Chapter 68: Operation Green Vein 1: Coal Ash Alley

Before leaving, Heather took off all the decorations on her hair and simply put it up. She also asked Lena for a new dress made for the New Year. They had similar body shapes, so the dress fit them perfectly.

Heather looked at the mirror with satisfaction. Her unmade-up face and the moon-white cotton dress made her look less conspicuous walking in the industrial area.

Lucy exclaimed, "Madam, you really can wear anything with a unique temperament. She looks just like the governess who lives next door to me. She always holds her head high like this, always wearing a clean, solid-colored dress, and looks very learned."

As Heather took off her pearl earrings, she asked, "Government salaries should be pretty good, right? I hired one to Longbourn a while ago. Her weekly salary is enough to rent a house on your street for a year. Why doesn't she move?"

Lucy replied, "I heard she's saving up to pay off a debt. My distant cousin whispered to me it was her ex-husband's. But she's not one of those governesses hired by the nobility. She mainly teaches the children of merchants, visiting four or five families a week. She sometimes even teaches some of the kids on our street for free, so everyone looks after her a bit, and those hooligans don't dare to bother her."

Heather sighed in her heart, it turns out that those who survived all had their own survival tips.

It was 11:00 AM when we arrived at the Fishmongers' Road intersection. Today was Sunday, and most workers would take advantage of their morning break to attend church services with their families. Later, they would prepare a relatively hearty lunch to greet the arrival of a new week of hard work.

Perhaps it was because of the short rest, or perhaps it was because the sun was so bright today, but when I came to Fishmongers Road again, I saw a completely ordinary, warm and lively scene. The bloody violence last time seemed like just a distant dream.

While Heather and the other two were dressed cleanly and respectably, they weren't overdone, as there were always those whose families had fallen on hard times and who used their last remaining savings to move to the working-class areas to save money. Fishmonger's Road was the street closest to the wealthy area, so merchants would occasionally pass by. Unless it was a special day, their passing wouldn't attract much attention.

Heather glanced at the servants who were following behind them to protect them, and felt relieved. She asked Lucy, "Why don't we see many men here?"

Along the street, most of the people were women holding their children, bargaining with vendors, and some older children were running and playing. Smoke was rising from some houses, and it seemed that lunch was about to begin.

"That shouldn't be the case. There are so many workers here." Lucy thought for a moment and said, "Ah, maybe they went to listen to the mutual aid meeting speech. Look, if you turn right ahead, you'll find Coal Ash Lane, where I live, and if you turn left, you'll find Dock Lane. Those people sometimes gather at that intersection."

Sure enough, a number of workers gathered at the intersection, with some specifically assigned to guard the perimeter. Women were ignored; some even held basins of laundry and listened nearby, just for fun. However, any man passing by was scrutinized. Familiar faces were met with shouts, while unfamiliar ones were questioned and then signaled with sticks to hurry up, to prevent the factory owner's agents from tipping off.

When Heather and the others approached, the final closing statement was being made on the stage.

A man in his thirties wearing a baseball cap raised his right hand. His voice was dull but infectious: "So what we need to do is unite, unite, unite! As long as we unite and help each other, those factory owners won't dare to deduct our wages at will! There are so many factories in London, but there are not as many healthy workers who can meet their needs as those people imagine. Therefore, we have the ability to fight for our own rights through our own strength.

Just like Rudi and his group did before, they took up arms and stood firmly together, and no one could reclaim their homes or destroy their jobs. Those bailiffs fled in disgrace, and the next week they returned a year's worth of back pay. This is the power of unity!

"Rudi! Rudi! Rudi!"

"Unity! Unity! Unity!"

Everyone around him followed his example and raised their right hands in unison to shout. After a few shouts, the leader above gestured to stop, and they stopped, rushed forward to surround the young man on the left side of the simple platform, and shook hands with him and hugged him.

"It's him." Heather muttered to herself.

"Who is he?" Reina was curious. Who was there that her personal maid didn't know?

Heather didn't answer: "Let's go and visit Lucy's house."

The meeting ended, and the workers began to leave one after another, slowing their progress. Most of the workers were gathered in twos and threes, discussing the speech intensely. Only one or two whistled as they passed by. Reina, with a stern face and a fierce look, stood in front of Heather, drawing laughter.

"Hello again, ma'am." Someone stopped the people from the front and they left quickly.

Heather gently pulled Reina away and said, "It's you."

It was the young man holding the shovel from last time. He was dressed very neatly today, with the collar of his yellowed shirt showing, a gray vest on the outside, and a hat of the same color pressing down his messy black curly hair.

He was facing the sunlight, squinting his eyes and offering them a friendly smile. "Don't worry, the security here is probably better than some of the markets in the West District. Those guys just said a few words at most. They have to rush back to eat and go to work, so they don't have time to harass strange ladies."

Heather also smiled: "Public security? I've experienced it." She was referring to the shovel that almost fell on her head last time.

His face froze, and he took his hat off his head and bowed deeply. "I'm sorry. I was confused that day and did something stupid in my haste. I've been regretting it for a while now and wanted to find you to apologize in person."

His actions attracted the attention of the people around him. Heather gritted her teeth and told him to get up quickly and let them pass.

