I am a master in India

Chapter 144 Seed
This is a diamond-shaped open space where many small houses are built.

The houses were no higher than Ron's chest, and from a distance they looked like small wedge-shaped tents shrouded in smoke.

When I got closer, I saw that they were extremely dilapidated, even worse than the houses in the slums.

The huts were hastily built with bent branches as frames, cardboard and plastic scraps as building materials, and tied together with thin ropes.

It is no exaggeration to say that any one of Ron and his men could raze the entire camp to the ground in less than a minute with just one hand.

But there were thirty or forty lepers living here, which once again refreshed Ron's impression of the slums.

They approached without being stopped.

It wasn't until they reached a small hut near the center of the camp that the surrounding residents stopped what they were doing and stared at them, but no one spoke.

Abu greeted them skillfully, while Ron and Luca couldn't help but look around.

It's hard not to look at them, and once you do, it's hard not to stare at them.

Some people have no noses, most have no fingers, and some are so serious that their lips and ears are beginning to disappear.

For some reason, the female patients' appearance was much more severely damaged than the male patients.

The two also have completely different attitudes towards outsiders. The woman is shy and fearful, while the man is proud and has a combative look.

But they always stood far away and never came closer, and Ron and Luca did not move at all.

"Damn it, when did that Abu finish saying hello? My legs are about to cramp." Luca didn't understand Hindi.

"He's asking about the boss here. He'll be there soon." Ron was also a little scared.

This place was so weird that it reminded him of a scene from a Resident Evil game.

Fortunately, there was one thing that comforted him, and that was the children around him.

There was no sign of illness on their bodies, they were all very thin, but they looked healthy and fit.

And all the children worked very hard, their little hands taking on the task of grasping things.

Just then, a man climbed out from behind the small house in the center.

He struggled to stand up to greet the group, and two children immediately appeared and supported the man.

He, too, was ravaged by leprosy and was very short, only about as tall as Ron's waist.

His lips and the lower half of his face had been eaten away, leaving only hard lumps, and where his nose was had become a hole.

"Ab, son," he said in Marathi, "hello, have you eaten?"

"I'm fine, Ranjitbai," Abhu replied respectfully, "I brought them to you. We just had dinner. Thank you."

Ron had difficulty listening because the man named Ranjit had no mouth and many of his pronunciations were unclear.

Children nearby brought stools for them to sit on, and several of them did not refuse and sat in front of Ranjit's house. A small group of people gathered around them, sitting or standing around them.

"This is Ranjit Bai," Abhu said loudly in Hindi so that everyone could hear. "He's the boss of the leper slum, the king here, and the boss of the Black Hat Club."

Luca was confused, but Ron understood a little. In Hindi, black hat is sometimes used to refer to a thief.

The name "black hat" comes from the fact that in Arthur Road Jail in Mumbai, thieves serving sentences had to wear black-ringed hats.

Thinking about what Abu had said before about the smart people, Ron guessed that they were all masters of stealing.

Ranjit and other leprosy patients also readily accepted Abu's introduction, and they were even proud of it.

"Hello, Ranjitbai," Ron said in Hindi, "My last name is Sur."

There was some commotion among the crowd, but Ranjit remained the same.

"Are you a doctor?" he asked.

"No!" Ron denied without hesitation. He was worried that the other party would ask him to cure leprosy for these people.

"Dr. Sur is a good man," Abu added.

Ron turned around and stared at him blankly, "Thank you so much, Abu."

Children brought them glasses filled with water and tea in chipped cups.

Ron and Luca waved their hands, indicating that they didn't need it. But Abu gulped down the water without any hesitation.

Ranjit tilted his head back and a child poured water down his throat.

"Ab told me that you need medicine." This time Ranjit actually used English.

His teeth clicked together when he spoke, and since he had no lips to pronounce words, the pronunciation of many words was severely distorted.

Luca's eyes widened, but he still didn't understand.

At this time, there was a child next to Ranjit, perhaps his son, who repeated his words in a light and steady voice.

"If you have these drugs, we can buy them at a high price." Ron handed over a note.

The child took it, looked at it for a few seconds, and then whispered the words on the note in Ranjit's ear.

"No money, as long as you agree to one condition of mine."

"What?" Ron was a little surprised.

Ranjit called out a name, and a tall teenage boy walked out of the crowd and placed a canvas bag at Ron and the others' feet.

He knelt down and opened the canvas bag, revealing a pile of injections and plastic bottles, some of which still had labels.

