Zhang Heng approached the quarrel, where a gypsy busker was standing between a Jewish family and a few ferocious-looking men.
"You guys are too much! The man of this family fell off the scaffolding, and he can't work for the next two months. Can't he pay the rent half a month late? Must you kick him out?" the gypsy busker complained.
Zhang Heng also noticed that the man of the family still had a wooden plank clamped on his leg. Their furniture and luggage were also dragged out and thrown on the road. The whole family looked sad.
Calling it furniture and luggage was not an exaggeration to call it garbage. There was a broken wooden bed, a mess of pots and pans, and a sofa with a missing leg. Zhang Heng had no idea where these things came from. The dirty wooden pony in the girl's hand was probably her only toy.
"Pay on time. That's the rule here," the hunchbacked man said. The hunchbacked man said, "We are all reasonable people. You can ask his family. I've already given him a week's grace. There's no reason for me to give him another week. Let me tell you, the houses here are in high demand. Even if they don't want to rent it, someone else will. There's no reason for us to leave it here and lose money."
"But they are already living here …"
The hunchbacked man waved his hand impatiently. "I don't care how long they have been living here. I'm not running a charity. If they don't have money, they can sleep on the streets."
"Aren't you a little too cruel? There's still a child here."
"I don't think they will be able to work in a factory or a mine. Even if they borrow money to make up for this month's rent, they won't be able to pay next month's rent. Besides, they can't pay their debts. When the time comes, the creditors will come to the door again. I will be in trouble if I rent to a new tenant," the hunchbacked man said coldly.
"There is already a family from Wales who has taken a fancy to this house. There are two adult males in the family. The husband and eldest son are strong, and the younger son is skinny, but he can crawl into the chimney and sweep it for money. The mistress sells flowers during the day and receives guests at night. It won't take long for them to save enough money to buy this house. What would you choose if you were me?"
The gypsy busker was dumbfounded.
The hunchback man glanced at him again. "What's wrong? Are you new here? That's true. If you weren't new, why would you meddle in other people's business? Look at their neighbors around you. Did anyone speak up for them? Let me give you a piece of advice. If you want to survive here, you'd better mind your own business."
"No, since I saw it, I can't just ignore it." The gypsy busker opened his wallet and took out eight shillings. "Here you go. This is the rent for two months. I've paid for them." She then pointed at the man and said, "After two months, he will be able to work. Naturally, he will be able to pay you the rent."
This time, it was the hunchback man's turn to be startled. He seemed to be hesitating. He stood there for a while, his small eyes flashing. After a while, he took the money and said to the lame man, "You guys are lucky. Let's go."
After the group of people left, the Jewish family thanked the gypsy busker profusely. They had only met by chance, and they had never met before. It was hard to imagine that the other party would fork out such a large sum of money for them.
However, the gypsy busker thought for a while, took out a half-pound gold coin from his wallet, put it in the little girl's hand, and winked at her. "Don't worry, your father's leg will get better, and his life will get better."
"This …" The hostess was completely stunned. She couldn't imagine that a vagrant gypsy street performer would have such a huge sum of half a pound in one go.
But when she wanted to say something, the kind-hearted gypsy busker had already turned around and left with the organ on his back. The latter's figure soon disappeared into the street.
Zhang Heng witnessed everything that happened. After thinking for a while, he decided to follow the gypsy busker.
He saw the figure carrying the accordion shuttling through the crowd at a brisk pace, appearing and disappearing from time to time. Sometimes, he would even stop in front of the salmon stall to chat with the owner. The last time Zhang Heng saw him, the gypsy was squatting in front of a drunkard, waving his arms and cursing the unscrupulous factory owner and greedy women.
After that, Zhang Heng lost sight of the gypsy busker.
Zhang Heng stood in front of a crossroads, raising his eyebrows. He had to admit that the terrible layout of the Eastern District was indeed a good place to escape.
However, seeing that he had lost the busker, Zhang Heng wasn't angry. He just wanted to remind the busker, and since the busker was gone, he didn't even need to remind him.
Just as Zhang Heng was about to turn around and leave, he saw the gypsy busker not far behind him.
The latter was walking in his direction. No, to be more precise, he was walking towards him. The busker's eyes were fixed on Zhang Heng, not on anyone else.
"Are you following me?"
"Strictly speaking, I'm here to remind you that you are being watched," Zhang Heng said.
"Why should I believe you?" The gypsy busker shrugged. "This place is full of thieves, liars, and all kinds of people with ulterior motives."
Zhang Heng didn't explain anything, just gestured for the busker to leave.
However, the gypsy busker didn't leave immediately. Instead, he rolled his eyes and asked, "Do you have any suggestions?"
"My suggestion is … don't get caught," Zhang Heng said. "When you solved that family's problem, you showed off your wealth. That's when they started to target you."
"Hah, the guy who collects the rent doesn't look like a good guy."
"In fact, the person who came here might not be him. He is obviously very familiar with this area and knows a lot of people. The one who is tracking you might be someone else."
"How troublesome. In fact, I only brought one pound with me this time. The rest is for my dinner and the carriage." While the gypsy busker was talking, a group of strangers suddenly emerged from an alley on the other side of the street. One of them pointed at him and said, "Don't run, thief! Give me back the wallet you stole from me. "
The gypsy busker was furious when he heard that. This group of people was good at distorting the truth. They were obviously here to rob him of his wallet, but now they were accusing him instead. It was clear that they were telling others not to interfere. Seeing that the group of people had surrounded him again, he said to Zhang Heng, "Your suggestion seems to have come a little late. Do you have any other ideas?"
"Yes," Zhang Heng said, taking off his coat and handing it to the gypsy busker. "Hold this for me."
The latter frowned, but he still took the coat that Zhang Heng bought from the old clothes store for ten pence.
"Just knock out everyone who comes. There are no police here anyway," Zhang Heng said, flexing his wrists.
Little Dumbo said.
Thank you for the tip from Sick Shoes ~ It seems that this function has been turned off. I heard that it will only be turned on on the sixth. Also, you can guess who the new person is.
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