"Here, this is for you. Once you put it on, you no longer have to worry about your shoes getting worn out when we play!"
"Thank you, Brother Gis! Wow... Is this, is this new?"
In front of a refugee tent, a group of children gathered.
They all gathered around one of the boys, and each child had an expression of envy and expectation in their eyes.
Why this is so can be seen from the child who received a brand new pair of socks at this moment.
There were several holes in his shoes, and from time to time, bare toes could be seen through the holes, curled up due to air leakage. There were some traces of blisters on them, and it was obvious that the soles were about to rot.
The best way is to get new shoes, but for the refugees in the gathering place, they don’t have enough to eat, so how can they have such luxury? Therefore, even if they get a pair of thick socks, the children will be extremely happy. .
What's more, the workmanship of the pair is good, and you can tell that they are brand new socks just bought.
"Humph, of course. I bought this with the pocket money my mother remitted to me from the city. Of course it's new!"
"Really! Brother Ji... Ji Ji's mother is so amazing!"
Enjoying the admiring gaze, the little boy named "Gis" looked proud.
After delivering the socks, Keith didn't stop, but acted like a Santa Claus...
"Here, here are the gloves I bought for you. Here, here are the yo-yo toys you have always wanted. Here, here are..."
I saw that Keith kept taking out various kinds of trinkets from his tent. Although they were not expensive, at least in the eyes of children, they were already regarded as rare gadgets that were coveted.
Every child who got Gis's gift was very happy, and naturally expressed all kinds of thanks to Gis. They circled around Gis, shouting excitedly.
At this moment, Geese became the central figure of this group of children.
"Uncle Thorin, this is..."
Vivian was attracted by the children's voices. The sharp-eyed little girl could tell at a glance that the gifts given to other children by Keith were all brand new.
Although it’s not expensive, it should be difficult for a child, or a child in a refugee gathering place, to get it, right?
"This kid is really..." Thorin shook his head.
Even he had some impression of Keith, and the reason came from this morning.
"Early in the morning, when it was still dark, someone from Huodian City came over to look for me. It seemed like he was a very wealthy baron and a servant of a large chamber of commerce."
"This servant told me that his young baron wanted to find a child. He didn't know his appearance, nor did he know his parents. He only knew that the child's name was... Guise."
"Because of the connection of the Baron, we had to pay great attention to it. We put down what we were doing and hurriedly checked the refugee registration list before helping the other party find this child."
"So he is..." Vivian nodded as if she understood.
"Yes, that servant from the Noble Chamber of Commerce gave the kid a large sum of money after finding him. To be honest, the amount even shocked me!"
"There are more than ten coins. Those are not copper coins or silver coins, but...gold coins!"
Thorin sighed as he said this.
Because, if a copper coin is compared to one piece and a silver coin is ten pieces, then more than ten gold coins are equivalent to more than a thousand coins!
This is definitely a huge sum of money for the refugees who were wiped out and penniless after the disaster, let alone put it in the hands of a child.
"So, these noble men in the city have never considered it at all, or maybe they have never imagined the situation of our refugees. Even if they send money, directly send gold coins, such a large sum of money is Putting it in the hands of children, regardless of whether it’s dangerous or not, in our gathering place, I’m afraid I can’t even spend the gold coins, and no one can find Kaidu!”
"I couldn't stand it any longer, so I helped the kid Gis and exchanged part of the gold coins for silver and copper coins, and told him not to spend too much money or be too showy before his mother came back from the city. But who would have thought...Hey, this kid is really disobedient."
It was during the conversation between Vivian and Thorin that the situation with the children suddenly changed.
There are also groups among children. It is better to say that children pay more attention to these things, such as popularity.
Originally, as the king of children, he was very popular, but suddenly he was upstaged by other children. He relied not on his own ability but on external money, so he would naturally be unhappy.
Henry looked at him with envy and jealousy, as he was leaning on giving gifts and being surrounded by other children.
And Geese also noticed that there was another group of children surrounding Henry.
No, to be precise, it was the cute little girl next to Henry, Henry's sister.
"Anna, this is the lollipop I bought specially for you. Try it. It's so sweet. It is said that even the children in the city eat this!"
Giese handed a colorful round candy wrapped in candy wrapper to Henry's sister, a cute little girl named "Anna".
"Thank you, thank you Brother Jis!" Anna swallowed several times at the beautifully packaged and attractively colored lollipops, with her big, sparkling eyes at a young age.
But not before the girl could take it.
Snapped!
Henry angrily slapped the lollipop in Keith's hand to the ground.
"you!"
Guise was about to get angry, but Henry, who had been holding it in for a long time, couldn't help it anymore after seeing Guise taking action against his sister.
The little boy took the lead and said angrily:
"What are you! Huh! We don't want the things of a bad boy who was abandoned by his own mother!"
"Henry! You, what did you say! Say it again! Who was abandoned!"
It was as if he had touched some of Geese's reverse scales, and his eyes suddenly turned red.
But Henry didn't flinch, and even amplified his voice a bit so that all the children around him could hear it.
"Am I right? Keith, I heard what the servant of the noble family said in the early morning. After your mother entered the city, she fell in love with a nobleman. She no longer wanted you. She just thought you were alone. Poor thing, you can’t survive, so I asked someone to send you so much money!”
"You, you are talking nonsense! You fart, my mother did not want me, she, she is just working for the nobles, she can't leave!"
Geese's eyes were red and he was about to cry.
Henry hesitated after seeing this, maybe because he felt that he had done it.
But this is often the case. The arrow has to be fired when it is on the string, especially for children, and then one step is wrong and the next step is wrong.
