Chapter III Melissa

Having determined the plan, Zhou Mingrui immediately had the backbone, and the panic, wandering and insecurity departments were curled up in the corner.

Until then, he was in the mood to carefully examine the remaining memory fragments of Klein.

Zhou Mingrui habitually stood up, closed the pipe valve, watched the wall lamp slowly dim until it went out, and then sat down again. He unconsciously rubbed the brass wheel of the pistol while holding down the side of his head, quietly "aftertaste" in the crimson darkness, like the most attentive audience in the cinema.

Perhaps affected by the bullet passing through, Klein's memory is like broken glass, not only losing its coherence, but also obviously missing content in many places, such as where the exquisite revolver came from, whether it was suicide or homicide, what exactly the sentence "everyone will die, including me" on the notebook mean, and whether he participated in strange things two days before the incident.

Not only have these specific memories become fragmented and incomplete, but also the knowledge they have mastered. In the current state, Zhou Mingrui believes that if Klein returns to the university, he may not finish his studies, even if he has only left the campus for a few days, and he has not relaxed about himself.

"Two days later, I will participate in an interview with the Department of History of the University of Tyngen..."

"There is a tradition in the universities of the Kingdom of Roon that graduates do not stay in school directly... The tutor gave a recommendation letter from the University of Tyngen and the University of Bakeland..."

...

In Zhou Mingrui's silent "watching", the red moon outside the window slants to the west and gradually sinks until there is a faint light in the east and the horizon is stained with gold.

At this time, there was noise coming from the inside room. Soon, the sound of footsteps leaned towards the isolation door.

"Melissa wakes up... she is really on time as usual." Zhou Mingrui smiled and felt like looking at her own sister because of Klein's memory.

However, I didn't kiss my sister... He was immediately roasted.

Unlike Benson and Klein, Melissa did not complete the initial education in the Sunday school of the Night Goddess Church. When she reached the age of study, the Kingdom of Lun promulgated the Primary Education Law, established the Committee for Middle and Lower Education, and provided special funds to increase investment.

However, in three years, on the premise of incorporating many church schools, many public primary schools were established, strictly maintaining the principle of religious neutrality, and not involving the disputes between the Lord of Storm, the Night Goddess, and the Church of the God of Steam and Machinery.

Compared with a Sunday school with only one copper penny a week, the tuition of three pence a week in public primary schools is quite expensive. However, the former only studies one day a week on Sunday, while the latter has six full days of classes a week. In general, the low price is almost free.

Unlike most girls, Melissa likes gears, springs, bearings, and other things when she was young. She is determined to be a steam mechanic.

The elder brother Benson, who had suffered cultural losses and understood the importance of education, supported his sister's dream just as he supported Klein to go to college. After all, Tyngen Technical School can only be regarded as secondary education, and there is no need to go to grammar school or public school for accumulation.

In July last year, Melissa, 15, passed the entrance examination and became a member of the Department of Steam and Machinery at the Tingen Technical School. Her weekly tuition fee also increased to 9p.

At the same time, influenced by the situation in South China, the import and export company that Benson works for has greatly reduced its profits and business volume and has to lay off more than one-third of its employees. In order to keep his job and maintain his life, Benson can only accept more onerous tasks and must work overtime frequently or travel to places with a bad environment, just as in recent days.

Klein didn't want to help his brother bear the burden, but he was born as a commoner and admitted to the common grammar school. Once he entered the university, he felt strongly about his own shortcomings. For example, as the source language of all the countries in the northern mainland, Gulfshaken, for the children of the noble class, and for the children of the rich class, it was the content that he had learned since childhood, and he didn't get in touch with it until the university.

There are many similar aspects. Klein almost exhausted all his strength, often stayed up late and got up early, only to catch up with others, and successfully graduated with middle school grades.

The memory of his brother and sister leaped in Zhou Mingrui's mind. When he turned his hand, the door of the inner room creaked open. Then he suddenly woke up and remembered that he was holding a revolver in his hand.

This is a semi-controlled item!

It will frighten children!

And the wound on my head!

Seeing that Melissa was about to come out, Zhou Mingrui opened the desk drawer in a hurry while holding down his temple, and threw the revolver into it with a bang.

"What happened?" Melissa heard the movement and looked puzzled.

She is at the most youthful stage. Even if she can't eat anything good, her face is thin and pale, and her skin is still full of luster and exudes the smell of a girl.

Seeing his sister's brown eyes probing, Zhou Mingrui tried to calm down, picked up the things close to his hand, and then calmly closed the drawer to cover the existence of the revolver, while the touch of the other hand in the temple made him sure that the wound had healed!

He took out a silver-white pocket watch with vine patterns from the drawer. The top of the watch popped open with a slight press.

