Poverty (1)

When Anna returned home, she couldn’t help sighing when she saw her dilapidated bungalow made of stone and wood.

She was truly too poor.

Hearing the movement at the door, a gentle female voice drifted from the back room: “Who is it?”

“Mama, it’s me, Anna.” Anna answered quickly.

She endured the pain and slowly walked over, pretending not to be injured, but the woman who had answered from the back room had already walked out.

The owner of this house was named Gaea, who was only in her early thirties, but already the mother of six children—two of whom died young. The hardships of life made her skin rough. Her expression was always tired, and there was lingering fatigue in her eyes which were the same color as Anna’s.

But when she saw her eldest daughter, Gaea’s blue eyes softened a bit.  

“Anna, have you found a job?” She asked with concern.  

 Anna shook her head: “It’s either they aren’t looking for people, or it’s that they don’t want me because of my lack of strength.”

   Anna was outside today, looking for a job. She had been looking for two days, but had not found one yet.

   “Don’t worry,” Gaea advised. “Dad and I both have jobs. We are not short of money for the time being.”

  Anna nodded. She didn’t reveal her anxiousness, nor would she tell Gaea about the terrible situation she had just encountered.  

Gaea went on to do manual labor, which was part of the family’s fixed income, and Anna went back to her room.

 Then again, it wasn’t right to call it that. In this bungalow, there were only two small bedrooms in total. Her parents lived in one, and she shared the other room with her younger siblings.

 In the room, seven-year-old sister Adele was playing with her youngest brother Evan. When she saw Anna, Adele ran over and hugged her: “Anna!”

“Adele, were you obedient today?” Anna patted Adele’s head and asked with a smile.

Adele raised her head, blinked her sky-blue eyes that she inherited from Gaea, and replied in a childish voice: “Adele is well behaved every day! Little Evan was also well behaved today!”

“That’s great, help me bring a pitcher of water in, okay?” Anna said laughing.

“Okay!” Adele released Anna and ran out without asking why.

 Anna sat down on the bed. Little Evan was lying on the edge of the bed next to Anna, clutching her skirt with his little hand, and called out in a child-like voice, “Anna!”

“Hi!” Anna smiled and poked little Evan’s nose, and it was as if the pain in her knees alleviated a bit.

Little Evan couldn’t stop giggling, and almost fell down before Anna hurriedly caught him.

Probably because impoverished children mature earlier; Anna’s younger siblings were so well-behaved that it hurt.

Adele was still too young, and usually only looked after three-year-old Little Evan. Her other brother, Jim, who was only ten years old this year, had gone to help in the tavern where her father Evan worked. If they skipped a meal, they could earn an income of three or four copper coins, which was pretty good.

Before Anna came, the original body was working odd jobs with Gaea, and the two earned more than a dozen copper coins every day. As a bartender, father Evan sometimes received tips, and he could earn five or six silver coins in a month. But such a large family like theirs would spend nearly twenty copper coins on food every day, not to mention the head tax that must be paid to the city lord, and other miscellaneous expenditures. Only one or two silver coins could be saved by the end of a month. Under these circumstances, no one dared to get sick, as the medicines prescribed by the doctors were paid in silver coins.

   The basic monetary units in this world were gold coins, silver coins, and copper coins, each with a ratio of one hundred. According to Anna’s memories, she had never even touched a gold coin.  

Gaea told Anna not to worry, but even if she did not go hungry each day, how could Anna truly not worry?

   Their family was not able to brave danger. A little bit of trouble was enough to make this seemingly subsistence family fall into the abyss.

   Therefore, for the past two days, Anna went out every day, just to find a job. She would save up money first, and when she understood more about this world, she could think about ways to make her family rich. Although she has inherited the memory of the original body, the range of activities of the original body was too restricted and limited to class. Her experience was limited and she knew too little about the world.

   After discovering that this was a magical world, of course Anna wanted to learn it for herself. But because the original body only has a fickle understanding of magic, she could only start with making money at the moment. It’s never a bad thing to make more money.  

  Adele huffed and puffed in exhaustion as she brought over the clear water. Anna took it from her, and as soon as she lifted her skirt, Adele covered her face and exclaimed, “Anna, what happened to you!”

   Anna fell so badly that the skin of her knees were torn. the crimson red blood had even stained the lining of her skirt, but she was thankful that the skirt itself was not torn.  

“Shhh, don’t shout so loudly, Mama will be worried if she hears you.” Anna quickly whispered to Adele, she and Adele lived in the same room, she couldn’t hide her injury from Adele, but she didn’t want to worry anyone else. It was only a minor injury that would heal after two days of rest.

   Adele widened her  eyes, covered her mouth tightly, and nodded vigorously.

   Little Evan mimicked her, clamping his little hand over his mouth, widening his sky-blue eyes.  

Anna couldn’t help but laugh. When cleaning the wound, in order not to worry her younger siblings and to maintain the reputation that an elder sister should have, she gritted her teeth, not letting a single grunt of pain escape.

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