Part 1 The Joker Chapter 4 Divination
Sitting back in the chair again, until the distant church bell dangled again, seven times in a row, Zhou Mingrui slowly stood up, came to the cupboard, took out the clothes.
Black vest, formal dress of the same color, slightly tight pants at the ankles, a half-height bowler hat, with a faintly bookish air, made Zhou Mingrui look at himself in the mirror as if he were watching a British drama that told a story of the Victorian period.
”I’m not going for a job interview, I’m just buying groceries and preparing materials for the transit ceremony ……” Suddenly, he muttered in a low voice, shaking his head and losing his smile.
Klein was so mindful of the upcoming interview that it turned into a physical instinct, habitually putting on the only decent set of clothing when he wasn’t paying enough attention.
Exhaling, Zhou Mingrui stripped off his formal attire and vest and replaced it with a brown and yellow stale jacket, and the top of his head was changed to a felt hat with a rounded brim in the same color.
Gathering himself, he paced to the frame of the high-low bed, lifted the upper cushion, and put his hand through the inconspicuous ragged hole at the bottom, and in a burst of groping, he found the mezzanine.
When his right hand retracted, there was already in his palm a roll of bills, perhaps seven or eight, of a dark greenish-white color.
This was all of Benson’s current savings, even including the living expenses for these three days, of which only two were five-soule bills, the rest were one-soule.
In the monetary system of the Kingdom of Ruen, the Sule is located in the second tier, derived from the ancient silver coins, one Sule is equal to twelve copper pennies, and there are two denominations of one and five.
Located at the top of the currency was the gold pound, also belonging to paper money, but secured by gold and directly linked, one gold pound was equal to twenty sule, with three denominations of one, five and ten.
Zhou Mingrui unfolded the banknote, smelled a very light and light special ink fragrance.
This was the smell of money.
Perhaps from the influence of Klein’s memory fragments, or perhaps because of his own never-changing thirst for money, at this instant, Zhou Mingrui felt that he was in love with these little guys.
Look, their patterns are so exquisite that they make even George III, who had two moustaches and was serious and curmudgeonly, look so lovely ……
Look, the watermark seen through the sunlight is so attractive, and the carefully designed anti-counterfeiting label makes it very different from the counterfeit sultry bitch!
After admiring it for a few dozen seconds, Zhou Mingrui drew out two one-soul bills, re-rolled the rest, and tucked them back into the inner compartment of the mat.
Smoothing out the cloth near the torn hole, Zhou Mingrui neatly folded the two bills he had removed and placed them in the left pocket of his tan jacket, separating them from the few pennies in his pants pocket.
With this done, he slipped the key into his right pocket, took the large dark brown paper bag, and walked briskly toward the door.
Ta-da, ta-da, the sound of footsteps went from fast to slow and eventually stopped.
Zhou Mingrui stood by the door, his brows had furrowed at some point.
Klein’s suicide incident has a lot of doubts, just go out, will encounter any “accident”?
Contemplating for a moment, Zhou Mingrui returned to the desk, pulled open the drawer, and took out the revolver that glittered with brass luster.
This was the only weapon he could think of for self-defense, and it was also a strong enough weapon!
Although he had never practiced shooting, just pulling out this pistol could certainly scare people!
Rubbing the cold metal rotating wheel for a moment, Zhou Mingrui stuffed the pistol into the pocket where the banknote was located, clutching the banknote tightly in his palm and pressing his fingers tightly on the handle of the gun for perfect concealment.
A sense of security came over him, and knowing a little bit about everything, a worry popped up out of the blue:
”Will it fire by mistake?”
Thoughts come and go, Zhou Mingrui quickly found the idea, he drew the pistol, swinging to the left to swing out of the rotor, will be “suicide” and the empty nest of bullets to the position to be struck, and then snapped closed.
In this way, even if it goes off, it will only be “empty shells”!
Re-plugged the pistol, Zhou Mingrui’s left hand in his pocket, no longer out.
With his right hand, he pressed his hat, pulled open the door, and clanked out.
The corridor was still dim in the daytime, and the sunlight that could penetrate through the window at the end was quite limited, Zhou Mingrui quickly stepped down the stairs and left the apartment before he felt the splendor and warmth.
