The northern port of the Scotia Empire, Ceylon City. WWw. QuAnBen-XIaoShuo. Com
A heavy rain came suddenly, pouring in through the gaps in the fort. The sky was as black as if it was stained with dragon's blood ink. The fishing boats were cowering in the port. The huge waves washed against the embankment and hit them violently, splashing water mist more than ten meters high and making a loud sound.
The rainwater accumulated and quickly spread through the slums, and the water in the streets became deeper and deeper. The drainage system, which had not been repaired for at least five years, could not play any role. In an instant, the slum area was a vast ocean.
Ceylon City in Magnolia Bay is no longer what it used to be. The income from the declining fishing industry is limited, and the city owner is powerless. If you want to repair the drainage system, you need at least one magician who knows alchemy, and a large number of magic apprentices. Just making the drawings would cost thousands of gold coins. There has not been a magician in Ceylon City for at least two hundred years, and the city hall has almost become a decoration.
Lightning tore through the sky, thunder came late, and electric snakes flew, lighting up the city under the storm. On the empty street, a boy about ten years old waded through the water with difficulty, shivering forward.
The boy was very thin, with short brown hair that was cut unevenly. The rain rushed through his eyelashes, making it impossible to open his eyes. A faint white breath came out of the young man's mouth and nose, and his legs kept shaking. He hugged tightly an oil paper bag, which was the meal he had begged for today.
Boom!
There was a loud thunder, and the boy finally couldn't hold on anymore and fell to the ground. His face was buried in the water, and he soon choked and coughed. He struggled desperately, trying to stand up again. But his thin body couldn't hold on any longer, so he just turned over and passed out. Until he lost consciousness, the boy's hand was still holding the oil paper bag tightly.
The heavy rain raged for nearly two hours before the sky cleared. The water slowly receded, and pedestrians appeared on the street. The unconscious young man was rushed under a roof and his body was pressed against a horse-tying stone.
The door was pushed open. When a guy dressed as a servant saw the unconscious young man, he ran up and kicked him hard, and said angrily: "Beggars, get out of here, don't die here."
His voice was sharp and shrill, resembling a castrated actor in the Tangglas Empire's court. The boy woke up groaning and coughing violently from the kick. He felt hot all over and knew he had a fever. The oil paper bag in his hand was still clutched tightly subconsciously. The young man breathed a sigh of relief, turned over and crawled two steps away, struggling to open the oil paper bag.
Inside the oil paper bag was moldy old rice. He originally planned to cook it before eating it when he got home, but he couldn't wait any longer. If he didn't eat, he wouldn't even have the strength to walk.
Chen rice was like sand in the boy's mouth, chewed up and swallowed into his stomach.
"Bad luck!" Seeing that the young man could not stand up, the ferocious servant spat forcefully before turning around and entering the door.
The young man lay on the cold ground and barely swallowed half a bag of uncooked rice. Then he staggered up and walked towards the east of the city without looking back. His home is outside the city. If he doesn't go back when it gets dark, another rain will freeze him to death on the street.
A fat businessman walked out of the vermilion door behind him. He was wearing low-quality silk and his hair was oiled, as if he had been caught in the rain.
"Huh? Isn't that boy from the Metatrin family? What's his name?" The obese businessman asked the two servants behind him as he looked at the young man's back with sharp eyes.
"Salin, sir, his name is Salin." The servant smiled flatteringly, his voice like a chicken being pinched by the neck. The three masters and servants were described as wretched, and they looked at the young man with extremely unkind eyes.
"Why isn't he dead yet?"
"Who knows, and I don't know that that bastard is still willing to give him food." Another servant replied angrily.
"Huh, pay attention. If he dies, buy that house quickly. Otherwise, others will take advantage of it." The fat businessman said casually, twisted his cumbersome flesh, turned around and walked in the other direction. .
"Yes, sir." The servant followed carefully behind him, and the two of them could almost hide in the shadow of the fat businessman.
The night was as cold as water, and a young man named Salin dragged his tired body out of Ceylon City. Holding the oil paper bag in his arms, he walked off the road and walked back to his ancestral home in three steps with a break.
This huge stone house was the last property of the Metatrin family. Salin opened the door and staggered into the house.
The stone walls were covered with moss and exuded a chill, and all the windows outside the two-story house had no glass, making this lonely stone house look gloomy and desolate.
Salin took a breath and finally went home. He almost climbed the stairs, returned to the bedroom, and fell down on the bed. The bed boards were the same as the walls, clammy and hard.
The clothes were soaked by the rain and the wind blew all the way back. They were half dry and stuck to the body. This was Salin's only piece of clothing. Salin struggled to get up, took off his clothes and spread them on the bed. The oil paper bag was placed next to my head, and my waist hurt. When I looked down, I saw that it was already black and blue.
This was kicked by the servant. Salin gritted his teeth and lay down. As long as he fell asleep, these pains would disappear.
The moonlight and cold wind poured in from the window, which was not poetic at all. Salin felt hot all over and had a splitting headache. If it continues to burn like this, your life will be at risk. He struggled to get up and pulled a box from under the bed.
The lock on the box had long been removed, and the silver-plated lock had been replaced with a week's worth of food. No one bought the insect-proof camphor wood box, and Salin planned to use it for a fire someday.
Opening the box, there was a pile of messy bills inside. Most of them were debt documents. Salin found a metal badge and stuck it on his forehead. A cool feeling came from my forehead, and my headache seemed to be much better. Salin sat on the ground and cried looking at the bills in the box.
