Chapter 350 349. The fate of the emerging gang in Mushroom City
As the sky gradually darkened, in the Puji family's house, Bianca and a few Pujis quickly cleaned the kitchen and put the pots and pans back in their places.
Then, as usual, she directed the Pujis that had completed their work to line up and run one by one into the small shed in the backyard that was specially laid with a fungal mat to rest, leaving only one Puji following her closely.
When the puffball started running, a faint "dong dong" sound could be heard from its body. It was some delicious mushroom soup left over from the store today, and the owner Dylan allowed her to pack it up and take it home.
"Boss, everything is cleaned up. I'm going back first!" Bianca shouted towards the counter in a cheerful voice.
"Wait, Bianca, today I want to talk to you..." Dylan, who was bending over to organize things under the counter, stood up quickly. Before he finished speaking, he found that Bianca had disappeared. Only half of the chubby short legs flashed quickly outside the hotel door.
"Really... why are young people nowadays so impetuous?" Dylan shook his head helplessly.
The boss gave him a new skill through the fungus network yesterday, and told him to go to Bianca's house today to "buy some goods", but he didn't specify what goods he wanted to buy.
He had wanted to wait and go with Bianca so that he would have an excuse, but he didn't expect the girl to slip away so quickly.
But luckily, he knew the location of Bianca's house and could go there by himself.
After thinking about it, I felt that it would be inappropriate to go to the door empty-handed, so I turned around and packed a small bag of delicious dried mushrooms from the shelf.
Today, as mushroom fields continue to expand, this common delicacy has gone from a luxury to a slightly pricey but affordable snack.
Logically speaking, with Bianca's current salary, it should be no problem to buy some to satisfy her cravings occasionally, but this little girl has always been frugal, and this bag of dried mushrooms is just right for him, as her boss, to give her.
Carrying the small gift, Dylan walked slowly towards the resettlement area northwest of Mushroom City.
…
On the other side, Bianca trotted through the bustling streets that were gradually lighting up.
She deliberately controlled her speed and didn't run too fast, otherwise the soup-filled Puji behind her would not be able to keep up.
On the streets, you can often see people like her, followed by one or two Puji masters.
But when she turned into the resettlement area, this scene almost disappeared.
The so-called resettlement area was originally an area urgently designated by Far to accommodate war refugees on a large scale.
The cost of living here is extremely low, but the environmental conditions can be imagined.
What caught my eye were rows of crude, elongated townhouses, extremely crowded. Often, a dozen or even twenty people would squeeze into a small room.
As Mushroom City gradually stabilized and the initial most difficult period passed, anyone with some ability and savings moved out one after another, looking for places with better living conditions.
As a result, this resettlement area inevitably slid towards the direction of a slum.
Although Bianca found a job at Puji House very early and had a stable salary, her mother had always been ill and needed to buy medicine and treatment continuously, which was very expensive, so she had never been able to save enough money to move.
Now, after several months of careful nursing, my mother's health has improved a lot, and after she became a Puji master, her salary has also increased a lot.
Having just received this month's salary today, she felt that perhaps it was time to take her mother away from here and move to a new home that was more comfortable and more promising. This thought made her steps on the way home a little lighter.
However, when Bianca ran back home, she saw several familiar and annoying figures blocking the thin wooden door. She stopped and wanted to turn around to avoid them, but they had already seen her.
The tall and thin man in the lead walked over with a fake smile on his face.
"Hey, little Bianca's back? That's great! It saves us from having to go in and bother your mother." He rubbed his fingers together. "Is it time to pay the interest this month?"
"We have already paid off the interest we agreed on!"
"Paid off?" The tall, thin man scoffed, pulling out a wrinkled, illegible piece of parchment from his bosom and shaking it open. "It's written in black and white: 'Interest payable weekly until the principal is paid off.' Can't you read it? I put my fingerprint on it!"
"That's not what you said at all!" Bianca's voice trembled with anger. "Interest is clearly calculated monthly, and all that stuff after that is just random tacked on by you!"
When the neighbors heard the noise, they just quietly closed the windows or watched from the shadows in the distance. No one dared to come forward and say a word.
Everyone knows that this gang is a newly emerged gang in Mushroom City. They specifically target the poor and refugees. If you mess with them, you will never get any good results.
"Don't talk nonsense, little girl. It's clearly written on this paper." The tall and thin man stepped closer. "No money? I do have a job that can make money for you..."
