Haidu: Top of the Tower

Chapter 8
"It's really not a small thing."

Hailan straightened her hair, and said slowly to the person across the table.She tried her best to keep her face expressionless and looked very serious: "Every day, a piece of crystal grows into the interior of Haidu... If everyone is like your family, leaving the crystal alone, they will not take responsibility, Haidu What should we do? In such a situation, those of us who do inspection and supervision work really have no choice but to report it.”

The tall and fat man opposite, with his chin connected to his chest, wiped the oily sweat from his forehead upon hearing this. "It's just that the crystallization in a small part of the area has grown, we just need to remind you, there is no need to report it?"

Hailan waved his hand, as if his words were funny. "Mr. Ben Jiaming, you must have never cleaned up the dirt yourself, have you?"

Ban Jiaming, the supervisor of the Gaota Family Clan Affairs Office, acquiesced without saying a word.

"Speaking of it, it seems that there is only a small area that has been left unattended for two weeks, but things like crystals are like intelligence. Wherever the resistance is weak and there are loopholes to exploit, they will grow like crazy... Now in the area that the Gaota family is in charge of, there is a section of the artificial trail that has been submerged, and now it is completely wrapped in crystals, which is shocking to see. Now only one person can clean up the pollution, and it is impossible to even get in. Find someone to reopen the road first." Hailan said: "If you are free, you might as well take a look with me, and you will know if I am exaggerating."

She and Ban Jiaming knew each other well that he would never step into the pollution zone for such a thing.

"Of course I believe you." Fat Superintendent said, shaking a fan, "It's not a big deal, I'll have someone call the kid in charge of that area—"

Hailan shook her head and said, "She doesn't want to go, what can you do? I met that girl once, her name is Mi... Mi what? Her mother died in that polluted area, Just over half a month ago. In this situation, how can you force her?"

Ban Jiaming frowned, searched carefully in memory for a while, and then said "Oh", "I seem to have the impression that someone died. It turned out that he died of crystallization disease? This is really difficult."

"yes,"

Hailan coughed, lowered her head to sort out her emotional expression, and then continued: "If she drags on, the area I'm in charge of monitoring will lose control, and I will be punished. I must report it as soon as possible...I can't afford to wait She changed her mind. After I reported it, I don't care what to do with it. It's just for the sake of the Gaota family's dedication to their duties, so I thought of letting you guys know Prepare."

As soon as he said this, Ban Jiaming naturally understood what Hailan meant: If you really wanted to report it, you would have reported it a long time ago, so why bother to come here to show your face and offend others?In this matter, there must be room for flexibility.

Sure enough, he also showed a commensurate smile, and said something like "you think about it again", "if there is anything we can do, we will do it" and so on.The two went back and forth for a few rounds as if sawing saws, and Hai Lan finally said, "Well, of course I don't want to see you both in trouble... If the kid really doesn't want to clean up the dirt, I have a way to get it both ways."

Ban Jiaming received the ball very cooperatively. "Oh? What way?"

"In my area, many people live in a difficult life. Unlike your Gaota family, they are all poor people, and they are willing to clean up the pollution. Why don't you let that Mi...Mi or something child pay someone to replace her? What about cleaning up?"

Many people did this; what Hailan said was the truth, it was no news to the fat supervisor, and there was no surprise on his broad face.

"But that kid's family doesn't seem to have any money... Hey, what am I talking about, your tower must be able to pay for it." She added, and then quoted the price, which happened to be Itami's labor expenses double. "It only takes forty coppers an hour to hire a man."

Ban Jiaming immediately shook his head, his jaw trembling.The wages paid by Gaota's family are only [-] copper coins per hour; of course, he can't agree to use the family's funds to fill holes for a low-level child who is crying and not working.

"It's not going to be easy," Hai Lan said, looking very worried about the Gaota family, "I can run around for you, find someone, and try to lower the wages... To be honest , I don’t even mind posting some money myself to make up for the wages.”

