Chapter 2373: [Eternal Light] Mutual Aid Society

Hearing Xia De say this, the woman nodded and opened the door slightly to let Xia De and Matilda enter together.

And when the blonde miss passed by her, the woman stared at Matilda's face for a moment:

"You must keep a close eye on her, otherwise she will run off with someone else sooner or later... my son's wife ran off just like that."

Xia De just pretended to smile awkwardly and then led Matilda by the hand to continue walking toward the depths of the opera house.

Probably to save electricity, the opera house was not lit during the day. But there was a lit portable kerosene lamp placed at a distance in the corridor, guiding visitors so they wouldn't go in the wrong direction.

Xia De did not feel any supernatural power here, and even those lamps were just ordinary items. So the two walked all the way to the second floor and finally entered the largest No. 1 performance hall on the second floor.

Of course, "largest" was actually only one-third the area of one floor of Xia De's house.

The curtains were drawn inside, but fortunately, the gas lamps were finally turned on. Now all the utensils in the performance hall had been piled up against the wall, leaving only twenty chairs placed in pairs, surrounding a large circle together.

Quite a few people had already arrived, but everyone was not talking. So Xia De and Matilda also picked two nearby chairs to sit down, and only then did Xia De take Little Mia out of his arms and put it on his lap.

The cat lay lazily, not knowing that it would likely miss lunch today. And when Xia De looked around to observe the others, he found that the ages of these people were generally around thirty, and he and Matilda were considered the youngest "couple."

But among these people, there was a pair that was a combination of two men. And looking at the details of their movements when they were communicating in low voices, it was not difficult to see that they were actually also... people in an intimate relationship.

All the people present were ordinary people, and many of them should have participated in this kind of gathering more than once, so they did not look nervous. And while Xia De was observing others, Matilda grabbed Xia De's hand very naturally, looking like she was a bit worried about this strange place.

When Xia De and Matilda arrived, it was already very close to eleven o'clock in the morning. So it didn't take long for only two of the twenty chairs to be left empty.

And when it was exactly eleven o'clock, two men, one tall and one short, wearing white robes walked out from behind the stage. Red flame patterns were embroidered on the cuffs and hems of their white robes, and there was a symbol symbolizing "four-rayed light" on their chests.

The taller of the two was an ordinary person, while the slightly shorter and fatter one wearing glasses was a Ringed Shushi, probably a Sixth Tier, but of course, he was not the person Xia De and Miss Eleise encountered in the underground tomb yesterday.

After they appeared, they first went to lock the door of the performance hall, and then the taller one said while walking toward this side:

"A week without seeing you, friends; I hope the recent thick fog has not brought too much trouble to your lives."

Then there were people saying "Good noon, Mr. Lean" or "I'm really fed up with this week" and other such things in a scattered manner.

Although people were wearing their better clothes, judging from their accents and way of speaking, everyone here was a resident of the Lower City. So the tall "Mr. Lean" and the short, fat Ringed Shushi came to the middle of the people surrounding the circle and continued to say with a smile:

"Do not lose confidence in life; believe that light will always appear. Life's ups and downs are normal; now is everyone's low point."

Then he looked at the two empty chairs:

"Why didn't the Rodor couple come? I was still looking forward to Mrs. Rodor sharing her balcony planting experience with us."

Others also did not know their whereabouts, so Mr. Lean looked at Xia De and the blonde miss again:

"Oh, look at this handsome gentleman and beautiful lady; who are these newcomers?"

He was very good at using words to stir up emotions:

"Friends, I am very happy to announce to you that we have welcomed new partners again. They are Mr. Holmes, an accountant working in the dock area, and Mrs. Holmes, his wife who works as a cleaner at a local university."

He said the fabricated fake identities, and Xia De and Matilda stood up together to nod to everyone, and people also applauded to welcome the two.

"Oh, besides this enviable couple, we also have a new friend today."

Mr. Lean said with a smile again, finally introducing the short, fat gentleman beside him:

"This gentleman is a priest of the 【Eternal Light】 just like me; please rest assured, he is not here to replace me. According to the rules, we have to regularly participate in gatherings of other groups so that everyone won't become estranged—Mr. Ronan, welcome to your arrival!"

This "Mr. Ronan" was Xia De and Matilda's target today; whether it was following him later, or finding an opportunity to talk to him at the gathering, it could bring convenience to the investigation of the 【Eternal Light】.

Compared to the vigilant Ringed Shushi in the tomb yesterday, Xia De and Matilda, who appeared as ordinary citizens today, were obviously more convenient to act.

