Our family is in decline

"Take it, this is the rule." Susan was naturally not polite and picked some from them, but it was not for free, the money still had to be given.

But at this time, a very strange phenomenon occurred.

The fishermen who had been boasting just now were now belittling their catch.

"This aquatic plant is tied up a lot, but it's actually not that heavy."

"I don't move much about this anymore. It's cheaper."

"This is too small and worthless."

Such a contradictory scene is really abstract, but it also has a unique reason.

It's not surprising that they made offerings. In the past, they had to work hard to catch fish and were exploited in various ways.

If you catch something good, you'd better pray not to be discovered, otherwise someone will definitely look for you, but this money is impossible to give. The master wants you to have something because he thinks highly of you.

This kind of situation doesn't only happen to fishermen, hunters' mountain products, farmers' crops... As long as you are targeted by them, it is best to surrender, otherwise you will be beaten in vain if the things are gone.

But there is no such thing in Hamlet now. Even if the lord needs something, he will pay it according to the market price.

At least Hamlet's current group of bureaucrats dare not reach out because the lord really took them out to do labor camps.

Even if they take the initiative to confess, they will not be allowed. On the contrary, if the circumstances are serious, it will be considered a bribe.

Bureaucrats' generous benefits also come with many cumbersome regulations. No one would violate the lord's rules for such things.

Strict rules were established using negative teaching materials. Many people went to hoe the earth because of this before.

So at this time, the selected fishermen accepted the money without any shirk, but the price they quoted was very low.

Because apart from this, it would be difficult for them to repay the lord.

The lord's kindness is not over yet!

Susan just smiled at this. It took more than a day or two to compete with these guys, so the lord suggested that she buy them in different places. Don't just buy them from one house. You should pay as much as you should.

When she walked out of the pier, the basket she was carrying was filled with all kinds of seafood, including crabs, shrimps and various shellfish.

This is only part of it. Sometimes you have to go to the slaughtering station to see if the pigs or cows will be slaughtered today, or the berries and vegetables newly shipped from the farm.

There is no way the lord is so good at eating.

In her opinion, the lord is thrifty and thrifty, so he chooses the cheapest shrimps, crabs and shellfish. It’s hard~

As soon as she walked out of the dock, there was some movement behind her.

"Wait! Auntie, wait for me..."

Susan turned around and saw a child who looked to be about seven or eight years old running over. He was dragging his clothes with his hands as if he was holding some treasure.

"What's the matter?" Susan looked at the child running in front of her and asked, thinking that something had happened.

"Huhuhu... I touched this. I want to give it to the lord."

The child ran up and opened his hands without caring about his rapid breathing. There was a small pile of shellfish in his clothes.

Susan is a local, not to mention having a lot of contact with the fishermen, so she can naturally see that these shellfish of different sizes must not be as carefully selected by those fishermen.

But there is no doubt that this child touched it with his own hands at the beach. The turned-up trousers were soaked by the sea water, the fingertips of his hands and feet were covered with sand, and the immature face was already covered with traces of wind and sun.

"My..." This scene couldn't help but remind her of something. Looking at the little boy Susan in front of her, a loving smile appeared on her face unconsciously, and she raised her hand to touch him.

"Aunt?"

The child's confused voice instantly brought Susan's consciousness back to reality. She may have realized her problem, but her expression became complicated and she could only smile awkwardly.

The outstretched hand turned to pick up the shellfish and asked at the same time.

"Why to the lord?"

"Because..." At the beginning of the words, the child's eyes suddenly turned red for some reason, and he choked.

Soon after listening to his story, Susan understood something. His family was not among the first batch of refugees, but came here on their own.

Their family lives by the river, but the war destroyed their home and they were forced to flee.

There were a family of five. His eldest brother was captured by conscripts, and his mother died on the way to escape.

The only people who could come to Hamlet were his father and two children, that is, he and a sister who was several years older.

