13 Minke Street

Grandpa put his hand on Karen’s shoulder. 

Karen’s body trembled at the touch.

“Then…let’s go home.”  

“Oh, okay.”

Karen was very clear about what had just happened to him. He didn’t think it was his overthinking given the circumstances; it was purely a life-or-death situation.   

As he reached out, pushed open the courtyard door, Karen took a step forward, and then his knees went weak and his whole body staggered forward. 

Fortunately, he had been holding onto the retriever’s leash with his other hand, causing the retriever to also be dragged forward. Finally, he fell onto the retriever.

“Woof…” The retriever let out a sad cry.

Karen immediately got up with his hands on the ground, and couldn’t help but look back at his grandfather standing there.  

His grandfather was watching him, without any other expression.

Karen picked up the thick-skinned retriever again, who was unharmed, and continued home.

In the living room, Aunt Mary was sitting there discussing matters with several middle-aged men and women – probably the children of the elderly man from the nursing home coming to arrange the funeral.

Aunt Mary called out to Karen, but Karen didn’t respond. As he went upstairs, he let go of the leash.

He kept walking until the third floor, opened the door to his room, went inside, and then locked the door behind him. Then he leaned against the door and slowly slid down to sit on the ground.

“Phew…phew…phew…”

Karen started uncontrollably gasping for air.

Tears, snot, and cold sweat began pouring out uncontrollably.

He clenched his fists tightly, keeping his voice extremely low, while all kinds of swear words kept coming out of his mouth.

At this moment, only swear words that aligned with his instincts and required no thought could help relieve him a little.

But not long after, Mina’s voice came from outside the door: “Brother, lunch is in the kitchen. Do you want me to heat it up for you?”

Karen took a deep breath. He wiped away the tears with his palms, then wiped away the snot with the back of his hand, and said, “No need, I’m not hungry.”

“Okay, brother.”

Mina left.

Karen leaned against the door, looking up at the ceiling.   

Mr. Hofen saw who I was, and Grandpa just now at the door, clearly…wanted to kill me!   

He wanted to kill me!

The ‘identity issue’ that he originally thought he didn’t have to worry about had now brought him a clear sense of crisis. No, it had already put him on the gallows.

At this time, his cousin Trent’s voice came from outside the door: “Brother, Grandpa asked you to join him for lunch.”

Karen gritted his teeth and waved his fists.

Damn it, damn it, damn it!!!

Right now, the person he feared facing the most was Grandpa, Diss! But, even more damnable was that Karen realized he still didn’t dare refuse.

After a moment of staring blankly…

“Ha…”

Karen suddenly laughed out loud. 

He covered his face with both hands. Unable to hold back the laughter, his shoulders shook as well.

He clearly knew the changes in his own mentality now.

Starting from one extreme and heading towards the other.

In short:

Going all out.

After people are greatly stimulated mentally, it is easy for them to have similar emotions.

For example, a person who is usually frugal may start spending a lot of money, and a person who is usually clean and self-disciplined may suddenly start to go around and have sex.

After their emotions stabilize, they will probably regret it.

But that doesn’t stop them from immersing themselves in that period of indulgence.

After all, people are living beings with flesh, blood, and souls. Even machines need to stop and get maintenance and repairs after being overloaded. 

Karen slowly stood up. He looked at himself in the bedroom mirror.

Karen did not regret or feel ashamed about his previous display of weakness. Anyone faced with a life-or-death situation out of the blue, who could really stay calm?

But….

He was tired of it.

…

It was already three o’clock in the afternoon, long past lunch time.

Karen walked over to the dining table and sat down.  

Diss raised his head, glanced at Karen, and saw that Karen’s expression was very natural. Plus his damp, slicked back hair made him look very spirited.

In front of him was a plate of noodles with tomato sauce, and a platter in the middle had pies.  

Picking up his fork, he twirled up some noodles and put them in his mouth,

Sour, sweet, soft, chewy…hmm, unappetizing. 

He stabbed the pie with his fork and took a bite. The cloying sweetness nearly made Karen walk out directly.

Karen put down his fork helplessly and sighed.

As Diss slowly ate, he asked, “What’s wrong?”

Noticing Aunt Mary and Aunt Winnie weren’t on the second floor, Karen answered very bluntly, “Not tasty.”

Mina, who was pouring water next to them, clearly felt some discomfort hearing such direct conversation, because everyone in the family, including her parents, were always reverential towards Grandpa. 

For example, critiquing the food and acting picky were not allowed.

Diss took a bite of the pie and asked, “What do you want to eat?”

Karen shook his head. “Let me make lunch tomorrow.”

Diss slowly wiped his mouth with a napkin, and said:

“Good.”

But then Diss pointed at the food in front of Karen. “Don’t waste it.”

“Okay.”

Karen started eating again.  

Diss picked up a glass of water next to him and took a sip, his gaze fixed on Karen the whole time.

And Karen was clearly eating with a frown. He didn’t try to conceal his emotions at all. He even kept sighing while eating.

