Time advances.

Thursday, May 2, 1901

Early morning.

The streets of London are filled with the smell of alcohol, even drowning out the stench of the River Thames.

The newsboy walks the streets and alleys,

"Look at the newspaper! The Mirror! The Mirror! ”

Not many people pay attention to him.

Because Lu's "Lord of the Rings" is serialized every Wednesday, that day's "Mirror" is the most difficult to grab.

In other periods, because the production capacity of printing has increased, there is no longer a situation where supply exceeds demand.

Just then, the door of a bar on the side of the road opened,

Bang –

Several men with a hangover broke out.

Because they drank too much last night, they walked staggeringly, looking like street runners without a serious job.

In fact, they are workers of shipping companies.

A strong man at the head said, "Nansen! Nathan! ”

He turned around and pulled away from the crowd,

"! Call you a boy! Didn't you hear? ”

Nansen was a small man with glasses, desperately covering his mouth at this time, and his face was purple.

A few people around said, "Boss Clay, this kid has never been able to drink." ”

Klenell near Nansen,

"I said how ...... you"

Before the words fell, Nansen's throat came with an inexplicable "rumbling and rumbling" sound,

Then he ran to the corner,

"Gross!"

The smell of sake lees on the streets is strong again.

Klenell's head is full of black lines,

￣□￣｜｜

"Nansen, can you do it? Can you still read newspapers? ”

Nansen propped up the wall with his left hand, stretched out his right hand, made an "OK" gesture, and then retched again to make sure his stomach was empty, and then found a step to sit down, gasping for air.

Klenell waved his hand,

"Go, get him a piece of bread and a bowl of water."

A shipworker rushed into the bar,

After a while, he came out with a wooden tray and handed the food to Nansen.

Nansen wiped his mouth with his sleeve,

As a result, a smell of engine oil poured into the nasal cavity,

He couldn't help it, and once again rushed to the corner next to him, retching violently.

The workers were speechless.

Klenell walked over, slapped Nansen's buttocks, and said, "I've told you a long time ago, let you drink less!" You little accountant, who is our opponent when you drink? ”

Nansen vomited this time and sat back down,

"Yesterday was a rare holiday......

The day before was May 1, which is Labor Day.

Legally, the festival has not yet been written into the explicit terms, but how can workers need the approval of the boss for the holiday?

Beginning on May 1, 1890, workers from Europe and the United States took the lead in taking to the streets, holding grand demonstrations and rallies to fight for their legitimate rights and interests.

Therefore, on this day, the working people of all countries in the world will gather and march to celebrate.

Inadequate laws?

It doesn't matter, they take their own holidays.

Klenell asked, "Are you okay?" ”

Nansen nodded,

"No problem. Put yesterday's ...... Not...... Boss Clay, why didn't you let me read the newspaper yesterday? ”

Klenell explains: "I don't want such a precious newspaper to get wet with beer spilled everywhere because of the chaos that went into it yesterday. ”

As he spoke, he blinked mysteriously,

"I've heard that if you can collect all the serials of The Lord of the Rings, these Mirror Newspapers can sell for a very high price."

Nansen's lips twitched,

"You said you, and you can't read......"

Klenell was complained about but didn't think it was wrong, and said with a smile: "I'm not completely illiterate. For example, I know all the 'beer', 'bread', 'flour', and 'potatoes' that I use when ordering food, so I can still read the Mirror. ”

He flipped through the newspaper and found a page of the People's Livelihood Edition,

There are various charts on it.

Klenell asked, "Look here, are you talking about a change in the price of flour?" ”

Nansen nodded,

"Yes."

This is where the Mirror is great.

Even for people who are not literate, some pages that are related to people's livelihood can still be read through very smoothly because the editors use very simple words.

And, taking a step back, even if you really can't understand most of the words, there are still those bar charts, line charts, readers just need to know the keywords.

Klenell said: "Isn't there a one called the Daily Times recently? Far worse than the Mirror. ”

Nansen echoed with an "um",

At this time, he felt much better, so he took the newspaper,

For a while, all the people around him gathered around.

Every Wednesday, the workers point to Nansen reading The Lord of the Rings.

Nansen cleared his throat,

"Ah, this chapter is called Many Meetings, and it's the first chapter of the second volume. Frodo wakes up and finds himself in bed. At first he thought he was done, and he had a long, unpleasant dream that lingered on the edge ......of his memory.

For a while, the workers were quiet,

They were all listening quietly.

