Chapter 204: Gerry's Family
The bar district is actually not just about bars. In addition to the main street that runs east-west, there are also large residential areas bordering the South City District in the south, and a dozen or so apartment buildings close together in the north.
The apartment buildings in this alien world are somewhat similar to those in China on Earth. They are commercial residential buildings. Of course, the environment is much worse and there is usually no electricity.
This apartment building in the bar area is owned by Viscount Darcy's family. The floor specifications are similar to those of self-built buildings in Chinese towns in the last century. It has four floors at the highest, and the floor height is only a little over two meters. Each floor has four to five suites facing the same direction, with shared kitchens and toilets, gas and running water. It is managed by a butler from Viscount Darcy's family, and the monthly rent for each suite is four silver coins.
The rent is not expensive, but it is still a heavy burden for ordinary people. Most of the residents in the apartment building are two families living together, and the population density is only slightly lower than that in the market area.
The new lord closed down more than 80% of the bars on the street, which had a certain impact on the residents in the apartment building area, because many of the people living here depended on this bar area not far from their homes for their livelihood.
The Berkeley family, who live in Room 201 on the second floor of Building 11, are one family that was severely affected by the closure of the bar area.
The Berkeley siblings shared 201 with a young couple. The brother Becky used to be a handyman in a bar, earning seven and a half silver coins a month. The sister Kate was good at making spicy side dishes, and could earn thirty or forty copper coins by selling them on the street every night.
Before the new lord arrived, the combined income of the brother and sister was enough to maintain a relatively good life compared to ordinary citizens, and meat could be seen on the dining table from time to time.
After the new lord came, brother Becky became unemployed, and sister Kate could only run to the streets of the South City two blocks away to sell snacks and drinks, and business was quite poor - there were already regular sellers there, and an outsider like Kate would be unwelcome if she rashly ran over there.
After spending more than their income for more than a week, the Berkeley siblings were in a worse mood every day.
In order to save money, the brother and sister had only mashed potatoes with a little salt, cooked corn kernels, and sandwiches with leftover side dishes on their plates for lunch that day.
After a quick meal, brother Becky said dully that he would try his luck in the northern part of the city, then picked up his coat and went out.
Kate didn't say anything, just picked up the dishes and washed them in silence.
It is not easy to enter the factories in the northern city area. You cannot get in without an introduction from an acquaintance, unless the brothers and sisters are willing to spend money to ask someone to intercede for them.
It's not that they can't get the money together... The brother and sister never spend money lavishly and they still have some savings. It's just that their parents in the countryside are still waiting for them to bring money back to buy a cow for the family, and neither of them can bring themselves to use their savings.
While Kate was washing the dishes, her roommate and wife came out of the separate room with gloomy looks on their faces.
"Good day, Kate." Seeing Kate, the couple who shared the apartment forced themselves to smile at her together.
Kate knew something was wrong when she saw that they were much more enthusiastic than usual.
Sure enough, the couple then apologized and announced their decision... There were only ten days left in the month, and if they couldn't find a new job within these ten days, they would have to give up their plan to work in the city and return to their hometown.
The couple sincerely apologized to Kate, went out side by side, and continued on their uncertain career path.
Kate put the plate down weakly.
If the couple who shared the house left, then they would have to consider moving out as well… The rent of four silver coins a month plus the gas bill shared with several other families on the same floor was too much of a burden for the Berkeley brothers and sisters.
After being depressed for a while, Kate cheered up, finished her housework, tidied her hair, put on her cloak and went out.
During this period, Kate ran to the streets of the southern city every day and saw many restaurants that were still open. She decided to try her luck... If there was a restaurant that appreciated her skills in making side dishes, then maybe she could get a job that could solve the housing problem - most restaurants would provide accommodation for their employees.
To get from the apartment area to the south city area, one has to cross the main street of the bar district. When Kate came out of the alley, she was surprised to find that the street, which had been deserted for many days, had become lively again.
"Could it be that the closed bar can open again?" Kate thought excitedly, stopping to look around.
Soon, Kate realized something was wrong.
Most of the storefronts were closed, only those on both sides of the middle section of the street were open.
Although it was open, it didn't feel like a reopening at all.
Kate subconsciously walked about ten meters towards the section of the road where the most people were, and sure enough, she saw that the original bar signs of those stores had either been removed or covered with cloth.
There were a large number of large cloth banners that were stretched out for several meters, with words such as "Ertong Supermarket", "Ertong Jewelry Store", "Ertong Tofu Store", "Five Copper Affordable Store", and "Ten Copper Boutique Store" painted in conspicuous red letters.
Kate walked closer out of curiosity and stopped only when she reached the outskirts of the crowd.
