Chapter 11 Though impoverished, he remained steadfast, harboring a distant dream...

"Cough cough cough...Mom..."

Little Fimi didn't have a very pleasant day.

There is no sun in the Grey River, so there will be no warm light to wake the sleeping children, but that's alright.

"Are you even going to live like this anymore! You damned drunkard—"

Because the neighbors' shrill shouts would wake little Finni right on time, he never worried about oversleeping.

But I didn't break anything today, so I guess that's... progress.

Fimi was a little happy.

Actually, it's okay to wake up late. After all, every day consists of the same thing: getting up, getting dressed, eating breakfast, waiting for mom to come home, eating lunch, waiting for mom to come home, eating dinner, mom coming home, hugging her, and telling her that mom has worked hard.

Always waiting, always lonely, but Fimini never blames her mother, because her mother has already tried so hard.

Moreover, there's Uncle Watch who's sick, Sister Lantern, and the other wind-up friends all keeping Fimini company, so Fimini isn't lonely at all!

We must fix them today!

The blond boy sat up abruptly from the bed, staring blankly at the dimly lit room, and held up two fingers.

yeah.

Keep going today!

At that moment, an unexpected voice rang out from the side:

"Fimini, you look great today."

!!

It was Mom!

"!!...Hey, Mom, are you...with me today?"

Little Femini was both surprised and delighted; her usually expressionless face instantly broke into a shy smile.

Yes, my little darling.

His mother gently brushed his hair aside and gave him a rare good morning kiss.

"We have guests coming today, let's go eat."

guest?

Fimini was shocked.

Why would we have guests coming to our house?

We don't have any cookies or tea snacks at home to serve our guests.

But the guests actually arrived.

A couple, with their child, walked in, radiating coldness.

"Come quickly, Fimini."

It's a good thing that guests are coming in, right?

But why are Mom's hands shaking so badly? There are no thorns on my shoulders.

"Come on, say hello to your uncles, aunts, and brother."

Fimini obediently did as he was told, but the woman opposite him didn't even glance at him, only looking up at her mother and giving her an ugly smile.

"You should pay back that money today."

!

The mother's fingers trembled on her shoulder, and she let out a pitiful groan:

"Dear sister, I absolutely didn't mean to delay paying, it's just that my husband isn't here and my child is still young..."

The middle-aged man opposite her hadn't listened to her at all from the beginning; his eyes were just darting around, scanning Fimini's dilapidated little home.

Mom... ah... so she wasn't a guest after all.

Fimini realized it too late.

It was my biological father's debt collectors who came.

The two women spoke politely for a few moments, but soon the mother's voice grew softer and softer...

"I've been more understanding than you are! Delaying payments! There should be a limit to delaying payments!" the aunt across from her roared.

“That’s not what your husband said when he borrowed money from us! And now you’re breaking your promise too. You’ve created two deadbeats in one bed!”

"The children are still here..."

"The child is also a defaulter!!"

She lowered her head, her eyes wide and round.

"!"

Fimini dared not look any longer and quickly looked away, only to meet the boy's eyes again.

Unlike his parents, the boy opposite him had no interest in collecting debts; he simply looked down at little Fimimini.

"......"

Even though she hadn't done anything wrong, little Femini felt ashamed the moment she met that gaze, quickly lowered her head, and blushed.

"I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry, please give me some more time..."

Is Mom's face red now? Fimini didn't dare look at her, but felt a force pushing him forward, like a mother sheep showing her lamb.

"The child is so young, please have mercy!"

The groans almost turned into cries of anguish, but the creditor's anger did not diminish as a result.

"Kid! You bring up the kids every time I mention paying back the money. Do you think you're the only one with kids?!"

She grabbed the boy who was still standing there in a daze, swung her arm, and slapped him across the face!

*Smack!*

?

The air was still for a few seconds. Fimi stared wide-eyed, unable to understand what had just happened.

"What are you doing?!" He wasn't the only one confused; his mother also raised her voice in disbelief, "No matter what, you can't hit a child—"

"Smack!!"

The woman ignored her completely, raising her arm to strike again: "I have no money to feed you! I have no money to pay your tuition! You debt collector! You jinx!"

Every word and sentence doesn't mention repaying the money, yet every word and sentence is about repaying the money.

Mom, I'm scared!

Little Femini shrank back repeatedly. He saw blood gushing from the boy's nose, yet he still stubbornly endured the torture with a blank expression.

Afraid of getting blood on her hands, the woman switched to kicking the boy hard with her leg: "If it weren't for you! Would I be so poor!"

The boy stumbled and knelt on the ground.

"Enough! Enough! You've gone mad!"

What loving mother could bear to watch her child being abused in front of her? Even if it wasn't her own child. The mother quickly released Fimi's shoulder to protect the boy:

"Stop hitting him! The child did nothing wrong!"

'Ha, I knew this trick would work! She'd definitely soften!'

Fimini clearly saw the triumphant joy on her aunt's face:

"How can you say he's not wrong! He ate my food and drank my water! He owes me everything!" Finally, she dodged her mother's hand and kicked the boy hard in the back.

"I have no money! Of course I'm going to beat up this debt collector! If you want me to stop, give me the money!"

"Stop torturing the child!"

Tears streamed down the mother's face as she pulled the boy up from the floor and pushed him and her son into the bedroom.

"Fimini, get a towel to wipe the blood off this young man... Big brother/sister, this house isn't that big, you can search it all. Take any money you find, and take anything else you like..."

Mother...

After being pushed into the bedroom, little Fimi was at a loss for a while. She stared at the boy's dirty face for a long time before remembering to wipe it.

"I'm sorry."

The child carefully handed him a towel soaked in cool water and watched him skillfully apply it to his nose.

