"Have you chosen the address of your restaurant? Is it still in the East District?"
Schiller and Copot were led by the waiter into the Falcone Manor. As they walked, Schiller asked Copot about the situation of the new restaurant.
"Yes, the address has been chosen. It's not far from the East End Pier, right next to the old Edward family's mansion." Cobot replied.
"It seems that you are very ambitious." Schiller said with a smile.
"This is all thanks to the Godfather." Cobot looked down and said, "It was originally for the rich. I said that I wanted to transform it into an ordinary restaurant that dockworkers could also enter. He also said
There was no objection.”
"This shows that he thinks highly of you."
Schiller raised his head and looked straight ahead. Through the long doorway, Schiller could already see the figure of his godfather sitting at the head table in the restaurant. It had been a while since he had seen him. He had not aged much and was always tall and tall.
Appears to be in high spirits.
The two walked into the restaurant, and Schiller and Falcone hugged each other. It was indeed a long time since they had seen each other.
After all, since Alberto took over the Falcone family business, he has almost no free time to go to class. Only Vince Yin still goes to college step by step, but Schiller rarely gives him individual tutoring, because
His grades are very good.
"God bless you, Professor, what have you been up to lately?" Falcone asked.
"It's still those things." Schiller took the cigar from the waiter, put it in his mouth and took a puff, then said: "Preparing lessons, attending classes, writing papers, and also, I became a family of two children of the Wayne family.
Teachers have to teach them."
Falcone also took the cigar, took a puff, and smiled and said: "I really didn't expect that little Wayne would have a child so early, but it's okay, I do hope that Vince Yin can get married soon.
Woolen cloth."
"If a man doesn't get married, he will always be a little boy. I know this very well." The godfather tapped the table with his finger and said, "If he can't learn to shoulder the responsibilities of the family and how to protect women and children,
, then he has no say in anything. This is how I have always ruled the Twelve Families."
"Family does make men more mature." Schiller paused and said, "But some people need to learn more."
Falconer seemed to hear who he was talking about. He smiled again and seemed very relaxed. He said: "If a man chooses a path destined to be very difficult, then he should bear it by himself. It's much bigger."
Sometimes, he will sacrifice a lot."
Schiller turned around and saw Falcone squinting his eyes. In the misty smoke, he seemed to recall something.
"Your Excellency, Godfather, maybe we all think this way. When you teach someone, you always hope to say more, but you know very well that there are some things that just talking is useless. Sometimes, you don't want him to
Pay the price, but know that he will definitely pay the price."
"At this time, I will weigh the price he has to pay. If he just falls, let him fall." Falcone leaned on his left side and lifted the hand holding the cigar.
Rest your elbows on the armrests of the chair.
"There will always be a moment in a person's life when his head will be broken and his head will bleed, either today or tomorrow. In that case, let him be." Falcone waved his hand and said.
Schiller smiled and said, "Is the same true for Vince Yin?"
"Of course not, he is far from being a mature man." Falcone took another puff of smoke and said, "It has gotten better recently, and maybe it will get better after getting married."
"Let's get down to business, Cobot, how is your restaurant going? Has construction started yet?" Falcone looked at Cobot and said.
Cobot never looked directly at the godfather. He just looked at the table in front of him and said: "Yes, actually, the decoration is nearing completion. It's just that the suppliers I contacted before have some problems. I'm discussing with them."
"You have to show your skills." Falcone shook his head and said: "Don't use the word negotiation, threaten them, put a gun to their head, don't forget, in Gotham, you have to first
Only by being a gangster can you be a businessman."
"The place you chose is the best place and the worst place. Every dock worker in the East District is full of resentment against that place because it is their restricted area. No matter how much money they make, they cannot enter.
."
"Once, old Edward's sister wanted to climb into my bed in order to get a ticket to enter the mansion. I didn't like her, so she went to find someone else. She went in, but was soon thrown out.
Because at that time, she was not the young lady in the family."
"I think there must be an ulterior motive for opening a mansion for gatherings of twelve family members in the most prosperous place in the East District, right?" Schiller asked.
"Yes, I want them to see that there are too many lives in this world that are beyond their reach. They will feel angry, jealous, and almost crazy."
"They will not work more because of this, because they know that the reward for their labor will not allow them to live such a life. They will steal, rob, kill and buy goods. I am encouraging this behavior."
"As long as they do the same thing as the gang, they must be ruled by me. If everyone obeys the law, Gotham will be over."
"Following the rules means being weak and can be bullied. You can be a fierce slave, but you cannot be an independent weakling."
"Everyone in Gotham knows that they can be vicious, cruel, and indifferent, but they must never show weakness. Once they start crying, they are holding an early funeral for themselves. Once people cry, they will have no strength to resist."
When Falcone said these words, the cigar was already halfway lit, and the smoke was very close to his fingers, lingering around his fingertips, like mist rising from the vines in the early morning, shuttling between the towering trees.
middle.
"Why don't you cry?" In a ward in the hospital, Batman looked at the eight children around him and asked, "Why can't you just scream but not cry? Don't you shed tears?"
Everyone stood around and looked at him quietly. Batman knelt down and looked directly into their eyes. At this time, the relatively strong one among the eight children stood up. He was white and among them all.
The cutest one, he said:
"Hello, what kind of work do you want us to do?" He lowered his head, twisted the corners of his clothes with his hands and said, "We are too young to deliver newspapers. If we want to beg, I, Bigfoot, and the Square Piece
, we can all go to the outer streets, and the rest of us can only work in the inner streets."