Ban Jiaming looked at her, but didn't answer.Of course, there would not be such a selfless and good person in the world, and he was still waiting for Hailan to reveal the real purpose of this trip.

Hailan didn't keep him waiting for long.

"Mr. Benjamin, do you know 'Red Velvet Ship'?"

Of course Benjamin knew.

In Haidu, anyone with a little knowledge has heard of the "red velvet ship": it is not a ship, it is a kind of ship-some people say that the "red velvet ship" best represents the spirit of Haidu, the radical The fanatical, fearless, even disturbing side.

People on the fringes of Haidu, people punished by their families, poor people who have nowhere to go; or fanatical adventurers, treasure hunters, oceanographers who want to break through... Groups of people of all kinds set foot on ships one after another A large or small, new or old sea ship set off to the sea route that few people have explored, looking for the end of the sea, with the dream of a new continent, discovering rare animals, rare plants, Treasure materials, or treasure ores.

"Red Velvet Stone" is probably the most famous harvest of this type of expedition ship so far. At least half of the types of organs in Haidu need to use this material; its birth has created many rich people and legends.Since then, the name "Red Velvet Ship" has meant their prayers and blessings for good luck.

They do need luck, for their voyages often involve treacherous seas, encountering storms, giant beasts, pirates, or dangers beyond the imagination of ordinary people.Every year, there are red velvet ships that have completely lost their news; every year, there are still new red velvet ships that leave Haidu.

Human beings always have a pair of eyes looking towards the sky and the sea, and never lack the courage to dedicate themselves to the new world.

When Hailan mentioned the red velvet ship, her eyebrows were slightly frowned.

"I can help you find someone to solve this matter of cleaning up the pollution. You still only need to pay one salary. I guarantee that you will never have to worry about it again." She showed a bit of uneasiness, and her voice lowered: "But then The child has caused so much trouble, could it be that the Gaota family... didn't punish her at all?"

"There must be." The fat supervisor immediately understood what she meant, and while agreeing, he looked at Hailan with his eyes.

Hailan nodded, forced a smile, and continued: "That's good. You see, I have a brother who is about to be sent on a red velvet ship. The sailing period will be a whole year. Of course our whole family is worried. Terrible, my mother cried several times. If someone can go instead of him..."

Finally, a look of enlightenment gradually lit up on Ban Jiaming's face.

Undoubtedly, he felt that he had understood Hailan's purpose.

For the Gaota family, as long as the purpose of cleaning up the pollution is achieved, what difference does it make if a low-ranking member cleans up according to his original purpose, or boards the red velvet ship?

When all the details were negotiated smoothly, Hai Lan was politely sent to the door.

Just when she was about to step out the door, she suddenly held the door frame with one hand and turned her head, met Ban Jiaming's eyes, and finally couldn't hold back and said, "I actually don't want to see what happens to that child. Mr. Ban Jiaming, she It's a child of Gaota's family, and a little girl... Can you take care of her more? Otherwise, I will feel bad."

Ben Jiaming nodded repeatedly, and responded with a few "of course"; but it was obvious that for him, the case of this unexpected trouble was closed.

After Hailan left Gaota's house, she had to sit on the side of the road for a while.

After her hands and feet were no longer weak and she regained enough strength, she hurried all the way back to the nursing shed outside the pollution zone, where she changed into the nurse's clothes again.

There are quite a number of nurses near the pollution zone, and her name in the Gaota family newspaper is false; as long as nothing happens, the Gaota family will not bother to find her.

But even though she understood, her face was still pale under the bouts of fear—when Milady walked into the nursing shed, she saw Hailan who was fidgeting.

"Aunt Hailan," she strode up, held Hailan's hands, and asked, "How is it going? Did you succeed?"

When Hai Lan looked at her, she couldn't recover in a daze, as if she still couldn't believe what she had done today.

"I think it should be successful, at least the supervisor nodded. He didn't realize that I was not actually a supervisor, but I was so scared..." She smiled wryly, "I said at the beginning, what do you have? If you need help, come to me, but how did I expect you to ask me to help you with this kind of help?"

