Chapter 143 Hank Brothers
For a lady like Mrs. Hank, the daily work is not an easy one.
They had to report to the town hall before nine o'clock every morning to prepare food for the militia prisoners and the hundreds of young men and women who were still recovering in the asylum.
The prisoners' food was relatively simple. One type was potatoes boiled in salt water, and the other was a mixed noodle soup with noodles as the staple food. As for the standard meals for model prisoners, they were provided by the Undead Delicatessen.
It is more troublesome in the shelter, as some young men and women with special circumstances need additional preparation - some of the poor people there have had their teeth pulled out and can only eat liquid food without chewing; others have serious sexually transmitted diseases and need patient meals.
Next, we need to prepare free lunch for the temporary workers who are doing heavy work on the main avenue in the town… Since all these people do heavy work, they cannot just be dealt with by food stewed in a big pot. According to Ms. Mia’s requirements, there must be an extra dish every day to supplement salt and oil.
After preparing lunch, we go to Martin Street Market to open and go out to buy vegetables for the evening and the next day. The two or three hours that are freed up are the study time for the family members.
Holding the azalea badge and learning cooking skills from the animated screen projected on the wall... It was very strange at first, not to mention that the man on the screen always said some words that they couldn't understand.
But these ladies also have their own survival wisdom. No one wants to give up this job that prepares food for the people in the town and earns a monthly salary of ten silver coins - this is a more generous salary than the temporary workers doing heavy work on the construction site - regardless of whether they can understand what the teacher says, all the ladies work hard to learn and imitate the way this gentleman handles the ingredients.
The projection screen in the conference room played repeatedly for two hours, and the ladies concentrated on memorizing it for two hours.
When Ms. Mia announced the end of the class and asked everyone to hand over their badges to Mrs. Hank and immediately go to the Martin Street Market to buy things, these ladies returned their badges while mechanically imitating the movements of cutting green onions and potatoes with their hands...
By the time Mrs. Hank finished her work for the day, it was already dark.
The alley north of Martin Street is now known as Soldier Alley. In addition to the 43 newly moved in families of former Innadri City Defense Force soldiers , there are also three local families.
Two of the three families were not very keen on dealing with outsiders, but the widowed Mrs. Taylor welcomed the new neighbors.
Mrs. Hank and several housewives she knew had just walked into Soldier Lane when Mrs. Taylor, who lived at the entrance of the lane, stood at her kitchen window and waved at them vigorously: "Why are you going home empty-handed? Hurry up and go to the tofu shop at No. 106 Town Avenue. There's a big sale!"
When the housewives heard this, their fatigue from a hard day's work was swept away, and they thanked Mrs. Taylor and turned around and ran away...
Tofu Shop No. 106, which is not far from Undead Delicatessen No. 101, is currently the most popular shop in Westham Town. You can buy a large bowl of various kinds of tofu for just a few copper coins. Just add some green vegetables, potato cubes and a sprinkle of salt and you can cook a stew that will satisfy the whole family.
By the time Mrs. Hank returned home, smiling happily, carrying the discounted tofu, it was almost dark.
The house that Hank's family was assigned was indeed much worse than their home in Innadri. Not only did all the rooms leak, but there was also a hole in the earthen wall of the living room that was larger than the dining table and had to be blocked with wooden boards.
The diligent housewife quickly cooked the food and called the children out for dinner. Mrs. Hank glanced at the rising moon outside the window and urged her two children who needed to go to night school: "Eat quickly, Paul, Joan, don't be late."
Mrs. Hank came from a well-off family when she was young and attended a girls' high school. Her eldest son Sam also received basic literacy education when he served in the city defense army, so the mother and son did not have to go to night school.
The third child of the Hank family, fifteen-year-old June Hank, quickly lowered her head and ate faster.
The 19-year-old middle child, Paul Hank, seemed somewhat reluctant, tapping his fork on the plate in resistance.
"Paul." Sam couldn't bear it anymore and called his brother softly.
Paul turned his head and glanced at his brother. It seemed that his patience had reached its limit. He looked at his mother with a stern face and said stiffly, "I don't think I need to go, Mom."
"Paul?" Mrs. Hank looked at her second son in surprise. "Don't be silly. The introductory course at Innadri Private School costs at least 80 copper coins per week. It's free here. You can't find such a good thing anywhere else."
Paul shook his head and said, "I know, Mom. But I don't want to stay here. I want to go to Newin Town and find my uncle."
"You, what nonsense are you talking about! How can you go to find your uncle!" Mrs. Hank was anxious.
"As long as I don't tell anyone, the people in Newin Town won't know that our family has been exiled, and my uncle won't be implicated," Paul insisted.
"Paul!" Mrs. Hank screamed, "Shut up! Don't you dare mention going to see your uncle!"
"Why can't I mention it?" Paul asked unconvinced.
Sam put the spoon down and looked at his brother with a frown.
Mrs. Hank and her brothers were having a bad time, and Sam, the eldest son, knew about it.
Although they had not told Paul and Joan about those things, Mrs. had not contacted her uncle for more than ten years. Paul was already an adult, so there was no reason why he could not see such an obvious situation.
After thinking about it, Sam didn't ask whether Paul really wanted to go to his uncle. He said, "Paul, do you think the work on the construction site is too hard and you don't earn as much as your mother, or do you think there is no future in Westham and you can't make it? Or are you just simply afraid of those undead, even though they have never hurt you?"
Paul, who had been talking back to his mother with his neck erect, suddenly turned red in the face.
