As the bell rang, the sawmill on the banks of the Volga stopped its day's work, and the workers put down their tools, dragged their tired bodies, and walked to the door to receive their day's pay.

"How is it only 8 kopecks?!" The first worker to receive his salary screamed: "Yesterday there were 10 kopecks!" The manager in charge of the daily payroll said impatiently: "8 kopecks is good, but the factory next door has dropped to 6 kopecks!" It was the boss who saw your hard work and kindly added 2 kopecks! ”

"Do I have to thank him for it?!" The workers in the queue suddenly made a fuss, the front team complained, and the back team did not know what was happening.

But.... The fact that the daily wage was only 8 kopecks spread very quickly.

"I'm quitting! This money is not even enough to buy potatoes! "Some workers threw their hats on the ground and left the factory in a rage.

With him taking the lead, soon the workers united, and they all said that they would not come tomorrow and wanted to increase their salaries, but the manager sneered and his eyes were full of sarcasm.

As if to counter the indignation of the workers, the manager motioned for the team behind him to wait, got up and walked outside the door, shouting, "Recruit workers!" 6 kopecks a day! "There was a brief silence, crouching on both sides of the street, people who had not found work for days, frantically pouring up, crowding the manager, waving their arms, hoping to be elected.

"See?" The manager looked at the workers who had just resigned, grinned and mocked: "You don't do it, some people do it." ”

"Why are you working for a blackhearted boss?!" Some workers shouted: "For 8 kopecks a day, you can't buy even half a pound of potatoes!" No one answered him, as if the condescending tone failed to sympathize with the troubles of the unemployed.

Even if a day's salary can only buy a small bag of potatoes, but that is food, the former serfs who have been cornered can only endure the exploitation of the black-hearted bosses, they still have children at home, have wives, and do not eat.... You can't survive.

"Is anyone else resigning?" While recording the names of the new workers, the manager squinted at the team behind him: "If you want to resign, hurry up, I will recruit people together, save trouble." "The noisy ranks gradually quieted down, and no one was going to resign.

8 kopecks is not much, but you can buy some food, and many times, often a potato can survive.

Waison was also a sawmill worker, he was physically strong, he looked thin, but he was physically energetic, and he was engaged in the most tiring carrying work.

After a busy day, sweat soaked his clothes, and after the air dried, a circle of white salt spots appeared on his clothes.

Seeing that the job was so sought-after, standing at the back of the crowd, he silently retracted his thighs that stepped out of the line.

After receiving his salary, Wyson clutched his coins tightly and ran to the stall across from the factory, where he picked out a few small potatoes that were in good condition, less than half a pound, but which had already cost him a day's wages.

In order not to let his pockets bulge, he put the small potatoes in several pockets, avoided the policemen patrolling the streets, and walked quickly back to his home in the slum.

"Wyson?" Hearing the sound of the door opening, a woman with a slightly haggard face walked out, and when she saw her husband, she was obviously relieved: "It's good for you to come back, Mr. Mozeli next door was arrested by the secret police today, it's terrible..... They beat him to the point where he couldn't be..."

"How's Madame Mozeley? What about their daughters? Closing the door, Waison took out the potatoes from his pocket one by one and placed them on the cabinet at the door.

"Their mother and daughter are fine, but they don't seem to have any food... Are prices rising again? The woman who noticed a decrease in the number of potatoes asked.

"No... It's because the salary has dropped, and now it's only 8 kopecks a day, and I don't know what will happen in the future...."Waisen lowered his head, not daring to look into the woman's eyes.

"Waisen...."The woman hugged her husband, kissed him on the cheek, and whispered, "Thank you, it's okay to have less food, I'll eat less." Wyson clenched his fists and gritted his teeth, his chest feeling as uncomfortable as if it was about to explode.

"Don't do anything dangerous, those secret police are brutal." The woman let go of her husband and walked towards the kitchen with the potatoes, suddenly remembered something, turned back and asked, "Let's bring some food to Mrs. Mozeli later, I don't know when Mr. Mozeli will come back.... They are all neighbors, and if they can, they can help. ”

"Hmm." Waison nodded, even if there was not much food, he was willing to share it with orphans and widows who had no food, watching the other party starve to death was obviously not what a man should do.

At dinner time, there were three small potatoes on Waisen's plate, only one on the woman's plate, no butter, no jam, and a pinch of salt on the side of the plate was the condiment for boiled potatoes.

Wyson picked up a potato and put it on his wife's plate, swallowing his own food in two bites, and although it didn't taste good, the hunger in his stomach eased a little.

When night fell, and there were fewer people on the street, Waison was planning to go to bed early to reduce physical exertion.... There was a sudden knock on the door.

His heart tightened, and Waison looked at the door with some fear, and asked in a trembling voice, "Who?!" ”

"Scott King!"

"I don't know you!"

"I don't know each other either, but as soon as you open the door, won't we know each other?" A man's voice came from outside the door: "Don't worry, I'm not a bad person!" "What bad guy would say he's a bad guy?

Waison glanced at his wife, who was a little worried, but decided not to open the door.

"Let's go!"

"I'm here to deliver food! Free food! Mrs. Mozeley has received it! Waison's stomach rumbled at the sight of the food, and he smacked his tasteless mouth, hesitated to the door, and took the handle.

Click.... A thin, swarthy man appeared in his field of vision, carrying a sack on his back, heavy and full of round things.

