The Secret Code of Monsters.

Chapter 60 'All your friends'

The days after being discharged from the hospital were not busy.

Apart from my uncle's lukewarm care and the neighbors' awe-inspiring looks.

With the 'little angel', the pharmacy is bustling again.

Roland wanted to go to the church to thank Cinder's grandfather, Archbishop Kratov. However, he seemed to be too busy recently, so he asked Cinder to tell him that he would invite Roland when he was free.

This is good, as it saves him from wrapping himself up so tightly.

Enid's office, where Roland had been the day after he was discharged from the hospital.

I used my saved salary to buy a small sapphire bracelet as a gift.

It wasn't a great value, but Enid was happy.

In addition, Roland also personally paid for several boxes of silver-plated bullets, most of which he gave to Fernandez, and asked him to give a small part to his brothers and sisters who supported him that day.

Then there is Randolph Taylor.

Roland had promised Randolph to visit him, so he wrote a letter to Mrs. Cherry Crowe to inquire about this.

I'm not sure what kind of gift is appropriate to bring to someone's door.

Two days later, no letters came back.

Mrs. Chloe, looking exhausted, came in person.

She sent the servant to wait at the door, waved her folding fan, greeted old Collins, and then turned to Roland: "Good day."

The lady, who had not been seen for many days, smiled brightly. She stood with the golden satin leaking in from the window. The floating dust in the drugstore was surrounded by the dancing butterflies. Her face was like a blooming flower in spring.

"Good day, ma'am."

She looked around the medicine shelf and rubbed the fan bone in her hand a few times: "...I just want a bag of rose petals, fresh ones."

Old Collins grinned, bent his waist, and raised a palm: "Five minutes, just five minutes! Please wait!"

"Five minutes..."

She pursed her lips and said, "Then let's have ten bags."

Pushou Collins was startled for a moment, then he realized what was going on. He turned his head and glared at Roland, then went back to the back room with his head down.

Roland: ...

"How can I use so much?"

"It's not much money." Cherry-Chloe narrowed her eyes, half teasing and half complaining without any control: "Who made you, the little angel from the East District, so busy that you didn't even care about your friends who asked about your well-being when you were injured. After you were discharged from the hospital, you didn't even write to me unless you had something to do..."

Roland listened to her swaying towards him.

"If you come, you must bring a bouquet of flowers and prepare some answers. Randolph, that little fox, is going to ask you questions."

Her skirt blew up a fragrant breeze, and she said in an aria-like tone: "Your income, your background, your future, your character and temper. Oh..."

She turned her head and stared at Roland:
"And your love for Miss Taylor."

"Ha ha ha ha."

Roland teased: "Should we ask Mr. Roland Collins and Mrs. Cherry Chloe about this——"

A finger was placed on the tip of Roland's nose, pressing his upturned nose downward.

"When I first met you, I thought you were a well-behaved child."

Roland smiled.

He wanted to pour tea for Cherry, but he couldn't persuade the woman, and the teapot was taken away from him.

"Sit down, patient."

She pulled out a chair and poured Roland some tea.

"A lover is different from a wife, Roland. You'd better listen to me on this matter."

Cherry took a sip of tea, and her long eyebrows immediately frowned.

She glanced at Roland quietly, and seeing the blankness in his eyes, she put down the teacup with confidence...

Pushed it further away.

"If you want to consider it, let me help you take a look. If you must choose a girl from a merchant family, I have many gentle and well-behaved girls around me. In my opinion, with your looks, if you are lucky, you may be able to find someone with a better family background. There is no need to be dependent on the idiot from the Taylor family."

Cherry was chattering away, not at all the dignified and elegant look she had at the party.

In Roland's impression, her shadow and Yam's shadow gradually overlapped.

The woman seemed to have seen something from Roland's expression. She stopped talking, unfolded her folding fan and placed it on her chin, her eyes drooping. "Hey, am I meddling too much?"

"You care about me as much as my uncle does. That's not much."

Cherry glanced at the back room, where there was silence for a moment.

She gave Roland an amused look and took out a box from her handbag.

A long box with a black velvet cover was placed on the table and pushed towards him.

