13 Mink Street

Chapter 7 Identity Crisis

Here is the translation of the text into English:

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"What are you thinking about, bro?"

Mina, who had just helped Karen with her nose, saw her cousin staring out the window in a daze and asked curiously.

In the past, her cousin might have been somewhat reclusive due to his parents' deaths, skipping high school after finishing middle school and staying at home without much social interaction;

After this recent serious illness, although her brother sometimes seemed "absent-minded," he had become much more cheerful than before, and she was willing to talk to him.

"Oh, just thinking whether I should continue my studies."

Karen lightly rubbed the tip of his nose, the pain having subsided considerably from earlier. His nose was stuffed with cotton, which should be removable soon.

Earlier, he had actually been thinking about what had just happened in the basement and the scenes in his dream. Was it an occasional occurrence related to his "body" and "mind," or had he really experienced a "supernatural event"?

After all, for the latter, the basement earlier had already contained most of the triggering conditions.

But, if it was just a dream, no matter how terrifying, after waking up, that palpitation would immediately dissipate.

Afterward, Karen was more focused on pondering her future path.

He didn't think that, as a "transmigrator," he could easily make a fortune and start a successful life just like that.

But in his previous life as a self-made "striver,"

He had enough confidence in his abilities and qualities to make a decent living in this "new world."

After all, regardless of what the "Karen" identity brought to him, whether it was help or a burden, it was insignificant.

That's enough.

"Brother used to hate going to school the most," Mina said with a smile.

Before, Karen was somewhat inclined to be like an autistic patient and naturally didn't like crowded places like school.

"Going to school is very important, especially when you're young," Karen said seriously, "Most people, when they grow up and become adults, regret why they didn't work harder and endure more hardships when they were young."

"The way my brother says that reminds me of Mom."

"Hehe." Karen shrugged, "Mina, pour me a glass of water."

"Sure, brother."

The younger sister obediently went to help with the water.

Karen then opened the window in the room, letting in the fresh air. He took a deep breath, then closed the window again; the wind was too cold.

Turning back, Karen saw that the black cat Pol had appeared at his bedside at some point, crouching there. The cat's eyes stared at him, occasionally turning its neck to appraise him.

"Pol, tsk tsk tsk..."

Karen tried to tease the black cat with the common pet "pronunciation language."

Pol tilted his head, not taking the bait.

Karen approached, and the black cat wasn't afraid. After all, Karen was also family. Karen reached out and stroked the cat's head.

"Meow..."

Pol turned his head away, apparently not liking this affection.

"Why did Grandpa give you such a twisted name?" Karen muttered to him, "Pol... Pol, well, it's better to call you Puer. It sounds much fresher."

The black cat shifted its body slightly. Obviously, it didn't respond favorably to this new name that sounded similar in pronunciation.

"Mina brought water and said," Mom is calling Dad on the phone."

"Hmm?"

In this era, "mobile phones" hadn't appeared yet, so using a landline to call someone was actually inefficient.

Moreover, most likely, Uncle Mason was driving his hearse somewhere, drifting on some street.

After Mina brought water to Karen, she familiarly picked up a cloth to wipe the windowsill. Originally, in the Inmolese family, there were two maids: one responsible for cleaning and housework, and the other specialized in cooking. However, after Uncle Mason's family and Aunt Winnie's mother-daughter duo returned, both maids were dismissed by Grandpa.

On weekdays, household chores were done together by Mina, her younger brother Trent, and Aunt Winnie's daughter, Chris. Meals were alternately prepared by Aunt Mary and Aunt Winnie.

Everyone in the family had "jobs," so Karen was actually the most idle one.

This also indirectly showed that Grandpa This, who had always been dignified, was indeed different when it came to his eldest grandson compared to others.

At this moment, Grandpa walked upstairs.

Mina immediately stood straight, and Karen also stood up, holding the water glass;

Many times, whether there are rules at home does not depend on the so-called "family education" or "tradition," but on whether there is someone in the family who makes you respect and fear.

Grandpa This's gaze swept over his grandchildren, lingering a bit longer on his grandson. Without saying anything, he pushed open his room door and walked in.

The stagnant atmosphere in the air resumed "circulation" only after the door closed.

Karen breathed a sigh of relief, looked down at Mina, and found that Mina was making the same move.