“You need basic respect for food,” Diss admonished.  

Karen also took a glass of water from Mina to help swallow the cloying pie, and said, “Not cooking the ingredients correctly is the real disrespect.”

Diss nodded thoughtfully. “Then I look forward to tomorrow’s lunch.”

At this time, Aunt Mary came upstairs from below. Karen noticed that her face held various kinds of ever-changing anger, but it quickly dissipated when she appeared before Grandpa.

“Did the guests leave?” Diss asked.

“Yes, they chose the cheapest package.” Aunt Mary said.  

“Hmm.” Diss didn’t react much.

The cheapest package was to rent the first floor of the Inmerales house as a mourning venue. No extra arrangements or decorations are needed. It’s similar to a ‘wake’, where friends and family can come to pay their respects at a specific time in the morning or afternoon.

Even…drinks and beverages didn’t need to be prepared.

“Even more ridiculous is they want to cremate Mr. Mauson to save money. Those siblings even said Mr. Mauson was a believer in the Berry religion. But when I was handling Mr. Mauson’s body, I clearly saw an angel tattoo on his back.”

There are believers in several sects whose doctrines stipulate that they must be cremated after death, so that the body becomes both the end and the new beginning. However, most sects or most people are still unwilling to choose cremation.

Of course, the most important point was… cremation was much cheaper than a full-body burial.

What angered Aunt Mary was that Mr. Mauson’s children had deliberately fabricated this unreliable reason to save money…hmm, and also cut away the bulk of the profit she had originally planned for.

Coffins, gravesites, priests etc., that’s where the real money was.

“Hmm,” Diss responded, and calmly replied, “Do as the guests ask.”

“Yes, Father.”

“Right, since Mr. Mauson’s family didn’t request meals, it’s good then. Tomorrow’s lunch will be prepared by Karen.”

“Yes, Father.” Aunt Mary instinctively glanced at Karen.

“I’m a bit tired today, so I’ll go back to my room and rest first. We all should turn in early since there’s much to do tomorrow morning.”

“Yes, Father.”  

“Okay, Grandpa.”

Diss left the dining table and went upstairs to the third floor.

“Mina, take Trent with you downstairs to help me arrange the curtains. Oh, also call Chrissy to come along.”

“Yes, Mother.”

Aunt Mary looked towards Karen again and asked, “My chef nephew, do you need me to buy some groceries for you in advance?”

“No need, Auntie, the kitchen has plenty, enough to use.”

“Then I look forward to tomorrow’s lunch.”

Aunt Mary brought Mina and the others downstairs. Although she said Paul and Ron would come tomorrow morning to decorate the mourning venue, she needed to organize some basic items tonight.

After Karen finished eating, he started clearing the dishes. 

At this time, the door of Uncle and Aunt’s bedroom on the second floor was pushed open from inside.

“Karen, Karen.”

“Uncle Mason?” Karen looked towards the voice.

“Any food left?” Uncle Mason asked.

“There are a few pies.”

“Good, good, give them to me, give them to me.”

Karen brought the plate of meat pies to the door. Uncle Mason, wearing pajamas, took the plate and immediately grabbed a pie and took a big bite. Him wolfing the food down clearly showed he was starving.

“Uncle, what’s going on…”

Uncle Mason said helplessly, “I tripped and fell while walking, my butt still hurts badly. Don’t know if I injured the bone…. I’ll just lie down for now, I won’t delay my work at home tomorrow.”

“Uncle, you are so careless.”

“Oh well, for a family’s luck to be good, there’s gotta be one unlucky person to take all the bad luck. As long as you kids are healthy, I’m happy.”

Although Karen knew Uncle Mason was bullshitting, he still gave a polite smile, looking moved.

Uncle Mason, holding the plate, limped back to the bedroom, while not forgetting to instruct Karen: “Close the door.”

“Yes, Uncle.”

Karen closed the door. Considering Uncle Mason’s reaction this morning, Karen guessed his uncle was probably beaten by Grandpa.

Hmm, this was normal, right?

Although Uncle’s children had grown up, it’s not incomprehensible for him to be beaten by his own father. After all, Diss almost killed his grandson with his own hands today.

Out of habit, he reached out with his right hand to scratch the area in front of his right eye, a habit from his past life, but ended up clutching at air. 

This ‘Karen’ had excellent eyesight and didn’t need to wear glasses.

Karen laughed and self-mockingly said, 

“Grandson…”

Immediately after, he emphasized his tone. 

“Grand scoundrel.”

…

Karen didn’t go downstairs to help. After tidying up the dishes, he washed up and went to bed.

His sleep was fitful, drifting in and out repeatedly, each fragment lasting only half an hour.

Tossing and turning until late into the night, Karen’s drowsiness finally dissipated completely. 

He looked at his cousin Trent sleeping on the bed across from him. Ever since he had recovered, Trent, who had been sharing a room with Grandpa, immediately moved back to stay with Karen again. One could imagine how much pressure sleeping in the same room as Grandpa brought him.

