Chapter 91 Solution

The picture began to distort, began to blur, and began to disappear.

Klein broke away from that dream-like experience, and his eyes adjusted to the darkness of the bedroom.

He knew that his brother Benson used a weekly salary of 1 pound 10 soli, which is 30 soli, and it was quite hard to support himself and Melissa according to the standard of normal civilians.

He thought most workers could earn 20 soli a week.

He heard Melissa mention that on the lower street of Iron Cross Street, some families had five, seven, or even ten people living in the same room.

He knew from Benson that a few months ago, affected by the situation in the southern continent, the kingdom had experienced an economic downturn.

He had learned that the housemaid, who provided food and lodging, could take between three and sixpence a week to six.

Klein stretched out his hand, pinched his eyebrows, and did not speak for a long time, until Sir Deville, who was lying on the bed, said:

"Officer, won't you say something? The psychiatrist I hired before will chat with me and ask questions in such an environment at this time."

"However, I did feel the peace. I almost fell asleep just now, but I didn't hear any moaning or crying."

"How did you do it?"

Klein leaned against the back of the rocking chair, did not answer the question, and said in a gentle voice:

"Sir, do you know about lead poisoning? Do you know the dangers of lead?"

"..." Deville, who was lying on the bed, said silently for a few seconds, "I didn't know it before, but I found out later, you mean, my psychological problem, or mental illness, is because I feel guilty, and I feel guilty for those lead workers and Does the glazing lady feel guilty?"

Without waiting for Klein to answer, he said to himself as if he had seized the initiative in negotiations every time:

"Yes, I did feel guilty once, but I have already compensated them. In my lead-white factory and porcelain factory, each worker can get a lot more salary than the same place, In Backlund, the weekly wages of lead-making and glazing women are no more than 8 soli, and I pay them 10 soli or more.”

"Heh, a lot of people accuse me of making them immoral and having trouble recruiting workers. If it wasn't for the repeal of the Corn Act and many farmers going bankrupt and entering the city, they'd have to follow me to raise wages."

"And I also told the director of the factory,

Keeping workers with multiple headaches and blurred vision out of access to lead, and if they are seriously ill, can apply to my charitable fund for assistance. "

"I think I've done enough."

Klein spoke without any fluctuations in his tone:

"Sir, sometimes you can never imagine how important a salary is to a poor man whose family will be irreversibly and tragically damaged for even a week or two of unemployment."

He paused, then turned to ask:

"I'm curious, why don't you, who are so caring, add equipment to protect against dust and lead poisoning in your factory?"

Deville looked at the ceiling and smiled bitterly:

"That would make my cost unacceptably high, and it would be impossible for me to compete with other lead factories and porcelain factories. I don't care too much about the benefits in this area, and I'm even willing to subsidize some of the money, but it's always like this, what's the point? ? This can only help a small number of workers, and cannot become the industry standard and drive them to make changes.”

"This will turn into me simply spending money to support people. I heard that some factories are still secretly using slaves in order to save costs."

Klein folded his hands and said after a while of silence:

"Sir, your psychological problems stem from accumulating guilt little by little, even though you thought they had faded and gone. It wouldn't have had a very noticeable effect, but there was something that irritated you and made all the The problem was ignited at once, all ignited."

"Something irritates me? I didn't know there was such a thing." Deville said suspiciously and affirmatively.

Klein let his body sway gently with the rocking chair, and explained in a gentle tone:

"You actually fell asleep for a few minutes just now and told me something."

"Hypnotherapy?" Deville habitually made guesses and came to a conclusion.

Klein didn't give a positive answer, and said directly:

"You once saw a female worker in a carriage who died on her way to work. She died of lead poisoning and was glazing your china."

"..." Deville rubbed his temples and whispered uncertainly, "There seems to be such a thing... but I don't remember very well..."

Long-term insomnia has made his mental state very poor, and it seems that he has seen a similar scene vaguely.

After thinking about it, he stopped squeezing his poor brain and asked instead:

"What's the name of that female worker?"

"Well, I mean, what can I do to treat my psychological problems?"

Klein replied in a low and succinct manner:

"Two things."

"First, the female worker who died on the side of the road was named Hailiye Walker. This is what you told me. She is the most direct stimulus, so you need to find her parents and give more compensation."

"Second, spread the word about the dangers of lead in newspapers and magazines, make your charitable fund more helpful to harmed workers, and if, if, you can be a member of the upper house, push for legislation on that."

