18.Will not admit defeat

After Arthur left, Lin felt sleepy and simply closed the door to catch up on some sleep. He had actually considered, as Matt had suggested, returning to a regular schedule, but now it seemed that conserving energy for the night was the right choice. Late at night, Matt came back and, as usual, went to prepare dinner. Lin, waking up, hesitated for a moment and called out to Matt: "Matt." "Hmm?" Matt was setting the table.

"My leg seems to be getting better," Lin said.

"What?!" Matt was stunned for a moment, then quickly reacted, forgetting about the plates and squatting in front of Lin, gently pinching his legs. "Brother, can you feel it?!"

"I can." Lin sat on the edge of the bed and smiled, "It's not just that."

As he spoke, he supported himself with his hands on one side of the wheelchair and slowly stood up.

Matt was dumbfounded.

It took him more than ten seconds to ecstatically help support Lin: "Brother, you"You, you, this..."

"I don't know what's going on either. I suddenly noticed today during the day that my legs seemed to have sensation, so I tried, and I didn't expect I could really stand up," Lin's explanation was quite poor.

But Matt believed him, his tears couldn't stop flowing, and his smile grew even thicker: "Brother, you try, see if you can, if you can walk..."

Matt stepped back a bit.

Lin endured the pain and gritted his teeth, slowly taking a few steps: "I haven't fully recovered yet, my legs don't have much strength."

"Here, sit down, sit down." Matt helped Lin back to bed, then wiped his tears and smiled like a child.

"What are you crying for?" Lin reached out to help wipe them away.

"I'm not crying, I'm happy." The more Matt said it, the more tears flowed, until he finally covered his face and wept.

He had imagined Lin standing up again, but whether it could ever come true, he had no idea at all.

Lin had gone to work at the can factory to earn tuition for him back then.

If Lin hadn't gone to the can factory He wouldn't have encountered the rich kids bullying a mother and daughter, and he wouldn't have had his legs crushed while trying to help them.

Matt felt very guilty. Every day when he saw Lin confined to a wheelchair, unable to go out, becoming a disabled person who needed to be taken care of everywhere, his heart was extremely tormented.

Therefore, he made up his mind to take Lin to the best hospital in the capital to treat his legs.

No matter whether he could save enough money or not, he must do this.

Lin's hope has been shattered.

His can't.

Just as Lin, who was still a teenager at the time, took up the broken family, providing him with food, shelter, clothing, and the opportunity to study. "Don't cry, this is a good thing. Judging by this, it's likely that you'll be fully recovered soon," Lin was touched by Matt's reaction and inexplicably felt a sourness in his nose, "You don't have to save money anymore, and you don't have to be content with eating only half a piece of black bread a day. Once I'm fully recovered, you continue to study, and I'll take care of making money." After a long time, after completely releasing the emotions that had been suppressed in his heart for these years, Matt's emotions gradually stabilized:

"Brother, how did your leg suddenly get better?"

Lin shook his head: "I don't know. Never mind, as long as it's better, that's all that matters."

"Right, as long as it's better, that's all that matters." Matt laughed along with Lin.

The company contracted for chimney cleaning business has withheld Matt's wages and even beat him up.

Lin would not easily let this matter go.

However, he will wait a bit longer, until his leg is no different from that of a normal person, until he is stronger.

The most important thing now is to get the leg ."I want to share the good news about my leg with Matt, so he doesn't have to bear such a huge responsibility, and not risk fighting the forces in the wealthy district alone for just over a thousand copper coins. "There's something else, do you remember Arthur? He came to see me today, saying he wanted to thank me for helping the security bureau solve the case. I also took the opportunity to ask him if he could help me find a less tiring job nearby, and he said he could. Once the job is found, you'll stay close by, so you won't have to work so hard." Lin was indirectly arranging a new job for Matt. But upon hearing Lin suddenly wanted to find himself.Matt was still wary when he heard about finding a job: "I'm doing just fine as a chimney sweep. Why did you suddenly think of finding me a job?"

Lin explained without changing his expression: "What's so good about being a chimney sweep? It's so far away, you have to go there before dawn every day, and come back late at night. Moreover, when it snows, the roofs are slippery. What if you fall?"

"I don't think that Arthur looks like a good person. Brother, you should stay away from him." Matt was a bit shaken, but still, out of fear of Arthur, he didn't agree right away.

"He's actually a good person, and I get along with him quite well. Moreover, being friends with a security officer can't hurt," Lin said.

"But I always feel like he's not that kind-hearted."

"What plans could he have for us when we're so poor?" Lin patted Matt, jokingly putting on a more serious expression, "Anyway, I've introduced it to you, and you have to go even if you don't want to."

Matt was silent for a while: "Brother, do you know?"

Lin didn't pretend anymore: "Yes. Now "There's no need to continue fighting with them; I'll find a way to deal with it later." "But they have very deep connections; it's not something you can handle." "Then can you handle it?" Lin countered. Matt was speechless.

Lin took a deep breath: "Listen to me on this matter. I don't want my misfortune to be repeated in your life. Once my novel is published smoothly, you should go back to studying; that's your way out." "But that's four months' wages," Matt was still resentful.

"Do you think if you keep fighting with them, they will just give you the money?" Lin tried to make Matt face reality, "Now they've just beaten you up, what about next time? It's just you alone, they are capable of anything. For them, getting rid of you would serve as a perfect example for others."

"Should we just let it go? Do we deserve to be bullied by them?" Matt was furious.

His brother had merely spoken up for a mother and daughter and was crippled with his legs crushed.

He himself had done nothing wrong, working diligently and still being docked several months of wages.

Why? Do people from the slums have to be born inferior to those from the wealthy district, to be trampled on like ants by them?

Lin looked into Matt's eyes and said earnestly, "It won't just be let go, no one deserves to be treated this way. I'm not asking you to give up fighting, to give up defending what is rightfully yours. I want you to understand, the reason we are not treated as human by them is because we are not strong enough."

"But how do we become strong?"

"This is something time will tell us the answer to, and what you should do now is "Wait until I earn the money to study properly, and stop living so aimlessly," Lin knew well that this was a decadent era where many truths don't make sense and are meaningless. They want to overturn these rules; crying and being angry alone are useless.

We must become strong.

We must become strong by any means necessary, at all costs.

Only when we are strong will we be taken seriously, only then will we have the power to change all this.

"...I understand." Matt responded weakly.

The degradation value did not rise further, nor did it There was no decline.

"Well, let's eat something, be happy, isn't my leg all better now?" Lin cut the dark bread.

"Brother, how did you find out about my situation?" Matt took a bite of the dark bread and asked in confusion.

"I noticed something was off with you a few days ago, and when you wouldn't tell me, I asked Arthur to help me look into it." Life is going to get better, and the portion of dark bread Lin cut out was also a bit more than usual.

"None of the security officers are any good." Matt pinched the bread, "I also looked for I went to the security bureau, hoping they could help us solve the problem. I never expected that they would actually side with that damn boss, beating us up and warning us not to cause trouble in the wealthy district and to get back to the slums as soon as possible. Lin emphasized, "This is why we need to become strong. When you are powerful, even these security bureau lackeys will obey your orders." "Ha, impossible," Matt gave a self-mocking smile. He had a clear understanding of himself and the slums. In his impression, there has never been anyone around him who No commoner has ever become powerful; being treated like ants seems to be their destiny. "But, brother, don't worry, if I really get the chance to study again, I will live with a hundred times the effort to make something of myself." Ultimately, Matt did not resign himself to fate. "With your words, I'm relieved. Leave the rest to me." Lin took a big bite of bread, "Eat, and then sleep after we finish eating."