13 Mingke Street

Chapter 6: Cries from the Basement

Grandpa's hand rested on Karen's shoulder.Karen's body trembled in response."Then... let's go home.""Oh, okay."Karen was clear and certain about what he had just experienced. He didn't think it was just his "overthinking" in this situation, it was a matter of life and death.He reached out,pushed open the courtyard door,and Karen took a step forward.

Take a step forward,Then the knees instantly went weak, and the whole person stumbled forward;Luckily, his other hand was holding onto the leash of the golden retriever, causing the dog to be dragged forward as well, and finally, they both fell onto the dog."Ugh..."The golden retriever let out a mournful cry.Karen quickly got up and couldn't help but look back at his grandfather standing there.His grandfather was looking at him without any expression.Karen re-leashed the tough and unharmed golden retriever and continued walking towards home.In the living room, Aunt Mary was sitting there discussing something with several middle-aged men and women, probably the children of the elderly man in the nursing home arranging his affairs.Aunt Mary called out to Karen, but he didn't respond and let go of the leash when going up the stairs.

Walking all the way to the third floor, pushing open the door to his own room, he walked in and locked the door behind him. Leaning his back against the door, he slowly slid down and sat on the floor."Hoo...hoo...hoo..."Karen couldn't control his heavy breathing,Tears, snot, and cold sweat couldn't be stopped from dripping,He clenched his fists tightly,Suppressing his voice to a minimum, he kept spewing out all kinds of curses.At this moment,Only dirty words that require no thinking and are instinctive can help him relieve some of the pressure.But,It didn't last long,

Mina's voice came from outside the door:"Brother, lunch is in the kitchen. Shall I heat it up for you to eat a little?"Karen took a deep breath, wiped away her tears with her palm, and then used the back of her hand to wipe her nose.She said:"No, I'm not hungry.""Okay, brother."Mina left.Karen leaned against the door, looking up.Mr. Hofmann recognized who I was, and Grandpa was just at the door, obviously... he wanted to kill me!He wants to kill himself!

I originally thought that the "identity issue" was something I didn't have to worry about, but now it has brought me a clear crisis, no, it has already sent me to the gallows.At this moment, my cousin Lunt's voice came from outside the door:"Brother, Grandpa wants you to join him for lunch."Karen gritted her teeth and waved her fists,Damn it, damn it, damn it!!!Now, the person I fear the most is my grandfather, is Dis!But,What's even more damn is that Karen realized that she still couldn't refuse.After a moment of blank expression,"Ha..."

Karen suddenly burst into laughter,He covered his face with both hands,Unable to control this laughter, his shoulders also shook.He clearly knew the change in his mentality now,From one extreme to another,Simply put:Breaking the jar.After a person experiences a huge emotional stimulation, it is easy to have similar emotions, such as a thrifty person suddenly spending a lot of money, or a pure person suddenly becoming promiscuous;After their emotions stabilize, they will probably regret it.But this does not prevent them from indulging in that period of time;

After all, humans are beings with flesh, blood, and souls. Even machines need to stop and be maintained when they are overloaded.Karen slowly stood up,He looked at himself in the bedroom mirror,Karen did not feel regret or shame for his previous weakness. Who can remain calm when suddenly faced with a life or death situation?But,He was tired....It is now three o'clock in the afternoon, long past lunchtime.Karen walked to the dining table and sat down.Dis raised his head and glanced at Karen, noticing that he seemed natural, with wet hair combed back, looking energetic.

In front of me is a plate of noodles with tomato sauce, and in the middle is a plate of stuffed pancakes.I picked up my fork and rolled the noodles into my mouth,Sour, sweet, soft, and sticky... Hmm, it's not good.I picked up a stuffed pancake and took a bite, the overly sweet taste almost made me choke.Karen put down her fork with a sigh of frustration.Diss ate slowly and asked, "What's wrong?"Karen noticed that Aunt Mary and Aunt Winnie were not on the second floor, and bluntly replied, "It's not good."Mina, who was bringing water over, was clearly uncomfortable hearing such a direct conversation, because everyone in the family, including her parents, always showed reverence towards their grandfather.

For example, commenting on food and showing stubbornness is not allowed.Dis took a bite of the pie and asked:"What do you want to eat?"Karen shook her head and said, "I'll make lunch tomorrow."Dis wiped his mouth with a napkin and said slowly:"Okay."But then, Dis pointed to the food in front of Karen: "Don't waste it.""Okay."Karen resumed eating.Dis picked up a glass of water and took a sip, his gaze fixed on Karen.

