"I'm really sorry, it's a shame that we don't have anything decent to offer you in return for fixing our waterwheel. Our son and daughter-in-law have both gone to work in a factory in the city."
Brushing the ash off her apron, the owner of the small pub carried the gloom of middle age and the weariness of life as she sighed.
"It's still some days away before we get paid from the factory and sent home. Right now, be it V.E Mark, Egu or Liffel, we don't have much left."
There were only two customers in the empty pub.