"Sorry for what?" the boy asked casually.

"My family doesn't have the money to pay back, which is why you got beaten by Mom..."

"Oh, it's okay."

Fimini had never been hit by his mother. When he was locked up at home, he often heard children screaming and adults scolding him coming from the streets of Grey River. Those sounds were truly terrifying...

"I'm so sorry... Waaah."

I still got beaten by my beloved mother...

Fimini felt so sad just thinking about it.

"...Do you know that, kid?"

Looking at the little thing in front of him whose head was almost touching the ground, the boy scratched his head for a while, then suddenly spoke:

“I am not their son.”

"?"

What does this mean?

"Your mother raised you very well."

Looking at Fimini's innocent and bewildered face, the boy couldn't help but smile.

"What I mean is, I was hired by them to take the beatings, specifically to fool your mother."

...Hey bro, what are you saying?

"Don't look at me like that. You can't blame me for this. Think about how old you are. Five? Six? Anyway, your dad has been on the run for five or six years, and he still hasn't paid back the money."

The boy spoke fluently, his manner more mature than that of a drunkard frozen to death in the snow.

"Besides, your mother is so small and weak, you can't beat her. If you beat her to death, the money will have to be used to sell you... cough, then it will all be wasted. Our boss is smart. He knows your mother is soft-hearted, so he came up with this plan for her."

...Because Mom is soft-hearted?

"And as long as your mother pays back the money, I'll get twenty moras."

The boy patted little Fimi's head, wiping away the bloodstains, and his face returned to its damned calm.

"But our boss miscalculated. She thought your mom was hiding the money to leave for you later. Sigh, it turns out she really didn't have the money to pay back, and I got beaten up for nothing."

? ?

The overwhelming amount of information instantly saturated the child's brain, and the intense emotional fluctuations whipped his soul. Little Femini stared wide-eyed, mouth agape, his throat choked with confusion and bewilderment. He had many questions and doubts, but in the end, they all boiled down to one sentence:

"You took such a heavy beating, and you only got twenty moras?"

"..." The boy's calm expression suddenly froze.

"Only twenty moras?"

"Only..."

"You bastard! You vampire! I'm better off than someone who doesn't earn a single penny!!"

*

It takes several beatings to get a bottle of milk back.

Three meals? Four meals? What about the cabbage? What about the tomatoes?

The guests left, and the old table disappeared with them.

Little Fimi sat blankly in the now slightly emptier house, lost in thought.

His mother was kneeling on the floor, checking the gap between the wardrobe and the wall for any remaining Mora.

"Little Fimini".

She touched it for a long time, a bitter smile appearing on her lips:

"Let's go to the beach at noon to catch some crabs, seashells, seaweed, and other things."

"...Aren't you going to eat the bread?"

"Hmm, Mom is getting a little tired of what she's eating and wants to try something different."

No matter how unpalatable the food was, Mom never got tired of eating it.

...They probably didn't have money to buy bread.

Looking at her mother's smiling face, Fimini felt an urge to cry.

"What's wrong, Fimini?"

The mother panicked when she saw her child pouting.

"Did something happen today that scared you? Or did something happen in the bedroom? Did that child bully you?"

Because her mother looked very worried, Fimini held back her tears.

"...No, Mom, let's go quickly, I love crabs the most."

*

"Fimini, come quick! Mommy found a starfish...Fimini?"

If only I could grow a little older and stronger, so I could earn lots and lots of Mora, that would be wonderful.

So when a golden light flashed in the water, little Femini didn't hesitate and bravely left his mother behind to dive into the sea.

He was very talented; he grabbed the target on his first dive.

"Help! Help me! My child is drowning!"

However, he still overestimated his physical abilities.

All sounds were swallowed by the water. Fimini clenched her little fists and desperately thrashed her limbs, but her mother's face gradually became blurred through the shimmering sea.

"Fimini! Fimini—hold on!!"

Mom, wait a minute, don't go into the water, it's deep here, I'll be right... up...

I have no... strength left...

The sea is so quiet.

Fimi closed her eyes.

I feel like I can sleep until noon the next day without being woken up by the neighbors...

"thump--!"

Huge ripples rose on the sea surface.

A silver-gray beast came at the sound, rushing into the child's dream with anger and helplessness. Its powerful claws shattered the waves, and the black-spotted seaweed swayed with the current.

What...thing? A cat?

The cat-like creature nimbly twisted and turned in the water, diving beneath Fimini and pressing its round head against the child's waist.

!

Little Femini suddenly felt a lightness all over her body, and a supple yet powerful force came from her waist!

"Whoosh!"

The sound of water breaking, the mother's cries for help, and the icy air all rushed towards the child at once, while a heavy force pulled the child's arm and dragged him toward someone!

"Wow!"

Little Femini fell onto the beach, soaking wet.

Then the big cat leaped out of the sea and frantically shook its fur.

"Fimini!" the mother screamed, hugging her child tightly as if she wanted to crush him back into her flesh. "You scared me to death!!"

I scared Mom! I'm so sorry...

"Cough cough cough... But Mom, look."

A weak yet happy smile bloomed on the child's face as little Femini opened her tightly clenched fist.

"It's Mora."

He let go, and several glittering gold coins fell onto the beach.

......

The mother realized something.

"Fimini!! It's too dangerous! You can't do that! You can't!" The mother hugged her only son tightly, wailing and crying, her eyes filled with regret.

...

Little brother, it's not that I haven't earned a single penny; it's just that my mother is a burden.

The children, however, laughed easily.

A note from the author:

----------------------

Maine Coon's cat form is the one on the cover—its prototype is a silver tabby Maine Coon (some cuties have already discovered this!).

Fimini's character story...it's so heartbreaking no matter how many times I watch it...