Chapter 243, Sending Warmth and Studying Abroad
While Grandet was talking to Watt about buying and selling steam engines by the warm fireplace, little Oliver was following Fagin to bring warmth to some of the residents of Petticoat Alley.
This warmth is a real warmth. After the cold spell of a week ago, an uninvited guest, who was callous, invisible to the naked eye, whom the doctors called "pneumonia," tiptoed through petticoat alley, touching here and there with his cold fingers. This bad guy walks around blatantly, and every time he breaks into a yard, there are always a dozen or even dozens of unlucky people who become his victims.
For the poor people of Petticoat Lane, getting sick at this time is almost stepping into the ghost gate with one foot. Every morning from three days ago, frozen corpses would be dragged out of the dark huts on either side of petticoat alley and thrown on a hard flatbed wagon, one or two...... until the wagon was full. Then the shivering coachman shook his whip, and the nostrils of the horse in the carriage spewed white mist, and the hooves nailed with shoes struck the ground like pig iron, and the carriage moved slowly, and the unlubricated axles made a low, staccato grinding sound, like a worker's mother-in-law, who had been awakened in the middle of the night, and lamented that she did not know what she would be able to stuff her husband's and children's bellies tomorrow.
This situation makes Boss Fagin very worried, he doesn't have much to do about pneumonia, which is indeed far beyond his ability, and now he can only rely on a pure natural way, so that everyone can rely on their own resistance and God's blessing to withstand this catastrophe, and then form resistance, and then, after the old man and the child are basically dead, probably ...... Herd immunity can be formed.
This also shows that Boss Fagin has outstanding talent and insight, enough to serve as the prime minister of a corrupt country centuries later, and it is really a bit condescending to be only a gang leader in a small gang.
However, Boss Fagin still has to work hard to help the neighbors solve a little problem. He felt that the pneumonia was so serious, and the main problem was that it was too cold in the house in Petrol Lane.
For those who are wealthy, their homes have thick walls, double-glazed windows, and fireplaces that don't go out twenty-four hours a day. On the rich man's bed, there were several layers of thick mattresses and mattresses, so thick that if you put a pea under the mattress, you would never feel it except for some people who were really princesses who were sick. Not to mention the silk fabric on top of these mattresses, which are stuffed with light and soft eiderdown quilts.
That way, unless it's cold outside and it's snowing like in "Frostpunk," they'll always be warm at home just like they were in spring.
In Petrol Alley, the walls of the houses there are generally just a plank, and there is no glass on the windows, so they can only be blocked with broken planks or something, and there are doors, and the cracks in the doors are so big that they can fit into a fist. Naturally, there is no warmth in such a ventilated house, and there is almost no difference in temperature between the inside and outside of the house, except that the wind is slightly less.
And the people who live here naturally don't have any thick mattresses and mattresses. Their mattresses were scrap newspapers, scraps of cloth, all sorts of hay, even dried leaves, sawdust, and so on. As for the quilt, it was a thick piece of cloth full of holes, stuffed with something like a mattress.
Boss Fagin felt that the pneumonia in Petticoat Alley was so bad, largely because it was so cold here. So he had to find a way to increase the temperature here at night.
The recent economic situation has improved, and this is also reflected in the income of Fagin's men. The pickpockets did not succeed more often, but each time they succeeded in collecting money from a gentleman, there was a noticeable increase.
And not long ago, he managed to carry out a kidnapping with a kid who was bent on getting more money from his miser dad to go to the bar and find a girl. With the help of the "victims", they got a whole three thousand pounds from an old gentleman. (Another three thousand pounds were taken by the "victims") plus his developed friend, who is now French, and kindly sponsored another thousand francs. This year, Fagin's pockets have bulged like never before.
This makes this year, Fagin has been able to be more generous when sending warmth. In the past, he could only provide a small piece of cloth to every household in Petticoat Lane, but this year, he has been able to give every family here a real blanket.
