Chapter 731 Life in London

Chapter 732 Life in London

U.K.

East End London.

At the dilapidated and fishy intersection of Westford Street, a seven or eight-year-old boy hurried to the "Flying Star Candy Store". He looked at the queue of "only" about 200 people and hurriedly Standing at the end of the line.

He has visited all the candy shops in the East District, and there are the fewest people here.

The team moved forward slowly, and the boy poked his dirty little head out from time to time, looking hopefully towards the store.

You could vaguely see a few jars on the dark brown "subsidy" cabinet, and a happy smile appeared on his face.

Finally, after queuing for an hour and a half, the boy arrived in front of the store.

He wiped his nose, tightened the large coat that was obviously made from adult clothes, and handed the small wooden box in his hand to the shopkeeper:

"Mr. Miller, I'll buy 6 ounces of jaggery."

"You're in luck, little Andy," the fat shopkeeper tilted the last clay pot, "and you still have the last five ounces."

Just as he was about to pour the sugar in the jar into the boy's wooden box, a middle-aged man whose clothes were stained with grease reached out and pushed the wooden box aside and said in a rough voice:

"I want all five ounces."

Andy looked up at the man nervously, but gritted his teeth and stood in front of the counter, unwilling to give in at all.

Miller, the shopkeeper, covered the sugar bowl and said to the middle-aged man:

"Sir, this kid came first."

"He jumped in line." The middle-aged man impatiently picked up Andy and threw him behind him, "Look, it's like this."

"You can't..."

The middle-aged man slapped a few coins on the counter:

"Five ounces of jaggery! Stop nagging, I can give you an extra penny."

The shopkeeper glanced at Andy, silently collected the money, and poured the candy into the man's paper bag.

The man left with satisfaction, and Andy hurriedly took a few steps forward, only to see the shopkeeper take down the sign that said "Subsidy", revealing the price sign behind "Jaggery 1 shilling and 1 penny per half pound".

Andy suddenly burst into tears.

The government-subsidized sugar price is 9 pence per half pound. Although it is more than twice as expensive as last year, it is 4 pence cheaper than the normal price.

He only had 7 pennies in his pocket, which used to be enough to buy 6 ounces of sugar, but now he couldn't even buy 4 ounces.

He wiped away his tears and begged the shopkeeper:

"Mr. Miller, please, can you sell it to me at a subsidized price?"

The latter sighed: "There are only 300 pounds of subsidized sugar per week and it has been sold out. I can't sell it to you at a loss."

Dozens of people who were still queuing behind also gathered around and shouted in confusion:

“We want to subsidize sugar!”

"This is too expensive, why not sell it at a subsidized price?"

"You black-hearted guy, don't be polite to him, go in and rob him!"

"Yes, teach this profiteer a lesson!"

The shop owner was startled and hurriedly stepped forward to close the door, but someone still squeezed in, staring intently at the sugar bowl on the shelf.

"beep--"

Just then, a sharp whistle came from across the street. Several police officers ran over quickly, waving sticks.

However, their actions were still a little slow. Seven or eight cans of candy had been snatched away, and one was broken on the ground.

The police beat several troublemakers severely and arrested one person, and the crowd dispersed.

The shopkeeper cursed loudly while carefully shoveling up the sugar scattered on the ground bit by bit. Sugar is so expensive on the market today. If the government didn't provide subsidies, it would be impossible for him to sell half a pound for 9 pence.

And Andy was pushed down by the candy robbers just now, and his legs were stepped on several times, making him cry even harder.

Two hours later, the boy limped back home holding the small wooden box.

As soon as he entered the door, the woman who was frying French fries in the room shouted without looking back: "You're back."

But when she saw the empty wooden box, she suddenly shouted in a high voice: "Where's the sugar? You useless thing, why didn't you buy it?!"

"All the stores have sold out of subsidized candy..." the boy sobbed.

"You queued up at noon, you must have been lazy somewhere!"

"I don't……"

The woman cursed for a while, then suddenly sat down on the wooden bench in frustration and began to wipe her tears.

Without sugar, she couldn't even make today's dinner.

The family could only eat tasteless chips and brown bread, and drink bitter tea.

What's even worse is that her husband will have no sugar during tea break tomorrow...

He was a dock worker who lived on bread and chips and simply didn't have the stamina to work for 14 hours straight.

He could only survive until get off work by replenishing sugary tea in the afternoon.

She cried for a while, then picked up the wooden box, went out and bought 4 ounces of regular-price candy.

At 8 o'clock in the evening, the man with an unshaven beard and the smell of sweat returned home. Regardless of the stains on his body, he fell tiredly on the bed and said feebly: "Julie, is dinner ready?"

The woman hesitated and handed him a glass of water and whispered: "We only have 4 ounces of sugar this week..."

The man sat up suddenly and said anxiously: "What's going on? Didn't I leave you 7 pence?"

After the woman explained the situation, he frowned and let out a long sigh, pulled his son aside who looked like he had made a big mistake, and patted his wife again: "It doesn't matter, just hang on, it will get better next week."

As he was talking, a girl about twelve or thirteen years old, wearing a coarse headscarf, pushed the door open, looked around the three people in the room with red eyes, and then hugged the woman and cried: "Mom, I was fired from the store..."

The whole family was shocked.

The man stood up, held her and asked: "Anna, what happened?"

"Mr. Parnell said that business has been bad recently and he can't pay my wages, so... woo woo."

The woman was shocked: "How is this possible? Even a store selling tea is like this?"

How could she know that the price of sugar has skyrocketed, causing many people to be unable to afford sugar. And the British must put sugar in tea. Without sugar, the sales of tea have also plummeted.

Since the sugar crisis, the sales of Parnell's store have fallen by 40%!

The family ate a bland dinner, and the narrow house was full of gloom.

Six days later, the man really fainted while carrying goods at the dock, and the employer deducted his wages for three days without explanation.

This dealt a heavy blow to the already struggling family.

With the eldest daughter losing her job, they would not be able to buy enough bread without the three days' wages.

Bad luck never comes alone, and soon, something worse came.

As the wave of company bankruptcies brought about by the London Gas Street Light Incident continued to ferment, the number of unemployed people increased, and the capitalists naturally would not miss this "good opportunity".

All factories began to reduce workers' wages as if they had agreed.

Anyway, there are so many unemployed people outside, if you think the wages are too low, just get out, and naturally someone will be willing to work.

Andy's father also received a notice from his employer that his wages would be reduced from 1 pound 12 shillings per month to 1 pound 8 shillings.