"Alright, Jones, Carmela, Jennifer …"
Chung Shen-soo clapped his hands and called his three siblings together. "Something has happened. I need you to come with me and leave this place temporarily …"
He didn't forget who the stolen moonshine belonged to last night.
Ol 'Seadog!
In Li Wei's memory, he was an old white man with a cold temperament. It was said that he had been a sailor when he was young. Later on, he came to Byron City alone and opened an underground bar. He was hot-tempered and ruthless.
Most importantly, most of the bar owners in the black market were related to gangs.
Last night, an important batch of goods had been stolen and he had suffered heavy losses. Now that Li Wei had swaggered back, he might have made some unnecessary associations.
Even if he was just venting his anger on Li Wei, it could easily bring disaster to the family!
Although Chung Shen-soo could ignore it and use this Ol 'Seadog to sever his ties with this world …
But thinking about it, it was still a little too cruel.
"Leave?"
Jones' expression turned grave and he suddenly became flustered and exasperated. "I knew it … I knew it! You didn't find a job as a scribe, but worked for those gangs … I shouldn't have …"
He paced back and forth in panic, tears welling up in his eyes like a helpless puppy.
In the slums, where federal law was difficult to govern, gangs took on most of the responsibilities of the government.
Just the thought of it was terrifying.
"Alright, it's just a temporary leave. I promise you that everything will be fine soon."
Chung Shen-soo sighed and got his siblings to pack up.
In reality, Li Wei Mojito had protected the three of them very well.
Most of his salary as a bartender had been invested into this family.
Otherwise, with the custom of using children in the federal factories, even the youngest Jennifer might have entered a meat factory by now. How could they still be as carefree as they were now?
Moreover, they had not starved to death.
"There's no need to take anything else. It's not worth much anyway. Just a few clothes, there's still money …"
Chung Shen-soo dragged out a metal box from under the bed. After opening it, there were some rolled up dollars and coins inside.
The green dollar was the currency issued by the United Bank of Mesopotamia, but to be honest, it wasn't very popular.
When Li Wei was working as a bartender, he didn't like the pennies that were given on paper.
He preferred all kinds of coins that were rich in metals. Of course, it would be even better if they were shiny gold pounds.
Chung Shen-soo rubbed the only US dollar bill.
The thick and stiff paper gave off an indescribable sense of pleasure when stroking it. On the front of the note was the image of an old man with a white beard.
Based on Li Wei's pitiful knowledge of history, he knew that he was probably the founder of Mesopotamia.
As for the name, it had long been blurred.
"Hmm, a total of 2 dollars and 37 cents. Is this all the family's savings?"
Chung Shen-soo stuffed the notes and coins into his pocket and suddenly felt a little sad. "How much is Li Wei's dream of being very rich?"
Not long after, the group of four went out.
Because he didn't bring much luggage, it looked like a normal trip.
Chung Shen-soo first went to a bakery at the corner of the street and glanced at the cupboard.
Most of the things sold here were black bread and white bread. The portions looked especially solid and hard enough to be used as a weapon.
After all, this was the Western world, and people were used to eating this kind of bread as a staple, not as a snack.
Pastries with large amounts of eggs, cream, and flavorings were very rare.
This was probably because this was a slum area and the purchasing power was limited.
Chung Shen-soo glanced at the prices and saw that the cheapest pound of black bread was sold for five cents.
"One pound here is roughly equivalent to half a kilogram … This is about the amount that Jones eats in a day."
If there were other non-staple foods such as milk, fish, and beef, of course, they could eat less of the staple foods. However, the Mojito family obviously didn't have such luxury. If they only ate carbohydrates, their intake would be frightening.
This inexplicably gave Chung Shen-soo a sense of déjà vu. He remembered that in his previous life, there were often rumors of a certain person eating several bowls of rice in a single meal. Later on, such rumors gradually decreased, mostly because of the abundance of non-staple foods and vegetables.
"Looks like Jones is working at the docks as a laborer. He can barely fill his stomach after working for a day. If he gets injured or sick, it'll be a loss …"
He shook his head inwardly and first asked the salesperson, Ms. Wesley, for ten pounds of black bread. Looking at his two sisters who were drooling over the small cakes in the glass window, he said, "Two honey cakes."
"That's seventy cents in total!"
Ms. Wesley obviously knew this family and gave Carmela and Jennifer a smile.
"It's really expensive."
Looking at the honey cakes that were only the size of a child's fist, Chung Shen-soo thought, but he still paid under Jones' extremely pained gaze. He handed the two small cakes to his surprised sisters and asked Jones to carry the paper bag filled with black bread out of the bakery.
"Next is the pharmacy. No … there are no pharmacies here. There are only private clinics and expensive public hospitals … The real poor can't afford to see a doctor. At most, they can go to the church hospital and wait for the arrangement of the gods …"
Chung Shen-soo recalled Scar Face's condition. Although he felt that Scar Face wouldn't die, he still needed some anti-inflammatory and anti-infection medicine.
"What medicine do you want to buy?"
Jones, who was beside him, heard Chung Shen-soo's mumble and replied, "Those doctors charge a lot of money. Everyone here stays at home for a few days when they get sick. At most, they drink some meat soup … If you really need medicine, you can buy it from Buckteeth Henry."
Chung Shen-soo remembered that Buckteeth Henry was the owner of a grocery store. He had a lot of connections in private and had some medicine that he had obtained through unknown channels.
Obviously, he didn't have the qualifications to do business, but because of the low price, many people liked to buy from him. Most of the transactions were one or two tablets.
In this regard, Chung Shen-soo could only express his admiration for the other party's "alchemy in a flea" skill and was speechless.
The grocery store.
Buckteeth Henry, as his name suggested, had two protruding buckteeth. When he saw Chung Shen-soo enter, he was a little surprised. "Li Wei, it's you?!"
"Give me two anti-inflammatory pills."
Chung Shen-soo handed over the one dollar bill.
Henry looked around like a thief before he fished out a small paper bag from under the counter and took out two white pills.
During the transaction, he lowered his voice. "I heard that something happened to Ol 'Seadog's goods last night. He's looking for people everywhere …"
"Thank you."
Chung Shen-soo revealed a bright smile and turned to leave the grocery store.
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