Surdak shouted to stop the magic caravan and told the coachman to wait on the side of the road, and he dragged Thea into a sewage-ridden street.

It had just rained yesterday, and the eaves were dripping down, and the water in the culvert next to the street was almost overflowing, and all kinds of debris were floating on it, and the sewage flowed into the moat at the end of the street.

After years of wind, sun and trampling, many of the stone slabs have cracked, and the weeds in the cracks have been removed, but some of the stone crevices and depressions are covered with moss, and the whole street has a rotten musty smell.

Thea was wearing a long skirt with a white lace skirt, in order to avoid the skirt being soiled, she could only use her hands to carry it all the time, revealing a snow-white calf, and she stepped on a pair of crystal slippers on her feet. The legs are always moistened by water mist, so that they avoid dry cracks that can form when they are out of the water for a long time.

She didn't like the environment very much, but she didn't want to wait alone in the carriage, biting her soft lip and following Surdak.

……

A drop of rain fell from the eaves......

Surdak walked in the alley, stretched out his hand to catch the water droplets in the palm of his hand, and the cold water droplets exploded with a 'pop', and the wonderful feeling was very zen.

It was a perfect control of space after the spiritual power spread outward, and he would try to enter that door every night recently, for an exhausting winter swim, and when he woke up in the morning, his whole body and mind would become empty, and then he would feel that his limbs and bones were constantly injected with spiritual power, just like countless streams converging into a big river, and finally returning to the sea of spirit.

The rushing current formed in the sea of spiritual consciousness made Surdak feel that his body became stronger under the washing of this spiritual current, and the sea of spiritual consciousness was also growing.

Walking into the alley, Surdak didn't want to feel anything, but he wanted to see the real life of the people here.

This pigeon-cage-like house, which occupies almost every inch of available space, has been raining lately, the air is full of moisture, the inside of the house is even more humid, the buildings here are very dense, so there is no good ventilation at all, and many of the window sills are drying these blankets and bedding.

Some women sit in front of their homes with their children, perhaps knitting a sweater in their hands, or holding some corners of hard carapace, drawing outlines on them with a template in the shape of a sole, and then scraping the hard carapace out of the shape of the sole with a sharp spatula.

They carry the younger children behind them, and let the older children play in the streets.

When the children saw Surdak and Thea walking side by side from the street, some of them did not dare to step forward, and they hid in the musty smelly houses, only poking their heads out to show their dirty little faces.

The houses here are all shared by several families, and Surdak stepped into a courtyard, and there was a well in this courtyard, and a group of women were washing clothes around the well, looking at the piles of dirty clothes around them, and it was obvious that these women were some washergirls.

A few younger girls were drying their washed clothes in the yard full of ropes, and the two older girls stood by the well and kept fetching water.

Although it was not yet summer, the clothes they wore were very cool.

Surdak wanted to withdraw from the courtyard, but when he turned around, he found that there was a small and gloomy wooden house in the corner of the courtyard gate, which looked like a toilet, and from it came a series of hurried 'smacks', and then a man like a laborer came out of it with his trousers and took it away, and hung his shriveled money bag back on his belt, and walked out of the courtyard without looking back.

A young woman came out of the house after her, adjusting her shoulder straps as she went, crouching beside the well with a wooden basin, washing her laundry alone, and her dirty laundry piled up beside her.

The women around her didn't seem to be willing to deal with her, and although the women didn't speak ill of each other, they had a surging disdain in their eyes.

Surdak walked out of that courtyard, only to see an old woman sitting on the steps at the door squinting in the sun, she squinted her eyes, the child hole looked a little cloudy, in addition to wrinkles on her face, there were some old age spots, it could be seen that she was very old, maybe tomorrow she would never be able to open her eyes again, look at the sun overhead.

Surdak sat down next to the old woman, probably blocking the sun when Surdak passed by just now, the old woman squinted slightly, but her gaze fell on him.

Maybe it's because the aristocratic gown on his body is a little dazzling......

"How long have you been living here?" Surdak asked curiously.

"For many years, when I was a child, I worked here as a washerwoman, and when there was an iron mine in the past, the living conditions of the craftsmen here were great, and there were at least dozens of laundry here, and then the mine finally couldn't dig iron ore anymore, and the steel workshop here also fell into decline, and there were not so many people who came here to wash clothes." The old woman will gasp slightly when she says a few words, but she is very talkative.

