The Secret Code of Monsters

Chapter 20 Ch.20 Busy and safe days

"Hey Bullet, I heard you had a son?"

"Get lost."

"Old Bullet gave birth to a son!"

"real?"

"Hey! Old Bullet has a son, but it's not his own!"

"real?"

"Old Bullet raised a son for someone else. It is said that his lover had a son with another man——"

Roland sat with a piece of half-black and half-white coarse bread in his mouth and a cane between his legs, listening to Mr. Collins curse.

He could feel that these neighbors who came to his door had no ill intentions.

Instead of teasing, they spent more time focusing on themselves - a man leading a girl actually bought a package of Xiaoji. His daughter had two missing teeth and kept staring at him.

"Is this your..."

Old Collins reluctantly tied up the oil paper and threw it to the man at the counter. "My brother's son."

"I heard that he was sent here by...the priests?" A woman with heavy makeup said sharply. "There won't be any contagion..."

The old man glanced at Roland and saw that his expression was as usual, then he grinned and replied in a bad tone: "Yes, he is quite familiar with the priests. Mary, you can continue to say what you want to say. In two days, maybe That lady can still come and meet you, give you a hug or something."

The woman named Mary quickly covered her mouth.

Everyone laughed.

Well, it's not all without bad intentions.

A man with an oilcloth bag came in and handed him some flowers and plants picked in the early morning. The two of them pulled me and I pulled you aside to discuss the price.

Roland found that the man who had just bought Xiaoji came over with his daughter.

"I have a tough mouth but a soft heart. You will adapt to life here, little Collins." His hair was not very thick, but he did have a full chin of brown beard. The eyes are gray, and the rolled up cuffs reveal two thick forearms.

Probably thicker than Roland's two sticks put together.

He had a strong, pungent smell of leather mixed with some kind of potion.

As strong as a bear.

"Old Bullet? Uncle's nickname?"

Seeing the man pull a stool next to him, Roland also adjusted his posture and faced him.

There were boys around who stuck their heads out and shouted: "Read it together! Read it faster! Hahahahahahahahahaha-" and then they were slapped on the back of the head by the angry parents.

"Pu Xiu...Pu Xiu——"

He saw the gray-eyed gentleman's daughter begin to laugh too.

"alright, I got it."

"I am William Cordoni. I have lived here for more than twenty years. This is Alice." He introduced Roland in a gentle voice and gave his daughter a gentle push.

The girl timidly took a few steps forward and carefully touched the back of Roland's hand.

Roland smiled and held it gently with his backhand.

"Hello, little Alice," he said.

"...Hello, Roland."

"You should be beautiful, right?"

Little Alice was so happy that she ignored the two missing teeth. "You're beautiful too, Roland!"

"me?"

"Yes! You are the most beautiful boy I have ever seen!"

The child praises you without hesitation.

"Thank you, I believe you are a beautiful girl too."

The children around him began to boo.

"This little bastard is very good at talking. If you ask me, he should be allowed to work in the theater."

Pugh Collins seemed to have finished talking. He dusted his hands and came out of the back room with the heels of his palms on both sides of his crotch. "These little things who are even more assholes than you will show you the way. When you get off work in the evening, you will be with me." They go out for a walk."

After he finished speaking, he knelt down again and pinched Alice's cheek.

"Let me see if the little princess is cured?"

"Kekeke..."

William Cordoni glanced at Roland and said, "I think it would be great for Roland to work with you. The theater is not something that people like us can go to."

He is a shoemaker.

Living alone with a daughter who is sick all year round.

However, business has not been very good recently.

"They are all big factories now." William made a helpless expression. Seeing his daughter smiling happily, his eyes were full of tenderness. "I just hope that Alice can grow up healthy and not be like her mother..."

Alice's mother was in even worse health and died early.

"I've thought about what you said, but if I go to the factory, who will take care of them..."

Old Collins held little Alice in his arms and grinned his yellow teeth: "Don't worry, get out of here..." When he found Alice looking over, he swallowed again and changed his words: "...Alice can come to my place every day. Have a meal."

"She doesn't eat as much as a cat."

William Cordoni picked up the medicine bag, stood up from the chair, and patted his old friend on the shoulder.

"If you couldn't speak, you must be a good person praised by everyone."

Pugh Collins retorted, "If you didn't come to me to buy medicine, there would be nothing wrong with you."

The two men have a good relationship.

Roland thought and saw Alice running over, grabbing his hand and shaking it.

"Goodbye, brother Roland! Please come and play with me more often!"

"I will go, little princess." He also changed his title and pinched the girl's cheek with a smile.

In short, such is life in the East End.

so so.

Prosperity and wealth are never mentioned in this land. It is a distant word that no one has ever learned.

Most of the buildings, including Mr. Pugh Collins' drug store, are supported by metal branches covered with mottled rust, stucco and blue bricks. The rotten wood is used to repair the holes with broken putty, and is tied from the inside to stick out. The clothesline leads to the house on the other side.

The windows were full of cracks and never repaired. The sky above is gray, and the shit beneath our feet is black.

Most people here don't have clocks, so you have to look for opportunities to light candles. Maybe they will fall asleep next to each other, which saves the cost of candles or gas lamps.

Roland thinks it's good here.

Very good.

At least it was better than being in the workhouse, at least it was better than spending the whole night lying on a cold slab listening to the sound of rats grinding their teeth.

He weighed and classified the herbs with his talkative uncle every day.

Crush them or soak them in water.

Some are burnt with fire, and some are mixed with other ingredients and mashed, and the juice drips into small bottles.

Not easy, but safe.

Children from the neighborhood often come to play with Roland after work - although he is no longer considered a 'child', he is too thin and frail, and these children are too familiar.

It was even quite pleasant to get along.

A few clever boys found that as long as they went to the streets with Roland, they could always attract the attention of many people like the protagonists in the legendary stories.

Vanity led them to quickly make Roland familiar with this street and this area.

East End.

But Alice was still sick and her face was as white as snow.

Roland's blood turned a little brighter. He grinded the medicine every day and gained a lot of strength.

Enid seems to have not appeared for a long time. Maybe there are some cultists who need her to lead a team to conquer?

In the ordinary life where he almost forgot about the day (he thought this was not bad), one day, something wonderful happened.

"I'm telling you, Charlotte can move!"

This is certainly not nonsense.

The mysterious Rick Rich is the 'eldest son' among the children - he inherited the advantages of his parents and has a 'big head that symbolizes intelligence'. Unfortunately, he inherited it too early, making him appear top-heavy.

His father was a bartender, his mother a West End laundress, and he himself worked in a shoe polish factory.

Generally speaking, he can become the leader because he is considered to be generous among the children.

At least much more generous than children like Alice.

"Really, it moved!"

At this time, Mr. Big Head was riding on a high stool in the medicine shop, and while his uncle was emptying the medicine cabinet at night, he secretly told Roland and the other children.

The so-called Charlottes are some palm-sized ceramic figures.