Karen sat up in bed, turned on the desk lamp, and opened the drawer according to his memory. He took out a book from inside. 

The book was called ‘Money, A Meaningless Thing’, the autobiography of a financial tycoon in Ruilan Country, where Karen lives.

Karen flipped through the book’s pages, revealing a stack of “100” Lubi currency notes.

This was the money saved by the previous ‘Karen’. His allowance had been quite generous. Karen took it all out and counted it – 6000 Lubi.

Currently, an average worker’s monthly salary is a little over two thousand Lubi.  Workers in efficient factories can earn up to 2500 Lubi a month.  The two workers at home, Paul and Ron, earn 3000 Lubi a month. Paul even got a raise today to 4000, after all, the work of transporting dead bodies warrants higher pay.

So, this 6000 Lubi is roughly equivalent to an ordinary worker’s salary for three months. In reality, with family living expenses, even saving this much in half a year would be difficult for an average worker.

When he first woke up, Karen retrieved memories that revealed ‘Karen’ had always planned to run away from home – he never liked this place.

But these 6000 Lubi, while undeniably a significant amount, what could he even do with this money if he left?

“Karen, oh Karen, why did you drop out of school? At least leave me with a high school diploma.”

Then again, on second thought, the guy at least left him with a face like ‘young DiCaprio’, and not the pistol-wielding kind.

It seems there’s not much reason for him to complain about ‘Karen’.

Now, he had inherited this two choices:

“Run away from home?”

“Keep staying at home?”

These two issues kept flashing through Karen’s mind, but recalling the scenes from the daytime, Karen couldn’t help but doubt whether running away would be so easy.

This wasn’t as simple as a child grabbing some money and hopping on a train away from home. 

It involved a certain mystery that exceeded his established worldview and cognition.

Also, the mystery was right in his home!

“Woof… Woof…”

From the yard downstairs came two barks.

There should have been some earlier too, but Karen didn’t notice.

Putting the money back in the book and the book back in the drawer, Karen stood up and opened the door. He happened to see Poe lying on the corridor windowsill. 

This black cat of the family was looking at the exiled golden retriever in the yard below in a very anthropomorphic posture.

As if flaunting: I’m inside the house while you’re outside.

Karen glanced at the retriever down in the yard, looking all alone. The night temperature was very low. He figured there was a high probability the retriever wouldn’t freeze to death, but a pet long used to accompanying its owner actually couldn’t stand loneliness the most.

Aunt Mary and the others probably didn’t notice the retriever, or were too lazy to let it stay inside at night. Better to let it stay outside and relieve itself in the yard in the morning rather than having someone take it for a walk.

Karen went from the third floor to the first floor living room, opened the living room door, and the retriever immediately came trotting over, constantly rubbing its face against Karen’s pajama pants.

Bending down, he patted the retriever’s head, planning to take it upstairs to the kitchen to find some food.

But just as he reached the stairs, Karen heard a strange man’s sobbing sounds coming from below. 

On this quiet night, the sound was extremely clear.

Karen took two steps back and glanced at the ramp leading to the basement. He tentatively walked down two steps, and the sounds became clearer. You could even imagine in your mind an old man sitting in the corner, crying pitifully.

But Karen still immediately backed out without going further in.

“Only an extra destined to die within three minutes in a horror movie would go into the basement alone out of that ridiculous curiosity.”

Karen didn’t scream or call for anyone. He went upstairs to the kitchen instead. 

He poured a cup of milk, put the cup in a bowl and added hot water to warm it up a bit. He also grabbed two slices of bread, biting into one himself and casually throwing the other in front of the retriever.

The retriever lowered its head, sniffed the bread, then pushed it away disdainfully, not eating it. 

Looks like it was already fed.

Karen picked up the bread from the floor, then brought the milk upstairs to the third floor.

When he reached his bedroom door, Karen hesitated and didn’t go inside. Instead he turned around and went to Grandpa’s bedroom door.

Reaching out, he knocked.

Knock-knock… Knock-knock…

There was no response from inside.

Just as Karen was about to continue knocking, he found that the door next to Grandpa’s office had been opened. Grandpa, wearing a black nightrobe, stood in the study’s doorway. 

“What’s the matter?”

“I brought Grandpa a cup of warm milk.”

Karen handed the cup of warm milk to Diss.

Diss reached out and took it, drinking a sip in front of Karen.

“Good night, Grandpa.”

“Good night.”

Diss closed the study door.

Karen noticed the light inside the study swaying a bit, meaning Grandpa didn’t have the lights on, but…lit candles instead.

After standing at the study door for about three minutes, Karen turned around. He didn’t return to his room, but went straight downstairs from the third floor back to the first floor. 

When he stood at the entrance to the basement again, that ‘sobbing’ sound came once again.

“Hehehe…”

Karen couldn’t help but laugh.

Then, he interlaced his fingers, stood on his tiptoes, and started doing warm-up exercises like he used to before physical education class.

“Alright, I’ll take a look at you now.”