Whispering Verse

"Because it doesn't exist, it just can't be seen, so in addition to sending my girls out to try their luck, I can also try to actively observe the door."

"This is indeed a good idea. Do you want to try it now?"

Under the meager sunlight on a rainy day, the bottle of potion still had a brilliant luster. Shade asked curiously. On the one hand, he was curious about the door, and on the other hand, he was curious about the potion. As for little Mia, it had gotten into Shade's large coat pocket, and Shade could touch it if he put his hand in his pocket.

"no no."

But the brown-haired girl shook her head slightly and winked at Shade:

"It took a lot of effort for you to be willing to come out with me for a walk. I don't want to go back right away."

As he said that, he took the initiative to hold Xia De's hand. Shade, who felt guilty, also held her hand tightly, which made the smile on Audrey's face brighter.

On a cloudy Friday afternoon, the lives of citizens did not change. The riverside neighborhood where Shade and Audrey chose to walk was close to the city center, and they could even hear the noise in the distance. It was probably another rally where people gathered in front of the city hall.

Children were running wildly on the street, middle-aged men carrying briefcases and looking at pocket watches hurried past, and a woman wearing an apron and a headscarf washing clothes was sitting downstairs in an apartment facing the street, hitting the clothes with a washing hammer. While looking at the sky, he was worried that the washed clothes could not be dried, which would waste his meager income.

The policemen who patrolled extremely frequently due to special periods walked on the side of the street that was not facing the river. Although they looked casual, the uniforms they wore still made ordinary citizens living here fearful. At the intersection not far ahead, a newspaper reporter was directing photographers and young apprentices to set up cameras and focus on the cloudy sky and the crowds of people marching at the west end of the street.

The angle he chose was very suitable. The long old street under the clouds was dilapidated. Most of the signboards were covered in dust. Gas pipes and steam pipes were nailed to the walls in strange arrangements. At the end of this street scene, there is a lively and dense crowd. Although the crowd in the distant view is only a small part of the street entrance, this can better contrast with the street scene and the sky.

As Shade and Meghan walked past reporters and photographers, they heard them talking about publishing this photo on the front page of tomorrow's "Green Lake Morning News" and naming it "1854 Under the Haze." Year".

Although the weather was not good, Audrey enjoyed hanging out and dating like this. Even if she didn't take the initiative to talk to Shade, just holding hands and walking around like this, she felt that this was a good afternoon.

However, Xia De soon saw an acquaintance appearing in front of him. A boy wearing ill-fitting patched shoes, carrying a broken, roughly woven basket, and a small dog was walking along the street with his collar turned up and his head lowered, looking at the ground as he walked.

Soon he found the target. First, the puppy, which had recently gained weight, walked forward happily and barked a few times. Then the boy walked a few steps quickly, picked up the cigarette butts from the cracks in the stone bricks, and threw them into the basket. inside.

Shade was aware of this behavior, in an era when wandering orphans might try any number of ways to earn income and food in order to make a living. One such method is picking up cigarette butts, which are discarded by passers-by and may still contain some unsmoked tobacco. Orphans pick up these cigarette butts, collect the remaining tobacco, and sell it to tobacconists or others to earn some meager income.

Of course, this kind of behavior is usually considered extremely unseemly and is subject to social discrimination. But for children of Little John's age, it is unrealistic to compete with older children for odd jobs and small businesses, so begging, digging through trash cans, and picking up cigarette butts are the norm in life.

Even though he could often find food from the garbage discarded in the kitchen of Green Lake Hotel, and even with Shade's frequent help, he still did not give up his living habits.

After all, the trash can outside the kitchen, the occasional kindhearted person, and other luck may all be gone from him. Only the puppy and the livelihood of collecting and selling cigarette butts truly belong to him.

After picking up the cigarette butts from the cracks in the bricks, the boy happily squatted there and stroked the head of the spotted puppy. The latter also stuck out his tongue and responded happily. Shade felt the cat in his pocket move. He probably heard a dog barking.

Because Little John kept his head down, he did not notice Shade approaching, but he realized that two adults were approaching on the road. The boy picked up the puppy and hid on the side of the street, not even daring to raise his head and look at the stranger.

But the dog he was holding recognized Shade, who often gave them food. Shade's appearance at the moment was the same as when he often appeared, so it barked at Shade twice happily.

"Oh, shut up! Don't get us both in trouble."

The boy immediately turned around so that the head of the puppy he was holding faced inward, and walked faster along the street toward the alley, for fear of getting into trouble. But after subconsciously raising his head, he finally saw clearly who was walking towards him.

