Lord Highlander

   Chapter 1216 1203. Slums

  Suldak called to stop the magic caravan and asked the coachman to wait by the side of the road. He pulled Sia into a street full of sewage.

  It just rained yesterday, and the eaves were still dripping down. The water in the culvert next to the street was almost overflowing, and there were all kinds of debris floating on it, which flowed into the moat at the end of the street along with the sewage.

The stone slabs paved on this street have been exposed to wind, sun, and trampled for many years. Many of the slabs have cracked, and the weeds in the cracks have been removed, but some stone crevices and depressions are covered with moss. , the whole street has a rotten musty smell.

Xi Ya was wearing a long skirt with a white lace skirt. In order to avoid getting the skirt dirty, she could only hold it like this with both hands, revealing a section of snow-white calf, and a pair of crystal shoes on her feet. , this dress should have cost her a lot of money, and there is actually a mini version of the fog circle inside the skirt, which can keep her legs and legs moistened by the water mist all the time, so as to avoid the dryness caused by being out of the water for a long time.

  She didn't like this environment very much, but she didn't want to wait alone in the carriage, biting her soft lips and following Suldak.

  …

  A drop of rain falls from the eaves...

  Suldak was walking in the alley, stretched out his hand to catch the water droplet in his palm, and the cold water droplet exploded with a 'pop'. That kind of strange feeling was very Zen.

It is a kind of perfect control over the space after the mental power spreads outwards. Recently, he has tried to enter that door every night for an exhausting winter swim. When he wakes up in the morning, his whole body and mind will become empty. You will feel that the limbs and bones are continuously injected with spiritual power, just like countless streams converge into a big river, and finally return to the sea of ​​spirit.

  The torrent formed in the sea of ​​spiritual consciousness made Suldak feel that his body became stronger under the washing of this torrent of spirit, and the sea of ​​spiritual consciousness was also growing continuously.

  Walking into the alley, Suerdak didn't want to realize anything, but he wanted to see the real life of the people here.

This kind of pigeon cage-like house occupies almost every inch of available space. It has been raining recently, the air is full of moisture, and the inside of the house is even more humid. The buildings here are very dense, so there is no good ventilation at all, and there are many window sills. These blankets and quilts are hung to dry.

Some women sit at the door with their children. They may be knitting a sweater, or holding some hard leather corners, using a shoe sole-shaped template to draw the outline on it, and then using a sharp scraper to scrape the hard leather. The carapace was scraped out little by little to form the shape of the sole.

  They carried the younger children on their backs, and the older children let them play in the street.

Seeing Suldak and Siya walking side by side from the street, the children were afraid to go forward, and hid in those musty-smelling rooms, only sticking their heads out, showing their dirty little faces .

The houses here are shared by several families. Suldak stepped into a yard, and there was actually a well in this yard. A group of women were washing clothes around the well, looking at the mountains of piles of water beside them. Dirty clothes, obviously this group of women are some laundresses.

  Several younger girls were drying the washed clothes in the yard full of ropes, and the two older girls stood by the well and kept fetching water.

  Although it is not yet summer, the clothes they are wearing are very cool.

Suldak wanted to retreat from the yard, but when he turned around, he found that there was a small and dark wooden house in the corner of the entrance of the yard, which looked like a toilet, and a series of hasty "squeaks" came from inside. , and then a hard labor-like man came out with his trouser belt, hung his withered money bag on his belt again, and walked out of the yard without looking back.

  A young woman came out of the house right after her, adjusting her shoulder straps as she walked. She squatted next to the well with a wooden basin in her arms, washing clothes by herself, and there were piles of dirty clothes beside her.

  The women around her seemed to be reluctant to talk to her. Although the women didn't speak harsh words to each other, there was a touch of disdain in their eyes.

When Suldak came out of that yard, he saw an old lady sitting on the steps and basking in the sun with her eyes squinted. She squinted her eyes, her pupils looked cloudy, and besides wrinkles, there were some age spots on her face. It can be seen that she is very old, and maybe tomorrow she will never be able to open her eyes again to see the sun above her head.

  Suldak sat down next to the old woman, probably blocking the sunlight when Suldak passed by just now, the old woman squinted slightly, but her eyes fell on him.

  Maybe it’s because the aristocratic dress on him is so delicate and dazzling…

   "How long have you lived here?" Surdak asked curiously.

