"Hey, Carmen, where did you just go?"

"yes, we've been looking for you for a long time."

On the street, two teenagers in suspender pants shouted to Carmen from a distance.

Carmen took two deep breaths, smoothed her breathing, and walked up with a forced smile, "Big Nose Fell, sold his house to someone else, did you hear the wind?" Where did this new rich guy come from, and what did he do? ”

"I don't know, I heard that this guy is very rich, and Fair's house is not cheap, at least a few thousand dollars."

Two teenagers in suspenders, who looked a little older than Carmen, looked about sixteen or seventeen.

However, the two of them, apparently Carmen's followers, surrounded Carmen from both sides when they saw Carmen coming, one left and one right.

"Carmen, did that rich guy offend you?" Looking at Carmen's face, one of the attendants asked.

Carmen neither admitted nor denied it, but beckoned to the attendant who spoke, and whispered, "Buck, go and check on his details, the more detailed the better." ”

Buck looked embarrassed and hesitated for a while before saying, "Carmen, we must not offend the rich guy, this rule is what you said, how did he offend you, don't be impulsive." ”

"Carmen, what the hell is going on, we attack those poor ghosts, the patrol will turn a blind eye, if you offend the rich, it will not be so simple." Another attendant, Tom, was also afraid that Carmen would do something stupid.

Carmen didn't laugh angrily, pulled the collar of the two of them close to him, and said seriously: "If I were an impulsive person, I wouldn't let you investigate, go, my friend, I know what I'm doing, I just want to know the details of him." ”

"Alright then, I'll go." Buck breathed a sigh of relief and left in the other direction.

Seeing Buck walk away, Carmen licked her lips.

When he knew that the man, who continued to spy on Bertie after he was gone, he really wanted to rush in and give him a few stabs.

However, this impulse was suppressed by him, because he knew that this was a society where rich people could do whatever they wanted, and if a thug like him dared to attack the idea of the wealthy class, the sheriffs of West Shabel would definitely not mind hanging him.

Carmen knew she couldn't be impulsive, and after suppressing the impulse, he had another idea.

An outsider, a rich man with a huge amount of money and no relatives and no reason, let him smell the smell of banknotes when he was far away.

As long as he was sure that he had nothing to do with Sishabel, Carmen felt that he had a hundred ways to get some money out of this man without alerting the sheriff, which was more comfortable than beating him.

"Carmen, the owner of the owl bar, let us help him collect the debt, a shoemaker named Henry, borrowed five dollars from him, and if we can help him get the money back, promise us a dollar as a benefit."

When Buck leaves, Tom's attendant explains why they came to Carmen.

Carmen's eyes lit up, and now a journeyman who doesn't earn a dollar a month working in a factory, which is already a lot of money for them.

"Then what are you waiting for, let's go, let's talk to Henry." As she spoke, Carmen looked down at her shoes, which had been worn for so long that they had exposed their toes, and they were ready to change into a new pair of shoes.

"Carmen, my mom told me she was going to send my brother to learn bookkeeping."

"This is a good thing, I heard that the bookkeeper sits in the office, as long as he can learn it, he will be a decent person in the future."

"It's a good thing, but people have requirements, if you want to learn to keep accounts, you must have your own pen, bookkeeping, and a decent dress, and three yuan as training fees, my family can't come up with this money."

"On me, I promise that within a month, I will be able to send your brother to school."

Along the way, Carmen talks to Tom all the way, and the big brother demeanor is unmistakable.

Looking at the elated Tom, Carmen did not say that he had no money, because he knew that he could not say that, otherwise the people would be scattered and the team would not be able to lead.

It's just that secretly, Carmen is not so confident.

You know, it's the Great Depression, the shops are closed, the factories are closed, and the average worker just doesn't eat or drink, and it takes five months to save enough money.

He silently calculated that he still had about sixty cents in savings, and counting the one dollar he received for this collection, there was still a hole of 140 cents that could not be plugged.

"Carmen, this is it, this is Henry's Shoe Store."

All the way to the slums, Tom pointed to a dilapidated shop with smelly shoes hanging on the door.

Carmen suppressed her money distress and stood outside and looked at it for a moment.

Looking through the glass window of the shoe store, the shelves of the shoe store are lined with several pairs of finished leather shoes, and more are tinkered with tattered shoes.

The wealthy had a high demand for leather shoes, and they would not wear patched leather shoes, and if they were not given to their subordinates, they would usually be sold to these shoe shops.

