A foreigner's journey

It was late at night when Heather returned to the Qifan Street slum.

Most of the houses in the Qifan Street slum have turned off their lights, and only the cheap neon lights on the street, made of waste materials from the upper floors, are still shining with colorful light.

Heather walked through the dark streets shrouded in shadows, startling several feral cats that were digging through trash cans.

Quietly stepping onto the metal stairs of Tianwangzhuang, Heather walked to the door of room 202, took out the key and opened the door. Just as he was about to enter, the door of room 201 next to him opened with a creak.

Tifa stood in front of the door, clasping her hands in front of her belly and twisting her fingers together, looking at Heather timidly.

"Brother, Granny Mare has already told me about the walled commercial street." Tifa mustered up the courage to say to Heather: "I will never work there."

"..."

Heather looked at her quietly for a few seconds, then walked into room 202, closed the door, and left a sentence lightly:

"Come to me at six o'clock tomorrow morning."

Looking at the closed door, Tifa's mood suddenly became relaxed. She said good night softly towards the direction of 202 and then quietly closed the door.

The relationship between the senior brothers and sisters has returned to normal, which is gratifying.

…………………………………………

The first month was not easy for Tifa.

She was recovering from a serious illness. She still had metal braces in her body, and her physical strength was much weaker than before she was admitted to the hospital. But she still insisted on exercising with Heather every day and never slacked off.

Heather developed a rehabilitation training plan based on Tifa's physical functions and constantly monitored her physical progress to make adjustments to the exercise plan.

The repertoire after training every morning is breakfast time.

The two of them ate at all the breakfast stalls in the Qifan Street slum station square, and would comment on the taste of each stall's food with great interest. Regarding this point, Heather is obviously much harsher and criticizes most breakfast stalls as useless. On the contrary, Tifa thinks most of the breakfast flavors are delicious, except Tang Xinzi noodles. She really can't get used to this.

Over the past month, Tifa has also met some residents of the Qifan Street slums under the introduction of Granny Mare. But there is no one who can be called a [friend].

On the fourth day of her stay at Tianwangzhuang, Tifa found a job - working for the Dimo ​​restaurant in the slums of Qifan Street. Washing dishes, cleaning, and serving as a guest waiter, it didn't take her too much time to gradually become proficient from being busy at the beginning.

The restaurant owner's name is Dimo, a bald old man with a beard and an old friend of Granny Marley. For Mare's sake, Dimo ​​still cared about Tifa. The atmosphere of the Qifan Street slum was not bad compared to other slums, and the other 'temporary workers' who worked in restaurants did not show any hostility towards Tifa.

On the one hand, they didn't believe that such a beautiful girl would stay in Old Dimo's shabby restaurant. Of course, she wouldn't pose much of a threat to their jobs. On the other hand, they heard that Tifa was Heather's distant relative and junior sister. She came from a rural village called Gongaga to join her famous senior brother Heather.

Is Heather considered famous? They didn't know, but one thing was certain - no one in the Qifan Street slums dared to mess with Heather. From this point of view, Heather can indeed cover up.

In this way, Tifa gets up at 5:30 every morning, takes a shower and then warms up in her room. When it was almost 6 o'clock, they went out to find their senior brother. The two of them set out to exercise in the open space near the outer wall. When it was close to 7 o'clock, they returned to Qifan Street Station for breakfast.

Then Senior Brother Heather would often disappear mysteriously. According to Granny Marley, he was busy with his own affairs. Tifa went back to the room to wash up and then rushed to Demo's restaurant to start working.

Lunch was served at Demo's Restaurant. It wasn't a greasy meal, but it was better than a free working meal. Tifa still ate happily.

After working until about eight o'clock in the evening, Tifa changed shifts with the person who came to take over, and then went to the market to pick out some cheap and high-quality ingredients, trying to learn from her senior brother's bargaining method. Even though he has a serious lack of experience in bargaining, he has a sweet face and can always buy the right ingredients at a discounted price.

After returning to Tianwang Village, Tifa will cook dinner with Granny Mare, or Granny Mare will teach Tifa how to make some home-cooked dishes. Heather would sometimes come to eat with us, and sometimes she would come back very late, but she never stayed out all night.

Ma Lei said that this situation was very rare. In the past, Heather often did not return to Tianwang Village for several days in a row.

One month, two months...

Gradually, Tifa's body became healthy and energetic again with abundant nutrition and targeted rehabilitation exercises, and her face no longer looked as pale as when she was just recovering from a serious illness.

She even had the courage to take the train by herself to the Staple Mall on Bafan Street to buy two cheap clothes and replenish some daily necessities.

Dimo's restaurant paid very little wages. Thanks to Tifa's frugality and free lunch, Tifanu managed to save some money. She hid all the money in a shoe box in the closet in her room, and would count it every few days to calculate how long it would take to pay off the rent and treatment fees she owed to Grandma Marley.

In the third month, Tifa paid off her previous rent arrears, which was a huge victory for her.

Marley smiled and congratulated her, but Heather just said "oh" and had no other reaction.

Tifa was not hit by her senior brother and was still very motivated. She is even planning to take advantage of the break to work an extra job. The treatment fees she owes Granny Mare and her senior brother have not yet been paid off, so she will continue to work hard!

In April 2003, four months after Tifa arrived in Midgar, Heather announced that Tifa's rehabilitation training had come to an end.

"Your recent activities are no different from ordinary people. The metal brace is no longer uncomfortable, right?"

In the deserted clearing in the early morning, Heather said to Tifa:

"In terms of physical fitness, there is no difference from ordinary people. It is even stronger than some men with poor living habits. Coupled with the flexible body skills and Zanganliu fighting skills for protection, I think you can already have some means of self-protection."

Tifa was wearing a black short-sleeved suit and short skirt that were easy to move around, and she still had the same pair of red sneakers on her feet. Compared with when she first arrived four months ago, she is no longer pale and timid, and has become much more cheerful: "Brother, don't you need to continue the rehabilitation training?"

Heather nodded slightly: "Well, then we should start the formal advanced training of Zanganliu fighting technique. You should come to me at six o'clock every morning. Be mentally prepared, this is much harder than rehabilitation training."

"I won't slack off."

"Also, go find Dimo ​​and put your work on hold today. I've found a new job for you."

"Huh? It's so sudden, Mr. Demo..."

"I will tell Dimo ​​that working in a restaurant is not a good option if you want to repay the treatment costs."

"What kind of job is it?"

Tifa wasn't worried about where her senior brother would abduct her, but she was a little uneasy when she suddenly had to change to a new environment just after adapting to working in a restaurant. Speaking of which, when she first met Master Zangan, she thought he was a human trafficker who abducted children.

Heather pointed at it: "Go to the downtown area of ​​Bafan Street to work as a bartender apprentice. The salary is higher than in a restaurant. The most important thing is that you can learn something. As I said..."

"As long as you learn it, no one can take it away from you. I will always remember it, senior brother." The girl's smile was bright.

"...You can still answer questions. It seems you still have the strength to run around the open space three more times! Hurry up!"

"well?"

PS: At this rate, I feel like I can’t finish FF7 without one or two hundred chapters...