Deville sat up slowly, smiled self-deprecatingly and said:

"I will do other things, but legislation, oh, I don't think it is possible, because there are still foreign competitors, legislation will only bring these industries in the kingdom into a general crisis, one by one bankruptcy, a large number of workers With unemployment, the poor organization can't save so many people."

He rolled over and got out of bed unhappily, straightened his neckline, looked at Klein and said:

"Haylie Walker, right? I'll immediately send Karen to the china factory to get her information and find her parents. Officer, please wait with me and assess my mental state at all times."

"Okay." Klein stood up slowly and took a photo of the black and white police uniform.

…………

At eleven o'clock in the morning, the living room on the first floor of Deville's house.

Klein, who hasn't spoken much, sat on the single sofa and watched silently as a man and a woman were brought in by the housekeeper Karen.

The two guests had rough skin and wrinkles began to appear on their faces. The man had a slightly rickety back and the woman had a mole on her eyelid.

They were basically the same as what Klein saw through Hailiye, but they were older and more haggard, so thin that they could see bones, and their clothes were old and tattered.

woo...

In Klein's inspiration, the cold wind began to swirl.

He pinched his eyebrows, turned his eyes to Sir Deville, and saw a pale, transparent, distorted figure appearing behind him at some point.

"Morning, good morning, respect, esteemed Sir." Hai Liye's parents saluted very cautiously.

Deville rubbed his forehead and asked:

"You are Hailey Walker's parents? Doesn't she also have a brother, a two-year-old sister?"

Hailiye's mother replied fearfully, "She, her brother broke his leg at the dock some time ago, and we let him take care of his sister at home."

Deville was silent for a few seconds, then sighed:

"I deeply sympathize with Hailiye's misfortune."

Hearing this sentence, Hai Liye's father and mother immediately had red eyes, each spoke, and said messily:

"Thank you, thank you for your kindness."

"The police told us, tell us that Hai Liye died of lead poisoning, should that be the word? Oh, my poor child, she's only seventeen, she's always been quiet and stubborn."

"You sent someone to see her and financed the burial, and she was buried in Raphael Cemetery."

Deville glanced at Klein, changed his sitting position, leaned forward, and said in a heavy tone:

"It was actually our negligence and I need to apologize."

"I thought about it, I have to compensate you, Hailie, her weekly salary is 10 soli, right? A year is 540 soli, um, 27 pounds, we assume she can work for at least 10 years."

"Karen, you give 300 pounds to Hailiye's parents."

"3,300 pounds?" Hailiye's father and mother were stunned.

When they were at their most prosperous, they didn't have more than a pound of savings on hand!

Not only them, but the bodyguards and servants in the living room were all shocked and envious. Even Sheriff Gate couldn't help but let his breath become heavier - his weekly salary was only two pounds, and he only had a "V". "The police officer is only 1 pound.

In an indescribable silence, the housekeeper Karen came out of the study with a bulging cloth bag in his hand.

He called the cloth bag, revealing stacks of banknotes, some 1 pound, some 5 pounds, but more of 1 sole and 5 sole.

It can be seen that Deville asked people to exchange "change" from the bank in advance.

"This is Sir's intention." Karen, who got the master's approval, handed the sack to Hailie's parents.

Hailiye's father and mother took it, rubbed their eyes, and read it over and over again.

"No, this, this is too generous, we shouldn't accept it." They said while holding the bag tightly.

Deville said solemnly:

"This is what Hailiye should get."

"You, you are truly a noble and merciful Sir!" Hailiye's parents bowed excitedly.

There were smiles on their faces, uncontrollable smiles.

They complimented Sir Deville over and over, they repeated the few adjectives they had over and over, and they repeatedly said that Hayley would definitely be grateful to each other in Heaven.

"Karen, send someone to take them back, um, to the bank first." Deville breathed a sigh of relief and instructed the housekeeper.

Hailiye's father and mother hugged the cloth bag tightly and walked to the door without daring to stop.

Klein saw that the pale, transparent figure behind Sir Deville tried to reach out to them, trying to follow them away, but they smiled brilliantly and did not look back.

The figure became more and more faint, and soon disappeared completely.

In Klein's induction, the coldness in the living room was normal.

He just watched silently from start to finish, without making any comments.

"Officer, I'm feeling better, can you tell me now why my housekeeper, servants and bodyguards hear the same crying and moaning? Shouldn't this just be my own psychological problem?" Deville looked curiously come over.

Inspector Toler, who knew the inside story, suddenly became nervous.

Klein replied expressionlessly:

"In psychology, we call this phenomenon mass hysteria."

PS: The prototypes of several female worker characters in the previous chapter are based on Jack London, "The Residents of the Abyss - The East End of London"

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