From a distance, the people at the scrapyard could see a seven or eight-year-old boy approaching, dragging a bag in each hand.
The setting sun illuminated his eyebrows and eyes, and the determined look in the boy’s eyes contrasted sharply with the burden on his back.
It was heart-wrenching.
Next to him was a beautiful little girl, resembling a little angel. She sniffled while using all her strength to carry a bag of plastic bottles, her small face turning red from exhaustion.
The young woman collecting the scrap, upon seeing the pitiful sight of the two children, immediately felt sympathy.
“Little ones, where are your parents?”
William, afraid of being cheated on his first visit to sell waste, immediately mentioned Old Bray’s name.
“My grandpa is tired and sleeping at home, so he asked us to come and sell the bottles.”
He spoke earnestly, showing no signs of lying.
They knew Old Bray, who often came here to sell scrap. However, it was strange… didn’t he usually come only once a year? Why did his grandchildren come so early this year?
The young woman didn’t think too much about it. Perhaps Old Bray wanted to buy something delicious for the children since his two grandchildren had come.
“Alright, put the bottles on the scale, and I’ll check the weight.”
“Wait, miss, how much do you pay per kilogram?” William suddenly interrupted her and asked.
“I didn’t expect you to be quite careful. Don’t worry… the same price as when your grandpa comes, 2 dollars per kilogram.”
Upon hearing this, William felt relieved.
Still, he added a word of caution, “Miss, your scale must be accurate. I’ve checked it at home in advance.”
This move was something he learned from the women at the vegetable market when collecting bottles. Otherwise, the sellers might deliberately give less weight.
The young woman had indeed shortchanged the weight before, but facing these two cute siblings, she wouldn’t do such a thing.
“You’re quite a smart little guy. You’ve learned your grandpa’s tricks. You’ll definitely achieve great things in the future, haha.”
“Of course!”
William was confident that he wouldn’t collect bottles when he grew up. If he did, he would be the leader in this business.
The electronic scale finally showed 5. 3 kilograms.
“You’re so well-behaved. I will count it as 5. 5 kilograms. I’ll give you 11 bucks in total. Take it.”
Cierra was excited when she received the new banknotes, as she could soon have ice cream.
However, William felt a bit uneasy. After days of hard work collecting water bottles, he only earned 11 bucks, which couldn’t even cover the cost of his breakfast from before.
Old Bray, despite his old age, worked so hard to earn money.
When he returned home, William vowed to repay him properly.
The sudden melancholy feeling was quickly pushed aside by William as he looked at Cierra’s sparkling eyes, feeling her happiness.
With a smile, he tightly held the money and held Cierra’s small hand.
“Let’s go, Cierra, I’ll take you to buy ice cream.”
“That’s great, thank you, William!”
Cierra happily took small steps, and the rabbit ears on her hoodie bounced along with her, looking extremely cute.
After the siblings left, the owner of the scrapyard was still immersed in the warm scene just now.
“Ah, this is too sweet and touching for me. Their parents are so lucky to have such sweet kids!”
She decided that she must have such a good-looking child in the future!
At night, under the bright moon and sparse stars, a person stood in the small courtyard, an old man with trembling steps.
“Why? I remember that the pile of bottles was stacked in the corner yesterday? How did it disappear after a night’s sleep?”
He had lived here for decades and encountered such a miraculous thing for the first time!
“I don’t know. Maybe it’s a thief.”
William calmly scooped some meat into Cierra’s bowl, blinked at her, signaling her not to speak.
Cierra nodded, silently enjoying her meal.
Grandpa looked angry, and she felt like she shouldn’t mention that ice cream.
But the ice cream was strawberry-flavored, so tasty!
“A thief?”
“Impossible!”
William’s answer was met with a firm rejection from the old man. He was confident about this.
“I am well-known in this region. Who would dare to steal my things from me?”
“I’ll break the legs of whoever dares to steal my things!”
At the same time, Cierra felt William trembling and subconsciously reached out to touch his leg.
In a very soft voice, she said to him, “William, if we were caught, I would let Grandpa hit me instead.”
Finally, Paisley next door got annoyed by Old Bray’s loud voice and kicked the door open.
“Enough already, it’s just two bags of bottles! You’ve been muttering for half a day like a woman. You’re whining like a lady.”
“Aren’t you shamed?”
Being scolded, Old Bray got even angrier. “How am I like a lady?”
Paisley scolded even more harshly, “You are, especially when it comes to being stingy and cursing.”
William, on the other hand, was suddenly blank. Paisley just said “two bags of bottles”; how did she know it was two bags?
The answer was simple: she saw it.
Now he was worried that Paisley might tell Old Bray about it, making him feel uneasy.
Just as he was about to admit his mistake, Paisley raised her hand and gave Old Bray a punch, hitting him right in the eye.
Bang!
It looked painful.
William fell silent.
Cierra’s eyes lit up; it was so rough and exciting!
Old Bray sat on the ground, looking aggrieved like a child. “Honey, how could you hit me like this?”
“Am I not your darling anymore?”
Paisley gritted her teeth and took off her slipper to chase after him, saying, “Don’t be so disgusted; I am a young unmarried lady!”