Me! Cleaner!.

Chapter 24 Coffee and Desserts (Two in One)

"Hiss... it's a bit cold..."

When the sky was just getting light, the hard-working worker Leon got up, yawned, and walked on the way to work.

After being blown by the cold wind of late autumn and clearing his mind a little, Leon subconsciously shrank his neck and wrapped the big scarf knitted by Anna around again, and then he unconsciously thought of what happened last night...

In the end, he did not give an answer to the question raised by Melanie. Instead, he said something vague like "You will understand when you grow up" and tried to get away with it.

Even if he told Melanie, she might not understand as she was only a few years old. But as for news about the "other world" such as the Cleanup Bureau and anomalies, the less ordinary people knew about it, the less likely they would encounter it, so naturally he would hide it if he could.

However, although Melanie's question ended here, it did not seem to be completely meaningless. At least it answered a small question for Leon - what exactly did the director lose.

……

According to the information provided by the [Materialistic Soul], people who possess the abnormal [Love without Memory] will definitely lose one of the three items: "Parental love, child love, and partner love."

Now it seems that what she lost was the love from her children, and judging from her behavior yesterday, she must have loved children very much.

After all, although Veteran Lane, where he lived, was not a slum, it was not a good location either. Surrounding it were various noisy and dirty companies, and a prison that held many serious criminals. There were not many residents, and even fewer children, so naturally there would be no small shops selling candy.

So the candies wrapped in colored paper that she bought for Melanie and the others could only be found in a department store four or five blocks away. She was willing to walk such a long way to buy candies for two children she had just met, so she was certainly not someone who hated children.

Well... for people who love children very much, it is one thing not to have children of their own, but if after having children, they are constantly forgotten by their own children, that might be quite a cruel thing.

After shaking his head with some sympathy, Leon was about to quicken his pace to the Cleanup Bureau, and then take the Black Goat to visit the nurse who was suspected of having "abnormality", but he was stopped by a sweet and greasy smell of burnt food.

A cart with benches and tables, a huge tin hot water boiler and a copper faucet, a charcoal stove with bright red flames, and a few sets of low tables and benches made of sawhorses...

Amid the aroma of coffee filling his nostrils, a small space tightly wrapped in old canvas, protected from the cold wind of late autumn and filled with warmth, suddenly caught his eye.

Coffee stall...

Looking at the warm stall that seemed particularly tempting in the gray and cold morning, Lyon couldn't help but stop. After hesitating for a long time, he still succumbed to the tempting sweet fragrance. He shrank his body and walked into the tent, found a table near the inside and sat down.

"Boss, a cup of coffee and two slices of thin bread."

"okay!"

He took out a cup with a broken handle and shook the coffee powder into it swiftly. Then he wrapped his hands with a rag, turned on the copper faucet that was emitting white smoke and poured in hot water. He picked up the stirring stick with three fingers and turned it twice. Then a cup of steaming black liquid was placed in front of Leon.

"Sir, do you want to brush butter on the 'Liangbo'? If you are interested, I also have ham slices here. They were fried this morning before I opened the stall. They are still hot."

"Um...how much does it cost to add ham slices? Is it expensive?"

“Not expensive, not expensive, very cheap!”

After wiping his hands on his black apron, the boss, who looked to be in his early fifties, smiled naively and raised a black finger.

"Without the ham slices, it's one copper wheel. With it, it's two copper wheels in total!"

Two copper wheels... and one more copper wheel for a slice of ham? Why don't you go grab it? I can buy a whole one at the department store for less than a silver wheel!

Speechlessly looking at the seemingly honest but actually extremely cunning coffee stall owner, Leon couldn't help but curl his lips and said:
"Forget about the ham, just brush the bread with butter...remember to brush it thickly!"

"okay!"

Although the additional item promotion failed, there was no disappointment on the boss' honest face. Instead, he took out a long piece of toast with a smile, cut two thin slices with two sharp strokes, dipped it twice with a brush that was too small for oiling leather shoes, and threw it on the stone slab above the charcoal stove to roast.

Shit... This business that I let you run is so fucking stingy.

Looking at the two slices of bread that were too thin to fit into the LanX beef noodles, Leon couldn't help but feel cheated, knowing that he might have met a master at ripping people off.

But after all, he was already here, and he couldn't bear to leave the blazing fire in the stall, so he finally didn't raise any objections. Instead, he picked up the hot coffee and took a sip carefully.

Hmm... It's so good... I feel like I'm alive again...

As his hands were warmed by the cup and his empty stomach was heated by the coffee, Leon couldn't help but squint his eyes comfortably, and the unscrupulous boss also brought up the "LanX bread slices" at the right time.

"Sir, your meal is ready. Thank you for the copper wheel."

