Deep Sea Embers - Chapter 90

[Chapter 90 Nina’s Something Wrong]

Seeing Nina briskly running up the stairs, Duncan didn’t understand what was going on for a while, but scratched his hair in confusion: “Why is this kid smirking…”

Then he listened. Old Mr. Morris’ voice came from the counter: “To be honest, you are very different from my impression, Mr. Duncan.” “Big difference

?” Duncan raised an eyebrow, “Your impression of me is very different.” What’s it like?”

While talking, he came out from behind the counter, went to hang the “Temporary Rest” sign at the door, and moved a chair to the side of the counter——after confirming that the other party was a teacher visiting home It is obviously inappropriate to let people stand after they are not ordinary guests.

“Thank you,” Morris nodded his thanks, sat in the chair and looked in Duncan’s direction, with a gentle and refined smile on his face, “I have never seen you, but I have heard of it from some sources…Nina’s family Situation. Pardon my excuses, but from what I’ve heard rumors, Nina had an alcoholic, gambling and violent uncle, and that kid lived in such a poor family atmosphere that she hardly even had friends at school – the other students I don’t even want to deal with her.”

Duncan was brewing coffee, and after hearing what Morris said, his movements subconsciously paused for two seconds, and then he finished the work in his hands leisurely, and he returned to the office with two cups of coffee. In front of the counter, he pushed one of the cups to the old man: “I hope you don’t mind that I only have this kind of cheap coffee here – the best coffee in the downtown area is also at this level.” He sat down opposite the old man, each holding a cup of steaming hot coffee

. coffee, and the old dagger was between them, but neither party’s attention was clearly on it for the time being.

“Strictly speaking… these rumors are true,” Duncan said slowly, “I had an illness before, well, a more serious illness – when painkillers don’t work, I can only rely on strong alcohol to numb me Nervous, it was a decadent period, unfortunately that period also happened to be the critical years of Nina’s adolescence, and now it seems that this has affected her more than I imagined.”

Morris observed Duncan seriously, and it took him a long time before he spoke thoughtfully: “Is that so?” But I get the feeling that you don’t look like someone who just came out of a decadence—more like a gentleman who has never been in a decadence and has always been positive. affected.

As he said that, he took a sip of the coffee in his cup and didn’t make any comments on the coffee, but just casually said: “I think I’m quite accurate in judging people.” “Maybe it’s just that I adjust my mentality quickly,” Duncan laughed

. When he got up, his tone was extraordinarily calm—he had to admit that the old man was indeed very accurate in seeing people, but he believed that no matter how accurate his eyes were, he would not be able to see the secrets in his body, so he didn’t panic at all, “Nina is almost an adult Now, I am her only guardian, and I have to show some sense of responsibility.”

“…Anyway, this is a good thing for the child,” Morris gave Duncan a deep look, “she is studying at the key stage, although many people say that after graduating from a public high school, they can only go to the factory to screw bolts, but they always ignore one point: knowledge itself is a valuable asset, and it will always show up suddenly one day in your life. meaning, and that’s often after you’ve had no chance to go back to school.”

The old gentleman said, shaking his head: “Unfortunately, most of the parents I’ve dealt with don’t agree with that—they’re focused on making My child should graduate as soon as possible and find a job.”

Duncan felt cordial when he heard this: He knows what the old man said! When he was a teacher, he often said similar things to students or their parents, but no one listened to him…

But soon he restrained this mentality of “meeting each other” and thought about the current situation he was in. After the environment, he shook his head slightly:

“Because this is the downtown area, Mr. Morris – your views are indeed wise and full of foresight, but most people here really need to pay off last month’s bill as soon as possible, you can’t So they’re not looking far enough ahead.”

“It’s true, many people actually want to look farther, but the high walls in life always block our sight from looking further away,” the old man sighed, “Sorry, after soaking in books for a long time, I always lose sight of it.” You will ignore the practical problems in life… You are a person who is very good at thinking, and it seems that some of my worries are unnecessary.” “

Worried?” Duncan frowned, “Speaking of which, it was Nina who was in school recently. Is there something wrong here? Her grades have regressed?”

