Chapter 1151

"Then... let's try to live a few more years..."

Facing Leon's Japanese-style question, the administrator lady, after hesitating for a while, still couldn't resist the temptation of witnessing the completion of the new poorhouse with her own eyes, and ultimately chose to agree to Leon's proposal.

However, even so, she couldn't help but urge:

"But there's no need to be too deliberate. The old man and I have lived long enough; we are already very satisfied. There's no need to go to such great lengths for our sake."

"Mm-hmm, that definitely won't happen."

Hearing the administrator lady's words, Leon smiled and responded on the surface, but in his heart, he had already made up his mind that when the new poorhouse started construction, he would definitely have to think carefully about how to handle it and preserve this elderly couple as much as possible.

If the old couple really had lived enough and wanted to rest forever, he truly had no reason to stop them, but now they clearly still had attachments and just didn't want their own existence to affect the completion of the new poorhouse. In that case, he definitely had to "operate behind the scenes" properly.

And just as the "two-faced" Leon was pondering how to be a permission-abusing jerk and preserve Happiness Apartment as quietly as possible, three familiar sets of footsteps came in from outside the door.

Immediately following, Anna, whose expression was faintly dark, appeared outside the apartment door, dragging the calm-looking William with her left hand and clutching the despair-filled Melanie with her right.

"Sister Anna, slow down, could you please walk a little slower?"

Melanie, whose ears were bright red and clearly had been twisted hard by someone, pleaded with a mournful little face:

"It's not even five o'clock yet, we don't have to be in such a rush to get home, right? Also, also, I just saw Grandpa John fixing the fence in the small garden; why don't you go help him first?"

"Melanie, you'd better just accept your fate."

Before the dark-faced Anna could answer, William, whose ears were also bright red, said with a calm expression:

"Based on my understanding of Sister Anna, there's no escaping this beating today. If we let her vent her anger immediately, we might be able to get off with a few less hits, but if she keeps it bottled up for a while longer, then it's hard to say."

"......"

Good grief... I finally got two days off, and the moment I get back, it's already this chaotic...

Looking at his younger siblings, who were at daggers drawn outside the main door, Leon's mouth couldn't help but twitch twice. Then, amidst the administrator lady's somewhat amused gaze, he took the initiative to greet them and asked helplessly:

"Anna... what trouble did these two get into this time?"

"Eh?"

Hearing Leon's voice, Anna, who was struggling against her younger sister—who was desperately digging her heels into the steps, determined not to go home—suddenly looked up in surprise and said with pleasant surprise:

"Why are you..."

"Big Brother!!!"

Before Anna could finish her sentence, Melanie, who had been determined not to step up the stairs just a moment ago, suddenly sprang into action, darted into the hall with a 'whoosh', and hid behind Leon with practiced ease, grabbing onto his pant leg.

"Big Brother, you don't look so good!"

Seeing the savior of her little bottom appear, Melanie, who had been filled with despair just a moment ago, immediately smiled until her little face looked like a morning glory. Then, while winking frantically at Leon, she said with great eagerness:

"Are you too tired from work? Shall I massage your shoulders? Or how about I tell you a story?"

"Let's see..."

Facing his little sister's unusually well-behaved performance, Leon, who understood the situation, reached out and touched her little head, giving her a helpless smile.

"In this house, we have to listen to your Sister Anna. Only after she explains what happened can Big Brother know if I'm tired and if I need someone to massage my shoulders."

"It's not that exaggerated..."

Hearing Leon's words, Anna's cheeks couldn't help but flush slightly. She complained with a hint of reproach, and then, in Melanie's despairing eyes, she unleashed her ultimate move against her sister—the ear twist—pinching her little ear and twisting it hard for half a turn.

"We'll settle this when we get home!"

After issuing a tactical threat to her little sister, who had failed to find refuge, and pulling her out from behind Leon, Anna first greeted the administrator lady, then turned her head to look at Leon and asked curiously: "Why are you back so early today?"

"Mm... because I've been working overtime a lot lately, so the Bureau gave me a few days off."

Not mentioning the "business trip" to the Kingdom of Kroke, he casually made up a reason to brush it off. Then, while picking up his younger brother, who still looked calm, he walked toward the stairwell and asked curiously:

"Let's not talk about me for now. What trouble did these two get into this time that made you so angry?"

"Big Brother, that's just prejudice on your part."

Hearing Leon's question, William straightened his little face and retorted solemnly:

"Although Melanie and I are a bit mischievous, we aren't just people who only cause trouble."

"So you didn't cause trouble during this time?"

"We did."

"......"

"Big Brother, don't misunderstand."

Looking at Leon's speechless expression, William immediately explained with a serious face:

"Although we did cause trouble, Sister Anna's anger this time isn't because we caused trouble, but simply because our academic grades aren't good enough. This belongs to an intelligence issue and can't be blamed on us."

"You still have the nerve to say that!"

Hearing William's explanation, Anna, who was following behind, immediately darkened her expression again. She couldn't help but pinch him lightly in annoyance, then couldn't help but complain to Leon:

"Brother! You don't know how infuriating these two are!

In this exam, the last question of the arithmetic section was written like this—Due to the long wait for public carriages, the Road Administration Department plans to increase the frequency of public carriages on Bridge Street, but because funding is limited, only 2 new carriages can be allocated.

It is known that Bridge Street originally had 4 carriages, the daily operating time for each carriage is 18 hours, and each carriage can return to the starting point to pick up passengers again 3 hours after departure. Ask how to arrange them to solve the waiting problem to the greatest extent."

How to arrange them to solve the waiting problem?

After listening to Anna's words, Leon tried to ponder this math problem.

The Road Administration Department has limited funding and can only allocate 2 new vehicles, plus the original 4, that makes 6 vehicles. Each vehicle runs a trip every 3 hours, and the total daily operating time is 18 hours, so each vehicle can run 6 trips, which means a total of 36 trips can be run.

If you calculate it this way, 36 trips in 18 hours means one trip every half hour... No!

Thinking of this, Leon suddenly realized that there was actually a very insidious trap hidden in this seemingly simple problem.

Although it seems like each vehicle can run 6 trips in 18 hours, in reality, these 6 carriages don't all depart at the beginning of the morning, but depart at intervals. So, in reality, only one carriage can run a full 6 trips per day.

"Hmm... for children, this problem is indeed quite difficult."

After frowning slightly, Leon asked with some confusion:

"William and the others are transfer students and have learned much less than the other children. It's normal that they couldn't answer it, is it necessary to be this angry?"

"I'm not angry that he couldn't answer it; I'm angry that he did answer it!"

Anna said with extreme annoyance upon hearing this:

"William's arrangement was to first give a speech on the street, denounce the Road Administration Department for embezzling funds, stir up dissatisfaction among the residents of Bridge Street, and put pressure on the management personnel, and then demand an audit of the carriage company's account books to check if there were any cost overruns.

Once the errors and omissions of the Road Administration Department and the carriage company were found, he would then find a way to report them to the council members, threatening them by influencing regional voting to force the council members to propose an increase in funding.

Once the proposal entered the agenda, he would raise funds to bribe the tabloids to create momentum, questioning whether the Road Administration Department, which didn't even have enough funding for carriages, was too corrupt, or even colluding with council members in corruption, using public opinion pressure to force the council members not to dare to vote against it, allowing the proposal to increase carriages to pass. That way, there would never be a shortage of carriages again!"

(End of chapter)