Chapter 36 Go read
"Would you like to go get some midnight snack?" Irene asked in a casual tone. "If we go now, maybe there will be some unsold seafood chowder and oysters. I heard that the seafood in New Orleans is very delicious."
New Orleans is heavily influenced by France and Spain, and its nightlife is more active than that of other cities. In the French Quarter, especially around Royal Street and Bourbon Street, there are taverns, small restaurants, grocery stores and cafes open at night.
Leo naturally had no objection, and Hannah cheered excitedly, obviously looking forward to going out.
But it was obvious that when Irene looked at Hannah and Leo standing on both sides of her and looking down on each other, her headache only got worse.
Since they left the house, Hannah and Leo haven't even made eye contact. Even if they accidentally glanced at each other, they would quickly look away as if they had seen something dirty.
Leo held her hand tightly, and Hannah pulled her sleeve on the other side of his hand, and the two of them fought secretly like children fighting over a toy.
Irene began to reflect on herself like a patriarch again.
Yes, she is always like this. No matter who or what kind of conflict occurs, Irene always reflects on herself first.
To use the words of her friend in her previous life, Irene's personality is destined to be hard work - she is determined to consume herself internally and never consume others.
She said she was afraid of causing trouble for others, but in fact it was because Irene herself was used to taking on too much.
The advantage is that she has enough control over the overall situation, everything is clear at a glance, and basically within her control; but the disadvantage is also obvious, in this way, she has too many things to worry about.
From now on, from big things like where to escape and how to make a living after escaping to small things like whether something has been returned or whether or not she has had dinner, as long as Irene can remember, she will pay attention to it.
In a sense, it can be regarded as a feudal patriarchal personality.
Irene is now in a dilemma. When she wants to talk to Hannah, Leo will grab her arm tightly and look at her pitifully.
As for Hannah, let alone her, the little girl took every opportunity to roll her eyes at Leo.
How come she didn't realize before that their relationship was so bad?
Irene recalled the past few days carefully. Although Hannah and Leo did not have much opportunity to communicate when they escaped from the manor, and the time on the ship was even more tense, she did not think that their relationship was so bad that they were unwilling to even look at each other.
Leo always brought Hannah's milk during breakfast.
Could it be that something happened while she was sketching that she didn't know about?
Forget it, I'll ask Hannah when I get back home in the evening and have a chance.
Irene sighed and had to drag one at a time into the tavern that was still open at night.
This store is located on Bourbon Street and has the same red and blue sign hanging on one side of the store entrance as the store she visited with her junior fellow apprentice in her previous life. Even the dark brown door handles are somewhat similar.
Perhaps it was because of these vague similarities that prompted Irene to enter this store unconsciously.
The door was pushed open with a creaky sound, and a strong, choking aroma wafted into the air, a mixture of tobacco, pepper, spices, and beer, like the smell of stew.
After all, it was already evening, and there were not many people in the tavern, with only about three or four tables of guests. Most of them were probably sailors who were waiting to get on the ship in the early morning. A few of them were talking at the top of their lungs, smoking loudly, and their teeth and fingers were burnt yellow from the smoke.
There were two or three guests sitting in the dark corner, all of them seemingly alone. Irene couldn't see clearly, but she didn't care.
Anyway, she had Leo and the gun with her. If it were just her and Hannah, she would have to walk around the room just by seeing all the sailors.
Of course, if it was just her and Hannah, Irene wouldn't come out for a midnight snack at all.
After all, whether in the 21st century or now, there are always more disputes where there are men, especially after drinking.
At certain moments, men can get directly involved in trouble, and Irene is a person who hates trouble.
There were only two waiters in the store. The younger one took Irene and sat the other two near the counter - it was more spacious here and they wouldn't be exposed to the smoke from the sailors.
Irene smiled at him gratefully.
A male voice with a thick Creole accent came from behind the counter.
"Hey, pretty girls, and this guy, what do you want?"
The boss rolled up his sleeves, and the crow's feet at the corners of his eyes were clear. "Tonight we have a special dish that will break your heart. Do you want to try it? It's good value for money."
"What is the dish that breaks your heart?" Irene couldn't help but asked with a smile.
“After eating, you will recall your loved ones and burst into tears. Isn’t that a broken heart?” the boss made an exaggerated tearful face.
The person sitting next to Irene seemed to be a regular customer, so he took over the conversation.
"Hey, don't listen to what the bearded guy says. It's clearly crayfish with lots of chili and star anise added."
He licked his lips as if he was still unsatisfied. "If you can handle spicy food, you can try it. There is no one in New Orleans who can cook crawfish better than Beard."
The boss, who was called the bearded man, raised his eyebrows to the sky. "Of course, this is our family's secret recipe. How about trying one, little girl?"
However, this conversation really felt like a delay invited by the boss. Irene glanced at the regular customers at the next table and asked carefully, "How much is that? How many people are enough?"
"Twenty-five cents, enough to feed all three of you, and it comes with bread."
The price is fair.
"Then have one, and three beers."
"Okay, I'll serve you the food right away."
There was a pile of bright red crayfish on the plate. The soup was dark red in color but had a strong aroma. You could vaguely see the shadows of corn segments and red potatoes.
White foam rolled on the beer glass. I grabbed the glass and swallowed a big mouthful of the bitter-smelling beer. The cold feeling went from my throat to my heart.
After drinking half a glass of beer, Irene almost felt dizzy, and with the hot and spicy crayfish, it seemed as if they were completely free.
"Cheers!" Irene raised her glass, her eyes narrowed slightly, "To celebrate, we successfully rented a house today, and there is a way to cure Leo's throat."
"Celebrating my break from Joe and Tina!"