"Oh, you are afraid of them." Sam understood. "In that case, I will support you to leave. I don't think those undead will be willing to provide protection for those who hate and fear them for no reason."
"I, I have never been protected by those disgusting skeletons!" Paul yelled out of control.
"The former mayor of Westram was captured by the undead, and the merchants who engaged in despicable businesses on the main road in the town were also captured by the undead." Sam said calmly, "The undead changed Westram, so you can earn a daily salary and save up enough money to leave in less than a week, not to mention that the dinner you eat is earned by your mother from the work provided by the undead."
Paul was very angry and suddenly raised his hand, trying to sweep the plate in front of him away.
Sam grabbed Paul's wrist and stopped him from wasting food. He shouted at his good-for-nothing brother, "I really don't know why our family raised a fool like you! Do you hate me for causing you to be exiled? Do you hate me for making you unable to return to Innadri? What has Innadri given you? In the past 19 years, have you ever found a job of your own besides running errands for the store?!"
"If you want to enter a factory, you have to ask someone to intercede for you. If you want to go to a better workshop, you have to pay money, otherwise you have to be an apprentice with very low salary! If a respectable person with a little status hits someone like you to death, he doesn't even have to go to the city police, just pay a few gold coins! No matter how capable you are, no one cares about your life or death except your relatives. This is the real innadili!"
"The people in the town hall are so friendly and polite to you. They even consider your future for a humble person like you and let you go to free night school to learn characters. Do you think you can encounter such a thing everywhere?!"
Sam became angrier and angrier, and threw Paul to the ground: "Then go away, go somewhere else and live your good life by yourself!"
"Paul!" Mrs. Hank nervously walked around the dining table and glanced at her eldest son with a conflicted look. She wanted to squat down and support her second son, but she was worried that she would interfere in the dispute between the brothers and make them misunderstand that she favored any one of them.
"Uh... sorry, am I here at a bad time?"
Ms. Mia arrived at the door of Hank's house at some point and stood there awkwardly, not knowing whether to go in or back out.
Mrs. Hank gasped, quickly adjusted her scarf, and walked over with a blushing face: "I'm so sorry, Miss Mia, our family is like this... I really don't know how to explain it to you."
"Please don't apologize to me. I should be the one apologizing." Ms. Mia waved her hand and quickly explained her intention to ease the embarrassment. "It's like this... Several undead gentlemen who know how to survey and build railways have come to Westham. They hope to set off overnight to start their work. Mayor Jitang needs to recruit a group of operators to assist them immediately. I want to ask Mr. Sam Hank if he is willing to apply and participate in this field mission."
"I'd love to, Miss Mia." Sam quickly left his brother behind and walked over quickly, "Shall I go to the town hall now?"
"Yes." Ms. Mia smiled happily and said, "Please report immediately. Mayor Jitang and Mr. Peter are both there. I will notify others."
"Let me go with you." Sam, who was very good at dealing with people, immediately grabbed his coat from the shelf behind the door and said sincerely, "I know all my brothers well, maybe I can help you."
"That's great." Ms. Mia nodded with a smile.
Before leaving, Sam did not forget to turn around and greet his mother: "Mom, please prepare some clothes for me."
"Okay, okay." Mrs. Hank nodded nervously and excitedly. She was so eager for her eldest son to become a town hall agent that she not only forgot to thank Ms. Mia for bringing the good news, but also forgot about her second son who had just been wronged. She ran excitedly into Sam's room to pack her luggage...
Joan Hank took his plate and spooned the last leaf into his mouth.
"Brother Paul, why are you afraid of those ghosts?" The 15-year-old girl asked curiously while chewing some vegetables. "They don't have anything to do with us. The military police who drove us out of our homes are more terrifying, right?"
Paul said nothing and sat on the ground sulking.
While the Hank brothers were having a big quarrel, at the same time in Innader City, two carriages with gold coin church emblems were speeding from St. Joseph Street all the way to the north gate.
The church's carriage could leave the city after dark without any reason. The city gate soldiers who had stopped Ban saw the gold coin church emblem on the carriage from a distance and opened the city gate without saying a word.
After more than half an hour , the two carriages drove into the Red Wall Farm area and stopped in front of a large iron gate with its lock smashed.
Several capable night watchmen got off the carriage. The leader took out a sealed object in the shape of a dressing mirror and shone it into the courtyard.
"Did the new exorcist really solve the problem here overnight? How did that guy do it?" After observing the mirror several times, the captain of the night watch still found it hard to believe his eyes.
"This is really... Captain, it seems that a figure has come to Innadli." A night watchman lifted the upper edge of his black hood, looked at the deep courtyard in surprise, and exclaimed.
The captain of the night watch nodded, then slowly shook his head: "We need to investigate where this person came from."
"Come in, find that wood carving."
The officials responsible for connecting with the exorcists did not provide all the information to the civilian exorcists who took over the task. For example, key information such as William J. Bancroft was a famous wood carving collector and had held many wood carving art exhibitions was "inadvertently" overlooked.
With more complete intelligence support, the Gold Coin Church had long ago deduced that the disaster at Redwall Farm was related to the items that Master William brought into Innadri; combined with the master's identity as a collector of wood carvings, the prototype of the seal that caused the disaster was about to be revealed.
As for whether concealing some information will cause the exorcist to fail... before successfully containing the Sealed Object, no matter which church the Night Watchman is from, will be determined to "never give up until the blood of the last exorcist is shed."
A few hours later, an angry roar from a man was heard in the abandoned mansion at Redwall Farm: "No?? Why not?!"
