On the second night after Hank pledged his loyalty, an old man who kept coughing finally found his home amidst the haze.
"How much food is left at home?"
Back at home, the old man took off his coat and asked his daughter. He was holding a dry bag in his hand. His daughter shook her head helplessly and hugged the child in her arms tightly.
"I'm sorry, Father. There are only some bran and sawdust left. We can still make another meal … There should have been two pieces of bread, but we escaped from those plants too late, so … "
She didn't continue because her father was already coughing violently. This made her face sad because her father didn't need to work anymore. But since her husband got sick from the poisonous gas in the factory and died after spending all their savings, her father had to work again. Her father had to return to the factory and continue working for them.
Unfortunately, this period of work aggravated his lung disease, and the alchemy poison gas was corroding his life at a speed visible to the naked eye.
This reminded her of what she had experienced in the past few years. If her husband didn't do the dangerous but well-paid job, their house would be taken away because of the debt incurred when she gave birth, leaving them homeless. Although their house was eventually taken away to treat her husband's illness, and she had to live with her father again, she could only hold back her tears silently and work hard to live in this progressive city.
But although she was strong enough, bad luck didn't let them go. In order to let her and her child have enough bread and milk, her mother paid for a referendum so that she could work in Ms. Felix's textile factory. Although her mother could only get one-fifth of the salary of the young female workers, her family was still grateful for this. After all, her mother was already 40 years old. She was very old and had some illnesses. It was a kind of mercy that someone would hire such a female worker.
Unfortunately, the excessive work still caused her mother to collapse. The basic 12-hour working hours consumed the last trace of life in this old woman's body. Finally, one night, she coughed up blood and died in pain. This made the already battered family worse, and all the burdens were placed on her father's shoulders.
"… Don't talk nonsense. Fran's son cursed the factory owner in private, and then he died in the gutter."
Waving his hand, the old father knew that his daughter was blaming the foreigner named Li Ke who came out of nowhere for tying them up with branches, which directly led to them losing their last two pieces of bread because no one was watching over their house. Thus, he hurriedly muttered something in a low voice, asking his daughter to keep her voice down.
He remembered very clearly that Fran's son wanted to unite with the other workers to ask for a raise and secretly cursed the factory owner as a vampire. Then the next day, everyone saw that his family was attacked by gangsters. Even his body was thrown into the gutter full of highly toxic mud. The poor Fran's family couldn't afford to hire a professional to retrieve his body from the poisonous mud … In the end, in order to bury her son, his mother entered the poisonous mud without any protective equipment and scooped up her son's body.
But what was the result? The Fran's family welcomed the funeral of two people.
Their family could no longer withstand any possible storms, so after vaguely warning his daughter, he handed over the bag he brought. When he took off his clothes, he tried to stay as far away from his daughter's chest and the two children on her back to prevent the haze on his body from invading their young lungs. In the end, he looked at his daughter with a relieved smile while holding some vegetables he brought back. Then, he sat on his chair and let out a long sigh, enjoying this moment of family warmth. Because he knew that before this meal was over, he would have to think of a solution for tomorrow's rations.
And his daughter also thought of this, so she couldn't help but purse her lips and let out a long sigh.
"If only Ms. Phillip's factory was still running."
Originally, she had already negotiated with her father. As long as she agreed to some small requests from the foreman, such as resting in the same room with the foreman during break time or something. She could bring her two children to take over her mother's previous job and earn rations for the family.
Of course, she still had to repay the losses caused by her mother. After all, her mother's death caused Ms. Phillip's factory to temporarily recruit a new employee, which caused some unnecessary trouble for the factory. So she could only get half of her salary in the first month, and she had to work two more hours. However, this was not a punishment for her, because female workers with children could only get 60% of their salary, and they had to work an extra hour. So this problem wasn't a problem for her at all. Instead, she felt that she should think of a way to thank Ms. Phillip because it was her kindness that gave her this job opportunity.
After all, in this day and age, the only textile factory that would employ women with children and elderly women was Madam Felix. But such a kind-hearted person had actually …
"Damn Noxus people."
The elderly father couldn't help but curse. But it wasn't because his daughter couldn't work in Ms. Phillip's textile factory. The reason he cursed was because Li Ke ordered the suspension of all factory operations and said that until Li Ke came up with a set of rules and regulations for all factories, the factories could only resume operations.
But if that was the case, he wouldn't have a job and without a job, he wouldn't be able to get bread money to feed his family. In fact, the bag he brought back today wasn't filled with the vegetables he bought. Instead, it was the edible part of the plants Li Ke grew.
After all, his family had no money left.
The last silver wheel and copper ring were used to buy grains mixed with bran and wood shavings. But even these cheap grains weren't enough to last them until his father's next payday. Because the factories were closed, the foremen and factory owners wouldn't give out wages when they stopped working.
The elderly father could understand because this was a rule that no one had ever broken before. So he could only resent the man who stopped all the factories. And he also believed that his other workmates and neighbors were thinking the same. After all, their situation was not much better than his. They were all people who needed money, and they were all workers who worked for the foremen and factory owners.
So he could only resent Li Ke.
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