"It's been many years. When I was a child, I worked as a laundry lady here. When there was an iron mine, the living conditions of the artisans here were very good. There were at least dozens of laundry workshops here. Later, the mine could no longer be dug. Now that the iron mines have been mined, the iron and steel workshops here have also fallen into disrepair, and there are not so many people who come here to wash clothes." The old woman took a little breath when she said a few words, but she was very talkative.

  Suldak realized that the yard he had just entered was actually a laundry room.

At this time, a man pushing a wooden cart came in from the alley. The cart was almost full of dirty clothes. He came to the entrance of the workshop and carried bundles of dirty clothes into the yard. Sitting at the door drinking water with a tired face.

   Seeing Suldak sitting next to him in a noble dress and chatting with the old woman, he stood up and respectfully said to Suldak, "My lord, what do you want?"

  Suldak paused, and asked the man, "Are you the owner of this laundry?"

  The man showed a simple smile and said, "There is no boss here! I just go out to collect clothes, and all the clothes I collect have to be sent here to be washed."

   "How's the business here usually?" Suerdak looked at the two-wheeled cart whose tire rubber was almost worn out, and asked like a man.

The man thought about it seriously, and said with a bitter smile on his dark face: "Usually there are only two carts, but the situation is much better these days. Sometimes you can receive four carts, and each cart can hold about fifty pieces of clothing. A reporter from The Times?"

   At the end, the man thought of asking about Suldak's identity.

  Suldak shook his head and said, "No, I'm just curious about this and want to know! How much do you charge for washing each piece of clothing?"

"These work clothes I received are more difficult to wash. The washing fee for each piece is about two copper coins. If you pay them for one copper plate, each piece is basically settled according to the number of pieces. In winter, you need to add some money, and in summer it will be cheaper. , but you have to pay extra for ironing. The laundry in this laundry is relatively clean. We are a cooperative relationship..."

The man glanced at the old woman sitting at the door with a smile, and said to Suldak: "My father used to collect clothes, and now he is old, so he handed over this stall to me... Although this year's year is not counted. Great, but at least it's better than last year..."

   then led Xi Ya to leave this alley...

   It wasn't until they reached the wider main street that Xi Ya finally let go of the hand holding the hem of the skirt, and then let out a long breath.

   "Is this the slum area of ​​Ruyt City? In fact, there are also such places in the city of the Seven Worlds in the Seven Seas..." Siya stood in Surdak and said.

  Suldak walked out of the alley, feeling a little relieved.

  Actually, the people here are not as miserable as the refugees in the barren land.

   After boarding the magic caravan, Suldak said to Sia:

   "This is the group of people living at the bottom of the city, and there may be more bitter..."

   "For them, life is always full of misfortunes."

   "Sia, look at this city of Ruyt, at least half of the city's population is crowded in this messy area."

   “Another nearly one-third of the population lives in civilian areas”

   "The remaining people are merchants and nobles, but many of the nobles have gradually fallen from their families. It is estimated that it is very difficult for them to maintain even the most basic decency."

   "So there are very few aristocrats who can enjoy a luxurious life. Look at the top mansions at the top of the city. There are only more than 70 mansions in the aristocratic district of the huge city, but the land area occupied is about the same as this poor area."

   "Do you know the population of Ruyt City? Three hundred and thirty thousand people."

   "I'm not going to seek more benefits for the wealthy nobles who are already living. I want to raise the lower limit of living for the residents of Ruyt City so that their lives can be a little better."

  Surdak looked out the window, the smell of some fried food came from the street, and the strong bitterness of oily smoke...

   "What is this? A sense of social responsibility?" Xi Yahu's blue eyes became extremely bright, and there was a look of admiration in his eyes.

Suldak smiled and spread his hands and said, "How can I be so noble? Only when the whole city becomes rich will the overall value of Ruyt City continue to increase. It wasn't just Ruyt that was taken over by the Marquis Luther. The management rights of the city, as well as a large number of McDonnell family properties, although most of these properties have gone bankrupt, but the manors and large tracts of land are still there. To increase the value of these assets, it is inseparable from the prosperity of Ruyt City..."

  Siya followed Surdak's gaze, looked at the crowds on the street outside the car window, held the sheepskin book in one hand, and asked, "Dak, what are you going to do next?"

   "I plan to remodel this slum..." Suldak said.

He pointed to the area in front of him that is almost closely connected with the steel workshop and said: "If conditions permit, I will remove all the pigeon cages in the house. Although these houses are built extremely compactly, their layout is very bad. .”

   "Look at the small townhouses in Dodan Town. If it is rebuilt in the future, I plan to design it as a living area with complete facilities."

   "There must not only be a market around, but also a war academy open to civilians..."

  (end of this chapter)