Charles was very surprised. Lily had been with him for such a long time, but this was the first time she asked him for salary.
"When you needed to buy something before, didn't you just drag me to buy it?"
Lily drooped her ears and told Charles that she saw James' wife distributing stale bread to the poor Yingdao refugees, and she wanted to do the same.
"Mr. Charles, let's help them. They are so pitiful. I saw some of them were so hungry that they had to rummage through the garbage dump to pick up things that even mice wouldn't eat to fill their stomachs. They were so pitiful." Lily pulled Charles' finger and shook it like a spoiled child.
"With so many people, can you help them all?"
"Well... then I'll help as many people as I can. It's really uncomfortable to be hungry. And I heard there are a lot of dead people in the sewers recently."
Charles thought for a moment, wrote the amount on a check and handed it to Lily, "This is your money, don't take it all out, let Dipper open an account for you in the bank."
"Thank you, Mr. Charles, you are so nice!" Lily grabbed the check excitedly and left quickly with her mouse friends.
"Do we have enough money? We're just going to let this naughty kid skip stones on the water." Richard's voice sounded in his mind.
"That's the salary she deserves. Let her do whatever she wants with it. The reply is of no use to us, and we won't be here for much longer," Charles said, then he took out his sketchpad and began to paint.
Richard's voice disappeared from his mind, and Charles' prosthetic limbs suddenly moved on their own. He picked up another paintbrush and began to paint left and right.
Two brushes continued to fill in the canvas, and gradually a family of four with laughter and joy appeared on the canvas.
But except for the young man inside, the faces of the other three were very blurry.
Charles thought that Lily's matter was over, but he didn't expect that his gunner came back crying that night.
"What's wrong?" Charles put down the paintbrush in his hand and asked the white mouse that was wiping its tears.
"Woo, woo, they... they stole my bread... I asked them to come one by one to claim it, but they refused to listen to me and even stole my money..."
"Are you okay?" Charles held Lily in his hand, lifted her tail and turned her inside out to check.
"It's okay, my friends bit them. Why did this, Mr. Charles? I was clearly helping them." Lily asked Charles while standing upside down.
Seeing that Lily was not injured, Charles put her on the ground and said, "There is no need to worry about it. Don't go there next time. Use the echo coins to buy snacks for yourself."
Hearing Charles' words, Lily frowned and sat on the carpet playing with her tail. She really didn't understand why this happened. She was obviously helping them, so why did they steal her bread
Time passed little by little, and the brown mice nearby had already laid on the carpet with their heads and tails crossed and their eyes closed, but Lily still couldn't figure it out.
Seeing Lily's tangled expression, Charles shook his head, put down the paintbrush in his hand, held her in his palm, walked to the window and opened it.
"Do you think that these people should be grateful to you for helping them out of pity for them?"
"Yeah, they were hungry and I gave them food. Shouldn't they thank me? That's what good people do."
"Who told you that pitiful people are good people? Some people don't care about what is good or bad just to survive, and some people have tried their best just to survive."
Charles looked at a little beggar, who was only seven or eight years old, slashing a sailor's clothes with a blade on the street. The innocence was no longer in his bright big eyes, but filled with greed for money.
The next second, the beggar's action was discovered by the sailor. The sailor picked up the little beggar and threw him to the ground. He didn't care about the thief's young age at all and kicked him directly in the chest with his right foot.
Faced with this horrifying scene, the people around were very indifferent. They just dispersed a little to avoid being splashed with the blood from the thief's mouth.
The old man looked at him coldly, threw the cigarette butt in his hand into the dirty water in front of the boy, stood up and turned away.
"In this world, we can only protect ourselves and at most protect the people around us. We cannot control other people's affairs. They may look pitiful, but who in this world is not pitiful? Living in this world is suffering in itself."
Charles ran his hand along the smooth hair on Lily's back.
The white mouse standing in Charles' palm clenched its little paws tightly, staring at the unattended thief on the ground.
Just when Charles thought he had convinced his gunner, Lily squeaked a few times, and the brown mice lying on the carpet quickly rushed out.
Soon, Charles saw the rats quickly drag the little boy on the ground into a corner on the street.
Lily moved Charles' hand away, looked up at Charles and shook her head vigorously. "Mr. Charles, you are wrong. My father told me that a person lives in this world not just for himself. Only when people help each other can the world become a better place!"
Lily jumped from Charles' palm to the ground, and said excitedly: "Even if they don't say thank you to me, I will help them! Mr. Charles, don't stop me!"
Charles chuckled at the angry look of the little mouse. "I won't stop you. If you want to do it, then go ahead. Just remember to buy some fish and mushrooms for those people. This will help everyone. Bread is too expensive. The cheapest black flour is grown in freshwater."
Lily was stunned at first, then she nodded vigorously, turned around and rushed out the door.
Looking at the bustling streets outside the window, Charles breathed a sigh of relief. Lily's character was nobler than his.
The events of that day quickly passed in Charles' mind. No matter what Lily did to help the refugees, as long as she was happy, it was fine.
But as time passed, a legend began to spread in the port area.
A legend about mouse angels. Legend has it that mouse angels are the patron saints of street children and beggars, and they will distribute food to the hungriest children.
"You did a good job this time." In the warm room, Charles said to the white mouse that was chewing oysters beside him.
Lily chuckled. "I'll deliver the food to them one by one while they're sleeping, so that the food I deliver can reach everyone and no one will go hungry."
Charles continued his painting, which made Lily happy, so the money was well spent.
"Mr. Charles, what are you doing at the beach while you sleep?"
Lily's words made Charles pause, "Did you see me go to the beach? When?"
"Yeah." Lily nodded her head. "My friends have seen you several times, jumping over the rooftop very quickly."
Everyone, I have an urgent notice. If nothing goes wrong, my book will be on the shelves tomorrow.
I am also surprised by this news. I will try to update more on the day the game is released. Thank you all for your support.
(End of this chapter)