Chapter 50 Where is she now?
"Shit, look at that woman, is she the same as the one in the portrait?" William, who was drowsy and holding a cigarette holder, quickly woke up. He slapped James beside him with a nervous look, "It's the one in the white dress who just got off the boat."
“Don’t be so jumpy all the time.” James waved away William’s hand on his shoulder in dissatisfaction, looked in the direction William pointed, and complained: “You say this is like that every day. You have said at least seven or eight similarities in the past two months. Why haven’t I…”
The voice suddenly stopped.
“Pah—”
James slapped himself hard in the face in disbelief, and the words he hadn't said suddenly changed:
"——This one really looks exactly like the portrait. This must be Irene."
"I told you, I've seen that portrait every day and it's almost engraved in my mind. How could I have made a mistake? The previous ones just looked similar, but this one looks exactly like the portrait," William boasted complacently.
"I've been practicing my eyesight since I was a kid catching rabbits. Those rabbits are very smart. If you don't pay attention, you can't run so fast. I found it. This is my credit. Don't snatch it from me!"
James had already run a long way away, and even turned back and waved to William while running.
His face is full of joy, how can he not be happy?
They had been waiting for Irene at the dock for almost two years. Now they had finally found her. From now on, they no longer had to wait at the dock every day.
But it's strange. I don't know what this woman named Irene did to offend the boss. He heard that the boss had left people at various docks in New Orleans and Mobile to wait for this woman, and even greeted the brothers he knew in other cities, just for this woman.
James shook his head. Having offended his boss, this woman will have a hard time in the future.
"You're such a jerk, you little brat!" William fiercely gave James the middle finger in the direction he ran away, and could only stay where he was and follow Irene in disappointment.
This was their previous arrangement. If they found Irene, one person would go back to report the news, and one person would follow her to prevent Irene from running away again.
I heard that this woman had escaped from the princess's mansion before. William was shocked. It was said that the boss turned the mansion upside down but couldn't find Irene, so this time the boss arranged two people to wait together to prevent her from escaping.
Their boss is such a good man, but for this woman he forced himself to live like an ascetic.
No matter where they were, as long as there was news about Irene, their boss would leave no matter how far away he was or how important the contract he was handling was. Just for Irene, William couldn't count how many times Leo had made empty trips.
William was dug out from the pile of dead bodies by Leo, and he was also one of the first people who followed Leo to make money. He witnessed Leo's change from hope to despair countless times, and each time the reason was related to Irene.
I heard someone shouting the name Irene on the road, and saw a somewhat similar silhouette on the boat...
Even if there is only a one percent chance, Leo will chase after him.
Precisely because he had followed Leo for a long time, William knew clearly how much Leo hated Irene.
He still remembers it vividly.
Once they held a celebratory party and Leo was forced to drink a lot of wine. He was completely drunk and William had to send him back to his room. But as soon as he left the room, several consecutive gunshots were heard from Leo's room.
When William turned back and opened the door, what he saw was that the portrait of Irene, which Leo had always treasured, was beaten to pieces, and a hole was almost punched through the wall.
Fragments of glass frames and torn and blackened white paper were flying all over the floor.
Leo's left hand tightly grasped a piece of pencil, and the hand holding the gun hung down helplessly. His body was covered with cuts from the flying glass shards. The man knelt down beside the wall covered with glass shards, as if he felt no pain, and cried quietly.
Bright red blood slowly flowed out from under his knees and seeped into the ground bit by bit.
William nearly fainted when he realized Leo was crying.
Who is Leo? He was a tough guy who had a gunfight with the most brutal pirates while transporting cargo. He was shot three times without shedding a tear. He had never cried like a child.
From then on, William clearly realized what Irene meant to Leo.
So even if it costs his life today, he can't let this woman run away again.
William stamped out his spent cigar on the floor, leaving a small black spot on the brown dock floor. He stared at Irene, not daring to relax for a moment.
Irene, who had just landed, was still looking around to see which way to go, and had no idea that she was being watched.
*
There were not many people in the tent area, and most of them were wounded lying in the tents. Irene walked around the tent area for a long time before she saw a woman sitting outside the tent weaving a straw mat.
The woman was dressed in rags, had a pale and thin face, and her cheeks were deeply sunken, but she looked kind. There were two children squatting beside her playing with stones. It was obvious that they were easy to get along with.
Irene looked at the child's relatively neat clothes and mustered up the courage to talk to the woman.
"Mrs. Soi, what do you want to see her for?" The middle-aged woman, who had a smile on her face, looked extremely bad in the blink of an eye when she heard Mrs. Soi's name. The corners of her mouth pulled down to her chin, and her nasolabial lines sunk deeply and harshly.
Irene wanted to say that she was a relative of Mrs. Soy, but seeing the disdainful look on the face of the person in front of her, she turned her words around and swallowed them back, and made up a lie.
"Someone in her family owes me money and I'm here to collect it."
It wasn't really a lie. Before she went to work for the princess, she paid Mrs. Soi an additional month's rent and deposit, and Mrs. Soi hadn't refunded it to her yet, so how could she not be considered to owe her money?
When she heard that he was here to collect debts, the woman pursed her lips less tightly, and the lines on both sides of her philtrum became much lighter. She pulled her lips strangely and said in a cold voice:
"Such a rich man actually still owes debts. He makes money from the war and borrows money from others without paying it back."
Money? War money?
Irene felt something was wrong. She touched her nose nervously and asked tentatively:
“Is her family rich now?”
"Humph, of course I need to explain that," the woman snorted coldly, mockingly saying, "The entire Confederacy's money was earned by that mad dog, and they are clinging to the mad dog's thighs tightly, how could they be short of money?"