Then the two priests said some warm-up words and invited everyone to share some interesting things about their lives over the past week. There were nine pairs of "couples" in total, and except for Xia De and Matilda, they all spoke a few words in turn, but most of them were about life not going well, worrying about skin diseases caused by the thick fog, or crazy people and the like.

And when it was finally the "newcomers'" turn, Mr. Lean, who was very good at livening up the atmosphere, added a requirement:

"Mr. Holmes, this is your first time participating in the activity as a couple. Can you talk about the troubles in your life, especially why you joined us, and whether there are troubles like being oppressed?"

Xia De really didn't know this process, but answering this question was not difficult:

"Of course I can."

He said and stood up, so everyone also made a posture of listening carefully:

"I am an accountant at the dock, and my wife is a cleaner at the university. Although our income is not much, it is enough to maintain our lives; we even plan to have a child this year."

The maid miss made a somewhat shy expression, turning her face slightly to the side.

"But you also know that our relationship with Dralion is very bad now. The trading company I work for mainly does business exporting timber and steel to the Northern Kingdom, and now it is affected by the newly introduced 'Trade Protection Act' in Willendale, and the efficiency has dropped a lot."

The full name of the "Trade Protection Act" is the "Kassenrick United Kingdom 1854 No. 18 Tariff Adjustment and Bulk Commodity Export Restriction List Trial Draft"; of course, Dralion also has corresponding countermeasures.

"The efficiency of the trading company has dropped, and I, as an accountant, feel it the most. If it were just a salary cut because of this, I could understand; after all, everyone's life is not easy."

His words received some voices of agreement, so Xia De gritted his teeth:

"But what I received was not a salary cut notice, but a dismissal notice. No compensation, and no time given to me to find a new job. The dismissal reason given was even that I drank too much tea while at work."

So people condemned the trading company that even Xia De didn't know about one after another. Xia De took a deep breath and made a decadent expression:

"So I was temporarily unemployed. Mr. Lean probably doesn't know about this yet; I was really too embarrassed to tell others... For the first few days, I even hid it from my wife, still going out on time, but just sitting on a bench at the dock for a day."

"I have also been looking for a job, but in a city like Moon Bay, even the dock porters wouldn't want me; after all, I am not a member of the guild. Now, I rely on the business of selling newspapers competing with children, and helping others repair shoes at night to maintain income to subsidize the family. As for the child... let's talk about it next year; I don't want him to become someone like me."

"Mrs. Holmes" on the side held his hand with concern, so Xia De sat down dejectedly. The blonde miss hugged him very gently and patted his back, and only then did she stand up and say:

"Sorry, my husband might have been a bit emotional just now; please don't mind."

She patted Xia De's shoulder gently:

"Although my income is not much, it is currently stable. Although there are quite a few small troubles in life, what troubles me the most is actually this cat of my husband's."

She looked down at Little Mia lying on Xia De's lap; the cat did not realize it had been mentioned:

"This cat was raised by my husband before we got married. I also knew he liked this cat very much before we got married. Actually, I also like it very much, but sometimes..."

She pursed her lips, expressing that tangled psychology vividly:

"Sometimes I feel that in his heart, I and that cat are on an equal footing."

Xia De lowered his head slightly, and the corners of his mouth twitched. This time it was not an act; he was really expressing his feelings.

"I won't say here how he treats that cat, but when we rest at night, no matter what we do, that cat will lie at the head of the bed; this feeling is very strange... After he became unemployed, although there were still some savings at home, daily expenses also had to be reduced. The cost of three meals was the first to be reduced, but he still refused to change the cat's food expenses."

She looked down at the "gentleman" sitting there again:

"I have discussed this issue with him many times, and he has always refused to give in. Actually, this is not a big deal; this cat is so small and doesn't eat much. I don't care about the cat's food problem, but I care about his attitude. In his heart, what status do I and this cat have? You have also seen that he even brought it with him when participating in this kind of activity."

After sighing heavily, she sat down while half-covering her face.

No one in the circle around them made a sound; the maid miss's performance was really too outstanding, and no one would doubt the truth.

Fortunately, Mr. Lean broke the awkward silence in time:

"Every family really has its own difficulties; economic problems are probably the root cause of conflicts in all our families here. Do you know? In noble families, even if it is not a noble family like the Seven Great Families, just a slightly wealthier noble family, the catering level of pet cats is much higher than that of dock porters; a bag of specialized high-end cat food can even be worth a month's income of an ordinary worker." ===== CHAPTER 2374 =====