leonardwarren Chapter 18 Home and Family!
Chapter 18 Home and Family!
Curfew is approaching.
The shantytowns, however, remain in turmoil.
A drunkard staggers home, gamblers shout angrily, prostitutes haggle with their clients, and debt collectors punch and kick and curse...
Shen Mo moved silently among the crowded wooden houses.
The floorboards creaked and cracked.
The air was filled with a stench that never seemed to dissipate.
The searchlights from the cliff top swept across the area intermittently, becoming the primary source of light here...
Shen Mo subconsciously held his breath, because the smell in the air was extremely unpleasant.
At the same time, he kept a wary eye on the people around him.
The prostitute's affected and seductive advances.
The thief's covetous yet fearful gaze.
The gang members gave him a malicious look.
The child's wary yet hopeful gaze.
Shen Mo even encountered a pastor.
The priest was busy, however, chasing after someone with a knife...
This is the shantytown, the slum of Mugu City.
There are all kinds of people, and all kinds of things happen.
Unlike the gradually quieting urban area outside.
There is no real curfew in the shantytowns.
The guards are only willing to patrol during the day; they don't care about order at night.
As long as they don't cause any major disturbance, the security bureau won't bother with them at all...
I turned slightly to the side, dodging the unknown liquid dripping from above.
Shen Mo took a few more steps and stood in front of a detached three-story wooden building.
The wooden building was also built on a sewage pond, covering an area of only twenty or thirty square meters.
But among the many dilapidated wooden houses in the shantytown, it is already considered quite good.
"Ahem!"
A coughing sound came from inside the room.
Shen Mo let out a long sigh and knocked on the door.
"who!"
A woman's wary voice rang out.
"I'm back!"
Shen Mo replied.
Then they heard hurried footsteps approaching.
A moment later, the door opened.
A woman rushed forward in surprise and grabbed Shen Mo.
"Finally back!"
The woman was extremely thin with dark skin.
He is not yet forty years old, but looks almost sixty.
Seeing Shen Mo standing outside the door, he stepped forward and pulled Shen Mo inside, while excitedly shouting upstairs:
"The second child is back!"
Shen Mo walked into the small building.
To the left of the entrance is a wooden shelf displaying about ten kinds of medicinal herbs.
On the right is a mirror, and on the shelf next to it are tools such as combs and scissors.
At the very back, there was a wooden bed.
"Have you eaten?" the woman asked.
Clang clang—
At the same time, footsteps sounded.
Before the person could be seen, two voices could be heard.
"My brother's back!"
"Slow down, you're going to break the stairs!"
The next moment, the ten-year-old boy jumped down the stairs, ran to Shen Mo, and hugged Shen Mo's leg, saying:
"Brother! Brother! Did you bring any food?"
"I brought it!"
"Yay!!!"
The boy was dark-skinned and thin, and he danced excitedly with his arms and legs like a monkey.
Shen Mo patted the boy's head and turned to look at the man coming down from upstairs.
"dad!"
"Um!"
The man, his back hunched, nodded.
He glanced at Shen Mo for a moment before turning around and grabbing a stool to sit down.
Shen Mo then took out a bag of cooked food and said to his younger brother:
"Go get your chopsticks!"
"good--"
Smelling the aroma of meat, the younger brother swallowed hard, turned around, and ran quickly to the cupboard.
"Making money isn't easy, why buy all this?"
Shen's mother began to complain.
Shen Mo smiled and offered no explanation.
We set aside some for my sister who works the night shift at the factory, and then invited our parents and younger brother to eat together...
late at night.
"You really passed the Black Iron Trial?"
After taking a drag of his cigarette, Shen Liang still couldn't quite believe it.
The son she abandoned a month ago.
Now he actually has the ability to pass the Black Iron Trial!
"Yes, I'll get the license and badge tomorrow."
Shen Mo listened carefully to the sounds around him.
The younger brother on the third floor was fast asleep, and there was no unusual movement from the surrounding neighbors.
He then took out the savings card, placed it on the table, and said to his parents, whose faces were full of surprise and confusion:
"There are 50,000 Alliance Coins in here..."
"How many?!!"
The mother instinctively spoke, but then became alert, lowering her voice in shock as she said:
"fifty thousand?"
"Yes."
Shen Mo nodded and handed it to his father, saying:
"Let's move to Xiaping."
Upon hearing this, both Mr. and Mrs. Shen remained silent.
After a moment, Shen's father finally spoke slowly:
"What else can we do after leaving the shantytown?"
Seeing his parents hesitate, Shen Mo immediately said:
"That's still better than staying here, smelling the stench and poison every day, and being extorted by gangs!"
"You don't understand!"
Mother Shen spoke up:
"Your father and I have so little ability, it's useless in Xiaping."
This 50,000 yuan, plus our family savings, is at most enough for us to live in Xiaping for a year.
if......"
"Don't worry about money, I can earn more!"
Shen Mo sensed his parents' worry and said decisively:
"I've had enough of the shantytown environment!"
We have to move out no matter what.
If you don't agree, I'll take my older sister and Ah Lang to Xiaping...
"What nonsense are you talking about!"
Seeing her husband's bad expression, Shen's mother interrupted:
Is moving something that can be decided so easily?
How do I get a residence permit in Xiaping?
What about the houses here?
And since you've just become a Witcher, your income is unstable.
How can you support this family?
Upon hearing this, Shen Mo was speechless for a moment.
He forgot that a residence permit is required to move to Xiaping.
Without connections, it might not be possible to get it done in a short time.
"Amo, you're right."
Seeing the surprised look on Shen's mother's face, Shen's father stubbed out his cigarette and said to Shen Mo:
"This godforsaken place is definitely not fit for human habitation."
And I don't want your sister to work the night shift at the leather factory either.
I don't want to see what happened to your little sister happen again.
I don't want Ah Lang to be nine years old and unable to go to school...
But I don't want you to take risks and do difficult tasks just to make money.
So... let's hang in there a little longer!
Pushing the bank card back in front of Shen Mo, Shen's father continued:
"Next, I'll take some time to inquire about the residence permit."
I'll look for another opportunity to see if I can find a job in Hetian.
As for this money, take it and buy some good equipment, and it would be best to also stock up on some magic potions.
After all, safety comes first when you're out and about.
Once everything is ready, we'll move to Xiaping.
Upon hearing this, Shen Mo's thoughts were complicated, and he hesitated to speak.
But in the end, he was persuaded by his parents to put the savings card away.
The three chatted for a while longer before Shen Mo fell asleep on the wooden bed downstairs.
However, after his parents went upstairs, Shen Mo had trouble sleeping.
He could feel his parents' care and his younger brother's affection.
The older sister who works the night shift at the leather factory is Shen Mo's biggest supporter after he transmigrates.
However, when they were together, there was always an inexplicable distance between them.
He deliberately tried to get close to his family, wanting to fit in.
But the motivation stemmed more from a sense of responsibility than from familial affection.
This caused Shen Mo to always ignore his family's thoughts and feelings when facing them.
It was only after tonight's conversation and his father's compliance that Shen Mo realized this problem.
"Are you in such a hurry to cut ties with them?"
Shen Mo gave a self-deprecating laugh, as if he had discovered the darkness within himself.
Perhaps from the very beginning, he never intended to fit into this family...