Half-step Purgatory

Durin stroked the black cat on the armrest of his chair, sitting on the black leather sofa. Through the glasses perched on his nose, his gaze passed over the long table in front of him and settled on the man kneeling on the carpet:
"I understand, you've made money in Naples, your business has been very successful, and you've led a happy life. You've had those secret police, friends in both the law and the underground, and even the Royal Family speaking on your behalf."
"You don't need a friend like me, I know that. You're afraid of owing me a favor, and you don't want to get involved in troubles."
"But now you come to me and say, 'I beg you, Mr. Durin of the Corleon family, please help me seek justice, so that my life and my family will not suffer and sink into despair.'
Yet, in your eyes, I was nothing more than a second-rate artist involved in movies and music. Even at the brink of death, you still show me such disrespect, not even willing to call me by my title... Keeper of Secrets."

Durin's Diary

Two drunk old men didn't return until midnight, followed by the resigned-looking Chief of Iron Hammer, "Mr. Dulin, here's your bill."


Durin, feeling a bit embarrassed, nodded and took the bill to glance at it.


They drank quite a bit, just the twenty-year-old wine alone, the two old guys polished off ten bottles, followed by the fiery drink from Chang Tang, which claims to rival the strong liquors of the North, then came the Northerner's favorite vodka.


It looked like money wasn't enough, forget it, two old men, one without a wife, the other without descendants, the two must have been crying their eyes out.


Durin looked at the two small old men slumped on the ground with a full face of question marks, then he turned his gaze to the Chief Iron Hammer.


Chapter 218: Unacquainted with the Affairs of the World at the Time of Our Marriage