Chapter 98

In the small town's office, Ben, the town accountant, was busy with his calculator. He didn't ask many questions and simply told the three men, "Wait here for a while, Captain Leonardo will be here soon."

Henry, Charlie, and Gabe waited outside the office for a few minutes. Soon, Leonardo entered through the front gate, hands behind his back.

The three men had been squatting but quickly stood up upon seeing Leonardo. They greeted him warmly, "Captain Leonardo."

Leonardo wasn't pleased to see them but didn't show it. He asked, "What brings you here?"

Henry, always polite to Leonardo, now smiled even more ingratiatingly. "Captain Leonardo, we've run into some trouble and need your help."

Leonardo glanced at them, then walked straight into the office. Henry and his friends followed closely behind.

Gabe pulled out a cigarette from a soft pack and offered it to Leonardo, smiling obsequiously. "Have a smoke, Captain."

Leonardo looked at the cigarette, then at Henry, Charlie, and Gabe. He didn't take the cigarette and said, "No need for that. What's the issue?"

Gabe, unbothered, put the cigarette back. Henry didn't waste any time and explained, "Captain Leonardo, the food you allocated to us isn't enough. We're almost out, and there are still two months until the next distribution. We won't survive without more food."

Leonardo frowned. He knew they often slacked off and took frequent breaks. He suspected their earned work points might be insufficient. He thought they could make up the shortfall with money, given their families' decent backgrounds. But he didn't expect them to run out of food so early and by such a significant amount.

Though their town wasn't particularly affluent, recent years had seen good harvests, especially with staple crops. The food allocated to each household should be enough unless grossly mismanaged.

Leonardo frowned at Henry. "How is this possible? The food was allocated per head, and everyone got their share."

Charlie interjected, "Maybe it's because we're still growing and need more food…"

Leonardo couldn't understand and slammed his hand on the desk. "Even if you're growing, you can't run out of food for two months! Ten adults for two months—that's a lot of food!"

Henry, Charlie, and Gabe flinched. They felt guilty remembering the food they had wasted.

Henry feigned helplessness. "Captain Leonardo, we don't know how it happened. We've been careful with our food. Could there have been a mistake when weighing it?"

"Nonsense!" Leonardo slammed the desk again. "The food was weighed accurately, no mistakes!"

Ben, the accountant, also spoke up. "The records are clear. There's no mistake."

Henry and his friends hadn't paid much attention to these issues before. But once they realized they were out of food, they understood it was their lack of planning and thriftiness that led to this situation.

Blaming the town officials wasn't going to work. Angering them would only make things worse.

Henry tried again, "Captain Leonardo, the situation is dire. Without food, we can't survive the next two months. Could you help us out just this once?"

"Help you out?" Leonardo sneered, his tone growing harsher. "You've brought this on yourselves. Since the day you arrived, I've been advising you, almost losing my voice, but you never listened! Look at the other young people here. See how they're living! They're doing better than the locals, contributing to the town, earning money for everyone. And look at you, what a disgrace!"

Hearing Leonardo praise Logan and Summer, Henry's smile faltered. He had always dismissed these "progressive youth," thinking they were foolish. He still looked down on them but couldn't help feeling a sting.

His tone and expression turned serious as he said, "We need an advance on two months' worth of food. I promise this will never happen again."

Leonardo was skeptical. "What guarantee can you give me? What right do you have to promise anything? Not only will there be no advance, but if you don't make up for the work points, you won't get next year's food either!"

Henry frowned. "How could our work points be insufficient?"

Leonardo retorted, "How could they be enough? You got food for ten adults, but your work points? Just look at Sophia—other women earn seven points a day; she barely earns three! And she's not the only one slacking off. What about you three? Or the other six? Warnings fell on deaf ears, deductions didn't matter to you. Did you not think of this day coming? You're not kids anymore; it's time to take responsibility!"

Leonardo paused, then added, "You're from the city, right? Your families have jobs, good conditions. Ask them for help."

Henry restrained his anger and spoke after a moment, "Our families can't support us. We're here in your town now. If you don't help us, who will?"

Leonardo laughed, "You live like this, and now you claim your families can't help? I thought you were well-off, living so lavishly! If your own families don't care about you, why should we? You're here to work, not to live off our farmers! I've told you before, you want to beg, I won't give you a letter of introduction! You're wasting your breath here. No advance on food. When it's time to distribute, you must make up the work points!"

Henry's tone grew heavier, "What if we starve here? Won't you be held accountable? If this goes up to the higher-ups, won't it affect you?"

Leonardo wasn't intimidated. "Go ahead, report wherever you want. The county or the city, I'll give you the letter of introduction! Let them check if we didn't provide a place to stay, or food, or land. Let them see if we didn't teach you how to farm and live properly. You think we spent money to hire experts for fun? Everything you needed was provided. Did you contribute your part? If you hadn't wasted food, you wouldn't be in this situation. Every grain is our farmers' lifeline!"

At this point, Charlie and Gabe also stopped grinning. After being berated, they stood silently, faces dark.

Leonardo, still breathing heavily, was genuinely angry, feeling more upset as he spoke.

Henry, Charlie, and Gabe didn't storm off indignantly. They stood silently for a while before Charlie spoke again, "Captain Leonardo, we didn't mean to end up like this. Are you really going to let us starve?"

Leonardo was unmoved. "Don't try that with me. We've all suffered hunger before. You have hands and feet, and you brought this on yourselves. No sympathy here. If you don't want to starve, cut back on food, cook thin porridge, eat wild vegetables. Understand?"

Gabe muttered, "Only pigs eat wild vegetables."

Leonardo shot back, "You're worse than pigs! A pig can be sold for over a hundred bucks after a year. Wild vegetables are too good for you!"

Gabe tried to retort, but Leonardo raised a hand to stop him. "Enough. The discussion is over. No advance on food. I have other work to do. Leave now and stop bothering me."

Henry, face dark, said nothing more. He turned and walked out, followed by Charlie and Gabe.

Watching them leave, Leonardo muttered, "Bunch of hooligans."

Ben, puzzled, asked, "How did these young people mess up their lives so badly?"

Leonardo waved a hand, looking exasperated. "No words can explain it."

Ben thought for a moment, "If this continues, there'll be trouble. Should we discuss with the secretary and take stricter measures?"

Leonardo considered it, then said, "Let's give them one last chance. If they don't change, we'll take strict action."

Ben nodded and returned to his work, but then turned back again, "By the way, didn't they steal from the town's supplies before? With no food left, might they target the town's reserves? Should we have someone watch them?"

Leonardo thought for a moment, "You're right. Let Ken arrange someone to keep an eye on them."

The town's reserves were for emergencies, not to support idlers and troublemakers.