Chapter 696： parallel lines

The simple door of the room was pushed open from the outside, a normal Ailan Hill civilians, the room was filled with a faint smell of rice during dinner.

Being able to eat a full meal is already one of the benefits they get under the rule of this empire for the people in the fringe area of ​​Ailan Hill.

They didn't have such good days before, and of course they didn't care about improving their meals.

It's different now. They can eat something that they can't even think of before.

In the beginning, they worked hard to get some Bude mustard pickles. These pickles are cheap and abundant, giving them hope for life in poverty.

Later, after eating pickles for more than a year and finding that the food is getting more and more abundant, the people whose income has doubled several times finally began to work **** the tricks of eating.

About half a year ago, vegetables began to appear on people's tables, and sweet potatoes and potatoes began to increase.

Then, people who had pursued them began to buy cheap canned ham and canned fish, etc. Although they knew that most of the space was filled with starch, the taste was really good, enough to make people happy for many days.

Of course, time is still moving forward, and society is constantly developing. Nowadays, decent families are beginning to eat fresh meat and eggs.

They can also consume some cooked food occasionally, such as fragrant roast chicken, roast rabbit, stewed large pieces of meat from the mountain beast and so on.

Fatty meat and fleshy skins have also begun to walk on people's tables, which also shows that most areas ruled by Ailan Hill have initially solved the problem of food and clothing for the people.

After dropping his schoolbag, the boy who had just returned home from get out of class at the best local No. 1 senior middle school was all dirty. He threw off his sneakers and ran to the kitchen table where the plates were full. Mobile terminal::

Then, a slightly disappointed voice rang. The strong boy was obviously dissatisfied with the dinner prepared by his mother: "Huh?...Eating canned fish again..."

This kind of canned fish is produced in coastal areas, so the brand is naturally the same, and the taste is also the same.

At the beginning, he still liked the taste very much, but over time, he was no longer satisfied with this canned product that had nothing to do with freshness.

As the saying goes, half-and-half son, poor old man. This is the time when he is growing up. The boy can eat several bowls of rice for a meal. What he likes most is the cooked chicken in a row in the supermarket two blocks away.

"What did you learn in school today?" My mother cut a piece of tofu in the kitchen. This white and tender meal from the Serris area has become more and more popular among ordinary people.

After she got home from get off work, she started talking about dinner, and she has been busy until now and has not rested for a while.

For this mother, getting her child back from school to have a warm dinner is a top priority.

The boy threw his schoolbag on his little bed, and went back to the kitchen to fight for the best interests of his mouth: "Mom! We have been eating this canned fish for three days in a row. I want to eat it. Chicken!"

"The roast chicken in the supermarket is too expensive. Your father is just an ordinary factory fitter. How can you have the money to eat a few roast chickens in a month." His mother's helpless voice came from the kitchen with something inside. A little tired.

The worker profession that was once the most proud has now become less popular. News of layoffs are often heard in large factories, and competition in small businesses is fierce.

As a textile worker, the textile factory to which she belongs is also trying to reduce costs. Compared with the big cities that have already developed, the only advantage of small cities like them is cheap labor resources.

In big cities, factories are being automated and numerically controlled... The original workers are in danger of being eliminated, and traditional skilled workers can no longer keep up with the progress of the times.

It is said that many factories in Serris have been completely robotized, with only a few managers in them, and the labor cost has been compressed to a level close to zero.

So those small businesses that have no technological advantage began to relocate to the periphery of the empire. They live here today, and tomorrow they will move to farther and poorer places to squeeze those poor people who have not yet been lifted out of poverty.

In this ordinary family in front of us, men and women are the most basic labor force. They are the kind of people who are about to be eliminated by the times. Although their lives have improved a little, they are destined to not make any qualitative leap. .

"You haven't said where the courses in your school are!" The mother, who had already had a budget for the money in her hands, obviously did not prepare for today's roast chicken, so she continued to ask.

The boy squeezed a fish tail out of the can, hung it into his mouth, and boasted as he chewed: "Mathematics is my strong point. I have mastered all the things I learned recently, and the teacher said I can test the dragon. City University, but I think if my family can put in a sum of money, my score will almost be able to pass the self-financed Serris Second University..."

