Although Old Brooks had passed away, it seemed that a glimmer of hope had appeared in the lives of Frank Quinn and his younger sister. Over the past few months, he had taken Samuel Brooks's advice and switched from picking up scraps to collecting them.

These days, people’s lives were still not very affluent, and no one was willing to throw away anything they had at home. So, by changing from picking up to collecting, Frank Quinn found that money, which used to be hard to earn, now seemed much easier to come by.

This was because the residents of the town had a good impression of Frank Quinn. Things like newspapers, toothpaste tubes, and scrap metal could fill up a flatbed cart every day. After selling them to the recycling station, Frank Quinn discovered that he could actually make about ten yuan a day.

With this, after covering the monthly food expenses for himself and his sister, there was still nearly three hundred yuan left over. In the past half year, Frank Quinn had already saved more than a thousand yuan.

Not long ago, Frank Quinn had his eye on a bungalow near the edge of town, close to the city. The bungalow wasn’t very big, just over thirty square meters, but there was a large open space outside.

Frank Quinn calculated that if he bought that bungalow, he could use the open space for free. Then, he could open his own recycling station and sell the scrap directly to the state-run station in the city.

This way, by cutting out the middleman, Frank Quinn could earn at least seven or eight more yuan a day.

Seven or eight yuan a day adds up to several thousand a year. For Frank Quinn and his sister, this was absolutely a huge sum. If he hadn’t tasted the benefits himself, Frank Quinn would never have known that collecting scrap could be so profitable.

Actually, around 1992, people still hadn’t fully realized that the “iron rice bowl” was about to become history. Deep down, they still looked down on those who set up stalls or ran small businesses.

But it was precisely those unremarkable small businesses that, during the transition from a planned to a market economy, created countless millionaires. Those who opened recycling stations in the 1980s and 90s were at least millionaires ten years later.

Of course, for Frank Quinn, owning a recycling station still seemed a bit out of reach, because that bungalow cost more than four thousand yuan, and he simply didn’t have that kind of money right now.

But Frank Quinn believed that once he got a tricycle, he could go into the city to collect scrap, and in at most another year or so, he’d be able to save up this “fortune” and create a real home for himself and his sister.

In March in the north, although it was still a bit chilly, the withered grass and trees were already showing a hint of spring green. This eased much of the sorrow in Frank Quinn’s heart brought on by Old Brooks’s passing.

“Tweet…”

Seeing his lonely house by the railway from afar, Frank Quinn put his index finger to his mouth and let out a loud whistle, calling for Da Huang.

Frank Quinn didn’t know what breed Da Huang was, but having raised him from a pup, he already considered him family. Of course, the donkey meat he bought today included a share for Da Huang.

“Huh, where’s Da Huang?”

Usually, after he whistled, Da Huang and his sister would immediately appear at the door. But Frank Quinn walked another ten meters or so and still didn’t see Da Huang come running to greet him.

“Something’s wrong, why is there a smell of blood?”

Standing downwind, a light breeze brought a strong scent of fresh blood to Frank Quinn’s nose, making him stop in his tracks, his body trembling slightly.

Frank Quinn would never forget that night five years ago, when he was hidden in the wardrobe by his parents, and smelled this very same scent.

Although Frank Quinn hadn’t seen anything at the time, he had heard his father’s screams with his own ears, as well as the voice of a man demanding to know his whereabouts—something Frank Quinn would never forget for the rest of his life.

The next morning, there was only a large pool of blood left in the house. Peeking through the crack in the door, Frank Quinn saw two strange men still standing guard outside.

The young Frank Quinn, holding his clueless little sister, escaped through the back window and climbed onto a coal train not far from home, finally arriving at the place where they now lived.

Memories flooded into Frank Quinn’s mind like a dam breaking. Smelling the blood in the wind, his eyes filled with bloodshot veins, and his once relaxed body tensed up.

For more than five years, Frank Quinn had lived in fear that those people would find him and his sister again. Every night, the slightest sound would wake him, and he was always on guard.

So the smell of blood made the hormones in Frank Quinn’s cerebral cortex surge several times over. Lowering his body, Frank Quinn slipped into a poplar grove on the right.

“What happened? Is my sister okay?”

At this moment, although Frank Quinn was extremely worried about his sister Grace Quinn’s safety and his eyes were red with hatred, his actions were very calm.

Having raised Da Huang from a pup, Frank Quinn knew his temperament and fighting ability well. Like himself, Da Huang was usually quiet and laid-back, but if any creature provoked him, he would fight to the death.

Two years ago, a family in town had a purebred German Shepherd. One time, their child brought it out, and with a group of kids egging them on, they set the dog on Da Huang.