It is the most valuable item left by the Royal Army Staff Sergeant, the father of the third brother and sister, but second-hand goods are second-hand goods after all. In recent years, problems have occurred from time to time, even if it has been repaired by a clock craftsman. This makes Benson, who likes to take it with him to raise his status, embarrassed repeatedly and simply left it at home.

It has to be said that Melissa may really have mechanical talent. After mastering theoretical knowledge, she began to use the tools of technical school to tamper with this pocket watch, and recently announced that she had repaired it!

Zhou Mingrui watched the watch cover bounce off, saw the secondhand stop, and subconsciously turned the top, intending to wind the pocket watch.

However, he twisted several times, but there was still no sound of spring tightening, and the second hand was still motionless.

"It seems bad again." He looked at his sister without saying anything.

Melissa glanced at him without expression, quickly came over, and took away the pocket watch.

She stood in the same place, first pulled up the button on the top of the pocket watch, and after only a few turns, there was the sound of the second hand moving.

Normally, shouldn't pulling up should be an adjustment of time... Zhou Mingrui's expression suddenly became dull.

At this time, the bell of the cathedral in the distance came six times in a row, distant and ethereal.

Melissa listened, then pulled up the button on the top of the pocket watch, and then twisted it continuously to adjust the time.

"All right," she said briefly and without emotion, then pressed back to the top and returned the pocket watch to Zhou Mingrui.

Zhou Mingrui smiled back awkwardly and politely.

Melissa took a deep look at her brother again, turned to the cabinet, took the toothbrush towel, and other things, pulled out the door, and went to the public bathroom.

"How could her expression just now have a taste of disgust and helplessness?"

"Caring for the eyes of the mentally handicapped brother?"

Zhou Mingrui shook his head and smiled, snapped the cover of the watch, and then snapped it open.

Repeating this action, he thought of a problem in a divergent way.

Without a silencer, Klein committed suicide. Well, it's suicide for the time being. His suicide was not small. Melissa, who was separated by a wall, was unaware of it.

Is she sleeping too fast? Or is Klein's suicide itself full of weirdness?

Pop, open, pop, close... When Melissa came back from washing, she saw her brother's unconscious action of opening and closing the pocket watch lid.

Her eyes were mixed with helplessness again, and her voice said sweetly:

"Klein, take out the rest of the bread and remember to buy new ones today, as well as meat and peas. You are about to attend the interview, and I will make lamb stewed with peas for you."

As she spoke, she took the stove out of the corner, lit the fire with the residual charcoal, and boiled a pot of hot water.

Before the water was ready to boil, she opened the drawer at the bottom of the cabinet, took out a pot of inferior tea like a baby, sprinkled a dozen pieces into the pot, and pretended that it was real tea.

One person poured two large cups, and Melissa and Zhou Mingrui shared two loaves of rye bread with tea.

There is no mixed sawdust, and there is not too much gluten, but it is still not delicious... Zhou Mingrui is now weak, hungry, relying on tea, and swallowing the bread by force while eating.

After a few minutes, Melissa finished eating, closed her black hair hanging from her vest, looked at Zhou Mingrui, and said:

"Remember to buy new bread, as long as eight pounds. The weather is hot, and too much is easy to break, as well as lamb and peas. Remember!"

Is it true that he cares about the bookworm brother? I want to emphasize it again... Zhou Mingrui smiles and nods:

"OK."

As for the pound of Lun Kingdom, Zhou Mingrui believes that it is close to his customary pound, that is, 0.5 kg, according to Klein's meat-test memory and his own comparison.

Melissa didn't say more. She got up and tidied up, packed the last loaf of bread for lunch, put on the old gauze hat left by her mother, picked up the bag with books and stationery sewn by herself, and was ready to go out.

Today is not Sunday. She has to have class all day.

It takes about 50 minutes to walk from this apartment to the Tingen Technical School. There are public carriages, one penny per kilometer, a maximum of 4p in the city, and 6p in the suburbs. In order to save money, Melissa went out early and walked by herself.

As soon as she opened the door, she paused again, half turned, and said:

"Klein, don't buy too much lamb and peas. Benson may not come back until Sunday. Well, remember that bread is only eight pounds."

"OK, OK," Zhou Mingrui said helplessly.

At the same time, he silently recited the word "Sunday" several times.

In the northern mainland, the year is also divided into 12 months, ranging from 365 days to 366 days a year, with seven days a week.

The former is the result of astronomy, which makes Zhou Mingrui suspect that this is a parallel world, while the latter comes from religion because there are seven orthodox gods in the northern mainland: the eternal sun, the lord of storms, the god of knowledge and wisdom, the goddess of night, the god of earth, the god of war, the god of steam and machinery.

Seeing his sister close the door and leave, Zhou Mingrui suddenly sighed and quickly moved his mind to the transfer ceremony.

Sorry, I really want to go home.