A labor agent tugged at Müller's neck and looked him up and down, even cracking his mouth to check his teeth, as if he were picking a mule at a livestock market.

"Want to join a gang?"

"I don't want to be in trouble."

"Hmph, coward, then go sell coolies, what kind of craft do you know?"

"No, but I can endure hardship, and it doesn't matter if the pay is lower, just eat and live."

"I don't have the ability, I ask for a lot of fucking things, do you have a criminal record?"

"Nope."

"Lie!" The labor black agent patted him on the neck and said:

"You have dice and arrows tattooed on the back of your neck, no, it's not tattooed, it's burned with a soldering iron, this is the punishment for gambling cheating being discovered, don't think I don't understand, we're old rivers and lakes."

"It's been a long time ago, and I've stopped gambling for a long time."

"Hmph, bet on the dog...... It's no wonder that it can be changed! I know a guy who borrowed money from every relative and friend, and almost ruined the whole family in order to pay off his gambling debts. ”

Mueller was expressionless and continued to repeat his request: "Sir, I want to find a job that takes care of food and housing, and it doesn't matter if the pay is low. ”

"Do you dare to ask for compensation? What wishful thinking! It's the job that picks you, not the job, remember that, boy! Don't think I don't know, you were kicked out of the shelter, or you wouldn't have come to me on the black market for labor! ”

Mueller's face was as dead as ashes, and he did not reply, which was considered a tacit acquiescence.

"Did I say yes? The shelter won't easily chase away the homeless, tell me, did you steal something or did you get into a fight? ”

"Yes, the fight was forced to happen, and there was a bastard who bullied me, as for stealing things...... The shelter manager said I stole soap from the bathroom, but I really didn't, I was wronged! ”

"No one will care about your grievances, boy, don't ask too much, tell you, now our Solan Kingdom lacks everything, the only thing that is not lacking is people!"

This sentence is crueler than any words,

Human life is so cheap, dreams and dignity have long been shattered, and Mill's mood has been extremely low;

"Okay...... Sir, just eat and live, and the reward ...... I don't want it. ”

"That's pretty much it." The labor agent patted him on the shoulder: "Press your fingerprint at the end of the contract, and then report to the factory, check your health and start work." ”

When he left the underground labor market, Mueller held a crumpled labor contract in his hand.

The cold wind was as cold as a knife, and he tightened the collar of his military coat; With his hands in his pockets, his mind full of unrealistic fantasies,

The shadow of his fiancée made him uneasy, his eyes were red and swollen, and even though he had all kinds of grievances and complaints in his heart, no one wanted to listen to him.

(Who cares if a fish cries in the water?)

I promised Miss Nivea...... You have to live, endure humiliation. ）

With this in mind, Müller raised his elbow to wipe the corner of his eye and walked in the direction of the factory.

The reality was even worse than he had imagined, every job in the factory was tiring, and it was only during lunch and chatting with his co-workers that Müller had just learned about his current situation;

The crumpled labor contract is, to put it bluntly, a deed of sale.

Muller did not work as a regular employee, but as a temporary worker dispatched by a labor company, and was not protected by the Solan government's labor laws.

The pitiful salary paid to him by the factory went into the pockets of the intermediaries, and to make matters worse, there would be no work-related injury compensation if he was not a regular employee, and there was no one to help collect the body when he died in molten steel.

The newcomers were assigned to Plant No. 1, the area with a high incidence of accidents, where he was engaged in heavy and dangerous manual labor, 10 to 12 hours a day, sweating profusely and without days off.

The only good news was that there were coal-burning stoves in the dormitories, but the good times didn't last long.

During his rounds, the owner of the steel mill felt that the coal was depleting too quickly, and instructed the dormitory manager to reduce the supply of coal in each dormitory to reduce the cost.

The owner of the steel mill is a middle-aged man with monocles, a new bourgeois nouveau riche, and even the puppy led by his wife wears a sweater, but he claims that the business is difficult and the profits are low, and he wants to lower the food standards in the canteen.

After a few days, workers quit or voluntarily quit due to illness or voluntarily left their jobs, and the rest were homeless and could only endure in silence.

Muller was also exhausted, he felt that this day was tired and breathless, in addition to being oppressed by the factory owner, he also had to be skinned by the labor agency, it was too painful, it was better to wander on the street and freeze to death.

The gangs of bandits in the slums kill people without blinking, and even those who are the most heinous Jiang Yang thieves commit crimes to the extent that Muller's imagination can reach.

But the well-dressed gentlemen did things far beyond Müller's imagination, such as Mr. Pegin Marwatt, the owner of the factory.

Mueller saw the boss enter the office with several underage poor girls, and then lock it, and half an hour later, the girls came out in rags and crying, holding the bread and jam given to them by the factory owner.

The girl's parents didn't care at all, they just reached out and took the bread from their daughter's hand and walked away without looking back.

That morning, Muller went to work with his fellow dorm workers.

The steel workers looked numb, like walking corpses, and emerged from the dormitory building across two streets to the factory area.

Mueller kept his head down as usual, looking for cigarette butts all over the ground, and today he was lucky enough to pick up a complete cigarette.

"Bang dang! Oops! He covered his head, and it turned out that he had bumped into a notice board with the slogan:

"Smoking is bad for your health." A literate co-worker reads the sermon;

"Brother, smoke less, you've been coughing lately."

"Fuck, isn't it lung cancer, I don't care, I'll die of exhaustion if I don't live to be forty years old.

"Haha, that's right!" The workers laughed and walked away.

Müller felt in his pockets, but unfortunately forgot to bring the flint, so he walked towards a pair of fashionably dressed young men and women, and said to the man:

"Hello, sir, can you borrow a fire?"

The gentleman in front of him was dressed in a leather coat, and his cloak was of pure gold, and he looked like a rich man, but he did not treat the steelworkers with contempt and rudeness like the nouveau riche, but said quite politely:

"Sorry, friend, I don't smoke, and of course I don't have flint, you can try your luck with other people."

"Oh, that's okay." Müller turned to leave, but was stopped by the gentleman.

"Wait, you're a steelworker, aren't you?"

"Yes."

"Great work! Restoring Solan's prosperity requires the efforts of each and every one of us! Come on! Buddy! ”

This gentleman did not even dislike Müller's cold, dirty hands,

He took off his leather gloves and shook hands with Müller goodbye, then said to the woman beside him, "Honey, I'll go to the post office to do some business, and you can go to the nearby store." ”

"Got it." The woman took off her hood to breathe, revealing beautiful curly blond hair and a pair of charming light blue eyes.

Müller froze in place;

"Ni...... Miss Nivea! ”

"Oh...... Oh my God! The woman covered her mouth, and her eyes were about to pop out;

"Yes...... It's you? ”

"It's me...... Müller Arendale Dietrich ......"

The woman looked at the poor man in front of her distressedly,

The steelworker was wrapped in a torn coat, his ears were purple from the cold, his cheeks were full of scars, his neck had not been washed for a long time, it had become dark brown, and the torn cotton pants that had been opened gave off a smell of urine.

But just a short time ago, this person was a handsome guy dressed fashionably, with a wealthy family, and was her fiancé.

"Muller...... Oh, my God......

You...... How did you...... Downfall became ...... What does this look like? With your ability, you can find a clerical job in the office......"

"I have a criminal record, so I can only do some black work secretly......"

Müller was concerned about something else: "Miss Nivea...... Tell me...... The gentleman just now...... He...... Who are you? ”

The woman blushed and lowered her head:

"It's my husband...... Baron Albert Gutmann,

Also, please stop calling me Miss Nivea, call me Baroness Gutmann......"