I thought for a moment, and then said politely, "I am the same, a pioneer of nature and psychology, Master Augustus. After saying that, I hid back behind my mother, because I knew that normal people would laugh "giggle" at this time.

Sure enough, Augustus was amused by my answer, but he was not as exaggerated as I thought, and he said to me, "I'm not a master yet. Then he paused and said to us politely, "Of course, I'm not a pioneer, I'm an old customer, so there's no need to say polite words, please come in!" He then opened the door and invited us inside.

The door closed behind us, and the noise outside was silenced, and a young clerk knelt in front of us with a towel, busy. After only a few moments, our shoes were clean, as if we had never walked those muddy roads.

Dressed in a wig, tied back with a black ribbon, and wearing a tight tunic and white breeches, Augustus' assistant looked like a mix of aristocrats and valets, which is exactly how the shoe shop saw his social status.

Augustus's favorite thing to say is that he has the power to make men and women feel more gorgeous, and that's the most powerful power a man plus a psychologist he has. But for him, my mother has always been a mystery, because in front of her, his power cannot be exerted.

I know why, because other women buy shoes to satisfy their vanity, while mothers only love their beauty, and Augustus didn't know this at all. Therefore, every time we visited, he would go in the wrong direction in vain, and as a psychologist, he never figured out this problem and went in the wrong direction, which I said I didn't understand.

"Look, Jaceline." Augustus said, then strode behind us to the side of the shoe cabinet and pulled out a pair of leather shoes adorned with buckles, "Every time a lady walks through this door, her knees go weak just to see this delicate new piece, but I think only your ankle fits it perfectly." ”

"These are too lightly picked, Augustus." Mother replied to him with a smile, then waved her hand imperiously and walked to the other shelves, I glanced at Augustus's assistant, and he followed with an incomprehensible look.

She picked it up with full energy, and that unquestionable momentum made Augustus a little unsure of what was 'wrong'. And I, as his constant companion, saw the change in his temperament when he chose his shoes.

My mother put on a pair of shoes, admired her beautiful ankles in the mirror, listened to Augustus' nonsense, and smiled at me again. In my opinion, every pair of shoes is an unfinished work of art, and my mother's feet are the finishing touch.

We picked out our shoes, our mother made arrangements for payment and delivery, and then we walked out of the store, and Augustus led us down the street......

Our coachman was nowhere to be found, and our carriage was gone......

"Jaceline?" Augustus said, frowning with concern, and I could feel the stiffness of her body as she lifted her chin and scanned the streets around us.

"Nothing to worry about, Augustus." "It seems that my carriage is a little late," she said, "and that's all, we'll take in the sights and sounds of Whartont all over again, while we wait for its return, Augustus, if you're in a hurry." ”

It was getting dark, and it was cold, and the mist made the evening air heavy. On the other hand, Augustus has always been with us.

"That's not going to work, Jaceline, you can't wait on the street any longer." Augustus said with a serious expression.

The mother looked at him with a smirk: "Augustus, are you here to maintain my dignity?" ”

"It's dangerous." He leaned in and whispered, a look of fear on his face, "And there are those people around." ”

"Yes, Augustus." "They're just people," said the mother, "all right, please go back to the shop, your next customer and I value spending quality time with Wharton's most attentive shoe store, and if we go back to the shop and wait for the coachman, she will certainly not be happy." ”

Augustus knew that my mother was not the kind of woman who could be easily convinced, and that she was not wrong about the next customer, so he bowed silently, "Then Jaceline, please be careful!" And just like that, he said goodbye to us and went back to the shop, leaving us alone in the street.

The surrounding stalls had been removed, and a hazy mist enveloped passers-by.

I grabbed my mother's hand, "Mom? ”

"Don't worry, Luna." Mother said, her chin raised, "We can hire a car to go to the station." ”

"Mom, aren't we going back to our home in the Central District?"

"Not back." The mother thought and bit her lip, "I guess I'd rather go back to Sovao, you don't have anything left, right?" ”

"Nope." I replied.

So, she led me down the street, looking nervous and wary, out of harmony with our long dresses. She pulled her makeup case out of her handbag, stopped by the window of a shop, and checked her makeup against the glass.

As we walked this way, she didn't forget to take the opportunity to educate me, "Keep your face blank, Luna, remember not to show your true feelings sometimes, especially your nervousness, not to appear in a hurry, to maintain an outward calm, to stay calm, to stay calm." ”

At this time, the flow of people became sparse, "There are horse-drawn carriages in the square again, and we can get there quickly, but first you have to remember that you can't react after hearing it, and you can't turn back, understand?" ”

"Got it, Mom."