At this time, although it is close to July, belonging to the peak of summer, but Tingen is located in the north of the Kingdom of Ruen, has a unique climatic characteristics, the highest temperature of the year is only the Earth 30 degrees Celsius less than the early morning is even cooler, and the streets are some places where dirty water is flowing, debris thrown, in Klein’s memories, the low-income class living in a place, even if it owns a sewer, a similar scene is by no means uncommon because of the large number of people, because of the life.
”Here, here, yummy sautéed meat and fish!”
”Hot and fresh oyster soup, one bowl in the morning, and you’ll be refreshed all day!”
”Fresh fish from the harbor, only five pence a piece!”
”Muffins and eel soup with ginger beer!”
”Conch, conch, conch!”
”Vegetables just gathered from farms outside the city, cheap and fresh!”
……
The itinerant street vendors selling vegetables, fruits, and cooked food yelled loudly, greeting the hurried passersby, which, some would stop and carefully compare their purchases, while others waved their hands impatiently as the day’s work was not yet done.
Zhou Mingrui smelled the stench and fragrance of the air, his left hand firmly gripped the handle of the gun, clenching the banknotes, while his right hand pressed the round-brimmed felt hat, slightly stooped down, head bowed through this chaotic street.
Where there are many people, there are thieves, and this neighborhood in particular is full of half-unemployed paupers doing makeshift work and driven, hungry children.
Moving along, when the density of the surrounding crowd returned to normal, Zhou Mingrui re-straightened his back, lifted his head high, and looked into the street.
There was a wandering accordion musician playing there, the melody sometimes melodious, sometimes passionate.
Beside him, a number of raggedly dressed children, their faces waxy from malnutrition, were gathered around.
They listened to the music, followed the beat, twisted their bodies according to their instincts, and danced a self-created dance, their faces full of joy, as if they were little princes and angels.
A woman with a numb expression passes by, her skirt dirty and her skin dull.
Her eyes were mute and dull, and only when she looked at the group of children did some slight light flash through, as if she had seen herself thirty years ago.
Zhou Mingrui overtook her, turned to another street, and stopped in front of the “Slim’s Bakery”.
The owner of the bakery was a seventy-year-old grandmother called Wendy Slim, her hair was all gray, and she always had a gentle smile on her face, she had been selling bread and pastries here since Klein could remember.
Well, her own baked Tingen cake and lemon cake are very delicious …… Zhou Mingrui swallowed his saliva and smiled:
”Mrs. Slim, 8 pounds of rye bread.”
”Oh, little Klein, where’s Benson, not back yet?” Wendy asked with a grin.
”A couple days.” Chow Ming Rhee answered vaguely.
Wendy sighed as she chucked the rye bread:
”He’s such a hardworking and good young man, he’ll have a good wife.”
Saying this, the corners of her mouth rose and she laughed slightly mischievously:
”Well now that you’ve graduated, our Hoy University history graduate ~ well, you’ll be earning money in no time, and you guys shouldn’t be living in an apartment like the one you’re in now, you should at least have a washroom of your own.”
”Mrs. Slim, you really look like a young and lively lady today.” Zhou Mingrui could only respond with a dry smile.
If Klein could successfully pass the interview and become a lecturer at the University of Tingen, then the entire family would indeed be heading straight for a modest fortune!
In his memory fragments, he had even fantasized about renting a single house in a remote suburb, with five or six rooms upstairs, two washrooms, and a large balcony, and two rooms downstairs, a dining room, a living room, a kitchen, a washroom, and an underground storage room.
This is not a luxury, Tingen University even internship lecturer, weekly salary can have 2 gold pounds, after the transfer is 3 gold pounds 10 Sule, to know, Klein’s brother Benson, work for some years, weekly salary is only 1 pounds 10 Sule, the ordinary workers in the factory is even less than 1 pounds or just a little bit out of the beginning, and the rent of a single house like that from 19 Sule to 1 pounds 18 Sule ranging.
”This is the difference between a monthly income of three or four thousand and a monthly income of fourteen or fifteen thousand ……” Zhou Mingrui muttered secretly.
However, the prerequisite for all of this was to be able to pass the interview at Tingen University or Birkeland University.
As for the other paths, those without a background couldn’t get a recommendation to become a public official, and for those who studied history, the scope of employment was even narrower, and the demand for private counselors of nobles or bankers or industrial tycoons wasn’t really high.