"I don't want you to work." Batman repeated again, he said: "I hope you can lie on the hospital bed now instead of barking and biting at the doctor who is about to give you injections."
But the little boy ignored him completely and said to himself: "You are our new employer, we will call you daddy. Me and several other older children only need half a piece of bread every day, and the others only need four."
Divide it into a piece and we will give all the money to you, we are all good boys."
Batman stood there, pressing his fingers on his forehead, feeling that his breathing was a little sluggish.
He approached the little boy, put his hand on his shoulder, looked into his eyes and said to him: "I am not one of those 'mom and dad', I am here to save you, and I will not let you go to the streets."
Beg and give me the money."
However, Batman saw a look of horror in the little boy's eyes. He seemed to be trying hard to suppress his fear and said: "Dad... I mean, sir, we are still too young.
Now, we...we can't do that kind of work...or, maybe we have to wait until we grow up..."
Batman naturally knew what he was talking about. Just as he was about to say something, he saw the other children trembling non-stop. The thinnest little girl among them finally couldn't bear it any more. She started wailing again: "I
I’ve seen it...I’ve seen what they did to Serena...if she dies, I will die too..."
All the children started howling non-stop. They made all kinds of meaningless screams, but there were no tears. Everyone ran to the corner and huddled together, unable to communicate at all.
"Stop crying!"
Batman finally lowered his voice. He no longer spoke to these children in the same voice he spoke to Elsa or Dick.
When he made this sound, he found that he seemed to be warning them in the same tone he used to scold criminals.
But the amazing thing is that after he finished scolding, all the children stopped crying. They squatted on the spot, staring at Batman. Batman took a deep breath and felt deeply helpless.
All the children in this room are bigger than Elsa, but in fact, their size is not much different from Elsa, and there are even a few younger ones who look smaller than Elsa.
Faced with such children, Batman could not force them to do anything at this time. He could only comfort them over and over again in an attempt to establish some sense of order and security for them.
Until late at night, the continuous night rain became heavier and heavier. When the raindrops fell into the sea, they brought out a hazy halo. The lights of Gotham Pier stayed on day and night. After the logistics developed better, there were more people here.
.
Not far from the pier, a mansion stands there that is incompatible with the surrounding buildings, but now, the door number has been changed to "Iceberg Restaurant".
This kind of building is really too big for a restaurant. It has seven floors up and down, and it also has an extremely luxurious door and dozens of parking spaces. Nowadays, it is very crowded just because the restaurant has not opened yet, but there are already many people there.
I looked inside curiously.
In the center of the restaurant, Cobot stood in front of the reception desk and said to the nine children standing in front of him:
"Listen, now, I am your leader, your new employer. The new job you have to do is not to beg outside, but you won't make much money in that way."
"Did you see it? The entire building here belongs to me. Now, raise your heads and take a good look at this place. Use your shallow knowledge and vision to see the materials used in every thing here. You will know
Now you know who I am."
All the children raised their heads as instructed. At first, they were not looking carefully, but soon, they were attracted by the complicated and gorgeous ceiling.
The hall on the first floor was originally a dance floor, so the ceiling was decorated with extremely exquisite decorations, all of which have been preserved. These children have never seen anything so beautiful in their lives.
There are very few begging children in Gotham. Most of these children are abandoned babies picked up by their mothers. They have lived in those narrow dark alleys since childhood. Even if they can work on the streets, they can only find a rag.
Sitting in a corner, I never dared to look up at anyone.
Soon, they all opened their mouths and kept turning their heads, looking at everything they had never seen before. Although they had never seen these things, they could understand their beauty. This is human instinct.
"Well, I believe you can see that I am much richer than your original boss, and I killed your original employer and snatched you from their hands for this purpose.
To make my money more."
What Cobot said was very straightforward, without using any words that were beyond the level of hopeless illiterate people, so these children easily understood what he was talking about.
At this time, one of the strongest children among them stood up and asked: "What work do you want us to do?"
"Are you the leader of this group of people? Come on, come on." Cobot pointed to the floor in front of him. The child slowly walked over. Cobot pointed around the restaurant and said, "Now
, my restaurant has not opened yet, what you have to do is to clean it up during this period."
"Listen, I'm different from those poor people. Starving you will only leave you with no energy to work. So, here, you can eat well and sleep in the basement. Four people per room and two people per room.
Bed, you will have two sets of identical handyman uniforms to wear."
"But when you work here, you don't just find a place to sit. You have to abide by the rules, otherwise you won't look good."
"There are two meals every day at 7 o'clock and 2 o'clock in the afternoon. There is bread and some leftovers. The stove can be used for heating. If you want to drink water, go to the faucet. When the guests leave, go back to the room and don't run around."
"What you should have seen on the way here is the outer street where you used to work. If you ran out at night, no one would go to the garbage truck to dig up your bodies tomorrow morning."
"Also, don't let me catch any of you stealing anything. You should know the consequences."
"We won't steal anything, we will give everything to you, we are all good boys." said the leading boy.
"Okay, now, go back to your room and don't come out if you have nothing to do." After saying that, Cobot made a move and asked the tall subordinates next to him to take the children to the basement.
What no one saw was that the moment the leading boy turned around, he tried hard to twitch the muscles at the corners of his mouth, revealing a smile that looked like surprise.