The Metatrin family was once a noble family, and this surname was once a symbol of wealth in the northern part of the empire. But by Salin's generation, the Metatrin family had nothing. These debt certificates have also become waste paper. Those who owed money back then would have died long ago. Changes of power and wars led to the gradual decline of the Maeterlin family.
If the debtor was still alive, Salin could buy ten Ceylon cities with these IOUs.
The badge on his forehead is the symbol of the Maeterlin family. Salin did not sell this palm-sized badge. Like these notes, the badge is a relic left to him by his father.
When Salin was six years old, both his parents died, leaving him only this box and his ancestral home. Six-year-old Salin did not have any livelihood skills, so he had to rely on selling things in his ancestral house to survive. A black-hearted businessman will naturally not miss an opportunity to make a fortune. What does a six-year-old child know? In less than half a year, Salin sold everything in the house.
Salin is now twelve years old. Due to malnutrition, he looks like he is only ten years old, thin and frail.
He didn't sell this ancestral house, not because he didn't want to sell it, but because real estate transactions had to be completed at the city hall and no fraud was allowed. Several businessmen who coveted his house simply refused to buy it and only waited for Salin to starve to death. Once Salin died, the house became ownerless and only the land needed to be purchased, which was almost not included in the price.
However, Salin had a hard life and relied on begging to survive until he was twelve years old.
Salin fell to the bed, the cool feeling brought by the family crest spread throughout his body, the pain in his waist also eased a lot, and Salin fell into a deep sleep. He didn't know if he would wake up after falling asleep this time.
Bang bang bang!
Salin opened his eyes suddenly and sat up. The sunlight outside the window spilled into the room, and there was dust all over the floor.
There was someone knocking on the door early in the morning, which was a very strange thing. Salin's ancestral house is not close to the road, but at the foot of the mountain, even through a small forest. No one came to Salin since he had nothing to sell.
Bang bang bang!
The knocking on the door continued, and Salin jumped out of bed. He felt much lighter and less feverish. Putting the family crest back into the box and stuffing the box under the bed, Salin walked down the stairs and opened the door.
I came back in a daze yesterday and forgot to latch the door. Salin was a little scared. There would be wild animals in this place. If he came in, he would be eaten in his sleep.
With a squeak, the sun shone on my face, giving me some warmth. The shadows of the trees were sparse, and in the scattered light and shadow stood a middle-aged man with long black hair, gray robes, and a wooden stick in his hand.
This man was less than forty years old, with sharp eyebrows, long eyes, and no beard. He wore a huge ring on the hand holding the wooden staff. The silver-black ring was engraved with complex symbols. Salin was slightly distracted. This middle-aged man was dressed strangely. Could he be a priest from the Holy See
The middle-aged man's expression looks gentle, but this gentleness is like the demeanor of a noble. It is just his habit and has nothing to do with you.
Salin's life as a beggar made him sensitive. He knew who he could talk to and who he should stay away from. But the middle-aged man who knocked on the door was completely different from the people in Ceylon City. He was clearly standing in front of him, but Salin could not feel the presence of this man.
The middle-aged man smiled and said to Salin: "Where are your adults?"
This man came from out of town. How could the people in Ceylon City not know about this unlucky guy? Salin's heart calmed down, he rubbed his forehead with his hand and said, "There is no one else here. Sir, what do you want?"
Salin asked politely, trying his best to appear calm. If you want to survive, don't let people think you are annoying. This is Salin's life experience in the past twelve years.
"Oh." The middle-aged man looked at Salin in surprise. Salin came out in a hurry, wearing only shorts and shirtless. There is also a palm-sized mark on his forehead, which is the legacy of the family crest.
"Is this house yours?" the middle-aged man asked gently.
"Yes." Salin looked at the ground, his brown pupils shrinking. Isn't this man a robber
"That's right. I want to buy this house. Can I go in and talk?"
Buying a house? Salin was a little overwhelmed by the news. He had long wanted to sell the house and go to the city to work. Even if you help people process fresh fish, you can still make ends meet. But the apprentices were in charge of food. If he went to work, he would starve to death in the first month. Salin turned sideways in confusion: "Come in."
When the middle-aged man stepped into the stone house, the dust under his feet disappeared without a trace. The breeze blew by, and the damp smell suddenly disappeared in the living room. Salin suppressed his inner excitement, closed the door, and carefully calculated how much money he would need.
The middle-aged man's eyes swept across gently, and everything in the room fell into his eyes. Salin can be said to be a poor man with nothing to admire. The middle-aged man was very satisfied. He turned around and asked Salin: "You said this house belongs to you, but does it have a deed?"
"I have it." Salin nodded, but did not go to the bedroom to look for the deed. Now that he is older, he naturally understands what those businessmen deceived him when he was a child, and he is much more cautious in doing things.
The middle-aged man smiled, reached out and touched Salin's head, and said, "Don't worry, I'm a magician and I won't cheat you of your money. How many gold coins do you plan to sell this house for?"
gold! Salin's eyes lit up. He sold everything in his house and never got any gold coins. A four-foot oil painting was taken away, but he was left with only one silver coin. The gilt candlestick was exchanged for two silver coins. This is still conscientious. When he was six years old, a businessman moved away a whole set of cabinets, leaving only two loaves of bread for Salin.