Considering the fact that the knowledge that Klein had acquired had also become “fragments”, not complete, many fragments, Zhou Mingrui’s expectations of Mrs. Slim were filled with embarrassment and emptiness.
”No, I’ve always been this young.” Wendy replied with humor.
As she spoke, she loaded sixteen weighed loaves of rye bread into the large dark brown paper bag Chow Ming Rhee had brought with her, and with a spread of her right hand said:
”Nine pence.”
Each loaf of rye bread weighed around 0.5 pounds, and deviations were inevitable.
”9p, didn’t it cost 11p two days ago?” Zhou Mingrui subconsciously asked.
Last month it was even 15p.
”You have the repeal of the Grain Act to thank for those marches.” Wendy spread her hands out and laughed.
Zhou Mingrui nodded plausibly, Klein’s memory of this was a bit tattered, only remembering that the core of the Grain Act was to protect the price of the country’s agricultural products, and not to import food grains originating from the southern countries of Feneport, Marshes, and Lemberg until the price had risen to a certain level.
Why would anyone march against it?
Without more ado, Chow Ming Rhee, fearing to bring out his revolver, could only carefully pull out the bills, remove one of them, and hand it to Mrs. Slim.
After retrieving three copper pennies and tucking them into his trouser pocket, he carried the paper bag of bread to the Lettuce and Meat Market, a block away, for the lamb stew with young peas that his sister had ordered.
The town square at the corner of Iron Cross and Daffodil Streets was full of tents, and clowns in funny costumes were handing out flyers.
”Tomorrow night, a circus show?” Zhou Mingrui glanced at the flyers in other people’s hands and read out the general content in a low voice.
Melissa would definitely love it, I wonder how the tickets will be charged? With a flash of thought, Zhou Mingrui leaned over.
He was about to ask one of the red and yellow clowns when a husky female voice suddenly came from his side:
”Want to divine?”
Subconsciously turning his head, Zhou Mingrui saw a woman wearing a pointed hat and a long black dress standing in front of a low tent.
Her face was painted with red and yellow oil paint, and her eyes were gray and blue.
”No.” Zhou Mingrui shook his head and replied, how could he have the spare money for divination.
This woman smiled and said:
”My Tarot Divination is very accurate.”
”Tarot ……” Zhou Mingrui froze.
This pronunciation, and the earth’s tarot cards are very similar ah!
The earth’s tarot belongs to a kind of fortune-telling poker, just more symbols of each “graphic cards”.
Wait …… He suddenly remembered the origin of this world’s tarot divination.
It does not come from the seven orthodox gods, nor is it a remnant of ancient times, but it was invented more than 170 years ago by Rossel Gustav, who was the consul of the Republic of Intis at the time.
This Mr. Rossel invented the steam engine, improved the sailing ship, overthrew the rule of the Kingdom of Intis, and was recognized by the Church of the “God of Craftsmen” as the first consul of the new Republic.
Later on, he fought in the north and south, brought Lemberg and other countries under his protection, and made the powerful countries in the north continent, such as the Kingdom of Rouen, Feneport, and the Fossac Empire, bow down one after another, and then changed the Republic into an empire once again, and called himself “Julius Caesar”.
It was during Rossel’s reign that the Church of the “God of Craftsmen” received the first public oracle since the “Fifth Age”, and changed the name of the “God of Craftsmen” to “God of Steam and Machinery”.
Rossel also invented tarot divination, and laid down the composition and play of the current card game, which includes several types familiar to Zhou Mingrui, such as upgrading, fighting the landlord, Texas, Quintessence …….
In addition, he sent a fleet of ships through the storms and turbulence to find a channel to the southern continent, opening the era of colonization.
Unfortunately, after he grew old, he suffered a betrayal and was assassinated by the Eternal Blazing Sun Church, the Reason Tis royal family Sauron family and other nobles in a joint effort in 1198 of the Fifth Era, and he fell in the White Maple Palace.
This …… remembering these common sense, Zhou Mingrui suddenly had a little toothache.
This one won t be a traveler senior, right?
Thinking of this, Zhou Mingrui had the desire to see what the tarot cards here actually looked like, so he nodded to the woman with the pointed hat and oil-painted face and said:
”If it’s not, uh, reasonably priced, I’ll give it a try.”
The woman burst out laughing:
”Sir, you’re the first person to come in for divination today, free of charge.”