Examination of the Imperial Examination - Chapter 76

12:30 pm.

Alvin tidied up a little, took Yuumi, took the 3 soles he earned at noon, went to a nearby restaurant to fill his stomach, and then walked directly to the warehouse area.

According to some understandings at noon, the reason for the recent instability at the dock comes from here. The reason is that a generous boss came here and bought a warehouse at the dock. It is being renovated in the past two days, and the weekly salary of the workers he hired turned out to be other twice as many people.

Moreover, the boss settles his salary every day, so he recruits new workers every day. There are not many people in the warehouse. In order to get a good job, the workers start fighting.

There is no way for the police to come. After all, they can’t stop the boss from lowering his salary. They can only step up patrols every morning when the warehouse is hiring.

With the implementation of the “Corn Act” and the massive increase in the population pouring into the cities, the wages of workers have dropped significantly, and now the wages are twice as much as before, and workers will definitely be scrambling for opportunities.

Coming to the warehouse area, Alvin saw some workers who were wandering around waiting to be hired.

Most of these people who did not go to the workers’ association to look for jobs were older or weaker, and the workers’ association was not willing to introduce them to jobs.

Because they were introduced in time, their physical condition would also lead to unemployment soon. Here, if there is a temporary shortage of people in that place, they have the opportunity to be temporarily employed, although such opportunities are rare.

Those street corners are crouching and numb, they are not like humans, they are tramps.

Looking at these faces with obvious hunger, there is no obvious separation between the two. The former can easily become the latter.

He knew that very few of these people could survive this winter.

Alvin sighed silently, and looked down at his clothes. It was too conspicuous to go in like this.

Although he is much stronger after being promoted, he can’t be reckless. He doesn’t want to be targeted by cultists who don’t know the sequence number and meet unknown existences.

He raised his hand and waved at a boy who looked very thin and was wearing shabby clothes. Who would have guessed that this would be like poking a hornet’s nest. The people wandering around saw his movements and all rushed over.

Yuumi saw the person running towards her, lowered her body, and twitched her tail gently.

Seeing this, Alvin comforted Yuumi with one hand and hurriedly backed away. Of course, these old, weak, sick and disabled people couldn’t stop him, but he still didn’t have a good grasp of his own strength, and it would be bad if he hurt others.

“Beep.”

The police whistle sounded, and the three nearby patrol officers discovered the situation here, and quickly ran over with their baton out of their waists.

When the workers heard the whistle, the patrol officers who came with batons showed a look of fear. They all stopped and looked at Alvin in the distance with anticipation.

Seeing those police officers come over and beat them with batons, cursed and even pushed many people to the ground, Alvin couldn’t bear it, and scolded himself for being too anxious just now and not thinking enough.

“Meet again, Mr. Alvin, can you tell me what happened here?”

Suddenly, a familiar voice sounded from behind him.

“I passed by after eating. You know, my apartment was robbed, so I moved to another place to live. I just needed someone to help me move, so it became like this.”

Turning around, he saw that it was the sheriff of the dock area, Hassan Rahimi.

“Moving? You can go to the workers’ association or find a rental carriage. I think if you’re willing to pay a little more, the driver will be happy to help you, not at the warehouse dock.” Hasan Rahimi said while looking at Alvin.

“Obviously, this is just a coincidence.” Alvin was not afraid to look at each other.

Yuumi looked at the police officer in front of her, showing no interest in the conversation between the two, yawned, checked her head, and narrowed her eyes in boredom.

“You need workers to go to regular companies. These people are crazy. You’d better not mess with them.”

Hassan Rahimi glanced at the restored order, then turned to Alvin and said in a warning tone.

“Mad? That’s also starving.” Alvin looked at the embarrassed workers, his eyes kept looking this way, all looking like he wanted to be hired.

“Can you do me a favor?” He took a deep breath and said to Hassan Rahimi with a smile.

“What’s the matter?” Hassan Rahimi asked with a frown.

“Use this money to buy some brown bread and give it to them to make up for my rashness just now. By the way, call that kid for me. I decided to hire him.” While speaking, Alvin took out his wallet, took out 2 pounds and handed it to him. Hassan Rahimi in front of him pointed to the children in the crowd.

“Okay.” Hassan Rahimi took a deep look at Alvin, then took the banknotes and turned towards the crowd.

The skinny boy was full of excitement, and trotted over in the envious eyes of others.

“Sir, do you want to hire me? Although I have very little strength, but I work hard and cheap.”

Looking at the boy of fifteen or sixteen in front of him, his clothes were all patches, his face was full of withered yellow vegetables, and he showed a pleasing look to him. This scene touched him indescribably.

Listening to the boy’s words, Alvin was silent for a few seconds, then smiled and said: “Of course, you look pretty good, come with me, we need to go somewhere before that.” After that, he walked straight ahead.

Alvin didn’t know what to say to the other party, so he just led him silently into the cheap cafe at the corner of the street.

The tables and chairs in the cafe are quite greasy, there are windows, there are real objects, and there are many customers.

The little boy scratched his throat to hide his Adam’s apple wriggling because of the scent.

Alvin motioned for him to sit down and went to the place where he ordered food. He asked for two cups of tea, a plate of stewed lamb with tender peas, two pieces of bread, two pieces of toast, one piece of inferior butter, and one piece of artificial cream. 17.5p.

“Eat, you can work when you’re full.” When the food was given to Qi, Alvin brought them back to his table.

“For me?” the little boy asked in anticipation and surprise.

“Except for a piece of toast and a cup of tea~www.mtlnovel.com~ everything else is yours.” Alvin responded with a smile. (Restaurant description, taken from Klein’s first meeting with Kohler Sr.)

Looking at the little boy who dared not use a knife and fork, Alvin said with a smile:

“Don’t worry, it doesn’t count your wages. This is my habit. I don’t want to watch my workers work hungry.”

The little boy wiped his eyes and said slightly choked up:

“…You, you are really a generous boss.”

Alvin just watched quietly, waiting for the other party to finish eating.

“Why didn’t you eat?” After a while, the little boy put down the spoon, and the food in front of him probably only ate one of the three plates.

It could be seen that the boy was not full, and Alvin asked.

“Sir, can I take this food? My sister is still at home, she hasn’t eaten for a day.”

The little boy looked at him pleadingly, and Alvin didn’t know what to say for a while.

Turning his head and looking out the window, he said, “This is your freedom.”

Raised his right hand and handed over his tea and toast.

“When did you start working at the dock?” Alvin asked casually.

“Two years ago, a year ago, because of a disease, my father was taken away, and my mother made a matchbox by herself and could not feed three people. I couldn’t know anything, so I had to come to the wharf to work. I have been to the workers. Association, because I am too thin and small, it is difficult for me to find a job, so I can only come to the cargo area and wait for an opportunity. I am lucky to have a temporary job in two or three days.”

Maybe it was because of this meal, the little boy seemed to trust him, or maybe it was because of the whereabouts of today’s dinner, the little boy said a lot.

​​