I! Cleaner!

I must persuade her. Although Anna's condition has stabilized, she has just been discharged from the hospital. It would be bad if she cried.

After touching his little head, which seemed a little silly when he said something smart, and understood everything when he said something stupid, Leon put down the newspaper in his hand, got up and left the second bedroom, and walked towards Anna's room.

This old house located in Veteran Lane was not the original home of Leon and his four siblings, but an old house that the military allocated after forcibly withholding part of the pension. It was almost five times older than Leon.

The old house was old and dilapidated, with average lighting, and even no toilet. In addition to the small living room connected to the kitchen, there was only one master bedroom and one second bedroom.

The smaller second bedroom had always been occupied by Leon. As for the so-called Anna's room, it was actually the master bedroom shared by her and her two younger siblings.

"Squeak"

Accompanied by the old door hinge's jerky cry, Leon pushed the door and walked into the master bedroom. At first glance, he saw his sister sobbing on the quilt.

Like the second bedroom where Leon lived, this small master bedroom also had only one single bed. William and Melanie could barely sleep in it when they were young, but when the two troublemakers grew up, it became a bit crowded.

So Leon picked up some wooden boards and bricks from outside, added a section to the original old bed, and padded it with a mattress and his parents' old clothes, hoping that his younger brother and sister could sleep more comfortably. However, due to material problems, the part that was built was a little unstable, and the bed board was easy to shake.

Anna was lying on this part of the bed board at this time. With every muffled sob, the newly built half of the bed swayed twice, and her butt also swayed, twisting with the sobs, which looked really funny, making Leon laugh.

"Brother! You're still laughing!"

After hearing Leon's muffled laughter, Anna, who was lying on the bed, suddenly became even angrier. She rarely showed her temper. Her two white and tender feet kicked the air twice in anger, and then she couldn't help but complain:

"It's all your fault! When they were making trouble before, you always stopped me from beating them! Now they are starting to stuff horse manure into their mouths! You can still laugh!"

"Uh..."

Not feeling embarrassed to explain what he was laughing at, Leon had to take the initiative to look away, looking at the furnishings in the room while looking around. And he said:

"I just think spanking alone may not be enough. They still have to know why they are being spanked. Otherwise, they don't think it's okay to be spanked.

If you don't believe it, look at William. He has summed up his experience of how many spanks you will get after making trouble, so it proves that you still have to reason with them."

"But they will only listen to your reason after being spanked first!"

Anna, who has always been gentle in front of Leon and almost never expressed her opinions, is extremely strong only in educating her younger siblings.

After wiping her tears with the back of her hand, she stopped sobbing and turned around, pouting and arguing unconvincedly:

"You don't spend much time with them, so you don't know how annoying they are!

It's not that Melanie doesn't know right from wrong, she just thinks she can get away with it by being cunning! William is even more worrying. Although he doesn't take the initiative to make trouble, his ideas are always weird, just like... just like..."

After thinking for a long time, she couldn't think of any words to describe her brother's peculiar brain circuits. The sickly girl hammered the bed board in anger and concluded directly:

"Anyway, I have to take care of it! If I don't take care of it anymore, it will be too late when they grow up!"

"Yeah, take care of it! I must take care of it! I will definitely not stop it next time!"

After echoing twice, Leon walked over and sat down on the bed, reaching out to gently stroke his sister's back while softly comforting her. Comfort:

"But you might as well think about the bright side. Although the two of them are indeed a little naughty, they never take the initiative to bully others. The previous few times were not all their faults... um... let me think about it."

After recalling the several situations he remembered, Leon said with a slightly complicated expression:

"This time they made trouble because someone said you would not come back; the last time they got angry while playing games and a child called William a wild child; the time before that was to stop the fat boy named Jack from bullying others;

The time before that, I went to the dock to work as a stevedore and was chased away because I was too weak, and someone in the alley gossiped; before that, it seemed that you coughed too loudly at night and disturbed the neighbors' rest, and you were said to be a tuberculosis ghost..."

The more they recalled why their brothers and sisters were mischievous, the more uncomfortable their expressions became.

I didn't think so before, but now I see that although they are very naughty, they always have a reason for causing trouble. So rather than saying that they are "naughty", it is better to say that they are also trying to maintain this fragile little family in their own way.