"Oh, this is it." Luca no longer cared about anything. He rummaged through the medicine in his bag and became more and more excited the more he looked at it.

All of them! All the medicines he wanted, every one of them, and even more.

"Where did they get all that?" Ron asked Abdullah. "They stole it," he replied.

"Stolen? How?"

"That's a very clever steal!" he laughed triumphantly.

"That's right, that's right." There was a unanimous response from the surroundings, without a trace of humor.

They accepted Abu's praise seriously, as if they were admiring a work of art that they had collectively created, a stolen work of art.

"What do they do with this stuff? I mean, this isn't a common medication on the market."

"These are just freebies from theft. Anything useful is sold on the black market," Abu replied.

The useful medicines he mentioned were probably common ones. These experimental products, which only had labels, became a burden and no one was interested in them.

Lepers have their own sales networks and secret markets in every major city in India. Due to historical reasons, they have developed superb stealing skills.

They have relied on this skill to survive to this day, and their clients are all criminals, militants, separatist forces, ambitious people, and bandits.
Those people cannot buy drugs through formal channels because the government will find clues and then wait for an opportunity to eliminate them.

The black market for leprosy medicines was established on this basis.

But this is not what Ron really cares about.

"What conditions did you just mention?" he asked.

"Take Rajiv away." Ranjit looked at the boy who had just come over with a canvas bag.

"What?" Ron didn't respond.

"He's healthy, he shouldn't be here."

The boy named Rajiv wanted to say something but Ranjit stopped him with his eyes.

“Doctor Soul, you don’t need to keep him with you, just leave here, just get out of here.

We can give you a lot of medication every week, top-of-the-line medication, really."

"Leave here?" Ron was puzzled.

"Give him a job to support himself." This was Ranjit's only requirement for the deal.

Ron was silent. Such conditions were not difficult for him to fulfill, but...

"Ron Baba," Abu suddenly said, "These people won't live long."

They were already terminally ill and were only able to survive by selling medicine, but it could not save them, it was too late.

Perhaps in a few years most of the people here will disappear. They know their fate and face it calmly.

But the children are innocent, and that is their only concern.

In 93, leprosy could be completely cured, which explains why all the children here are very healthy.

They were too young and had to live with their sick parents, hiding in a dirty corner far away from the city and away from people.

But children will grow up one day, and they cannot be labeled with leprosy for the rest of their lives. Their future is not here.

Ranjit had made deals with many criminals, and without exception, he asked them to take away a child who was about to grow up.

Some of these people are bandits, some are militants, and some are ambitious people...

The children who followed them might be arrested or die in a conflict, but so what? At least there was hope.

Ranjit also wanted Ron to take a child away and picked the smartest one here.

Ron's identity is extraordinary. He is a doctor, a noble and respected profession.

With his care, there is a high probability that the child will take root and survive in Mumbai in the future, so that the latter can take more children out of the leprosy slums.

They need a seed, and when it grows strong, it can shelter the remaining children here.

Then the leper slums will disappear, they will die, but everything will be fine, with no regrets.

A deep silence fell, and everyone looked at Ron, hoping for a response.

The sound of breathing came from lipless mouths with clenched teeth, and pairs of serious eyes stared at him, patiently and full of desire.

"Rajiv, right?" Ron looked at the boy. "You follow Anand first."

The crowd cheered, and Ranjit chuckled.

Anand also laughed. He stood on tiptoe and patted Rajiv's shoulder hard, acting like an elder.

Ron guessed that he also knew about the existence of the leprosy slum, otherwise he would not be so calm.

Ranjit directed every man, woman, young and old here to touch Ron's feet. They struggled forward, knelt on the ground, and touched Ron's toes with their leathery stumps, but did not really touch them.

Of course, Ron would not really keep the boy named Rajiv with him, nor would he just leave him to Anand.

At least I need to go to the hospital for a check-up, and then make a few more trips to Brazil with Luca.

From now on, Rajiv will handle the drug smuggling business on his behalf, killing two birds with one stone.

They chatted with Ranjit for a while and then said goodbye and left, taking the canvas bag with them.

"God, how did they do that? This is incredible." Luca was delighted, without any of the gnashing of teeth he had when he came.

"We don't need to pry into their secrets. What's important is that we get what we want."

"That's right. I'll have my brother come to load the goods tomorrow. We've found a treasure trove."

Rajiv will be picked up by Anand in a week, and then Ron will talk to Luca about turning the commission into an investment.

(End of this chapter)