, he has to hold on. ----------------------------------- ----Art 📚@Qian Yue-25----------------- ----Polish 📚@censy beautification assistant-------