Chapter 119 Dream

"Alan... Alan... Hurry up and get up..."

A gentle voice echoed in the boy's ears.

"You lazy little bastard, the sun is shining on your butt..."

Alan, who was only twelve years old, turned over and muttered: "Mom, let me sleep a little longer..."

"Oh! I can't do anything about you. If you like to sleep in like this, no girl will like you in the future."

"Well... I know... Mom, just a little while..." The boy fell asleep again in a daze.

After an unknown amount of time, he felt his mother gently caressing his body and said in a slightly stern tone: "You must get up this time!"

Alan had to say goodbye to his dream reluctantly. After opening his eyes, he saw his mother with her hands on her waist, with a slightly angry expression.

He got up from the bed, covered his mouth with his right hand, and yawned, "Ah——".

"I know, I know, I'll get up now."

He began to dress slowly with a reluctant look on his face.

The mother sighed and complained: "Really, look at little Tom next door, he gets up at dawn to help his mother cook, unlike you who likes to sleep in... Wait a minute, what happened to you?"

Alan woke up all of a sudden and said hurriedly: "I'm fine... Ah, I accidentally fell down."

But the mother grabbed the boy's arm without saying anything, rolled up his underwear, and several bruises appeared on his body.

The mother's face instantly changed to a distressed look, and asked anxiously: "What's wrong... How did you get like this?"

The boy tried to say in a nonchalant tone: "It's really nothing, Mom, I accidentally tripped when I was walking downhill yesterday, and rolled all the way down, and these bruises were caused by that time."

But the mother could tell whether her son was lying. She stared into his eyes and asked seriously: "Did you fight with others again?"

"I didn't..." The boy refuted hurriedly, but as soon as he met his mother's eyes, his voice instantly became inaudible.

He lowered his head and quietly admitted: "I'm sorry... Mom, I won't do it again."

The mother looked at Allen with deep sadness in her eyes. She didn't continue to ask her son why he fought. She knew the reason.

Allen was not only enthusiastic and kind, but also tolerant beyond his age. He would not easily quarrel with others.

So far, there has been only one thing that could anger this child to the point of fighting - someone made fun of his only relative, the mother in front of him.

When the mother was still pregnant with Allen, her husband died early. Allen had never seen his father since he was born and became a posthumous child.

The mother did not choose to remarry. She worked hard to raise her son to this age. As a young widow, no matter how cautious she was, some rumors would inevitably spread in the village.

The adults were concerned about the relationship between neighbors and only said one or two words behind their backs. They would not say such things in front of Allen's mother.

But when children play together, they have no scruples. They often share the "secrets" they overhear from adults.

Not only when they share secrets, but also when children occasionally disagree with each other, they will give each other various nicknames. When this happened to Allen, nicknames like "bastard" were considered nice.

These became the fuse that ignited the boy's anger.

"Didn't you promise me that if you encounter such things in the future, you will ignore them and don't let yourself get hurt again." The mother's eyes became moist, and she begged her son again.

She was weak by nature and would never let Allen solve the problem with his fists. Her son was now her only relative, and anything that might cause harm to her son must be avoided.

Alan's heart ached at his mother's tears. He wiped his mother's eyes with his sleeve and said, "Mom, I promise you, I promise this is the last time."

"Alas... you always say it's the last time."

"It was all that guy Pine, who was talking nonsense with rumors he heard from somewhere. I was so angry that I beat him up. We are reconciled now. You saw us going home together yesterday."

The worry on his mother's face was slightly reduced. She hugged her son tightly and told him, "If others talk nonsense, just ignore them. Don't do it again in the future."

"Okay, okay, mom, I promise you."

"I don't know if you listened to me... Forget it, go wash your face and eat first."

The boy washed up briefly and came to the dining table to eat the breakfast made by his mother. Although it was all simple food, he didn't know why he felt that this breakfast was particularly fragrant.

The mother also came to the table, and the mother and son talked. They talked about the source of their family's livelihood - boiling salt.

The mother said with a little worry, "There are fewer salt merchants coming to our village recently."

"The salt merchants from the neighboring Arda haven't come for a long time, and the salt merchants from Bailding are not as many as before."

"The money earned has suddenly decreased a lot."

Alan guessed, "I heard some rumors in the blacksmith shop. It seems that Arda has built a new salt field that can produce a lot of salt at once."

He changed the subject and said, "Mom, don't worry. I will soon become a formal apprentice of the village blacksmith, and the blacksmith praised me for my good work. I will be able to get a salary when the time comes. Although the salary of an apprentice is not much, it will be enough to subsidize the family expenses."

The mother smiled and touched her son's head. The child was always so sensible and very considerate of her hard work.

"It's not easy to make iron. You must learn well from the blacksmith master."

...

After breakfast, the mother cleaned up the tableware and came to the table again.

No mistakes, one post, one content, one 6, one 9, one book, one bar, take a look!

Alan was a little surprised. On weekdays, his mother should have started to make a fire early to prepare for boiling salt. Why is she so free today?

He said, "Mom, if there is nothing else, I will go to the blacksmith shop to help first."

The boy got up and was about to leave, but was pulled by his mother.

"Alan." The mother called his name softly.

"In addition to not fighting, don't forget my other instructions."

Why did you say that suddenly? Allen was a little confused, but he still agreed.

But he heard his mother continue to ask: "Tell me what I have told you on a daily basis?"

The boy was a little helpless and began to list one by one:

"Eat slowly and chew slowly."

"Cover yourself with the quilt when you sleep."

"Don't fight with others."

...

"Uh, and get up early."

After listing, the mother nodded and said, "After I leave, you must remember these instructions of mine."

Alan was shocked: "Leave? Mom, where are you going?"

Then something happened that shocked him inexplicably. His mother's body was becoming more and more unreal until it turned into a transparent shadow.

He stretched out his hand to grab his mother's hand, but grabbed nothing.

"Alan, I'm sorry, Mom can't accompany you anymore. You must take good care of yourself in the future."

After leaving this sentence, the mother's shadow finally disappeared.

Allen stood beside the table in a daze, tears streaming down his face.

"No——"

...

The boy opened his eyes suddenly, but this time he really woke up from his dream.

I'm sorry, the updates have been unstable recently due to work reasons. I will try my best to update once a day, although it may be updated in the early morning like now. Please don't worry that the book will be abandoned, I will keep writing.

The details of the naval battle have not been thought out yet, so I wrote a little about other aspects first. This chapter may not be well written. I have been yawning while typing.