The interviewee was a little familiar.
Looking carefully, Carl thought, isn’t this the plant auctioneer from the free auction? Carl pitied the man but thought he was still a good person. His low bid at the auction was a bit unkind to Lydney, who was actually reduced to applying as chef for him.
“Hello, we’ve met.” Lydney was a little overwhelmed. “I’m here to apply for the chef position. I need a job. I’ll work very hard.”
Carl interrupted him, “Can you cook?”
“Yes,” Lydney nodded. “If you can please give me this job, I need it very much. What kind of dishes do you like? Tell me, I’ll study them.”
Before Lydney could finish, Carl waved his hand offhandedly, “Okay, you’re hired.”
Carl told Lydney to hurry back and pack up before he needed to go to work in the afternoon since they really needed help from a cook there.
“Every month you will be paid 5,000. The boss will give you a New Year’s bonus. You’ll live with us and food is provided, all you need to do is cook.”
Was the compensation so good?
Renting a house in Freeport was very expensive. Now that his accommodations and meals were all settled, all he had to do was cook. This job was great. Lydney felt that he was lucky. If it wasn’t for Carl, where would he find such a good job?
In order to let Lydney feel out his colleagues, Carl took him to the largest supermarket in Freeport to buy new clothes and his daily necessities. He was going to let Lydney live directly on the ship.
“Truth be told, there is not a more comfortable place to live than on our ship. You can arrange your room any way you want. No one cares about what you do. It’s much better to be a cook on our ship than to be an auctioneer there. Can the auction house take you to buy stuff? Only we can!” Carl ranted as he threw a plush doll into the shopping cart.
“Mr. Erkar, I don’t need these.” Lydney tried to stop Carl. He had grown up and no longer needed such toys.
Carl asked him, “Did anyone give you toys when you were a kid?”
“No.”
“That’s it, don’t complain!” Carl didn’t listened as he shoved a big white rabbit directly into Lydney’s arms and said to him seriously, “Life without dolls is incomplete. Now you are my colleague. These are my gifts to you.”
Lydney held the rabbit in his arms, opened his mouth, but said nothing. Finally, he lowered his eyes and whispered, “Thank you.”
Children in orphanages had no toys to play with. If you had a plush toy, it would either be stolen or destroyed quickly. No one had ever given him a toy before.
“Right!” Carl suddenly exclaimed, “We haven’t bought eggs yet!”
After that, Carl grabbed Lydney’s hand and went to the food area, taking several baskets of eggs (ostrich egg sized).
“While the eggs we bought at the auction last time were delicious, these eggs are a little tenderer.” Carl complained that, unfortunately, Auguste would not let him buy more eggs, otherwise he would have taken all the eggs from the auction.
Lydney: He really ate them…
Those eggs were really expensive for the civilians like Lydney, but Carl was a retired soldier. They earned a lot of money and still had their pensions, not to mention that Carl had secretly saved without anyone else knowing.
After shopping, Carl accompanied Lydney back to get the teardrop tree.
Lydney held the tree and said to Carl, “Can I have my pay a little in advance so I can raise this plant?” Lydney didn’t want to sell it. At first, since he couldn’t afford it, he wanted to sell it at the auction house, but now he had a job, and could maybe make enough to raise the plant. Although he couldn’t buy the best supplies for it, he would try his best to take care of it.
It was only that he had not even worked for a day and he was already asking for his pay in advance. He was afraid that he would leave a bad impression on Carl.
“Of course,” Carl promised cheerfully, “I’ll take you to buy plant necessities. I know the quality of daily necessities in the store is good. Our captain went there today to buy supplies. If you’re lucky enough to meet him, let him settle the bill.” Carl had a good hand in calculating.
“Good afternoon, gentlemen, what would you like to buy?” The android stood respectfully at the counter and said to Carl.
“Pace, are there guests?” A man who was the shopkeeper came out of the store. The shopkeeper looked very weak, thin and white, standing next to the tall android who was more slender.
“Hello,” the shopkeeper greeted them with a smile. “Ah, you’re here in time. We’re going to close the door in a little while.”
“So early?” Carl felt that it was a little strange. It was only noon.
The shopkeeper sighed, “Yes, it’s time to move. You are the last guests in the shop. I can give you a fifty percent discount on anything you buy.”
Lydney: !!! I’m really lucky!
“Why is it that you are about to move all of a sudden? Is business bad?” When the shopkeeper helped Lydney choose a flower pot, Lydney could not help asking him curiously.
“This is of good quality.” The shopkeeper handed Lydney a flowerpot, and after Lydney took it, he said, “It’s Pace who’s moving. Pace is very kind to me and he wants to visit another planet.”
Lydney took a look at the straightforward android standing at the counter by the door. Pace turned to them and smiled.
“Pace grew up with me. I was not in good health and Pace has always been trying to make money to collect medical expenses for me. He would not leave me.”
Lydney couldn’t understand, “But he’s just an android.”
The shopkeeper shook his head indifferently, “Maybe you can’t understand, but to me, Pace is not an android. He’s my family. All his decisions are for my own good. I respect his decisions.”
Lydney was ready to leave with the daily necessities for the tree in his arms. The shopkeeper and Pace stood at the door to see them off. “Thank you for your patronage. I hope we can meet again on another planet.” The shopkeeper winked his left eye at Lydney. “You’ll get a fifty percent discount then too.”
“Okay, thank you.” Lydney waved goodbye to the shopkeeper.
Carl took Lydney back to the ship with a bunch of things and a single pot with a teardrop tree.