The blankets were second-hand and scrappy, which Fagin's friends had picked up from various thrift markets. It is more cost-effective to buy these things than to buy new blankets. If Joseph had been present, he would probably have suggested that they boil these second-hand blankets in a cauldron.
However, in this era, although bacteria have been discovered, the relationship between bacteria and diseases has not been proven, and people do not know that some bacteria can bring diseases, nor do they know how to destroy bacteria, so naturally no one cares about this matter.
Oliver followed Fagin and sent them blankets one by one. Everyone in the family is grateful to the righteous Boss Fagin, and even Oliver feels honored to follow suit. But Boss Fagin didn't have much of a smile on his face. Or maybe he still had a smile when he faced the residents of Petticoat Alley, but as soon as he walked out of someone's house, the smile on Fagin's face was immediately blown away by the cold wind outside.
That night, Boss Fagin brought together the most important members of the gang. Then he told them something that surprised them all.
"Iron Fang, butcher, cuckoo, sit with me. I have called you here this time because I have something to tell you. As you know, Jager Golem has returned, and has become the second secretary of the French Embassy. He came to me several times and donated some money to us. ”
"I know. When we were children, we all heard you tell you the story of 'ghosts and sorrows'. He's such a righteous man. Now that we are developed, we have not forgotten. ”
"Barker, Jager Golem came back and talked to me several times, and he felt that we were not doing the right thing." Fagin said.
"We're not doing it right?" Tie Fang froze for a moment, "Could it be that now that he is developed, his ass will sit over there?" ”
Fagin shook his head and said, "Not really. Jager Goleng has always been our brother. It's just that he has been in France for so many years, and he has seen things that are different from ours, and his mind has become bigger. He felt that a petty fight like ours would not solve any problems. ”
"So what does he want to do? Does he still want to be Fagin? ”
"If he wants to be Fagin, I'm really relieved to give him this position. If he hadn't had to flee to France because of that incident, this position would have been his. But as I just said, the Jager Golem brothers have a lot of vision. Did you know that he participated in the French Revolution, and when Louis XVI was guillotined, he cheered. ”
"Oh my God! He actually saw a king's head fall to the ground! ”
"He's also involved in it. He took part in the uprising against the Bastille, he followed St. Just, who sentenced the king to death, the Archangel of the Revolution as the French, and he served as a messenger for St. Just on the battlefield and for the Jacobins in Paris. He personally guillotined many nobles - now you know what I mean when I say he has a big heart. ”
"God, he's not going to want to get such a guy on our side." Buck said.
"He wants us to unite the poor people of the entire slum to fight for more rights – not just to strike for higher wages, but to unite for political rights, to have us, to set new rules for this country, for this world."
At this point, Fagin paused, then said, "You know, it's a head-off thing. ”
"Who of us hasn't done anything to lose our heads?" Buck said.
"It's different." Fagin shook his head, "I thought about it for a long time, and I felt that although I could trust Jager Gaulen, and although I thought what he said was reasonable, I had to go to France myself and see for myself the place after the revolution. Then I'll come back and discuss it with you before I can make a decision. ”
"Boss, you're going to be away for a while? So who are we going to care? Iron Fang hurriedly said.
"Jager Golem also approved of me going to France, and he suggested that I go to the Toulon training camp in France to study - well, Russell in Ireland is said to have studied there, and he has made a big career now. Maybe I'll go to Paris first, then Toulon and then ...... Maybe I'll have to go to Ireland and come back. ”
"How long are you going to be gone, Boss Fagin?" Buck busy.
"At least half a year, maybe longer, but not more than a year at most." Fagin said.
Then he looked at everyone again, and said, "After I'm gone, the butcher will take my place for the time being." Butcher, you have something to discuss with Iron Fang. In addition, if you really have something difficult, you can also go to Yager Gaoleng, you can trust him, he is still our brother. I'm probably going to leave next month, and during this time, you can take care of the affairs in the gang first, and I can also take the opportunity to guide you. ”
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