Looking at the almost "translucent" bread slices on the small plate, although Leon finally paid the money honestly, he was still a little dissatisfied in his heart, and couldn't help but sneered:

"Boss, you cut bread so skillfully, you must make a lot of money, right?"

"Haha, it's not bad, just enough to make ends meet."

It is estimated that there are many customers like Leon who say weird things. The boss was not angry when being ridiculed. Instead, he smiled and pointed at the stove behind him, and said with a smile:

"Look at my stove. It uses the best charcoal and is always refilled. This ensures that no matter when guests come, the coffee brewed is always the hottest. The charcoal is also a cost!"

That's true... But with your shamelessness in selling a slice of ham for a copper wheel, and your bread-cutting skills comparable to those of Master Lan X, the little extra money spent on the charcoal fire can probably be earned back many times in the next moment, so you definitely made a lot of money.

"To be honest, for early-morning commuters like you who go to work in the municipal district, what matters most is not the value for money, but the warmth of the place."

It seemed that he wanted to develop Leon into a regular customer. Seeing that he didn't seem to care about what he said, the boss pointed across the street and explained patiently:

"My coffee may not be sweet or strong enough, but it is definitely the best temperature, and the fire is the hottest, and it can heat up outside the tent.

In order to prevent you from getting burned when warming your hands, I even use thick ceramic cups instead of thin iron cups that you can only hold for a moment before having to put them down because they are too hot. I guarantee that no matter how you warm your hands, you will leave warm from the inside out.

Otherwise, you see, there are so many stalls over there, why is my stall the most crowded? That’s because I sell you much more than just a cup of coffee, I also sell you a piece of warmth in the cold morning, don’t you think so?”

"Oh, by the way, don't tell anyone what I told you!"

As if he suddenly realized that his words had revealed a lot of "commercial secrets", the boss with a silly look on his face quickly waved his hands and said shyly:

"I plan to pass this small coffee stand on to my daughter in the future, so that no matter how she lives outside, she can still make a living when she returns home. If other people learn these tricks, she will be in trouble!"

"..."

I don't believe you! You are such a smart person, how can you tell anyone anything?
Let’s put it another way, your coffee is not sweet at all, but I just came here following the sweet aroma, so there must be something wrong with your pot. If I really try to imitate you, I’m afraid I’ll lose a lot of money!
Tsk... But then again, even though you're extremely stingy when selling things, you've put so much thought into it after all, so you really deserve the money!
Impressed by the coffee stall owner's business philosophy of focusing on added value, Leon couldn't help but give him a thumbs up with conviction. Then he quickly finished his bread and coffee, stood up and hurried away in the direction of the cleaning bureau.

Not long after he left, a baby-faced girl in a professional suit came over following the sweet fragrance that filled the street.

Seeing the honest coffee stall owner, the girl's big watery eyes lit up, and she hurried over, grabbed the owner and complained, "Dad! You just got well, why did you sneak out to sell things at the stall again? Mom was so mad when she found out!"

"Humph! I just set up a stall, why should she be angry?"

After hearing what the baby-faced girl said, the boss, who had just been kind and honest, twisted his nose and turned into an unreasonable and stubborn old man, and asked back in a bad mood:

"What? You don't like my little stall either? Let me tell you, if it weren't for this little coffee stall, my family of three would have starved to death. How could we be where we are today?"

"Oh! No one looks down on your stall! But do you have to set it up today?"

Looking at her father who suddenly became upset, the baby-faced girl said helplessly:

"Our gas company had a pipe burst and we just paid a large sum of money for it. Now the water company has a problem too. It's a time of trouble.

Mom is so angry that you are running around at this time. Instead of dealing with the company's affairs, you actually come out to set up a stall so early in the morning..."

"What's there to deal with? You should make money if you should make money, and you should pay if you should lose money! What are you thinking? Besides, you want to take care of me when I only work for two hours a day? If the company is gone, can I still work?"

The coffee stall owner got even angrier when he heard this, and said with a glare:
“Besides, I said at the beginning that these municipal projects should not be touched!

Although making money from these things is fast and stable, and there is basically a large amount of income every year, the right to take charge of the matter is not in our hands. In the end, we can only make suggestions but not decide. Is this okay?

I knew from the beginning that if I followed the way those bastards were doing things, something bad would happen sooner or later! It would be better for me to continue to run our department store honestly. Although the risk is high and the profit is low, at least I can keep an eye on it and it would be easier to solve the problem if something went wrong.