The sun slowly rose, and gradually housewives went out to shop, holding cloth bags full of potatoes and flour in their hands,

The streets are in the middle of noisy and quiet.

At this point, Nansen stopped.

Klenell asked, "What's wrong?" ”

Nansen replied, "I came across a word that wasn't very certain. The spelling is, C-O-N-Q-U-E-R-E-D, and if I spell it myself, the result is 'conquered'. ”

Someone said, "'Conquered'? Conquest ~ Take a look at the context. ”

Nansen hesitated for a moment,

"I'll ask someone."

After saying that, he turned his head and rushed into the bar.

Although Nansen is literate, he is not solid, and some of the infrequently used ones can only guess the pronunciation through spelling, and then understand the meaning of the word through pronunciation.

It's very common to ask people halfway.

A group of shipworkers immediately became idle, clinging to the wall and watching the early pedestrians.

Someone asked, "Boss Clay, how long do you have to go to work?" ”

Klenell looks at the sky,

"It's early~"

Yesterday was a hi day, and I don't know the years.

The workers were staring at each other and bored, and someone asked, "You say, who among the Fellowship of the Ring is the most powerful?" ”

The question is similar to "Who is the strongest in Jin Yong's pen?" It's very discussed.

Discussion abounded,

"Needless to say? It must be Gandalf! With a wave of your hand, you can push powerful enemies back. ”

"Why do I think it's a stride?"

"You say Aragorn...... Why? ”

"Aragon was commissioned by Gandalf to join the team. Moreover, in this kind of situation, the more you play later, the stronger your combat effectiveness becomes. ”

"Then I also said that Elrond can use Veya from the Elven Three Rings to release the flood."

"Elrond isn't the Fellowship of the Ring!"

……

A bunch of people quarreled.

Klenell was speechless and said, "I don't know who is the strongest in it, but I know that it must be Frodo's best." ”

As soon as these words came out, everyone laughed,

They start discussing why Lu wants Frodo to be the main character.

Klenell shrugged his shoulders, with an expression of "children can't be taught", and said, "Look at you, tell you not to study hard!" Anyone who has read The Hobbit knows why Frodo is the main character. ”

The shipwrights were speechless,

Someone whispered: "This is said as if Boss Clay likes to read." ”

Klenell didn't bother to refute,

He walked to the side and waved to a newsboy,

"Boy, come here!"

The newsboys are all slippery loaches, and they are still very scared when they see people serving dishes and meet a big man like Klenell.

He approached timidly,

"Sir?"

Klenell couldn't help but laugh,

'Hahaha!' Sir'? I like it! Give me a copy of the Mirror. ”

"The Mirror" sells best,

Therefore, the newsboy also buys the most, and he can draw it as soon as he draws it.

Klenell reads the newspaper and doesn't read the words, only the pictures, so it quickly turned over a big difference.

But by the time of the last edition, he was stunned.

He asked the newsboy, "What is this?" ”

How can the newsboy understand this,

"I ...... I don't know. ”

After saying that, he reminded in a whisper: "Sir, the Mirror is 3 pence a copy." ”

Klenell looked at the last page, and the drawings were still very good, and he felt that it didn't matter if he paid for them, so he took a coin from his body, handed it to the newsboy, and returned to the bar door with the newspaper in his hand, curious to see what the pictures were.

Unexpectedly, these paintings turned out to be a story:

A little girl is fostered in the home of a male elder,

After the death of the elder, the girl lived a life of discrimination and abuse, and the widow of the male elder saw the girl as a thorn in her side and isolated her from her own children.

Finally, the girl completely exploded after being bullied again,

She made a big fuss and made the contradictions and confrontations public until she was sent away.

……

This is where the story breaks.

When Klenell finished reading, his heart was empty, and he whispered, "This girl knows how to resist better than many old men." Hum hum ......"

Someone next to him asked, "What big man?" ”

Klenell looked up,

At this time, he realized that Nansen had returned, and a group of workers were intermission after "Many Meetings" had just finished.

Klenell didn't finish the book, and he didn't know whether to regret it or not.

He thinks that "The Lord of the Rings" is good, but the paintings he looks at are also very good.

He stepped forward,

"Nansen, look at it."

Nansen's wine is not fully awake, and he is closing his eyes to recuperate,

He opened his eyes and looked at each other dimly,

"What's wrong, Boss Clay?"

Klenell handed the newspaper over and said, "Look at this, what are these pictures?" ”

99.9% of what is now published in newspapers is a single comic, so Klenell has no concept of comics, so he will use "these pictures" to describe it.

