Chapter 90 – Something’s wrong with Nina
Chapter 90 – Something’s Wrong with Nina
Watching Nina run up the stairs with light steps, Duncan didn’t understand what was going on for a moment, he just scratched his hair in some confusion, “What’s this kid giggling about ……”
Then he heard old Mr. Morris’s voice coming from beside the counter, “Honestly, you’re a lot different than I remembered, Mr. Duncan.”
“Much different?” Duncan raised one eyebrow, “What was your impression of me?”
As he spoke, he came around from behind the counter and went to hang the ‘Closed for the moment’ sign on the doorway, and moved a chair next to the counter – after confirming that the person was a teacher on a home visit, and not just a guest, it would be inappropriate to leave them standing. After confirming that the other party was a teacher visiting the home and not an ordinary guest, it was obviously inappropriate to let them stand.
“Thank you,” Morris nodded his thanks and looked in Duncan’s direction after sitting on the chair, a gentle and refined smile on his face, “I haven’t met you before, but I’ve heard about …… Nina’s family from some sources. Forgive me for being rude, but according to the rumors I’ve heard, Nina has an alcoholic, abusive gambler and cranky uncle, and the kid lives in such a bad family atmosphere that she barely even has any friends at school – none of the other students really want to deal with her.”
Duncan was brewing coffee, after hearing Maurice’s words his movements subconsciously paused for a couple of seconds before he finished his task without any delay, he carried two cups of coffee back to the counter and pushed one of the cups to the old man: “I hope you don’t mind that I only have this cheap stuff here – downtown! The best coffee is at this level.”
He took a seat across from the old man, one of them holding a steaming cup of coffee, the ancient dagger resting between them, but now it was clear that neither party’s attention was on it for the moment.
“Technically …… all these rumors are true,” Duncan said slowly, “I had an illness earlier, well, a more serious one-… Having to rely on spirits to numb the nerves when the painkillers didn’t work was a decadent time, and unfortunately it also coincided with a crucial few years in Nina’s adolescence, which now seems to have affected her more severely than I thought.”
Maurice watched Duncan carefully for a long time before speaking thoughtfully, “”Is that so? Yet I feel that you don’t look like someone who has just come out of decadence – but more like a gentleman who has never fallen into decadence and has always been positive and optimistic, and the wit and humor with which you talk to people doesn’t look like it’s been affected by alcohol.
With that said, he took a sip of his cup of coffee, not making any comment on it, but just mentioning as if casually, “I think I’m still a pretty good judge of people.”
“Maybe it’s just that my mind adjusts quicker,” Duncan smiled, his tone extraordinarily frank – he had to admit that the old man was indeed an accurate judge of character, but he was convinced that even the most accurate eyes couldn’t see the secrets in his shell, and so pressed on, and “Nina is almost an adult, and I’m her sole guardian, I have to show some responsibility.”
“…… Anyway, it’s good for the kid,” Morris looked deeply at Duncan, “She’s at a critical stage in her education, and while a lot of people say that all you can do out of public high school is to screw bolts in factories , but they always miss the point: knowledge is a valuable asset in itself, and it will always suddenly show significance at some point in your life, and that’s often after you’ve had no chance to return to school.”
The older gentleman said, shaking his head, “Unfortunately, most of the parents I’ve dealt with don’t agree with that – they’re focused on getting their kids to graduate and get a job as soon as possible.”
Duncan felt instantly at home when he heard this: he was familiar with the old man’s words! Similar things he used to say to his students or their parents when he was a teacher, but no one listened to him ……
However, he quickly collected this “peer-to-peer” mentality, after thinking about his current environment, he slightly shook his head:
“Because this is the Lower Township, Mr. Morris – you have a wise and visionary view, but most of the people here really do need to pay off last month’s bills as soon as possible, and you can’t say they’re not looking far enough ahead.”
“It’s true, a lot of people actually want to look farther ahead, but the high walls of life will always block our vision to look further ahead,” the old gentleman sighed, “I’m sorry, but when you’ve been in books for a long time, you’ll always lose sight of the real problems of life… …You’re a very good thinker, and it looks like some of my worries were unnecessary.”