After my father came here, he resumed his old business. Because he couldn't rent a boat or get a loan, he joined the official fleet to fish under the lord's policy.

Although it's not a great situation, their family has stabilized in Hamlet, and the previous hardships seem to have become a thing of the past.

The pressure of two children forced his father to work part-time as a patrolman in order to subsidize the situation. Although he was a little tired, the money was constantly accumulating, and soon he was able to rent his own boat.

At this time, an unexpected monster appeared and attacked the coast. His father was not among the patrol team that day, but he still went out with a harpoon after hearing the bell.

But once I left, I never came back again...

What he was waiting for was the death notice and the bloody harpoon, because his father's mutilated body was difficult to identify.

Despair once again enveloped this poor family, and the suffering seemed not to let them go.

"But the lord will not forget you. Are you in trouble?" Susan seemed to feel the child's pain, but she did not indulge in it, but emphasized.

Just looking at the serious look on her face, someone would be in trouble if they were really bullied.

Although she quit very early, she was one of the few people in the town who had regular contact with the lord, and everyone in the town had to give her face.

"No! The lord has not forgotten our family."

Sure enough, the boy's mood improved a little when he mentioned this.

Because it is indeed the case.

The lord did not forget them, and neither did everyone. The lord took care of his father's funeral and sent it to the Heroes Cemetery. The people around him also took great care of them after knowing about their family.

The pension was paid normally on a monthly basis until the two of them reached adulthood at the age of fourteen. The elder sister was assigned a new job, and he was exempted from tuition fees and entered school.

That's why he wanted to do something.

"Can you give it to the Lord for me?"

"Didn't you go to school? Why did you go to catch the sea?"

"I really touched it!" The child felt that Susan was questioning and quickly explained.

Because he lives with his sister, he does not live in the school, so he has the opportunity to find out this before going to class, and this is all he has.

"Okay, but don't do this again, you know." Susan still turned the shellfish on his clothes into the basket.

"Don't tell my sister, okay? If she knows I went to the beach, she will scold me." The child shrank his neck, looking a little scared.

"Silly boy, don't go to dangerous places like the beach again. Your sister will be worried." Susan can naturally understand her sister, because they are the last relatives, and the sea is too scary for her sister.

Rules are rules, but Susan still took out a copper coin and handed it over, "Take this."

"No! No!" The child shook his head and put his hands behind his back.

"The lord will not take your things without giving you money. This is a rule." Susan said, putting the copper coins into the pocket of his clothes. "Don't go there next time. The lord hopes that you will study hard so that you can be a right person." Hamlet Contributor.”

The child still wanted to refuse, but as soon as Susan said a word, he ran back as if he was running away.

"Class is about to begin, and you don't want to be late, right?"

Susan looked at the running back of the child, and the complex emotions that had just been suppressed appeared on her face.

But he soon regained his composure.

This is the meaning of the appearance of the lord, he will lead us to happiness.

…………

There was a rich seafood dinner on the table in the hall of the Lord's Mansion. Lance sat in it and ate, looking full of energy and not at all tired.

"My lord, try this." Susan sat aside, scooped up a bowl of porridge and handed it over, telling Lance about the child she just met.

"I paid for him to study. This kid doesn't go to school to fish, right? He still has too little homework..."

Although Lance said this, he still looked quite happy when he looked at him. He stirred the porridge cooked with shellfish with a spoon, which tasted particularly sweet.

"It's not bad. Leave some for Boudica. That lazy guy won't be able to get up until noon if he doesn't sleep."

Susan just smiled at this and was about to say something, but at this time her eyes couldn't help but look to the other side, and she immediately picked up the bones on the plate and stood up.

"I'll leave some in the kitchen."

Susan's departure also left Lance alone in the hall. Sophia walked out directly and looked at the man's back with a particularly complicated mood.

After Sophia walked out, she realized that she was not prepared for how to face Lance.

After all, the experience last night seemed like a dream, and she couldn't tell whether it was real or a dream?