"Grandpa seems busy every day," Karen asked.

"Yes, there's a lot to do at the church, and Grandpa often travels," Mina replied.

As they spoke, the door of Grandpa's room was pushed open from inside, and Grandpa, now wearing a "priest" outfit, walked out again, holding a black box in his hand.

"I won't be back for lunch."

"Oh, okay, Grandpa," Mina responded immediately.

This walked downstairs.

Soon, Karen saw Grandpa walking into the backyard through the window.

The clothes on Dis clearly carried religious connotations, but they seemed a bit different, giving him a very specialized feeling.

Perhaps in the eyes of outsiders, this being a "priest" helped expand the family business, as his identity easily gained the trust of churchgoers and could... bring in more business for the family;

But Karen didn't think things were that simple. When Grandpa pushed open the courtyard gate and walked out, Karen suddenly realized the source of that "meaning."

"Our grandpa is a bit like Uncle Nine."

"Brother, who is Uncle Nine?"

"A priest specializing in catching vampires."

"Oh, I see, like in dramas?"

"Yeah, exactly. Mina, should we clean up here too?"

"Yeah, and the stairs."

"I'll help."

"But brother, what about your body?"

"It's fine."

Here is the translation of the text into English:

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Karen began to help Mina mop the floor. After finishing, he went to clean the stairs. When he was changing the bucket, Karen went to the yard where there was a large faucet for faster water collection.

At this moment, Uncle Mason returned in his modified "Husk" car. Ron and Paul unloaded a stretcher from it, with an elderly person lying on top, covered with a white cloth. Karen saw the white hair under the clothes.

Uncle Mason rushed into the yard without noticing Karen filling water in the corner, heading straight for Aunt Mary.

"Father is looking for you," Aunt Mary said.

"Father?" Uncle Mason's eyes seemed distracted.

This reaction, akin to someone feeling guilty for doing something wrong and fearing an elder reprimand, caught Karen's attention due to his professional habits from his previous life.

"Father just left," Aunt Mary said.

"Oh..." Uncle Mason seemed to breathe a sigh of relief, then said, "It's okay, it's okay. I'll go find Father outside; perhaps he's at the church."

"Alright, go ahead."

Uncle Mason hurried outside without even starting the car.

Aunt Mary didn't notice any unusual behavior in her husband,

As her attention was focused on the elderly person just brought from the nursing home,

Soon,

Aunt Mary screamed:

"Oh my God, why is there still feces on him?"

...

Ron and Paul, unable to complete their assigned task, were requested by Aunt Mary to clean the body. Faced with the angry Aunt Mary, they dared not resist.

Paul first took the stretcher downstairs, while Ron approached Karen:

"Master Karen, I need to borrow a bucket and mop."

"I'll help you take it downstairs."

"No need, no need." Ron twisted his neck; he was tall and somewhat chubby, though not very old, his beer belly was quite prominent. "We can handle it."

Karen smiled and asked, "So why didn't you let the caregivers clean the body properly?"

This should have been the job of the nursing home caregivers: to initially clean the deceased's body. Otherwise, when the family sees their loved one with a dirty body, it wouldn't look good.

"You're making fun of me, Master," Ron scratched his head awkwardly. "I made a date with Miss Carter, the caregiver responsible for Mr. Mosan, to go see a movie in a couple of days."

"I see..."

Ron's face blushed slightly as he continued:

"She said she likes watching movies and eating popcorn. During the movie, she can feed me popcorn by hand, so... I don't want her to feed me popcorn with the hand that just cleaned that stuff off the body."

"You know, Master, feeding each other popcorn between lovers during a movie is really sweet. Under the dim lights, when she feeds you popcorn, you can even lick her fingers with your tongue;

Oh my God, it's so wonderful!"

"You're dreaming."

Paul's voice came; he had already taken Mr. Mosan went downstairs and now came up for plastic gloves and detergent.

"Paul, I know you're just jealous of me!"

"Jealous of you? Come on, Ron, besides Mrs. Hughes, the owner of Hughes Crematorium, I doubt any other woman would fancy you."

"You're talking nonsense!"

Ron pointed his finger at Paul angrily.

"Mrs. Hughes?" Karen asked with some curiosity.

It sounded like the owner of a crematorium, probably a wealthy woman. Why was Ron so excited about this?

