"Ugh! I really must have owed you in my past life!"
"Are you really my brother? You're... ugh! You're clearly here to collect debts!"
"If I had known this earlier, before you were even... ugh! Before you were even born, I should have... ugh! I should have just fought you directly!"
"Wah, wah, wah, I'm sorry, sister! I... ugh! Lower your hand a bit, don't wear yourself out... ugh!"
When Leon came back to Veteran Lane carrying two stacks of newspapers, before he even reached the door, he heard his little sister's heart-wrenching cries and the crisp sound of a hand spanking a bottom from a distance away.
In addition to that, there were six or seven smelly little kids standing from afar, wiping their tears and clapping with joy in the direction of Leon's house.
"Wah, wah, wah, finally, Sister Anna is back!"
"Yeah, yeah, I've been waiting for this day to come!"
"I've also waited several days for this, she's finally getting spanked!"
"Sister Anna should live a long life because no one else can manage her!"
Alright then... I think I know what's going on here...
Glancing at the pitiful little kids and spotting some undigested horse manure stuck in one of their teeth, Leon's face darkened. He quickly raised the newspapers to cover his face and slipped quietly toward his house.
Under the regretful gaze of the little kids, before Leon could reach the door, the sound of spanking abruptly stopped. Anna, in her white dress and with red eyes, opened the door and called out to Leon.
"Let's talk inside, let's talk inside!"
Feeling uncomfortable from the piercing gaze of the little kids, Leon quickly supported Anna's shoulder and pushed her back into the house. Then he hurriedly put down the boards covering the windows, finally feeling slightly better after blocking out the little kids' prying eyes.
"Wah wah, big brother, I'm sorry!"
And once both Leon and Anna stepped inside, before Anna could even begin to complain, the well-versed Melanie rushed over and clung to Leon's leg, refusing to let go.
As she dodged Anna's attempts to catch her, Melanie spilled the beans like a rapid-fire monologue, explaining the whole incident in just a few sentences.
"Why not... let's just leave it at that today?"
After hearing the rough context, Leon, not having the heart to scold, sighed as he looked at Melanie's eyes swollen like two small peaches. He resignedly stepped into the role of peacemaker and gently advised,
"Shoving horse manure into someone's mouth warrants a spanking, but those kids said some things they shouldn't have. Melanie shouldn't be entirely blamed for mischief this time, and just by looking at her, she probably knows she was wrong."
"She doesn't know she's wrong!"
Seeing Melanie galloping around Leon and secretly glaring at William, Anna also wiped away tears and angrily said,
"Brother! You don't even know what happened! Our family has barely made it to today... how much have we benefited from the neighbors? And this is how we repay them?
Don't stop me! If she dares to shove horse manure into someone's mouth today, who knows what she'll do in the future! If I don't spank her good this time, she'll definitely dare next time!"
"You're right, brother."
Just when both sides were at an impasse, and Leon hesitated whether to let go, William, with his pants still down, suddenly turned around with a serious face and chimed in,
"This afternoon, Melanie told me she thinks she's in for a spanking when sister comes back, but if something happens again, she'd do it again except change her methods.
She thinks that while horse manure is big, it doesn't smell as bad as cat or dog poop, so yesterday afternoon she made me collect a bunch of dog poop with her, insisting on hiding it in my old shoes to try out tomorrow...
Bro, I really think you guys should give her a good spanking."
"Ah! I... I'm going to fight you!"
Caught off guard by the utter betrayal, Melanie first let out a desperate scream, then released Leon's leg and pounced toward William with her teeth bared.
But she was short-limbed and moved slowly, so she'd barely lunged half a step before Anna grabbed her, flipped her over a knee, pulled down her pants, and spanked her without mercy.
"I'll teach you to fight him... Who do you want to fight, huh?"
"Not fighting, not fighting... ah! I was just joking!"
"I'll teach you to joke... does that mean you'll joke about not daring next time too? Hmm?"
"No, no... that's real! Ah! It's real!"
"It's real? So trying dog poop tomorrow is real too? Is it? Answer me!"
"It's not! Ah! It's not! You're being unreasonable!"
Forget it, Anna knows more about handling the kids. I better not interfere blindly, or we'll end up raising them wrong.
Glancing sympathetically at Melanie's swollen bottom, Leon turned toward his brother, still standing there with his pants down, and couldn't help but say,
"Maybe... you should pull up your pants?"
Little William shook his head knowingly, then flexed his fingers with confidence and said,
"I calculated it, sister still owes me fifteen more spankings, so if I pull them up now I'll just have to take them off again later—I'll put them back on after it's all done!"
Even without questioning your calculation, just judging from the intense "battle" over there, I can tell Anna won't have time to spank you today.
"Alright then... be careful not to catch a cold..."
With a speechless reminder to his single-minded brother, Leon picked up the two stacks of old newspapers in his hands and went towards his small bedroom.
Leon originally planned to buy some new newspapers. However, he found his pockets embarrassingly empty, and realized he wouldn't have enough to last until payday. So he went back to the Purification Bureau to ask around and finally got some from Senior Emma, who had the habit of subscribing to newspapers.
After all, Leon wasn't looking to get news from the newspapers—he just wanted to find the boldest newspapers based on their reporting topics to create a fuss with the Water Power Company's issue. It didn't matter whether the paper was new or old, as long as there was something to read.
Plopping down in front of the old table with a broken leg, he spread out the newspapers and his expression turned serious as Melanie's cries echoed in the background. Page after page, he leafed through the recycled newspapers he'd gathered.
"Corner Alley News," "Financial Times," "Dance Entertainment News," "New Industry News"—forget these; they mostly seemed to be about happenings in specific industries, not much on social news.
"Pictorial News," "Commentators News," "The Sun News" were also out; the first two seemed to have Old Nobility backgrounds and were filled with praises for that old system. The last one was a damned newspaper just by its name—definitely not a choice...
So, it seemed that only three were left to choose from.
Sifting through a large stack of newspapers, Leon finally settled on "Daily News," "Royal Mail News," and "Capital Evening News." As he pondered over which one to choose, the door to the side room suddenly got knocked.
"Bro, sister's done with the spanking."
With his pants now up, William appeared at the door. He first sniffed vigorously, then clasped his hands behind him, puffed out his chest, and suggested like a little adult,
"Melanie should be okay, sister didn't spank too hard. Just have her lie down for a bit to recover, but sister went straight to her room crying after. Shouldn't you go and console her?"