Hannah's brown face flushed with excitement, and she lowered her voice and said:
"Celebrating my complete breakup with Booker! I no longer have to worry about whether someone will come into my bed at night. I am no longer afraid of him."
"I no longer have to worry about having nightmares every night. After a whole year, I am finally not afraid of him anymore."
The veins on Hannah's arm, which was holding the wine glass, were bulging, and her expression seemed to be filled with pain amidst the pleasure.
"If I had known that he could be dealt with so easily, I should have..."
The cold wine made her body shiver. Irene grabbed Hannah's cold hand and whispered:
"Yes, that's right. Don't be afraid. Think of them as paper tigers that will break if you poke them. At worst, set them on fire and burn all those useless things to ashes."
"Don't let anyone wrong you, but don't let yourself be wronged."
Irene's tone was very soft, as if she was talking to Hannah, but also to herself.
"Leo, are you willing to go to school?" She suddenly turned her head and looked at the boy who was peeling lobster for her.
The lobster shells, claws, and heads were stacked in three separate piles, and the firm, springy lobster meat was placed on a plate in front of her.
"Going to school?" Leo blinked in surprise, confusion clearly revealed in his eyes.
"Go to school. On my way to pick you up today, I saw that the church is running a night school that teaches the Bible, grammar, and arithmetic. These are all basic subjects. You and Hannah can go and learn. First, solve your basic literacy problems. When we settle down in Rochester, I will hire a tutor for you. If there is a chance, I hope you can go to college."
Irene spoke a long string of words in one breath, she picked up the glass and took a sip of wine.
This was the solution she had thought of before.
Ever since Irene escaped from the manor with them, she has been thinking about this question: if she traveled back to the modern era or something unexpected happened, how would Hannah and Leo survive in this era.
It's not that Irene didn't think of other ways, such as teaching them to make clothes, it would be good to have a skill. But they really have no talent at all, not to mention the most basic drawing, Hannah has no sense of color combination.
But what about other jobs? If you want to sit in an office without being exposed to the wind and rain, you have to at least be educated, otherwise the only thing you can do is physical work.
Who would be willing to let the person they cherish so much sell his physical labor?
Irene couldn't bear to do it anyway.
She still had to study. If nothing else, she had to at least learn to read and count. This was the best solution Irene had found to solve the problem so far.
As long as you can read and have some education, at least you can find a job as a typist and make a living.
"You don't have to worry about money. Since I can tell you, I have the ability to support your studies."
After saying that, Irene looked at Hannah first. The little girl's face changed with shock. She hesitated and looked around for a few times. Irene patted the back of her hand soothingly, her eyes full of encouragement.
Hannah blinked hard, then responded briefly while holding back her tears.
She never thought she could read since she was born.
A black slave, and a black girl at that, was lucky enough to have food to eat. How dare she dream of reading and writing?
But suddenly one day, the young lady who had always been timid changed. She rescued her from Booker and helped her to clean up the mess when she did something wrong. Until now, the young lady wants to send her to school again.
This is something I would never dare to dream of.
Hannah's tears were hanging on her eyelashes, and when she blinked again, the wooden table was stained darker.
She picked up a piece of potato from the crayfish broth and stuffed it into her mouth while crying.
"It's too spicy. I will never eat something this spicy again."
Well, the little girl wanted to save face and refused to admit that she was moved to tears. Irene couldn't help laughing.
"Why are you crying? Look at you, as if I bullied you." She wiped away Hannah's tears. "The food here in New Orleans is spicy. You can't cry every day in the future."
"What about you, Leo, are you willing to go to school?" Irene looked at the boy with her chin lowered.
The boy didn't think much about it and nodded readily.
Irene had already guessed his reaction. Ever since she had talked so much about the knowledge required to open a store last time, Leo's eyes had changed. He knew that he lacked a lot of things now. Even if he wanted to learn the relevant knowledge by himself, he had to learn to read and write first.
Only in this way can he help Irene.
Leo looked at her with sparkling eyes. Irene's heart tightened a little. She reflexively pretended to eat the food and avoided the boy's burning eyes.
Books contain golden houses and beautiful women.
Irene breathed a sigh of relief. After Leo read enough books, met enough new things and made enough friends, he probably wouldn't like her so much anymore.
There is no fixed number for what children like. It is precisely these things that seem very passionate that are the easiest to extinguish.
It's like a pool of stagnant water suddenly encounters a heavy rain. The rain is heavy and lasts for a long time, but what's the use? The rain will stop sooner or later.
And the stagnant water will remain the same as it was before, as if the heavy rain had never happened.
By then, with new friends and new hobbies, if one day she really traveled back to the modern era, Leo might not be too sad.
Irene took a tasteless bite of the crayfish meat dripping with soup, only to feel the spiciness in her swallow gradually turn into bitterness, spreading bit by bit in her heart and all over her limbs.
The warm yellow light shone through the window, and the strong wind blowing from the sea could be vaguely heard. The bell at the door suddenly rang.
Are there any new guests coming so late?
White foam hung on the wall of the wine glass, and as Irene shook the glass, it gradually slid into the amber wine.
The door was pushed open again. "Boss, give me a glass of dark beer and a plate of——"
The rest of the words got stuck in his throat. The sound of the door bell continuing to ring as it was pushed open made the new guest freeze at the door.
The boss laughed and said, "A dish of what? How come our tailor can't even speak clearly? Did he accidentally poke his throat while sewing clothes today?"
Irene looked over when she heard the voice.
“Bang—”
The wine glass in his hand smashed onto the table, then swayed left and right several times like a tumbler before slowly coming to a stop.
Irene stared straight at the man who had just come in. Just for a moment, she was so shocked that her face turned almost pale.
Is this the 21st century or the 19th century?
She wondered blankly why she saw an acquaintance here.
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