Zongman: Beginning and Snow under the Rain Escape from Raccoon City

Besides, this isn't some big factory.

If they hire one person to pull the millstone for a day, it will be enough for their bakery's needs for a week.

If you buy a donkey, where will you find so much work for it to do?

Are you suggesting we make donkeys work one day and rest six days a week?

The proprietress thought that unless she was mentally unstable, she wouldn't have done something so foolish.

Looking at the enormous millstone that was half a head taller than him, Hachiman Hikigaya despaired to find that it was still covered with the sweat of previous generations of millers.

He gritted his teeth and pressed his entire weight onto the hand lever, causing the millstone to groan in pain.

Use your waist to generate power! Don't just rely on your arms!

The landlady pointed out impatiently, "Young masters from the city are useless..."

Before he could finish speaking, Hachiman suddenly slipped.

His sweat-soaked leather shoes drew an arc on the flour-splattered stone floor, and he fell heavily into the flour pile, raising a cloud of white mist.

"My flour!~"

The proprietress screamed and rushed over, grabbing a broom and whipping Hachiman with it: "You spendthrift! That's enough to make three loaves of bread!"

Hikigaya curled up in a ball, protecting his head, his school uniform shirt instantly stained white with flour.

A stinging sensation came from my palm—I looked down and saw that my right palm had been cut open by the rough edge of the stone mill, and blood was seeping from the wound.

"mom!"

Little Mary suddenly ran out of the storeroom, holding a glass of water: "His hand is bleeding!"

The proprietress then stopped, spitting out a disgusted look: "Tsk, troublemaker."

Isn't it said that Asians who come to London are all very rich?

Why hasn't anyone come to redeem this guy yet?

I'm so worried.

The proprietress frowned.

She casually ripped a dirty rag from the drying line and threw it at me: "Wrap this up! Don't even think about having dinner until you finish grinding the wheat today!"

While her mother turned away to do the accounting, Little Mary quickly stuffed the water glass into Hachiman's hand and secretly slipped a clean strip of linen into his palm.

When Hachiman looked up, he only saw her hurriedly running away and her bright red ear tips.

As night fell, Hachiman finally finished grinding the last bag of wheat.

He slumped down in the pile of flour, his fingers too weak to even bend.

Under the dim light of the oil lamp, Mary quietly brought over a loaf of coarse bread and a bowl of meat soup with oil droplets floating on top, and two small pieces of meat at the bottom of the bowl.

"eat fast."

She glanced nervously toward the kitchen: "Mom went to the cellar."

This meat soup was actually meant for her dinner. If her mother found out that she had given it to Hachiman Hikigaya, she would probably scold her again.

Although Mom had some ulterior motives, she didn't make this Asian man do any heavy work in the morning.

But after he went out to inquire in the afternoon and found out that no wealthy Asian businessmen had come here recently, his attitude changed.

Perhaps they felt they couldn't get any more money from him.

As soon as he got back in the afternoon, he made Hachiman Hikigaya do the heavy work of grinding grain.

It's as if they want to squeeze every last drop of value out of him.

Ignoring the heat, Hachiman Hikigaya wolfed down the hot soup. The rough chunks of meat were tough on his teeth, but they brought his frozen body back to life.

Autumn nights are not cold.

Clothes that are soaked with sweat and stick to the body always give a cold feeling.

That's sweat evaporating, which is also taking away the heat from his body.

Just then, the landlady's voice came from the cellar: "Mary! You lazy brat, you're slacking off again!"

Mary jumped up like a startled rabbit and hurriedly took away the empty bowl.

Just before leaving, she suddenly turned back, her voice barely audible: "...The attic vent can be opened."

Hachiman Hikigaya stood there, stunned.

Does this girl want him to run away?

Hachiman Hikigaya shook his head helplessly. There was no need.

Where can I stay if I go out?

At least here I have a place to stay, and I don't have to worry about starving to death.

If we can just get through these thirty days, everything will return to how it was at the beginning.

Moonlight streamed in through the warehouse's high windows, illuminating the flour particles suspended in the air.

……

“｀ ¨FUCK”.

Jack the Ripper, hiding in a corner, cursed under his breath as he watched the police officers standing guard on the streets of London's West End.

These guys aren't as diligent in the Whitechapel area.

Jack the Ripper's real name was Aaron Kosminski, a Polish-Jewish barber.

They moved to London many years ago.

Aaron is an extreme person.

