gentleman's manor

Accompanied by the hazy morning fog, the morning in the slums is as lively as a vegetable market.

The women who got up early were fetching water outside the door, and the women with guns and buckets scolded each other, cursing the children who were running around.

A homeless man was sleeping on the side of the road. A bucket of dirty water was poured from upstairs, and it just sprinkled on the homeless man.Black and yellow muddy soup flowed down his clumped hair. The tramp yelled at the window a few times, then lay down and continued to sleep.

Hughes looked disgusted. He had always worked in a decent gentleman's house, and he had never been in such a mess.When he saw another family pouring their drowning directly from the window, he covered his mouth and retched.

"It's so filthy here sir, they're dumping shit right out of the window into the street and we can't even get in," Hughes said.

"Drive the carriage to the main road, let's not go to the residential area." I said, thinking that it was impossible for William to live in such a messy place, no matter how poor he was.

"Why are they so disgusting, living with feces and urine every day, can they live like this?" Hughes said crossing his chest.

"You need to know that this is a slum, and there is no sewer in their gathering area." I said.

"Then build a toilet too, my God, I can't believe it."

"What do you think this is? This is not a decent neighborhood. Poverty has no choice, and people here are exhausted for food every day. Newborn babies are thrown into the river by their mothers, and they go into the maw of fish in no time; Older children are starving and skinny, learning to steal on the street; 12-year-old young girls can be spoiled by old men for three pennies. There is no sympathy, no kindness here. I don’t know if there is heaven in this world, but This is absolute hell," I said, looking out the window.

"Sir, how do you know these things?" Hughes looked at me strangely.

"I... I heard it from others." I said.

Soon, the carriage stopped at a nearby security booth.

I got out of the carriage and asked the sheriff here if there was any news of William.

"Good morning, Mr. Reverend, there is a record of this man you speak of, and he lives in the back of the alley," said the sheriff.

"Thank you for letting me know."

"You're welcome, but it's messy there, maybe there will be thieves, do you want me to go with you?" The magistrate saw me as a gentleman and was very polite to me.

"Don't bother, I'm just looking for someone who can handle it."

The carriage drove into another street, not much better than the previous one, which was still muddy and dirty.Women, old people, and children stood by the alley, looking at our carriage with dull eyes.They are dressed in tatters, their bodies are pitch-black, women’s skirts are torn into cotton wool, children’s buttocks are bare, and old people are as dry as firewood. No one has a complete pair of shoes, and most of them tie some broken soles Walk on pads under your feet.

Some slightly older teenagers surrounded our carriage, raised their small hands and begged: "Honorable sir, give me alms, give me alms, I haven't eaten for a long time, and there are sick people at home..."

"Go away! You bastards! You are all thieves and robbers, stay away from us, and be careful I will whip you!" Hughes shouted holding up his whip, and the teenagers ran away in fright.

Then Hughes took out a penny and yelled at the men and women on the street: "I want to find a gentleman named William Constantine. Whoever takes me there will have the money."

"I know, I know William." A skinny man hurried over, nodded and bowed to Hughes, and then looked at me in the carriage: "Honorable Sir, are you looking for William? I'll take you there."

I nod to Hughes, and Hughes throws the money at the man.

While leading the way, the man talked endlessly about William: "When I first came here, I was wearing a woolen coat and sheepskin boots. I was so decent. I thought he was a gentleman. But how could the old man be reduced to this? He came here and sold his clothes within a few days. He was not the same as us. At first he was accompanied by a woman, but he also ran away. He was drunk every day, and when he woke up, he would find someone to gamble for money. And owe me a shilling in gambling debts."

Then he stopped in front of a dilapidated small building and shouted inside: "William, William, a gentleman is looking for you, come out and greet him!"

Hughes frowned and scolded: "There is nothing for you here, we will solve the rest by ourselves."

"Yes, yes." The man grinned, showing a mouthful of yellow teeth, then bowed and stepped back.

"Wait a minute," I said.

A white-gloved hand stretched out of the window, holding a coin between its fingers: "This shilling is yours, and he owes you nothing."

The man took the money in surprise, and returned it gratefully all the way.

"Why should you give him money, sir? This kind of person's words are simply unbelievable, maybe they are talking nonsense." Hughes said, staring at the man's back.

I shook my head, got out of the carriage, and looked at the crumbling wooden house in front of me.This house is extremely dilapidated, and it doesn't look as strong as Quint's forester's hut. Can William really live in such a place?

"You take care of the carriage here, I'll go in and have a look." I said to Hughes.

The door is open, and the inside is empty, with nothing in it.

I walked up the dark stairs, every step was creaking.On the bed on the second floor lay a dirty man with a strong stench, a beard on his face, and several empty wine bottles lying on the ground.

I took a closer look and found that the man on the bed was indeed William, but how could he be so downcast.

"William, Brother William, wake up." I patted his face and said.