Halfway through his speech, he looked at the mycelium marks on Bianca's face, hesitated for a moment, and did not continue to mention the "job". Instead, he pushed Bianca hard: "Stop talking nonsense! Do you have money or not?"
Bianca stumbled and fell backwards, knocking over the Puji that was following her!
Puji's round body fell sideways to the ground, and the warm mushroom soup inside spilled out with a "splash". At the same time, the purse in Bianca's arms also fell out, and several silver and copper coins rolled to the ground, gleaming in the dim light.
The tall and thin man's eyes lit up, and he bent down first to pick up the purse. He weighed it and smiled with satisfaction: "Tsk, isn't this money? Why are you hiding it? Fine, this is considered your payment for this month's interest. As for the rest, I advise you to collect it as soon as possible, otherwise I won't be so easy to talk to next time!"
"That's my money! Give it back to me!" Bianca looked at the soup spilled on the floor and the stolen purse, and suddenly pounced forward to get the purse back, even wanting to bite the dirty hand!
"Bianca! Don't!" Her mother rushed out and hugged her daughter tightly from behind, her voice filled with tears, "Don't be impulsive! Don't be impulsive!"
The tall, thin man was startled by Bianca's sudden ferocity, and then became angry and embarrassed: "You dare to attack me? It seems that if I don't teach you a lesson, you don't know the rules!"
"So this is what he is..."
The sudden sound attracted everyone's attention.
"Boss?" Bianca was surprised to see Dylan.
"You ran too fast. Take this. It was meant for you." Dylan seemed oblivious to the tense atmosphere. He walked forward naturally and stuffed the bag of dried mushrooms into Bianca's hands.
"This...this can be done tomorrow..." Bianca was a little at a loss.
"Don't worry, maybe it's God's arrangement that it can be used now to calm you down." Dylan smiled gently.
The tall, thin man over there became annoyed when he saw that Dylan completely ignored them. He interrupted in a harsh tone: "Hey! Old man, where did you come from? Are you here to meddle in other people's business?"
"Old man...tsk...how much money does my shop assistant owe you? Let me pay it back for her." As he said that, he took out a purse that looked quite heavy.
Hearing that he was here to repay his debt, the tall and thin man's eyes lit up. He quickly looked up and down at Dylan's attire and demeanor, then grinned and said loudly, "Not much, just two gold coins!"
"He's talking nonsense!" Bianca behind him immediately retorted angrily.
The tall and thin man was about to glare at Bianca fiercely to threaten her, but Dylan seemed not to hear her rebuttal and calmly took out a shiny gold coin and handed it to her.
"Friend, let's talk here. We can discuss the details in private." Dylan put his arm around the tall and thin man's shoulders and took him a few steps away from the crowd, with his back to Bianca and her daughter.
The tall and thin man holding the gold coins followed reluctantly. When he subconsciously looked into Dylan's eyes, he felt a very faint purple halo flash in those pupils.
Dylan lowered his voice and said in a tone as if sharing a secret:
"I left in a hurry and didn't bring enough gold coins. So, take some more brothers tonight and go to this location..." He indicated a relatively remote and sparsely populated location near the entrance of the Puji Dungeon. "Then, not only will you have one gold coin, you'll have ten."
Looking at Dylan's eyes that seemed to absorb his mind, the tall and thin man felt a little confused and nodded subconsciously: "Ah? Okay...Okay! As long as there are gold coins! I will definitely call the brothers over tonight!"
Looking at his appearance, Dylan couldn't help but wonder if he had been like this when he was bewitched.
…
Watching the tall, thin man and his men swagger away with gold coins in their pockets, Bianca clutched the bag of dried mushrooms tightly, and asked with a mixture of gratitude and reluctance, "Boss... you, you really gave them the money?"
Of course, Dylan couldn't tell her that not only did she not have to spend a penny, but she could even make some extra money at night.
He could only smile, reach out and touch her head, and comfort her with the most common reason: "It's just to avoid disaster. The most important thing is that you are fine. Don't take it to heart."
"Boss...!" The accumulated grievances, fears and the sense of security of finally being protected suddenly burst out. Bianca couldn't bear it any longer. She rushed forward and hugged Dylan's neck, sobbing softly.
After all, she was just a teenager, and her previous toughness in the face of vicious gang members was just a form of self-protection.
Bianca's mother was also wiping her tears and thanking Dylan profusely, almost kneeling down.
The Puji, who had been ignored since being knocked down, could only struggle to get up slowly from the ground covered with sticky mushroom soup and silently stand behind Bianca.
(End of this chapter)
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