Wendy's mother was also awakened by the knock on the door, and saw Wendy standing in front of her window with the key in her hand.
The atmosphere was a little awkward for a while.
But she can't care about educating her daughter at the moment. When she heard the knock on the door downstairs, she immediately got dressed, ran down, opened the door, and actually saw the girl she had been thinking about day and night. figure.
Twenty-one days had passed since Matthew went missing, and she couldn't help but have some bad thoughts in her heart. Now that her husband had returned safely, tears burst out of her eyes instantly.
She flew into Matthew's arms.
But at this moment a voice sounded from her ear.
"Why don't you introduce us, Matthew."
Wendy's mother looked up and saw an old man with a hunchback and three burly men with fierce looks standing behind Matthew. If the bar owner was here, he would probably recognize one of them as the one who brought him drinks yesterday afternoon. coachman.
The old man took off the hat on his head and bowed to her, "Don't worry, ma'am, we are all Matthew's friends."
Wendy's mother looked at her husband.
The latter nodded, "Jane, this is Cook, Cook, this is Jane, my wife."
Then Jane breathed a sigh of relief, smiled and stretched out her hand, "Forgive me for being a little nervous during this time, Cook hasn't come back from home for a long time, and Wendy ran around with an oriental guy who came out of nowhere, and then Another message outside said that a group of robbers planned to come to the town to rob, wait... I remember that the leader of that group of robbers seems to be named Cook."
"There are always many coincidences in this world, ma'am." The old man kissed the back of her hand, "I hope I didn't disturb you, seeing you is like seeing my daughter, you are all so kind and pure , It's a pity that she is not as lucky as you."
"You are too polite, why do you say that?"
"Oh, something terrible happened to her, but it's all over, so it's better not to mention it." The old man said to the three people behind him, "You stay here."
The three nodded.
Then the hunchbacked old man walked into the room with Matthew. He saw Wendy coming down the stairs, and said with a smile, "Look at this lovely little girl, she is your daughter, Matthew mentioned to me. You've been called Wendy many times, right?" The old man touched his pocket while talking, and finally took out a gold bar from it, "Sorry, I was in a hurry this way, and I didn't have time to buy candies, so I just Use this instead."
"How embarrassing, the gift is too expensive." Jane quickly evaded.
"It's nothing, it's just my little thought. Good people like you deserve such a gift. Just treat it as a gift of fate."
After Wendy took the gold bar from the hunchbacked old man, Matthew said, "Jane, go and get something to eat, Cook and I haven't had dinner yet."
"Okay, I remember some cookies from the morning."
"Very good, let's make two more cups of tea." After Matthew finished speaking, he looked at Wendy again, "You go too, and help your mother."
Wendy glanced at her father, then looked suspiciously at Cook who was beside her, and finally followed behind her mother.
When the two left, the hunchbacked old man said, "The child's eyes look quite like yours. When I saw you for the first time, you also looked like this. You were vigilant and stubborn..."
"Don't go around in circles, Cook, didn't we agree that we are only here to find out what's going on in the town? Why did you come to my house." Matthew interrupted him directly.
"Oh, you and I don't need to worry about inquiring about the truth. Morris already inquired about everything that needs to be inquired yesterday." The hunchbacked old man said leisurely, "I asked him to inquire about your residence at that time."
"What exactly do you want?"
"It's nothing, I'm just curious about your life these years."
Cook put his feet on the table in front of him, "I have always regarded you as my son, and I want to know how you are doing after we are separated."
"You can ask me directly." Matthew said sullenly.
"Yes, but I prefer to see it with my own eyes." The hunchbacked old man smiled, "I'm sorry to disturb your life, really, I hope we can come a little bit, starting from the daily greetings, I Tell you what I've been doing all these years, you tell me how your day is..."
"You don't need to tell me, I know what you have done all these years. There are never fewer news about you in the newspapers."
"Well... I must admit that I am indeed very popular with those reporters and newspapers. As long as I am still with them, I will never lose my job." The hunchbacked old man shrugged.
"The things you do are not funny. You and your men are burning, killing, looting, rich and poor, old and young. You set fire to churches and slaughter is still in its infancy. Baby..." Matthew said coldly.
"Fear is a kind of power. You must learn and get used to using it. I am a robber, not a priest. Do I want to do good deeds and listen to everyone's suffering?"
The hunchbacked old man paused, "Damn it, I thought you would become a little more mature these years after going through that incident, but in the end you are no different from the past, well, that's the end of the gossip, let's go early It’s better to get to the point. I know you’ve heard a lot of news about me over the years, but what I’m going to tell you next is something that’s not in those news reports. No, it should be said that there are many even in the Cook gang. have no idea."
"Did you do anything else that angered people?"
"It has nothing to do with that," the hunchbacked old man looked into Matthew's eyes, "I'm going to die, Matthew."
"After all the bad things you've done, do you think you're going to get a good death?"
"No, that's not what I meant." Cook waved his hand, "I said I'm going to die, referring to my physical condition, I don't have much time left, I can feel it, this is why I came back to you the real reason."
Matthew fell silent when he heard the words, "How do you know that you are dying?"
"This is my body, of course I know when that day will come." The hunchbacked old man said, "I have seen the face of Death, he has a pair of blue eyes, just like Mary, I am not afraid of death, but I do have a few things to do before I die, the most important of which is to find a new owner for the Cook Gang."
"You want me to take over the Cook Gang and become the next you?"
"Why not, believe me, you will love this feeling of freedom, you are just trapped by mundane trivialities, those false happiness, I come to your house tonight, just to untie you Yes, undo your miserable cycle, my child."
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