"It's not that it doesn't exist, it's just that it can't be seen. So in addition to sending my girls out to try their luck frequently, we can also try to actively observe the door."
"That's a good idea indeed. Do you want to try it now?"
In the meager sunlight of the rainy day, the bottle of potion still had a brilliant luster. Shade asked curiously, on the one hand, he was curious about the door, and on the other hand, he was curious about the potion. As for Mia, it had already crawled into Shade's large coat pocket. If Shade put his hand in the pocket, he could touch it.
"No, no."
But the brown-haired girl shook her head slightly and blinked at Shade:
"You finally agreed to come out for a walk with me, I don't want to go back right away."
As she spoke, she took Xia De's hand. Xia De, feeling guilty, also held her hand tightly, which made Audrey's smile even brighter.
On a cloudy Friday afternoon, the lives of the citizens did not change. The riverside neighborhood where Shad and Audrey chose to walk was close to the city center, and they could even hear a noisy noise in the distance, probably because people were gathering in front of the city hall for another rally.
Children were running wildly on the streets, middle-aged men with briefcases under their arms and constantly looking at their pocket watches hurried past, and women wearing aprons and headscarves doing the laundry sat downstairs of street-facing apartments, beating clothes with a laundry hammer while looking up at the sky, worried that the washed clothes could not be hung out to dry, which would delay their meager income.
The patrolmen, who were patrolling unusually frequently during the special period, walked along the side of the street that was not facing the river. Although they looked idle, their uniforms still frightened the ordinary citizens living here. At the intersection not far ahead, a newspaper reporter was directing a photographer and a young apprentice to set up their cameras and aim them at the cloudy sky and the crowd marching at the west end of the street.
The angle he chose was very suitable. The long, old street under the dark clouds was dilapidated, with most of the signs covered in dust, and gas and steam pipes nailed to the walls in a strange arrangement. At the end of the street, there was a lively and dense crowd. Although the crowd in the distance was only a small part of the street corner, it formed a better contrast with the street scene and the sky.
As Shad and Megan walked past the reporters and photographers, they heard them talking about publishing the photo on the front page of tomorrow's Green Lake Morning Post and naming it "1854 in the Haze."
Although the weather was bad, Audrey enjoyed this kind of stroll and date. Even if she didn't take the initiative to talk to Shade, just holding hands and walking like this, she felt that this was a good afternoon.
However, Shade soon saw a familiar face in front of him. The boy, wearing ill-fitting patched shoes, carrying a crudely woven basket and a puppy, was walking along the street with his collar turned up and his head lowered, looking at the ground as he walked.
Soon he found his target. First, the puppy, which had gained some weight recently, walked up happily and barked a few times. Then the boy took a few quick steps, picked up the cigarette butt from the gap between the bricks and threw it into the basket.
Xia De knew about this behavior. In this era, wandering orphans might try various methods to earn income and food in order to make a living. Picking up cigarette butts is one of the ways. Cigarette butts are discarded by passers-by, and there may be some unsmoked tobacco left in them. Orphans pick up these butts, collect the remaining tobacco, and sell them to tobacco dealers or others to earn some meager income.
Of course, this behavior is usually considered extremely disgraceful and discriminated by society. But for children of John's age, it is unrealistic to compete with older children for odd jobs and small businesses, so begging, rummaging through trash cans, and picking up cigarette butts are the norm in life.
Even though he could often find food from the garbage discarded in the kitchen of the Green Lake Hotel, and even though Shad frequently provided him with food, he still did not give up his lifestyle.
After all, the trash can outside the kitchen, the occasional kind-hearted person, and other good fortune may all be gone from him. Only the puppy and his livelihood of picking up and selling cigarette butts truly belong to him.
After picking up the cigarette butts in the cracks of the bricks, the boy happily squatted there and stroked the head of the spotted puppy, which also responded happily by sticking out its tongue. Shade felt the cat in his pocket move, probably because it heard the dog barking.
Because Little John had been keeping his head down, he did not notice Shad coming, but he was aware that there were two adults approaching on the road. The boy picked up the puppy and hid to the side of the street, not even daring to look up and look at the strangers.
But the dog in his arms recognized Shad, who often gave them food - Shad looked the same at this moment as he often did, so it barked happily at Shad twice.
"Oh, shut up! Don't get us two in trouble."
The boy immediately turned around so that the dog's head was facing inwards, and walked along the street towards the alley entrance at a faster pace, fearing that he would get into trouble. But he subconsciously raised his head and finally saw clearly who was walking towards him.
