Chapter 279: Gotham Playing House (Part 1)

At night in Gotham, the cylindrical lights from the car headlights gradually turned from the corner and then shone straight on the street. A sports car slowly drove to the door of a circus station in the western suburbs of Gotham.

The people who got out of the car seemed to be a young couple. The tall father held his daughter in front, and the mother followed with tickets and bags. On the surface, this was a very harmonious family of three, but everything ended with a scream from the daughter in the father's arms.

"Wow!!!"

"Don't scream." Bruce covered Aisha's mouth with one hand, his voice was tired, Selina came up, took his arm and said: "You'd better not cover his mouth, what if he gets bit again?"

Bruce sighed and took his hand down. Aisha in his arms was very restless and wanted to jump out of his arms, but was stopped by Bruce with his other arm.

And why this family of three appeared in front of the circus, we have to start from the extremely "harmonious" parent-child time in the past few days.

Theoretically, as long as Bruce wants to learn, there is nothing in this world that he cannot learn, including parenting theory. But coincidentally, all parenting theories in this world are basically only in the theoretical stage. In actual operation, these theories cannot be said to be of great benefit, but can only be said to be useless.

There is no parenting theory in this world that teaches you how to deal with an ancient chaotic creature of the universe hatched from a part of the soul in a dream. Therefore, after Bruce studied parenting theory for ten minutes, he realized that he might have to create a new subject himself.

But as the old saying goes, practice makes perfect, and the same is true in raising children. After three days of getting along with Aisha, Bruce really found a rule.

I don’t know whether it is the characteristics of chaotic creatures or the characteristics of children. Aisha is very interested in things that move and make sounds.

Originally, this should have touched on Bruce’s area of ​​expertise, such as building a robot or a toy car to play with Aisha, but later he found that Aisha didn’t like to watch moving things, but people who moved.

How Bruce discovered this pattern is thanks to Selina.

Because Bruce was in urgent need of help, Selina stayed in Wayne Manor these days. The old butler Alfred was very happy, but Selina herself was a little unhappy.

Although it was hard to take care of children, she could endure it for Bruce, but the artistic cells engraved in her bones really had nowhere to radiate, so Selina built a horizontal bar on the lawn of the manor and swung on it when she had nothing to do to consolidate her acrobatic foundation.

Then Bruce found that when Elsa watched Selina playing on the horizontal bar, she would be surprisingly quiet, and could even stay silent for ten minutes.

Bruce and Selina were like a treasure. During the day, Selina swung on the horizontal bar, performing various acrobatic moves to coax Elsa to play. At night, Batman drove his Batmobile and took Elsa to race on the highway in Gotham.

As for why it was the Batmobile, it was because Elsa only liked the kind of car that could make a huge roar. Other sports cars didn't have enough horsepower, so Elsa would start to scream when she sat in them. Only when the Batmobile reached the highest speed could she be a little quieter.

The life of these two days was that during the day, Selina performed acrobatics for Elsa, such as flying in the air, flying over eaves and walls, drilling fire rings, unicycles, etc. It can be said that if Catwoman's professional ability was a little worse, she would not be able to last these three days.

At night, the roar of the Batmobile would resound through the streets and alleys of Gotham. These days, the criminals in Gotham were completely grounded. No matter who heard the terrible engine sound of the Batmobile all night long, their hearts would be pounding.

But this situation ended on the third night, because the tires of the Batmobile were stolen.

Yes, you read that right. The tires of the Batmobile, which cost tens of millions of dollars, were pried away.

The incident happened on an evening when Bruce was about to take Aisha out. The night before, he parked the Batmobile a little far away, but he didn't worry about safety at all, because the Batmobile and other cars are two different species except for their similar appearance.

There are many car thieves in Gotham, but if they have the ability to pry open the Batmobile, why do they steal cars in Gotham? Isn't it better to go to any car brand and be an engineer?

But things in the world are so unpredictable, and bad luck always comes together. There is really such a genius car thief who gives up his job as a technical director and engineer and insists on prying the Batmobile in Gotham.

Bruce walked to the Batmobile with Aisha in his arms, and saw his Batmobile with only three wheels left. For a moment, he was speechless.

Of course he had a spare tire, but the problem was that the technology used in the Batmobile was too complicated. Even to change a tire, Bruce had to do it himself. But now Bruce was holding Elsa, he couldn't even spare a minute, let alone tow the Batmobile to the Batcave to change the tire and repair it.

Without the Batmobile, Elsa would never sleep. If she didn't sleep, Selina and Bruce couldn't sleep. If Selina and Bruce didn't sleep, they would be more tired and have no energy to coax Elsa. This became a vicious cycle.

Until they saw an advertisement in the newspaper delivered by Alfred in the morning. It was said that the circus that had been closed due to the Frozen Gotham incident had reopened.

Bruce and Selina thought that since Elsa liked to watch Selina's acrobatics, the circus should be even better. If they could coax Elsa to sleep, Bruce would have time to repair his Batmobile.