"Don't be kidding, Jis, you know deep down, right? Even in the city, how can one earn so much with only one day's salary, and send servants out of the city to give you money!"
"What's more, your mother didn't even write you a letter or bring you a message. Don't you understand what this means?"
"You, mother, don't want you!" Henry became more and more excited as he spoke, and finally shouted loudly in Keith's ear word by word.
The group of children centered on Henry immediately agreed and laughed at Guis. They were restrained by Henry and were not allowed to accept Guis's gifts. Naturally, they were happy to see their own side gain power.
The group of children who had received Gis's gifts before, not only followed the trend, but also felt a little embarrassed due to the herd effect, and quickly dispersed around Giss, and ran away even with their gifts.
"You, you!"
Unable to bear it any longer, the thin little boy cried, and tears couldn't stop rolling in Keith's eyes.
It was not that Guis had never thought about what Henry said, but just didn't want to believe it. But now, it was said in public and the scars were revealed. This was too heavy for a little boy who was only a few years old. .
Seeing Geese crying uncontrollably, Henry felt regret in his heart.
In fact, he and Gis have been friends since childhood, and they even knew that Gis's father died in the demonic tide a few days ago, leaving only mother and son dependent on each other.
And now, if even Gis's mother abandons Gis, then...
Henry didn't dare to think any further.
"enough!"
The little boy yelled irritably.
The group of children with Henry as the center, who were still laughing at Guise, were all startled and closed their mouths one by one. This shows that Henry still has the prestige of the child king.
They looked at Henry in confusion, not understanding what it meant.
"gone."
After saying these two words, Henry wanted to take his sister Anna away.
But who knows, Anna opened her brother's hand violently just like Henry opened Guise's hand at that time.
Anna looked at the crying Geese and wanted to go over several times, but the child was still too shy and finally did not dare to do it in front of everyone. She had to turn around and run away alone to express her anger towards her brother.
Henry didn't dare to let his sister run around in the refugee gathering place, so he quickly chased after her. When the other children saw this, they looked at each other a few times, and they all left Guise's side and ran after Henry's back.
Finally, the noisy tent suddenly became much quieter and emptier, leaving only Jis alone.
This may be why Geese decided to spend money to buy gifts despite Thorin's dissuasion.
He was afraid of being alone, so he wanted to surround himself with gifts and let his friends know that he was not alone in this world.
But in the end...
"Woo... Wuwu... Mom... Mom..."
The little boy was still alone.
"Why..."
Thorin didn't know how many times he sighed.
"Giss is already lucky. At least he has received enough wealth to live a good life."
"Vivian, you know, there are many people like Mother Geese, and everyone is thinking of various ways to leave this refugee gathering place and run to Huodian City."
"Some people may have succeeded, but the vast majority of them have never been heard from again. There are also many human traffickers from underground gangs who pretend to be able to go to the city to find jobs, but in fact..."
Thorin clenched his fists.
The former mayor of Chiyan Town felt deeply powerless at this moment.
Because, as long as the refugees' homes are not rebuilt and order is not restored, everyone will still be homeless and can only crowd in this pitiful gathering place outside the city.
Today it is Gis, tomorrow it may be Enns, and the day after tomorrow there will be other new orphans born.
I'm afraid what Thorin can do is to reasonably distribute the meager supplies and ensure that most of them will not starve to death, that's all.
"So, Vivian, really... please!"
The older man spoke in a begging tone.
"I've heard that the famous good Earl, Lord Thistle, is going to hold a fundraising dinner tonight to raise money for everyone outside the city to start reconstruction work, and he also intends to recommend you to be the leader. "
"Vivian, the only one who can save everyone right now is you!"
"I know this is a big responsibility and will be very stressful, but I believe that if it were you, you would definitely be able to do it! So please be sure, be sure, be sure to convince those nobles tonight, we...we just You’re the only one left, Vivian!”
As he said that, Thorin's knees slightly bent and his body was about to go down.
"Uncle Thorin, what are you doing!"
Vivian quickly helped and stopped Thorin.
"Uncle Thorin, do you believe me?"
"believe."
"Since you believe it, then Uncle Thorin, please feel free to leave this place and everyone here to me."
into Thorin's haggard eyes.
Vivian said extremely seriously.
"I will definitely give everyone... a home!"
"I, Vivian, swear!"
Behind, the maid Alina looked complicated. This was the first time she saw Vivian showing such a serious and solemn expression.
And the little wolf cub in Alina's arms.
This was not the first time he had seen the little girl look like this.
But he remembered that the last time Vivian was like this was probably...
Witch's declaration?
It was at that time that the deacon of the Vulcan Cult wanted to threaten the little girl with Vivian's village.
At that time, Vivian was far from as powerful and prestigious as she is now.
It seems that no matter how she changes, the only thing that Vivian will not change is the little girl's purity and kindness, and... as the second personality said, a brave heart.
"Uncle Thorin, don't talk about me now, I have to leave first!"
Before Thorin could react, Vivian called softly in the direction of the maid at the back.
"Xiao Hei!"
Alina only felt a light touch in her arms, and then the little wolf cub in her arms disappeared.
Vivian took the maid who didn't know what was going on and chased in the direction where Henry and his children had left.
And the little wolf cub...
I saw that Geese was also gone. The little boy wiped his tears and ran towards the direction of Huodian City outside the gathering place with a determined look on his face.
And Thorin and Vivian were not the only ones secretly attracted by the noise.
There were three or four gangsters who could tell at a glance that they didn't look like good people. After seeing Geese running away, they followed the little boy quietly.