When Nansen saw the comics, he was a little disdainful at first,

But after reading a few of them, he couldn't help but become serious, and whispered: "This is Jane Eyre......"

Klenell was confused,

"What? What is it? That sounds like a human name......"

"It's a person's name, but it's also the title of a book," Nansen said. "Jane Eyre" is a novel written by the female writer Charlotte Brontë, and it is said to be her autobiography. This novel is a masterpiece that will go down in history. ”

Klenell: !!

"You mean, I read a famous book before I knew it?"

Nansen scratched his head,

Can this method be considered "reading"?

Can't answer at all.

He asked, "Boss Clay, you don't know ...... You don't know much, can you read well? ”

Klenell nodded, repeating his understanding.

"That's pretty much right," Nansen said. The little girl's name was Jane Eyre, and the male relative in it was her uncle, Mr. Reed, and the bully was her aunt, Mrs. Reed. ”

Klenell was curious,

"Have you read Jane Eyre?"

Nansen shook his head,

"Not really. But I've heard the synopsis of the story a bit, so I know the characters in it. ”

I didn't read it, mainly because Brontë was a female writer.

In this era of London, women in all walks of life are still treated with colored glasses.

But at this moment, Nansen doesn't think so anymore,

He entered the shipping company as an accountant, but he did a lot of hard work, so he was fully aware that he was just a mud leg, and he had no position to look up to himself and look down on others.

"The paintings are really good," he said. ”

Klenell nodded,

"It's fun to be able to read a famous book without knowing a basket of big characters."

He turned back to greet his fellow workers,

"Hey! You're all coming and seeing! ”

A crowd of workers gathered around, all curiously looking at the Jane Eyre comics.

After a while, someone scolded: "Nima! This old witch makes people want to beat up when they look at it. If I were this girl, I would definitely drown the old witch in the toilet with my backhand and let her eat her own! ”

These words immediately resonated with the rest of the people,

Someone muttered, "Damn it!" But I still envy her, she has the opportunity to study. ”

The crowd fell silent for a moment.

At present, although education in the United Kingdom has begun to be popularized, many situations are only superficial.

Otherwise, how could there be so many newsboys on the street?

Someone asked, "Nansen, what book is this girl reading?" ”

Nansen squinted and looked at it for a long time,

"I can't see it! Printing doesn't work. ”

The crowd made a voice of regret.

Klenell said, "Well, don't expect anything from a little girl. What else do you say 'drowning in the toilet'? It would be nice to have the courage to resist. ”

With that, he pushed Nansen's shoulder,

"Tell them about Jane Eyre."

The words were indistinct, and the other workers thought that Klenell was going to instruct Nansen to spoil them, so they quickly blocked their ears.

Klenell: "......"

He shouted at the top of his voice, "What are you doing? I'm just going to let Nansen tell you what Jane Eyre is! ”

Nansen, who was on the side, understood and repeated what he had just said: "Jane Eyre is a novel written by the female writer Charlotte Brontë, and it is said that it is also her autobiography. This novel is a masterpiece that will go down in history. ”

Everyone was stunned,

After a while, there was a lot of talking,

"This is a famous book?"

"I'm grass!"

"We can even read famous books!"

……

They were shocked.

At this time, someone asked, "Nansen, which book is more powerful than Jane Eyre or The Lord of the Rings?" ”

Nansen scratched his head in embarrassment and replied, "This ...... How can this be compared? All I can say is that both books are great, but they are not in the same direction. From a reading point of view, Jane Eyre is far less popular than The Lord of the Rings. ”

Klenell said, "How is that possible? Obviously, "Jane Eyre" is more popular. You see, we can't read much, but we can understand. ”

Nansen was speechless for a moment,

After a long time, he said, "Because the form is different." ”

He pointed to the cartoons,

"Pictures are definitely easier to read than words. One day in the future, maybe "The Lord of the Rings" will become like this~"

Klenell couldn't help but be encouraged,

"That's great! I've wanted to see what the Ringwraith looks like. ”

The conversation came back to The Lord of the Rings.

Nansen asked: "There are still two chapters in the later series, do you want to listen to them?" ”

Of course, the workers want to listen, and the chickens nod their heads like pecks of rice,

But there are still a few people out of the ranks,

"I'll buy a copy of today's Mirror and go back and take a good look at that Jane Eyre."

Others chimed in,

"Give me a copy too!"

"Me too!"

"And me!"

……

(End of chapter)