The Death Knell

Maybe the candy really worked, and the two of them felt much better. At least they no longer trembled involuntarily, but sat down at their destination relatively calmly.

After emerging from the subway station, they all felt as if they were in another world. Children could not describe this feeling in detail, but it was like walking around at the gate of hell.

"We're almost there. The dock is over there. Look, there are a lot of people." Steve said to Bucky and himself. In fact, he was only calm on the surface.

"That's great. They are normal people. Look at their eyes."

Bucky pulled him and ran forward for a while. After seeing these people with sharp eyes and smiling faces, he finally felt relieved.

"This place seems different from other places. This is where normal people should stay."

Steve also breathed a sigh of relief, like a shipwrecked man seeing land.

"Come on, let's go over and look for someone in charge and see what we can do."

Bucky pulled him again, the previous fear had been forgotten, and the yearning for food came first.

Indeed, as Bucky had guessed, last night was just a simple registration, but today there is still a lot of follow-up work to follow.

For example, some people were assigned to a tractor factory or an aircraft manufacturing factory. These factories are not in New York. Last night, they were only notified in advance to go back and prepare. Today, they still need to pay out their employee numbers and ID tags, some simple items, and settlement allowance.

If you want people to work for you, you must at least relieve others of their worries and let others settle down at home so that you can go to work with peace of mind.

This large warehouse has been used to store grain over the years and has become a logistics supply station. Now that there is money in the market, it is difficult to buy food, so Wilson Enterprises will provide them with goods.

Employees’ family members can purchase daily necessities here with their work number registration and certificates, and the money Su Ming pays to employees will also return to him.

If they are not employees or their family members, they will not be entertained. This policy seems unfair, but the food on their own farm is also limited. After Gin's calculation, it can only sustain the consumption of his own people every year.

However, this is good, as it can improve employees' sense of belonging and honor, and make them feel lucky and proud to be employees of Wilson Enterprises.

Although these factories are not too far away and you can even take a train back on weekends, in this era of inconvenient transportation, you always feel like you are traveling far away. Now that your family has a company to take care of you, you feel more at ease.

The warehouses on these docks were bought by Su Ming. They will be a place for shipping and transshipment in the future. Now they are empty and used as temporary office spaces.

Steve's small body made him feel inferior, but Bucky was much bolder and more outgoing.

He pulled Steve through the crowd. There were so many people here that in winter you could even smell the strong smell of sweat, like a bunch of sea fish crowded together.

They turned left and right through the gaps and finally squeezed into the warehouse, where there were rows of people handing out things, and the food they wanted was piled behind.

During the days when the workers did not leave New York, Su Ming was still in charge of the meal, and he was not short of money. As long as the stock market continued to fall, his short-selling money would grow hugely every day.

"Wow, Steve, look over there, there's a mountain of food."

Bucky saw the same paper bag as yesterday at a glance. His eyes were sparkling and he began to swallow.

Of course Steve saw it too, but he was thinking about something else. The work here was very orderly, and it seemed like there was no need for help at all.

At this time, a bearded man next to them saw them. Although he looked very ferocious, the thick calluses on his palms showed that he was just an honest worker, and he probably used to shovel coal or move goods.

"Huh? Children, what are you doing here?"

He knelt down, put his duffel bag on the ground, and talked to the two of them.

Steve was a little flinched. He was not good at communicating with strangers, but Bucky answered the strong man's question.

"Sir, we are here to find a job."

"Hahaha..." The strong man smiled and touched their heads, but Bucky broke away and glared at him. The bearded man didn't mind, but found it interesting: "Last night, there was a little guy looking for a job. , unfortunately, Wilson Enterprises refused, their boss does not recruit child labor."

"Why? Although we can do less, we eat less and the wages don't have to be so high."

Bucky said it was hard to understand that there were child laborers all over New York, such as those selling flowers in front of movie theaters, those cleaning floors in hotel lobbies, and those cleaning cars at intersections. If he and Steve were farm kids, they would have helped out a few years ago. The cows are being milked at home.

Not to mention that the previous newspaper company did not reject their request for part-time work.

The strong man did not answer them, but asked another question: "The fact that you know this means that at least one of your parents is an employee of the winery, right?"

"Yes, our father should be here too, but there are too many people, so we haven't seen him yet." Bucky replied.

"That's right, because companies will give employees with children at home more money, called settling-in allowance. What the boss means is that the children need to grow up and learn knowledge instead of doing heavy work at inappropriate times."

The bearded man dragged his sailor bag forward. The queue was still shortening, and it was almost his turn.

Steve nodded thoughtfully: "This statement is very similar to what my father told me. He asked me to study."

"Haha, I don't understand why, but I admire this approach. You know, I used to work in a factory, filling the huge stamping machines. There were several child workers in the workshop at that time." The beard moved forward again. Nana touched his chin and recalled: "But they were not strong enough, that job was not what they were supposed to do. Many people were seriously ill, and one was unlucky. At that time... click!"

Both Steve and Bucky couldn't help but shrink their necks. Of course they knew what the so-called click meant. They had heard that those huge machines would often eat children. If they were lucky, they would be disabled, and if they were unlucky, they would die on the spot.

Su Ming doesn’t want child labor because he needs efficiency. Everyone is a link in the workshop, and any link that is lacking will be a shortcoming.

Besides, this is too immoral. There is no need to let children risk their lives just to save a few money. It is better to give people with children at home a few more money for housing expenses, which can win over people's hearts.

Although the use of child labor is now the mainstream of society until it was banned by Roosevelt in 1938, Su Ming does not wade into this muddy water.

Bucky thought for a while, then took off his hat and rubbed it in his hands: "We are not doing that kind of work, we are just doing part-time work these days. We are literate, such as helping to write a sign or something."

"That's it...then I can't say for sure. After all, I'm new here too. You can ask the people currently receiving it later. They are old employees, so they should know."

Bucky nodded. He understood. Although it was a pity, he actually wanted to work directly.

"Thank you, sir." Bucky thanked him and looked around to avoid being discovered by his father, but he soon saw a young man wearing glasses and a fat old man standing at the back of the warehouse chatting.

Judging from their clothes and appearance, they should be the ones in charge.

"By the way, sir, are the two gentlemen over there in charge?"

The bearded man looked up and immediately nodded and replied: "Yes, it should be the one wearing glasses. At least yesterday I saw everyone listening to his arrangements."

Bucky smiled and cheered Steve: "Thank you again, kind sir, let's try our luck."

"Haha, go ahead. Even if it doesn't work, I will give you some food because you came here." The strong man picked up his sailor bag again and continued to line up. He knew that the two children were actually hungry. .

But who among the people here is not?