I'm the Dauphin in France

Chapter 732 Life in London

United Kingdom.

East End of London.

At the shabby and fishy intersection of Westford Street, a little boy of seven or eight years old hurried to the "Flying Star Candy Store", took a look at the line of "only" two hundred people, and quickly stood at the end of the line.

He had already visited all the candy stores in the East District, and this one had the fewest people.

The team moved forward slowly, and the boy would occasionally stick out his dirty little head and look towards the store with hope.

He could vaguely see a few jars on the dark brown "subsidy" cabinet, and a happy smile appeared on his face.

Finally, after waiting in line for an hour and a half, the boy arrived in front of the store.

He wiped his nose, tightened his oversized coat that was obviously made from adult clothes, and handed the small wooden box to the shopkeeper:

"Mr. Miller, I want 6 ounces of raw sugar."

"You're in luck, little Andy," the fat shopkeeper tilted the last clay pot over, "there's still five ounces left."

Just as he was about to pour the sugar from the jar into the boy's wooden box, a middle-aged man with oily mud all over his clothes reached out and pushed the wooden box aside, saying in a hoarse voice:
"I want all 5 ounces."

Andy looked up at the man nervously, but gritted his teeth and stood in front of the counter, unwilling to give in.

The shop owner Miller covered the sugar bowl and said to the middle-aged man:

"Sir, this child came first."

"He cut in line." The middle-aged man picked up Andy impatiently and threw him behind him. "Look, it's like this."

"you can not……"

The middle-aged man slapped a few coins on the counter:

"Five ounces of raw sugar! Don't bother, I can give you a penny more."

The owner glanced at Andy, silently took the money, and poured the candy into the man's paper bag.

The man left with satisfaction. Andy hurried forward a few steps, only to see the owner take down the sign that said "Subsidy", revealing the price tag behind it that read "1 shilling and 1 penny per half pound of raw sugar".

Andy was so anxious that he burst into tears.

The government-subsidized sugar price is 9 pence per half pound, which is more than twice as expensive as last year, but 4 pence cheaper than the normal price.

He had only seven pennies in his pocket, which was enough to buy six ounces of sugar, but now he couldn't even buy four ounces.

He wiped his tears and begged the owner:

"Mr. Miller, please, can you sell it to me at the subsidized price?"

The latter sighed: "There are only 300 pounds of subsidized sugar per week, and they are all sold out. I can't sell it to you at a loss."

Dozens of people who were still queuing behind him also gathered around him, shouting in a chaotic manner:
“We want to subsidize sugar!”

“This is too expensive, why not sell it at a subsidized price?”

"He's a black-hearted guy, don't be polite to him, go in and rob him!"

"That's right, teach this profiteer a lesson!"

The owner was startled and hurriedly went forward to close the door, but people still squeezed in, staring at the sugar jars on the shelf.

"beep--"

At this moment, a sharp whistle was heard from across the street, and several policemen ran over quickly, waving sticks.

However, they were still a little slow, and seven or eight cans of candy had been snatched away, and one can was even broken on the ground.

The police beat up several troublemakers and arrested one person, and the crowd then dispersed.

The shopkeeper cursed loudly while carefully shoveling up the scattered sugar bit by bit. Sugar is so expensive in the market now. If the government does not subsidize it, he will not be able to sell it for half a pound and 9 pence. Andy was knocked down by the people who were grabbing the sugar and his legs were stepped on several times. He cried even harder.

Two hours later, the boy limped back home, holding the small wooden box.

As soon as he entered the room, the woman who was frying French fries in the room shouted without turning her head: "You are finally back."

But when she saw the empty wooden box, she suddenly screamed in a shrill voice: "Where's the candy? You useless thing, why didn't you buy any?!"

"All the subsidized candies in all the stores are sold out..." the boy sobbed.

"You went to line up at noon, you must have been slacking off somewhere!"

"I do not have……"

The woman cursed for a long time, and suddenly sat down on the wooden bench in frustration and began to wipe her tears.

Without sugar, she couldn't even cook dinner today.

The family could only eat tasteless French fries and brown bread, and drink bitter tea.

What's worse is that her husband will have no sugar for tea tomorrow...

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He was a dock worker who lived on bread and chips and did not have the physical strength to work for 14 hours straight.

Only by drinking sweetened tea in the afternoon could he make it until the end of the day.

She cried for a while, then picked up the wooden box and went out to buy 4 ounces of candy at regular price.

At 8 o'clock in the evening, the unshaven, sweaty man returned home. Regardless of the various stains on his body, he fell exhausted on the bed and said weakly, "Julie, is dinner ready?"

The woman hesitated and handed him a glass of water, whispering, "We only have 4 ounces of sugar this week..."

The man sat up suddenly and asked anxiously, "What's going on? Didn't I leave you 7 pence?"

After the woman explained the situation, he frowned and sighed, pulled his son aside as if he had made a serious mistake, and patted his wife: "It's okay, hold on, you will be fine next week."

As he was speaking, a girl who looked about twelve or thirteen years old and wearing a coarse headscarf pushed the door open and looked around at the three people in the room with red eyes. Then she hugged the woman and started crying: "Mom, I was fired from the store..."

The whole family was shocked.

The man stood up, pulled her and asked, "Anna, what happened?"

"Mr. Parnell said that business has been bad recently and he can't afford to pay me, so... woo woo."

The woman was shocked: "How is this possible? Even a tea shop would be like this?"

Little did she know that the price of sugar had skyrocketed, making it unaffordable for many people. And the British must add sugar to their tea, without sugar, the sales of tea would plummet.

Parnell's store has seen a 40% drop in sales since the sugar crisis!

The family ate a bland dinner, and the narrow room was filled with gloom.

Six days later, the man fainted from exhaustion while moving goods at the dock, and his employer deducted three days' wages without any explanation.

This dealt a heavy blow to the already struggling family.

With the eldest daughter losing her job, they will not be able to buy enough bread without the three days' wages.

Misfortune never comes alone, and soon, something worse comes.

As the wave of company bankruptcies caused by the London gaslight incident continued to ferment, the number of unemployed people increased, and the capitalists naturally would not miss this "good opportunity".

All the factories began to reduce workers' wages as if they had agreed upon it.

There are so many unemployed people out there anyway. If you think the salary is too low, just leave. Naturally, someone will be willing to do the job.

Andy's father also received a notice from his employer that his salary would be reduced from 1 pound 12 shillings per month to 1 pound 8 shillings.

(End of this chapter)