"Haha." Paul laughed first and then explained, "Master Karen, you probably don't know: before pushing the body into the furnace for cremation, gasoline is sprayed on the body to aid combustion. Thin people often need more gasoline, otherwise their bones won't burn. But for fat people, their own body fat helps with combustion."

Here is the translation of the text into English:

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"So, Mrs. Hughes from the crematorium must really like Ron's physique because he's fuel-efficient."

"So that's how it is."

"Damn it, Paul, how dare you portray me like this in front of Master Karen!"

"Come on, let's go downstairs and get to work, or Mrs. Mary will be upset again soon."

Ron and Paul bickered as they carried things down to the basement.

In the hall, Aunt Mary lit a cigarette, feeling slightly better.

Because Paul gave her some good news: the elderly man named Mosan has children, who will be coming later.

If it's not on welfare, it means there's money to be made, even with the lowest-tier package.

And Aunt Mary's "salary" also depends on the "performance" at home, deducting expenses and leaving the remaining profit as a subsidy for the family;

The account is managed by Aunt Winnie.

This is also why no one in the family speaks ill of Grandpa behind his back; he's serious but not stingy or greedy.

Karen returned to the second floor to help her cousin Mina clean the furniture.

As they were almost done, he heard Ron and Paul coming up from the basement; they had already cleaned the body, and now it was Aunt Mary's turn.

Because the family members might come in the afternoon to arrange the memorial service, it was necessary to make the old man look presentable at this time.

However, it seemed guests had arrived. Karen heard Aunt Mary calling him downstairs:

"Karen, come down and entertain Mr. Hoffen."

Setting down the clothes, Karen first recalled "Mr. Hoffen":

He was an elderly retired professor of philosophy from university, with a decent pension and a respectable life. He was a good friend of Grandpa's and often came to have tea and chat.

Moreover, he had a great interest in fortune-telling and once gave Karen a set of exquisite playing cards—not tarot cards, but the kind used for playing Homeowners.

Karen went to the kitchen on the second floor, brewed a cup of tea, prepared some simple snacks, and carried them downstairs to the living room.

Mr. Hoffen was very tall but thin.

Thin people often have more distinct facial features and more straightforward emotional expressions.

When Karen saw him,

He noticed Mr. Hoffen's gaze locked directly onto him.

Even Mr. Hoffen's pet dog, a large golden retriever lying beside him, seemed to sense its owner's emotional fluctuations, slowly getting up. However, it also seemed a bit bewildered, unsure of what went wrong.

Until he spotted Pu'er crouching in the stairwell, seeming instinctively interested, and thinking about getting up.

But Pu'er just glanced at it with cat-like eyes, and the golden retriever immediately lost interest and lay back down.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Hoffen, but my grandfather is out. However, I believe he'll be back soon; Uncle has gone to find him."

Setting down the tea, Karen said a formal phrase.

Unexpectedly,

At that moment,

Mr. Hoffen suddenly reached out, gripping Karen's wrist, his whole face instantly coming close, his breathing becoming extremely rapid,

He used a suppressed yet uncontrollably excited tone,

Asked:

"You're not Karen... who are you?"

In an instant, a sense of crisis surged into Karen's mind. This crisis came from the fact that the other person had torn apart his identity with just a glance, making Karen, who had been mentally prepared for half a month, somewhat at a loss.

Karen subconsciously took two steps back, trying to create some distance between her and Mr. Hoffen,

But unfortunately, holding Karen's wrist, Mr. Hoffen lost his balance unexpectedly, accidentally stumbled forward, tried to support himself on the table, but unfortunately ended up supporting nothing. His body followed with a fall forward, hitting his forehead directly on the edge of the table.

"Bang!"

A muffled sound came out,

Immediately,

Mr. Hoffen fell backwards, the back of his head hitting the tiles in the living room;

"Snap!"

Karen looked at the scene in front of him in shock,

This elderly man who had just directly pointed out his "identity issue" now seemed to be expelling more air than taking in;

Moreover,

On the living room tiles where his head had been hit, a large pool of blood began to spread.

At this moment, Mina, who was still busy on the second floor, seemed to hear the noise and stood at the staircase, shouting:

"Brother, what's happening downstairs?"

Karen licked her lips,

Slowly straightened up,

Replied:

"Mr. Hoffen had a stroke and fell."