He is the hope of the whole family. In this typical ordinary family, he is the only one who is most likely to change the future.

And this boy did live up to expectations. His grades are very good in the class. He is a kind of "good student" who is likely to get a good university, get a better education, and find a decent job after graduation.

Teachers at school also value him more, and there are even a few little girls who like to ask him questions.

The mother's voice of cutting things weakened: "Seris? Where is the university is good, but the cost is too high... Our kind of family, there is no way for you to go to Seres to study."

"Mom! If I can go to Serris Second University, it will be easy to find a job after I come out." The boy sat at the table and acted like a baby.

"The problem is, your father and I made money in one month, not enough for you to spend three days in Serris..." The mother weighed the savings at home, and felt that this kind of thing should have a showdown with her son earlier. , Let him dispel this idea.

That's Seres! That's a place where prices are prohibitively expensive. I heard that the city is so huge that it has 15 districts and 44 subway lines. Thinking about it, it makes one's scalp numb.

The radio news often introduces the only super city in the world. Even if you have never been there, you can know how prosperous and expensive it is.

The cheapest house prices there are as high as 120 gold coins per square meter, which is enough to buy a not bad house in this small fringe town.

"How can it be so exaggerated." Of course, the child did not believe it, and mumbled a little unwillingly.

"It's just such an exaggeration." Mother shook her head reluctantly: "Your father had been to Serris. At that time, his salary was only 1 gold coin a month, and Serris' hotel cost 70 silver coins a day."

"The time you said it was three years ago!" The child did not understand the dilemma of his parents and insisted on his ideals.

"It's more expensive now. Remember Uncle Bud?" the mother asked an acquaintance. Bud used to be their neighbor, and he is now. It's just that the Badtowers got a job to work in Serris.

Washing dishes in a small restaurant in Serris, I heard that there is a salary of 1 gold coin every day, which is called a lavish.

"He? Didn't his boss open a small restaurant in Serris?" The child nodded immediately after hearing about Uncle Bud's deeds.

"Yes, I heard your father say that he sent Bud back, wanting to find some acquaintances to borrow some money to turn around his own business." Mother sighed and said.

This is not a random fabrication. Bud did come back a while ago, and he did come back to borrow money for his boss. However, 1,000 gold coins are obviously not so easy to borrow in this small city, and in the end Bud could only return empty-handed.

"How much to borrow?" The child was curious about such gossip.

"Yes, I asked your father if he intends to borrow 100 gold coins... He actually said that he wants to borrow 1,000 gold coins is enough..." The mother put the fried tofu on the table and placed it in front of the child. Said seriously.

The child stuck his tongue out. Three thousand gold coins are too far away for him. He who is very good at math, of course understands what three thousand gold coins mean to a family like them.

"Okay...I see." The child was unhappy, lowered his head and held rice into his mouth. There were some sweet potatoes in the rice, which made the taste really sweet.

But the boy ate it in his mouth, but he tasted a bitter taste. He has worked very hard, but he is still far away from the world he yearns for.

The girl he liked came here from Seris with his father. The girl's father is a municipal official, and his income is very high. The girl's grades are also very good, and the boy's knowledge is envious.

The girl has eaten Serris’s sweetest ice cream and personally touched the mottled gate of the old palace. As long as she stands there, her aura is different from other girls.

She has a beautiful dress that the girl here has never seen before. She has a very expensive and extraordinary history of the empire. She has a beautiful pink bicycle. She also has a pair of blinking and blinking to make people dream. Big eyes.

Today, this beautiful girl told him in person that she would go back to Seres in a year, and it is estimated that she would be admitted to Seres Second University.

"I heard people say that Dothan University is also good." Seeing her son's depression, her mother said distressedly: "At the end of this month, if we still have a balance, Mom will buy you a roast chicken. Why? kind?"

"Hmm..." The boy replied after swallowing the fragrant but hard-to-swallow food in his mouth. There are many, many things, things that are in my mind, have not yet imagined, for him, it is like two parallel lines are over.