"It's good, we're being followed, he's been following us since we left the shoe store, a man in a suit with a colored cape."

"Why? That person is going to stalk us? I asked in a whisper.

"That's a very good question, and that's what I'm trying to figure out, so let's get going."

We stopped and stared at the window of the same shop, "I believe our tail is gone." "That's not a good thing, my dear," said the mother, "and I think he may have gone around ahead of us and was about to intercept us in the square, so we had to go the other way." ”

My mother took me by the hand and carried me off the road, first up a trail and then onto a long alley, which was dimly lit by lanterns hanging at both ends of the alley.

As we walked to the general level, a figure stepped out of the thick fog in front of us, and the scattered thick fog beat against the smooth walls on both sides, and I realized that my mother was wrong......

The fog slowly cleared, and in front of us stood a man with a thin face and almost white hair, dressed in a black cape and top hat, with a wrinkled collar of his shirt exposed, looking like a fashionable and impoverished doctor.

He held a handbag with a red cross on it that quickly betrayed his identity, and he placed it on the ground and opened it with one hand, keeping his eyes on us. He pulled out a long, elongated, arc-shaped object from within.

Then he smiled, pulled the mask around his neck to cover his mouth, and pulled the dagger out of its sheath, the blade glistening ominously in the dimness.

"Luna, hold on to me." Mother whispered, "It's going to be fine, take out your weapon slowly." ”

I took her word for it and hid behind my mother, and I firmly believed in her words, especially when I saw her face the black wolf, and there was good reason to believe her.

Even so, fear gnawed at my heart.

"What do you do, sir?" She asked calmly.

The man did not answer.

"Okay, if there's nothing to do, let's go back the way we came." Mother said loudly, then took my hand, intending to leave.

At the entrance of the alley, a shadow flickered, and a second shadow appeared in the orange light, and that light appeared directly above the shadow, it was a maglev oil lamp, judging by the speed of his steps, he was just a passerby. Despite this, the mother stopped.

"Sir." The mother cautiously said to the passer-by, "Could you please let this gentleman who is pestering us leave?" ”

Without saying a word, the passerby walked straight to us, and he reached into the air to collect the magosm lamp. My mother said, "Sir......" and I wondered why the man put away the oil lamp, and then I noticed that he took the oil lamp back in his hand and pressed the button directly above it, and the oil lamp was extinguished.

The entrance to the alley was plunged into darkness again, "Luna, close your eyes for a moment, then open them again, so you can get used to the darkness right away," my mother said, turning to me.

When his eyes had adjusted to the darkness, I saw him reach into his coat and take out something, a scythe, and he took a big step forward.

The mother turned her head and looked at the doctor.

"What is the matter with you, sir?" She asked the doctor.

In reply, the doctor pulled out another sharp blade from his pocket, which appeared to be a scalpel.

"You can't be!" My mother's tone was a little surprised, but she kept her composure, and she beckoned me with her hand to step back The doctor walked away from us, and although I didn't know who it was, I still felt that this person was definitely not an idle person.

As for the passerby, he was so close that we could see his pursed lips and slitted eyes.

Mother jerked her head back and saw the doctor with two sharp blades at her side, and he was still smiling, enjoying the moment, at least trying to give us that impression.

But the mother was unmoved, and as if she had ignored the charm of Augustus, her next move was as graceful as a dance step. She took a step, and then I heard a click, and a short knife appeared in her hand, and it all happened in the blink of an eye.

One second, we were a pair of unarmed mothers and daughters in a dimly lit alley, but the next second, the situation was different: my mother was wielding a short knife to protect me, and judging by the way she drew the knife and the way she raised it, she clearly knew how to use it.

The doctor's eyes flashed, and the passers-by behind him stopped, and both hesitated at the same time.

My mother was holding a knife in her right hand and facing the doctor sideways, which surprised me a little because she was left-handed.

The doctor came forward, and at the same time my mother changed the dagger from her right hand to her left, then leaned down and stretched out her right hand to maintain her balance, and her left hand quickly swept over the doctor's chest, and the latter's shirt showed a neat wound, as a tailor was familiar with cutting through the cloth, and his garment was immediately soaked with blood.

He was wounded, but not very severe, and he quickly retreated, his mother's striking skills clearly taking him by surprise. He slowly stepped back sideways, as if trying to give up.

However, the battle has only just begun.