"Yes, we have been looking for you for a long time."
On the street, two teenagers wearing suspenders shouted to Carmen from a distance.
Carmen took two deep breaths, calmed her breathing, walked up with a forced smile, and said: "Big-nosed Phil sold his house to someone else. Did you hear the news? This new rich guy is from
Where did he come from, and what does he do?"
"I don't know. I heard that this guy is very rich. Fair's house is not cheap. It costs at least several thousand dollars."
The two teenagers wearing suspenders looked older than Carmen, almost sixteen or seventeen years old.
However, the two of them were obviously Carmen's followers. When they saw Carmen approaching, they surrounded her from both sides, following behind Carmen one on the left and the other on the right.
"Carmen, did that rich man offend you?" Looking at Carmen's face, a follower asked.
Carmen neither admitted nor denied, but waved to the follower who spoke and whispered: "Buck, go check his details. The more detailed the better."
Buck looked embarrassed and hesitated for a while before saying: "Carmen, we don't offend rich people. This rule is what you said. Why did he offend you? Don't be impulsive."
"Carmen, what's going on? If we attack those poor people, the patrol will turn a blind eye. If we offend the rich, things won't be that simple." Another follower named Tom also
I'm afraid Carmen will do something stupid.
Carmen smiled instead of getting angry, pulled the two of them by their collars and said seriously: "If I were an impulsive person, I wouldn't let you investigate. Go ahead, my friends, I know what I'm doing.
I just want to know his background."
"Okay, I'll go right away." Buck breathed a sigh of relief and left in the other direction.
Watching Buck go away, Carmen licked her lips.
When he knew that the man continued to spy on Bod after he left, he really wanted to rush in and stab him a few times.
However, he suppressed this impulse because he knew that this was a society where the rich could do whatever they wanted. If a little gangster like him dared to take advantage of the wealthy class, the police chiefs of West Sabel City would definitely not mind hanging him.
he.
Carmen knew he couldn't be impulsive. After suppressing his impulse, he had another idea.
A rich man from outside, carrying a huge sum of money and having no relatives, made him smell the smell of money even though he was far away.
As long as he was sure that he had no connections in West Sabel, Carmen felt that she had hundreds of ways to get some money from this man without alerting the Sheriff, which was more comfortable than beating him up.
"Carmen, the owner of the Owl Bar, asked us to collect a debt for him. A shoemaker named Henry borrowed five dollars from him. If we can help him get the money back, he promised to give us one dollar as a benefit."
After Buck left, the follower named Tom told the reason why they came to find Carmen.
Carmen's eyes brightened slightly. Nowadays, a skilled worker can only earn less than one dollar a month working in a factory. To them, this is already a lot of money.
"Then what are you waiting for? Let's go and talk to Henry." Carmen said, looking down at his shoes. Because he had worn them for a long time, his toes had been exposed, so he could just change to a new pair.
new shoes.
"Carmen, my mother told me that she plans to send my brother to learn bookkeeping."
"This is a good thing. I heard that bookkeepers work in offices. As long as you can learn how to do it, you will be a decent person in the future."
"It's a good thing, but there are requirements. If you want to learn accounting, you must have your own pen, accounting book, and decent clothes. In addition, there are three yuan as training fees. My family cannot afford this money."
"Leave it to me, and I guarantee that your brother will be able to go to school within a month."
Along the way, Carmen talked with Tom all the way, and his big brother style was undoubtedly revealed.
Looking at Tom who was in high spirits, Carmen didn't say that he didn't have any money either, because he knew that he couldn't say that, otherwise people would lose heart and it would be difficult to lead the team.
But secretly, Carmen was not so confident.
You know, this is the Great Depression. Stores are closed and factories are closed down. Even if ordinary workers don't eat or drink, it will take them five months to save enough money.
He silently calculated that he still had about sixty cents in savings, and including the one dollar he got from this collection, there was still a gap of 140 cents left to plug the hole.
"Carmen, this is it. This is Henry's shoe store."
All the way to the slums, Tom pointed to a shabby shop with smelly shoes hanging on the door and said.
Carmen suppressed her worries about money and stood outside looking at it for a while.
Looking inside through the glass window of the shoe store, there are several pairs of finished leather shoes on the shelves of the shoe store, and more are repaired tattered shoes.
Rich people have very high requirements for leather shoes. They will not wear patched leather shoes. If they are not rewarded to their servants, they will usually be sold to these shoe stores.