“Worries?” Duncan frowned, “Speaking of which, is it Nina who’s been having problems at school lately? Her grades regressing?”
“Her grades have always been good, but lately …… she’s definitely been a little distracted,” Maurice weighed his vocabulary, “She wanders off in class, sleeps during study hall, and gets distracted in lab class — she even set the lab bench on fire in chemistry class last week. This has never happened before …… at least not with her.”
Speaking of this, the old gentleman paused and added, “Her grades didn’t show much of a drop in the quizzes two days ago, but if this state of affairs continues, it’s hard to say what her grades will be like when she graduates – although it’s true that there are limited choices of outlets after graduating from a public high school, being in a lower city factory assembling machines is still not the same as maintaining a steam core in an uptown church. As Nina’s guardian, you should take that seriously.”
“Nina’s been wandering off and getting distracted in class a lot lately?” Duncan frowned, “Not that she’s ever told me anything about that ……” “A girl that age surely wouldn’t tell you much about it,” Maurice shook his head, “I thought at first that it was because of something going on at home, or something her ‘alcoholic uncle’ had done recently that had affected her state at school, hence the reason for this home visit, but it doesn’t seem …… to be for that reason.”
Duncan did not open his mouth for a while, just seriously recalling whether Nina had shown any abnormality in front of herself in the past few days, recalling Nina’s daily routine, while Morris asked again after a few seconds, “You are the one who knows her the most, has that child had any abnormality lately? Such as poor rest, poor health and so on?”
Duncan searched for half a day and could only spread his hands, “…… I’m ashamed to say that I can’t think of an answer.”
He couldn’t think of an answer – he hadn’t even known Nina a week ago! How was he to know how the boy had changed lately compared to before?
Maurice didn’t seem too surprised by Duncan’s answer, most likely because he’d toned down his expectations of “Nina’s uncle” before arriving based on the rumors, so it was just a matter of habit to say, “You should pay more attention to her… -Especially for a girl of this age, material support is not enough.”
As soon as Duncan heard this, a thought popped into his head, “Could she be in love?”
Frankly speaking, this thought was more or less born out of “Zhou Ming’s” experience as a people’s teacher. ……
Morris revealed a somewhat odd expression after hearing these words, and the old man gave Duncan a strange look, “That’s a girls’ school. ……”
Duncan thought for a moment and looked serious: “A girls’ school is also possible.”
Maurice’s eyes widened slightly.
The old gentleman, who had always been drunk on academics, was greatly shocked!
“Ahem, well, I was just speaking off the top of my head,” Duncan took one look at the old man’s reaction and realized that the topic might be a bit over the top, and hurriedly coughed dryly to break up the awkwardness, “I’ll have a good talk with Nina about it …… she should be be willing to talk to me.”
“Ah …… Oh, of course,” the old gentleman responded then, he still seemed to be in some kind of shock, and his speech gave the impression of being half a beat slower, “From what I understand… . that Nina is a very frank and honest child, and she shouldn’t resist too much if you talk to her nicely.”
Duncan nodded, “Is there anything else going on besides that? Has Nina been otherwise out of sorts at school lately?”
“Not much besides wandering off and getting distracted in a trance,” the old man thought for a moment and shook his head, “I’m actually here today mainly to talk about this, and by the way, to find out about her real family situation …… Right. Speaking of which, Nina’s parents were killed because of ……”
“An accident eleven years ago,” Duncan said, “There’s an official record of this incident, a chemical plant leak in the sixth neighborhood.”
“So that’s what happened,” the older gentleman sighed, “I remember the accident, my daughter and I happened to be near the Crossroads neighborhood at the time, and there was a lot of commotion when the chemical plant leaked, and the crowds of people affected even rushed to the edge of Uptown at one point… …The investigation afterward also said that many cultists were taking advantage of the chaos that night, and that the chemical plant was sabotaged by them as well ……”
Duncan’s heart stirred and he said casually without moving, “Wasn’t there also a fire in the lower city that night?”
“A big fire? I don’t remember any big fires,” Morris frowned, “You’re remembering wrong, aren’t you?”
“…… Looks like I’m misremembering,” Duncan pressed his forehead and chuckled, “I really should stay away from alcohol.”
(End of chapter)