He grunted a few times, opened his eyes, stared at me for a while, then sat up wearily.His eyes were lifeless, like a dead person, he didn't even look at me, he got up and sat on the table, picked up a wine bottle, shook it, and took a few gulps of wine.

"What are you doing here? Come to see my joke too?" he said with a belch.

"Why are you here alone? Sister-in-law Helena doesn't care about you?"

"That bitch! You are not allowed to mention her!" He suddenly cursed.

Then he grunted a few times, cursing while drinking: "Sooner or later, I will take revenge on that old man, and when he dies, I will drive all those people out of my house!"

"Really? I'm afraid you've been charged by him to jail before that. I heard you stole his money? How could he let you go? I thought he'd send you to jail."

"Hahahaha." William laughed loudly: "I threatened him that if he sent me to prison, I would commit suicide inside and leave his manor without successors. After his death, all the land will return to Kang Viscount Standing's hands. He's scared! He's very scared!"

I have given up the inheritance rights of the manor, so after Dean Constantine dies, if the elder brother is no longer there, then the Quint Manor will return to the nobles who gave them the land back then, that is, Constantine who was separated in the grandfather's time Viscount.But in any case, this manor would not fall on Mrs. Jenny's son Joseph. Presumably, his father would not dare to joke about his brother's life at will, until he found a suitable method to maximize the benefits for Joseph.

William finished his drink and threw the bottle on the floor.Then he opened the cabinet and took out a bong and a box of opium paste.He lit the oil lamp on the table and inhaled the opium like no one else was there.

He was puffing out clouds and mist, with a psychedelic expression, as if he was in a dream.

"Since you're here, leave some money for me. I'll inherit Quint in the future, and I'll benefit you." He breathed weakly.

I sat across from him, annoyed by his puff of smoke.William had completely degenerated, and there was a reason why he would die miserably on the street in his previous life.

I brushed the table lightly with my gloves, and there was a thick layer of black dust on it. No one has cleaned it for a long time.What a proud person my brother was, just as he claimed, he is the blood of the noble Viscount Constantine, and his dignity cannot be trampled on by anyone.A gentleman who has been well-clothed and well-educated since he was a child has actually fallen to this point. Does his self-esteem allow him to degenerate like this?Or he didn't care about anything a long time ago, life is no different from death.

I looked at my elder brother who looked like a walking corpse in front of me. I didn't expect that I and his previous life would lead to the same goal by different routes. In the end, we both fell into the slums and died young.

Is this our brother's doomed fate?no way!If I can't save the fate of our three brothers and sisters, then what's the point of my rebirth?

"I'm here to pick you up, and you'll live with me from now on." I stood up and looked at him with my head upright.

……

I took William home, and Anna was almost speechless in shock when she saw that the once handsome and noble brother had turned into a street bum.The servants waited on him to change his dirty clothes, and then he took a good bath.After shaving off his thick beard, William reappeared as a human being, almost skinny and skinny, with deeply sunken cheeks and eye sockets, like a seriously ill patient.

He was no stranger at home, shouting at the servants, scolding loudly whenever something went wrong, and even smoking opium openly in the living room.The servants looked at this unseemly guest in astonishment, and wondered how the master had brought home a terrible villain, who, even if he were the master's brother, could not bear to behave like a scoundrel.

"I said black tea with milk! Don't you have ears? Useless things!" He poured a whole cup of hot black tea on the maid Martha's skirt.

"Ah!" Martha was fine, but Anna screamed in fright.

"What's your name! Don't get in my way!" William shouted at Anna.

I waved to the servant and Anna: "It's none of your business here, all go down."

After the others withdrew, William complained to me: "Why are these servants you hired so stupid? They should all be kicked out and replaced with new ones! By the way, give me some money, and I'm going out this afternoon."

"As much as you want." I stared into his eyes and said, "But it's still early, I have some good bottles of wine here, how about we have a few drinks?"

"Hehe." He laughed and said, "Can I still say it's bad? Good brother, you really know my heart."

I got up to get a bottle of wine and came back. The red wine was shaking gently in the crystal bottle. The morning sun shone on it, refracting a maroon light, which was reflected on the carpet.

William has been home for several days, except drinking and smoking, cursing, and falling asleep.Sometimes he would rummage through things. I know he emptied out Anna's jewelry box. He went out this afternoon, probably to gamble.

I put a crystal glass in front of him, poured him some wine, and looked up at him.

Without any hesitation, he picked up the wine glass and drank it in big gulps.But before he finished his glass of wine, he rolled his eyes and fell to the ground. The crystal glass he held in his hand rolled far away.

Because there was a lot of noise, the servants and Anna rushed over after hearing the noise.

I stood beside William, exhaled softly, and said to Hughes, "Find a rope and help me tie him upstairs."

"This... are we going to detain this lord? He is a gentleman." Hughes asked nervously.

"Don't be kidding, I just want to help my dear brother quit opium." I straightened my sleeves and said.