The shoemaker in the shoe store repaired the leather shoes and put them on the shelves for sale again, and this kind of cheap leather shoes for secondary sale has always been the favorite of the poor.

"Go in and have a look."

Carmen nodded to Tom and quietly tucked the dagger made of iron into her sleeve as she spoke.

Tom fumbled around his trouser leg for a while, found a chopstick-long iron spike with a spiked end, and pushed the door as if nothing had happened.

As for why they didn't buy a few daggers, the answer was simple, real daggers cost money, and they didn't have the spare money.

Click...

With his right hand on his back, Tom pushed open the door and entered.

As soon as you enter, you will be greeted by a pungent stench, and the smell of all kinds of feet gathers in the poorly ventilated shop, which makes people feel a nauseous urge.

Tom and Carmen, both children who grew up in the slums, have a strong tolerance for the stench, but for a while they can't help but hold their breath and want to put their noses at home.

"Who?"

Through the two rows of shelves, a middle-aged man can be vaguely seen, repairing leather shoes behind the shelves.

Carmen walked around the shelves, and when she saw that there was no one, she took the initiative to say, "Are you Mr. Henry, the owner of the shoe store?" ”

"It's me, what are you going to do, repair shoes or buy shoes?"

Seeing that a guest was coming, Henry, wearing an apron, walked out, and while he was sewing a boot in his hand, he looked down at the feet of the two: "Oh, your shoes are broken like this, I don't think you need to repair them, just buy a new pair of shoes." I've got seventy percent of the new leather shoes here, and there's only one patch, which was sold to me by a man who works at a newspaper office, and how about selling it to you for 50 cents? ”

In these days, leather shoes are an absolute luxury, and a good pair of leather shoes usually costs more than one dollar, and even ordinary ones cost seventy or eighty cents.

It's a pity that Henry misthought about the origin of Carmen, and after hearing the shoe store owner admit that he was Henry, Carmen and Tom moved instantly.

"Don't move!"

Tom held the iron thorn against Henry's stomach: "You don't want me to leave a big hole in your stomach, do you?" ”

"Mr. Henry, you'd better listen to him, he's a bit manic, and it takes three veterinarians to hold it down." Carmen stood aside, playing with a dagger made of iron, with a faint smile on her lips.

Only the poor, not the rich, this is the rule of Carmen's gang.

Because the poor are very poor, they don't have much oil and water, and the police don't like to take care of their affairs.

Obviously, Henry, who guards a small shop and repairs shoes for a living, can only be regarded as a relatively wealthy member of the poor, not a wealthy class, and has absolutely no money to bribe the sheriff.

"I didn't offend you, this street is covered by Mr. Anders, I pay protection money every month, you can't do this to me." Henry leaned against the wall, not daring to move, helpless like a little girl.

"Don't scare me with Mr. Anders, we're not here to blackmail you."

Carmen banged on the shelves with a dagger, walked up to Henry, and gestured with a dagger around his neck: "You owe five dollars at the Owl Tavern, and now the tavern owner has entrusted me to get this money back, you don't want to take it back, do you?" ”

"You're the ones who collect the bills! Oops, I think about it, I have long wanted to pay back this money, but I have been busy these days and have not been able to make time. Don't be impulsive, two big brothers, the money is in the box, you can do it yourself. ”

Henry's face ached, he looked at the box where the money was placed, and said softly: "The money is in the box, it is definitely enough for five dollars." ”

"Count you as acquaintances!"

Carmen gave Tom a wink, and while letting Tom control Henry, she took a few quick steps to open the cash box.

In this era, bank savings are just emerging, and many people prefer to hide their money at home and don't particularly trust banks.

As soon as she opened the cash drawer, Carmen found that it was a whole thing, at least seven or eight dollars.

One, two, three...

Carmen tapped carefully, quickly counting out five dollars and putting it in her pocket.

And just as he was about to leave, he suddenly thought that Tom's brother was going to learn bookkeeping, and he was still 140 dollars short of filling the hole.

"!" Carmen cursed and grabbed two more handfuls in the cash box before nodding to Tom.

"Get out!" Tom shoved Henry out of the way and followed Carmen as he slammed the door.

Looking at the backs of the two, Henry hurriedly went to look at the cash box, and when he found that the money in the cash box was less than five dollars, an angry roar came from the shoe store: "You are a robbery, I will go to Mr. Anders to sue you, and Mr. Anders will administer justice for me." ”