"Lady Alma! You have returned!" Olsen quickly called out to Alma who was doing her best to carry 4 books.
"Ya! I have returned! Lord Alex gave me some books that can help! Where is Mathew?"
"He left a few minutes ago thinking you might spend the night with Lord Alex."
"Alright, we can just get to help his child in the morning. For now, I guess I have to finish these three soon." Putting the spear piercing technique to the side Alma sat down right there and opened the fungus disease book and started reading.
***
"Welcome to my humble bookstore." Alex smiled at the man as he had waited until Alma fully left.
"Thank you. Could you help me get home? I have my mother waiting for me, ah- we live in the house next to the broken mansion at the right."
"Unfortunately I can't help you home, but I can point you to the main road in a while, how does that sound?"
"That is fine, thank you!"
"Well before you just up and leave why not stay for a little while and talk?"
"I often don't get customers and now that I have two on the same day I would love to talk to you. Especially considering you are blind, it would leave me with some great stories in a bookstore of all places." Alex took out some tea and began to prepare it as the blind man stood huddled at the door.
"Umm... Sir, what types of books do you sell here? I haven't even heard of anyone talking of a bookstore, so hearing seeing you here I am quite surprised."
"What types of books do you think I would sell? After all, I have a little bit of everything." Alex spoke as he 'led' the man to a chair. "Here is some tea for you to enjoy."
"Oh I couldn't, I am a bit crass you see. Being blind in a village isn't great for learning etiquette."
"Haha! That's fine. I consider myself a bit of a barbarian myself. Haha!" Laughing Alex handed the man the tea.
"Thank you, but I don't know how to repay you..."
Shaking his head Alex spoke in a dismissive tone, "Just tell me your name and about your life. I couldn't care less how spectacular or how dull you have lived your life." He then spoke in a firm tone, "Just speak. You can tell me anything! Whether there is a favorite trashcan you visit for food or your favorite luxury restaurant!"
"Umm... Alright..." Seeing he had no real room to talk the man simply started talking about the village he lived in.
The man who went by the name Kanbu was blind at birth and was cared for by his mother. From what he heard his father abandoned him due to being blind and for that reason he would never be able to even work as a guard. Although his mother never told him who exactly his father was, due to various gossip that he heard he knew the entire story. His father being the richest man in the village and hired his mother as a prostitute who then got pregnant and gave birth. At first, he was willing to care for the pair, but when he found Kanbu was blind he cursed his mother's inferior genes and banished them to a shed next to the broken mansion that his father originally planned to fix up, but gave up because he had gotten a better place to set up his true home.
From what he heard he heard his father now had a wife and several kids most of which had taken up different paths with their father's encouragement. The majority had taken up cultivation so long as they had some talent. Everyone else still needed to practice martial arts to a basic level to protect themselves. This one action has led to the number of cultivators in the village doubling as the village is too small to have many cultivators in the first place.
Even Kanbu can see how his father had made a powerful family for someone who didn't have a great start. He himself holds no resentment to his father and only wished he had given him a chance to at least try. It isn't like his father had gone out of his way to hurt him or his mother, in fact he knew he was sent enough food every week by his father to support both him and his mother. Apparently, he would stop helping them completely when he turned 20 which was more than he could have hoped.
Everything was fine with his mother, although she was now sick and couldn't afford a doctor, she still had a better time than other poor people in the village. Everything was simply 'OK' with nothing terrible or great.
As he drank tea and talked Kanbu felt like all his worries went away. He originally felt afraid at who he had met randomly, but now even as forceful as he was in the beginning, Kanbu felt like he shouldn't worry much anyway. If he truly owned a bookstore he wouldn't care about the few pennies he owned, or the little food he received as his allowance. This freedom to not care allowed Kanbu to talk about even the people who badmouthed him and his mother, to those who spoke good things about his mother's kindness.
After a while Kanbu sat on the chair with a calm face and a free expression. It was then that Alex spoke, "Take this Kanbu. Hearing you talk helped relieve my boredom and consider this a gift to you as thanks."
Reaching out Kanbu grabbed the item, "A book!? I couldn't, I can't even read!"
"Why don't you put your hand to it and try?"
"How! I can't even see the lines!"
"Haha! That's fine why not at least try it?"
Kanbu knew that the man in front of him was mysterious, but it was only now that he felt like this situation might be crazier than he had ever thought before. Gulping, Kanbu followed the instructions and opened the book then put his hand onto the page and focused on understanding what was in the book. It was then that a warm feeling seemed to travel along his arm as it flowed into his mind.