What Hailan said to the supervisor at the Gaota Family Affairs Office today, including her identity and her request, were naturally all written by Milady.

Gathering information, making plans, preparing speeches, making up your mind to go to sea... all of these, even if the time is urgent, are not difficult for Milady; the real difficulty lies in persuading Hailan.

Hailan has never done such an outrageous thing in her life, but today she cheated for the daughter of an old friend.Full of gratitude, Milady poured hot tea for her, and comforted her softly for a while, but she was still anxious and kept saying "I won't do it again next time".

"There won't be a next time," said Milady, slapping her hand and laughing. "If the Family Affairs Office is efficient, I'll be at sea next week."

Hai Lan raised her head, her face full of worry.

"I don't understand. If you don't want to clean up the pollution, wouldn't it be enough to hire someone to replace you? I know that the Gaota family doesn't pay much, even if we find a way to add a little more...Why do we have to go on the red velvet ship? ?You are only 17 years old. I am really worried about you going out to sea alone. Have you ever understood the life on those ships? I don’t know who the crew members who get along with you day and night are... No, the more I think about it now, the more I regret it, your mother If you know, you don’t have to blame me.”

Milady wished she could tell her everything, but in the end all she could say was a few vague words of comfort and assurance. "Aunt Hailan, don't worry, I know the seriousness. It doesn't make much sense for me to stay in the family... It's best for me to leave for a year."

Just looking for someone to replace her to clean up the pollution, the Family Affairs Office will indeed not send people to the door again, but the risk she faces is far from disappearing; as long as she is still in Haidu, she is one of the suspects.

Now that the limelight is on the rise, why not simply take the opportunity to completely disappear from Aunt Hong's sight and justifiably become an outsider?During the year when she was "forced" to leave Haidu, the investigation of the secret letter would gradually die down because of no progress; even if it was really unfortunate that she was found, she would have gone far away by then, and would not return in the future The Gaota family was just in her mind.

Besides, the red velvet ship is certainly dangerous, but if she stays and is discovered, her fate will be the same.For Milady, she would rather take risks on the unknown sea and throw her life among the huge waves; she is also unwilling and unwilling to fall into the hands of Tea Rose, and finally disappears wronged and silently.

With Hailan's help, many details were finalized.

The wages given by Gaota's family were really pitiful, so Milady simply handed over all the money to Hailan and asked her to hire someone to clean up the pollution, leaving only a little for emergencies. Contribution, one year's cleaning wages are barely enough.

As long as there is no problem with the cleaning, the Gaota family will not come to trouble Hailan; Hailan also said that they will try their best to find different people to do the daily labor - in this way, the chance of everyone getting sick will naturally be small.

Hailan made Milady her own Chang'an tea, and the two sat silently facing each other for a while.

When she got home that evening, Milady cleaned the house carefully to make it look like it had been when her mother was still around.She ran her fingers over each piece of furniture and object, saying goodbye to each one.

Originally, she wanted to pull Tea Ross from power, but now she had to go far away... Milady closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

This is not the worst outcome.

she will be back.When she came back, Tea Rose would naturally pay the price.No one can violate her family and continue to enjoy life unharmed.

Milady had remained motionless since hearing the news.

It wasn't until the notice from the family affairs office came that she began to prepare for leaving—because no matter what she did now, she would first assume that Aunt Hong's black eyes were staring at her from the dark; she couldn't let Aunt Hong realize Well, before the notice from the Family Affairs Office, she already knew that she was going to sea.

The red velvet ship that Hailan asked the Gaota family to send Milady to was carefully selected by Milady.

Her luck is not completely bad. Among the many red velvet ships, it is an ideal choice: in order to search for exotic treasures and resources, its routes mainly travel through the warm ocean belt, and the number of islands and ports it stops on the journey There are enough, and there have been several safe return trips before-although not every crew member came back alive together.

But Milady didn't care.

In the vast sky and wide sea far away, there is a mother.

(End of this chapter)