"Okay, Jones, Carmela, Jennifer..."
Zhong Shenxiu clapped his hands, calling his three siblings together, "Something has come up, and I need you all to come with me. We’re temporarily leaving this place..."
He certainly hadn’t forgotten whose contraband liquor had been stolen last night.
In Li Wei’s memory, that was a stern-looking Caucasian old man who was said to have been a sailor in his youth. Later, he came to Byron City alone and opened an underground bar. He had a volatile temper and was ruthless.
Most importantly, at this time, most of the black market bar owners had some association with gangs.
Last night, a significant batch of his goods was taken, resulting in heavy losses. Today, if Li Wei were to swagger back, it might lead to some undesirable speculation.
Even mere misplaced anger could easily bring catastrophe upon this family!
Although Zhong Shenxiu could simply let things be and cut his ties with this world through this Old Sea Dog, he thought it too cruel.
Jones’s expression instantly became very solemn, and then he burst into frantic anger, "I knew it... I knew you weren’t really finding some copywriter job, but were working for those gangs... I shouldn’t have..."
He paced back and forth in a panic, tears welling up in his eyes, like a helpless little dog.
In places like the slums where federal law is hard to enforce, gang power assumes most government responsibilities.
Just thinking about it was terrifying.
"Okay, it’s just a temporary leave. I promise you, everything will settle down soon," said Zhong Shenxiu as he sighed and instructed his siblings to pack their belongings.
In reality, Li Wei Mojito had protected the three of them quite well.
Most of his salary as a bartender had been invested in this family.
Otherwise, according to the custom of federal factories employing child labor, even the youngest, Jennifer, might at this moment have ended up in a meatpacking factory, bereft of the carefree life she now had.
And they hadn’t starved.
"You don’t need to take anything else; they’re worthless anyway. Just grab a few clothes and the money..."
Zhong Shenxiu dragged a metal box from under the bed and opened it to reveal some rolled-up US Dollars and coins.
The green US Dollars were the currency issued by the Mesoamerican United Bank, but, to be honest, they weren’t very popular.
Back when Li Wei was bartending, he didn’t like the few ten-cent tips in paper currency.
What he preferred more were coins rich in metal content, of course, the best would be the glittering gold pounds.
Zhong Shenxiu slowly rubbed the sole one-dollar bill.
The firm and crisp paper, rubbing it between fingers brought an indescribable feeling of pleasure, and on the front of the bill was the image of a white-bearded old man.
With Li Wei’s poor grasp of history, he knew that this man was probably a founding Sage of Mesoamerica.
As for the name, that had long been forgotten.
"Hmm, a total of two dollars and thirty-seven cents, is this the entire savings of a family?"
Zhong Shenxiu stuffed both the bills and coins into his pocket, suddenly feeling a twinge of sadness, "That dream Li Wei had of being rich... just how much was it?"
Not long after, a group of four left the house.
Because they didn’t take much luggage, it looked like a normal outing.
Zhong Shenxiu first arrived at a bakery on the street corner and glanced at the display cabinet.
Most of what was sold here were dark and white breads, which looked particularly solid—in fact, they were hard enough to be used as weapons.
After all, this was the Western World, where people were used to using bread as a staple rather than a dessert.
Pastries that were rich in eggs, butter, and flavorings were quite rare.
Probably because this was a poor district and purchasing power was limited.
Zhong Shenxiu glanced at the prices and saw the cheapest pound of dark bread was on sale for five cents.
’A pound here is roughly equivalent to half a kilogram... Jones could eat about that much in a day.’
If there were other foods, like milk, fish, or beef, the main course could have been less, but the Mojito family clearly couldn’t afford such luxuries, and the amount of carbohydrates they consumed was quite frightening.
This oddly gave Shenxiu a sense of déjà vu, reminding him of rumors from decades ago in his past life about someone who would eat several large bowls of rice in one meal, which gradually diminished as side dishes and vegetables became more abundant.
’Looking at it this way, Jones going to the docks to do hard labor barely suffices to fill his stomach for the day, and if he gets injured or sick, it would actually result in a loss...’
He shook his head inwardly, first asking Mrs. Wesley, the saleswoman, for ten pounds of dark bread, and after glancing at his two sisters drooling over the little cakes in the glass window, he added, "And two honey cakes, please."
"Seventy cents in total!"
Mrs. Wesley clearly recognized the family and gave Carmela and Jennifer a smile.
’Indeed, quite expensive.’
Looking at the honey cakes the size of a child’s fist, Zhong Shenxiu inwardly grumbled, but still paid the money under Jones’s pained gaze. He handed the two small cakes to his surprised sisters and had Jones carry the paper bag filled with dark bread out of the bakery.
"Next, we should go to the drugstore, no... there aren’t any drugstores here, only private clinics and public hospitals with exorbitant fees... The truly poor can’t afford to see a doctor; at most, they queue up at the church hospital and listen to the will of the gods..."
Zhong Shenxiu recalled the state of the scarred face and felt that the man was no longer in danger of dying, but some anti-inflammatory and anti-infection medications were still necessary.
"What kind of medicine are you looking to buy?"
Jones, who had heard Zhong Shenxiu’s muttering, responded, "Those doctors charge a lot. When anyone around here gets sick, they just lay in bed for a few days at most and maybe have some meat soup... If we really need medicine, we go to Bucktooth Henry."
Zhong Shenxiu remembered now. Bucktooth Henry was a general store owner with some shady dealings behind the scenes, somehow getting his hands on medicines from unknown channels.
Clearly, he was not officially licensed, but because his prices were low, many people preferred buying from him in small quantities, usually one or two pills at a time.
In response to this, aside from admiring Henry’s ability to ’alchemy in the fleas,’ Shenxiu could only be speechless.
True to his name, Bucktooth Henry had two prominent buckteeth. Seeing Zhong Shenxiu enter, surprise appeared on his face: "Li Wei, is it you?!"
"Give me two anti-inflammatory pills."
Zhong Shenxiu handed over a one-dollar bill.
Henry, looking like a thief, glanced around before furtively taking a small paper package from under the counter and retrieving two white pills.
During the exchange, he whispered, "I heard that Old Sea Dog’s goods ran into trouble last night, he’s been looking for people..."
Zhong Shenxiu flashed a brilliant smile and turned to leave the general store.