And Karen, clearly frowning while eating, did not try to hide his emotions. He sighed while eating."Respect for food is essential," Di said as a reminder.Karen also took a glass of water from Mina and used it to swallow the overly sweet pastry in his mouth. He said, "Not making the ingredients taste good is the real disrespect."Di nodded thoughtfully and said, "Then I look forward to tomorrow's lunch."At that moment, Aunt Mary walked up from downstairs. Karen noticed that her face was filled with constantly changing anger, but it quickly disappeared when she appeared in front of Grandpa."Did the guests leave?" Di asked."Yes, they chose the cheapest set menu," Aunt Mary replied.

"Okay." Dis didn't show any special expression.The cheapest package is to rent the first floor of the Inmores family as a mourning place, without any extra decoration or arrangement, similar to a "lying-in-state" where relatives and friends can come to pay their respects at a specific time in the morning or afternoon;Even...alcohol and drinks do not need to be prepared."What's even more ridiculous is that they want to cremate Mr. Mosang, but don't even want to spend money on a cemetery. In order to save money, his siblings even claimed that Mr. Mosang was a follower of the Berry religion.But when I was handling Mr. Mosang's body, I clearly saw a tattoo of an angel on his back."There are a few sects whose doctrine dictates cremation after death, believing that it marks the end and a new beginning. However, most sects, or rather most people, still prefer traditional burial.Of course, the most important point is that cremation is much cheaper than a full burial.Aunt Mary's anger stems from the fact that Mr. Mosang's children deliberately came up with this unreliable excuse...and also cut into her planned profits.The real money lies in the coffin, cemetery, priest, and other expenses."Okay." Mr. Dis replied calmly, "We will do as the guests request."

"Okay, father.""By the way, since Mr. Mosang's family did not request meals, that's perfect. Karen will prepare tomorrow's lunch.""Okay, father." Aunt Mary subconsciously glanced at Karen."I'm a bit tired today, I'll go rest in my room. I have a busy morning tomorrow, so you should all rest early too.""Okay, father.""Okay, grandpa."Dis left the dining table and went upstairs."Mina, can you and Lunt come with me to arrange the curtains downstairs? Oh, and call Chris to come too.""Okay, mother."Aunt Mary looked at Karen again and asked:

"Do my chef nephew need to purchase some ingredients in advance for you?""No, Aunt, there are plenty in the kitchen, it's enough.""Then I look forward to tomorrow's lunch."Aunt Mary took Mina and they went downstairs. Although she had mentioned that Paul and Ron would come to set up the mourning venue early tomorrow morning, she needed to organize some basic items tonight.Karen finished eating and started to collect the plates.At this moment, the door of Uncle Mason and Aunt's room on the second floor was pushed open from the inside."Karen, Karen.""Uncle Mason?" Karen looked over at the sound."Is there any food left?" Uncle Mason asked."There are a few pies left."

"Okay, okay, give me, give me." Karen brought a plate of pies to the door of the room. Uncle Mason, wearing pajamas, took the plate and immediately took a big bite of a pie, showing a ravenous look. "Uncle, what happened to you?" Uncle Mason sighed helplessly, "I fell while walking and my butt still hurts. I don't know if I hurt my bones. I'll just lie down for a bit, it won't delay the work at home tomorrow." "Uncle, you're so careless." "Hey, in a family, if you want good luck, there must be someone with bad luck to bear it all. As long as you are all healthy, I'm happy." Although Karen knew that Uncle Mason was just "talking nonsense," she still gave a "polite" and "touched" smile. Uncle Mason, holding the plate, limped back to the bedroom, and reminded Karen, "Close the door."

"Okay, uncle."Karen closed the door and based on Uncle Mason's reaction this morning, she guessed that he must have been beaten by her father.Well,That's normal, isn't it?Although Uncle Mason's children are already grown up, it's not hard to understand why he would be beaten by his own father. After all, today, Di almost killed his own "grandson" with his own hands.Karen habitually reached out her right hand and rubbed the spot in front of her right eye. It was a habit from her past life, but it only resulted in emptiness."Karen has good eyesight, she doesn't need glasses."Karen joked to herself:"Grandson..."Immediately after,

The tone became more serious:"Sun thief."...Karen didn't help and after cleaning up the dishes, he went to bed.Drowsy, he slept and woke up multiple times, each time only for half an hour.He kept dragging on until late at night, and his sleepiness was gone.He glanced at his cousin Lunt, who was sleeping on the opposite bunk bed.Since he recovered, his cousin who used to live with their grandfather immediately moved back to live with him. It can be imagined how much pressure it brought him to sleep in the same room as their grandfather.Karen sat up in bed, turned on the desk lamp, and opened a drawer according to his memory. He took out a book from inside.The title was "Money, a Meaningless Thing", an autobiography of a financial tycoon from Rulang Kingdom, the country where Karen was from.

