Chapter 1260

She is an orphan who came to live at the Poor Relief Institute.

Although she really wanted to tell the landlady that, considering this excuse was somewhat hellish, Li Ang changed his way of explaining:

"She is considered a reserve member of our bureau, and she came here to rent a place with me."

"Oh, I see..."

After nodding in understanding, the landlady couldn't help but frown slightly, asking puzzledly:

"This child... looks about twelve or thirteen? Does your bureau actually employ child labor?"

"No, she's looked like this since ten years ago; if we calculate it properly, she should be twenty-three or twenty-four this year."

"Then how come..."

"Um... she had a serious illness ten years ago, so she's remained like this ever since."

She fell ill ten years ago? And hasn't changed at all since?

The landlady stared for a moment, then suddenly understood and whispered softly:

"Could she be... that... what's it called... dwarfism?"

"Ah, yes, yes, yes! That's the condition!"

After reaching behind and grabbing the small hand of the green-eyed girl who was fiercely pinching her waist, Li Ang kept a straight face and continued to spout nonsense:

"Whether this is hereditary or something else, I don't know about that stuff—anyway, she just doesn't grow taller... Aunt Mary, Felicia prefers quiet, so just arrange a room for her on the sixth floor."

"Oh, okay."

Upon hearing this, the landlady nodded and flipped through the resident register, then asked:

"Sixth floor, quiet, not facing the street... only one room left, a large one renting for 12 silver wheels per month—can you accept that?"

"Yes!"

After settling the matter for the green-eyed girl, Li Ang turned back to Felicia and explained:

"Don't worry, I live here myself—I know the situation at Happy Apartments well. The facilities might be a bit old, but everything that should be there is guaranteed to be present, and the cleanliness is impeccable... by the way, Aunt Mary."

Saying this, Li Ang turned around, a little embarrassed, and said:

"Felicia's home suffered a disaster—someone set fire to her house, burning her savings, furniture, and everything else, so she has almost no money now, and the rent might need to be delayed by about half a month."

"Oh, so that's the situation—no wonder she came looking for a place at this awkward time."

Upon hearing about the "dwarf girl's" condition, the landlady couldn't help but sigh, sympathizingly glancing at the determined yet disabled and disaster-stricken Felicia, then spoke gently:

"It's fine—I'll vouch for you, kid. Just stay here for now, and don't worry about whether the rent is overdue—just start paying next month!"

"Tha... thank you..."

"Hey, don't be polite! Nobody has it easy—if we can help each other, we should."

Having simultaneously acquired the labels of "suffering from a grave illness," "family struck by disaster," "destitute and struggling," and "hardship in survival," and also being delicately cute, the green-eyed girl seemed to have triggered the landlady's innate tendency to pity the poor and cherish the weak.

After helping Felicia complete her move-in registration, she led Li Ang and the two of them upstairs, all the while offering kind words of comfort:

"Don't worry, child—there's no obstacle in this world that can't be overcome. As long as we don't give up hope, the future will surely improve gradually. I've always been on duty in the guardroom—if you need help, just speak up... by the way, does anyone else live at your place?"

"Um... I still have an older brother..."

"Does he have a place to stay? If not, he could come over too—your big house has plenty of empty rooms; two or three more people wouldn't be a problem..."

After forcefully clearing his throat to interrupt the landlady's words, Li Ang whispered:

"The fire I mentioned earlier... was actually set by her brother himself."

"Ah..."

After hearing Li Ang's words, the landlady couldn't help but choke up, then secretly turned her head where the green-eyed girl couldn't see, and asked with her lips:

"Why? How could someone still burn down their own home?"

"Ah, I don't even understand what he's after."

Li Ang answered with his lips while pointing at his own head, then made a helpless expression on his face.

Oh, so her brother has a brain problem!

After understanding Li Ang's hint, facing the lovable "little" girl behind her who had endured a fate full of hardship, the landlady's sympathy index instantly rose a notch. As for Felicia, who had witnessed the entire exchange between her and Li Ang, she was already fuming with rage.

Damn pervert! You're the dwarf! Your brother's the one with the brain issue!

The enraged Felicia had already cast aside her fear of Li Ang, and began, while panting and hobbling on her two short legs behind the two, desperately pinching Li Ang's thigh roots.

And the victorious Li Ang, having successfully retaliated, paid no attention to her attack—which felt hardly different from a tickle—continuing to stride forward steadily. Even noticing she was tired from climbing, after reaching the fifth floor, he lifted Felicia up and directly carried her to the sixth floor.

"There, the room I mentioned earlier is this one."

Seeing Li Ang earnestly helping his sick colleague behind her, and Felicia, who looked somewhat stubborn and unwilling to lose, determined to climb the stairs on her own, the landlady couldn't help but break into a satisfied smile, then handed the key to Li Ang, somewhat embarrassed, and requested:

"Can you help introduce those remaining things to this child? Someone seemed to have come to the first floor just now, and the old man isn't here—I need to go check."

"No problem, leave it to me!"

After taking the door key and watching the landlady hurry downstairs, Li Ang, before the green-eyed girl could explode, shoved the key into her hand, then flung the door open and tossed her inside.

"You bastard..."

"This is your room... fine, I've finished introducing everything you need to know—remember to report to the bureau at seven tomorrow morning, then go."

After completing an introduction that was more like a lazy perfunctoriness than anything else, Li Ang ignored Felicia's shouting from inside the room, instead using the Black Goat's soul vision to glance at his own home.

Nobody was there.

Of course—at this time, William, Rosalie, and little Ellie should still be in school, not returning until around afternoon. And since Anna isn't helping Aunt Mary, she's probably out shopping.

According to her shopping habits, after buying things, she won't detour home but will go straight to wait outside the Naval Academy, picking up William and the others on the way, so they'll likely return together in about three or four hours.

Since that's the case... I might as well go review the prospective new recruits?

After calculating his free time, Li Ang didn't go home but instead stayed in the hallway, took out the form previously given by the Red-Haired Bureau Chief, and began flipping through it item by item.

Based on three and a half hours, I need to reserve half an hour to tidy up, plus time for inspecting the new recruits—so I should ideally find a place close to Naval Street, reachable within an hour...

Hmm? Wait a minute—this inspection form actually includes residents of Happy Apartments?

(End of Chapter)