He instinctively wanted to greet Xia De, but then he saw the noble and elegant lady beside Xia De. So he immediately lowered the brim of his hat, turned sideways, carried the basket and held the puppy, and continued walking towards the alley not far away.
Shade knew that the boy didn't want to greet him here, worried that it would ruin Shade's date with a strange lady or lower Shade's impression of the strange lady, but Shade didn't care about that. Besides, Megan and Audrey wouldn't look down on Little John just because he was an orphan who picked up cigarette butts... ... Witches hated all men equally.
Audrey also noticed that the boy seemed to know Shade, so she squeezed Shade's hand. Shade nodded, waved and shouted:
"John!"
The boy looked up and saw that Xia De was really calling him, so he stopped hesitantly. On the contrary, the puppy he was holding had no such concerns and happily barked at Xia De:
“Woof woof woof~”
"Meow~"
Little Mia's head popped out of Shade's pocket, but as soon as it appeared, Shade pushed it back in with one finger. The cat wanted to struggle, but Shade patted its head and it stayed in the pocket again.
"John!"
Shade called out again and quickly came to the side of the street away from the river bank. Audrey let go of Shade's hand and followed him, but she just stood not far behind him and did not follow him.
"Good afternoon, I didn't expect to see you here."
Shade said with a smile, and the dirty boy timidly greeted him:
"Good afternoon, sir."
"Can you please help me? Are you around here often?"
Hearing Xia De's request for help, the boy nodded immediately:
"Yes, we usually stay around here unless it rains heavily."
He took a look at his basket and saw that there were already quite a few cigarette butts in it. In addition, there were also sundries such as old newspapers and nails, which could help him in his life.
The boy hid the basket behind him without making a sound.
"Has anything strange happened in the shore area recently?"
The boy thought about it:
"Yes, two of the children who were picking up cigarette butts around here are missing. Adults like to smoke while walking or talking by the river, so this area is a good place to pick up cigarette butts. Originally there were three or four children doing this job on this street, but now there are only two left."
Xia De became interested:
"Oh? When did this happen? Do you know where they went?"
The boy shook his head:
"He probably disappeared this week. But some of the people I know always disappear at a certain time and never show up again. One of the two people who disappeared this time was 'Bully Hansen'. He is the oldest among us, both in age and size. He probably didn't get into trouble. He probably found another job."
Although the boy in front of him was young, he already knew the rules of street life.
Shade thought for a moment:
"Are the two missing children often seen around here? Is there a specific location?"
"Yes, we have designated areas for picking up cigarette butts, and no one can cross the line."
The boy stretched out his hand and pointed out the two areas to Shad. They were in the direction where Shad and the witch were walking, but the area added up to less than a mile of the riverside streets.
After getting the clue, Shad gave the boy another 10 pence to go to dinner, and even though the boy didn't want it, he threw the coin into the boy's basket.
“Woof woof woof~”
Suddenly the puppy started barking again. The boy in the worn-out shoes looked up and saw a crowd of people approaching from the riverside street. He immediately held up his hat and said to Shade:
"Sir, I'm leaving. The police don't like to see us!"
He bowed and ran towards the alley with his puppy in his arms.
Audrey also came over at this time and stood on the roadside with Shad. They saw two policemen appear first, and then the marching crowd holding banners and shouting slogans such as "Long Live Delarion" passed by the streets along the river in a mighty manner.
Reporters were taking photos with interest, police were around to maintain order, and idle people in the city followed the team and chatted about various things. It had probably been a long time since this city had been so lively.
They should be the crowd that had just gathered in front of the city hall not far away. The young man handing out flyers wanted to give flyers to Shad and Audrey, two passers-by, but when Audrey looked at him, he instinctively retreated back to the team in fear.
The two of them watched the team pass by in front of them. When the street became empty again, John, who had been picking up cigarette butts, had already walked away with the puppy in his arms.
Xia De shook his head, not knowing what to say, but fortunately no one forced him to write an 800-word essay to express his emotions or analyze current affairs.
He reached out and held Audrey's hand again, and continued walking along the street with the brown-haired girl.
Audrey whispered:
"Look, there are stories everywhere. In fact, there is no right or wrong in this world. There is probably no essential difference between Delarion and Carsonrick."
She thought that Shad lived in Tobesk, so Shad would consider himself a Dlarion. But in fact, the outsider didn't care about all this. He certainly knew that the negotiations in the area under his feet were not about good or evil, but only about interests, which was why he felt troubled.
After all, in this way, he would not be able to find his own position.