"lady?"

"Besides business, the little fox of Taylor's family only dotes on his sister. If you want to bring a gift, bring it to his sister."

Roland curiously opened the lid of the jewelry box. Inside was a silver necklace.

He pretended to feel with his fingers: a thumb-length cylindrical purple gem was embedded in the center of the carved floral decoration.

The necklace was very long, just enough to fit right on the chest.

The gems are shiny and gorgeous, and the flowers and leaves carved on them are lifelike.

Precious jewelry.

At least it is many times more expensive than the one I bought.

“It’s not too expensive.”

Cherry reached out and took the necklace, comparing it to herself: the cylindrical gemstone fit neatly into the rise and fall of her heart, and the silver chain rested on her milky white neck, making her look even whiter.

Roland quietly looked away.

"You are blind in her eyes."
-
I have written all the letters.

"That's what she wanted you to see."
-
Do you think Mrs. Chloe is stupid?

"…I think you are stupid."

“My father bought it for me when I got married…”

She grasped the chain, held the gem in front of her and looked at it, with a look of reminiscence in her eyes.

"I begged him for a long time."

She muttered a few words, sighed, put the necklace back into the box, closed it, and put it back into Roland's hand.

"Ma'am, this is too expensive..."

Cherry repeated what she had said before: It’s not too expensive.

She refused to give in, and used her folding fan to perfection, blocking all of Roland's words.

"Take it, little Roland."

Cherry Chloe rubbed her temples and looked around the back room. Her voice became as light as the wind: "…while I still have free control over it. Rather than selling it, I'd rather give it to you."

Roland didn't know how to answer.

The lady brought her husband a dowry of several thousand pounds, but only received twenty or thirty pounds of pocket money every month.

So the best drama is not in the theater at all.

"Mr. Chloe recently..."

"Don't repay kindness with evil. I gave you this gift after all. Don't mention him, don't mention him." Cherry shook her head angrily. As she moved, Roland seemed to vaguely see some light blue, bulging blood vessels under the powder on her neck and cheeks.

"You said last time that you had called a doctor?"

"Edward Snow," Cherry said, "gave me some medicine, and I was able to sleep better..."

When talking about that doctor, Cherry Chloe wanted to laugh:
"He even had the guts to scold me in person, saying 'Only fools would light candles and rely on prayers to heal illnesses'. He even scolded the doctor that person found." She chuckled, "... He prescribed me medicine, which was indeed much more effective than those quacks."

"What an 'ice' doctor, he is merciless."

Roland breathed a sigh of relief. "As long as it works, Madam. I suggest you listen to him and go out less recently. The weather is getting colder and it's easy to get sick."

Cherry leaned on her arm and looked at him with a smile.

The boy's serious face, doting and worried about his champagne-colored eyes, makes people want to obey.

"You'll have to lie to others in the future."

She sighed: "Especially women."

"Roland Collins smiled evilly: 'Then let's start with you, woman.'"
-
How does an evil smile look like?

"One corner of his mouth curled up."
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and then.

"The other side stays natural."
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So stupid.

"That's what Su Yue said in her memory!"
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Miss Nina never told me such a stupid story.

"Yes, yes, she left all the good stories for you. Everyone loves you, okay."
-
of course.

"Come and visit if you're not busy." The servant was looking around the door, and Cherry knew it was almost time. She picked up her bag, put down a few coins, and didn't even mention taking the rose petals. "I'll come and see you another day, little Roland."

After the woman left, Puhu Collins slowly came out from the back room, carrying a few burlap bags in his hands.

He put his hands on his hips and looked at Roland with a strange expression.

"Tsk, that's my lady."

Roland: ...

"Mrs. Chloe is my friend."

"Ah, yes, yes. They are all your friends." Old Collins nodded very perfunctorily and threw the pocket in his hand on the table.

"They are all your friends, that's right. What's wrong with that? The pharmacy is just like a flower shop every day, with a lot of old and small butterflies flying around. What can be wrong with my nephew? They are all friends, friends..."

"Yes, yes."
-
That's bullshit, shut up.

(End of this chapter)