"Can I go in?" Scottkin asked politely. Seeing that the other party didn't seem to have any malicious intent, Waison let go of his body: ".... Come on in. With a long stumble on his back, Scottkin walked into the house, looked around, and went straight into the kitchen, where Waison and his wife followed.

Untying the ropes, Scottkin opened the sack, took out four palm-sized potatoes from it, and put them on the table: "I didn't lie to you! Free food! ”

"You...," the woman wondered, "why are you sending us food?" ”

"What about the gift of the Church of Truth! Every poor person has it! ”

"Church of Truth?!" The woman's eyes widened suddenly, and she grabbed her husband's arm: "Mr. Mozeli was arrested by the secret police because he joined the Church of Truth!" We don't want their food! Wyson, let him out! Wyson stared straight at the four potatoes bigger than his palms, swallowed, and said, "What do you want to do?" ”

"Don't be nervous, the Church of Truth is not a bad person!" Scottkin took off his hat and said with a smile, "Would you like to hear my story?" After listening to this, if you still let me go, I will leave immediately. Four potatoes bigger than a palm, at market prices, were worth three or four days' wages for Waison, and he hesitated, but decided to hear what Scottkin had to say.

"I used to be a serf, working for Baron Blago, although he collected a lot of taxes, but at least there was no starvation, and he was a good aristocratic lord..."Sitting on the wooden chair, Scottkin slowly recounted: "Later, the king abolished serfdom, and I became a free man all of a sudden, but I had no skills at all, I could only farm, and for food, I could only go to Saratov to find a job, but as you all saw, there was no boss who liked a dark, thin, short worker like me, So I couldn't find a job at all.... Just when I was at my wit's end, it was Father Goncharov who saved me. ”

"He gave me food, gave me a job, and offered me to be a temporary friar of the Church of Truth, I have never met anyone like him, there are many people who are more suitable for this job than me, but Father Goncharov does not discriminate against me because I am short..."Scottkin looked at the woman standing next to Wyson: "This lady, Mr. Mozeli is a good comrade, he is indeed a believer in the Church of Truth, but we are not evil beings as you think, everything we do, It's all for the sake of people at the bottom like you and us. ”

"Mr. Mozeli was arrested by the secret police because he started a riot!" The woman said.

"That's right, according to Father Goncharov, the secret police were formed because the Church of Wisdom and the nobles targeted the Church of Truth, and they didn't want to see the Church of Truth grow and grow, because the doctrines propagated by the Church of Truth touched their interests." Scottkin quietly looked at the Wysons,

"This is our chance for the people at the bottom to turn over, and the Church of Truth is willing to fight for the power of our people at the bottom, which has never happened before! Those aristocratic lords and factory owners don't treat us as human beings, and want to try their best to oppress and exploit us, shouldn't we resist? ”

"But those who resisted were arrested!"

"They can't catch it! As long as we are united! Scottkin said: "The Romanov kingdom has a population of 150 million, and the nobles are only tens of thousands!" If we unite against them, they are not our opponents at all! Do you know about the three bills introduced by Her Royal Highness Katerina at the Senate Assembly? Waison shook his head, he knew Katerina Romanov, the hero who helped the kingdom repel the invaders, Grand Duke Mosk, but he didn't know about the three bills.... He doesn't read newspapers because he can't read.

"The Church of Truth supports Her Highness Katerina!" Scottkin exclaimed, "The three bills are the bills drafted by Father Mavi, the leader of the Church of Truth!" Not only land reform is mentioned above, but also various things that are beneficial to the people at the bottom, such as civil rights and personal safety! ”

"If the three bills proposed by Father Mavi are realized, then everyone will have a field to cultivate, everyone will be able to find a job, and we will no longer have to worry about being oppressed and exploited by the nobles and factory owners! The Church of Truth will be our biggest supporter! Seeing that Wyson was a little dazed, Scottkin realized that what he said was too big, he thought about it, and put it another way: "If the Church of Truth can achieve the final victory, workers like Mr. Wyson can receive at least 40 kopecks a day, and your children can also get a good free education, only have to work five days a week, and can stay at home with their wives on Saturdays and Sundays, and they don't have to worry about overtime!" Now Waison understood, and he felt like a dream: "Really? ”

"Of course it's true! If you get injured at work, your boss will have to pay you a lot of money! Because these are the powers we are supposed to have! The Church of Truth is just trying to help us fight for that! ”

"What's in it for the Church of Truth?" The woman wondered.

"Father Mavi is a great man, he seeks the truth, he wants to create a better world, this is his ideal, and now he is about to succeed, if you are willing to support the Church of Truth, Mr. Wyson."

"As long as I support Father Mavi.... Will his ideals be realized? ”

"You support it, I support it, can't everyone support it?" Scottkin shrugged: "We should know what we deserve, if someone has taken what is supposed to be ours, then we should also take up arms and take it back!" After saying that, Scottkin found that a long time had passed, he got up, put on his hat, tied up the sack, and said to the Waisons, who were still thinking: "You should not be indifferent, today the secret police have taken Mr. Mozeli, and no one has spoken for him, and tomorrow the secret police have taken me, and no one has spoken for me, so one day, when the secret police knock on your door, who else can help you?" ”

"We have to stick together and help each other, that's the only way...."

"In order to create a beautiful era that belongs to us!"