Chapter 346 Slums
Mexico City, the capital of Mexico, is very similar to the capitals of many Latin American countries. It accounts for 20% of the country's population, making it a mega city with a population of more than 20 million.
However, with this population base, excessive urbanization has led to Mexico City having more than four million people living in slums. Among them, Chimahuacán, which is connected to Mexico City, is home to 1.3 million people. It is squeezed by the proximity to Mexico City and does not belong to the Federal District, which makes life here quite difficult.
However, thanks to Mexico's slum reconstruction plan, Chimahuacan's current image has deviated from the impression of traditional slums. At least relying on the foundation preserved in the past, it looks much better than many places in Hengsan. After all, this place is close to Mexico City, the capital of Mexico.
It looks a bit like a remote county town.
Although the external environment seems to have improved a lot, it cannot change the fundamental problem of Chimahuakan. The vast majority of people here do not have a relatively stable income and can only do odd jobs.
Moreover, because abortion is illegal except outside the Federal District, births out of wedlock have led to a large number of single-parent families in Mexico. Coupled with the income problem in the slums, even the most basic "food and drink" problems still arise.
The high degree of urbanization in Mexico City has made the water resources here scarce. Add to that the impact of beautiful capital and it has become a survival issue right in front of us.
Although the Mexican authorities have imposed many restrictions, a lot of groundwater is polluted, there is no water available during droughts and there is a water shortage.
Apart from reducing the quality of water supply, the only way to alleviate the problem is to cut off water supply to slums for "maintenance".
Moreover, even during the water supply period, the tap water only comes out slowly and weakly, and the water quality is quite bad. It cannot be drunk even after boiling, and even ordinary water purifiers are useless.
Drinking water of this quality for a long time will have a huge burden and impact on the body.
Therefore, even residents in slums will try their best to buy bottled water, but sometimes, they may not be able to buy it even if they have money...
Vernal came from such a family.
His mother gave birth to him out of wedlock and raised him and his younger brother alone. Such difficult conditions made Werner sensible at an early age. He started helping with housework and looking after his younger brother when he was five or six years old.
Fortunately, Mexico also has compulsory education, and the schools in the slums are simply large-scale "nursing centers". In this kind of teaching environment, it is almost a luxury to want to learn anything useful, and it all depends on the self-consciousness of a very small number of students.
Given Werner's family situation, it is impossible for him to spend time on studying after school. Once he is out of touch, he naturally begins to resist studying itself.
Like many of my peers, I was exposed to gang mentality at an early age.
Because he was young and daring, Werner soon stood out, was appreciated by the gang leader, and became the team leader.
He gradually became inflated and lost himself amidst the calls of "team leader" and "awesome" until he was shot in the thigh during an operation.
Although he managed to escape with his life, one of his legs was completely broken.
As for the little leader that he had been thinking about, he just gave him some money and sent him away completely. At the beginning, some people might come to visit him, but then they gradually lost contact with him.
He originally thought that after he started to become "awesome", he could lead a good life with his mother and brother, but the reality was that he became a new burden to his mother.
This also made him realize that this path was not feasible and he must not repeat his own mistakes!
What made him quite happy was that even in such an environment, his younger brother Simpson still ranked among the top students in the school.
While Weiner is now limping and doing odd jobs to earn money as much as possible, he also takes care of the chores at home, including the part that originally belonged to his younger brother Simpson, so that he can have a safe learning environment.
So that he can realize his dream and have the opportunity to enter Melbourne Metropolitan University...
"Brother, I'm back."
Simpson does not have the lively spirit of Weiner at all, and seems very quiet, which is a relatively rare character in Mexico.
Even their mother was like a lion when she was angry, and they had seen her quarreling with others more than once.
But this is also the way to survive here!
Simpson looks a lot fatter than his brother, but he appears a little bloated and even a little swollen.
"The rice is in the pot. Drink more milk to supplement your nutrition . Milk is cheaper. Drink less Coke."
Seeing his younger brother picking up the Coke and chugging it again, Werner instinctively resisted. He had heard before that this stuff was not a good thing and it would be bad for the body if drunk as water for a long time.
Now we are actually drinking it as water. There may be a shortage of water during the dry season, but the beverage factory has its own private well...
"Haha, brother, didn't you get here this way too?"
Simpson burped and said with a smile, then he raised the Coke bottle and assured his brother again.
"I will definitely be admitted to Metropolitan University and join Umbrella Corporation after graduation. This way, no one will dare to bully us anymore."
"Why has it changed? Didn't you say you would take us to the beautiful country?"
Upon hearing his brother's new goal change, a hint of pampering appeared in Werner's eyes.
"Hehe, I used to think that place was more impressive, but now I realize that Umbrella is even more impressive. If I can stay here, I might as well stay here..."
Going to Da Piaoliang is an option for many poor people in Mexico who can no longer make a living.
Even the Mexican mafia on Da Piaoliang's side is well-known for its ruthlessness and often spawns many special businesses.
However, this began to change after Umbrella began to settle in Mexico.
When Umbrella first took root, they really launched a small fight every day and a big fight every three days.
In Mexico, if you don't give face to those businessmen, no one will have a good life.
No one is optimistic about Umbrella.
There are too many examples before our eyes. There are too many examples of people who just took office and said they would rectify the situation, but were then shot dead in their offices.
But after Umbrella security began to move in, there would be funerals for major businessmen and gangs every day. Each time it was a decapitation operation, and it always succeeded!
At the beginning, even newspapers and the media were criticizing Umbrella, saying that they had disrupted the existing order and made people live in fear.
But slowly, as time went by, Umbrella Security remained standing. After a series of changes in the key people in charge, even the most stubborn ones were defeated.
There was even a behavior that they avoided when running for the leader, which allowed Umbrella to gain a firm foothold!
After gaining a foothold, Umbrella began to build various factories here.
Nowadays, even if it is a dog coming out of the Umbrella factory, no stray dog would dare to snatch its food!
To put it bluntly, in Mexico now, even if there is only one person in a family working as a cleaner in Umbrella's new factory, no gang dares to mess with that family!
Umbrella's defense was directly killed, and the corpses were enough to dye the river red!
Even Werner felt a little sorry. If Umbrella had appeared earlier, he might have had a new pursuit...
"Today, a classmate of mine brought an Umbrella bracelet. It's so cool. I don't know where he stole the money to buy it."
After Simpson finished his Coke, he began to eat his dinner, a local cooking method of wrapping corn kernels and some meat filling in corn leaves.
All prepared by Vernal.
He has a limp now, but he still has no problem doing these things.
"My cooking skills have improved again. Maybe I can open a stall outside in the future."
After eating, Simpson licked the ketchup on his hands with relish. He knew that this was the new business his brother was considering.
"If we set it up now, we'll be in trouble, but it should be soon."
Weiner said with a smile, and then he thought of something.
"By the way, the checkup you scheduled is for tomorrow, right? I'll go with you then..."
Simpson has been feeling unwell recently, suffering from edema and fatigue, so he made an appointment for a check-up.
This is Mexico City, the capital of Mexico, so it still has all the necessary institutions. And prescription drugs in Mexico are only half the price of those in Damei...
