Chapter 9 Going Home
Under the sky like gray gauze.
A blond young man wearing a striped blouse quietly entered the residential area at the end of Mangrove Street.
A large number of simple bungalows are located around in an orderly manner. Most of the doors and windows are badly damaged. Collarless clothes, mainly brown and black, are hung on strings outside the house. You can still vaguely hear the crying of children. There was a lot of noise and women yelling impatiently.
This is one of the famous slums in Brak City. Only the guys at the bottom of society will live here, not for anything else, just for the low monthly rent of 6 pfennigs. Attracting most of the poor.
Even though the order here is chaotic, domestic kitchen waste can be seen everywhere, and the stench is so bad that even the security guards are reluctant to patrol, it is at least a shelter from the wind and rain.
The local council’s policy does not allow people to sleep on the streets at night, so displaced beggars often choose to sleep during the day and hide in garbage dumps or even remote corners of the city at night, where they are either beaten or scolded, or suffer from illness. If you suffer from a serious disease, you may die violently one day.
Compared to those poor people, this house seems to be a paradise.
After all, in the minds of the general public, "residence" is a barrier against "miasma".
‘The world is full of “miasma” and filth. If people are not isolated by houses and clothing, people will be unlucky and even get sick and go crazy. ’
Gilan looked at the familiar residential area in front of him, his memory welling up in his mind. He unconsciously thought of his mother's serious face and her tireless warnings over and over again.
‘Remember, Ilos, men must pay attention to the integrity of their clothing when going out, especially wearing hats. Men’s hats are as essential as women’s makeup! ’
But in his previous life, as a young man of the new era who grew up with scientific education, Jilan habitually used scientific thinking to analyze everything when faced with it. However, he shook his head and expressed doubts about this.
Jilan quickly arrived at the corner of the residential area and found his home.
This is an extremely simple bungalow, square and square, like a cement box made of bricks and stones.
The rusty iron door was somewhat loose and slumped to seal the entrance. Like an old guard, he still stubbornly performed his duties and missions at the end of his life.
Jilan followed her memory, rummaged through a long-withered potted plant outside the house, and took out a key.
He took the key, inserted it into the keyhole of the iron door, and twisted it gently.
Click.
The iron door was opened, Jilan stepped in and closed the door with his backhand.
There are no gas meters in the slums, and the poor here cannot afford gas lamps and private stoves.
Jilan found the matches in the drawer in the dark and lit the candle on the table.
As the firelight illuminated, Jilan saw the environment clearly.
His home is not big, only about 20 square meters, and there is no bathroom or kitchen. Therefore, he has to go to the public area outside to do laundry, cooking and going to the toilet.
In addition to a hardwood bed, there is only a set of tables and chairs.
This set of tables and chairs has been with Gillan for nearly ten years. It is not only the dining table for mother and son to dine, but also the workbench for mother's handmade shoes.
What impressed Jilan the most was that on the day her mother died, she was still sitting on the chair as before, holding leather and files in her hands. There were shoe lasts and bundles of shoe uppers on the dirty table. .
On my deathbed, I still had not finished making that pair of cheap leather shoes worth only 2 pfennigs and 5 melons.
The body was already cold and hard.
After a brief recollection, Jilan looked around, then came to the bedside, kicked over a dozen glass bottles with his feet, and then lifted up the dirty quilt and sheets.
He found an iron box underneath.
After opening it, some coins and banknotes were revealed inside.
This is all the deposits of "Guilan Iros", totaling 4 caesars, 16 pfennigs, 9 melangs, and a few scattered small pries coins.
In the Bremen Empire, this is the only currency system recognized by decree and in circulation.
The most valuable one is "Caesar". Both banknotes and coins are printed with the head of Caesar Geed, the head of the empire. And because the banknotes are covered with gold foil and the coins are mostly made of gold, the Also known as the "Golden Caesar".
The second is "Finney", which is printed with the portrait of a missionary and is circulated in the form of silver foil banknotes and silver coins, also known as "Silver Finney".
The most common currency is "Mei Lang", which has a knight's head printed on it. The banknotes are ordinary, and the coins are mainly made of brass, also known as "Tong Mei Lang".
Price is only a coin, the size of a fingernail. The main body is made of steel core clad aluminum. The front is printed with the "X" logo representing the Bremen Empire, and the back is the pattern of a scale.
‘This scale pattern should be the “Snow Lady” that symbolizes the “Goddess of Salt and Justice”. The Imperial Chamber of Commerce believes in this deity. ’ Gilan’s past memories deepened his understanding of this moment.
1 caesar is equivalent to 20 pfennig, and 1 pfennig is equivalent to 12 melangs. As for the price, it is almost the value of 1/2 melangs.
But "Caesar" has never been a common currency for the poor, or even for ordinary working-class people.
There is no other reason. The value of "Caesar" far exceeds their daily income and expenses.
As far as Gillan knows, the average worker's weekly salary is only about 5 pfennigs, and the annual salary is about 12 caesar to 15 caesar. As for the residents of the slums, their income is even lower than this.
Gilan's mother worked day and night making leather shoes, earning only 15 pfennigs a month at most.
"Alas, they are all poor people."
Jilan looked at the money in the iron box and couldn't help but sigh.
This money is not a lot of money. It was saved by the original man who worked hard for the gang over the years. His purpose was just to buy a decent tombstone for his mother, but it was far from enough.
For this reason, the original person was even arrested and taken to the police station, and paid the price with his life.
‘I took the money first. If there is another chance in the future, I will definitely come back to make up for this regret. ’
Gilan slowly closed the iron box.
‘This is a debt that a man cannot forget. ’
He took a deep breath and took off his bloody and damaged clothes, revealing his fair and thin body.
Walking to the cracked full-length mirror, Gilan saw her own appearance clearly for the first time.
Blonde hair, messy forehead, oblique straight eyebrows, slightly long eyelashes, dark blue eyes, straight nose bridge, thin cheeks but a symmetrical three-dimensional sense. Even though a wound on the left side of his face destroyed this integrity, it added a bit of sinister aura.
‘Quite handsome. ’
Gilan looked at the mirror and smiled.
But for some reason, this smile looked a bit sinister.
Immediately afterwards, he briefly checked his body and found that there were bruises and abrasions everywhere, green and red. Fortunately, the gunshot wound on his left leg had scabbed and healed, which made him marvel again. The magic of alchemical medicine.
Gilan glanced at himself in the glasses and nodded with satisfaction.
The development is also normal, and there are even some areas that exceed the standard, but the overall body is not strong enough and looks weak.
Then he changed into a clean black blouse and plaid trousers.
Looking at the beige soft hat on the bedside, Gilan hesitated for a moment, but finally picked it up. After all, it could hide his appearance.
Moreover, men in this era, whether rich or poor, would wear a hat when going out. If they don't wear one, they will attract attention.
When Gillan took away the hat, an old photo frame slipped out from underneath.
'Um? ’
He picked up the photo frame and took a look. The blurry photo with low saturated colors showed a beautiful blonde woman, quite young, holding a baby in her hand.
‘This is a photo of my mother, Amanda Illos, when she was young. The baby in her arms is me. ’
Jilan remembered a little bit, and after thinking about it for a while, he chose to take this photo with him.
He found a shabby handbag and put the money box, photo frame, magazine and silver cube into it. The Ruger pistol was stuck on his waist for easy access for self-defense.
Then he picked up his bag and planned to turn around and leave.
But at this moment, someone knocked on the iron door from outside.
Dong dong dong!
Gilan's eyes suddenly froze and he quickly pulled out his pistol.
(End of this chapter)