If I, as a brother (sister), could be a little more powerful and block more malice from life for them, the two little ones might not have to be so "naughty" and could be two lively and innocent ordinary children happily...

"Don't think about these for now."

After looking at the tears flashing in his sister's eyes, Leon found that the more he persuaded, the worse the situation was. He quickly changed the subject, reached out and picked up a yellowed old photo album from the shelf at the head of the bed, and put his arm around Anna's thin shoulders and comforted her:

"Brother now has a public job in the police department. After he becomes a full-time official at the end of the year, he can also let William and the others go to school for free, so they no longer have to fight with the kids in the alley. So let these past things go! From now on our family It will definitely get better and better...

By the way, the last time we looked at the photo album together was more than two years ago when I had a high fever. It just so happens that it’s not too late today. If you don’t feel uncomfortable, can you look through it with me again? "

"Um……"

Following Leon's strength, she tilted her body and leaned gently on his shoulder. Anna, with reddish eyes, took the photo album, caressed the damaged cardboard shell nostalgically, then opened the album and started flipping through it gently. .

"This is when my mother was young."

Opening the first page of the album, pointing to a faded group photo, a beauty in military uniform with eyebrows somewhat similar to Lyon's and a face filled with heroic spirit, Anna explained softly:

"My mother... told us when I was young, this is a photo of her when she was admitted to the Mechanics College and was assigned to the artillery adjustment class, and then this is my father..."

Anna raised her soft fingertips and clicked on a tall, handsome, black-haired man with a gentle smile in the corner of the back row.

"Father and mother were classmates. After graduation, they were recruited into the same army. They gradually became familiar with each other. Then there was... you, and then there was me the next year..."

As Anna flipped through the photo album gently and slowly, she watched the strange man and woman, from acquaintance to falling in love, and finally each wearing a formal dress and wedding dress, embracing each other passionately with tears of happiness in a small church. , Leon's mood also became better.

Different from the cold and cruel reality, those happy moments frozen in the album appear so warm. Even if they fade severely due to time, it does not affect the brilliance and dazzlingness of the smiles at all.

By the way... Was Anna such a lively child when she was little?

The enviable happiness in the photo album continued. Looking at the little blond girl with an extremely bright smile in the photo, Leon couldn't help but reached out and gently touched little Anna's bright blond hair.

In his memory, apart from the soft eyes and gentle smile on Anna's face and nodding towards him, all that was left of Anna was the cough covering her lips when she was sick, and the frowning from time to time. Leon had never seen his sister before. She had smiled so happily...then what took away her smile?

Seeing that Melanie and Melanie had not yet appeared, but they had already flipped through most of the photo album, the self-evident answer naturally came to mind.

"Well...I suddenly remembered that I still have some unfinished work!"

Because he clearly knew what a cruel ending the extremely beautiful family in the photo album would face in the end, Leon's body couldn't help but stiffen slightly. While he was annoyed about why he came up with such a stupid idea to look at the photo album, he apologized to Anna. road:

"How about we see here first? You are tired today, so you should rest early!"

"Um……"

The thin girl responded softly, as if she didn't notice anything unusual about Leon, she closed the photo album in her hand, smiled lightly and tapped the tip of her chin.

However, after Leon left as if fleeing, she did not get up. Instead, she reopened the heavy old photo album and slowly turned to the last page.

On the back cover of the already yellowed album, where the most important photo should have been, there is an old torn photo stuck.

The person who tore the photo seemed to be very hard, and even rubbed the pieces very hard, causing many cracks in the photo to stand up. Even though it seemed to have been carefully processed, it still could not be completely flattened, and even the face of the portrait was not complete. .

In this strange photo, the couple who have appeared many times in the front of the album, but have been dead for six years now, still smile happily towards the camera and stand hugging each other under the sign that reads "Family Portrait" in cursive letters. .

However, in front of them, there were not two boys, two girls, and four brothers and sisters, but only a child of about eight or nine years old. The child was holding the hands of his father and mother on the left and right, looking extremely exposed to the camera. Happy smile.

He stretched out his fingers and touched the child's face in the photo, flattening the raised part of the crack, revealing the brilliant blond hair of the same color as his mother. He looked at the smile on the girl's face that was very strange to him, Ana couldn't help but bite her lip hard.