Suddenly as if everything became clear Kanbu started reading the book with the meaning traveling through his hands and into his mind. Hours passed as he slowly flipped page after page until finally after six hours the last page was flipped.
Suddenly waking up Kanbu quickly stood up and clapped, then snapped his fingers, then clicked his tongue, then whistled. After that, he closed his eyes for a moment before opening again and exclaiming in surprise, "I can see! HAHA! Thank you sir! Thank you!"
"Haha! It is not like you can truly see. I didn't fix your sight, I just gave you something that has improved the way you have always seen the world."
"Yes, maybe my eyes don't work, but I am no longer blind to the beauty of the world! With a simple sound I can see everything I want to!"
"Well, congratulations! Haha! I know, take this from me and consider it a gift if you wish to find me again."
With a small click of his tongue, Kanbu could see the key with a gem on the tip of it, "Are you certain sir? I am more than happy with what you have already given me, and I don't think I could take more."
"It's fine, this is just a gift to get back to me, also stop calling me sir, it makes me feel old. My name is Alex."
"Yes, Lord Alex." Kanbu spoke while taking the key like his most treasured item.
*sigh* "Whatever, you should get on your way, you have a sick mother to get back to."
"Yes sir!" Kanbu quickly took the key and rushed out the door leaving a speechless Alex standing alone.
"Damn, what an interesting fellow. I wonder if I will get another customer? Perhaps it will be after meeting Alma again? Every time she visited a new customer came in and talked with me."
As he thought about it he waited in the chair in the small hopes of another customer coming in soon.
***
"I'm home! Who am I kidding? She is most likely sleeping since I came so late." As Kanbu walked in he 'saw' his mother sleeping on the makeshift bed of the shack. It was always where she slept and he didn't mind it simply walked to his own makeshift bed and laid down excited of what he could now do. "I am going to help her a lot..."
As he tried to sleep he soon realized something wrong... with his new hearing, he could hear the faraway neighbors beating hearts. Except... his own home only had the beating of one heart... his own...
"Mother!" Jumping up in realization he quickly grabbed off what was covering his mother and started shaking her body. Unfortunately, the more he touched her the cold skin made it clear... she had died...
It was during that night that wailing could be heard a few hours before others woke up and still continued throughout the morning till noon...
***
"Guess what! With all the changes in management, I got a 50-cent promotion!"
"Congrats, from what I hear many of those who worked hard were rewarded in their pay. Looks like all that extra work finally paid off."
"I know! I heard even the bitchy Jenny is getting laid off due to her lack of skills. Mr. Preston changed so many things that helped people like us out that I have even stopped looking for a job!"
"Didn't you say the other job would pay you a full dollar more? Why not still go for it?"
"Well since I have a lot of experience, and the manager has been changed out, I have a chance to gain another five-dollar raise!"
"True, I guess so long as you have a chance to become the manager of this department you could do so much better. The real question is if you are even going to be able to be nominated."
"Well since I was paying so much attention to this I heard the CEO Mr. Preston will come and do personal interviews today!"
"Nolan be real, don't they need to give you a call to be prepared?"
"That's the thing Levi, no one has said anything about getting nominated. I think they are going to spring it on us to see if we can deal with the pressure in last-minute situations."
Just as the two co-workers were talking away, Nolan suddenly got an urgent email.
"What is it about? They normally don't give out urgent emails."
"Levi, what was I just saying?"
"That you are for sure going to be nominated if they gave you a raise and with your well-known organization skills you have a decent chance. Right?" Levi spoke in a joking tone.
"Well looks like I did get nominated!"
"What! Your joking!" Levi quickly jumped up and looked over at his friend's screen showing an email that was calling him to be ready by 12 p.m. and he would be having a meeting then. "Wait isn't that in ten minutes?"
"Shit! I got to get prepared! Don't tell me I will be fired instead?! Making me meet them in ten minutes doesn't seem that great..."
"One moment you are talking about your chance to be a manager and the next they kick you out. Now that is something worth watching. Haha!"
"Shut up! I know with all the changes they wouldn't fire someone like me who works hard for the company. I might not have worked that hard this last week, but I still did my best before this and have also worked harder after hearing Jenny was getting laid off."
*sigh* "Let's hope the company is truly moving in the direction you think it is."