Hearing this voice, Howard was a little surprised. He obviously didn't expect that there would be a child still awake in the middle of the night.
He stopped and soon realized that the sound was coming from the house of his neighbors, Mr. and Mrs. Federman.
Eight children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Federman.
The oldest is in his twenties and the youngest is only five or six years old.
Since the Federman family and the Howard family had a good personal relationship and were closer than relatives, Howard planned to stop by the Federman family to take a look.
"If Uncle Federman gets drunk and beats his own child again, don't blame me for being rude." Howard said to himself silently.
However, at this moment, before Howard could react, he heard the cry getting closer and closer. Then, a black shadow crashed into his arms, causing Howard to stumble back a few steps.
He almost threw him to the ground.
"you"
Howard was obviously startled by the sudden appearance of the shadow.
He looked down and found that the dark figure turned out to be Uncle Federman's five-year-old son Julian. The boy raised his head and kept sobbing. Under the illumination of the orange kerosene lamp, sparkling teardrops were on his face.
His eyes were spinning.
"You...are you Howard?"
Perhaps because Howard returned home this time without notifying his family and neighbors in advance, five-year-old Julian Federman also looked at Howard with a look of shock on his face, obviously not expecting his sudden appearance.
"It's me," Howard knelt down, touched his head, and said in a friendly tone, "Your father was drunk and beat you again? Why are you crying so sadly?"
It was as if Howard's amiable words removed the little boy's guard. After hearing these words, the young Julian suddenly hugged Howard's sleeves and continued to cry "Wow" while grabbing Howard's sleeves.
Wipe tears.
In the blink of an eye, the sleeves of Howard's double-breasted coat were completely soaked with tears and became soaked.
"Okay, Julian, be good, don't cry," Howard patted the boy's back and continued to comfort him gently, "If you have any grievances, just tell your brother, don't hide it. Even if it's your father.
If I hit you, I will hit you back."
Julian's crying paused for a moment, and he raised his head, with a trace of hesitation in his eyes.
"What's wrong? Don't you believe me?" A smile appeared on Howard's face, and he looked at the young boy Julian with concerned eyes, "Don't worry, little guy. Your brother Howard is now a magician. Even if you are that
The drunken father called ten helpers, and I could beat him with one hand."
After hearing his words, the voice of the five-year-old boy Julian gradually calmed down, but his face was still pale, his eyelashes trembled slightly, and he held Howard's arm tightly with both hands, almost pinching Howard painfully.
"Howard, my dad...my mom...they don't want me anymore..." the boy whimpered.
Howard's eyes gradually became serious.
This sentence sounded like a joke, but the painful expression on Julian's face could not be faked. His originally clear and lively eyes seemed to have lost all life, revealing a despair as if he had been abandoned by the world.
"Take a deep breath, Julian," he said in a slightly serious tone, "it's useless to cry. Tell me what happened in your family to make you sad like this."
It was only then that the boy Julian calmed down a little and began to tell Howard his grievances.
After the boy described the incident three times, Howard finally clarified the whole incident from his incoherent words.
It turned out that tonight, this boy Julian couldn't sleep while lying on the floor, so he quietly got up, sneaked out of the bedroom door with a mischievous attitude, and eavesdropped on his parents' conversation.
But he never expected that his parents were actually discussing behind his back to send him to an orphanage out of town.
"We can't afford to raise him," these are the words of his mother, who has always loved him very much. "In addition to him, we have seven children to raise."
"If we had known this, why would we have so many children?" his father muttered.
"Asshole, it's not because you want to have a baby," my mother said angrily. "If it weren't for you, how could we be in this situation where we can't even afford bread."
"Then...if you want to give it away, just give it away. Just pretend that we never had this son." His father said coldly.
"..."
In this way, Julian Federman squatted next to the crack of the door and listened to the conversation between his parents.
"So, Julian, your parents dislike you for nothing and want to send you away?" Howard frowned slightly and looked at the boy and asked.
The boy nodded.
"Come with me," Howard stood up, "No matter what the reason is for them to do this, we have to at least ask them."
"Yeah." Julian wiped away his tears and followed Howard towards his house.
…………
The Federman family lived in a small, dilapidated tin house.
The area of this room is only about ten square meters, and its height is only slightly higher than Howard's height. It is densely packed with second-hand and third-hand furniture, and is filled with a musty smell.
Howard's familiarity with this room is second only to his own home.
Because the two families had always had a good personal relationship, in Howard's heart, he had always treated the rough and generous Federmans as his uncle and aunt.
He never imagined that this straightforward and simple couple would do such a thing as sending young Julian away.
"Dong dong dong!"
He walked forward and knocked gently on the door.
Then, Mrs. Federman, who was wearing a patchwork dress and was slightly chubby, quickly opened the door.
Although the light was dim now, Howard could still see that Mrs. Federman's eyes were slightly red. This made Howard realize that things were not as simple as they seemed.
"Howard, why are you back?" When she saw Howard for the first time, Mrs. Federman said with wide eyes, "Didn't you learn magic in the capital?"
"Mrs. Federman, I just met Julian and he just told me that you wanted to send him away." Howard said straight to the point.
Mrs. Federman froze on the spot, obviously not expecting that he would ask such a question.
"Did you just meet him?"
"That's not the point." Howard said calmly.
Mrs. Federman was silent for a moment.
She turned her head and glanced at her husband. Seeing that he had no objection, she looked at Howard again and said:
"Come in. This matter is a bit complicated.
"You may not know that tomorrow afternoon, the team from the Church of Light to collect church taxes will come to our town tomorrow."
…………
ps: Second update, please recommend monthly tickets!