It’s not that she didn’t want to see what kind of business the newly opened stores were doing and to find out if the bosses needed to hire handymen, but the crowd was too dense and Kate had no place to squeeze.
From the crowd that blocked an entire section of the road, broken voices could be heard from time to time, such as "Don't rush, there's plenty of supply" and "If you steal one, you'll be fined ten times as much."
These roars were all women's voices... Kate's little face hidden under the hood of her cloak became more and more shocked.
Kate had never seen a woman who dared to speak so loudly to anyone other than her husband in public. Whether in the city or the countryside, if a woman was so fierce outside the house, then her reputation would be very bad.
The weird thing is, this isn’t just a woman’s voice…
Just as young Kate was extremely curious about what she would find inside the crowd but could not see anything, a curse was heard nearby and several people who had returned with a lot of things squeezed out of the dense crowd.
Kate turned her head to look at those rude people, and seeing that they were men dressed as servants of good families, she quickly moved aside.
The male servants from the Central City District are even more untouchable than the city police chief, and no one knows who their master will be.
These crowded and sweaty servants had no time to argue with the cursing civilians. They all left in a hurry, carrying a lot of things in their arms and hands.
Kate swallowed and became more curious about the "shopping malls" in the crowd that made the male servants of good families rush to buy... With such good business, they must be short of manpower, right?
Wait a little longer, when there are fewer people, then squeeze in and ask.
Kate waited patiently outside the crowd for more than 20 minutes...
Then, not only did she not wait until there were fewer people, but she was pushed further away by more and more people.
Workers in overalls from Nancheng District, Dongcheng District, Xicheng District, and even Beicheng District all appeared on this street...
Kate was desperately pushed further and further away from the sales area by the increasingly dense and emotional crowd...
When Kate had almost reached the alley leading to her home, she saw two women standing on the side of the road.
One is a lady wearing a long skirt that covers her instep, with a layer of gorgeous lace tulle over the skirt, and the other is a lady dressed as a housekeeper.
Under normal circumstances, if Kate saw someone wearing such a beautiful long dress on the street, she would definitely stare at the person with envy for a long time. But at this moment, Kate was only worried that among so many people pouring into this street, someone would get ahead of her and snatch away the good job in the store. She looked away after just one glance, tiptoed pitifully, and looked towards the direction of the store worriedly.
When Kate withdrew her gaze with disapproval...Ms. Will, the housekeeper, who was less than five meters away from her in a straight line, heard the hostess take a deep breath through her nose.
Ms. Will lowered her head silently, not daring to look at the hostess's expression.
There were indeed many civilian women on this street who envied Mrs. Grimm's beautiful long dress, but... few of the civilians coming and going took a second look at her, and many even didn't notice her presence...
Mrs. Gerry, you were indeed quite vain in the past, but not as exaggerated as you are now.
During the operation of the mysterious photo studio, Mrs. Gerry, who had her "natural beauty" "restored" by the mysterious makeup artists, enjoyed being the center of attention wherever she went for a while. After that, Mrs. Gerry's mentality became a little unbalanced...
Unable to experience the same obvious and strong attention as before, the lady who couldn't help but want to make her presence felt became increasingly anxious.
"go back."
When Mrs. Gerry uttered these two words through gritted teeth, Ms. Will knew that the Gerry family would probably not be very peaceful tonight.
Sure enough, Mrs. Gerry was displeased with everyone that afternoon and almost scolded the maid Claire to tears.
Mr. Gary returned home from work at 4:30 and was caught by his wife, who mocked him in various ways.
Mr. Gary was already quite accustomed to his wife's temper, but he had been in a bad mood recently and was annoyed by her temper, so he left home without even having dinner, saying "I'm having a party with so-and-so."
It was rare for the Gerrys not to have important dinners together. Mrs. Gerry felt very aggrieved, and even the housekeeper, Ms. Will, was used as a punching bag by her to criticize her...
Mr. Gerry, who escaped from his family, hailed a public carriage to visit a friend in another middle-class neighborhood in the West City.
After entering his friend's house, he drank two glasses of wine in the study with his friend who also worked in the city hall. Mr. Gerry, a middle-aged man with an annual income of more than 50 gold coins and a respectable urban middle-class elite in everyone's eyes, sighed and said, "We thought that no matter who became the lord, it would not affect us. We were so naive before."
"Yes." A friend who was in the same situation smiled bitterly, "The new lord doesn't value people like us... No, he already despises us. He doesn't take us seriously at all. I'm a top student at the Royal Academy, and the new lord actually got an undead to be my boss. I don't know how to tell my wife about this humiliation."
"I am still the same." Mr. Gerry's face lost all his usual elegance. He pointed at his nose with resentment and said, "It's unbelievable that I would be assigned work as an assistant to a prostitute!"