He stepped aside, but continued to follow them. "My name is John Ludy, and I'm a member of the Workers' Mutual Aid Association. Did we have a good talk just now? By the way, where are you going?"

Heather turned her head and he smiled again, showing off his standard eight-teeth smile.

"Not bad, but I'm afraid that case was exaggerated. Is that really the effect of unity?"

Rudi didn't get angry. He said seriously, "You're right. Our unity did prevent them from robbing our home, but there must be another reason why we were able to get the money. Maybe we were lucky, but there's a high probability that someone else was helping us. I've speculated before whether that person might be you, or the gentleman you were with that day."

Heather's heart moved: "I didn't do it."

Rudi nodded. "That's the gentleman. If I get the chance, I will repay you personally."

Hazel ignored him and walked forward in the direction Lucy pointed.

Rudi stood there and watched them leave, saying to himself, "This dress is much more suitable than that day." At least it's not so out of reach.

A man put his arm around his shoulders from behind and asked with a wink, "Who is that woman?"

Rudi elbowed him without even turning around: "Why are you so bothered? Go home quickly. Your two children are still so young. How can your wife handle everything by herself?"

Coal Ash Lane was narrower than Fishmonger's Lane, with pigeon-cage-like low houses tightly packed together, creating an alarming population density. Because the houses were so close together, sunlight couldn't penetrate much, and while there was no fishy smell on the road, there wasn't even a single vendor.

Lucy explained, "Fishmonger's Lane is close to the West End, so you can get some occasional passing trade. But Soot Alley is full of workers earning the lowest wages. Many of them get sick at a young age and are kicked out of the factories, so it seems even poorer than Fishmonger's Lane. But the best conditions are probably on the other side, Dockyard Lane. There are a lot of shipowners there, and I hear they make a lot of money quickly."

Heather saw a homeless man lying on the side of the road a few steps away. An old woman had just curled up beside a ditch, coughing until the corners of her mouth were covered in blood. She took a deep breath and asked, "Was she a textile factory worker?"

Lucy's eyes showed reluctance, but she understood the ecological rules here and held Reina's hand as she reached for the coin. "Yes. Don't look at her like that. She's only in her early forties. I heard she was kicked out three years ago because she couldn't control her coughing and shaking hands while working, and she almost broke the machine."

Walking further, they met another child whose jaw was completely ulcerated and oozing pus. Hazel and Lena both lowered their heads, not daring to continue looking.

Lucy waited until he walked over before whispering, "That kid used to work as a laborer in a match factory. He kept saying he was made like this by the exhaust fumes, but no one else took it seriously because the factory owner said even the gentlemen in the West End only complained about the smell of the exhaust fumes and never said they were toxic or harmful."

Heather frowned. It seemed that people didn't take industrial pollution seriously at the moment and didn't realize its impact on the human body. Or maybe they knew it, but as long as it didn't affect the rich, no one would push for changes to the status quo.

This street is close to the dyeing and printing workshops, and the sewage in the ditches looks murky and filled with unidentified substances. The entire city's waterways are connected, and even if the water doesn't reach the wealthy areas for a while, it will eventually have a negative impact on people everywhere.

"arrive."

It was an ordinary house, identical to the ones around it, but slightly larger and cleaner in front. A disheveled woman was holding a child at the door. Seeing Lucy, she quickly called out, "Come and help me hold Beck. I have to make lunch. God knows how I prepared dinner when you didn't come home yesterday."

Lucy walked forward and took the child. The woman just glanced at the other two people, pushed the door open without asking anything, and soon came out with a piece of black bread with a wilted lettuce leaf in it. She broke it in half, handed half to her eldest son who was running around frantically, and handed the other half to Lucy.

Lucy didn't answer, frowned and said, "Sophia, didn't I buy eggs and put them in the kitchen the day before yesterday? Why aren't you eating them?"

Seeing that she didn't take it, Sophia stuffed it into her mouth nonchalantly: "Let Gene and Johnny enjoy that good stuff slowly."

Lucy took a deep breath and stopped arguing with her. She turned to Heather and said, "Ma'am, I'll go pack my things. It will only take a few minutes. Would you like to come in and sit down?"

Sophia then looked them in the eye: "Lucy, why are you going in there? We're about to start work, and you didn't even wash your own clothes yesterday."

Lucy saw her finish eating and stuffed the fishy-smelling child back into her arms: "Sophia, I'm leaving now. I need to find another job."

Sophia was upset. The last time she went home, she barely had enough money for round-trip travel. Fortunately, she had brought back a girl who insisted on coming to London. Not only could she pay the rent for a small room partitioned off for five shillings a week, but she could also help with the children and housework. Who could have imagined she'd leave so soon? But there was nothing she could do to keep her. Although they were barely distant relatives, they had only met a few times before. Lucy was incredibly stubborn, and no one could stop her from doing what she wanted.

"Well, go on. I wonder if you can find something easier to earn than working in a textile factory." She watched Lucy coming in and out, then glanced at Hazel. "But I can't give you a refund of your rent."

Lucy didn't waste time arguing and quickly packed a package. "Goodbye, Sophia, thank you for bringing me to London."

When they left, a tall and thin woman came out of the next house and looked at them with a somewhat enthusiastic expression. All the women on the street were wearing gray linen clothes, only she and Heather were wearing similar light-colored long skirts.

It's the tutor.