"Sir, would you like a newspaper?"
A half-grown boy with a dirty duck-tongued hat and a huge cowhide satchel appeared in front of Lynch.
The boy, who looked to be about eleven or twelve years old, looked at Lynch with some anticipation and pulled open his satchel, revealing the newspaper inside.
These kids are under the management of various "newspaper heads", which are not newspaper headlines, but rather the managers of the paperboys.
By virtue of certain connections or means or some other way, they have a firm grip on the mobile newspaper vending market in certain areas, where only their own paperboys are allowed to sell newspapers and no one else is allowed to come in, and the newsstands are not among them.
Every morning they would gather outside the newspaper office and load the papers, still warm from the machines, onto crates and pull them back to their "base" where they would distribute them to the half-grown children and drive them out into the street.
Each child is given a standard to sell, a minimum, below which they are beaten, or starved, and only after exceeding this standard are they able to enjoy food, but without any reward.
The orphanage and some of the poorer families have taken away their pay for their work, and all they have to do is work as much as they can in exchange for having a place to stay out of the rain and two meals of subsistence food.
Some may think it's hell, but these children are in heaven compared to those who live in a more desperate abyss.
Lynch pulled a dollar bill out of his pocket and chose two newspapers, all the locally published papers were fifty cents a copy, the nationally published papers were only a dollar a copy.
The paperboy kept thanking Lynch for his patronage, even taking off his hat and bowing; to Lynch a dollar for two newspapers might just be an unavoidable part of life, but it was the salvation the boy wanted most every day.
The child was ready to leave, but was called back by Lynch.
"Is there anything else I can ask you for, sir?" , the half-grown child asked.
Like him such a child, often than those with good family conditions, still in school children are more adapted to this society, looking at that is still very tender but already through some of the reality is ripened cloth smile of the small face, Lynch some feelings.
It was the worst of times, but it was also the best of times.
He asked, "Want to make money?"
The child immediately nodded, "Dream on sir, but I don't do illegal things."
Where there is light there is darkness, and the darkness sets the light off the brighter it is, then conversely the light makes the darkness darker and darker.
There are people who use children to sell newspapers, but there are also people who use children to commit crimes, and these are not really top-secret rumors; everyone is blinded by wealth in this booming society.
As long as there is money to 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?"
The paperboy, though a little hesitant, quickly pulled ninety-seven cents out of his pocket, and he had some change in his pocket, all of which the paperhead had arranged to put in each man's knapsack when he came out.
The money did not belong to them, and when they returned the newspaper head would count it, and if anyone lost it, or had less money, they would be starved or beaten, which made the children very sensitive to money.
Looking at the ninety-seven cents - all in coins - that the child had taken out of his hand, Lynch pulled out another dollar and placed one in the child's left hand and took the ninety-seven cents from his other hand.
"Sir, here is still three points short, I will find you ... now", the newsboy thought that Lynch wanted to change the change, city transportation is usually ten and twenty-five cents two kinds of tickets, one is within five kilometers, one is five kilometers away.
Whether it's the bus, or the subway, there's no change, and if you're giving fifty cents, they'll just give you two tickets instead of one and change.
This also makes many people more or less likely to have some change on them to avoid losses.
Lynch stopped the paperboy's movements and repeated the question, "Want to make money?"
The newsboy hadn't reacted yet, being able to take advantage so openly for the first time made him a little uneasy, and he hesitated before nodding and saying, "I want to, sir, I dream about it!"
The smile that gradually appeared on Lynch's face made the child feel as if he was seeing the sun just rising, not blinding, the light was gentle, but able to tear through the darkness and illuminate the entire sky!
"Do you have ninety-seven points?" , he asked again.
After a brief moment of dismay, shock and overwhelm the newsboy hastily pulled out the ninety-seven cents from his bag and held it in his hand.
His face was flushed, you could tell he was excited, nervous, apprehensive, and a little skeptical right now, his piercing eyes looking at Lynch and what the guy in front of him was going to do.
Lynch took out another dollar, placed it in the paperboy's hand, and took away the ninety-seven cents from his other hand as he asked again with a smirk, "Do you want to make money?"
At this time the newsboy was shivering with excitement, he nodded his head and found all the change he could make up to ninety-seven cents, "It's all here, sir ..."
Lynch counted twelve dollars and placed it in his hand and pocketed all the change, "Looks like that's all you have."
The paperboy was a little excited, although he had only exchanged fourteen dollars in change from Lynch's side, while his own earnings had amounted to forty-two cents, nearly half of a dollar.
Knowing that he wouldn't get even a penny for himself if he did this job well now, the newspaper head would give all the rewards to the orphanage.
This newsboy is a child who grew up in an orphanage, and in the words of the orphanage, it's about time they did something for the orphanage; after all, the orphanage raised them so well, and didn't ask for anything in return.
Generally speaking as long as you don't get adopted past the age of ten, the chances of getting adopted later are slim, except for some girls, who are adopted for other reasons and purposes.
But the orphanage doesn't care much about it, and when the children are over fourteen, they can refuse to be adopted, while after sixteen, they have to leave the place and enter society on their own to survive.
In other words, boys over the age of ten are basically on the "fringe" of the institution, and it is difficult to earn adoption subsidies and adoption donations from these children, so they have to go to work.
They have to work to make up for all the years that the orphanage raised them, and it doesn't matter if it's the right thing to do, because no one cares about that, and everyone's eyes are only focused on what's in their own personal interest.
How to integrate into the society as soon as possible after being kicked out of the orphanage and find a place to stay are the biggest headaches for these children at the moment.
If, however, they could get some money before they left, it didn't need to be much, just enough to last a little while, there was a chance they would be able to survive.
Lynch's move to redeem the change led the kid to discover a bright avenue, as he had asked earlier - do you want to make money?
And his own answer - dream on!
Putting the money away, the paperboy asked with some hesitation, "Will you still be here tomorrow, sir?"
Lynch nodded, "I'll be here until lunch, and if I'm not, then I'll show up the next day!" , he tapped his wrist with his finger, "You still have plenty of time ..."
These children who had already begun to get in touch with society instantly understood what Lynch meant, and after about ten minutes or so, a group of newsboys gathered around this side, and there were still people who kept coming.