But your mother is so stubborn! She insisted that because of our family's reputation, people should be more restrained in their actions. She was determined to get in, and I couldn't stop her!
What was the result? In order to save some money on filtering, those grandsons poured the sewage from the sewage river directly into the public water pipes! As a result, all the diarrhea medicine in the king was sold out! They should restrain themselves! They have no shame at all! "

After mumbling a few curses, the owner of the coffee stall saw that the temperature was slowly rising after the sun came out and almost all the customers had left. He raised his hand and knocked on the stove, extinguished the charcoal fire, put away the tent cloth, pushed the cart and left angrily with his daughter, continuing to ask as he walked:

"How is the gas pipeline crack? Have you apologized to the owner and compensated him?"

"Here we go! But one family doesn't seem to want it very much. They said they didn't suffer any serious injuries. Just pay for their bandages."

"It's not his business if they don't want it, but if there's a problem with our company, compensation must be paid in full... By the way, what's the name of that family?"

"I can't quite remember his last name...Ah! Ryan! Yes! Leon Ryan! He's a good man who doesn't have much money but always smiles gently and is especially kind to his sister!"

……

"You're asking about the new guy in our bureau? His name is Leon. Leon Ryan."

In addition to the father and daughter at the coffee stall, there were two other people who were also talking about Lyon's situation.

"Ryan?"

Hearing this familiar surname, the little woman in the golden mirror blinked, took a big bite of the sponge cake in her hand, and asked curiously:
"A man from the family of the Duke of Lionheart? Don't you hate nobles? Why did you accept him into your virgin bureau?"

"It's just the same last name, it's actually two words."

After briefly explaining Leon's last name, the red-haired director couldn't help but frowned as he looked at the woman in the golden mirror who put down the cake and chewed the puff pastry.
"Why are you asking him? Do you want to poach people?"

“That’s a little bit of an idea.”

After admitting her intention without hesitation, the petite woman in the black and white skirt picked up a nut cake ring, licked the sweet almond powder on it, and then said with a smile:

"I've read the files you submitted. This is a [Compulsory Information Acquisition] ability that is higher than that of a great demon. If used well, it can be very powerful. Which director would not be concerned about it?"

"..."

Looking at her best friend's eyes that suddenly narrowed in the mirror, the petite woman ate the cake ring in one gulp, then picked up a small oil-tea pancake, brushed strawberry jam on it, and explained:

"But don't worry, I'm not trying to poach him this time. I just want to make a small deal with him... Has the abnormal object of the hospital director been taken out?"

I see... Are you thinking about that abnormal object that absorbs patients?

After looking at the carving of a lion picking up a dung ball on the golden mirror, the red-haired director pondered for a moment, and a look of understanding suddenly flashed in his eyes.

In the jurisdiction of the Lion Bureau where Beverly is located, there is a port occupied by an out-of-control infected person. Nearly 10,000 residents in more than a dozen villages and towns nearby have been forcibly endowed with some kind of ineradicable disease. As long as the out-of-control infected person dies, everyone will die together.

Although the Lion Bureau reacted quickly enough and blocked the port in time to prevent further trouble, they were unable to deal with the out-of-control infected person who had kidnapped nearly 10,000 people. They couldn't use their trump card for such a medium-scale incident, so they had to let it go for the time being.

But now it’s different. The hospital director who was shot dead by Leon has the ability to absorb patients. He happens to be the nemesis of the out-of-control infected person. According to the rules of the Cleanup Bureau, those who complete the cleanup task have the right to apply for the extracted abnormal objects first.

So she suddenly contacted me through the [Celestial Mirror] today, not because she wanted to reconnect with her best friend after a long time, but because she wanted to let me know in advance and let Leon not snatch this abnormal object from her...

After staring at her good sister who was eating cheese pudding again in the golden mirror, the red-haired director blinked his cute fox eyes and said with a somewhat embarrassed look:
"Well... I understand that this thing is very important to you, but during the cleanup process, Leon witnessed the power of the out-of-control infected person with his own eyes and was very interested in this anomaly, so..."

"Tsk! Stop talking nonsense!"

Beverly, who was on the other side of the golden mirror, rolled her eyes and said unhappily while chewing on coconut pancake:

"Just tell me, how much money do you want to borrow from me this time?"

"Oh, it's not about the money."

The red-haired director waved his hand and said with a smile:

"I'm a new employee in Lyon. I completed my first mission with great difficulty and finally got my first anomaly.

"You took away something of such commemorative significance with just one sentence. How could you feel good if you didn't give him a good thing?"

"..."

When she heard this, Beverly, who was on the other side of the golden mirror, looked at her best friend's malicious eyes and her body stiffened slightly. She felt that the orange cream pie in her mouth no longer tasted good.

After finishing the snacks in her hand in a few bites, Beverly showed the momentum of a lion-like director of the Cleanup Bureau. She slammed the table with her hand, stared at it like a lion, and shouted angrily:
"Hurry up and tell me! What do you want?"

"I want you to give him the Witch's Broom in exchange."

"Bah! You're dreaming!"

(End of this chapter)