Even if they feel they have been humiliated in the slightest, they will do everything they can to get revenge.

Such a person would certainly not let Ye Hai, who had robbed him, go unpunished.

Although he was intimidated by Ye Hai's pistol and forced to submit at the time.

But instead of running away, he climbed to the top of the Whitechapel bell tower to observe Ye Hai and his group's movements from afar.

Like a venomous snake in a ditch, waiting for its chance to strike.

But he never expected that Ye Hai and that woman would actually go directly to London's West End.

There are police everywhere in this place, and officers patrol even at night.

He couldn't find any opportunity to retaliate. If he were to make a move here and be discovered, it was very likely that people would follow the clues and find out that he was the one who committed those previous (Nuohao Zhao) disembowelment murders.

He didn't want to be targeted by the police so early.

The flames of Jewish revenge had not yet engulfed all of London, and he did not want to be brought to an end there.

A shadow of gloom flashed in Aaron's eyes. He decided to start with those two guys still in the Whitechapel district.

Anyway, they're in cahoots.

The guy who robbed himself will be dealt with last.

Aaron hurried back into the dark alley; he didn't like running into the police.

Although Asians may think Europeans all look similar, there are actually some differences in features between different parts of Europe.

They would find it obvious to themselves, like a British person seeing a Middle Eastern Jew on the street.

It's always easy to tell he's not a local.

The same applies to Japanese and Korean people and students from Tokyo University. Although they have similar general characteristics, you can always see the differences if you look closely.

So if Aaron runs into the police, he'll inevitably be stopped and asked for his identity.

Chapter 70 The Landlady Who Uses Tricks

"You gave the broth to that guy?"

Little Mary had just quietly placed the empty wooden bowl that had held the broth into the sink when she heard her mother's voice behind her.

"!"

"I do not have."

Little Mary shook her head frantically in denial.

Her mother was a very stingy person; she would never give bread to beggars who came to her door, even if it went bad.

Whenever Little Mary secretly took pity on the children and gave them bread that was about to spoil, her mother would always scold her.

"Hmph, you still say you didn't? When have you ever eaten so cleanly?"

"If you had such a good appetite, you wouldn't be as thin and small as you are now."

The proprietress pointed to the empty bowl with a stern face, even though she was very stingy with outsiders.

But she was still very good to her only daughter.

Although her family wasn't particularly wealthy, she always served little Mary a full meal, afraid that the child wouldn't have enough to eat.

"I was wrong, Mom..."

Little Mary lowered her head in grievance, bracing herself for a scolding.

"No, you're not wrong. Keep doing it this way from now on."

"what?"

The landlady's reply surprised little Mary, who looked up. Had her mother suddenly become more generous?

“I’ve inquired around, and there haven’t been any wealthy Asians coming to London lately. That kid is probably just here for a study tour.”

The proprietress said this while washing 937 bowls.

There aren't many Asians in London these days; generally, only two types of Asians come to London.

Those who are studying and those who are doing business.

Oh, and perhaps a small number of official personnel were also sent.

Among them, there were very few businessmen, so few that if any Asian businessman came, it would make the newspapers.

After all, London's economy was extremely prosperous at that time, and there were countless newspapers and magazines of all kinds.

In order to attract attention, they will report any kind of miscellaneous news.

Like the previous million-pound note, the Financial Times of London even gave it a front-page headline.

Merchants from Asia were a rarity these days, and every time one came to Asia, there would be some small newspapers publishing about it.

This isn't because they're bored out of their minds; it's because people actually buy this kind of information.

London has many factories and produces a lot of goods. After more than a century of industrial revolution, London's factories are now in a stage of oversupply.

Many factory owners had to find their own way out, looking for merchants who could buy their goods.

Merchants from Asia were naturally their primary targets.

At this time, Asian industry was still very underdeveloped, so every time Asian merchants came, they would purchase a large number of industrial products to take back with them.

This is a rare opportunity to clear out inventory, and these factory owners will naturally not miss it.

For this reason, these small newspapers that published information about Asian businessmen were quite popular in this small circle.

As for the Asians who came to London to study, they didn't attract much attention.

It doesn't bring any benefits.

So, after the proprietress went out for a stroll around the newsstands in the afternoon and found that there were no recent reports of Asian businessmen in those small newspapers, she basically concluded that Hachiman Hikigaya had come to study.

This isn't necessarily a bad thing; it just happens to coincide with another idea in the landlady's mind.

"You're also approaching the age where you could settle down and start a family."