THE HANGED MAN

Chapter 3: Melissa

After determining the plan, Zhou Mingrui suddenly had the backbone, and the panic, wandering, and insecurity department was huddled in a corner.

Only then did he feel in the mood to take a closer look at Crane's remaining fragments of memory.

Zhou Mingrui habitually stood up, closed the pipe valve, watched the wall lamp slowly dim until it went out, and sat down again, unconsciously rubbing the brass wheel of the pistol, while holding the side of his head, quietly "aftertaste" in the crimson darkness, like the most attentive audience in the cinema.

Perhaps affected by the bullet passing through, Crane's memory is like broken glass, not only losing coherence, but also obviously missing content in many places, such as where the exquisite revolver pistol came from, whether it was suicide or homicide, what did the phrase "everyone will die, including me" mean in the notebook, and whether he was involved in strange things two days before the incident.

Not only have these specific memories become fragmented and mutilated, but even the knowledge they have mastered, in their current state, Zhou Mingrui believes that if Crane returns to the university, he may not be able to finish his studies, even if he has only left the campus for a few days, and he has not relaxed himself in the slightest.

"In two days, I will attend an interview for the history department of the University of Tingen..."

"The universities of the Kingdom of Ruen have a tradition of graduates not staying directly ... The tutor gave a letter of recommendation from Tingen University, a Baekeland University..."

……

Zhou Mingrui silently "watched", the red moon outside the window tilted to the west, gradually sinking, until a shimmer lit up in the east, and the horizon was dyed gold.

At this time, there was movement in the room inside, and soon, footsteps leaned towards the isolation door.

"Melissa woke up... She's really on time as always. Zhou Mingrui smiled slightly, influenced by Crane's memory, he had a feeling of looking at his own sister for Melissa.

However, I didn't have my own sister... He immediately complained.

Melissa is different from Benson and Crane, the enlightenment education is not completed in the Sunday school of the Church of the Goddess of the Night, when she is of school age, the Kingdom of Rune promulgated the Primary Education Law, established the Committee on Lower and Secondary Education, and provided special funds and increased investment.

However, in three years, on the premise of incorporating many church schools, many public elementary schools were established, strictly maintaining the principle of religious neutrality, and not involving disputes between the Lord of the Storm, the Goddess of the Night, and the Church of the God of Steam and Machinery.

Public elementary schools pay three pennies a week compared to Sunday schools, which cost only one copper penny a week, but the former study only one day a week on Sundays, the latter attends classes six days a week, and on balance, the price is low to almost free.

Unlike most girls, Melissa grew up loving gears, clockwork, bearings and other things, and aspired to be a steam mechanic.

Benson, who has suffered cultural losses and understands the importance of education, supports his sister's dream just as he supports Crane to go to university, after all, Tingen Technical School can only be regarded as secondary education, and there is no need to go to grammar school or public school to accumulate.

In July last year, fifteen-year-old Melissa passed entrance exams and became part of the steam and mechanics department at the Technical School of Tingen, raising her weekly tuition fee to ninepence.

At the same time, the import and export company where Benson works is affected by the situation in the southern continent, both profits and business volume have shrunk significantly, and more than one-third of the staff has to be laid off.

Crane didn't want to help his brother burden, but he was born as a commoner, he was admitted to the ordinary grammar school, and as soon as he entered the university, he strongly felt his own shortcomings, such as the ancient Fusak script as the source language of all the countries of the northern continent, for the children of the nobility, for the children of the rich class, it was something that had to be learned from an early age, and he did not first come into contact with it until college.

There are many, many similar aspects, and Crane used almost all his strength, often staying up late and getting up early, only to barely catch up with others and graduate with intermediate grades.

The memory of his brother and sister jumped in Zhou Mingrui's mind, and when he turned his hand, the door of the room inside creaked open, and he woke up and remembered that he was holding a revolver in his palm.

This is a semi-controlled item!

Will freak out the little ones!

Also, the wound on my head!

Seeing that Melissa was about to come out, Zhou Mingrui hurriedly opened the desk drawer while holding his temple, threw the revolver in, and smashed it with a bang.

"What happened?" Melissa heard the movement and looked over suspiciously.

She is in the most youthful stage, even if she can't eat anything good, her face is thin and slightly pale, and her skin is still full of luster, exuding the breath of a girl.

Seeing his sister's brown eyes probing and looking, Zhou Mingrui forced himself to calm, picked up the things close to hand, and then calmly closed the drawer to cover the existence of the revolver, while the touch of his other hand at the temple made him sure that the wound had healed!

From the drawer he took out a silver-white pocket watch with vine branches and leaves, and with a slight press on the top, the lid popped open.