The shoemaker in the shoe store repairs the leather shoes and puts them on the shelf for resale. This kind of cheap leather shoes for secondary sale has always been the favorite of the poor.
"Go in and have a look."
Carmen nodded to Tom, and as she spoke, she quietly put the dagger made of iron into her sleeve.
Tom followed suit and groped on his trouser leg for a while, and found out a long chopstick with an iron thorn polished into a sharp point. He pretended to be nonchalant and opened the door.
As for why they didn't buy a few daggers, the answer is simple. Real daggers cost money, and they don't have the spare money.
click
Tom put his right hand behind his back, opened the door and walked in.
As soon as I entered, I was greeted by a pungent stench. All kinds of foot odors gathered in the poorly ventilated store, which gave me a nauseating impulse.
Tom and Carmen were both children who grew up in the slums and had a strong tolerance for this stench, but they couldn't help but hold their breath for a while, wishing they could put their noses at home.
"Who is it?"
Through the two rows of shelves, you can vaguely see a middle-aged man repairing leather shoes behind the shelves.
Carmen walked around the shelves, and after seeing no one there, she took the initiative and said, "Are you Mr. Henry, the owner of the shoe store?"
"It's me, what do you want to do, repair shoes or buy shoes?"
Seeing the guests coming, Henry came out wearing an apron. While mending a boot in his hand, he looked down at their feet: "Oh, your shoes are so worn out. I see you
There is no need to repair it, just buy a new pair of shoes. I have 70% new leather shoes here with only one patch. They were sold to me by a man who works in a newspaper office. How about selling them to you for 50 cents?"
In these days, leather shoes are an absolute luxury. A pair of good leather shoes usually costs more than one dollar, and even ordinary ones cost seventy or eighty cents.
Unfortunately, Henry misunderstood the origins of Carmen and Tom. After hearing the shoe store owner admit that he was Henry, Carmen and Tom immediately moved.
"do not move!"
Tom held up the iron thorn and pressed it against Henry's stomach: "You don't want me to leave a big hole in your stomach, do you?"
"Mr. Henry, you'd better listen to him. He's a bit manic. It takes three veterinarians to hold him down when he goes crazy." Carmen stood aside, playing with a dagger made of polished iron sheets, with a faint smile on her lips.
.
Only touch the poor and not the rich. This is the rule of Carmen and his gang.
Because the poor are very poor and don't have much money, the police don't like to interfere with their affairs.
Obviously, Henry, who ran a small shop and repaired people's shoes for a living, could only be considered a relatively wealthy member of the poor, not yet a wealthy class, and had absolutely no money to bribe the Sheriff.
"I haven't offended you, right? This street is protected by Mr. Anders. I pay protection fees every month. You can't do this to me." Henry leaned against the wall, not daring to move, helpless.
Like a little girl.
"Don't scare me with Mr. Anders, we are not here to blackmail you."
Carmen tapped the shelf with a dagger, walked up to Henry step by step, and made signs on his neck with the dagger: "You owe five dollars at the Owl Tavern. Now the owner of the tavern entrusted me to get this money back. You can take this money back."
You don’t want to give it up, do you?”
"You are the one who collects the bill! Oh, I think about it, I have wanted to pay back this money for a long time, but I have been busy these days and have not been able to spare the time. Don't be impulsive, two brothers. The money is in the box. You
Take it to yourself."
Henry looked pained, looked at the box where the money was placed, and said softly: "The money is all in the box, it's definitely enough for five dollars."
"You know the truth!"
Carmen winked at Tom and asked Tom to control Henry while taking a few quick steps to open the cash box.
In this era, bank savings have just emerged. Many people like to hide their money at home and do not particularly trust banks.
As soon as she opened the cash box, Carmen found that there were dozens of pieces inside, at least as much as seven or eight dollars.
One piece, two pieces, three pieces
Carmen tapped it carefully, quickly counted out five dollars and put it in her pocket.
And just when he was about to leave, he suddenly thought that Tom's brother was going to learn accounting, and he still had a shortfall of 140 US dollars to plug the hole.
"Damn it!" Carmen cursed, grabbed two more handfuls in the cash box, and then nodded to Tom.
"Get out!" Tom pushed Henry away and followed Carmen and slammed the door.
Looking at the two people's backs, Henry quickly went to check the cash box. When he found that the money in the cash box was less than five dollars, a roar came from the shoe store: "You are robbing, I want to go to Ander."
I will sue you to Mr. Anders, and Mr. Anders will seek justice for me."