Karen flipped through the pages of the book, inside were bills with a face value of "100" Lu coins. This was the money that the previous "Karen" had saved, his pocket money was quite abundant. Karen took them all out and counted, it was 6000 Lu coins. At this stage, the monthly salary of an ordinary worker was about 2000 Lu coins, and workers in well-performing factories could earn 2500 Lu coins per month. The two helpers at home, Paul and Ron, earned a monthly salary of 3000 Lu coins, and Paul's salary was even increased to 4000 today. After all, the work of moving dead bodies would definitely pay more. Therefore, this 6000 Lu coins was equivalent to the salary of an ordinary worker for three months. In fact, ordinary workers have family expenses, so it would be difficult for them to save this much in half a year. When Karen first woke up, he remembered that "Karen" had been planning to run away from home, he never liked this family. But this 6000 Lu coins was not a small amount of money, but even if he took this money and left, what could he do? "Karen, why did you drop out of school? At least leave me a high school diploma." But then he thought, at least "Karen" left him with the face of "Little Leo", and not the "Little Leo" who played with water guns. He didn't seem to have much reason to complain about "Karen".

Now,I have inherited this choice:"Run away from home?""Continue to stay at home?"These two topics kept flashing in Karen's mind, but when she remembered the scenes from earlier in the day, she couldn't help but doubt, would running away from home really be that easy?It's not as simple as a child packing some money and taking a train away from home,but it involves a kind of mystery, a mystery that goes beyond her established worldview,and,the mystery is right in her own home!"Woof...woof..."

Downstairs in the courtyard, there were two barking sounds of dogs.There should have been some before, but Karen didn't pay attention.Putting the money back into the book and continuing to hold it, Karen stood up, pushed open the door of the room, and saw Pu'er lying on the windowsill in the hallway.The black cat in the house was looking at the golden retriever that had been "exiled" in the courtyard in a very "human-like" posture;As if showing off, I am inside the house while you are outside.Karen glanced at the "lonely" golden retriever in the courtyard. The temperature was very low at night, and he thought the golden retriever was unlikely to freeze to death, but the most unbearable thing for a pet that was used to being with its owner was loneliness.Aunt Mary and the others probably didn't pay attention to the golden retriever, or they were too lazy to let it stay in the house at night, so it was better to let it stay outside and take care of itself in the yard in the morning instead of calling someone to walk it.Karen walked from the third floor to the living room on the first floor, opened the door of the living room, and the golden retriever immediately walked over with a "clatter", constantly rubbing its face against Karen's pajamas.Bending down, Karen patted the dog's head and planned to take it to the second floor kitchen to find something to eat.But just as he reached the stairs,

Karen heard a strange man's "sobbing" coming from below.On a quiet night, this sound was incredibly clear.Karen took two steps back and glanced at the ramp leading to the basement. She tentatively took two steps down and the sound became even clearer. You could even imagine an old man sitting in the corner, crying in frustration.But Karen immediately stepped back and did not go any further."A supporting character in a horror movie who can't survive for three minutes, only likes to go to the basement out of ridiculous curiosity."Karen didn't scream or call for help, but went upstairs to the kitchen.He poured a glass of milk and put the glass in a large bowl before pouring hot water over it;He also picked up two pieces of bread, took a bite of one and threw the other one in front of the golden retriever.The golden retriever sniffed the bread and then pushed it away, refusing to eat.It seems like it has already been fed.

Karen picked up the bread on the ground and then carried the milk to the third floor.As she walked to her room door, Karen hesitated for a moment and didn't push the door open. Instead, she turned around and went to her grandfather's bedroom door.She reached out and knocked on the door."Knock...knock..."There was no response from inside.Just as Karen was about to continue knocking,she noticed that the door to her grandfather's office next to her was open, and her grandfather, wearing a black robe, was standing at the door."What's the matter?""Bringing a cup of hot milk for Grandpa."Karen handed the cup of hot milk to Dis.

Dis reached out and took it, taking a sip in front of Karen."Goodnight, Grandpa.""Goodnight."Dis closed the door to the study.Karen noticed that the light in the study was swaying, which meant that Grandpa didn't turn on the lights, but...lit a candle.After standing at the door of the study for about three minutes,Karen turned around and didn't go back to his room, but went straight down the stairs and returned to the first floor from the third floor.When he stood at the entrance to the basement again,the sound of "crying" came again."Hehehe..."

Karen couldn't help but laugh out loud,Then she crossed her hands and pointed her toes to the ground, doing warm-up exercises before PE class,"Okay, let me take a look at you now."