It is the father of the three siblings, the most valuable item left by the Royal Army sergeant, but second-hand goods are second-hand goods after all, and there have been problems from time to time in recent years, even if they have been repaired by a watch craftsman, which makes Benson, who likes to bring it to raise his status, repeatedly embarrassed and simply left it at home.

I have to say that Melissa may really have a talent for machinery, and after mastering the theoretical knowledge, she began to tinker with this pocket watch with the help of technical school tools, and recently claimed to have repaired it!

Zhou Mingrui watched the watch cover bounce open, saw that the second hand stopped moving, and subconsciously turned the top, intending to wind the pocket watch.

However, he twisted a few times, but still no sound of clockwork taut came out, and the second hand remained motionless.

"It seems to be broken again." He looked at his sister without saying anything.

Melissa glanced at him expressionlessly, quickly walked over, and took away the pocket watch.

She stood in place, first pulled up the button on the top of the pocket watch, and after only a few turns, there was a clicking second hand.

Normally, unplugging shouldn't be an adjustment time... Zhou Mingrui's expression suddenly became dull.

At this time, the bells of the cathedral in the distance were rang dangdang, six times in a row, distant and ethereal.

Melissa listened to it, and then raised the button on the top of the pocket watch, and then twisted continuously, right the time.

"Okay." She said briefly without a hint of emotion, then pressed back to the top and returned the pocket watch to Zhou Mingrui.

Zhou Mingrui smiled back awkwardly but politely.

Melissa took another deep look at her brother, turned and walked to the cupboard position, took a toothbrush, towel and other things, pulled the door out, and went to the common bathroom.

"How did her expression just now smell of disgust and helplessness."

"Care for the eyes of my mentally disabled brother?"

Zhou Mingrui shook his head and laughed, closed the watch cover with a snap, and pressed it open with a snap.

Repeating this action, he thought divergent and thought of a question.

In the absence of a silencer, Crane committed suicide, well, for the time being, it was a suicide, the movement of his suicide was definitely not small, and Melissa across the wall was unaware.

Did she sleep too soundly? Or is the suicide of Crane itself full of weirdness?

Snap, open, click, close... When Melissa returned from washing, what she saw was her brother's unconscious movements of opening and closing the lid of the pocket watch.

Her gaze was once again mixed with helplessness, and her voice said sweetly:

"Crane, you take out all the rest of the bread, remember to buy new ones today, as well as meat and peas, you are almost at the interview, I will make you lamb stew with peas."

As she spoke, she moved the stove out of the corner, lit a fire with the charcoal, and boiled a pot of hot water.

Before the water was about to boil, she opened the bottom drawer of the cabinet, took out a pot of inferior tea leaves like a baby, and sprinkled a dozen pieces into the pot, pretending that it was real tea.

One person poured two cups, and Melissa and Zhou Mingrui shared two rye breads with tea.

No mixed wood chips, not much gluten, yet still not delicious... Zhou Mingrui is now weak and hungry, relying on tea, and forcibly swallowing the bread while belly.

After a few minutes, Melissa finished eating, gathered her black hair hanging down to her vest, and looked at Zhou Mingrui and said:

"Remember to buy new bread, only eight pounds, hot weather, too much to spoil, and lamb and peas, remember!"

Is it really caring for the nerdy brother, and I have to emphasize it again... Zhou Mingrui smiled and nodded:

"Okay."

Regarding the pound of the Ruen Kingdom, Zhou Mingrui believes that it is close to the pound he is used to, that is, 0.5 kilograms, based on the comparison between Crane's meat measurement memory and himself.

Melissa didn't say more, got up and cleaned up, packed the last loaf of bread for lunch, put on the worn gauze hat left by her mother, picked up the book-bound and bookware and bag she had sewn, and prepared to go out.

Today wasn't Sunday, she had to go all day of class.

It takes about fifty minutes to walk from this apartment to the Tingen Technical School, there are public carriages, one penny per kilometer, the maximum limit in the city is 4pence, and the suburbs are 6pence, and Melissa goes out early to save money.

As soon as she opened the gate, she paused again, half-turned her body and said:

"Crane, don't buy too much lamb and peas, Benson may not be back until Sunday, well, remember that bread is only eight pounds."

"Good, okay." Zhou Mingrui replied helplessly.

At the same time, he silently recited the word "Sunday" several times in his heart.

In the northern continent, the year is also divided into twelve months, ranging from 365 to 366 days a year, and there are also seven days in a week.

The front is the results of astronomy, which makes Zhou Mingrui suspect that this is a parallel world, and the latter comes from religion, because there are seven orthodox gods in the northern continent: Eternal Sun, Lord of Storms, God of Knowledge and Wisdom, Goddess of Night, Mother Earth, God of War, God of Steam and Machinery.

Seeing his sister close the door and leave, Zhou Mingrui suddenly sighed, and quickly shifted his mind to the transfer ceremony.