Chapter Twelve: The Slum's Dream

  Accurately hitting the crotch of the pants, the broken foot made Ian, who was still furious and wanted to fight with Malong, fall to the ground with a hissing sound, apparently seriously injured.

  "I've been tolerating you for a long time."

  Looking down at the ground, Ian's hands covered his crotch as he curled up into a shrimp-like posture, his red nose twitching. Marlon revealed a mischievous smile: "Guess what I'll do to you next, something even more ruthless?"

  Ma Long's appearance and words filled Red Nose Ian's eyes with terror, so after making a few choking sounds in his throat, he fainted.

  "It's really useless, actually I just wanted to find some rope to tie you up, at least for now...I won't let Auntie and An Wei lose a husband and father like you."

  Ma Long's smile faded away, leaving only sarcasm and disdain - he had long seen through the true nature of this red-nosed Ian Wan.

  Across the threshold, Ian walked into the house, and under the dim light of the gas lamp in the living room, he saw a little boy no more than five years old standing alone at the foot of the stairs leading to the loft.

  The little boy's face and arm had several large bruises and purple marks, which were clearly the result of a recent beating.

  When Ma Long walked in, the lonely and helpless little boy's eyes lit up instantly. He looked up with a weak voice that was about to cry: "Brother..."

  "Hmm." Gently patting the little boy's head, Ma Long sighed and crouched down to bring himself to roughly the same height as the child: "Little An Wei, have you eaten dinner? Where did Auntie go again?"

  "Dad hit mom and took the money that brother gave us. Then, then... Mom went out to find a job in the afternoon, she said that when she earns money tonight, she will buy delicious things for Anwei and Brother Malong! The little boy said with a hint of sadness and expectation, but soon his eyes were filled with worry: "But mom hasn't come back yet, dad got drunk and hit me, I'm so hungry... Brother, I'm scared."

  Perhaps to verify the little boy's words, a rumbling sound came from his belly.

  Ma Long let out another sigh, because he was very clear about what his younger cousin meant by "Mom going out to find work".

  Originally, this aunt had a career and worked as a temporary worker in a military supplies factory that produced uniforms for troops on the front lines before the war.

  But now...the war is over, so she's out of a job.

  A woman who lost her job due to the end of the war, in the early post-war period when it was very difficult for men to find work, what other jobs could she do besides selling her own body?

  Ma Long didn't not want to help this aunt, yesterday he had taken out two rand from his already meager savings for her, but what came of it was that the aunt got beaten up, and... just now, the red-nosed Ian Wan who was kicked over by him could drink a lot of inferior wine.

  In fact, when Marlon saw the drunk appearance of Rudolph Ian and his ugly behavior of asking to borrow money without hesitation, he had already guessed.

  So Ma Long kicked his foot hard, more than half of which was for this poor aunt.

  "Hey, Xiao Anwei, don't be afraid, Big Brother is here! And Mom will definitely be back soon!" Ma Long felt really uncomfortable in his heart, but looking at the poor and helpless little boy, he could only suppress his emotions for now, smiled and broke off a big piece of the low-quality bread: "Come on, Xiao Anwei, eat something first, so you'll have energy to wait for Mom to come back."

  "Hmm!"

  The little boy was really hungry, the slightly warm and poor-quality bread emitted a wheat fragrance that made him unhesitatingly reach out to take it, then he started eating it in big mouthfuls.

  However, the poor-quality bread was really too coarse, so after little An Wei ate two big mouthfuls, he started coughing non-stop, yet still couldn't bear to put down the bread in his hand. This child was truly starving.

  "Don't rush, eat slowly, no one will compete with Xiao An for food."

  Ma Long's eyes completely softened, he stood up and took the little boy to the extremely simple living room, found a small iron cup made of an old tin can, went into the kitchen and scooped out half a cup of slightly smelly cool water from a water storage tank.

  "Come on, have a couple of sips of water first before eating."

  A small tin can filled with lukewarm water that smelled slightly of rust was brought to the lips of little An Wei by Ma Long.

  Unlike the children on Earth who are fed fresh milk and have to be coaxed into drinking it, the little boy gulped down two big mouthfuls of cool water in one go.

  Even the young boy An Wei's face showed a satisfied expression, because for him who was born in the poor district of Baisha City, having not too smelly water to drink and coarse bread that choked his throat to eat was already a very happy thing.

  Look at busy eating little An Wei, Ma Long put the remaining bread and almost empty small metal can aside, turned around and walked to the door, dragging in the still unconscious Red Nose Ian.

  Then Ma Long found two more ropes and tied Ian's hands and feet tightly.

  At that time, Xiao Anwei had already eaten the poor-quality black bread and was quietly watching Malong tie up his father. There was no dissatisfaction or fear in his eyes, but only excitement and... pleasure.

  The hearts of children are far more pure than those of adults.

  They don't understand what is good and evil, so they can gleefully squeeze the frog's belly to burst, twist off the little rabbit's neck.

  They also don't understand the value of money, so they can very happily take out the most valuable items from their homes to exchange for worthless colored pebbles.

  But as long as a child has normal intelligence and cognitive abilities, they can distinguish who is good to them and who is not.

  Xiao Anwei was the same, he knew that his brother Ma Long was good to him, didn't hit or scold him and often gave him things to eat. When talking to him, his expression always had a smile; Dad was not good to Anwei, hitting and scolding Mom and Anwei, and not giving Anwei anything to eat.

  So, Big Brother beating Dad and tying him up are all... correct in Little Guy's eyes!

  Dad was tied up by older cousin, and can't hit Mom and An Wei anymore. Then when Mom comes back, we can live happily and carefree with An Wei and older cousin!

  With such a happy thought, after eating and drinking enough, little An Wei finally couldn't resist the visit of the sleep god and fell asleep soundly on the small stool.

  "Mom—"

  Little boy An Wei had a sweet dream, in which he and his mother moved into a beautiful big castle, the street corner bakery sold the most delicious white bread piled up all over the house...

  But in this dream, what made Xiao Anwei feel most at ease was that her brother was wearing the colorful clothes and crown of the little prince from the illustrations she had seen in "The Little Prince", and that ugly and fierce rotten father was locked outside the beautiful big castle.