“Her grades have always been very good, but recently… she is really absent-minded,” Morris considered her vocabulary, “she was distracted in class and fell asleep during self-study , she was distracted during the lab class – in chemistry class last week, she even set the lab bench on fire. This has never happened before… at least it has never happened to her.”

Said Now, the old gentleman paused, and added: “In the test two days ago, her grades did not drop, but if this state continues, it will be hard to say what will happen to her grades when she graduates—— Although there are indeed limited options after graduating from public high school, assembling machines in a factory in the lower city is different from maintaining the steam core in a church in the upper city. As Nina’s guardian, you should pay attention.” “

Nina Recently, you often get distracted in class?” Duncan frowned, “She hasn’t told me about it…” “

Girls of this age will definitely not tell you too much,” Morris said. Shaking my head, “At first I thought it was because of something happened at home, or what her ‘alcoholic uncle’ did recently, which affected her status at school, so I came to make this home visit, but now It seems… not because of this aspect.”

Duncan didn’t speak for a while, but seriously recalled whether Nina had behaved abnormally in front of him in the past few days, recalled Nina’s daily routine, and Morris was in the past. After a few seconds, he asked again: “You are the person who knows her best. Is there anything unusual about the child recently? For example, not resting well, not in good health?” Duncan thought for a long time, and could only spread his hands

: “…Ashamed to say, I can’t think of an answer.”

He couldn’t think of an answer—he didn’t even know Nina a week ago! How does he know that the child has changed recently compared with before?

Morris didn’t seem to be surprised by Duncan’s answer. This is probably because he lowered his expectations for “Nina’s uncle” according to the rumors before he came, so he just said out of habit at this time: “You We should pay more attention to her—especially for a girl of this age, material support alone is not enough.” When

Duncan heard this, a thought popped into his mind: “Could she be in a relationship? Already?”

Frankly speaking, this idea is more or less based on “Zhou Ming”‘s experience as a people’s teacher…

After Morris heard this sentence, he showed a strange expression, and the old man gave Duncan a strange look. : “It’s a girls’ school…”

Duncan thought for a while, and said with a serious face, “Girls’ school is also possible.”

Morris opened his eyes slightly.

This old gentleman who has always been obsessed with academics was shocked!

“Cough, well, I just said it casually,” Duncan knew from the old man’s reaction that the topic might be a bit out of line, and quickly interrupted the embarrassment with a dry cough, “I will have a good talk with Nina… …She should be willing to tell me.”

“Ah… oh, of course,” the old man finally realized that he seemed to be still immersed in some kind of shock, and his speech seemed to be half a beat behind, “as far as I understand … Nina is a very frank and honest child, if you tell her well, she shouldn’t be too resistant.”

Duncan nodded: “Is there anything else? Nina has other problems at school recently. Is something wrong?”

“It’s nothing but being distracted and in a trance.” The old man thought for a while and shook his head, “I’m here today mainly to talk about this matter, and to learn about her real family situation by the way… …By the way, speaking of this, Nina’s parents are because of…”

“The accident eleven years ago,” Duncan said, “the official record has this incident, the leak of the chemical plant on the Sixth Street.”

“It turned out to be like this,” the old man sighed, “I remember this accident. At that time, my daughter and I happened to be near the cross street. When the chemical plant leaked, there was a lot of movement, and the affected people even rushed to the upper city. Afterwards, the investigation also revealed that many cultists took advantage of the opportunity to cause chaos that night, and they also destroyed the chemical plant…”

Duncan’s heart moved, and he said calmly, “Did a fire break out in the lower city that night? What’s going on?”

“Big fire? I don’t remember any big fire,” Morris frowned, “Did you remember wrongly?” “

…It seems that I remembered wrongly,” Duncan pressed his forehead and said with a smile , “I really should stay away from alcohol.”

(End of this chapter)