He instinctively wanted to say hello to Shade, but he saw the noble and elegant lady next to Shade. So he immediately lowered the brim of his hat, carried the basket sideways and hugged the puppy, and continued walking towards the alley not far away.

Shade knew that the boy didn't want to greet him here, and was worried about ruining Shade's date with the strange lady, or lowering Shade's impression of the strange lady, but Shade didn't care about this. Besides, Megan and Audrey will not look down on Little John just because he is an orphan who picked up cigarette butts. Witches hate all men equally.

Audrey also saw that the boy seemed to know Shade, so she squeezed Shade's hand. Shade nodded, waved and shouted:

"John!"

The boy looked up and saw that Shade was really calling him, and then he hesitated and stopped. On the contrary, the puppy he was holding had no such worries and barked happily at Shade who was walking towards him:

"Woof woof woof~"

"Meow~"

Little Mia's head emerged from Shade's pocket, but as soon as it appeared, Shade pressed it back with a finger. The cat still wanted to struggle, but Shade patted its little head and wisely put it in the pocket and stopped looking outside.

"John!"

Shade shouted again and quickly came to the street far away from the river bank. Audrey let go of Shade's hand and followed him, but she just stood not far behind him and did not follow him.

"Good afternoon, I didn't expect to see you here."

Shade said with a smile, and the dirty boy said hello timidly:

"Good afternoon, sir."

"Can you please help me? Are you around here a lot?"

Hearing Shade's request for help, the boy nodded immediately:

"Yeah, as long as it doesn't rain heavily, we're usually around here."

He glanced at his basket, and Shade also saw that there were already a lot of cigarette butts in it. In addition, there are also sundries such as old newspapers and nails, which can help him in his life.

The boy calmly hid the basket behind him.

"Has anything strange happened in the shore area recently?"

The boy thought for a while:

"Yes, two of the children who were picking up cigarette butts nearby have disappeared. Adults like to smoke while walking by the river or talking about things, so this neighborhood is a good place to pick up cigarette butts. Originally, there were three or four people on this street. There were two kids doing the job, but now there are only two left.”

Shade became interested:

"Oh? When did this happen? Do you know where they went?"

The boy shook his head:

"Probably the one who disappeared this week. But there are always some people I know who disappear at a certain time and never appear again. Among the two people who disappeared this time, one is 'Bully Hansen', he is our The oldest one among them is the oldest in age and body shape. He probably didn’t have an accident, he probably found another job.”

Although the boy in front of him is young, he already understands the rules of street life.

Shade thought for a moment:

"Are the two missing children frequented near here? Is there a specific location?"

"Yes, we are all picking up cigarette butts in a designated territory. No one can cross the boundary."

The boy stretched out his hand and pointed out the two areas for Shade, which were in front of the direction where Shade and the witch were walking. However, the total area of ​​​​the area was less than a mile of the riverside streets.

After getting the clue, Shade gave the boy another 10 pennies to go to dinner. Even though the boy didn't want it, he threw the coin into the boy's basket.

"Woof woof woof~"

Suddenly the puppy barked again. The boy in worn shoes looked up and saw a crowd of people walking in the distance on the riverside street. He immediately held down his hat and said to Shade:

"Sir, I have to leave. The police don't like seeing us!"

After saying that, he bowed, then hugged his puppy and ran towards the alley.

Audrey also came over at this time and stood on the side of the road with Shade. She saw two police officers appearing first, and then the marching crowd held banners and shouted slogans such as "Long Live Delrayon". Walking through the streets along the river.

Reporters were taking photos with interest, and there were police officers all around to maintain order. The idle people in the city followed the team and chatted about various things. This city has probably not been so lively for a long time.

They should be the crowd that just gathered in front of the city hall not far away. The young man handing out flyers wanted to pass the flyers to two passers-by, Shade and Audrey, but Audrey took a look at them and said Instinctively, he retreated to the team in fear.

The two of them just watched the team passing by in front of them. When the street became empty again, John, who was picking up cigarette butts, had already walked away with the puppy in his arms.

Shade shook his head, not knowing what to say, but fortunately no one forced him to write an 800-word essay to express his emotions or analyze current events.

He reached out and took Audrey's hand again, and he and the brown-haired girl continued walking along the street.

Audrey whispered:

"Look, there are stories everywhere. In fact, there is no right or wrong in this world. There is probably no essential difference between Delarion and Kasenric."

She thought that Shad lived in Tobesk, so Shad would identify himself as a Drarian. But in fact, outsiders don't care about all this. Of course he knew that the negotiations in the area under his feet had nothing to do with good or evil, only interests, and that was why he felt troubled.

After all, this way, he would not be able to find his own position.