It was only when she woke up in that familiar but unfamiliar study that she was forced to accept it.

But what was even more difficult for her to understand was that she was normal, and there was nothing strange about her except that she was covered with a blanket.

Although she had no practical experience, she didn't understand those people. She was deeply disgusted by the ugliness of manipulating those men.

This situation now makes her a little unbearable. If Lance attacks her, he can still have a moral advantage, but it was herself who showed her ugliness last night. She is trembling just thinking about it, as if she was caught. The key is the same.

The instant realization of the horror of this place made her instinctively want to flee.

It's just that the hall is right here. If she wants to go out, she has to pass by, but she doesn't dare.

He was forced to listen to the conversation between the two people in the corner.

The relaxed and casual feeling in the words of both parties was really difficult for her to understand.

As a princess, she was always accompanied by six personal maids and a lot of servants.

But there is no such situation between the two parties, and it is impossible to sit at the same table to eat and chat.

She couldn't say a word to others while eating, let alone serve her.

And after hearing the little story, she knew she couldn't hide and walked out on her own.

"Uh~ Good morning." Sophia's movements were particularly reserved, and her awkward expression was hard to suppress.

Lance glanced back, his mood didn't change much, he just smiled and invited.

"Morning, come and have some breakfast. Although it's not that rich, the conditions are like this."

Sophia looked at the things on the table and didn't know how to answer. She had to smile awkwardly, but she actually put it on the table.

ah! Do you really eat it?

Her action made Lance stunned.

He is just polite out of habit. Shouldn't you just say "No, no, no, no" at this time, shirk a few words and then leave?

"Try this seafood porridge. It only needs to be added with a little salt to make it delicious. Unfortunately, there is no rice, so it can only be cooked with wheat. It doesn't have that smooth and fragrant texture, but it still has a different flavor."

Since that’s how it’s served, Lance said and served her a bowl using the cutlery originally prepared for Boudica.

Not talking about anything else, I just talked about how to eat these and how to cook these seafood.

"It would be better if there is pepper, then the level of taste will be improved several notches and become more prominent..."

Sophia was still very embarrassed at first, but after hearing these words, her tense nerves couldn't help but relax.

I tasted it, and I don’t know if it was for psychological reasons or something else, but it was quite delicious.

The imperial capital is inland, and these foods are only eaten by common people, at least not before when I was a princess.

This one is delicious, that one is good too...

"It's getting late. Although the winery is quiet, don't be late for work."

Lance looked at her and didn't say anything. He was making seafood here, so he couldn't remind her.

Go away now, you're going to get the fuck out of me, right?

Sophia couldn't help but froze for a moment when she heard this. She chewed half of a crab claw and turned to look at Lance, then she seemed to realize something.

Why didn't she come out before?

It's because he doesn't know what Lance will do to him.

She was ready to bear the price. After all, what she had done was a very bad behavior no matter how you looked at it.

but……

"You asked me to go back to work?"

"It's funny, why are you staying here if you don't leave? I didn't prepare your share of the lunch meal." Lance Dou was speechless. Even if you have breakfast, do you still want to have lunch?

"Really? Are you letting me go?" Sophia still couldn't believe it and couldn't help but ask.

Lance looked at her surprised and puzzled look and guessed what she was thinking, and couldn't help but shake his head and sigh.

"Is it because I don't let you go? It's just that you don't let yourself go."

This sentence was like a thunder in Sophia's mind. The crab claws in her hand fell on the table without any reaction. She was stunned and murmured to herself.

"The one who won't let me go is... myself?"

"Isn't it true? Let's not talk about other things. How many times have I let you go? It's you who insists on torturing yourself."

"Then what should I do next?"

Lance waited for so long and finally waited for her to speak.

“Let go of your obsessions, embrace a new life, and do what you like. If you don’t like bartending, you can also do something by yourself.

And I don’t allow you to make perfume, so you don’t have to be so sneaky. If you run out of money, you can borrow it from me..."