Then, as if she had made up her mind, she used her nails to scrape off the stuck photos piece by piece, then found a matchbox and a small bucket in the house, and threw all the pieces into the iron bucket.

After turning her head with regret, Anna struck a match with a click, lit a ball of cotton wool and threw it into the bucket. The last photo of her parents and herself was burned directly into black ash at the bottom of the bucket. !

…

Hmm... I seem to have forgotten to do something yesterday.

Not knowing what happened after he left last night, as a social worker without a holiday, Leon climbed out of his little bed as soon as his genius dawned.

After taking out the papyrus used as a memo and looking at it, he found with some helplessness that yesterday, because he was worried about reminding Anna of sad things, he ran away from the picture in the middle of seeing it, leaving the matter of asking her to confirm his birthday. to the back of the head.

Now... she and William should not be awake yet, right? Then let’s wait until we get back in the evening and ask again!

Looking at the still dark master bedroom, Leon shook his head and gave up the intention of asking now. Instead, he held a stack of old newspapers, gently opened the door and left the house, walking on the way to work under the stars.

Um? What about the coffee stall?

When he reached the same location as the previous few days, Leon was a little surprised to find that the current temperature was very suitable for the opening of a coffee stall, but the profiteer with the same name as Charles Department Store did not come to open his stall today.

After wandering around two nearby streets without seeing any trace of Old Charles, Leon finally gave up on the half-price coffee he had agreed to, walked to another stall across the street with a slumped face, and ordered a cup of the lowest price. Cheap coffee.

What I have to say is that although Old Char’s coffee stall demands money and is stingy in returning items, the “consumption experience” is indeed first-class. Other coffee stalls really can’t compare. This small shop Although the food at the stall was plentiful, it really didn't have the same flavor as what was served at the old Charles stall.

Sighing rather regretfully, and after drinking down the scalding coffee in three gulps, Leon was about to get up and leave when he caught a glimpse of a somewhat familiar face at the next table.

That man...seems like he's also a regular customer of Old Charles?

After identifying the face and confirming that he was correct, Leon hesitated briefly, and then walked over quickly.

"Hello, excuse me."

After pointing towards the other side of the street, before Leon could ask his question, the regular customer raised his eyebrows in surprise, and actually spoke first:

"Ouch! Is this the son-in-law chosen by Immortal Charles?"

? ? ?

What? I only drank coffee from him a few times and paid for it, so why am I still his son-in-law?

Looking at Lyon, who was confused by what he called him, the regular customer, who was probably in his fifties, laughed twice, briefly explained the origin of the title, and then asked with a smile:

"You are talking to me because you want to ask why Old Charles didn't come out of the stall today, right? I really know this!"

After beckoning Leon to sit down, the regular customer in his fifties continued:

"I met him last night. It seemed that his wife was doing business with someone else, and accidentally fell into a trap set by others. She seemed to have lost a lot of money. She was so angry that she jumped on the spot.

Although his wife was lucky enough to be rescued by a kind-hearted young man passing by, and nothing serious happened, she would probably have to be taken care of for more than half a month.

Old Charles told me that he wanted to take care of his wife and seek justice from those people, and he would definitely not be able to go out in the next few days. "

"..."

Doing business... got tricked... lost a lot of money... got so angry that he was beaten on the spot... and was saved by a kind-hearted young man passing by... Why does this sound familiar?

After hearing what happened to the other "Mrs. Charles", Leon couldn't help scratching the back of his head awkwardly, feeling that the coincidences in this world were a bit too outrageous.

To be honest, if the incident of going to the water power company to steal information can be regarded as a "passing by", then what happened to the two Mrs. Charles is really not bad at all.

As for whether the two Mrs. Charles are one and the same, and whether the old Charles buying coffee on the street is the Charles from Charles Department Store...

How is this possible!

After thinking about the possibility of such a strange coincidence, Leon couldn't help but curl up the corners of his mouth and laughed at himself fiercely in his heart.

I met an uncle selling coffee at a street stall. It turned out that he happened to be one of the top three rich men in the royal capital. And when he went on a field mission yesterday, he happened to save the life of the rich man's wife. As a result, I heard someone say this morning that the rich man seemed to be still alive. He intends to choose himself as his son-in-law and inherit the department stores he opened throughout the royal capital...

What a nonsense! I really thought you were the protagonist!