So they booked tickets and came to support the circus the day after it opened.

Before, this circus in the western suburbs of Gotham was quite popular. The animal training performances here were very rich, especially there were several powerful acrobats who could perform many difficult acrobatics.

But since Gotham stopped working for a while due to ground damage, the circus business has not been very good. This time, the circus owner warmly welcomed the Wayne couple.

Not only because they came early, but more importantly, Wayne is rich. If he is happy with the circus and invests, the circus may be expanded to a larger scale.

Originally, the circus owner wanted to invite the family of three to sit in the front row and the middle, but Bruce refused. On the one hand, it was because the lights there were too dazzling, and it was too close to the fire ring, which was a bit hot. On the other hand, it was because Aisha's appearance was different from that of ordinary people. There were too many spectators in the middle, and it was easy to be discovered.

Bruce and Selina chose to sit in the corner on the far right of the front row, which was very close to the toilet and exit of the circus. If there was any accident, they could leave immediately.

The audience entered in twos and threes. There were more people today than on the first day, but the seats were still not full. The owner standing at the backstage door had a gloomy expression and seemed very dissatisfied with this situation.

He heard some noises coming from the backstage, turned back and lowered his voice, yelling: "What are you doing? Why are you making such a big noise? Didn't I warn you? Wayne is coming today, be quiet, idiots!"

Then, he complained as if to vent: "It's all your fault! You still want wages, why can't you work hard for me like lions and elephants as long as you are given something to eat?"

"You can see that the circus business is not good, so I can only give you one-third of your salary this week."

Several acrobats in the backstage were very angry after hearing this, and one of them, a tall man, stood up and said: "Hey, Henry! You can't do this, we have worked for you for a long time, and we have earned enough ticket money for you before, and our performances are all Dangerous and difficult projects, we are exchanging our lives for money, you can't do this..."

"Grayson, you'd better be honest! Do you still think that now is the time when your Grayson family is famous on the East Coast?"

"Don't forget, your father, old Grayson, fell to pieces in an important performance and smashed your family's sign. Otherwise, how could the noble Grayson come to my small place to perform?"

"Don't expect more. Listen, your wife is in poor health and takes leave every now and then. She is a burden. Giving you a full salary is already a concession from me..."

The tall man named Grayson on the opposite side was so angry that his veins bulged. Several companions around him came up to hold him and whispered to comfort him. Finally, he waved his fist, still said nothing, and walked back to the crowd.

The circus owner sneered like a villain: "Don't think I don't know that your Grayson family's little burden also wants to do this business, but let him be careful, don't fall into a pulp like his grandfather..."

Hearing someone cursing his son, Grayson couldn't stand it anymore. He ignored his companions who were pulling him, walked up quickly, punched the circus owner directly, and then pointed his finger at his nose and said: "You also said that Wayne is sitting outside, and you still have to rely on me for this performance today."

"If I leave now, are you going to use those lions and elephants to get close to Wayne and ask for money?"

The circus owner wiped his nosebleed, and his neck and face were red with anger. He stared at Grayson and said: "You'd better complete this performance well. If anything goes wrong, you and your family will get out!"

Grayson snorted coldly and turned away.

In the audience, Bruce and Selina were still waiting for the show to start. Suddenly, they heard the bell ring twice, and then a half-grown child came over with a basket and asked, "Would you like some pancakes or bread? There are also fried onions and cheese slices, only 15 cents a portion..."

Selina looked into the basket he was carrying, which contained delicious food, but Bruce looked up at the boy's expression and said, "You don't seem happy?"

The boy said expressionlessly, "If you don't want it, I'll ask someone else."

"Give me a pancake and two slices of cheese." Selina said to him. The boy lowered his head and took out the food from the basket and handed it to Selina. After finding that Bruce gave an extra 10 cents tip, he returned the money in a panic and said, "It's only 15 cents per serving. You tipped too much..."

"You don't do this job often, do you?" Bruce looked into his eyes and said, "In the circus and theater, the tips of vendors and flower girls are about the same as the price of the things they sell..."

Selina also nodded and said, "I did this job when I was a child. If the tips were not high and the goals were not achieved, I would be beaten."

The boy sighed and said, "I'm not a vendor. It's just that the circus owner didn't like my father, so he didn't let me perform on stage and only let me do this kind of odd jobs."

"What do you do? Are you an actor?"

Selina looked the boy up and down and found that although he was not very old, he was well-proportioned, with long arms and legs, and some traces of muscle could be seen on his arms.

"Of course I'm an actor, and a member of the famous trapeze artist Grayson family. My dream is to become a great trapeze artist like my great-grandfather, but..."

As he spoke, he looked back at the backstage, as if he was afraid that someone was staring at him. He said, "Thank you for your kindness, but 10 cents is too much. I only need half of it. I still have to go to someone else. Goodbye."

Selena took the money he returned and muttered, "Grayson family? I seem to have some impression of them. They shouldn't be from Gotham, right? There are not many such innocent children in Gotham..."