"Who is Mad Dog?" Irene licked her dry lips, and her ominous premonition grew stronger.
The woman looked at Irene in surprise and asked, "Which primitive tribe did you escape from? You don't even know Mad Dog Sith?"
Fortunately, it wasn't Leo, and Irene breathed a sigh of relief. However, Leo was not the kind of person who cared about money and other material things, so he would not do such a thing.
How could Leodoro, a simple person, possibly make money from the war?
"I had been staying abroad and only came back after the war was over," Irene explained quickly.
After hearing what she said, the woman's eyes flickered a few times and her attitude became a little better.
"No wonder, he only became famous in the past three years," the woman put down her work and spoke to Irene in a low voice.
"It is said that he killed his father and brother with his own hands, and took away the mountain of gold in the house, so that his mother could not even afford to eat, and had to return to her parents' home."
"Later, he took advantage of the fact that the Yankees controlled the coastline, and goods from outside could not be shipped in, and our cotton could not be sold. Even chicken and flour were unavailable in the market, not to mention silk hats and coffee. The mad dog used the money he got from killing his relatives to buy several ships, and used his identity to get a large amount of arms. Later, he took his own henchmen to cross the blockade and made a lot of money by reselling European goods."
"Now there are many people who want to work for him and make money. To me, they are all brainless idiots. That mad dog can kill his blood relatives, let alone these running dogs."
"As for the Soy family," the woman narrowed her eyes slightly, and pressed her lips down a little more, her contempt becoming more and more obvious, "they have a very good relationship with Mad Dog. Every time Mad Dog comes to New Orleans, he stays at their house. They are Mad Dog's closest allies. They must be rich now. Maybe if you go to collect the debt, they can pay you back with interest."
The woman spat fiercely, her expression full of disgust, "People who make this kind of dirty money will go to hell after they die."
Irene nodded in agreement. Those who profit from national disasters should indeed die.
"Is that Sith from New Orleans?"
"The land of New Orleans cannot support such a black-hearted person. He is a British guy, just like a hyena. He only cares about money," the woman explained coldly, and then started to busy herself with her own work, as if she didn't want to waste time with Irene.
Irene wisely stopped asking about Sith and only asked about the current location of Mrs. Soy's house.
"It's still in the French Quarter. Her house is still standing. You can see it on Bourbon Street."
"Okay, okay. Thank you for your help."
Irene thanked him profusely and planned to go straight to Mrs. Soy's house.
As soon as she turned into the alley, the four young and middle-aged men scattered in the tent area looked at each other. The two thinner ones stood up and followed Irene from a distance, while the other two took a shortcut and headed straight for the French area.
In troubled times, the fastest way for poor people to make money is to rob - rob the rich.
Irene looked healthy. Although she was dressed casually, her face was plump and she had just returned from abroad. One could tell at a glance that she had not suffered from the war.
During the war, the only people who didn't suffer were the rich.
"Go, go play somewhere else. If you dare to get your clothes dirty again today, I'll beat you to death."
The woman kicked the older child beside her impatiently, and the child shrank back reflexively, shaking with fear. The clean collar in Irene's eyes tilted to one side, revealing a large bruise under the neck. The child nodded with red eyes. The woman continued to sit back in front of the tent and weave her straw mat, waiting for the next big fish to ask for directions.
This was the closest place to the dock, and the other natives were either dead or had been driven away by her brothers. They had made a lot of money this way, and the pit behind the tent was full of corpses.
The woman tied a knot on the straw mat neatly and waited for the job to be completed. She thought the money would be enough and they would not do such unscrupulous business anymore.
They want to take Mom to the best hospital in the north for treatment.
*
Irene followed the woman's directions and turned into the French Quarter. Both sides of the road were lined with newly renovated houses, and some were even just sheds. The further they went into the city, the more obvious the damage caused by the war became. Young men with missing limbs were everywhere, and more people working were women in pants.
It is women who build houses, women who carry bricks, and women who cook. Irene suddenly remembered a theory she had read before. The war caused most men to join the army, leaving a large number of jobs vacant. A large number of women took over their positions, and women's rights in work and life would be improved to a certain extent.
For example, nowadays, women all wear long trousers to make it easier to work, and the large skirts that were popular before are almost nowhere to be seen on the streets.
Seeing the busy scene on the street, the image of Mrs. Irin in mourning clothes came into her mind.
Irene's heart sank.
She didn't know how Mrs. Irin was doing now, but the excited look on her face when she mentioned her ideal emerged in her mind.
She had agreed to make a dress for Mrs. Irin, and also for Linda. She also owed Linda a dress. She had received the deposit but was unable to make a dress for her.
I don't know if they are still alive. I don't know if Hannah is still alive.
A sour feeling welled up in Irene's nose, and her throat felt as if it was pricked by a dull fish bone.
She blinked hard, but couldn't get rid of the soreness.
Within two seconds, her vision became blurry and tears fell like beads from a broken string. Irene wiped them away with her sleeves several times but failed, so she simply let them flow.
"Miss, I'm sorry."
A deep male voice suddenly sounded behind her, and before Irene could react, she felt a sharp pain in the back of her neck.
The woman's body went limp and she fainted.
Damn! Why are these two people here? William cursed in his heart, and the old injury on his leg began to ache again. He gritted his teeth and quickly pulled out his gun, and followed carefully.
At the same time, in Mrs. Soi's house, less than 800 meters away from the alley, a tall and handsome man suddenly stood up, his dark blue eyes flashing with unbelievable excitement.
"Where is she now? Take me there quickly."
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com