Only then did Surdak realize that the courtyard he had just entered was actually a laundry.

At this time, a man pushing a wooden cart walked in from the mouth of the alley, the cart was almost full of dirty clothes, came to the door of the workshop, carried the bundles of dirty clothes into the yard, and after all this was done, he sat down at the door with a tired face and drank water.

Seeing Surdak sitting next to him in a noble dress and chatting with the old woman, he stood up and respectfully said to Surdak, "My lord, what is the matter with you?" ”

Surdak paused and turned to the man and asked, "You are the owner of this laundry?" ”

The man showed a simple smile and said, "What a boss is here!" I'm just the one who goes out to collect clothes, and all the clothes that come are sent here to be washed. ”

"What's business like here?" Surdak looked at the two-wheeled cart that was almost bald, and asked like a man.

The man thought about it seriously for a while, and said with a bitter smile on his dark face: "Usually there are only about two cars, but the situation is much better these days, sometimes you can receive four cars, each car can hold about fifty pieces of clothing, you are a reporter for the Times?" ”

In the end, the man remembered to ask Surdak's identity.

Surdak shook his head and said, "No, I'm just curious about this and want to know about it!" How much do you charge for each garment? ”

"I received these work clothes are more difficult to wash, each slurry washing fee is about two copper plates, to them to settle each piece of copper plate, basically according to the number of settlements, in winter to add some money, in the summer will be cheaper, but ironing has to be counted separately, this laundry is clean, we are a cooperative ......"

The man smiled and glanced at the old woman sitting at the door, and then said to Surdak: "My father used to collect clothes, and now that he is old, he handed over this stall to me...... It's not a great year, but at least it's much better than last year......"

So he took Thea out of the alley......

It wasn't until she reached the wider Main Street that Thea finally let go of her hand on the hem of her skirt and let out a long exhale.

"Is this the slum of Ruyin City? Actually, there is also such a place in the City of the Seven Realms of the Seven Seas......" Thea said, standing in Surdak.

Surdak walked out of the alley, his mood lightened a little.

In fact, in the final analysis, the people here do not have the hardships of the homeless people in the barren land.

Boarding the magic caravan, Surdak said to Thea:

"This is the group of people who live at the bottom of the city, and perhaps there are even more bitter ......"

"For them, life is always full of misfortunes."

"Thea, look at this Ruyin City, at least half of the population of this city is crammed into this filthy and messy area."

"Nearly a third of the population lives in civilian areas"

"The rest of the people are merchants and nobles, but many of the nobles are gradually declining, and it is estimated that it is very difficult for them to maintain even the most basic decency."

"So there are very few nobles who can enjoy a luxurious life, you look at the top mansions in the highest part of the city, there are only more than seventy mansions in the huge urban aristocratic area, but the land area occupied is about the same as this slum."

"Do you know how many people there are in Ruyette City? 330,000 people. ”

"I'm not going to seek more benefits for the nobles who are already living very well, I want to raise the living standards of the residents of Luyint City, so that their lives can be slightly better."

Surdak looked out the window, and the smell of some fried food came from the street, as well as the strong bitterness of oil smoke......

"What is this? Social responsibility? Lake Sea's blue eyes became extremely bright, and there was a look of adoration in them.

Surdak laughed and spread his hands and said, "How can I be so noble? Only when the whole city becomes rich, the overall value of the city of Luynt will continue to increase, and the Marquis of Luthor took over not only the management of the city of Luinte, but also a large number of MacDonnell family properties, although most of these properties have gone bankrupt, but the manor and large tracts of land are still there, and if you want these assets to increase in value, you can't do without the prosperity of Ruynt City......"

Thea followed Surdak's gaze to the crowd of people on the street outside the car window, held the parchment book in her heart with one hand, and asked, "Dark, what are you going to do next?" ”

"I'm going to renovate this slum...... Surdak said.

Pointing to the area in front of him, which was almost close to the steelworks, he said: "If I can, I will tear down all the pigeon cages in them, which are very compact but have a very bad layout. ”

"If you look at the townhouses in Dodan Town, if they are renovated in the future, I plan to design them as well-equipped living areas."

"There must be not only a market around, but also a war college open to civilians......" (To be continued)